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Reviews
Shaitan (2011)
Sleek, stylish, but fell slightly short of expectations..
In 2003, when Anurag Kashyap made Paanch, the movie was scorned by the censor board and was never released. It seems he still feels thwarted and decided to make a few changes to the plot and minify the abuse and obscenities and resurface it.
It was clear, how much Shaitan is inspired by Paanch (with the basic plot espoused from Abbas-Mustan's Khiladi). The only difference is that Shaitan is more stylized, and the first 30 minutes present the audience with youthful 'aiyyaashi' with all the boozing, smoking embraced. Then the youngsters make a 'mistake' (reminiscent of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) and then begins a series of subplots, which seem more or less inspired by its thriller predecessors.
Similar to Paanch, all the characters have prominent dark-sides and they even plan a kidnap-our-friend type plan. At least Paanch seems realistic in the way it depicts the background of the characters, Shaitaan is just too conventionalized. Some of the action scenes were good, and I think the Rajeev Khandelwal subplot was much more interesting. Even the music is just ordinary (Paanch, I recall, had brilliant a music score by Vishal Bharadwaj). I must admit though, Shaitan did have its moments of grandeur, especially the scene with a tweaked version of 'Khoya Khoya Chand' running in the background.
So what is the crux of the movie then? It tries to convey the fact that everybody has a devil (shaitaan) within them, and it emerges without admonition. But don't we already know that? Haven't we seen enough movies that express this message? I didn't find anything new in offing (although I'd have to agree its style is unlike Bollywood) and Kashyap's attempt of urbanizing/glamourising Paanch is not impressive. Worth a one-time watch, but not a masterpiece. Being a huge fan of Kashyap, I felt slightly let down when comparing it to Paanch, DevD, Gulaal et al.
Jhing Chik Jhing (2009)
One of the best Marathi movies ever!
After waiting for nearly 6 months (much thanks to the reluctance of Mumbai theaters to show good movies) , I finally got to watch this movie today. Rather fortunately I saw Peepli Live 2 weeks ago (unfortunately for Peepli I suppose), and I cannot help but feel pity about the way such a sensitive topic was handled in Peepli (although it was intended to be merely a satire on the media).
The story is seen through the eyes of young Shyam (Chinmay Kambli) whose father (Mouli - played superbly by Bharat Kadhav) falls prey to the demons of debt. The innocence of the protagonist compounded with the simplicity of the rural background, the movie reminisces of the 2008 masterpiece 'Valu'.
There seems to be no doubt as to why Jhing Chik Jhing bagged all the Marathi movie awards, as the story and the acting had excellent collaboration. Chinmay Kambli was the true star of this movie, and watching Bharat Jadhav play such a serious role (for a change) and with such supremacy was a delight. The supporting cast (Madhavi Juvekar, Arti More, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Sanjay Mone) also manage to carve their niche with aplomb.
Where this movie scores over most movies I've seen in the past 5 years is the it held me back and made me think, hours after the movie was over (its not that you don't understand it easily, like with Inception). How a (now) meager amount of 10,000 can impel the incapacitated towards familial suicide, in a world where a large portion of the urban population spends the same amount in a single trip to a shopping mall. The most touching movie I've seen since Taare Zameen Par, it is a must watch.