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Just two shows on the first day and less than 10 viewers in the theater for a rare Bollywood film made on the subject of medical malpractice! Why?
Because in our country we don’t really like to see or talk about the real problems and just wish to enjoy a fantasy world presented along some action, dance and music, featuring our favourite actors. Also, because here cinema is just meant for ‘a time pass entertainment’ and is not considered anywhere close to something significant like literature, music or painting. As a result, neither the exhibitors are willing to give any major attention to off- beat projects like these, nor the viewers are interested in WASTING their time on such meaningful, preachy and socially relevant movies quite frankly (Pun intended).
So in that scenario, when one clearly knows that it will be tough to get a good number of shows as well audience into the theaters, I would first like to congratulate the producers of ANKUR ARORA MURDER CASE, who had the blessed vision to finance such a film for a market which is widely known to stay aloof and discourage this kind of film-making from last few decades. Thankfully we still have such responsible people in the industry who do care to address some burning issues of the society through the medium of cinema, so all is not lost yet.
Talking about the film itself, usually I am not supportive to projects which unofficially borrow from some hidden foreign sources heavily. But ANKUR ARORA MURDER CASE can be left as an exception since it does raise a very important issue of our Indian society at present, regarding the questionable status of life saver DOCTORS & their Private Hospitals. The whole medical premise of its script and the proceedings of the court with the mention of number1 being changed to 9 is straight away taken from Sidney Lumet’sTHE VERDICT starring Paul Newman, which itself is a true masterpiece from the West revealing the ugly commercial aspects of this noble profession (Included in my ‘Movies To See Before You Die List’ too). Interestingly the makers of AAMC are widely publicizing it to be based on a real life happening. But if it really is about an actual incident then either this is a rarest of rare case of real life copying the reel life or The Almighty must have seen THE VERDICT before repeating an exactly similar case in this part of the world.
However getting over with the inspired status of the film, AAMC is a decently made flick focusing on an irresponsible mistake by a famous and reputed doctor, who instead of admitting & apologizing, tries to cover up the case with his powerful influence. As the truth comes out, a case is filed on the hospital and the doctor, turning the film into a court room drama in its second half which is both intense and emotional in its execution. Now though it surely could have been much more hard hitting and impressive in its overall portrayal of the issue as expected. Yet it is no doubt a pretty decent and worth praising attempt from the entire team for sure, including many spellbinding performances from the cast led by Kay Kay Menon.
In few words, AAMC deserves to be seen both for its crucial issue raised, as well as for its brilliant key performance by Kay Kay as the culprit doctor, Tisca Chopra as the helpless mother and Arjun Mathur as the honest intern together. No one can deny the fact that Kay Kay is one of the most under-rated actors we have at present who truly deserves more good roles and praises both. But here Tisca Chopra shines even brighter in the film as the silent mother witnessing the justice denied by the court with only her tearful eyes looking into the dark. The lady once again proves the unexplored hidden talent in her, post TAARE ZAMEEN PAR in 2007 and she truly needs to be given much more chances like these to come up with even better. Arjun Mathur makes the best use of the opportunity given in the role of a revolting intern having a ‘still alive conscience’ and Vishakha supports him well as his colleague. In the court room sequences, Paoli Dam delivers a powerful act playing the lawyer with some great dialogues and Manish Chaudhari, Vishesh Tiwari (The Kid) and Harsh Chhaya perform just fine. The camera captures the tragic emotional sequences in the film beautifully and the Background Score gives it full support in generating the desired impact.
Admittedly, it’s not a great classic film which would force you to stand up and clap as you might be thinking. It has its own set of flaws, like an unwanted sub-plot of suicide attempt along with the love angle & few songs, as usual. But still it does successfully makes you think about the state we are living in, wherein the established doctors are more worried about their huge hospital running expenses and the intern doctors are more worried about their future careers instead of admitting the mistake they all had made in the operation theater.
