Movie: A Wednesday
Genre: Drama
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Producer: Anjum Rizvi, Shital Bhatia
Banner: Anjum Rizvi Film Company, UTV Motion Picture, A Friday Filmworks
Actors: Naseerudin Shah, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill, Aamir Bashir, Rajesh Shringapure, Deepal Shaw and Gaurav Kapoor
Release Date: 5th September 2008

R.K. Laxman’s ‘The Common Man’ comes to life in this hard hitting thriller ‘A Wednesday’, written and directed by the talented Neeraj Pandey. The film tackles the issue of terrorism, from a whole different perspective.

Synopsis

Mumbai Police Commissioner, Prakash Rathod (Anupam Kher) receives a call from an anonymous individual (Naseeruddin Shah) who has planted bombs in the various parts of Mumbai. This fast paced action thriller is about the drama that unfolds in the next couple of hours.

But above all, it has the most riveting ending that leaves the audience with questions far beyond the length of the film.

Story

Rating: 10 / 10

Here is a fresh story straight from the oven. Written by a man who not only knows the art of story telling but knows exactly what he is talking about (a rare combination).

The end result is a captivating film about terrorism (hardly any bloodshed) with a gripping storyline and an eye opening climax.

Bravo Neeraj Pandey!

Screenplay

Rating: 9 / 10

Mark Twain once wrote a long letter to his friend and apologized, I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.

But, Neeraj Pandey certainly took his time to write this concise, well-etched and brilliantly sketched screenplay.

In the first act, each character introduction is done in silos and could have worked much better had they shown the scenes with the time as the additional character (1.15 pm- A police officer sees off his wife and kid, 1.45 pm- an actor discussing terrorist calls with the police commissioner.) This would have also helped the viewer get a sense of what was happening in their lives in tandem. For this reason, I have given the screenplay, a nine out of ten. But all said, the film’s ups far exceed its downs.

This one undoubtedly deserves an award in this category.

Acting

Rating: 9 / 10

No words can do justice to the sheer brilliance in performance that we see from Naseeruddin Shah as the antagonist and Anupam Kher as the Mumbai Police Commissioner. Effective performances by Jimmy Sheirgill and Aamir Bashir as fellow officers have added to this high-adrenalin thriller.

In particular, I was impressed by Jimmy Shergill in very different role; the little bulk on him is definitely suiting him well in the role of a cop.

Deepal Shaw in her role as a news channel reporter was somewhat a misfit given the very talented pool of actors in this film, hence a nine out of ten.

Dialogues

Rating: 10 / 10

The crisp dialogues are a sheer delight. You’ll have to watch the film to enjoy it. Some of my favourite dialogues in the film are,

Anupam Kher: “.and come over to my place in the evening. We’ll have a drink together.”

And Naseer’s speech in the climax.

Cinematography

Rating: 7 / 10

This is undoubtedly one of the best works of Fuwad Khan, the cinematographer. He has efficiently used some of his signature moves in this film. The film is certainly an above average in this department.

Other Departments

Rating: 8 / 10

Neeraj Pandey follows his screenplay to the T in the role of the director. One can see his marks in the editing department as well. Sanjoy Chowdhury’s background score complements the mood well.

Conclusion

Neeraj Pandey’s beautifully crafted debut film is a masterpiece and I recommend everyone to watch it in their favourite theatre. Some of the best performances by Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher, makes this the most memorable film of 2008. And most of all, the climax will leave you wanting for more.

– Gaurav Suryavanshi

Rock On is a film about four friends, Aditya (Farhan Akhtar), Rob (Luke Kenny), Joe (Arjun Rampal) and Kedar (Purab Kohli), who are driven by their passion for rock music. Their rock band Magic however fizzles out due to conflicting ideologies and the story is about how these four come together again after ten years.

The first half of the film is a drag with a lot of inconsequential scenes. The film’s dialogues are old-school and very cliché.

A brilliant performance by Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar’s acting debut and a good soundtrack is the saving grace for this poorly written & executed film. Although it’s worth mentioning that the film has an exceptionally good production design and styling. Shahana Goswami and Purab Kohli have done a terrific job in their respective roles. However, the much talked about Prachi Desai is mostly ineffective in her performance.

Undoubtedly the credit goes to the debut actor Farhan Akhtar, who has also lent his voice to most of its sound track.

The movie tries to recreate the Dil Chahta Hai magic once again and does an average job at it. Regardless of the fact that the story and its screenplay is flawed & below average, it will still draw huge crowds, especially the young audience. It is highly likely that the movie would do a good business, especially in multiplexes.

I feel the following reviews of ‘Rock On’ were somewhat misleading -

Chandrima Pal’s review of Rock On [Buzz18.com]

Sumit Bhattacharya’s review of Rock On [Rediff.com]

- Gaurav Suryavanshi

Welcome film lovers.

After numerous anonymous review posts on various websites, I decided it was time to have my own dot com. So here you go. SHABANG!!

Well now that I have an interim website (I’m working on an improved version at the same time), its time to rip some movies apart (in a positive way, of course).

But before I do so, I must share with you the ‘primary’ reason why Gaurav’s.com must exist. And following are the reasons:

• There are hardly many critics in the mainstream media (including the internet) who truly understand the art of film making (and how finance plays an important role in it). It is important to understand films in totality because Art does not exist in isolation and film making is about Art and much more.
• Most of the so-called film critics are either biased in their reviews, and / or are clouded by their own ego’s. This certainly does not help the audience or the reader, and hence, is often quite misleading.
• There is a huge gap between the two thinkers, namely the Film Makers and the Critics (some of them aren’t even capable of ‘thinking’). *giggle*
• A strong need for a platform where films are critiqued in the true sense of the word.

It’s time that we realize the difference between ‘Good Enough’ and ‘Good’.

- Gaurav Suryavanshi