Objectification of Women in Bollywood Movies through Item Songs.

Bollywood has definitely evolved over the years. But there is one thing, that has not changed are Item Songs. With all certainty, item songs are made for increasing the revenue of their films. There is nothing wrong about having item songs in films. But, there is a question that arises, "Why have item songs with females only?". I mean, pick up any movie, u always find that a female has an item song. Even if one goes into google and types,'Male item songs in Bollywood', the images only show females, who have previously done these item songs.

 

Returning to the question I had, "Why have females do an item song?". It is more of portraying women as an 'object' and this keeps on getting promoted by such item songs. I am not trying to say that women should not be allowed to do item songs, all I am trying to say is that such 'consistency', in item songs should not be there as these tend to promote a feeling that women are just needed to dance, dance for men. The scenes in these item songs are shot in bars and pubs or the main lead has male artists around it. 'What does this signify?'

                                    
 

In the last millennium, item songs were present in SOME movies unlike in today's movies where they present in ALMOST EVERY movie. Certain female actors are not known for their roles but for the item songs. Helen, a celebrated artist is known more as "India's First Cabaret Dancer" rather than an actress. Same goes for Malaika Arora Khan and Sunny Leone. It is such a shame that the women are actually being portrayed as "objects." The latest item song to join the bandwagon is "Mere Miyan Gaye England" from Rangoon. Sadly, this is going on and it seems this stride of item songs won't stop.

The answer behind this Female item songs' stride are we, the people. The people over decades have seen woman as objects, somebody only to "Please Them". The reason behind that even 'U' certificate movies have item songs is that the heads of families also want something out of 'U' certificate movies for their own pleasure because of which Female Item Songs are being so much promoted.

Have u ever wondered why those few movies fail which have Male items? The answer is again simple. A man, cannot enjoy another man dancing onscreen because "as per the so called traditions", man is bound to have an upper hand and dignity over woman. Movies like "Tere Bin Laden", inspite of being decent on content failed because men  did not want to watch them. Family is extended a choice only if the male agrees to that choice. Sadly, this is not going to stop and shall go on for ages because it is us who promote it. Sad but the truth.

                                      

                                    Hope people realize and this phenomenon of Bollywood changes,.

Kaabil Review: Bahut Kaabil Hai!

"Kaabil", directed by  director, Sanjay Gupta, left me stunned. The reason why I was left stunned is that I really could not imagine what had happened in the 2 hours and 20 minutes I sat through the movie.

A blind man, Rohan, is out to seek revenge from the goons who are behind the death of his wife, Supriya and that is our plot. It might look normal but it is actually an emotional revenge saga. And the word "emotional" makes a lot of difference to this Hrithik- Yami starrer movie.

 

Hrithik Roshan's portrayal of Rohan, is simply excellent. He lifts a one time watch movie to a Must watch level. His portrayal of a blind Rohan Bhatnagar, has been his second best portrayal to date(Best being in Guzaarish). Yami's short but lovable role of a blind girl Supriya is cute and melted my heart at places. But like Nawaz in Raees, Ronit Roy's portrayal of Madhavrao Shellar is par excellence. His on-screen presence ensured that my eyes were not off the screen for even a second.

                                             

                                                         

 

What falls against Kaabil is the editing and screenplay. A quite choppy editing and somewhat lousy screenplay of the first half does not go down well with an excellent direction, cinematography and background score. These 2 together hamper the viewing at times.

 

Kaabil explores love, emotion, tragedy and revenge with outmost sincerity because of which Kaabil deserves 3.25 stars. I would like to elevate this rating of 3.25 stars to 3.75 stars because of Hrithik Roshan's sincere performance, Ronit Roy's menacing performance and EMOTIONS. The movie is sure to deter you emotionally by the end. It is an emotionally bittersweet saga.

 

 

Go watch it, Without Regret. And it is actually better than Raees. Do NOT go as per box office, if u do, u will miss something u rarely get from Hrithik i.e. a wonderful performance.

