Sabyasachi Chakrabarty – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl :: Remakes and remakes – this trend is going on and on…

Vampire Bat :: This one is an official remake though, with the copyrights for the movie officially purchased from the South Korean thriller Montage, as mentioned.

Vampire Owl :: I would give extra points for that. What I really don’t like are those blind copies without telling anybody else.

Vampire Bat :: Like when you hear that Ek Villain is from I Saw the Devil and Zinda from Oldboy?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, a fair remake is the right remake.

Vampire Bat :: That makes us choose this movie other the others for the weekend.

Vampire Owl :: The fact that we are not watching The Conjuring 2 this weekend will be highly disappointing to Uncle Dracula.

Vampire Bat :: And the fact that we won’t be watching Warcraft can even trigger an Orc invasion on the Vampire Lands.

Vampire Owl :: We need to warn the rest of the team immediately! After watching the movie, of course!

Vampire Bat :: Lets go and check how well the remade thriller stands then!

[Gets the tickets with some cheese popcorn and vegetable puffs].

What is it about? :: John Biswas (Amitabh Bachchan) is an old man who visits the police station almost every day much to the dismay of Sarita Sarkar (Vidya Balan) who tells him that there is no point in doing that for a case which was investigated eight years ago. John is looking to find the kidnapper and murderer of his granddaughter who was abducted by a man who demanded twenty lakhs, but even after the money was delivered, he didn’t get the girl alive. He keeps trying to find the man who is responsible for the same, and keeps searching for clues despite his ill health, making his wheel chair ridden wife Nancy Biswas (Padmavati Rao) a lot worried. Another disheartened person is Inspector Martin Das (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who joined the seminary and has become a priest, trying to make spiritual amends for his inability to save the kidnapped little girl, Angela.

So what happens next? :: John knows that police will no longer proceed with the same case, and so he asks the help of the new priest, Father Martin Das, but he himself asks John to let go and try to attend the church services some time as one has to accept things as they are, when nothing comes out of the struggle. Martin doesn’t want to be reminded of his guilt of not doing a better job with the case, but things take a twist when another kid is abducted. The way of kidnapping this boy is the same as what happened with Angela, and he is consulted by the police for he was so close in catching the culprit last time. Despite the initial hesitation, he decides to help Sarita with the case. There are no suspects here though, just the hope that the kidnapper can be outsmarted this time, unlike what had happened with the case of Angela. Martin will have his second chance here, but is he good enough for it this time?

The defence of Te3n :: There are a number of movies which Te3n reminds you of, with its style – one of them is the Malayalam movie Memories, and another one is the earlier thriller featuring Amitabh Bachchan – Wazir. There is the deep feeling of sadness prevailing in all these movies, and there is one hurt police officer in each of these. The sadness is the first thing that gets you, with the two main characters hoping against hope, one to find the evil, and the other to keep himself from evil. The emotions are deep, even though not shown on the screen as some terrible Bollywood melodrama; the rest comes later. The intensity goes to a higher level and thrills get stronger, and the suspense is maintained till the end. With some power-packed performances and beautiful visuals, this one touches emotions and also becomes an interesting thriller. When people die, it is the living that suffers the most, and we feel that abiding sadness throughout this movie.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does take some time to get into its thrilling side, and it also doesn’t follow the usual Bollywood style – neither in drama or with its thriller side; it won’t be the movie for the usual masala fans, that is for sure. There is no super-cop here, and we have just the worried people hoping to go through this problem in front of them. The movie could have actually used its central idea with bigger twists, and even though they are there, the big shock isn’t there. Still, there could have been a better flow to the proceedings. The situation demanded things to go straight, rather than depending too much on the flashbacks which arrive at times when they were not required – the time-line of the movie surely could have used some work. A little bit of polishing here and there – maybe that was all that this movie really needed to make it rise a level up, and a certain funny side was there to be taken – but that is left untouched.

Performers of the soul :: Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui completely steals the show there. The former plays a character that reminds us of the one he played in Wazir, helpless against the person who killed his child, but finds a way, and is also friends with a police officer who is also going through a case of depression. With his wife in a wheel chair, riding all around hopelessly on an old scooter that starts at occasions, bothering the cops and doing all his household activities by himself, the legendary actor plays a character whose sadness and never-dying hope is the first thing that we feel, and it will stir our emotions like nothing else. He makes us feel everything; for John Biswas is a simple common man looking for justice with hope. The latter goes through another path of his particular character though, as Martin Das looks to accept things by turning into spirituality. This character is strong in his hands, as he looks well-suited for both sides of Martin. Vidya Balan is left with a lesser role though.

How it finishes :: A comparison with the original can’t be made here, as I am sure that a lot of people haven’t watched the South Korean thriller. But it is surely better than the usual stuff that Bollywood has provided in the name of entertainment, which is why people who don’t feel the need to use the brains here, are to be warned from watching this particular flick. The idea is already proved working with an original work which seems to have had a nice reception. The one doubt that people had to have was about how the adaptation would work in an Indian scenario, and I am pretty sure that this has been remade well enough – I don’t doubt the fact that it could have been even better, still this is what we require, and not that mass masala entertainers. When we watch and support movies like this one, that becomes the inspiration for better thrillers to be made, maybe even original ones!

