Vijay Raaz – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: We have been reviewing only a smaller number of Hindi movies.

Vampire Bat: Well, we are not that much exposed to Bollywood anymore.

Vampire Owl: Bollywood has not come up with very good movies.

Vampire Bat: If there were such movies, they would not come our theatres.

Vampire Owl: It is such a shame. They still show us dumb Bollywood movies for fans.

Vampire Bat: The so-called superstar movies will come. But they are truly dumb.

Vampire Owl: The Khans and Hritik Roshan will surely get all the screens.

Vampire Bat: Most high budget films without content will get here with more shows.

Vampire Owl: Yes, just put any Khan in there and thrown it this way.

Vampire Bat: We would have wanted Irrfan Khan to be around then.

[Gets a vegetable puffs and three cups of white tea].

What is the movie about? :: Ruhaan (Kartik Aaryan) is a fraud spiritual ghostbuster known by the name “Rooh Baba”, and pretends to be an expert in exorcising spirits and slaying demons who harass people or haunt buildings. But he is actually an opportunist who makes good use of situations and make people feel that he has done something magical and has driven away monsters. He solves problems of non-existent demons for people who always have something to hide. There would always be some mistake committed by a random person who want to put the blame on someone not complaining, and that would be the spirit of a dead person or a demon from another world creating nuisance, misplacing things, setting something on fire etc. It makes him the best-known ghostbuster in the area, and his understanding of people’s superstitions has helped him to set up an office near Howrah Bridge of Kolkata. It is then that he is approached by Rajkumari Meera (Triptii Dimri) who has proof of his activities and asks her to come with her to deal with a paranormal activity in a far away village.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: They leave for this particular place where she belongs to a royal family which has been living in a stable near their old palace because of fear of a spirit that has been living there. The fear has become so much that the whole family has decided to live through a life of poverty forever until they found Ruhaan who is believed to be a reincarnation of a dead prince who somewhat looks like him. This provides them with enough confidence to think about moving to the palace of riches, and after making it look better, hope to sell the palace. He is the only one who is supposed to open the door to a room where a spirit haunting the palace is kept locked, and he is the only one who can save them from the supernatural entity. But he is to wait till the day of Durgashtami to open it, or something worse can happen there. He has to stay there for quite some time now so that he could manage to get his share. At the same time, Ruhaan falls in love with Meera and she seems to feel the same, as he keeps raising the confidence of her family as well as the villagers.

And what more is to follow with the demons and other evil spirits in a haunted palace? :: It is then that a woman named Mallika (Vidya Balan) arrives from a firm which is specialized in restoring old mansions and artefacts. She claimed to replace another employee who had taken a long vacation. There seems to be something strange about her, and feels like too much about the palace and its history is known to her. She stays there with them to further understand the needs for restoration. It is then that another woman named Mandira (Madhuri Dixit) also reaches the palace, after another room is opened. She identifies herself as someone who has come all the way there to buy the palace. She also gives them an offer above everyone else, as she stays there. Now the question remains about what this vengeful spirit really is. One has to wonder what it really tries to achieve – is there any plan other than the ghostly murder of all the residents and the family lineage? What is the worst thing that can happen on the day of Durgashtami? With no real ghostbusters around, is there a chance to save their world?

The defence of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 :: The movie has successfully blended comedy and horror, even though the funny side could have risen even more. The visuals with the old palace and the scary elements remain the fine works around here. There is something that interests one a lot about the old buildings of Bengal, and the feeling of strong history is more in there than any other – it will surely keep us going and wishing for the location to be there for long. There is always some place for twists and some fine scares to happen around here. The fear generation gets active very early, and the atmosphere nicely supports he same. Karthik Aryan has surely added a fresh perspective and freshness to this film. Triptii Dimri does the same, and it is good to see her getting more movies, because Bollywood needs to move on as much as with Karthik Aryan, that much with the actresses around. It needs to find new talents instead of those old superstars from where there is the need the move on.

