Movie Review

Aarakshan

Quite Lazily Done

TSI Five-O : Meandering narrative ruins potentially incendiary plot

There are glimpses of how powerful a subject Aarakshan is dealing with in a few scenes with the right amount of gravitas and sharpness, not least of which is the opening scene where an interview panel rubbishes Deepak Kumar's (Saif Ali Khan) credentials because he happens to be a Dalit. But before you can settle into your seat smacking your lips anticipating the white hot drama that is to follow, you have a 'song-out-of-nowhere-for-no-reason' shoved down your throat. And this jarring of the narrative plagues an otherwise well intentioned film throughout.

Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan, reliable and resolute as ever) is the idealistic principal at a coveted private college (STM College) in Bhopal but his personal remark about the requirement for reservation is blown out of proportion costing him his job. Deepak, who also happens to be in love with the principal’s daughter, Poorvi, (Deepika Padukone marginally improves compared to recent outings) is Prabhakar’s protégé but after a fallout with the principal, he is now pursuing his PhD in the States. Somewhere in between is Mithilesh Prasad (Manoj Bajpai, slightly caricature-ish in his portrayal of the scheming vice principal who runs for profit coaching classes on the sly), who pulls out all stops to deprive Prabhakar of his job and his home.

As the tiresome plot winds down, the debate shifts so many times that the issue of reservation is reduced to a mere macguffin. To make things worse, just as things are about to get unwieldy enough for there to be no scope of reconciliation the guest appearance of Shakuntala Thakral (Hema Malini), the founder of STM, is shamelessly used as a Deus ex machina. Coming from Prakash Jha’s stable (insert tabela joke here), the merit of Aarakashan is questionable to put it charitably.

  

Captain America: The First Avenger

Big Brother’s Big Protector…

TSI Five-O: The rise of the first great American superhero…

Captain America brings back to the big screen the classic Hollywood superhero film of the yesteryears. It possesses depth, feel and a certain aura of greatness which draws it out of the usual dreariness of the superhero films these days, which are saturated with excessively preposterous CGI effects. That said, the CGI effects of this film are not less preposterous but they have been done with the same delicacy of a ‘soft’ bottom hand in the game of cricket.

The film proves that when you have to show villainy and evil, you shouldn’t look further than the cruel Nazis. Evoking the classic plot of a Nazi commandant under the Fuehrer planning to take over the world with his own schemes and private army, the film posts Johann Schmidt who is in reality the hideous Red Skull, against the American crusader. The crusader is of course Steve Rogers, a frail youth who after being injected by an experimental serum reaches the peak of human perfection (read: all superpowers except flying and lasers) and dresses up appropriately as Captain America. With the help from his sidekick, Bucky Barnes, he succeeds in delivering the nation from Schmidt by putting his own life on the line without which of course the true gusto of a superhero cannot be appropriately showcased. The film ends in him waking up 70 years later and being approached by Nick Fury (played by the dashing Samuel L. Jackson with an eye patch) who proposes a new mission with worldwide implications.

Assembling a first rate villain, a legendary super hero and all the ‘pulpy’, dramatic Marvel comic thrills, the film brings back the classic ‘retro’ feel which we thoroughly missed for quite a while now. The old Chryslers and the vintage American settings make the film ‘fuller’ and will leave you quite satisfied and quenched of your thirst of ‘the Marvels of old.’