Countdown to November 15th: Ram Leela


 

Unconfirmed news of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone’s dating popping up at every corner. The boy keeps busy, eh? That’s good news. The better and more important thing is, after watching the trailer we are all hyped up over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s new film “Ram Leela”, which promises to score high on every Bollywood entertainment value. A hot hero, a cool heroine, a grand masala of action and romance: YES. That’s what we Bollywood aficionados are waiting for all year long. And it’s coming to hit us November 15th.

How do we know it’s going to be a spectacular movie? Easy. Sanjay Bhansali is a seasoned director/writer and producer. Whatever this magician touches starts to glow. His sets are lavish, exuberant, his actors inspired and becoming bigger versions of themselves.

Khamoshi: The Musical 1996

Straight From the Heart 1999

Devdas 2002

Black 2005

Saawariya 2007

Guzaarish 2010

 

 

 

 

 

PS, Dear Mr. Sanjay Leela Bansali

I could never forgive you  though the tremendous faux pas in Straight From the Heart. Filming in Budapest, using famous landmarks, whatsmore, and pretending it’s Italy… where we see mostly blond people strolling around in Lederhosen!!! supposed to be Milano? sorry but yeh Italy main nahi hai….  nor do we wear Lederhosen. Try Armani.

 

 

Okay, I got it finally off my chest :-) it’s been bothering me for years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lootera, enchanted.


Get ready for some arresting, beautifully filmed images and songs that will melt your heart away.

Sonakshi Sinha has never been more charming and Ranveer Singh makes us fall in love with him all over again in Lootera.

Not only does the movie take place in 1953, it gives you the feeling  you are watching a movie of that era. It flows easy and gently through the first half, a romantic lullaby. It picks up drama and temporarily pace, only to level out again. The last quarter is quiet and introspective. No great Dabanggs here. Inner turmoils. A tale of redemption, of love conquers all and makes wrongs right.

The movie is set in West Bengal and captures the essence of Bengali films. It reminded my of the quietness of deep mountain lakes. You jolt a stone and it will create gentle ripples on the surface whilst it cuts through the deep waters, never to touch bottom.

Sonakshi Sinha graces each frame with her quintessentially Indian beauty. She conjures images of goddesses. As if somebody rubbed an oil-lamp, releasing a genie. She is greeting you from old paintings of a bygone era.  Sonaskhi is so beautiful you want to freeze time to keep her that way forever. I will always want to see her draped in colorful saris, not in skimpy Kareena outfits. The role of Pakhi was written for her.  I was glad to hear that she quit her agent over the refusal to take part in “Welcome.”  She is a character actress like Vidya Balan, a powerhouse, wasted on dumbed down movies. She should be weighing carefully her roles and remain true to herself.

Ranveer Singh plays his character Varun with depth and complexity.  Not to say I was surprised. I loved his nonchalance, energy and charisma  in Band Baaja Barat. This role as Varun,brings out a new side to him, the turmoiled, torn, emotionally charged.  Ranveer reminded me of Ralph Fiennes in The English patient, when he opened the door of his room to Pakhi. Or Ruldolfo Valentino in The Sheik. I bet every woman’s heart stood still for a moment.  This movie is heartbreakingly beautiful. I savored each minutet. Maybe it’s also the nostalgia of going back in time, before computers, before cell phones. A movie without the gadgets of our time felt so good all for sudden. Life seemed so different then.

If you want to spoil it for yourself, read all the reviews and storyline upfront. Or don’t ready anything about it and let the movie do its magic.

In a nutshell, a young archeologist, Varun Shrivastav (Ranveer Singh), comes with a friend  to excavate a temple site situated on grounds of a local Zamindar. He gains his trust and confidence of the kind Zamindar’s , whose most valuable asset is his daughter Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha). Her feeble health is of great concern to him. From the first encounter  Pakhi feels increasingly drawn to  Varun and falls under his spell.  He is not what he seems to be though and things take an ugly turn.

If you are a guy, who loves action movies, don’t watch this movie. If you suffer from attention deficit disorder, don’t watch this movie. If you haven’t slept in days, bring a comfort pillow.

It’s a good date movie, if you want to reach out to the woman of your dreams. You might get lucky.

Writer/director Vikramaditya Motwane is a filmmaker after my heart. He has shown his talent with Udaan and DevD. He has worked on Devdas (2002) as associate director, as the choreographer in Water (2005)  and it must have inspired him. This movie is ripe with the tone and color of those two films, but Lootera is his masterwork.

I hope the movie makes it to the Oscar’s.