In Bawaal, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal) directs a drama about a young couple set in modern Lucknow. The story written by his spouse and writer-director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (who made the excellent Nil Battey Sannaataa) interestingly juxtaposes the personal as well as inter-personal conflicts in their lives with a wider canvas of the world war.
Varun plays Ajay Dikshit aka Ajju Bhai, sporting a macho image to the outside world while trying to cloak his insecurities arising from being a mediocre all along, including what he cribs as a drab job of being a history teacher. Janhvi plays a much more competent and grounded Nisha, albeit having to struggle with challenges of her own. What begins as a normal marriage soon descends into discord when Ajju fails to face the reality. A series of events result in the couple embarking on a journey across Europe, visiting locations connected with the second world war.
What unfolds is a pretty good drama as the trip thaws a frosty relationship and pushes Ajju to face his deep seated anxieties. Helped with a good dose of humour, scenic vistas and intelligent interplay between the history and contemporary, the narrative keeps it simple as it chugs along briskly with minimal melodrama and even its contrivances are not too jarring. Both Varun and Janhvi turn in convincing performances and. are supported well by artists playing cameos.
In the seventh installment of the MI series, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have crafted a superlative action flick. The movie barrels down its 243 minutes runtime very much like its age-defying superstar who continues to sprint immaculately.
It hits a relentless pace from the word go till its exciting cliff hanger of an ending looking into an exciting abyss and what is waiting to unfold in the sequel to be released next year as we await it with bated breath.
It does everything one could ask for - familiar set of characters from IMF along with some new ones, machiavellian villains seeking world dominance, a foe that is contemporary, globe-trotting narrative propelled by brilliant action sequences including a crazy chase, a healthy sprinkling of humour and a few strands of emotional beats between the key characters, and at the heart of it all, Tom Cruise who is still hitting it out of the park, even after crossing sixty - a perfect recipe for a summer blockbuster.
Maamannan (Vadivel) is a legislator from an oppressed community and has a difficult personal relationship with son Athiveeran (Udhayanidhi) due to a traumatic event in their past. On the professional front, he shares a fraught relationship with Rathnavel (Fahaad Fasil) who is an aspiring leader from a dominant community and also has psycopathic tendencies centred on retaining his position of power over those he sees as below him.
When a series of seemingly minor events spiral out of control unexpectedly, he is confronted with a situation that raises serious questions over his entrenched sense of authority. The entire first half is a fire cracker which culminates in an explosive interval point. The rest of the movie sees how each of these three leads try to handle the consequences and assert their voice and choice over the other side. Alas, the latter half treads a predictable path and does not manage to create an impact comparable to the first. That is all the more unfortunate given the potential of the material as well as the cast and technical crew at hand.
Vadivel towers over everyone in the titular role, delivering a mature and richly layered performance that is worthy of many plaudits. He packs an impactful punch, whether in the intensely emotional moments or in sequences where he showcases restraint with a seething undercurrent of rage against injustice.
2023 seems to be a year of rebirth of popular comics. After Soori's cinematic reincarnation in Vetrimaaran's Viduthalai earlier this year, Mari Selvaraj reimagines Vadivel in his unique style.
In his third film, after Pariyerum Peumal and Karnan, director Mari Selvaraj continues to explore the conflict points between those who have traditionally been in power and those who have been oppressed under them. His movies continue to speak for those who have been deprived of the rights to raise their voice even to acknowledge the atrocities that they are subjected to on a daily basis. Fahad delivers chilling and menacing performance, especially with those powerful eyes which speak volumes. Udhayanidhi turns in a neat performance of simmering rage that is ready to explode. The fact that he manages to hold his own amidst aces like Vadivel, Fahadh and Keerthi is a testament of his evolution from the breezy roles of his OKOK days. Keerthi registers her presence in an otherwise limited role.
The movie is replete with several subtle and not-so-subtle symbolisms that has come to define his filming style, especially the liberal use of animals like dogs, horses and pigs as metaphors to convey his themes, in his usage of monochromes for certain sequences, his inter-cuts in certain others. There are also those stretches which document unspeakable cruelty - mostly, mimicking actual events in the past and present - to men and animals by those in power just to stamp their authority and to trample upon those they consider lowly and meek.
Rahman has delivered a powerful album including couple of energetic anthems, a soulful melody and a wrenching dirge to accentuate key moments in the narrative.
RATING - 3.5/5
A POWERFUL MOVIE - that could've been much much more !!
