Reviews

Lust Stories is one of those Anthologies that provokes the typical mind. For some blatant reasons of course. It's the Lust that lasted no matter how you serve it!

Alike the maiden Version, Lust Stories 2 revives around the core theme of blending Sex, Desire, guilt, and Betrayal in probably a bit darker way this time.

R Balki narrats the storytelling from a feminist point of view depicting Sexual association in a rather humorous way stirring the agelong Taboo. Neena Gupta plays the part of an antagonist here as the "Gramma" who wishes her Granddaughter to have intercourse before getting hitched to find out the Sexual Compatibility. As she narrates, it won't ever work despite matching Chattis Gunn if you can't erupt Mt. Fuji! In both parts. You might part ways but this will always entice bringing you together and thus persist to be the ultimate Compatibility check, she adds! R Balki had it all except the "supporting" cast as I found both Mrunal and Angad mediocre for the characters they portrayed. Neena stole the show as always. Besides, I found it a bit short and less lusty.

I always have a deep admiration for Konkona, thanks to her homicide mystery in Gunj. Ms. Sen's version has probably given oxygen to the anthology. It keeps you suffocated in a rather lusty way. It's the tale of Tilottoma Shome, a lone corporate who stops by the undesirable act of her maid Amruta on her own bed. The story takes a turn when Tilottoma indulges Amruta's act rather than bridging a hiatus. The story depicts the fulfillment of human desire through the lust of others. Ms. Sen succeeds to titillate through intoxicating BGM and characterization. Stellar performances of actors are big plusses, especially Tilottoma.

Sujoy Ghosh lets down as he delivers the poor show. Netflix might have mistakenly included the version instead of Ghost Stories 2!!! Vijay Verma carries a rather identical character straight from Dahaad yet sparkes whereas Tamannah lacklusters creating prosthetic steam on screen. Nothing in the plot. Such waste except for a mere steamy lip lock with the South Q.

The final version portrays Amit Sharma's vintage dark story of a self-proclaimed lousy King who carries his ancestors' lost legacy. Kajol plays the protagonist wife to King Kumud Mishra. The story highlights the erotic virtues of the ancient legacy of domination over women that out powered by venom within through revenge that goes wrong. Kumud Mishra stole the show in a well-directed short. Kajol looks thikthak. Liked the climax.

Eventually, it's a one-time watch that might not be worth your time. However, if you are a fan of the genre and anthology, it justifies your time at least.

It's pretty assiduous to review Tamasha. This probably the most complex script out of Imtiaz's vault since "Rockstar".

Set in enchanting Corsica, it's the fictional world of self-made Don Ved and his muse Tara where they promise to act. Pretends to be the characters of which they always have dreamt of....break free, bindaas and hatke. A comfortable chemistry which led them to a rather unconventional sexual encounter without emotional attachment precisely, "no strings attached". A story where passion coincides mainstream dreams and sunk in reality.

Imtiaz always remained utterly successful in portraying human psychologies. Depicting aberrations from the orthodox characteristics upon conspicuous events. Perplexed Viren, capricious Geet, a tormented rockstar Janardhan and now Ved, a storyteller lost in chasing mainstream dreams for a survival in so called society and ended up becoming a mediocre product manager who seeks aftermath of his story. This also reveals Ved's bi polar behavior engendered and fostered through an unending suffocation from complex rather confused thought of being turned down from beloved Tara.

After SLB, it's Imtiaz who creates magic on celluloid with color, light and shadow. Tamasha lives up to that virtue of Imtiaz and takes you to his magnificent cinematic roller-coaster! Those marine drive across mediterranean Island, cobblestone streets, flowing red wine, gorgeous winding roads, costumes, uttered dialogues, metaphors...everything... just way too much sexy!!! Added with captivating cinematography and A R Rahman's score which tended to be banal on release except for Yagnik's scintillating "Tum saath ho" until you watch the flick. Now? It's pretty relatable and majestic as always.

Ranvir was brilliant if not the best. His act justifies Ved in all aspect. From a fictional character, a metaphor, a bi polar, a byproduct of mainstream dreams and eventually a storyteller...isn't he a complete package! On the other hand, to me it's Deepika's best work till date. A Funky, steady and mature Tara precisely "the sad heer". It's Dipu and Ranvir's chemistry that supplies oxygen to the flick. Would never forget Ved's frequent comeback and finally Tara's approach of not letting Ved leave that night at bar grasping him as tight as she could until Ved's never-ending ego coincides. Tara's tears give you genuine ache!

Apparently, Tamasha is not everyone's cup of tea. It's may not be a money spinner yet provokes your thought big time and remains as Imtiaz's most underrated work till date. It's not just the story of Ved and Tara nor his adrenalin rush from so called refusal nor the orthodox dreams for survival rather it's the depiction of human behavior within and beyond.

