Author: admin

Posted on

Not Villains; Victims Of Circumstances – Hussain Zaidi Books And Movies

This post is about three Hussain Zaidi’s books and the movies based on them. For people who are not familiar with his background it needs to be mentioned that he worked as a crime reporter in Mumbai for a very long time. These three books are: Black Friday: The true story of the Bombay blasts, Dongri to Dubai : Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia and Mafia Queens of Mumbai. Out of these two have already come as movies. The name of the first movie is same as the title of the book directed by Anurag Kashyap. Dongri to Dubai was made into Shootout at Wadala movie directed by Sanjay Gupta. It was about the first recorded police encounter in Mumbai of Manya Surve, an educated gangster. From Mafia Queens of Mumbai book the story of Gangubai  Kathiawadi has been taken for the upcoming movie titled with the same name. She was sold into prostitution by her boyfriend Ramnik Lal and later she becomes the madam of a brothel in Kamatipura. Gangubai did a lot of work for the well being of the sex workers and also orphans. Famous gangster Karim lala considered her as his rakhi sister and gave the command of Kamatipura area to her. This film is being directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and is likely to be released in the later half of 2021.

Mumbai avengers

All three movies have taken only one chapter of those books respectively. Apart from the above mentioned there is also a  fiction book called Mumbai Avengers which was made into Phantom movie directed by Kabir Khan. The story of Mumbai Avengers is set five years after 26/11 Taj attacks on Mumbai. It is about how a retired Indian army officer Gen. Sayid Ali Warris masterminds an operation to kill the conspirators of 26/11 with the help of policemen, tech experts etc. But in the movie it was portrayed as a one man mission played by Saif Ali Khan.  

1. Black Friday: The true story of the Bombay Blasts

This book mainly deals with the bomb blasts that happened in the city of Mumbai on March 12th 1993, how the blasts shocked the entire nation, its aftermath and most importantly the backstory of why they happened. Black Friday begins off with people going about their business as usual completely unaware of the calamity. Afterwards we see a detailed account of the blasts and from there we move on to the incident of Babri Masjid demolition and how it led to the blasts. There is a lot that Hussain Zaidi packs in the book from police officers who would break the law in the course of the investigation to the innocent and illiterate young Muslims who were dragged into this. Hussain Zaidi writes all these things in an engaging manner and makes you understand the root causes for these blasts. 

Anurag Kashyap did absolute justice to the book with his outstanding direction. It also helped that the film had powerhouse performers like Kay Kay Menon, Pavan Malhotra etc. 

2. Dongri to Dubai: Six decades of Mumbai Mafia  

Dongri to Dubai is an attempt to chronicle the history of the Mumbai Mafia. It is a story of many gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Chota Rajan, Varadarajan Mudaliar and above all Dawood Ibrahim, a young man who took the crime route in spite of having a father in the police force. It talks about how Dawood Ibrahim was used as a pawn by the Bombay police and eventually how he became the nemesis for them. His story is primarily about a boy from Dongri becoming a don in Dubai. As earlier said Manya Surve’s life is a brief chapter in this book and this was expanded by director Sanjay Gupta in his film Shootout at Wadala which was a sequel to Shootout at Lokandwala. An interesting thing about Manya is that he was a graduate who was looking to lead a normal life but he gets falsely implicated in a murder. He escapes from prison with the help of a muslim friend and later rises to huge prominence. He was known for his strategic planning and daredevilry. Manya Surve’s encounter was the first recorded encounter in Mumbai, as mentioned earlier. The book is divided into two eras and writer Hussain Zaidi’s narrative style is very gripping and engrosses you thoroughly. The stories of all the gangsters are very interesting and through them the writer tells you about how they operated their networks with the help of police officials themselves. 

Shootout at Wadala may not be as satisfying as Black Friday but it is still an engaging commercial entertainer which manages to successfully capture that period. John Abraham as Manya delivered a committed performance. 

3. Mafia Queens of Mumbai

Mafia Queens of Mumbai talks about a few female gangsters who made their way up in the world of male gangsters. The book was a collection of stories both from Kamatipura and Dongri. Recently there was an interview of Hussain Zaid where he said while researching for the book he found that female gangsters are more courageous, brave and manipulative than men. This feels quite true when you look at some of the stories in the book particularly Sapna Didi and Gangubai. Sapna Didi was the wife of a gangster who worked for Dawood Ibrahim. After her husband gets killed by him she decides to take revenge for his death with the help of another gangster. She takes two months of training at the place of Hussain Ustara by learning to ride bikes, using gun etc. She plans to kill Dawood at a cricket stadium but gets betrayed in the last minute and it is said that her murder was the most brutal murder in the history of gangsterism. Though she failed in killing Dawood there is no doubting of her bravery and courage.

