Movie Review – D

Raw and rocking

Ram Gopal Varma’s films are a charm isn’t it. Even though, this was not directed by him. Vishram Sawant only looked like he mirrored RGV’s thoughts because it looked very much an RGV film with raw, unruffled emotions. Produced under his banner and considered the last of his movies among Indian Gangster Trilogy the movie was to the point. As much as the emotions looked stripped, ‘D’ was all about emotion. Lethargic, third person type of emotion. With Randeep Hooda at the fore, he brings in a natural flavor to the type of movie which Ram Gopal Varma had wanted.

Just like any out of the box movie, it takes a while for the audience to settle. The initial few minutes are clumsy and intentionally made in that way. May be that’s an attribute to RGVs style of film making. We get to see a young man, Deshu (Randeep Hooda) coming back to his hometown for his mother’s death. Deshu is not really an emotive person. He feels that it’s just his duty that he had to be there for his mother’s death. It’s more of a compulsion for him than the love towards his mother. He sees a live death within few days and then again witnesses a murder which makes him understand that it’s not a fair world outside.

The acting for these sequences were pretty much Godard like. The emotions were not spoon fed for us to understand. We don’t feel curious to see what’s his life was going to become but we get driven by his life, as if like a passerby. As he gets humiliated by Mangli’s (Raju Mavani) gang, instead of confessing or joining the gang, he joins the opposite gang and takes his revenge.

Then all we see is his rise, which was in a way interesting. There were few interesting scenes where the dialogues can’t be heard, even though they continue to talk. Generally these would be implemented at some of the suspenseful points in the film and is one of the most irritating techniques but here it feels like fast forwarding an unwanted song. It was a relief because we don’t really want to get to the details of an uninteresting man. We just want to see the highlights. The music in those junctions too were appealing and elevates the mood of the movie, giving a retro punk feel.

The only point of the film which looks forced in the conclusion. Hashim Bhai (Goga Kapoor) becoming folly of the plans of two of his sons, Mukarram (Sushant Singh) and Shabbir (Yashpal Sharma) felt too convenient. A man of his stature believing age old tricks like this was not convincing. It’d have rather been interesting if he had acted as if he was supporting his sons because if he had not he’d have been killed by his sons. If he had, he would’ve known that his sons would be eventually killed because Deshu is no normal person. That conflict would have been interesting than having a plain old ending.

The film more than anything was ambitious and that was so nice to watch. Any budding filmmaker who wants to make a gangster film would be inspired and would think that they don’t have to always have a huge budget for such movies. In fact even the gun sound coming of silencer was done so soft that there was no big fuzz over anything. It’s a world which RGV has created and would remain forever like this, no matter what he does post that.

Movie Review – The Stoneman Murders

Crisp Thriller

‘The Stoneman Murders’ serves its purpose. That’s about the first thing you’ll feel as you finish the movies. It’s ninety minutes of no nonsensical thriller. The film doesn’t deviate at any point. Even the item number looked necessary or may be carefully infused so that it looked like it’s necessary. Also, with its stringent budgeting. Just like how ‘Striker’ deceives us through the making about how good a film that is, ‘The Stoneman Murders’ too does the same. Both were not intentional though. Both of them would have wanted to make a ‘richer’ more ‘glossier’ film, may be like a ‘Photograph’ which even though not a big budget movie, looks ‘richer’, even with slums and middle-class houses. On the contrary ‘The Stoneman Murders’ suffers because of the lack of it.

• 

Towards the end, the film gave me a feel of ‘Chaser’. One of the best Korean thrillers I’ve ever seen. With all the bloodbath and gore, it felt wonderful. The main advantage of ‘Chaser’ is its coldness. The psychopath’s character is a pure delight. Especially when he kills an old lady in a grocery shop. Whereas in ‘The Stoneman Murders’, the film takes the ‘whodunit’ angle more than the psychopath angle. So, we don’t get to see the film in all its coldness. It’s more of a thriller than a scarer. Anyways it works. Thanks to its no nonsensical approach of filmmaking.

The ‘Chaser’ analogy doesn’t exactly make sense because its just the one shot of the climax. May be because its where the twist is revealed, I hung to it. Quite luckily, I was able to guess the twist, which doesn’t happen often. Thanks to the clue given before. That’s good filmmaking. A hint should always be given, without making it a ‘rabbit out of the hat’ moment in the climax. That’s why I guess I loved the film more. I’m loving it even more when I write about it, than at the time I watched.

A not so glamourous production value is understandable but if there is one section which could have been improved, it should have been acting. Except for Kay Kay Menon, rest all look poker faced. Arbaaz Khan was a great choice to play a good for nothing inspector because he need not do anything special to play the role. All he had to do was to be himself, which he does wonderfully well. Great idea by the director, Manish Gupta to employ him in such a role.

The film follows a real-life incident of a serial killer in Mumbai called ‘Stoneman’. Wonder why an English title was given to the film. May be to look more serious so that there would be takers in multiplex. Because the target audience for a film like this is definitely the elite ones, as it wouldn’t even release in small theatres. The authenticity of the film is not a big concern because with the material, it’s a reasonably good film. To keep up the tension till the end was a commendable achievement. Wish the climax had been sturdier. The director tries to do too many things in too little time in the climax. Again, because it’s a real story, he’d have wanted to give it a proper end. Anyways, it’s a negligible mistake.

‘The Stoneman Murders’ is an example of how to make an interesting film without splurging. Lets just break the opening sequence. We see a long shot of ship which makes us curious as to what would be there inside the ship, what would happen to the ship etc. but the camera tilts to few people who play cards. When the focus shifts to them, a beggar kid approaches them for ganja. Then the focus shifts to the kid when he talks with his friend about how he wants to enjoy life. There is a beautiful shot of him going into the sun, giving a feel like we’re going to watch this kid’s story. But after everything we see him dead on ground. I couldn’t help but laugh for being cinematically manipulated towards the entire sequence. The drug peddler is caught by the protagonist, sub-inspector Sanjay Shelar (Kay Kay Menon), with which the entire circle gets complete. But I was awed even before that had happened. That was some blissful filmmaking.

All through the film, important and well as not so important scenes were canned like that. Sanjay’s wife changing her dress Manali (Rukhsar Rehman), the subway episode, the climax twist where Sanjay’s close aid (Kamble) tells him about how the seniors have plotted against him, are all typical examples. Especially the last one. Because a twist happens post that too. If and only if, it had better actors, it would have been hailed like that of a Sriram Raghavan film. Nevertheless, it’s still a gold under the muddle.