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Directed and Written by: Anurag Kashyap, 2009

The euphoria over Anurag Kashyap is rising, even though he has shut himself off from the world in his Mumbai home. And not just for any reason. The man who made groundbreaking movies like No Smoking and Dev D is back again with his former project shelved in 2003 – Gulaal.

Gulaal is ever so slightly different from Kashyap’s genre in Bollywood. It is, in its basics, a scaled down version of a piece of the intense politics in India – seen through the eyes of the “budding” new generation. An incredibly and beautifully complicated story where multiple threads entwine themselves in the lust for power – this movie has it all for successful portrayal of Indian politics – the futility, the irony and the passion, all are present.

The movie begins with the uninitiated puzzlement in Dilip Kumar Singh’s eyes as he enters his rented room in the deserts of Rajpur, a fictional town of Rajasthan. The 28-year old postgraduate is there to study law. Little does he know that there can be no law in the city. Small and insignificant it may be, yet even Rajpur is not free from the flutters and storms of politics. In search of love and a career, Dilip Singh enters far too deep into the growing revolution for a new nation-state of Rajputana to ever come out alive.

Gulaal moves very fast – the scenes almost jump on top of each other, encompassing the details of months in 2 and half hours. And all throughout the film, the fear unleashed by the local political leaders is as well portrayed as could ever be – courtesy Piyush Mishra’s music.

The highlights of the film are the characters and the dialogues. The latter are very well thought out – while on the one hand, they are colloquial, they are also effectively poetic and strike deep.

Kashyap’s characters are the best part of the movie, the one major thing that separates him from most of the contemporary directors – he has made this entire film only based on the character interactions. And it is the characters that make this film so turbulently captivating that it is bound to draw you back again and again to this movie. All the characters have their role to play and are very real and – equal. Even the women in traditionally downtrodden roles – the raped/ ragged young teacher, the cheated wife, and the mistress – everyone somehow retains their human dignities. Duki Bana’s wife gets barely a total of one or two minutes of screen space – yet her last dialogue with Bana make her an unforgettable character. Mahie Gill of Dev D fame electrifies with the few minutes of her guest role; when Abhimanyu Singh carelessly says that a beating is all she’s worth, you can’t help agree.

There is much to be learnt from the film in retrospect. Prithvi Bana is a character present only to mark the vanity of Duki Bana’s confused calls for “Kranti”, a character just begging to relapse into useless and distracting comic relief. Yet he shines as an important member of the story. Only Prithvi Bana, Duki Bana’s wife and Anuja survive the onslaught of mindless politics – the only people, if you’ll note, who could tolerate the world as it is and still dream of a future brighter than that of Duki Bana.

In the end, the effect is rather angsty, frustrated and tumultuous – the very embodiment of dirty politics in play at every level of Indian life. Gulaal lives up to its name in a very abstract way – again Anurag Kashyap’s trademark. It is not the red powder used farcically in the movie which the name implies, but rather the unchecked flow of red blood which must accompany the characters’ fruitless struggle for power. It implies the tears that must flow to wash away the mask of Gulaal.

If you’re anything into Bollywood’s new matured avatar, not mentioning Anurag Kashyap’s fan, this movie is a must watch.

Rating: out of 5

Freaky Friday is one of those less popular jewels, a fun, light-hearted story with a deep message. It brings together humour, tears, fun, and love, without ever overemphasizing its point.

Tess and Anna Coleman are a stressed out mother and pair duo, each juggling work and boyfriends and constantly blaming the other for “ruining their lives.” This story is about how by a supernatural intervention, they come to understand each other better. Jamie Lee Curtis is outstanding in both the roles of Tess and Anna – she is the one that holds the entire movie together. In the film’s own words, Jamie ROCKS!! Her perfect comic timing, her dazzling smile and her ludicrously crazy acting as Anna makes Freaky Friday the fun thing it is. She brings alive the love between Tess and Ryan. Lindsay Lohan does a good job as well, but is never convincing in the role of the mother as Jamie is in a 15 year old’s shoes.

The dialogues and small details are intelligently added, and the film fits together very sweetly. Several typical old generation- new generation conflicts are addressed wittily. Of course, the way the switch of mother and daughter was affected in the first place is a bad patchup, but hey, we can forgive that because that’s what led to this great movie. You can even forgive that Jake was such an airhead.

The “I don’t wanna grow up” band song sounds awe-inspiringly cool in the movie, especially at that point when Tess is stuck on the stage, not sure what to do and then Anna comes to the rescue.

The last part of the film becomes heavy with emotions, as both mother and daughter realize that neither could’ve done any better as each other; and then comes the rehearsal toast, where selfless love straightens out their fortune. I guess we all need to take a lesson from this movie and think twice before blaming someone else about our problems.

Brilliant acting, fun lines, rocking songs – what other reasons do you need to watch this movie?

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Picture this: the ultimate Indian reality show, where the best young Indian will be chosen to shake hands with George Bush. Now imagine this: six contestants, two judges, 19 hours – caught in a hall of the American consulate. What could that lead to?

You can guess!

The President is Coming  is one of those new age movies that aren’t made so commonly in India, yet is gradually growing more and more acceptable to people. I don’t have any idea how this turned out to be a box office failure, for simply, this is one of the most hilarious movies I’ve seen ever.

This is a very well-scripted and well cinematographed satire on a complex India suffering from hallucinatory images of success and freedom, and employing all possible techniques to relentlessly climb the global ladder in a pro-American world. The characters are delightfully complex, yet hardly stereotypical; and it’s good to have at least one film that explores the variety of Indian youth without passing any judgment on them. A bossy kleptomaniac, a sexist social worker, a wannabe firangi, a spoilt rich scion and an assassin-in-waiting – where are there such an incredible diversity of characters in a film?

The dialogues are singularly well-written, witty and well-timed. But the film doesn’t rely on the dialogues alone – and for this, particular credit must go to the cinematographer. As the film is made as a pseudo-documentary, from time to time certain interviews are inserted – and all charmingly replete with the irony of modern India! Take special care to listen to all the absurdities of how to take care of a President – they’re sure to crack you up!

The film is filled with unknown faces (except Konkona Sen Sharma), but the cast does a very good job – especially the guys playing Ajay, Ramesh and Rohit (sorry, I don’t know you names!) Contrary to expectations, I’d say Konkona doesn’t take as much part in the humour of the storyline as she should have – maybe because she’s not intended as a funny character? Parts of her role definitely stand out – like when she says “Don’t touch my breasts” or when she explains the similarities between Americans and Bangalis. But I still can’t digest how she was disqualified – that’s one major flaw in the entire script. Also, her books could’ve been made more nonsensical. Then the relation between Sam and Maya – I know, it was only one day, but was it going anywhere near a lesbian relationship, at least on Sam’s front (we all know Maya is a determined swindler)? No idea.

The guy playing Md. Aslam was… stiff, quite so, most probably unintendedly. Now if he had just been a more versatile actor, the ulterior message of the film would have gone down better.

There are serious points in the film too; points when there are slight breaks from the breathless laughing. But they’re not out of place – in fact, they help in explaining the complexity of the characters. And they bring out the irony and comedy much better. I simply cracked up when in the end, I saw Samantha’s fate, or when Maya and Sam were fighting on the floor.

All in all, the President is Coming is a mature situational comedy, with a good, tight script. It is not for all, because much is to be read between the lines and you need to appreciate some dark humour and sex jokes from time to time. Is it much of an irony to say that this film is more American than any of the characters in it could ever be? One of the best films released in 2009.

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