Amu- Simple yet very powerful

A good week for watching movies. The second review for movies I watched this week.

Amu- Simple yet very powerful

the central character of the movie is a foreign return girl Kaju played by Konkana sen sharma who left the country when she was 3. Now that she is back in the country she wants to explore her motherland and is more keen to know about the interiors and about the poverty ridden. Among these she was also keen to know about her actual family as she was an adopted child. During her interaction with people she gets to know about the 1984 riots and gets very curious to know about it in details. This coincides with her quest to know about her family as she finds out that her mother had migrated to city before she died and she happened to be living in the region which was most affected by the riots. She falsely assumes some drunkard to be her father as his wife’s initials match with her mother’s. This is the time when she is told everything about her family. The movie enters a flashback mode. She belonged to a Sikh family and her father was killed in the riots. Her mother tried to get some help and in trying to do so, she also loses her baby brother. Her mother shifts with her to a relief camp and there her mother hands her over to her new mother.

It would be inappropriate to say that the movie portrays the sufferings of people well (since those sufferings actually could not be reflected/portrayed at all – The loss and suffering caused is uncomparable). It attempts to reflect on the insane and irrationale behaviour of the Hindu community then. Although at times, it appears to be an attempt to target specifically the Hindu community but a few otherwise instances were sufficient to get the benefit of doubt from me. As far as timing of the movie is concerned, I think it is a bit late and could have been released when the rulings on 1984 riots were announced. Anyways the movie would not be able to cash in huge amounts for being on such a serious and sensitive issue but crititcally, the movie manages to score high for good handling of a sensitive issue, for apt screenplay, an engaing pace and above all its simplicity and effectiveness!

The movie by no means is a commercial movie but for all fans of sensible movies, Amu is yet another treat. All the people sensitive to the social issues are likely to feel touched by the movie.

Going by the rating tradition, Amu manages to score 4 on 5 for its subject, good acting by Konkana Sen Sharma (and others) and a good and engaging pace of the movie.
It is indeed an art to present so much sensitive issues in a manner that will heart everybody’s heart and yet not offend anybody.

~Read this and many more reviews at http://cinemagarage.blogspot.com
~~Quality Reviews by AbhiTaneja and Sandy

Jodha Akbar

Jodha Akbar
Good direction, Good Sets, Good Acting, Proper dialogue delivery, Proper casting … is sufficient enough to make a successful period movie.

Akbar is a kind hearted king who doesnt believe in inwanted tortures and uncalled wars. His target is to rule whole of the country but with harmony. He believes in making allies(to work under him) and not fighting them for stake. A fight is last resort to him and he would like to do anything to save any bloodsheds and to save honour of his territory. In fulfilling this quest, he is confronted with a difficult condition to marry a Rajput girl. He agrees to marry and also agrees to allow her to keep her religion. This does not pleases some of his family members who try their best to distance Jodha and Akbar. Falling into one such trap, Akbar sends Jodha back to Amer but as soon as he realises his mistake, he himself moves to Amer to get her back. Jodha made her feel that although he can win wars but he knows little about ruling. He gets the point and did a marketing research on what is percieved wrong among common man and he takes immediate actions to bring about changes. Then there are couple of war scenes, which are very similar to the scenes from Troy.
Hrithik Roshan does a terrific job in the Mughal getup. Deliviering Urdu dialogue is not that easy but he does it with so ease that one could not help but admire. Aishwarya Rai also displayed extremely good acting display. The emotions are pretty similar to what I was expecting for this being a period movie.

What I think lacked in movie was some focus on Jodha and Akbar. At times movie strayed a bit from the theme but those durations are so small that before someone realises it is off the point, it gets back. So, it doesn’t hurt the movie as such.

Overall a tremendous performance on part of actors, a beautiful job on part of script writer and terrific job as far as costume designer is concerned.

Based on the lively performances by the actors, I would rate Jodha Akbar 3.5 on the scale of 5. There is not much more one could expect from a Period movie.

Why to watch?:
Lively performances by actors
Good Direction
Long yet engaging throughout
Good sets
Well written dialogues

Why not to watch?:
Only if period movies is not your taste and you do not admire Hrithik Roshan or Aishwarya Rai

I strongly recommend that you watch this movie.

~Read this and many more reviews at http://cinemagarage.blogspot.com
~~Quality Reviews by AbhiTaneja and Sandy