Court

Sorry, mala itka usheer zhala!*

This is my first post on a Marathi movie. Watching an Indian film which is NOT a product of Bollywood for the first time was a surreal experience. Surely, we are neglecting our regional cinema and this film takes a major step to set the record straight!

Customary Googled Synopsis: A social activist who uses folk music to spread his message is arrested, accused of inciting a sewage worker's suicide. Lawyers from both sides of the aisle and the rote ideologies they represent are scrutinized as the trial plays out.

The first thing that struck me about this movie was that though it is a Marathi movie per se, a non-Marathi speaker who watches Bollywood movies can fairly understand the movie without much help from the subtitles. The language of the movie was more of the conflux of Engish, Hindustani, Gujarati and Marathi than just Marathi. Well, in one of the scenes shot in the setting of a posh club, the live performer sings a Portuguese song! 

Another characteristic of this film, pertinent to its story and direction is its realism. This film is not your usual Hindi courtroom-drama and doesn't share the explicit expression of anguish like that seen in Sunny Deol's 'Damini' (the hit dialogue 'taareekh-pe-taareekh' is from this movie)  or Anil Kapoor's 'Meri Jung'. Even Jolly LLB creates improbable scenarios in the courtroom to add the comic element but Court proves that the current state of the justice system in this country need not be played with for it to appear comic. The movie's relative realistic portrayal of the workings of an Indian courtroom is its biggest strength.

This movie has got content and has not been made just for the sake of making one. The lead actor Vira Sathidar is an activist based in Nagpur who has his own history of battling the system. The cast largely included non-professional actors, including bank employees, government employees, and teachers (#Wikipedia_ki_vani). The actors, be it the judges with their verbatim interpretation of laws or the public prosecutar who is juggling her career and home,  everyone has done their job with sincerity and lent support the already strong story. 

The movie earned international acclaim and as the poster above states, it won 17 international awards! Kudos to the makers of the Court! This blog finds the movie guilty of being entertaining  and rules in the favour of watching it. The blog is adjourned :P

        Director: Chaitanya Tamane

Producer: Vivek Gomber 

Starring: Vira Sathidar

                 Vivek Gomber

                         Geetanjali Kulkarni

                Pradeep Joshi

           Usha Bane

               Shirish Pawar

    Music by: Sambhaji Bhagat

Cinematographer: Mrinal Desai

*Sorry for the delay

THIS MOVIE IS UDAY-CERTIFIED!

Shaurya

Howdy folks ! This is the second courtroom drama I am writing about.
The first one was FRACTURE :( http://uday-certified.blogspot.com/2016/06/gregory-hoblits-fracture.html ).

The movie begins with a military operation taking place on a rainy night in some small village in Kashmir. A bullet kills a major. A captain fired the gun and it's no accident.

Captain Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal) is accused of killing his superior officer Major Virendra Rathore ( Pankaj Tripathi) and he faces court martial. Even though it appears to be an open and shut case due to Captain Javed's silence, it's a sensitive one since the incident took place under the command of Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh (Kay Kay Menon), a highly decorated and influential officer. Major Akash Kapoor (Javed Jaffery), a sincere person who is serious about his career is assigned as the prosecutor of the case. His friend, Major Siddhant Chaudhary (Rahul Bose), a not-so-serious guy who really doesn't aspire to achieve heights in his career (which he chose due to parental pressure) insists on getting posted with with him so Major Akash gets him appointed as Captain Javed's defense lawyer. Initially he doesn't take his case seriously but after getting himself in a mess by giving an interview to Journalist Kavya Shastri (Minissha Lamba), he starts taking this case seriously. From here the movie picks up pace. Would he be able to defend Captain Javed against all odds? Is captain Javed guilty as accused? Would Brigadier Pratap's power influence the case and vice versa ?



This movie is inspired from 'A Few Good Men', an American legal drama made in 1992. I have seen that movie too but I chose to write about this film because of three main reasons:-

• I am a fan of Kay Kay Menon's dialogue delivery 
• The movie has a backdrop of Kashmir
• Having seen Bollywood all my life, I am used to happy endings :P

 As I have said before, Kay Kay Menon 's dialogue delivery is the soul of the film and as far as I can recollect, he has only four scenes in the film. Rahul Bose's character was a bit irritating in the beginning but he did a good job in showing the conversion from a careless guy too a guy with an aim in mind. Minissha Lamba's character was irritating to me throughout the film but that's no fault of her. Maybe the writers added such characters to balance the serious theme of the movie (and that's where Bollywood needs to work on). Javed Jaffrey did a great job too. Only while writing this post I realised that Captain Javed is none other than Deepak Dobrial, the guy from Tanu Weds Manu. An actor has done a commendable job if he is able to absorb his character completely and being a theatre personality, Deepak Dobrial didn't have a tough time doing so. There is also a poem by Javed Akhtar (my idol) which tells what true shaurya, true valor is all about and it is recited by Shahrukh Khan, who in his own mesmerizing style adds life to the poem. In short, the movie is gonna be a different experience.

Directed by	Samar Khan
Produced by	Haresh Dayani
Written by	Samar Khan Jaydeep Sarkar Aparna Malhotra
Starring	Kay Kay Menon Rahul Bose Minissha Lamba Javed Jaffrey Deepak Dobriyal PankajTripathi

This movie is UDAY-CERTIFIED !!

Fracture

 The movie revolves around two characters: Theodore "Ted" Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy engineer and deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum (Ryan Gosling), a rising star in his field. Ted is accused of murdering his wife and Willy considers it an open and shut case but he seriously underestimates Ted's abilities.What ensues is a lawyer's struggle to do justice to his name and the victim.

There is an element of surprise throughout the movie and even its end is unexpected. The movie is a brain-teaser and a treat for murder-mystery fans.Anthony Hopkins performs his role of a cold-blooded, sharp-minded, cool-headed undertrial and a remorseless murderer with conviction and flair. He is one of those bad guys you just can't hate.His power to change the situation in his favor, to control his surroundings and to manipulate a successful lawyer(look at the irony :P) makes him everyone's favorite. Ryan Gosling's acting is able to convey the character is truly a skilled lawyer even though he is left helpless for most of the time in the movie by Ted's web of deceit. The movie is gripping and keeps your brain guessing. When everything seems lost, the tables are completely toppled and someone starts losing his cool. Everybody knows that courtroom drama and murder mystery are topics highly depicted in movies. Well, this one is one of the good ones.
                    

Directed by	Gregory Hoblit
Produced by	Charles Weinstock
Screenplay by	Daniel Pyne Glenn Gers
Story by	Daniel Pyne
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Ryan Gosling David Strathairn Rosamund Pike Embeth Davidtz Billy Burke Cliff Curtis Fiona Shaw Bob Gunton

  This movie is UDAY-CERTIFIED !!