The claws of flaw :: The humour does not always work, as we often why there is an attempt being made when there is no need, as some of these surely feels forced. The template seems to be repeated, as if there are no particular new ideas to be added to an already existing world, from where this gets the strength, not focusing on innovations. The focus gets the struggle, as too many things get rolled in without justifications, and the final scenes are ridiculously emotional without the required intensity, with the purpose of the evil spirit itself lost in the process of making it appealing to each and everyone even though not perfectly. There seemed to be a feeling of need to give focus to the veteran lady superstars, even when they were never really the focus here. Their presence here seems to be just to add nostalgia and the star value, as these are roles which one of the existing characters in the palace could have done. The story seems to be a little too much deviating from its purpose. As expected, this would not do just to the original at all, with a certain struggle as there is some legacy involved.

How it finishes :: We have watched Manichitrathaazhu and the not much needed sequel called Geethanjali. I have not watched the second part of this particular Hindi series, and therefore do not have an idea how all these have been connected without Akshay Kumar. But I could feel that this particular title could stand alone from the beginning itself. It has surely tried to blend its genres well, but never does it manage to rise to the level of Stree, and it is to be remembered that Stree 2 actually released in the same year. Bollywood does seem to be doing pretty good at making horror-comedies than we had thought it could manage to do. As it depends on the skilled performers instead of both male and female superstars, it moves out of the past, and begins to think better and have some classics. The industry should know that there is a lot of young talent waiting, that too without the nepotic kids becoming weak elements in good movies, something we have witnessed in remakes of movies like Helen – there is also too many of them for the time being. It is not like you say Shazam and you learn acting all of a sudden. Let us hope that the best talents rise out of nowhere and make the industry classic.

Release date: 1st November 2024
Running time: 158 minutes
Directed by: Anees Bazmee
Starring: Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar, Rajesh Sharma, Arun Kushwah, Manish Wadhwa, Shataf Figar, Saurabh Dubey, Denzil Smith, Suresh Menon, Moumita Pal, Shivam Dubey, Surendra Thakur, Kanchan Mullick, Prantika Das, Agrim Mittal, Ajay Tiwari, Yogesh Jadhav, Rose Sardana, Swagatam Halder, Averi Singharoy, Badri Chavan, Arvind Prakash, Parineeta Borthakur

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

What is the movie about? :: There are some usual days in the big city, as Aziz Ali a.k.a. Ajju Bhai (Farhan Akhtar) is fighting in the streets – there is no hesitation for him in going on beating people mercilessly, and even getting beaten up in the process. After the fight, and after being hit on the head during the process, he goes to hospital where Dr Ananya (Mrunal Thakur) asks them to get out, as she doesn’t want to treat gangsters who keep causing trouble in the city. Soon, Ali begins to develop an interest in boxing, which seems unusual in the beginning for his friends, but he is indeed very serious about it. Even though he has the strength, and wants to keep fighting, lacks the accuracy and technique. It is the same reason why he goes on a trial without any plan, and gets beaten by perfect shots from the seemingly weaker opponent despite going strong in the initial stages. Nana Prabhu (Paresh Rawal) is the coach who makes the difference around there, and Ali hopes that he could train with him some day, and become a great boxer like Muhammed Ali.

So, what happens with the events here? :: It turns out that Nana is the father of Ananya, and after some continuous attempts, decides to take him in, much to his own surprise. But it takes a lot of time and effort to gain the next level of his attention. He has to spend most of his time fighting the lower level of boxers, and he keeps training at all times, leaving his recent life behind. He is very quick to go through the next steps, and at the state level, he is given the title “toofaan” while going through the state championships, quite an easy path to the finals. But things won’t go that easy when Nana finds out that Ananya is in love with Ali. He no longer wants to do anything with any of the two, and Ananya decides to leave their home. This brings the twist, and the later stages of life now has to be dealt in a different manner. But the journey forward won’t be easy for them, and it will make them take some desperate actions in the process, which wouldn’t provide the best results. Yet, they have to make sure that they did make a good attempt.

