Tag Archives: Nithya Menon

19 (1) (a)

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This début film from Indhu VS is beautifully shot, but takes a long time to ultimately say not very much. I’m aware that as someone who does not live in India and does not follow Indian politics closely, I have probably missed many of the nuances here, but regardless, the message of freedom of speech and expression seems to be lost by the end of the film. While Nithya Menon and Vijay Sethupathi put in excellent performances, as do the rest of the cast, this was a disappointing watch that promised so much, but ultimately failed to deliver.

The film follows Nithya Menon’s character as she deals with a manuscript left by a customer at the printing shop where she works. The shop is owned by her father but since the death of their mother some years ago, he has become distant and disengaged from day-to-day business. Each day Nithya rides her scooter to work and spends the day coaxing her elderly computer to work and dealing with random power cuts that prevent her from using the photocopier. Meanwhile her father (Srikant Murali) spends his days lazing around, talking to his friend Allen and watching TV. Nithya seems to rarely speak to her father and their relationship seems strained and difficult.

When Gauri Shankar (Vijay Sethupathi) leaves his manuscript to be copied he asks Nithya what time she closes. But then goes on to ask her if she will wait for him, as he may be a little late. Nithya doesn’t object to this despite not knowing the man’s name, contact number or what time he will actually return. And she does stay very late, falling asleep at her desk, but Gauri does not return. Indhu seems to be suggesting that Nithya has so little control over her own life that she cannot do anything else but wait for Gauri to return. But earlier, when she asks Gauri if she should bind the copy, he answers that she should do as she wishes. This simple reply makes Nithya smile, and when she remembers this response in the days that follow, it seems to give her licence to move beyond her usual routine.

The opening credits show what has happened to Gauri, so we already know why he has not returned. When Nithya sees the news that Gauri has been killed, she is shocked and then, when the reporter explains further, she becomes worried about the work he has left with her. Gauri Shankar is a political writer and his murder appears to be linked to his latest manuscript, of which Nithya has the only hand-written copy. As she struggles to decide what to do, she begins to make decisions for herself and moves out of her usual daily pattern, which changes her relationship with her father and her friends.

19 (1) (a) refers to an article in the Indian Constitution which states “All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression”. At the start of the film Nithya appears to have no freedom as she has given up college to come home to look after her father when her mother died. She spends her days copying other people’s words, but has no way to express her own individuality. But when a stranger gives her the option to choose, this brief interaction allows Nithiya to develop freedom of expression. While the idea is good, Nithya doesn’t become more assertive or expressive. She still keeps to herself, dresses the same and by the end of the film doesn’t seem to have changed. What she does do is try to find out what to do with Gauri’s manuscript but even then she meets people who help her by chance, and doesn’t seem able to tell the key people she meets about Gauri’s work. There is a real lack of purpose in Nithya’s attempts to decide what to do and the film fails to give a final outcome to the story with many of the threads left hanging. One involves Nithya’s friend Fathima (Athulya Ashadam) who works in a clothing store beside Nithya’s printing shop. Fathima is upset by her arranged marriage which she feels will put significant constraints on her life and destroy her freedom. But although the story is explored briefly, there is no resolution of Fathima’s concerns and this lack of any sort of conclusion is frustrating, especially when Nithya and Gauri’s stories are also left unfinished.

Nithya Menon is the main lead here and she does an excellent job with a role that relies on her facial expressions to get her emotions across. For the most part her character is thoughtful and considered, but she comes alive in the moments when she is speaking with her friends. Her gradually developing confidence is also handled well, although this does waver at the end. Vijay Sethupathi is also very good and in his conversations with his publisher, gets across the political ideas that underpin the film. But these didn’t always make sense and I found it difficult to understand exactly what Gauri’s views were that were so dangerous. While metaphors and analogies can work well to get across a subtle meaning, here the message seems buried beneath too much innuendo and obfuscation.