It makes you fearful, watching the way a reputed doctor performs a minor operation with an absent mind and over confidence leading to some adverse consequences beyond control. And it even forces you to question that have we lost this noble God-like profession too in the current monetary race of our blind society?
AAMC also needs to be considered as a trend setting film because we have simply stopped making projects talking about our own social issues quite sadly and moreover the viewers too have stopped showing any kind of interest towards such relevant movies. In fact that is what we have lost in our Hindi Cinema since the 80s and the only film which was made on this issue of ‘Medical Malpractices’ happened to be NASOOR in the year 1985 almost three decades back. Honestly it was quite surprising to see the film written & presented by the recent ‘Horror specialist’ Vikram Bhatt and skillfully directed by a not so known director Suhail Tatari. So these two men also deserve their own share of praises for coming up with this thought provoking film in the present commercial times.
As a concluding message, we need to grow up and support films like ANKUR ARORA MURDER CASE because it’s a universal cause the film has been made for. A medical condition doesn’t differentiate between a rich or poor coming from any region or religion and thus the film should be taken as a “Wake Up Call” for every single person reading this review, especially the aspiring doctors and the ones currently practicing the divine profession.
Nevertheless, the other side of the coin is that in the new millennium, we are certainly not willing to see any film questioning our own corrupted souls & social system together. So I can easily predict that this is going to be a FLOP and there will be no-one to see this in the theaters in the coming days. In India we have a die-hard habbit of not addressing an issue till it reaches our own homes and we are not used to being shown the ugly mirror with the truth, right at our faces.
Rating : 3.5 / 5
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ANKUR ARORA MURDER CASE Review by Bobby Sing, Inspired Movies, Forf the young doctors, Review By Bobby Sing, AAMC Review by Bobby Sing, Reviews by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bollywood Reviews By Bobby Sing, New Hindi Films Reviews By Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bollywood Movies Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bobby Sing Bollywood Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Released, New Hindi Films Reviews, New Hindi Movies Reviews, New Hindi Movies Released, New Bollywood Reviews, Bobby Talks Cinema Review, Reviews By Bobby Sing, New Hindi Films Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com
To be honest, this is a wicked kind of film which has an almost non-sense storyline without anything great to reveal and many objectionable insertions in the script too, wrongly representing the younger brigade of the country in a debatable manner. But still it somehow manages to keep you entertained throughout with its shining performances, witty dialogues and hilarious sequences taken straight from the real life which collectively turn it into a winner in the end and you forget about anything else to put the objection for.
Talking about the negative points of the film first, FUKREY has a wafer thin plot as far as the script is concerned and that too, a highly unconvincing one where everyone is just chasing a weird dream of a chubby boy giving them a winning lottery number every morning. But more dangerously it features many unethical sequences right from the first scene itself which might be distasteful and avoidable for many viewers. For example (spoilers ahead), the film begins with the mention of homosexual relationships existing within the “Government Boys School” in its toilets, the young boys of class XIIth are shown playing Lotteries regularly on the borders of Delhi (where they are banned since last decade), the school boys try to get higher marks for a college admission through leaked question papers bought for a price and later they also get involved in drug paddling in order to get their lives saved from a Lady Don.
Further its weak plot has been stretched too long just to add more amusing scenes in the narration and that’s the reason why there is no sign of any kind of storyline, even after 50 minutes of the film are over. The extra-length feature drops the pace post intermission and then it also ends on a very uninspiring note, which actually should have been more compelling and entertaining. Plus the well conceived character of ‘Bholi Punjaban’ also needed to be more cunning, abusive and dreadful as per its interesting build-up.
Anyhow the good news is that the merits of the film score way above its weaker points and that is why you cannot condemn the film just for the sake of doing it. Therefore if one is willing to ignore all these preventable flaws and is only interested in having some good fun with the boys on the screen, then FUKREY is truly capable of giving you a lot more than expected and you are sure going to enjoy watching it in the theaters along with your school or college group without any doubt.