The defence of Toofan :: As this is a sports drama based on boxing, there is no shortage of action around here, and the fights don’t begin in the ring as far as this particular film is concerned, as the underdog, as expected, had to come from the streets. It is the kind of idea that never gets old, as everyone loves comebacks, not just of one kind, but of different styles. The pattern seems perfect here, and there is the inspirational element at work, even though too much of motivation cannot be good. The emotional moments are pretty much working, even though they are somewhat moving in an expected manner, and predictability is also there in the rest of the things – we still have our dose of inspiration, action and emotions. Some dialogues can be remembered, even though it is the trailer that has the best. The romantic side remains cute, even though often seeming like forced in here. We have watched films like Brothers, and so this one nicely holds on to similar idea with ease.

The claws of flaw :: The sports drama genre has had a lot of repetition in the past, and if you look at Malayalam film industry, there have been two, Finals and Kho Kho, which could deviate from the usual path of the sports drama movies. In comparison to these films, there is a lot of cliches in this one, and from the beginning itself, there are so many things which go on the predictable lines. The songs and dance steps also come out of nowhere, and it is time for the industry to keep them to minimum – they are not mandatory in any case. Having a movie like this without a romantic angle between the main characters was also a possibility here, and maybe that seemed to be too unusual a diversion against the safe path here. It is time that films like these go less predictable, and move out of pattern to bring a higher level of sports drama, for such an improvement is the need of the time – until then, we will adjust with this one in the usual model and hope for the better versions.

Performers of the soul :: The movie has to depend almost completely on Farhan Akhtar, as he is the one name that can bring the audience to this path to watch the flick. He has some fine moments for the audience, even though we have already seen a number of them before, in different forms. There are those happy moments and those highly emotional, sad moments. The moments in the boxing ring are indeed good ones too – those were expected though, as we have seen the trailers. The last movie I watched with him in the lead was Wazir, and that was indeed a good one – well, I haven’t been into Bollywood films much, and this is more a come back for me as a Bollywood film reviewer more than for anyone else. As his character does go for a comeback, the motivation stuff comes into the picture again. Well, sports drama has been meant for the same for a long time, and it is that spirit which Farhan Akhtar maintains here, and it is always better than rich people going on trips to Europe just because they have too much money and they can claim to reclaim their lives.

Further performers of the soul :: Paresh Rawal also does a great job as the boxing coach and trainer. Then, he is also that father figure who is to remembered in another way. As he has done many times, he does again, with emotional moments in this film. He remains completely natural in his act here. Mrunal Thakur is the usual leading lady, and goes through the romantic side that we keep seeing in similar films. She does have a lovely presence though, and plays nicely to the requirement of the movie, and there is lot of positivity brought here by her – she has the same in different stages of life. She would be even more suited for a feel-good movie, and with her face and expressions, is immensely suitable for the same kind of a film. She does remind one of Aditi Rao Hydari at some points. Vijay Raaz is the other most notable face, even though he is not there throughout the film. There are many other characters who nicely play along here, and they all become part of the whole – the signs of the same are present in the beginning itself.

How it finishes :: Toofaan adds to the long list of sports drama movies which have graced the Indian film industries, and does add some entertainment, even though there is no innovation regarding the same – we usually know what happens with the storylines of these films without thinking too much about the same. The thrills that the boxing sport provides is much more than any other, and in that way, this movie manages to come up with more, with the action background always having scope, while the emotional side comes up to add another angle here. With the release being postponed multiple times, and finally releasing in the OTT platform of Amazon Prime Video, it does have enough to keep us interested in the sports, and while the Malayalam movie Godha has us taken to the world of wrestling in a different way compared to Dangal, this one goes the boxing path, and when the sports which are less appreciated get some attention, it is always good. The first Bollywood film I watched after a long time did work for me here.

Release date: 16th July 2021 (Amazon Prime)
Running time: 161 minutes
Directed by: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Starring: Farhan Akhtar, Paresh Rawal, Mrunal Thakur, Vijay Raaz, Mohan Agashe, Hussain Dalal, Darshan Kumar, Supriya Pathak