Bholaa: Amped-Up Action, Tamped-Down Logic |
This is #CriticalMargin, where Ishita Sengupta gets contemplative over new Hindi films and shows. |
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| AS A DIRECTOR, Ajay Devgn has never expressed much interest in the originality of a story. His debut U Me Aur Hum (2008) was an unofficial remake of the American film The Notebook (2004); Shivaay had its roots in the Taken franchise. Runway 34 (2022) was an insipid mish mash of Sully (2016) and Flight (2012). Succinctly put, an abiding theme of lack of narrative inventiveness runs across his filmography. One way to look at this is to treat it as indolence. The other way is to shift the gaze and recognise his intent as a filmmaker — which resides in using the plot as a means to serve his genuine knack for action set pieces. There are plenty of instances scattered across his short directorial career, most recently evidenced in the impressively choreographed cock-pit sequences in his middling aviation thriller. In that sense, the only surprising bit about Bholaa, Devgn’s latest directorial venture, is not that it is an adaptation of the Tamil film, Kaithi (2019) but that it has been credited as such. It is easy to see Devgn’s interest in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s outing. Favourable commerce aside, the premise holds the clincher: a group of cops gets poisoned leaving a recently released convict to drive them to the hospital. This race against time is accelerated by two other things: the man plans to meet his daughter after 10 years, and crores worth of drugs lie in a police station, almost unattended. Most of the film unfolds during one night where, having been embroiled in the skirmish, Bholaa (Devgn) drives a truck full of drugged cops. Giving him company is IPS Diana Joseph (Tabu; referred to as Dayan by the rest). — ISHITA SENGUPTA |
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Gaslight Teases Taut Horror, Turns In Cheap Thrills |
For a long time, I was convinced that Pavan Kirpalani's Gaslight is a metaphorical take on how society is trained to disbelieve women by manipulation, a phenomenon so pervasive that it bears a word in the modern zeitgeist — gaslighting. I was convinced too that the genre of horror was an inspired choice, to literalise the granular dread that accompanies a woman’s existence. Even the presence of a wheelchair-bound protagonist at the heart of the narrative — reminiscent of Ashwin Saravanan’s 2019 psychological thriller, Game Over that played on familiar tropes — bears a reason: Her dependence on the machine is a stand-in for the perceived disadvantage of her gender. But Kirpalani, who helmed the terrific Phobia (2016) and the unhinged Bhoot Police (2021), is not making that film — which is both a good and a bad thing. — I.S. |
| Viduthalai 1: Political Film As An Effective Character Study |
Vetrimaaran’s new film Viduthalai (Part 1) which means ‘freedom’, might suggest a story of the collective but at least this part keeps its focus trained on the individual. It’s about Kumaresan (Soori), a rookie in the Tamil Nadu police force (in its ‘E’ Company deployed to tackle a people’s movement — a Maoist leaning force), and a rookie in life. He’s not even an idealist; he neither represents nor understands the fabric of any ideology but is just a plain humanist in khaki, his naivete often disarming. It’s not surprising then that he’s introduced with a tilt towards divinity; Ilaiyaraaja’s ‘Arutperunjodhi’ the song of choice in his bus ride to a violent, desensitising destination and future. It’s also not shocking when the bus is stopped by the police to search everyone, and an in-plainclothes Kumaresan’s cries that he too is a cop, fall on deaf ears. — ADITYA SHRIKRISHNA |
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