The Dark knight rises - Not an end but a new Beginning

Best Dialogue -
 Selina  -"You've given them everything!" 
Wayne  -"Not everything, not yet." 


Director-    Christopher Nolan
Producer - Christopher Nolan ,Emma Thomas  ,
 Charles Roven
Writer - David S. Goyer , Jonathan Nolan 
Music - Hans Zimmer
Cast -  Christian Bale , Michael Caine , Gary Oldman , Anne Hathaway,
 Tom Hardy , Marion Cotillard  ,Joseph Gordon-Levitt  , Morgan Freeman
Budget-  $250,000,000 

Harvey Dent says in The Dark Knight, "The night is darkest before the dawn".
After a dark film like The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan gives us The Dark Knight Rises ,  which is about hope,fighting one's fears for their loved ones. The interweaving of new characters with Batman Begins origins, the themes of hope and chaos , the call for the importance of truth and sacrifice and the strength of the human spirit and soul literally takes you to a place or a view of the world we want to prevail.  In The Dark Knight, Batman always seemed one step behind the Joker. In The Dark Knight Rises, we lost count of the number of moments when Batman was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. 


In Batman Begins the main theme was fear, In The Dark Knight it was chaos and in The Dark Knight Rises the key theme is  hope. This film isn't about Batman's villains. In fact, one of Nolan's key ambitions with this project was to make the hero more interesting than his enemies and he has succeeded which was evident in the excitement we felt at the sight of Batman's symbol, in flames, on the side of the building.It  made us feel like kids again,happy that our hero was back to save the day. 
 
"Sometimes the truth isn't good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded. " 

The Dark Knight Rises starts with this as its foundation. It has been eight years since the death of Harvey Dent and the lie of who he is and what he has done is still going strong .

Presumably years of superhero activity has worn the cartilage from Wayne's joints, the death of loved ones has crushed his spirit, and Catwoman antics upon the fingerprints of his apathy has left him penniless. Even as he takes a final gasp to rise, Bane breaks his back and leaves him imprisoned in the pit of his childhood well. Finding what is important enough to raise ourselves from that pain, despair and hopelessness, is the thick story that plays upon the backdrop of rich and poor, war and wall obstacles. There is a wall to scale that can only be accomplished with the full commitment of abandoning the net. To trust what has killed you will not kill you again. To give all that you can give and then to rest, knowing you have inspired the good you have seen in others to carry on. 


Before Batman makes his supreme sacrifice, Gordon cries out that the people of Gotham should know the identity of the man who saved them. Batman replies, " I am no more of a hero than the man who wrapped a coat around a young boy, to show him the world hadn't ended ." 

Like Nolan's earlier films The Dark Knight Rises has lots of outstanding moments which makes viewing this film a wonderful experience.

Every actor was so perfect in their roles that they broke the thin wall between fiction and reality and we could actually feel their happiness and pain .

Michael Caine  is at his career-best here, delivering his lines with such layered intensity its impossible to watch it without a lump in your throat. The fact the scene contains Alfred confessing to Bruce he burnt Rachel's letter, and that it ends with Pennyworth abandoning Bruce for his own good (tragically breaking his promise to Never! leave his friend), makes it nearly impossible to watch. His performance encompassed both resignation and determination along with love for his master who was more like a son to him.
 "You are as precious to me as you were to your own mother and father, I swore to them that I would protect you and I  haven't "

Tom Hardy  was Bane ,the heartless  terrorist leader intent on destroying Gotham City. The sinister, glottal voice was purposely  used by Nolan as he wanted the audience to catch up and participate rather than push everything at them. 
Bane was at his cruelest best when he tells Wayne - "When Gotham is ashes,  you have my permission to die. "

Anne Hathaway in a  sassy and wicked role with a hint of vulnerability impressed everyone .  She trained rigorously for her role as Selina Kyle, working out five days a week on a regime that included stunt training, intensive exercise and dancing. In her own way, Selina Kyle is every bit as intimidating as Bane. She was at her best when she reprimands Bruce Wayne, and Gotham generally, for their complacency. " You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you and your friends are going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large, and leave so little for the rest of us."  When she betrays Batman, and the cage first comes down, we can see through her expressions that she instantly regret her actions. 