Raees Review: Miyaanbhai kaafi Daring nikle!

"Raees", directed by Rahul Dholakia, produced by Farhan and SRK himself is a typical masala ride of 2hrs and 40 minutes. A movie about a bootlegger, Raees(SRK) and his aids v/s an honest cop, Majumdar(Nawaz) is a "typical cat and mouse game". The movie opens on a pessimistic note and fails to show any growth until the interval. The "curse of the second half", luckily does not hit this movie, instead, it turns out to be a "boon" for the movie. The second half brings this derailed Raees, back on track. Raees does not allow the suspense open up until the end and also speaks about the dirty politics which are played by the government and yes, in the end, one feels bad for Raees(SRK). It defies logic at places like, Mahira is pregnant for more than a year and her baby bump is not visible even then and all of a sudden she gives birth to a baby boy.

There are 2 features that stand out in the movie, one is our ever reliable Nawaz and the other Rahul Dholakia's direction and storytelling. Nawaz as Majumdar, the cop has done a splendid job and has even managed to gobble SRK's limelight. SRK as Raees is convincing enough and I'm glad to have SRK, the actor BACK. Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub as-Sadiq is applause worthy and the beautiful Mahirah as Aasiya is drool worthy. Aasiya brings the emotional content to the movie even in her small but impactful role. Raees and Aasiya's chemistry does sparkle over the course of the movie.

The technical aspects, the editing, the art direction, the dialogues, the costume and the cinematography are all nice and amazing. They just add lustre to this average movie. As said, Rahul Dholakia's story telling coupled with some explosive dialogues bring up Raees's standard, else the movie is an absolute average movie.
                                                       

Raees suffers terribly in the writing department. It seems that the quote- "Too many cooks spoil the broth" has been implied for Raees. 4 writers, mushed up the writing because of which it suffered in the first half, but literally hats off to Nawaz, the cinematographer and Rahul for ensuring that I sit through the movie.

 

U have the liberty to choose Kaabil or Raees, whichever u prefer. I'm disappointed but I'm going with 3.25 stars. 2.5 stars to this average movie and another 0.75 to Rahul Dholakia's storytelling and the cinematographer.
                               

 
The business of Raees is guaranteed to fall over time, lower than Kaabil. Watch it if u want to, but DO NOT blame me if  u don't like it.

Predictions: Raees V/S Kaabil

2017 has begun with a low note with Ok Jaanu, a movie that failed to register any substantial cash at the box office. the other big releases of January are Hrithik Roshan's "Kaabil" and SRK's "Raees". Both the movie belong to a different genre and looking at the current status of the box office, these movies shouldn't have ended up in a clash. But anyways! 

Speaking about Kaabil, the movie is releasing on a screen count of 2200 should at least assure the producers of a double-digit opening. Hrithik has not been able to taste success at the box office, both critically and commercially and has lost some fan base. The way B-town has praised the movie seems that there is going to be some 'real' competition between the two biggies and the opening of both these movies should more or less tell the tale. The second trailer of Kaabil is hands down amazing. We get a glimpse of Ronit Roy and personally, being a fan of his work I am pretty sure it is going to be a good thriller. For the cherry on the cake here is Sanjay Gupta's impeccable direction and his success at creating thrillers is quite well known so, as a thriller Kaabil has ticked the right boxes and let's hope all goes well for the movie.The story of Kaabil is more or less clear from the trailer i.e. it is an out and out revenge saga which starts of romantically and ends tragically.The music is not up to the mark. "Kaabil Hoon" has managed to get some recognition whereas "Haseeno ka Deewana" is a complete letdown. Kaabil's box office revenue shall not be affected by the music as incase of "Baar Baar Dekho", which managed to collect some revenue solely on the basis of its music. There is a substantial amount of buzz, Hrithik's fanbase, Ronit's fanbase and of course the romantic angle between Hrithik and Yami should give Kaabil some good footing at the box office. According to me, Kaabil should a business of 95-125 crores at the box office.