The film does look beautiful with Manesh Madhavan ensuring each frame is perfectly composed. I love the attention to detail and the framing used when Nithya is preparing fish and throwing the fish heads to her cat. Scenes of Nithya and Fathima eating their lunch together in the shop where Fathima works are also well done and Manesh also captures the stifling atmosphere inside the printing shop well. The music too is good and seems to suit the slow development of the story well. Subtitles by Vivek Ranjith seem fine (there isn’t much dialogue and what there is appears stilted) but irritatingly none of the written documents are translated. I’m not sure how relevant to the story this is, but it is frustrating not to be able to see how the words Nithya reads impact her actions. As the camera frequently lingers on the pages, I am sure there must have been some relevance, given that much is not directly said about gauri’s political beliefs. Although perhaps not, since the final excerpt, read over the closing scene, doesn’t shed any more light on Gauri either.

Despite my frustration with parts of the film, I did enjoy watching Nithya Menon gradually begin her journey towards self-expression, and Vijay Sethupathi is always engaging on screen. The idea of the story is good, but the execution seems too sloppy despite the care taken with the cinematography. I am sure that some of my dissatisfaction is due to not being able to understand the language, but I wish that the story had a clearer message and a better resolution. Still worth a watch for the main leads and the excellent cinematography. 3 stars.

Janatha Garage

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I want to grab Koratala Siva and shake him till his teeth rattle, then kick him into the middle of next week. He has managed to get a top notch cast and the beginning of a good idea and turn it into something far less than the sum of its parts.

Sathyam (The Complete Actor Mohanlal) is the head of Janatha Garage, a leader, and is genuine in his desire to give the little people a fair go. Mohanlal has great conviction and gravitas when he speaks of what is right and fair, and he gives the impression of a man who seeks to take a balanced view but who will never take the easy way out. He gathers a small crew of like-minded men who also represent in shorthand the diversity of Hyderabad. Janatha Garage repairs engines and problems.

Anand (Young Tiger NTR) has an unusual hero entrance where he arrives to … plant a tree. Or actually, tell someone he’s busy and so can they please plant the tree. Anand’s environmentalism is very simple. Trees good, humans bad. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with wanton destruction as long as it is him dishing out the destruction. He is given an overblown fight intro where he beats some thugs up while claiming to be giving them a taste of Mother Nature’s temper. He tells people what to do and believes they will do it because he has told them so. Sathyam sees him as a good fit for Janatha Garage, and welcomes him into the fold.

Some of the movie’s highlights are the scenes between NTR Jr and Mohanlal. Their characters have a connection that is unknown to either of them for quite some time, so that added a bit of interest for the audience. They both bring more to the table than that flimsy screenplay required. The actors portray a nice dynamic – warm, mutual respect, and a recognition of the gradual changing of the guard and what that means. But there are too many gaps and things that Anand in particular just accepts too easily. This is not a lack in Tarak’s acting – I felt he added as much complexity as he could. Both Anand and Sathyam are so sure they are right, and that their right is more right than anyone else’s idea of right. Anand in particular brooks no discussion and has no compassion for anyone who opposes him. It robs his character of any inner life, and makes them both rather joyless.

And that lack of heart is the real problem with this film. For a story that should be so intimately tied to people and their daily struggles, once the story moves to Hyderabad Janatha Garage seems to take place in a lifeless bubble. The sound design makes it seem like they are on a stage with echoing dubbing and swelling string music every time Janatha Garage is invoked. In contrast, an early scene of Anand running through a slum area in Mumbai had a real sense of place and the vibrant, persistent signs of life in high density cities. Even in the impressively choreographed action scenes, Anand takes on all comers alone. He finally allows the other Garage guys in on the final fight but they are barely on camera. And he never even gets a mark on his linen shirts, let alone get his hair messed up. I wonder if his construction strength hair product was environmentally friendly? His apparent invulnerability also saps the drama of tension because you know how every fight will end before it starts.

