Backlog. Eklavya and Guru

In the draft section of my blogger admin site, there are a few unfinished posts that deal with a number of films I watched during the last weeks but that never came out of the draft stage. Since I don´t feel like finishing them and still I want you to know, here a short résumé.

Eklavya. This one pains me a lot. I really really really was looking forward to seeing it. I mean take in the cast. AB 1.0, Saif and his mom, Jimmy Shergill, Jackie Shroff, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen and mera pyaara Sanjay. It is the first direction of V.V. Chopra after Mission Kashmir. The promos hinted at a "Gone with the wind" like outset.
And then V.V. blows it. My Eklavya draft was subtitled: "It might have been grand" and that precisely how I feel about it. The setting is grand, the acting too, even the basic story. Then why, oh why did he have to cut it down to 107min? It is an epic saga, it demands an epic length. So instead we are left with hints at some backstories and we almost don´t learn anything about what drives the characters. And that assembles to a lackluster feeble movie. There is potential, and you get a glimpse of it in various scenes, like at the the climax. But. But it feels like an abstract of a Shakespearean drama for a 3rd grade english class homework.
Two presumptions:
One: In addition to the mutilated story, the very last, bahut kharab scene hints at some "higher power" that forced Chopra to a) give it a masala standard fare ending and b) to edit the length to some "western cinema" timeframe. Big mistake.
And two: It is still rather difficult to get the official DVD. None of the leading online stores have it yet. The only place I found it is amazon.co.uk . I so hope that this hints to a directors cut version in the hopefully not to far future.
So if you can get your hands on a copy. Go and watch it. If only for the acting and treat it like a preview of what might come one day.

Film two is Guru.
I love Mani Ratnam. He is my favorite director. Bas.
But, and here comes another but, Guru is his weakest film so far. I just can´t empathise with the characters here. And that is such a pity. I feel it is the death of any movie if you just don´t care what happens. And that is exactly the problem I have with Guru. Unreflected greed as main statement just does nothing for me. Corruption is good as long as I can turn it into wealth? Journalism should use all means to get the story across even if you have to stage the stories? Don´t get me wrong, but where´s the message? And I don´t mean a profound life altering message. Anything would do, leave it open or tell me you don´t have a message for all I care, but give me something.
So is it a bad film? No. It is still a Mani Ratnam movie. It´s a AB 2.0 one-man show. I love the songs. And technically (in any way) its a great film. I just don´t care about it.

Kartoos - a question that might never be answered.

What do this:










and that:


















have in common?

You´d think nothing? Ghalat. They´re both "inspired" Mahesh Bhatt while working on Kartoos.
In Kartoos he takes the story and a whole lot of almost 1:1 copied scenes of La Femme Nikita with changed genders (here we have a guy being saved from the gallows only to be turned into a government hired assassin) and the first assignment, the "test" in the restaurant, starts with the piano scene from Big. Scary.

Why do I expose myself to it then? C´mon that´s so obvious. Sanjay. He´s wet and without shirt almost half of the film. My hair fetish gets well fed.











And then I really was curious about the Luc Besson angle, who is one of my favorite filmmakers. Verdict? Well, lets just say that at least Mahesh Bhatt doesn´t have the Sanjay Gupta-colored filter-obsession. And he bollyfies and morally sanctions the special forces and their ACP Suryavanshi´s (Jackie Shroff) ways to work outside the law and use Sanjay as hitman.
Bhatt also keeps pretty close to the emotional side of the story. The dilemma Sanjay has to face when he, after meeting and falling in love with sweet innocent Mini (Manisha Koirala),










stops to functioning according to ACP Jackie´s plan make for some pretty cool scenes.

And still. How do you come up with the idea of putting the piano scene in?











We might never know.

Jung. Strictly for a pagali like me.

Inspector Veer (Jackie Shroff), pride of the police force, has a real crappy week. Not only does he have issues









with his collegue Khan´s work philosophy ("lets clear the streets by shooting any criminal you can get a hold of. Preferably when they´re already in custody") No, destiny really has it bad for him when his seven year old son is diagnosed with leukemia. A bone-marrow transplant would help, but you guessed right, the little sunshine has to have a rare bloodtype too. And all the beautiful pathetic flashback songs with a happy-pappy family don´t help.









Looking for a donor still brings up only one name. Balli. A mean stone cold 14 time killer, caught by Veer some 4 years ago.









Who obviously has no intention to act as donor. Not even when Veer beats the bejesus out of him. Also the teary pledge of the sons mom doesn´t soften his cold heart (in a very yummi body I might add) until she slips the crucial info in her speech that the donation would happen outside jail in way lower security hosptial.

Guess what. Balli suddenly discovers the humanitarian within him - and of course takes the chance to bhag. Before donating. He has better things to do. Visiting his girl. Doing a little dance. Settle some open scores with a local dishonest don. The usual.









All the while being chased by not only the desperate Veer, who has to catch him alive. But also by Khan, who wants to get him too, dead, if possible.

On the plus side of Jung:









Sanjay. Sanjay in chains. Sanjay in cool gangsta mode. Shilpas attitude in her interrogation. Jackie, at least in parts. Raveenas clothes, mostly.

On the minus side: Minimum 4 songs that just don´t fit. Plus a real bad item number. Sanjay without his real voice. Balli doing the stupid face/off hand thingy all the time. And the general inconsistency due to two different directors.
Thanks to Diwali I now know that Jung ran into serious trouble during its production. Sanjay Guptas differences with the producer ended in his name being pulled off the credits and Sanjay refusing to dub for it. And it shows.
So you´re not a Sanjay pagali like me? Go and find something else to do with you time. Like watching KANK 3 times in a row.

Rangeela or would you please say whats on your mind stupid

Jackie Shroff stole my shirt. In 1991 I got this ultrahip thai shirt. I thought I lost it in Greece. Nope. Jackie stole it. He even got the impertinence to wear it in Rangeela. Oh the nerve.










For the record I did not plan to see that many Jackie Shroff movies in a row. But I like him. Or liked him until the shirt incident. Whatever. Lets concentrate on the film here.
Storyline: Munna (Aamir "Fusselbabe" Khan), blackmarket ticket seller, loves aspiring dancer/actress (Urmila "I-cant-see-what-all-you- guys-dig-about-her-dancing" Matondkar) and needs 142 min to tell her. Its a close call since action hero actor (Jackie "shirtstealingwala" Shroff) also wants her.
Aamir is great, his character is a close relative of Munnabhais sidekick Circuit. Urmila is bubbly and Jackie is cool, very cool. It is really a pity that his is only a supporting role.
I have to second the reviews from Marco or Ezri that the movie does not really click. Thats probably because the whole thing depends on the stereotypical male inability to communicate emotions. So thanks guys. Without that we never had gotten the chance see Aamir in all those superugly shirts.