Marion Cottilard excelled in both her roles of Wayne's lover and enemy.Her hatred of Batman is made tragic by the realisation that, like Bruce, she is grieving for her dead parent. 
"I could not forgive my father until you murdered him," she says.  
But she has a coldness  which equals that of Bane. Just as Bane left his henchman to perish on the plane, Talia orders her oldest ally to stay behind and guard Batman, so her enemy can feel the heat of the bomb blast's flames. Bane has cared for her since she was a child. It's essentially the equivalent of Bruce leaving Alfred to die. And, ultimately, her disloyalty leads to her undoing. 

John Blake's speech about how he realised Bruce was Batman (through pure detective work and instinct ) is as moving as anything in the film - and it's the first sign of the intense connection the two men share.  When John comments he doesnt care who sees him, Batman corrects him. " You have got to wear a mask, to protect those you care about." 



Modine's journey from careerist Deputy Commissioner Foley   to dedicated cop is one of the delights of the film. Modine goes from boasting about Gordons imminent retirement, to being a coward when Bane takes over the city, he hides away  even letting his wife answer the door to Gordon during a violent occupation. 

Gordon points this out, reminds Foley of their time on the streets together, and asks him " Have you buried your uniform? "
This confrontation with Gordon is a turning point for Foley, and the next time we see him, he's leading a seemingly hopeless charge against Banes army  in full police uniform. It's far from buried. It's gleaming. The moment is indicative of Gordons power to inspire, and mirrors the franchises general theme of the power of good to overwhelm corruption and fear. 
                 
Unlike the other two films women play an important part in this film. Its actually Selina Kyle's actions of stealing  Wayne's mother pearls and  more mysteriously  his own fingerprints from his safe that bring Wayne out from his exile.

The Bat added in this film which Wayne uses  on his very first foray back as Batman  
wipes the smile off a particularly smug Deputy Commissioner and is one of the humorous moments of the film . 
"He's trapped like a rat!" drools Foley, shortly before The Bat roars into action. 
"Are you sure you have the right animal, sir?" A police officer says. 
"Are you sure it's him?" John Blake smiles. 

Coming to the action sequences, the plane heist sequence is by far one of the most impressive. 
Its all the more awe-inspiring when you realise it was shot using real stuntmen, by Chris Nolan circling the scene in a helicopter. 
It is matched by another scene where Batman shoots  out the back of a truck so he can use it as an improvised ramp, to enable him to fly through the sky.  

When Bruce Wayne begins his final attempt to escape Bane's prison without the safety of a rope to halt his fall, he does so because he believes his fear will save him  it will give him the extra edge required to make the final jump. The chant that we hear during this scene was  was composed by Zimmer, who then encouraged thousands of Batman fans to record themselves singing it so he could weave their voices together for the finished article. It was a brilliant way of making the fans feel involved in a project that has held millions captivated for months on end.

Every single villain in The Dark Knight trilogy has offered a choice that turned out to be fixed, and the Scarecrow's court scene contains the most vivid example. 
His sentenced victims are offered a choice between exile or death. The cowardly choose exile. Gordon, as brave as he is good, chooses death. Only to be told: "The sentence is death. By exile."  

Why was The Dark Knight Rises the weakest of the trilogy - 

1. After 'Batman Begins', and 'The Dark Knight' people had high expectations from the last part(though it is really hard to top the latter), and of course the expectations were not met but at the same time the plot is weak. Bruce Wayne is in a prison clearly not in the US but not only he conveniently becomes stronger after broken back he makes it in time to save the city from the bomb. The details associated with the bomb are  in itself very confusing .

2. Bane - Nolan took a compelling actor Tom Hardy and buried his face and his voice. In fact, most of his dialogues in this movie were difficult to hear.The transformation of a  menacing, intelligent, "brute force" who was a towering figure throughout the movie into a secondary villain towards the end was not a very good idea.

3. The threat on the city - 
And the threat on Gotham City, a nuclear one, was surprisingly unorignial considering how innovative the poisonous vapor threat was in "Batman Begins" or how chaos forced the protagnists of Gotham to make extremely troubling decisions in "The Dark Knight." 

4- Misguided Message - Nolan said many times that A Tale of Two Cities   was the inspiration for this film. A Tale of Two Cities was about the French Revolution, in which the poor overthrow the corrupt and decadent rich. In this film, the leader of the poor is Bane, who is the villain , not the hero. And his minions? Yes, they're criminals. It seems this is the exact opposite of Dickens classic. Bane's henchmen literally attack Wall Street, savagely beat the rich and promise the good people of Gotham that "tomorrow, you claim what is rightfully yours." 
Selina's friend (Juno Temple) assures her at one point, when they enter a swanky abode, that "this is everyone's home" now  in perfect Communist fashion. 