     SRK is a word enough to attract a substantial chunk of the audience to the theatre. This time he is back with what seems a perfect masala ride, Raees. Playing the titular role in the movie, SRK has got us eager for this one ever since the FIRST trailer came out. With Farhan Akhtar and SRK producing the film, the content of the movie can more or less be assured of. The dialogues, his on-screen panache, has got Raees roar among the audience for the right reason.Similar to Kaabil, the presence of Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been the cherry on the cake here. Mahira Khan's beauty, locales of Gujarat, the 'cat and mouse' chase of Nawaz and SRK seems to just add to the curiosity. Rajiv Dholakia, the director, seems to some footing in Bollywood only in the department of meaningful cinema so it will be interesting to see how he dishes out a commercial entertainer. With big names attached to this delayed project let's hope it is similar to the wine i.e. the older it is, the tastier it will become. Raees has already got chartbuster music of O Zaalima and Laila Main Laila, that might help it at the box office to some extent. Releasing on a screen count of 2500, roughly equal to Kaabil, Raees should also open to double digits and what matters more here is the growth of the film. The better the growth, more the revenue. Actual scenario of Raees shall be clear after the first Monday.

Similar to HR, SRK has also not tasted success at the box office for quite some time as both Fan and Dilwale failed alarmingly, but what is important is that his fan base is quite intact.( Exclude Dear Zindagi coz he wasn't the lead) With all said and set, Raees should do an opening day better than Kaabil and so my prediction for the box office collection of Raees is 120- 150 crore.

                                                                

Raees should emerge as the winner of the clash.

The only way Kaabil can overpower Raees is in the department of content and the recent winners of the clashes in Bollywood were all high on content.If both these movie seems high on content then surely it will be Raees to the lead, all thanks to SRK's fanbase. The actual winner of this clash should be clear by the FIRST MONDAY of both these films because of a normal working day, gives a normal fall in the BO collection and a normal person will NOT put their money on a movie that does NOT deliver good content and after a day's work people want good cinema. Lets just hope that both the producers of Kaabil and Raees end up making profits from the theatrical revenue because it is them who are at stake "actually."
                                                    



So all said and done, May the Better Movie WIN! But there is someone who shall always be at loss and that's the Box Office.

Haraamkhor Review: This Haraamkhor is Funny and Moving!

                                                              

Haraamkhor Review: 

In a movie, where Nawazuddin Siddiqui is present, expectations are already at the sky-roof. This Nawazuddin starrer was no expectation. But since this movie is made on a shoestring budget, there was no promotion and people may be unaware about this movie.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui was at his usual best as Shyam, the tutor cum teacher to all the kids in a small village in Bihar. He gets attracted to one of his students, Sandhya (Shweta Tripathi). He tries to woo her but all in vain. Unknown to him, a classmate of Sandhya, Kamal (Mohd Irfan) also plans to woo her with the help of his friend, Mintu (Mohd Samad). How does the journey of these 4 unfold his what forms the crux of the story.

Haraamkhor takes you through the brutally honest beliefs that are still prevalent in rural India. The movie hits exactly where it hurts, to see the honest rural India. The beliefs are such that even the small kids, Kamal and Mintu believe that if the girl Kamal desires sees him naked, they will get married!

The movie questions our own fundamental beliefs. Paced at an hour and a half, they movie seems to unnecessary stretched at times and the uneven editing, lousy screenplay, poor cinematography thoroughly disappoint in this raw, rustic presentation. 

All the performances, the subtle comedy emoted through these kids make Haraamkhor enjoyable through its duration. The climax of this movie leaves one very uncomfortable making one question the scenarios of these villages, but that is the truth. The movie scores 5/5 in the story and acting departments but loses heavily on other parts.