Release date: 10th June 2016
Running time: 136 minutes
Directed by: Ribhu Dasgupta
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vidya Balan, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Padmavati Rao

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl :: Finally, we have someone whom we can add to our team.

Vampire Bat :: I have no idea what you are talking about. This movie is not related to any Phantom about whom you have heard. Actually, not even to Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Vampire Owl :: What? Not the Ghost who Walks? Not the Phantom of the Opera? Not even the usual ghost?

Vampire Bat :: No is the answer for all the three questions.

Vampire Owl :: I still like this poster. It seems to be designed with certain skill.

Vampire Bat :: Well, they have cancelled the shows for Double Barrel. What choice do we have?

Vampire Owl :: I believe that watching a non-Malayalam movie for Onam is a true case of cruelty.

Vampire Bat :: Well, we are forced to do the same.

Vampire Owl :: Phantom it is then!

Vampire Bat :: I am sure that the movie will have its moments.

[Gets the tickets and goes to buy cheese popcorn].

What is it about? :: Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan), a former soldier who was dishonorably discharged from the Indian Army has another chance at reclaiming his lost reputation and the love of his ex-military father. As RAW looks for the least suspected and less known face which they can depend on, Daniyal seems to be the best choice, despite that one bad decision which was made at the India-Pakistan border. He is given the task to eliminate a number of masterminds behind the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks, as an unofficial mission without the approval of the Indian Government. With the help of a former intelligence agent Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif), Daniyal starts his mission at London, which will be followed by targets at other parts of the world.

The defence of Phantom :: As expected, Phantom is a thriller which attempts to make something which hasn’t happened to be represented as a possible truth which the audience are supposed to like. The feelings of every Indian will be touched here. With regular doses of patriotic statements and some interesting moments of action and thrills, Phantom does manage to accomplish that. With the early statements and the shots, this movie does create that feeling required in the viewer to move on. The idea is always there, and it never ceases to make the audience think over it again and again. The locations are really well created. There is a very realistic feel concerning the environment everywhere throughout this movie. The pace is kept good, and there is no dull moment, and even a possible romance doesn’t really happen, which is a clear bonus in the end. The ending is also something to be loved.

Claws of flaw :: The inability to use the full potential of Phantom is rather disappointing – there was so much to be done and something like the earlier espionage thriller Baby was possible here. But it just goes on and on with its material without completely developing the same. It does begin in a smarter way which somewhat struggles during the later stages, and when they do, they just add the gunshots or the chases. This should have been an espionage thriller movie with precision rather than making too much noise – in the gamer’s terms, instead of going Hitman: The Silent Assassin, this one becomes Unreal Tournament or Quake 3 Arena at times, chasing and shooting people around. One has to wonder why the thrills could not be embedded into this story instead of just coming and going; the story itself has the problems in the later stages, but couldn’t this have made it a lot stronger?

Performers of the soul :: The movie rests on the shoulders of Saif Ali Khan who plays the man who makes the difference and brings justice to the victims of the terrorist attacks not only in Mumbai but also at the other places. Even though he doesn’t go on to create that huge impact as this character, he surely controls things. He maintains that tough looks, and keeps the determination required for his character. The best moments from him are also in the first half of the movie, even though Katrina Kaif gets them in the second along with a few lesser known actors. The support is actually very good here, and there are times when the viewers wish for them to be there for more time on the screen. Katrina Kaif is not required to do that much here, but she manages things very well. The characterization make sure that not too much is demanded.

Soul Exploration :: There is the tagline “A story you wish were true”. It talks about the known fact that the masterminds who were really responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks are still living in peace and the truth that justice was not served to victims of that brutal terrorist attack which remains a permanent scar. The movie tells the viewers about how it could have been, and what would have been able to bring peace to the souls of the deceased. There is the freedom of being a fantasy movie asserted and taken right from the moment that tagline was first displayed on a poster. But it surely makes one think about all which have been said, and it does ask relevant questions. The shades of patriotism are also strong, and the strength of rewind can be seen here.

How it finishes :: It is only later that Phantom doesn’t really justify its title. The reason is its transformation as the whole thing moves from the strong point which was the brain to be adventurous. There is a car chase and public exchange of gunfire to kill the main villain which was not according to the movie’s soul – there was surprisingly no back-up plan. But as mentioned earlier, this does end well and along with being a thriller, this one has the strength to touch the emotions. So, Phantom remains an interesting movie which could have been even better. Well, this is Onam, and lets take some time to enjoy this movie too along with those large number of Malayalam movie releases as the festival season in Kerala going on in full power. I wish you all a Happy Onam! Enjoy and watch more movies!

Release date: 28th August 2015
Running time: 147 minutes
Directed by: Kabir Khan
Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Mir Sarwar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Rajesh Tailang, Denzil Smith, Qazi Touqeer, Brandi Alexander, Paul Lazenby