Mentioning the strong plus points of FUKREY, first of all I was frankly quite surprised to realize that this was from the same director, Mrighdeep Singh Lamba, who earlier gave us a complete non-performer film called TEEN THAY BHAI. So if this is his second film then something surely had gone wrong in the making of his first venture as there was no sign of such grip or superb sense of comic timing at all in that absurd film. Secondly, from the last 5-6 years, Bollywood directors seem to be in complete love with DELHI, its popular lingo used in the small localities and Punjabish style of living, famous all over. Working on the similar lines, FUKREY also makes a noticeable use of the same ambience and thus has a good share of Punjabi abuses too in its funny dialogues.
In short, the writing here is the biggest strength of the film with real life instances used exactly like we all see in the school & college campuses in Delhi. For example it’s a blunt truth that there is a cruel discrimination practiced among the regular and correspondence students in Delhi University from decades, wherein the correspondence ones are largely considered to be the outsiders in the colleges. Similarly, almost all the colleges have a strong character of a gatekeeper who doesn’t let others come into the premises and is supposed to have a good power on your right to enter through that gate as per his will. Besides, many well conceived sequences are also a sure shot winner in the film (especially for the residents of Delhi & NCR), which include the one featuring the legendary Narender Chanchal’s famous tracks being sung in a Jagaran and Manjot’s repeated scenes with a dirty beggar. But apart from this flawless realistic writing, FUKREY also shapes up well due to its perfect casting, instantly winning your hearts with their respective acts.
In totality, the film belongs to three boys Varun Sharma, Pulkit Samrat, Manjot Singh and Richa Chaddha alone, who carry the film on their shoulders right till the end and rarely give you some dull moments only in the second half. Where the viewers are simply going to love Varun posing as CHOOCHA, they are immensely going to enjoy watching Pulkit & Manjot together as the ring leaders. Particularly FUKREY should ideally become the much needed jumping board for Pulkit, after his last year’s average flick BITTOO BOSS, whereas Manjot is going to find it too hard coming out of his fixed image of doing similar roles, one after another since OYE LUCKY LUCKY OYE (2008). However a related truth remains that despite doing all similar kind of acts, Manjot still very gently manages to make his own mark and doesn’t seem to be repetitive. On the other hand, Ali Faizal is the weakest link in the team but then he couldn’t do much, since his character was specifically written in that form only in the script.
Post intermission, the film gets a new life with Richa Chaddha entering as “Bholi Punjaban” which actually hides it major flaw of having no interesting storyline smartly. Richa works real hard to be terrific in her ‘out of the box’ character and she also succeeds in her attempt largely. But still her portrayal remains uneven in the various scenes and also I didn’t find any Punjabi dialogues spoken by a character given the name of “Bholi Punjaban”. Moreover I really wished she was more brutal and ruthless as per the demand of her role of a powerful Lady Don with many political connections. Playing the love interests, Priya Anand looks gorgeous in all her lovable scenes along with Pulkit and Vishakha impresses a lot as the Accounts teacher. Last but not the least, Pankaj Tripathi plays the gatekeeper’s role just brilliantly and holds them all together before intermission.
Musically, Ram Sampat composes some good tracks which have been used very intelligently in the film and you don’t mind watching them played in their shorter versions like “Ambarsariya” . Yet songs do add to the unnecessary length of the film which should have been avoided to keep it more focused and sharp. Background score maintains the uplifting tempo rightly and DOP captures the essence of Delhi lanes well.
In all, FUKREY is a young film with a sole motive of offering the viewers a good time in the theater along with their friends and its great to see such kind of ‘Star-less’ initiatives backed by reputed production houses like Excel. The film does have its weak points but they all take a back seat when it keeps providing the much needed entertainment factor right till the climax in a continuous mode. Yes with a healthier storyline it could have been much better but nevertheless is quite enjoyable in its present form too, so go for it and Enjoy!
