After Thoughts: Why Do Lafzon Ki Kahani Is A Dated Adaptation

Few hours ago as I stepped into the theatre to catch the preview of Do Lafzon Ki Kahani, my expectation level was set to witness a decent movie on-screen if not the best, given that it’s an adaptation of the popular Korean blockbuster, Always and it stars the versatile Randeep Hooda as the male protagonist opposite Kajal Aggarwal.

Randeep Hooda and Kajal Aggarwal

However the exhaustive screenplay, sloppy dialogue delivery on both ends and a loosely stringed plot had me wishing the film was just about two words and not two hours.

While there is a visible display of efforts in this Deepak Tijori film, the eventual result is an unfortunate collapse. After watching the film for over two hours, the one thought that blanketed my mind was how it is a dated adaptation.

Here’s why Do Lafzon Ki Kahaani is a dated adaptation, read on…

1. K-K-K- Cliché: In an era where love ‘blossoms’ at the click of a right swipe, the ‘sudden’ rain sequence when the lead pair meets for the first time would have been an ideal mute cute two decades ago. The steady pace and prolonged delay to their togetherness is a cliché, the audience no longer embraces.

 

 

2. Hamming fest: The female protagonist Jenny (played by Kajal Aggarwal) suddenly starts sobbing in moments, loud enough for one to confuse it for laughter. Suraj played by Randeep Hooda who has received acclaim for his performance in Sarbjit too seemed to have joined the female lead in certain places with sloppy dialogue delivery.

 

3. L .F (Missing Logic Feels): This was exactly my state of mind at multiple junctures while watching the film. For instance when Jenny, (played by Kajal Aggarwal) who is visually impaired was shown to be trying outfits and drawing judgements in front of the mirror. In the final scene, when Jenny goes looking for Suraj (played by Randeep Hooda) she simply couldn’t trace him until she ‘magically’ knew he  would be chilling by the lake. (Okay, not literally chilling, but you get the point.)

 

4. Old book, new cover: To sum up all that I felt about Suraj’s journey as a boxer, his dark past and the longing love story of Suraj and Jenny, it eventually turned out to be a case of an old book wrapped in a new cover.

 

P.S: This post is NOT intended to point a finger at the actors or makers of the film, personally and is just a reflection on this film. Okay, Bye.

After Thoughts: Why Dear Dad Oozes With Realism

“Some films strive to exemplify cinema with a purpose,” I found myself saying, as I exited Tanuj Bhramar’s Dear Dad preview starring Arvind Swamy and Himanshu Sharma in lead roles.

Sentiments that convey reality must be echoed loud and clear, so read on and find out why I think Dear Dad oozes with realism…

1. Dialogues: The dialogues most often bind together the reality factor of a film and in this case, dialogues heightened the realism. An instance would be a conversation between Nitin Swaminathan (played by Arvind Swamy)and his son  Shivam Swaminathan (played by Himanshu Sharma). When Nitin prompts Shivam about keeping up with the IPL matches on TV in a hostel setup, the latter replies, “Humein TV ki kya zarurat hai? Hum toh sab mobile pe dekhte hai?” (What do we need TV for? We all use the mobile to watch the matches)

   Now that’s a reality pointed out well, mobile phones are our first screens today!

 

A still from Dear Dad

 

2. Arrangement of characters: A father who is homosexual, an adolescent son who won’t accept it at once and a rising reality TV shows’ star whose fame is anything but real. These are characters we know of, there exist men who do learn about their sexual preference much later or sometimes are even aware of but forced to a lead a societal ‘normal’ life. For an adolescent, unless knowledge is imparted, homosexuality is considered abnormal and as for the reality TV star, with no offence to anyone, their fame is often known to be pseudo and short lived.

The arrangement and traits of the characters’ don’t make them appear from another planet.

Arvind Swamy as Nitin Swaminathan, dad

Himanshu Sharma as Shivam Swaminathan, the son

 

3. Emotions not attention erosion: Given the sensitivity of the situation and the emotional value attached to the father-son relationship, the display of emotions could go haywire to become a melodramatic watch eroding the viewers’ attention, but Thank good God and Arvind Swamy’s  acting skills majorly to be under the skin of the character and not turn it into a weepy fest.

The audience much like Pushpa’s Rajesh Khanna hates too many tears.

4. The subject: The plot of the film together didn’t collapse because it explores the father-son relationship as opposed to father-daughter relationship. While a father-daughter have their daddy and daddy’s little girl association; a father-son are known to communicate fairly less in most cases, yet deep down the duo has certain unsaid expectations from each other.

The less words in father-son relationship made for more content.   

Arvind Swamy and Himanshu Sharma

 P.S: Is the film all that you call picture perfect and there hasn’t been a better film? That would be no. The film flatters a little too many times and is seen fumbling as it tries to battle a big message in a relatively small run time. But Arvind Swamy’s acting and the reality game deserve an applause!

Why SRK Starrer Fan Is A Misfit For 2016

When one speaks of Bollywood, there are rare chances that Shah Rukh Khan’s name isn’t mentioned or better even his signature step where his hands spread out gesturing a hug isn’t imitated, at least once. A man of grandeur, with a noteworthy career and humongous wealth serving as inspirational case study for aspiring actors and entrepreneurs; he’s the face of mid 90s, 00s, 2010s and perhaps for decades to follow.

Picture Credit: Bollypop

Given how his recent film, Fan featuring SRK v/s SRK was promoted in his unique fashion; for instance releasing the trailer on 29^th  February  or having the title crafted out of his fans’ pictures; I was pretty gaga about  watching it and I did make sure to catch it on the same weekend.

A still from the Fan anthem, Jabra

The whole Haye re Jabra Fan ho gaya vibe was on fleek to make any SRK fan flush Gerua. His honesty in presenting his character Aryan Khanna’s character built on fans and wise choice of words,  or his show of splendid acting through Gaurav Chandna’s character (I have to confess Gaurav’s character stayed with me)  was downright impressive BUT I can’t stop thinking how it is a misfit for 2016. Don’t agree with me? Read these reasons…

1. The Twitter effect: We live in the web age where Twitter is a platform for fans to directly interact with their favourite celebs, without any guards. Especially given that Aryan Khanna’s part was played by SRK himself, who is known to be responsive to his fans; wasn’t aware of his obsessive fan’s existence seemed a little out of place.

2. Reality check: In a scene where Gaurav could simply enter an upcoming celeb’s vanity van and there was absolutely NO security, forget alone the infamous celebrity ‘team’ being around, appeared to be far from reality.

3. One man show: Remember how towards the end, Aryan (SRK) decides to teach Gaurav a lesson by visiting Delhi sans the security and taking the matter entirely his hand? Yes, not only does he manage to solely take a trip to the capital city; the superstar is even spotted chasing Gaurav on the streets without creating much of a hullabaloo in a time when the population of Delhi is approximately more than 25 million!

4. Here’s my number, so find out maybe: As Gaurav’s character takes an obsessive turn, we see him making these dorky calls, almost like creating a chill down team Aryan’s spine, they can’t ‘detect’ the private number. Given that the megastar has all the resources in this tech-savvy, hack-forward generation, he couldn’t track down the number?

 

P.S: This post is not intended at infuriating SRK fans or anyone who enjoyed watching Fan, the platform exists so there is an exchange of words and thoughts; these flaws exist in a magnificent movie like Fan probably because,” Bade bade deshon mein, aisi choti choti baatein hoti rahti hain.”  #SorryNotSorry