THE CLASS OF 83 MOVIE REVIEW

 

The Class of 83: The Punishers of Mumbai Police is directed by Anurag Kashyap adapted from S Hussain Zaidi's book on Mumbai crime and Underworld. This book is a critique on the encounter specialists of the Mumbai Police Force.

Vijay Singh, an honest police officer is the Dean of the Officer's Training School in Nashik. He has been given punishment posting there. He is haunted by a failed operation against a gangster Kalsekar and secondly by the death of his wife, Sudha. Both these events have scared him emotionally. He chooses five underperforming students for this operation who are well known for their friendship, truth and loyalty namely Pramod Shukla, Vishnu Varde, Aslam Khan, Lakshman Jadhav and Janardan Surve. Along with them, the training inspector Mangesh Dixit and DCP Raghav Desai are aware of this plan. Raghav Desai helps him to form an off-the-records team specializing in encounter killings. Some time later, rivalry over encounter credits and lure for money tears the team apart.

This movie gives a feel of 1980s Mumbai as we can see cars like Fiat and Ambassador, BEST buses, mills, newspaper office and printing area. Vijay Singh is shown using a machine gun to kill the gangster. Vijay Singh is shown as a brooding mentor who is constantly battling his inner demons. He does not speak much but his eyes convey every dialogue. In the end, the gangster is killed and the four officers are held guilty in the court and get sentenced for a few years.

'A SUITABLE BOY' Movie Review

 

'A Suitable Boy' book was published in 1993 by Vikram Seth. It's setup is of 1950s when India got free from British rule recently. It showed how people were trying to adjust in the new environment. The people were stuck between twin forces i.e. tradition and modernity which were opposite to each other. This showed a world full of people looking inward and outward, having one foot in the past and one in the present.

Andrew Davies has done the screenplay adaptation of A Suitable Boy. He previously has done many adaptations including Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' (2016) and Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables' (2017). These adaptations have been done for BBC so the characters are shown speaking English.

The story revolves around Lata, a college student. Her mother wishes her to marry a suitable boy. She also has three suitors namely Amit, Haresh Khanna, and Kabir Durrani. The other side of the story revolves around her brother-in-law, Maan, who has an affair with an older Muslim woman Saeeda. We can see caste and religion based politics, capitalism, socialism, industrialization, fall of grace of the landed gentry, and other sundry concerns of young India. This series doesn't show India directly as a land of heat, dust, strange odors and snake charmers but gives a hint about all these indirectly. When we watch the series, we can relate it to Jane Austen's heroines as Lata shuttles between her suitors. Whereas Maan is stuck between love and infatuation. Lata is at first shown averse to the idea of marriage but then grows to consider it after feeling the need of a companion.

(THE WORD SUITABLE IN BLUE CONTAINS LINK OF THE TRAILER. YOU CAN CLICK ON THE LIN TO WATCH THE TRAILER)

MOVIE REVIEW OF 'CHHALAANG'

 

The movie Chhalaang is produced by Luv Ranjan starring Nushrat Bharucha and Rajkumar Rao. Neelima (Neelu), a computer teacher is shown striking a blow for women rights, gender equality and sports in this movie. The film is set in a small town of Haryana. Mahendra's (Montu) father is a respected lawyer in this town who uses his influence to get a job for his son. Initially, he is shown as a slacker who eats samosas and drinks tea in the PT period rather than doing his actual job. He became a PT teacher because he couldn't become anything else in his life. (Personally, I also have heard this thing especially for teachers that "when you are not able to do any other job or you are bored at home, you become a teacher." I don't think this is the reality as when I was a child, I always dreamt of becoming a teacher and I finally I fulfilled my dream. So, people should stop thinking this as not anyone becomes a teacher easily. We face many hurdles.) Montu likes to spend the day in the company of his Guru, Professor Shukla who teaches Hindi. They both keep eating samosa and drink tea. In the evening, Montu accompanies his childhood friend Dimpy and both of them keep consuming alcohol in large amounts.

             Montu's life takes a turn when Neelu joins school as a computer teacher. At the same time, Inder Mohan Singh, another sports teacher gets appointed as Montu's senior. Inder and Neelu both know each other from the past and Montu has a crush on Neelu. Montu gets hurt when he comes to know that they both knew each other. He feels jealous and claims that he is a better sports teacher than Inder and challenges him for a competition. The winner would stay while the loser will resign. Now when the selection begins, Montu's younger brother is chosen in Inder's team. Montu is forced to choose the studious students including the girls. Neelu forces him to select girls as well. In the end, Montu's team wins despite the heavy odds.

         Inder is shown as a highly disciplined and motivated sports teacher who takes his job seriously. He is arrogant but later accepts defeat with grace. The message is conveyed in a playful, non-preachy manner that sports are as much important for the growth of children as studies and this should be inculcated right from the initial years.

(To watch the trailer of this movie, click on the word Chhalaang written in blue in the first line)

MOVIE REVIEW OF 'THE WHITE TIGER'

 

The White Tiger is an adaptation of Aravind Adiga's novel 'The White Tiger' published in 2008. In this movie, we can see caste politics and the rich poor divide which is still prevailing in India from a long time. This movie shows that after all these years of independence, the mighty one's are still ruling. The movie shows that only way for the poor to survive is through crime and politics. Abject poverty and high society lifestyle, both can be seen here. There is a division between haves and have- not's.

              The character Balram Halwai studied a little during his childhood. He knew how to speak Hindi and his dream is to become the driver of Ashok. Ashok is the younger son of Zamindar who studied in America and has just returned. He is married to Pinky, an Indian girl, born and bought up in America. The elder son of Zamindar treats Balram like an animal (as he was of lower caste) but Ashok and Pinky treat him kindly. Once, Pinky was drunk and was driving when she ran the car over a child on road. But the blame had to be taken by Balram forcefully. Balram's inability to say NO further propels him to break the invisible chains around him. Ashok is shown doing too many deals against his wishes.

            We can see in the movie that Ashok's father and brother travel in the sleeper compartment on a train which no rich people will ever do so. The common man, the drivers, the relatives are shown speaking in English among themselves ( In practical world, the villagers are not able to speak Hindi properly due to their mother tongue influence then how can they speak in English?)

       Pinky, a modern girl, is not used to the patriarchal ways of her in-laws and rebels against them openly without any hesitation. This is when Ashok and Pinky decide to leave village and live in Delhi. Ashok is also caught between the two extremes and is unable to decide where he belongs. His character is shown helpless. At last, Balram murders Ashok and starts his own company (as he always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur). This movie is made keeping in mind the Western audience which reinforces the stereotype of India being a poor, third world country and a land of snake charmers.

(TO WATCH THE TRAILER, CLICK ON THE LINK GIVEN IN THE FIRST LINE IN THE WORDS WHITE TIGER WRITTEN IN BLUE)