Champion of sex workers’ rights

As far as Gangubai she actively championed for the rights of sex workers and their empowerment. There is a famous speech of her on sex workers and she even had a conversation with Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss their problems. In the book there is a conversation between her and Nehru where Nehru asks her why she ended up in this business when she could have found herself a nice husband. If true, Gangubai’s reply to this is very bold. She asked him whether he would marry her. This leaves Nehru red faced and she goes on to say it is easy to preach but tough to practice. All  the stories in the book are very unique in their own manner and you never feel any boredom. It is one of those books which can be rightly called as a page turner. 

With Sanjay Leela Bhansali helming it and a talented performer like Alia playing the title role it is expected to be a solid film.  I would end by recommending both to read Hussain Zaid’s books and see the movies based on those books. The specialty of Hussain Zaidi is he never caricatures any of the gangsters. He in fact humanises them. Portrays them as victims of circumstances rather than outright villains.

Posted on

LUDO: An Engaging Game & A Typical Anurag Basu Film

Ludo directed by Anurag Basu is a good comeback by the director after a slightly underwhelming Jagga Jasoos. The director returns to his familiar terrain of multi narrative earlier seen in Life In A Metro and delivers a film which entertains you along with exploring the different facets of society. The film has also got a philosophical touch as it deals with the perception of Karma and Dharma. 

The film begins off with two characters contemplating the purposefulness of life and death while playing a game of Ludo. One of them is played by Anurag Basu himself. They are not just narrators but they are also gods of destiny in writing the fate of the principal characters. The dice which unites the individual stories is Sattu Bhaiya played by Pankaj Tripati. Sattu wants to settle scores with his once right hand man Bittu played by Abhishek Bachchan. Bittu just comes out of jail and is dealing with scars of his past. He gets a redemptive arc when he finds a young girl Minni who is of his daughter’s age played by the charming Inyat Varma. She restores the moral balance in his life. 

Another part of the story involves Akash and his once girlfriend Shruti. These characters are played by Aditya Roy Kapoor and  Sanya Malhotra respectively. They are dealing with a problematic situation of their sex video coming out on a adult website prior to her marriage with someone else. Rajkumar Rao and Fatima Sana Sheikh form another important part of this game. Rajkumar Rao plays a quintessential hero who is in love with his childhood sweetheart Pinky but now Pinky is a wife and mother to someone else. The portion involving these two is both bizzare and entertaining. Rounding off the cast there are also Rohit Saraf, actor in Dear Zindagi and Sky is Pink  and for once  he is not playing a brother here, and Pearle Maaney. They are trying to run away with the unexpected money they got hold of.  

The most important thing for any multi starrer movie is the intersection of the subplots. This is not easy to do but Anurag Basu does a very good job in establishing a coherent narrative. You get the connections quite easily without having to scratch your brains. The film has a smooth flow and the character links have been well established. 

The best thing about the film is the circumstances in which all these characters find themselves in and the humor that Basu evokes from their helplessness. It often seesaws between a black comedy and a musical drama. 

The best example of this are the scenes involving a very animated Rajkumar Rao. We see him venting out his frustration in such a way that we can’t help but chuckle while at the same time feeling for him. The entire track of Rajkumar Rao is quite filmy and it is very clear that he had a blast playing this one. 

Just like Life in A Metro Anurag Basu explores many facets of society through different characters. The most significant one being faithlessness and empty values in both marriage and love. There is also the crime angle which is explored through Pankaj Tripati and Abhishesk’s characters. 

Out of all the tracks two tracks work better. The first one is Abhishek Bachchan and the little girl Inyat Varma’s heartwarming scenes. Their story is the soul of the film. Basu does a very good job in establishing their bond. Another track was the one between Aditya Roy Kapoor and Sanya. It is good to see Aditya in a very relaxed avatar. He is particularly good in his voice artist avatar. Here we get some sharp political comments on BJP and Republic TV. Both of them share a good chemistry and Sanya as a woman who is desperate to marry a rich man embodies the current aspirations of youth in general. 

Pritam’s music isn’t of the chartbuster type but it still works. The main songs have been used well and the climax song where we see a full blown action sequence is a fitting finale for this tragi- comedy. 

The one issue that I had with the film is the character of Pankaj Tripati. Although the actor is very good as usual his character arc could have been better, as promised in the beginning.  

In this crowded film the actors who stand out are Rajkumar Rao, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Fatima Sana Sheikh.  In totality, Ludo keeps you thoroughly engaged and gives you the satisfaction of understanding our current value system a little more.

Posted on

Laxmii: Good Message, But A Little Too Loud

Over the years Akshay Kumar has taken subjects outside the commercial arena and made them accessible within the commercial zone. For example, there is Padman where Akshay played a man who creates a machine that can make affordable sanitary pads. There is also Toilet Ek Prem Katha in which Akshay’s character has to go against the entire village and also his father in order to build a toilet for his wife. In short he has been playing the social reformer in commercial films. 

Laxmii directed by Raghava Lawrence is no different. In this film Akshay’s character is possessed by a transgender ghost who is looking for revenge. For those who do not know Laxmii is a remake of the Tamil film Kanchana directed by the same man. Just like the original it is loud and takes time to come together, but it has its heart at the right place particularly in the flashback portion. 