The support cast are pushed so far into the periphery that I was actually a bit sad to recognise so many capable actors. The Janatha Garage family includes Rahman as Sathyam’s murdered brother, Sithara as Anand’s aunty, Suresh as his uncle, and Devayani as Sathyam’s wife. Perennial favourite Ajay is likeable and sympathetic, Brahmaji doesn’t look angry for maybe 40 seconds of his total screentime, Saikumar is suave as police chief Chandrasekhar, and I liked Vennela Kishore’s fleeting appearance as an inappropriate office manager flirting with Samantha. I have just spent as much time on developing their characters as Koratala Siva did.

The baddies were played by Sachin Khedekar and Ashish Vidyarthi who both exuded an urbane egotism in their pursuit of wealth. They both want to keep a distance from what is being done, but have no illusions about the outcome. Unni Mukundan plays Sathyam’s son Raghava who goes over to the dark side. Raghava is slimy and bit of a sook and I cared not one jot for his well-being. But I did wonder just how he turned out that way when everyone else even tenuously associated with Janatha Garage was lining up for sainthood.

Samantha and Nithya Menon are capable, and both project warmth and liveliness which was sorely lacking in the rest of the film. But their relationships with each other and with Anand were never developed, and their storylines just fizzled out. Even Anand, apart from one tearful scene, seemed largely to forget that he had a girlfriend and a spare.

Luckily there are beautiful visuals from cinematographer S. Thirunavukkarasu, especially when the story heads out of town and Anand gets his groove on while frolicking in the mountains. Tarak can express such joy when he dances and it was a relief to see Anand lighten up. Rock On Bro is exactly what you’d expect if you briefed a 70s metal cover band to write a theme for a tourism ad with a hippy vibe. Having said that, the Apple Beauty song has possibly the worst lyrics I’ve heard since Eurovision. I pitied the subtitle team for having to work with such gems as “when you devour me I am like the Apple logo on an iPhone”. But don’t take my word for it. Here is a sample:

And who on earth thought Kajal could deliver a skanky item? She’s very attractive, she gives it her all, but she has none of the sensuality or basic coordination required to dance her way in and out of trouble. And casting a Mumbai girl to perform a Telugu item called Pakka Local…Luckily Tarak decides he can’t see the excellent sets go to waste so he jumps in.

I’m putting the flaws in Janatha Garage firmly on Koratala Siva’s account. He had a super cast, a decent budget, and a good idea and he threw most of it away with shoddy writing and empty clichés. One for the Tarak or Mohanlal fans who will enjoy the star performances.

Ustad Hotel

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Ustad Hotel poster

After watching the excellent Bangalore Days I was on the lookout for more from writer/director Anjali Menon and director Anwar Rasheed, and luckily found their previous co-venture Ustad Hotel lurking in my pile of ‘to-be-watched’ DVD’s.  The other drawcard pushing this up the list was the appearance of Dulquer Salmaan, who has impressed so far in every performance I’ve seen and seems to have the knack of picking a good script. And once again, the combination does not disappoint. Ustad Hotel is a gem of a film and fully deserves the many accolades and awards received, including its three National Film Awards in 2012. The story is simple but beautifully executed with stunning cinematography and excellent performances from the whole cast. It’s a real feast for the senses given that most of the film revolves around food and cooking, so probably best not to watch on an empty stomach!

The film tells the story of Faizal (Dulquer Salmaan), commonly called Faizi, and the path he takes to find his true place in life. Along the way we see details of his different relationships – with his four sisters, his father and most importantly with his grandfather, the owner of the Ustad Hotel.

Faizi’s story starts before he is born when his father Abdul Razaq (Siddique) and mother Fareeda (Praveena) are expecting their first child. Abdul’s confidence that the baby will be a boy and his disappointment when this child, and the next three are all girls, sets our expectations for a typically traditional family and in the main this is what we get. By the time Faizi is finally born, his ambitious father has already planned out his son’s life, which leaves little room for what Faizi himself actually wants. Luckily Faizi has his four sisters who bring him up after their mother dies and seem to have his best interests at heart. His sisters know that he is training to be a chef in Switzerland while his father thinks he is studying for an MBA, but they aren’t impressed by his European girlfriend or by his plans to work in London. As a result they conspire to bring him back to India, but still keep his father in the dark about Faizi’s true plans.

