BOLLYWOOD ROUND-UP
Historically Bollywood has reflected an innate ‘Indian’ morality. Themes may be modernised and customs challenged, but the basics are stagnant and laughable. This month’s releases are therefore a refreshing change, atypical of the highly moralistic conventions usually espoused. Eklavya: The Royal Guard (12A) 107min (0000 ) is a big powerhouse of a movie, the omnipresent Amitabh Bachchan investing the title role with a dignified humility. The film explores the caste system, traditions of historical Raj and ‘honour bound duty’, presented in a compelling action thriller. There are dilemmas aplenty for Saif Ali Khan’s modern day Prince Harshwardhan, torn between established customs, family secrets and challenges of modern Indian democracy. Set in the beautifully filmed palaces of Rajasthan, there is enough political intrigue, drama and great performances (Boman lrani’s slightly camp King Rana and Sanjay Dutt’s ‘untouchable’ police officer in particular) to make this a great, almost epic movie.
Mr Bachchan’s versatility is apparent in Nishabd (15) 120min (.000 pictured), the veteran actor playing an ageing 60-year-old photographer tempted by sultry newcomer Jiah Khan (a ‘Lolita-esque’ 18-year-old). Bollywood’s previous depictions of taboo breaking romances have been either shunned by audiences (Ek Chhotisi Love Story) or featured pointless, villainous caricatures (Koyla). Director Ram Gopal Verma’s ability to sustain the affecting drama and psychological turmoil of the married father falling for his daughter’s teenage friend is touching. Obvious comparisons with Lolita are inevitable, but there is much more to this movie. The director succeeds in creating a real emotional resonance while dealing with themes of ageism, infidelity, tradition, and duty. Nishabd is an intelligent and demanding film.
Provoked: A True Story (15) 113min (000 ) is based on Kiranjit Alhuwalia’s autobiography and follows the remarkable journey of a ‘battered wife’ (Aishwarya Rai), as she is convicted for the murder of her violent abusive husband (Naveen Andrews — all the more menacing with his trademark smirk). Director Jag Mundhra’s excellent 2000 film Bawandar depicted child marriage and gang rape in rural India with a sensitivity and rawness, all too rarely experienced in Hindi cinema. Transporting themes of domestic violence to a British setting, with a Bollywood megastar in the lead, Provoked is marred by the unusually graphic nature of the violence. For its humanistic agenda this brutal, moving film does, however, deserve an audience.
Light relief is afforded in debut writer/director Reema Kagti’s Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd (PG) 150min (COO ). An ensemble romantic comedy following six couples on a package honeymoon tour to Goa. All Indian married life is here - the perfect couple, the elders, the orthodox and the modern day suburbanites. Secrets and lies, and misconceptions and understandings make for an enjoyable ride. This promising debut augers a fresh voice in Bollywood. (Ghazala Butt)
I All films out now or on selected release from Fri 2 Mar. See listings for details.
40 THE LIST 1—15 Mar 2007
Reviews
BlOPlC/DRAMNROMANCE BECOMING JANE (PG) 120min O.
As the occasionally inspired Boston Globe film critic Mark Feeney pointed out: ‘Once the implicit aim of biography was to uplift now it is to unveil.‘ And so it is that we reach the point where it seems OK to release a film about the secret love life of British literature's most celebrated spinster. Her many fans will be horrified.
You might be surprised to learn that Jane Austin (played beautifully by Anne Hathaway) owed her success to a man. a certain Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) a full time cad. hedonist and part time lawyer in the latter part of the 18th century. It is well documented that Lefroy. the eldest son of Irish aristocrats who would go on to become the most hated Chief Justice of Ireland. (he was an arch conservative who remained unmoved by the worst sufferings of the potato famine). had a flirtation with Austen. But. if director Julian Kinky Boots Jarrold and TV writer Kevin Hood’s film is to be believed. Lefroy helped shape Austen‘s progress from precocious diarist to genius satirist.
Propelled through its excessive running time by excellent performances from a cast that includes Julie Walters. the late great Ian Richardson. Maggie Smith and James Cromwell and a very generous smattering of some of Austen's best lines. the film hammers home the lilied message — that true art comes at the cost of great personal sacrifice — with all the finesse of an unlined frock coat. This is as dreary as period dramas get. (Paul Dale)
I General release from Fri 9 Mar.
DRAMNCRIME
A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS
(15) 98min 0000
First time filmmaker and writer Dito Montiel‘s vivid. inventive and energetic adaptation of his own allegedly true
biographic novel may be the most self- indulgent and wilfully engaging US film of the year.
The film is based around two narratives. the first focusing on the young Dito (Shia LaBeouf) making his way through the poverty stricken Astoria district of New York in the 1980s. while the second has an older Dito (Robert Downey Jr) returning to his old stomping ground years later.
Montiel's factually liberal (many of the details in the book are changed here) film is a ragbag of styles and subjectivisms. Scorsese's Mean Streets. Terence Davies” Distant Voices Still Lives and the music of Lou Reed are all touchstones here but he is definitely following his own kinetic vision. In the midst of the madness Chazz Palminteri. Dianne Wiest. Channing Tatum and Martin Compston. amongst a large ensemble cast. are given astonishingly free reign to do their finest work in years. while LeBeouf and Downey Jr are both powerful enough actors in their own right to hold the point of focus in both sections. This litter strewn. untidy film about fathers and sons. the wisdom of mothers. guilt. escape and return and the incremental daily abuses of communal poverty can be pat and a little gauche in places but it is never dull. Recommended. (Paul Dale)
I Cameo, Edinburgh and selected cinemas from Fri 2 Mar. See interview. in index.
THRILLER OUTLAW (18) 104min O
The appalling British writer/director Nick Love (The Football Factory. The Business) continues to commit the most heinous of crimes against the art of cinema with this vigilante thriller. Iraq war veteran Bryant (Sean Bean) finds himself the leader of an embittered group of men who have all been let down by their country and the law. There's Gene (Danny Dyer). a yuppie who is bullied by everyone: there's grieving idealistic barrister Cedric (Lennie James) and there‘s weirdo surveillance obsessive Sandy (Rupert Friend). With the help of a disillusioned ex-detective (Bob Hoskins). this furious five begin to seek retribution from those that have wronged them. When they become national lteroes. however. things begin to go awry. Gleaned. like all Love‘s films. from the shittiest of tabloid headlines and the most obvious of film references this is equal parts Death Wish. Fight Club. The Dirty Dozen and for good measure The Full Monty all wrapped up in yesterday‘s copy of The Sun. In short this is the very worst type of proletariat cinema. one that pretends to report from the frontline of this age of hysteria in the voice of the common