Overall, Haraamkhor is a watch ONLY for the audience who like offbeat, enigmatic and meaningful cinema, The subtle comic undertones prove good and enjoyable but the tortoise pace proves to be a villain to this Haraamkhor. Avoid if u like routine cinema. I am going with 3.6 stars for Haraamkhor.

                                                         

Filmfare.....Kuch toh Gadbad hai! And its Predictions.

With the Filmfare nominations out yesterday night, the nominations, like the previous years have shocked, but this time they have shocked me to the core.  Since the nominations which are out, are based on 50% audience and 50% of the choices of the jury. Hence, the jury alone cannot be blamed for these nominations. I would list (category wise) some mentions which I think that should have made to the list; if not won an award. 

Best Movies: Nominations- Dangal, Sultan, Neerja, Kapoor and Sons, Udta Punjab and Pink.

As per me, keeping box office collections in mind, Sultan should have been substituted with M.S. Dhoni, which might not have been exactly "untold" but in all aspects was better than Sultan.

Predicted Winner: Pink.

Best Director: Nominations- Sultan, Neerja, Kapoor and Sons, Udta Punjab, ADHM. Sultan director  Ali Abbas Zafar shouldn't have been made to this list because there were instances where I thought that the direction including the pace could have been better, In fact, M.S. Dhoni by Neeraj Pandey could have made it to this list because in a case of this movie, 3 hrs and 10 minutes simply flew by.

Predicted Winner: Ram Madhvani for Neerja

Best Actor(Male): Nominations- Ranbir for ADHM, Sushant Rajput for M.S.Dhoni, Amitabh for Pink, Aamir for Dangal, Salman for Sultan, Shahid for Udta Punjab, SRK for Fan.

In this case, there has been a very, very wrong this with Akshay Kumar, who gave splendid performances in Rustom and Airlift. For me, Akshay Kumar's patriotic themed Rustom got the right panache by his performance and Airlift portrayal of Ranjit Katyal was convincing enough that could have won him his first Filmfare. Anyways, I just wish he wins the 'Best Actor(Male)' in the critics choice. Manoj Bajpayee in 'Aligarh' gave a very moving performance and was a clear winner for this award.

Predicted Winner: Amitabh Bachchan for Pink.

                                               

                                                                                                                                                                         

  Best Actor(Female): Nominations: Alia for Udta Punjab and Dear Zindagi, Anushka for ADHM, Aishwarya for Sarabjit, Vidya for Kahaani 2 and Sonam in Neerja. Tapsee Pannu, in Pink, gave a satiating performance in Pink. If not an award, her nomination should have been a must,

Predicted Winner: Sonam Kapoor(Neerja) and Alia Bhatt(Udta Punjab)

Best Supporter(Male): Fawad, Rishi and Rajat for KNS, Rajkummar Rao for Aligarh, Diljit for Udta Punjab, Jim for Neerja. These nominations seem fine.

Predicted Winner: Rishi Kapoor for KnS.(Hands down)

Best Supporter(Female): Shabana for Neerja, Kareena for Udta Punjab, Kirti for Pink, Ratna for KnS, Richa for Sarabjit. Andrea Tariang seems to be missing here.

Predicted Winner: Shabana Azmi for Neerja.( A woman who brought emotions to the screen.)

Best Music: ADHM, Udta Punjab, Kapoor and Sons, Baaghi, Mirzya, Sultan. Maybe 'Baar Baar Dekho' could have made it to the list based on Kala Chashma, Sau Aasmaan, Nachde ne Saare, Dariyaan.

Predicted Winner: Pritam for ADHM. (Songs from all genres)

Best Lyrics: Channa Mereya, Aave Re Hitchki, Mirzya, Jag Ghoomeya, Love u Zindagi and Ik Kudi

The nominations for best lyrics could have been added with 'Dariyaa' from Baar Baar Dekho.