5. One of the weakest thing about the film is the lack of tension. In both Batman Begins  and The Dark Knight , there is a genuine level of tension in both Ra's al Ghul attempting to reach the water hub in Wayne Tower and the Joker's midnight dead-line for the boats. However, in The Dark Knight Rises , the tension doesn't work because the bomb plot is so confused. Saying that if one person tries to leave Gotham it will be blown is simply ludicrous and unworkable. 

6. And last but not the least for a batman movie, it doesn't have a lot of batman in it !! ( It takes around 45 minutes for Batman to appear in costume)

In a line this isnt a sequel  this is the concluding chapter of a trilogy. 
The story might be set eight years after The Dark Knight, but  the two films are thoroughly connected. Watching the  three films back to back is what makes this Batman series such a good watch. 

A Must Watch Film

Harud (Autum)

Director: Aamir Bashir 

Writer: Aamir Bashir  , Shanker Raman, Mahmood Farooqui

Cast: Reza Naji, Shahnawaz Bhat, Shamim Basharat, Mudassir Khan, Salma Ashai

What is Harud about?

Harud, or autumn, is the theme of the film. The name comes from the Kashmiri phrase ‘harduk zazur’, which means autumnal decay. In this film, it points to the psychological decay in Kashmir. It is a tale of insecurity, where the elder son of a family  Tauqir, a tourist photographer  goes missing during militant insurgency in Kashmir... how the family falls apart as each one starts blaming the other for the circumstances. It’s a human drama but at the heart of it, Harud symbolises the psychological damage that 20 years of prolonged conflict has caused in Kashmir, even as people go about seeking their own dignity.

Was it difficult for Aamir to shoot in Kashmir ?

(excerpts from an interview)

Kashmir is a difficult place to live. So, shooting there is even more difficult for anybody who comes in from outside with a camera. I was the only Kashmiri among the 18-member crew apart from a few local helpers. So we were seen as outsiders. We shot in Srinagar and Gulmarg. In a violent place, trust is the first thing that goes out of the window. For us it was a challenge to overcome that. We would need to negotiate every day — sometimes with the police and sometimes with the people there. Crowd control was a big task and most crew members were multitasking. But we were lucky. As soon as we finished filming and left Srinagar, protests and violence broke out on the streets. It was my biggest fear that I’d been trying to overcome all the while since I’d taken the risk of taking the entire cast and crew to shoot there.

Born in Srinagar, Kashmir, Aamir Bashir is a professional actor based in Mumbai.

He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 Screen Awards for his role in the film   A Wednesday
Bashir was set to play Khan's younger brother in the film My Name is Khan  , but was denied a visa to the United States in December 2008, where the film was being shot.  He was eventually replaced by Jimmy Shergill as Khan's younger brother.


Harud is a story and screenplay that he has developed over the last 4 years. It is his first venture as a writer, director and producer.

The film , which has been winning laurels in international festivals for the past two years, is finally getting a theatrical release on 27 July.The film will be released with around 15 prints in PVR theatres in some parts of the country.The Hindi film, which has earlier run into trouble with Central Board of Film Certification forcing the filmmaker to run his promos for the film on social networks instead of in theatres.

Gangs Of Wasseypur is not everyone's cup of tea

Gangs of Wasseypur is an epic two part mafia drama about deep-rooted family rivalries. Vengeance, blind ambition and greed oil the wheels of a long-running blood feud between competing godfathers in the  mining towns of Wasseypur and Dhanbad.

 The film opens with a teasing flash-forward to the end of the story, when a gang armed  with bombs and machine guns blast their way into their enemy’s house .

In the first half , the early history of Faizal’s family is told, beginning with the rise of his grandfather Shahid Khan in the days when coal mines represented wealth and power. Shahid Khan  (Jaideep Ahlawat), who is eventually murdered by the young owner of the coal mines, Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia)  , setting off a power struggle between the two clans that lasts till the final reel.

Shahid’s hot-blooded son Sardar (Manoj Bajpai ) shaves his head, vowing not to grow his hair until he exacts revenge for his father’s death. His passion for two women Nagma (Richa Chadda) and Durga (Reemma Sen)gives him a human side and consists of the most entertaining and lighter side of the film.   Sardar’s violent nature makes him the godfather, a role he keeps until betrayed at a gas station.

In the second part  Faizal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a hash smoking pothead, climbs the ladder to power after taking revenge from those who betrayed his father. His romancing Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) is one of the film’s non-violent high points. Addicted to romantic movies,  Mohsina wears the same Ray Bans as Faizal, by which they recognize they are soul mates.