The basic plot in both the films is about a transgender spirit taking over an unsuspecting man to settle her scores. In the remake Akshay (Asif) and Kiara Advani play a married couple. Asif is an outsider for her family because he is a Muslim and Rajesh Sharma who plays Kiara’s father doesn’t approve of his daughter’s choice. But things take a good turn after a long time when the mother invites her daughter and son in law for a special occasion. What follows is a horror comedy, at the heart of which is societal discrimination of transgenders. 

The film takes its time to kick in and it honestly starts engaging you after Akshay’s character starts behaving as a transgender person. These portions have been well executed and here we see a totally different Akshay Kumar. It also helps that Akshay plays this part with gay abandon and embraces the character whole heartedly. Earlier also we have had actors playing transgender roles like Paresh Rawal in Tamanna but it makes a huge difference when you have an A list actor playing this role as it reaches a wider audience. 

However the film’s biggest strength is its flashback episodes where we see Sharad Kelkar playing Laxmii. Sharad is extraordinary. Even if he is not there for a long time he does complete justice to it. Through his role Raghava Lawrence effectively portrays the message that he wants to deliver. 

The climax although loud is still satisfying. The entire dance sequence of Bambole has been done with lot of enthusiasm and the different dance steps are interesting to watch. The one thing that is particularly admirable is the energy of Akshay Kumar. You feel happy when Laxmii gets her revenge with many transgender people cheering on. 

The comedy track of Ayesha Raza and Ashwini Kaleskar (mother and sister in law of Kiara Advani’s character) belongs to the loud category but it still works better than the romantic angle of Akshay and Kiara. 

What would have made the film better are the initial portions. The conflict point of why Rajesh Sharma doesn’t accept Akshay has not been explored and after a point it is pushed to the background. In fact the entire track of Rajesh Sharma is disappointing. But Kiara’s character is more so. She is the biggest weak link in Laxmii. She doesn’t have a lot to do but even in the scenes where she could have done something she disappoints. It looks like she is still stuck in the Kabir Singh zone. 

For a film like this suspension of belief is very necessary particularly if you have not seen the original. There will be scenes where you will think about the lack of rationality.  In totality, Laxmii is one of those commercial entertainers which has its heart in the right place. It delivers an important message about respecting transgenders and treating them as fellow human beings.

Posted on

Miss India: Tea Served Cold

It is not an easy task to make a good female centric film, the reason being you need a lot more than just a strong protagonist. When done well it gives good results like Keerthy Suresh’s ‘Mahanati’ which was a satisfying cinematic experience, or other films like ‘Kahaani,’ ‘Fashion,’ ‘Dear Zindagi’ and others. However when not directed well the results are like Miss India starring the national award winner Keerthy Suresh. 

Miss India narrates the story of Samyuktha who is convinced that she is born to do business and this is established very clearly early on. The problem is that her mother and brother are horrified with her decision. They tell her in no uncertain terms good girls only need education in order to get a good groom while only bad girls step out. The rest of the journey is about how Samyuktha achieves her dreams by going against her mother and brother. Nadia plays the mother and Naresh plays the father. The father is pretty inconsequential in the scheme of the things as he has Alzheimer’s. Rajendra Prasad plays the grandfather who dies very early on in the film. 

The biggest problem with Miss India is its treatment. All achiever stories have a predictable arc but as a director you can make it interesting with the treatment. But here the director squanders the opportunity in spite of having a national award winning actress and also Nadia and Naresh who were very successful together in ‘Drishyam’ and AA. The silliness of the film can be seen in every frame. For example Samakyukta gets an MBA degree from a San Francisco college without attending any class. The way she wants to spread the benefits of Indian Chai is very comical to say the least. 

It also doesn’t help that her encounters with men aren’t executed with much flair. If done well they could have been interesting but the flair and wit are completely missing. Also the male characters are too one-dimensional, whether that is Naveen Chandra in the beginning or Sumanth Shailendra in the later portions. 

A strong antagonist is a very important thing in a film like this but here again the director Narendra Nath misses the mark in spite of having Jagapati Babu who has built a strong reputation for himself with negative characters in ‘Legend’ and ‘Aravinda Sametha.’ It is a track which starts decently but soon dissolves into something which is utterly stupid. 

The schemes of Jagapati Babu are hair brained to say the least and each plan is sillier than the other. His redemption at the end is also done for the sake of it more than anything else. The movie was released on Wednesday on Netflix.

While it wouldn’t be entirely right to blame Keerthy Suresh she also doesn’t help her cause with her rather dull acting. Honestly none of the acting performances register which tells a lot given that even bad films have at least one redeeming quality. 

In totality Miss India has a decent storyline where it wants to show a strong woman but it misses the mark by miles. Best avoided even if you like Keerthy Suresh’s acting in Mahanati.