Ratings : 3.5 / 5
Tags :
Fukrey Movie Review, Fukrey Film Review by Bobby Sing, Fukrey Review By Bobby Sing, Fukre Review, Reviews by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bollywood Reviews By Bobby Sing, New Hindi Films Reviews By Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bollywood Movies Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com, Bobby Sing Bollywood Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Reviews, New Bollywood Movies Released, New Hindi Films Reviews, New Hindi Movies Reviews, New Hindi Movies Released, New Bollywood Reviews, Bobby Talks Cinema Review, Reviews By Bobby Sing, New Hindi Films Reviews at bobbytalkscinema.com
In the decades of 70s & 80s, India was operating under a dark cloud of uncertainty and unemployment leading to increase in crime, exploitation and misguided youth wandering on the streets all over. Though the same problems still exist around us in the new millennium too (to some extent), but those were the times when there existed a big wide gap between various classes of the society and directionless unemployed youth was one of the biggest concerns for the country in both the cities and the rural areas.
The subject was well adapted in the films too namely in Gulzar’s MERE APNE (1971), Manoj Kumar’s ROTI KAPDA AUR MAKAAN (1974) and many more. But in the mid eighties two films touched this core issue in a much contemporary style, considering the social changes in the surroundings in the right manner and addressing the problem exactly like the youth was facing it in their real lives. The two films were ARJUN (1985) and ANKUSH (1986) which were widely appreciated by both the critics as well as the viewers in their respective years of release and further they went on to set some new trends in Bollywood in the mid 80s.
However where ARJUN was an out & out commercial venture having all the ingredients of a completely filmy portrayal of the problem, ANKUSH on the other hand was an off-beat kind of cinematic achievement with a highly realistic and touching depiction of the burning issue in a quite bold manner.
Written by Javed Akhtar (after the split in the famous Salim-Javed team), ARJUN was directed by Rahul Rawail and had music by R. D. Burman. The team of Sunny, Rahul and RDB together gave their second hit after the much appreciated BETAAB in 1983 and it established Sunny Deol as the new representative of the spirited youth strongly. The film revolved around an interesting plot which showed how the educated unemployed young ones can be misused by the corrupt politicians for their own interest and the youth never gets to know the games being played at his back. It featured a hit track “Mamaiya Kero Kero Kero Mama” which became a cult song at that time in the younger brigade and the film also had a pulsating background score with the much needed punch and energy (especially the whistling sounds added beautifully).
Apart from being a major breakthrough in the career of both Sunny Deol and Rahul Rawail, ARJUN is also remembered for the great performances of Prem Chopra, Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal, Anu Kapoor, Raja Bundela, Supriya Pathak and A. K. Hangal. But more importantly, not many know that it was ARJUN only which later even influenced RAM GOPAL VERMA to make his first breakthrough film SHIVA and the veteran has repeatedly said this many times in his honest interviews. Hence if you want to have a totally filmy feel of the problems faced by the unemployed youth of the 80s then do watch ARJUN as a must and enjoy that era in an entertaining mode with all the usual masala ingredients of a Bollywood movie.
But in case you wish to see a highly truthful representation of those times with an offbeat and at your face approach by another well known director, then ANKUSH is the one to go for at first even before ARJUN.
ANKUSH came silently in the year 1986 and it neither had any big stars to impress the viewers nor any upbeat soundtrack to get an instant recognition. The film quietly made its own way into the hearts just because of its strong content, fabulous acting and a cult spiritual song which is now unanimously included in the 5 best bhajans or spiritual songs in the history of Hindi film music. The track was “Itni Shakti Hamein Dena Data”, which is now also sung in many educational institutes as their morning prayer.