The film's music is one of it's important strengths.  Sneha Khanwalkar  (earlier worked on Love Sex aur Dhokha and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!  )  did a lot of research  into the music . The music is rooted in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Sneha went to the smaller villages in Bihar and found real singers. The track Keh Ke Loonga has become synonymous with Gangs of Wasseypur.  The experimental folk music suits the story and is soothing without taking our mind from the main storyline .

Is  the film really a Hit as advertised by the media and  film producers ? 

The publicity team of 'Gangs of Wasseypur'  left no stone unturned in promoting the film, especially through the social networking sites.The film was screened and appreciated at prestigious film festivals across the globe, so the Indian audiences were excited  for its release. However, the response to the film is not as overwhelming as expected.

First part of GOW was produced with the budget of 9.4 cr nett along with a 7 crore -8crore promotion and advertising cost taking the total budget to 17 to 18 crores.

  

Film has earned  around 27 crore .That means film will have a distributor share of 12 crore and producers will get 14-15 cr from theaters. Film earned 6 cr from satellite rights and other streams. This will make full recovery in the region of 19-20 cr. This means a thin profit of 3-4 crores. If a film earns such a slim profit even after huge promotions then it should be termed as a disappointment.  ( Paan Singh Tomar (film) , Vicky Donor , Hate Story ) all had lower promotion budget in comparison to GOW but earned more ) .

 The combined budget of both the parts is Rs.18.5 crores but expenditure on marketing takes the budget to around Rs.36 crores -40 crores, thus making it  the first big budget film by Anurag Kashyap. Anurag Kashyap has produced the film with Viacom18 as co-producer.

With The Dirty Picture stopped from being screened on the prime time, buyers of satellite rights have become cautious about buying  A grade films like Gangs of Wasseypur .    

The Second part is scheduled to release a week before Ek Tha Tiger. So, its Second Week and Lifetime Collections would be largely affected.

Reasons why Gangs of Wasseypur  didn’t click with the audience –

1.The  historical references and the details of how the coal mafia works though were informative but they also made the film slow and gave  a documentary feel to the film.

 2. The screenwriter  attempted to embed the tale in a historical and political context but  it failed to leave an impact  amid all the mayhem.

  

3. The first half of the film was entertaining but it started getting on the nerves after the 10 minute journey of slaughterhouse and hanging carcasses.

  

 4. Extensive use of coarse abuses  kept the family audience away from the film.

5. The highlights of Part 1 were Manoj Bajpayee's acting and Anurag Kashyap's story telling. But in the second part there is no Manoj and we already know the storyline .

6.Those who didn’t watch part 1 will surely  give the second part a miss and half of the audience who saw part 1 and were tortured by the bloodshed and unnecessary violence( like me)  will surely avoid it .

Anurag Kashyap  has  never followed a fixed path and is known for dark themes .But the one thing he must understand about cinema is that something should be left to the imagination of the viewers. Killing people in every scene with swords, bullets or bombs is not the kind of entertainment an average movie goer expects. Violence can be conveyed through words too.  

Review of Cocktail

One word which describes the film -  Complicated

Best Dialogue – Na salim na ,aur bhi gham hai zamane main mohabbat ke siva .

Genre- Comedy / Romance

Director-  Homi Adajania

Producer –  Saif Ali Khan , Dinesh Vijan

Music Director – Pritam

Cast –  Saif Ali Khan ,  Deepika Padukone , Diana Penty

Budget –  45 crores

Cocktail is a mixture of Diana’s sweetness , Deepika’s hotness and Saif’s second hand jawani . The film dealt with free sex, booze ,live in relations ,  24- 7 parties . They just needed to add the psychiatrist angle to the film and it could have been a complete mirror of the American lifestyle.

Diana showed good acting potential in the first half of the film . It was her first film but she managed to stay at par with the other two actors.

Saif as  a womanizer was totally unfit for the role. We loved him in a similar role in  Hum Tum  but  then he was 8 years younger in that film . He looked better in the second half but in total it was a very average performance. 

The surprise element of the film for sure was Deepika Padukone. It  was an author-backed role and she gave such a powerful performance .Right from her entry to the last scene she totally charmed the audience. She was as comfortable in a bikini as she was in an evening gown or an Indian dress. She portrayed the part of a confused ,spoilt rich girl so perfectly that we could feel her pain and emotions.


Randeep Hooda had a good one minute entry as an angry young man but after that he was totally wasted .At this point in his career when he has received appreciation for his powerful performances in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster  and    Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai  he should be very selective while choosing films . 