At the same time Abdul has arranged a bride visit for Faizi as soon as he steps off the plane, but things don’t go well when Faizi tells his intended bride Shahana (Nithya Menon) of his intention to work as a chef. Faizi’s furious father confiscates his passport and in desperation Faizi turns to his grandfather Kareem (Thilakan) who runs a small beachside restaurant in Kozhikode.

Kareem acts as a mentor to Faizi and teaches him not only how to cook his famous biriyani, but also how to care for a business, including his workers, and the general community around him. The obvious respect which Kareem receives from everyone from his staff and customers, to the chef in the five-star hotel nearby, makes Faizi realise that there is more to his grandfather than he previously realised. Everyone sees him as Kareem’s grandson and that defines his place in a way that has never been so clear before.  The story is well crafted and the relationship between the two is beautifully developed as Kareem starts by making Faizi a general helper and gradually allows him to develop his cooking skills while ensuring he gains a more mature outlook on life.

Thilakan is perfect as Kareem and he is the glue that holds the story together. There is a twinkle in his eye as he describes running off with the bride from a wedding where he was employed to cook, and the wistful delight with which he describes watching rain in the desert is pitched just right. He has a number of maxims he lives by, including that every meal should feed the mind as well as the stomach and every glass of sulaimani should contain a little bit of love. With these simple words and by ensuring his workers all have extra funds should they need it, Kareem teaches Faizi how to be a good person, not just a good cook. He is a man who lives his life with no regrets and has compassion for all, which makes him the ideal mentor for Faizi.

Dulquer is also excellent, and while the role of a trendy young NRI returning to India may be straightforward, his Faizi does appear to be genuinely at a crossroads.  He imbues his character with plenty of charm but also gives Faizi an element of confusion and bewilderment that fits his indecision perfectly. Dulquer and Thilakan share wonderful chemistry and their relationship comes across as very genuine – the respected elder and the young apprentice both in the film and presumably also in real life given that this is only Dulquer’s second film. Mamukkoya also deserves special mention in his role as Ummar, Kareem’s manager and almost another member of the family. He is very natural in the role and his conversations with Kareem about Faizi are exactly what you would expect from an old and trusted employee asked to give his opinion on the wayward young member of the family.

Nithya Menon appears as the love interest for Faizi and her Shahana is an interesting character. At one moment she is wearing a burka and conforming to the demands of her rather strict family, but in the next she steals out and is singing in a rock band and wearing Western clothes. Nithya Menon is as wonderful as ever and even in her limited time onscreen she makes an impression, but I really would have liked to see a little more of her in the second half.

While Faizi deals with the repercussions of defying his father, he gets a job at the five-star hotel next door and has a chance to use his training to cook more Western style dishes, or ‘oag cosin’ as my subtitles call it! There is a plot to drive Kareem out of the hotel and close down the Ustad Hotel and finally Faizi makes a trip to Madurai to see just how cooking with love should be carried out. It all ties together perhaps a little too neatly at the end but it’s hard to complain when it’s all done so well with S Lokanathan’s stunning cinematography ensuring each scene looks perfect.

Ustad Hotel is a film that flows beautifully, blending adept characterisations, a heart-warming story and traditional Keralan cuisine into a very tasty dish indeed. There are a few quibbles; Faizi’s Western girlfriend is horribly stereotyped and the second half could have been a little shorter without losing too much of the story. The romance between Faizi and Shahana seems to go from awkwardness after her initial rejection to a friendly relationship well, but the jump to romance seems to happen off camera as the two are suddenly an item without any further development of their relationship. However these are small points in an otherwise excellent film. Well worth watching for Dulquer, Thilakan and Nithya along with all the glorious shots of food. 4 ½ stars.