The film simply caught the pulse of every restless youngster in those days with many real life insertions in its well written script like corruption in the college examinations, ignorant professors and principles, women harassment in the offices, indecent favours demanded by the superiors and later a brutal rape of an innocent girl by her boss just for having fun. A group of young unemployed men doing various questionable activities to meet their daily expenses was exactly like what could be seen on the street corners of various localities. And their mutual clashes had already become a routine column in the newspapers.
Director N. Chandra just used all these real life inspirations brilliantly in his film and supported by a talented star-cast (lead by Nana Patekar), he was able to give a cult film to the industry which is still remembered for its flawless execution till date. In short, ANKUSH was one of the best films of the 80s which deserves to be seen as a must for its meaningful subject, path breaking execution and superb performances by the entire cast.
Interestingly in ARJUN, the title taken from MAHABHARTA indicates towards the way, its lead character is used by two cunning politicians one by one against each other. Whereas in ANKUSH, the title means a pointed instrument/weapon used to control the elephants in ancient times by their trainers (or Mahavats), indicating towards the much needed control over the energetic, misguided youth. Apparently both the titles and the films give you two different viewpoints on the problem of unemployment and its possible consequences in a developing country and therefore need to be seen as a must to get the real picture of those times from the eyes of two visionary directors.
ARJUN – Directed by Rahul Rawail Starring – Sunny Deol, Dimple Kapadia, Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal and more.
ANKUSH – Directed by N. Chandra Starring – Nana Patekar, Nisha Palsikar, Raja Bundela and more.
Tags :
Arjun (1985) & Ankush (1986), Movies To See Before You Die Thrillers, Indian Films on Unemployed Youth, Must See Movies List by Bobby Sing, Not to Missed Bollywood Films, Bollywood Movies on Unemplyment, Worth Watching Movies List by Bobby Sing.
Beginning with an eye-opener statement right away, there have been many important ‘War Movies’ made since the last century but there hasn’t been any thing similar to PATHS OF GLORY for sure since the controversial subject has not been touched by any other director so outrageously in world cinema till date. And that is the basic reason why I felt simply stunned to see this ‘Black & White’ classic made way back in 1957 with such conviction and perfection by the maverick director, Stanley Kubrick. Plus I was really taken back by the fact that Kubrick actually made this precious, thought provoking gem in a very early stage of his career, when he was not even 30 years old yet.
But before talking about the exclusive plot of the movie, let me share some more fascinating facts about its making and post release scenario, which would rightly make you realize the real value of this timeless classic from the maestros.
As stated in the trivia section of the film’s IMDB page, Stanley Kubrick approached Kirk Douglas (playing the lead) with the script and Douglas instantly fell in love with it saying, "Stanley, I don't think this picture will ever make a nickel, but we have to make it."
His words were all true since the film was not a box office success when released but later in 1969, Kirk Douglas's again recalled the film saying, “There's a picture that will always be good, years from now and I don't have to wait 50 years to know that; I know it now".
After it was released all over, PATHS OF GLORY was banned in France for its negative portrayal of the French army. Also banned in Switzerland & Spain initially, it got released there after decades when the storm was all over. In Belgium the makers were asked to add a foreword before the start of the film, with the words that “The story represented an isolated case that did not reflect upon the "Gallantry of the French soldiers." And all these bans were actually imposed because the film’s upsetting plot revealed an ugly dark secret of the War front having quite clear shades of truth in it along with the added element of fiction.
Based on Humphrey Cobb’s novel of the same name, PATHS OF GLORY basically talks about the voice of a revolt raised by a Colonel against his Commanding General in an official court case. And the case is imposed by the authority itself because the 3 men on duty, refused to obey the orders of their commanding officer, an offence punishable by death.
Kirk Douglas plays Colonel Dax in the film, who gets the order to make an impossible kind of attack on a heavily equipped rival point. Now the basic reason behind this order was that the Commanding General ordering it (played by George Macready) had a big ego issue involved and further he also looked forward the attack as the means to move forward in his military career. When the order is not executed and the assault is not made due to a heavy bombardment from the other side, the General gets furious and decides to set an example of this for all others. He demands that the three revolting men should stand a trial for showing incompetence and cowardice on the battlefield, not obeying the orders of their superior. Colonel Dax denies accepting this injustice and defends these men at their court-martial, fighting the case himself.