A Monpura, a hiatus of 9 years and Swapnajaal!

Set in 90's, Swapnajaal is a story of whimsical Apu and the girl next door Shuvra. The story engenders and revives accross the southern riverin of Bengal where their unconditional love endeavors between the animosity and religious boundary!

While Monpura was largely attributed to music and remained as a visual treat, Swapnajaal has a intriguing story with an unorthodox ending which apparently leaves the audience in quandary and might be worth of some critical analysis if not acclamation!

Shuvra might be the best work of Porimoni till date. I would say it's apparently the best from any of her contemporaries in recent times. Besides, I found Rohan a bit pale as the character Apu urged slightly more emotion!

Talking about the supporting cast, Babu nails it with his provocative act as a notorious and humorous trader. Apart from this, Iresh acted brilliantly as partner in crime to Babu and at some instance you would start feeling as if he stole the show from the big man. Nonetheless, Shacchu, Misha, Ashis Chakrobarty and others did justice to their roles.

In reviewing visual and technical aspects, I found the cinematography quite captivating besides music and background score could have been better.

Being grown up by watching films like Dahan, Alo, Unishe April, Rajkahini, Belasheshe, I always thought and questioned our ability to make films like those. But, then came films like Shrabon Megher Din, Joyjatra, Monpura and now Swapnajaal. It's a rare virtue of being an original scriptwriter and a Director at the same time. Giasuddin Selim perhaps lives up to that virtue as his most ambitious project since Monpura meeting expectations.

Swapnajaal makes you laugh, makes you cry, leaves you in enigma but eventually don't disapoints you rather quenches your thirst big time!

Hail Swapnajaal, Hail Bangla cinema!

Two thumbs up!

A portrayal of a fathers dilemma contradicting with a man's psychology which leads towards frustration and a never ending suffocation!

We all know the story and the characters well enough! Now if we stick to that, "Doob" might a bit bizarre and puts you in disguise! But what if we consider it as a tale of "Mr. Javed Hasan".? It's apparently palatable.

Doob is not that a pacy film but not boring either. Second half had better grip than the first. What I really feel about the film, it contains less content and ends suddenly.

Mr. Khan stole the show with minor glitches as he was apparently not use to the language and this kind of unorthodox filmmaking but he did justice to the character. I wish "Saberi" were played by Parno instead of Tisha, though both of them acted "thikthak". Bothered of Prachi's act. She might have portrayed a character of less expression but she seemed totally pale!

Talking of the filmmaking, it's the same old preset of Farooki with a bit of mature cinematography this time. Though the cinematography is utterly captivating but it got a bit overcooked as the story gets lost in it! Music and background score was good but there should have an another song! To some extent i do feel Doob is made only for the international festival purposes and not appropriate for the local hall ambiances.

The reasons behind most of the audiences are castigating Doob is that it promised a lot with keeping them waited and guessed for a long time. Nonetheless it's also uttered to be the most ambitious project of Farooki after a long hiatus which portrayed their hero! in a satirical way.

Its not Bachelor, Made in Bangladesh or even Television, it's Doob and you cannot enjoy it with a laughter. Keep calm, find an appropriate companion, expect less, forget Mr. Ahmed and concentrate on Mr. Hasan....you might love it!

Set in 1940, the story revives around a port called Dunkirk where approximately 400,000 soldiers of allied forces got stuck with no available escapes through the mainland and stay in the hope of a miracle of their survival by a probable evacuation. Director depicted the story from three different perspectives with three different time horizons that intersect each other eventually!

Dunkirk merely a character driven film with their heroic tales as it never explains the background of any of its characters that much on how, why and from where they got stuck in a French port and their purposes rather portrays the fact of the survival of those 400,000 soldiers from their counterpart by the only means of evacuation.

Nolan's Dunkirk remains as a visual treat with the best cinematographic experience and splendid sound design till date! It feels like you are in the actual situation!

The movie hardly has any dialogues and might be the only of its genre where the background score never stops breathing and keeps the audience gripped in it spontaneously! It acts like the heart which keeps it alive.

It's not an ordinary film that you watched and understood on a first go with the perplexed time horizons involved but the storytelling is pretty straightforward this time unlike Nolan's other films like Memento, Inception or Interstellar lately.

Forget everything and stop expecting any of that sorts, if you have already watched Schindler's list, The pianist, Downfall, Saving Private Ryan or even recent release Hacksaw Ridge. Dunkirk hardly belongs to that genre. It's not a typical war film rather a survival film with almost no bloodshed!!!

Director Christopher Nolan crafted the thought of making Dunkirk almost 25 years back. It's his most ambitious project till date and an apparent research paper with pure depiction of a wartime situation without revealing the plot!