Predicted Winner: Amitabh Bhattacharya for Channa Mereya. (Mesmerizing Lyrics)

( This line is a personal favourite)

Best Playback( Male): Amit for Bulleya, Arijit for Channa Mereya and ADHM, Atif for Tere Sang, Rahat for Jag Ghoomeya. Arko could have joined for 'Dariyaan'.

Predicted Winner: Arijit for Channa Mereya.

Bes Playback(Female): Kanika for Da Da Dasse, Palak for Kaun Tujhe, Neeti for Sau Asmaan, Jonita for Break-up Song and Neha for Jag Ghoomeya. This list is completely valid.

Predicted Winner : Palak Muchchal for Kaun Tujhe from M.S.Dhoni

                                       

As per me, critics award should be as follows:

Best Actor(Male) Critics Choice: Akshay Kumar for Airlift.

                                                  

   Best Actor(Female) Critics Choice: Swara Bhaskar for Nil Battey Sannata

                                                                        

       Best Movie (Critics Choice): Raman Raghav 2.0

  

                            

     Best Short Film: Sujoy Ghosh for Ahalya

                                      

              

So, this was my criticism and predictions for not only Filmfare but also for other Award ceremonies. If, u have criticism then please let me know.   And do let me know, if u think I missed out on someone.             

The 7 Best Movies of 2016....

                                                         Super 7 of 2016.

2016 has been a revolutionary year for Bollywood. Some incredible movies like Udta Punjab and Pink exposed the raw truths of our society. 2016 also welcomed biopics like Neerja and Sarbjit. A few surprises in form of Waiting also came into the limelight...

So, without a delay, here are my top 7!

7. Wazir and Parched (3.9 stars)

(Mr.Bachchan's splendid performance, Story, Direction and Aditi Hydari's supporting preformance.)

                                        

         ( A celebration of Womanhood, Art, Subject and Suvreen Chawla's outstanding performance)


                                       

6. Udta Punjab (4.1 stars)

                      (Terrific Performances, Taut Screenplay and Raw Presentation)

5.  Dear Zindagi ( 4.2 stars)
                                              

                               

                               
                                    (Plotline, Direction, Dialogues, Message and Alia!)


4. Aligarh (4.25 stars)

  

                     (  A Moving movie and A riveting performance by Manoj Bajpayee)




3. Kapoor and Sons (Since 1921) (4.3 stars)

  

   

(Spectacular Performances, Story, Music, Coonor, Real Life sequences)

2. Nil Battey Sannata ( 4.4 stars)

                                                

(Swara Bhaskar, Riya Shukla, Story, Direction and the originality of the subject)

1. Pink and Neerja (4.5 stars)

This movie shook the roots of our patriarchal society. An intriguing first half, an explosive second half gave Pink the well deserved recognition. A special mention of Andrea Tariang and Kirti Kulhari for satiating and convincing debuts. Mr. Bachchan and Taapsee need no introduction to flawless performances. Direction and creative production made Pink a rightful First Place holder.

Seems like Mr. Bachchan is on his way for his 5th National Award. ;-)

People might question, "Why not an official poster?"; The answer lies in this particular image. A role of a slain flight attendant, Neerja Bhanot who died saving 359 passengers on a Pan-Am flight rightfully deserved the national flag, as depicted.

The episode of the hijack and a mother daughter relationship, interwoven together by an ace writer, Saiwyn Quadris, gave the world , a jewel in form of Neerja, under the direction of Ram Madhvani. Neerja was inspiring, gut wrenching, intriguing and emotional. A big "jhappi" to Sonam Kapoor, who proved to the world that she can "actually" act. The content enacted by Shabana Azmi, who potrayed the role of Rama Bhanot, made eyes watery.

So, everyone this were my top 5 Bollywood movies of 2016. If you have any comment or criticism please do let me know. Since I have not watched "Dangal", which I presume is going to be amazing!