Post the above development, the film turns into a worth watching conflicting saga wherein the Colonel raises a strong voice against this cruel injustice by the General, ignoring the value of life of his own soldiers. And then we get to see a splendid depiction of both logical and philosophical reasoning given by the Colonel in support of his 3 men. While fighting the case Kirk refuses to apologies on their behalf and reveals a completely contrasting description of a battle field pointing towards the unnecessary arrogance, ego and personal agenda’s brought into the front, on the cost of countless lives of the brave soldiers.
The film displays a fine balance between its extremely well shot war & trial room sequences and has a unique kind of tension running as an undercurrent throughout. Moreover with an highly inspiring climax it is unarguably one of the most realistic and truthful movies made on the First World War ever. Along with its perfect writing (especially the dialogues), great sound effects and very effective camera movements, it also has many fine polished acts lead by both Kirk Douglas and George Macready in the lead.
To put it together, this is surely something beyond all the other famous masterpieces made on the War front. In reality its neither about the war nor against the war in the most expected usual form. On the contrary it brings forward a totally secured and hidden secret about the questionable functioning at the battle fields which might change the whole way you look upon a war completely. So from that angle, PATHS OF GLORY strongly needs to be rated as one of the top five greatest war movies ever made with a difference. And that should give you enough reason to go for this “True Gem” at the earliest.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring : Kirk Douglas, George Macready, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou & more.
Tags :
Paths of Glory (1957), Movies To See Before You Die War Movies, Must See Films List by Bobby Sing, Not To Be Missed Movies List by Bobby Sing, Stanley Kubrick Masterpieces, Kubrick Gems, Worth Watching War Movies list by Bobby Sing,
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In few words, AAMC deserves to be seen both for its crucial issue raised, as well as for its brilliant key performance by Kay Kay as the culprit doctor, Tisca Chopra as the helpless mother and Arjun Mathur as the honest intern together. No one can deny the fact that Kay Kay is one of the most under-rated actors we have at present who truly deserves more good roles and praises both. But here Tisca Chopra shines even brighter in the film as the silent mother witnessing the justice denied by the court with only her tearful eyes looking into the dark. The lady once again proves the unexplored hidden talent in her, post TAARE ZAMEEN PAR in 2007 and she truly needs to be given much more chances like these to come up with even better. Arjun Mathur makes the best use of the opportunity given in the role of a revolting intern having a ‘still alive conscience’ and Vishakha supports him well as his colleague. In the court room sequences, Paoli Dam delivers a powerful act playing the lawyer with some great dialogues and Manish Chaudhari, Vishesh Tiwari (The Kid) and Harsh Chhaya perform just fine. The camera captures the tragic emotional sequences in the film beautifully and the Background Score gives it full support in generating the desired impact.
In short, the writing here is the biggest strength of the film with real life instances used exactly like we all see in the school & college campuses in Delhi. For example it’s a blunt truth that there is a cruel discrimination practiced among the regular and correspondence students in Delhi University from decades, wherein the correspondence ones are largely considered to be the outsiders in the colleges. Similarly, almost all the colleges have a strong character of a gatekeeper who doesn’t let others come into the premises and is supposed to have a good power on your right to enter through that gate as per his will. Besides, many well conceived sequences are also a sure shot winner in the film (especially for the residents of Delhi & NCR), which include the one featuring the legendary Narender Chanchal’s famous tracks being sung in a Jagaran and Manjot’s repeated scenes with a dirty beggar. But apart from this flawless realistic writing, FUKREY also shapes up well due to its perfect casting, instantly winning your hearts with their respective acts.
ANKUSH