Boman and Dimple are veteran actors and they left an impact even in their very small roles.

It was the most awaited romance of 2012 but there is not a single  dialogue which will be remembered long after the film is totally forgotten. Don’t we still remember Deepika saying to Rishi  Kapoor in   Love Aaj Kal  - “ek akhiri  baar bye kehna kyon zaroori hota hai? Or Saif  in the climax saying  - “Tum bhi kamaal karti ho Jaaneman “

    

I hope the censor had clearer guidelines in giving a film A /  U certificate . Though the film had  no scenes or abusive language but the content was such that I would surely want  my kids to stay away from it.

In a line  if you are a die-hard Deepika fan you will love this Cocktail . Don’t expect a great romance and you will not be disappointed .

Review of Bol Bachchan

One word which describes the film – Mind-Shake 
(It happened everytime Devgan called Junior B Abhi-shake )

Best Dialogue  (here Cheapest) – meri chaati garv se phool jaati hai, my chest becomes blouse !!

Genre- Comedy / Drama

Director-  Rohit Shetty

Producer – Ajay Devgn , Fox Star Studios 

Music Director - Himesh Reshammiya  , Ajay-Atul

Cast –  Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, and Prachi Desai

Budget – 45  crores

                                                         

It happens only in India that a director takes a very ghisi-piti story adds some very childish dialogues and it becomes a hit . Bol Bachcan in just 4 days has collected almost 60 crores worldwide.  Rohit Shetty must be the only director who can get away with such kind of nonsensical films not once ,not twice but four times ! It’s like he has  achieved an  Amir Khan kind of  status where silly comedy is concerned ,whatever  he serves the audience in the name of comedy  is watched loyally by them again and again . Most of the scenes have been taken from old films. There are flying cars ,people flying and  one hero beating 10- 10 people. Even the climax has shades of Welcome (2007 film) and   No Entry .

We cheered and whistled when Ajay as Bajirao Singham taught the criminals a lesson or when Abhishek as ACP Vishnu Kamath in Dum Maro Dum fought against the drug mafia but to watch Ajay and Abhishek in such roles where they had nothing much to do was not at all an enriching experience.

Even Ajay Devgan’s kids won’t laugh at such dialogues – Open the window shopping,let the atmosphere come in or Brother in law will die Tommy’s death (translation- saale ko kutte ki maut marunga !!)

Rohit Shetty must have made some blood  promise to Archana Puran Singh while he was judging Comedy Circus, other than that there is no reason for justifying Archana having  more dialogues than Asin and Prachi Desai combined . Krushna Abhishek is a talented actor but he will surely not be remembered for his performance in this film .

My sincere advice to Rohit Shetty is that making a film  takes at least 2 years of your life (that is if you are not RGV, who can make films like Not a Love Story in just 2 months) .I totally believe that  film making is a business and it’s sole aim should be to earn money but along with money  if you can earn name and fame wouldn’t that be an icing on the cake?

In one line watching such films can be injurious to your health , wealth and image (in hindi swasthya ke liye hanikarak hai ! )                                                                            

Upcoming Film COCKTAIL

Cocktail  is the most awaited rom-com-drama film of 2012 .People are expecting that  Saif Ali Khan along with Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty will re-create the magic of  Love Aaj Kal .

Cocktail’s music (Music Director - Pritam ) has already become a hit among the youth with most of it’s song topping the charts . Yaariyan ,  a soft rock ballad sung by  Mohan Kanan is the most melodious song of the film.

Cocktail is directed by Homi Adajania His directorial debut Being Cyrus (2005) was an off-beat English psychological drama film.

Cocktail because of it’s good publicity will get a good opening but it will not be able to break the last hit film’s Rowdy Rathore ‘s record.

Love Aaj Kal  made for a budget of 26 crores collected 62 crores worldwide in its opening weekend.

The budget of Cocktail is higher (45 Crores ) so to become a hit it has to   break the 100 crore mark in the opening week. I think it will be a difficult task as the complicated storyline will not appeal to the masses.

Saif Ali Khan’s last production venture Agent Vinod  was not able to recover it’s cost . Deepika’s last  hit film was    Housefull  in 2010 so both of them desperately need a hit.

Hollywood film Cocktail  (1988) starring Tom Cruise (as a talented and ambitious bartender ) and Elisabeth Shue was a big hit earning almost 10 times its budget .

Malayalam thriller film Cocktail  (2010) directed by Arun Kumar was an average grosser.