 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Did you LOVE or HATE these films? VOTE!
Creativity demands response.
And some, like Jim Morrison, are open to any kind. 'Just anything to get people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk, stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing something.'
And while no two reactions are ever the same, every Friday a movie comes out, it's customary to draw a common consensus -- good or bad, after reading majority reviews.
But not all Fridays are the same either.
Sometimes a keenly anticipated film, more often the kind that doesn't stick to convention, draws strong, opposing reactions from both reviewers and audience. While one section considers it no less than a masterpiece, the other refuses to acknowledge it beyond nonsense.
Only recently Vishal Bhardwaj's Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola drew such vivid disagreement leading to heated disputes on social media/elsewhere between one viewer and another.
If some thought it's a strong satire that comments on the capitalism-driven society in an imaginative, absurd tone, others found it to be an overtly exasperating high-concept film that was too indulgent and whimsical to make any sense.
The science of reception is much too tricky. One will never entirely know why what appeals to one, repulses another. Thankfully everyone agreed on Pankaj Kapur's extraordinary performance as the duplicitous Mandola.
Meanwhile, here's a look at some of the films that met with highly polarized feedback not too long ago.
Read the reviews here and here.
Did Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola work for you? VOTE!
Talaash
It may have been marketed like a whodunit but Reema Kagti's Talaash is essentially an emotional story of loss, regrets and resentment at its core.
While the performances and treatment met everyone's approval, the spooky twist didn't go down well with many who came in with understandable expectations of a suspense thriller.
On the other hand, the rich layers of a vastly absorbing ambiance unfolding the objectives of it many despondent characters lend Talaash, insisted some, a heart most films of this genre don't have.
Read the review here.
Did Talaash work for you? VOTE!
Ishaqzaade
Arjun Kapoor's acting debut is remembered for a lot many things except that.
The shifting dynamics and breezy display of raw romance between his loutish Parma and Parineeti Chopra's sprightly Zoya were both -- a subject of pleasure and disdain.
Ishaqzaade's sudden thirst to reduce Zoya from roaring to regressive and make revenge sex look acceptable raised a lot of eyebrows and earned flak for its critically-acclaimed filmmaker Habib Faisal.
But there was a bulk audience willing to overlook this slur and lap up their swift change of heart and toxic intensity to turn this charming but sexist piece of fluff into a money-making proposition.
Read the review here.
Did Ishaqzaade work for you? VOTE!
Dhobi Ghat
Kiran Rao's directorial debut aims to depict a slice of South Mumbai in its ethereal, postcard compositions lit up by Gustavo Santaolalla's enchanting background score.
But was that simply enough? Let's see.
If some were beguiled by its enticing imagery and meandering, lyrical pace that is never in a hurry to get anywhere or at all.
Others, clearly in no mood to soak in the sights, were rankled by its sluggish, moody contents and dubbed it pretentious, hollow and boring.
Read the review here.
Did Dhobi Ghat work for you? VOTE!
Ghajini
The South Indian films remake trend is on an all-time high at the moment but it's Aamir Khan's Ghajini that kicked off Bollywood's Rs 100 Crore opening obsession.
Now this remake of A R Murugadoss' Tamil superhit about a man suffering from anterograde amnesia looking to avenge his girlfriend finds its roots of inspiration in Christopher Nolan's Memento.
And the latter information alone peeved off a lot of Nolan loyalists.
While this set of people furiously refused to endorse the tense indie's over-the-top edition, others objected to its ceaseless display of extreme violence.
But there's no discounting the lead of those bowled over by Aamir's stunning physique and unapologetic aggression in an out and out action flick.
Read the review here.
Did Ghajini work for you? VOTE!
Rajneeti
Prakash Jha's star-studded Mahabharat set against a political scenario met with both brickbats and bouquets.
So Team Like appreciated the context, drama and effective portrayals by its eclectic cast ranging from Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgn (and for a change) Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif.
Team Dislike dubbed it as an emotionally plastic, bombastic soap opera that is far too busy justifying the presence of its many, many stars.
Read the review here.
Did Rajneeti work for you? VOTE!
Don
Remakes are a slippery ground.
There will be obvious comparisons to the original. All the more if it happens to be a 1978 Amitabh Bachchan cult classic like Don.
And so purists showed open scorn for Shah Rukh Khan's audacity to step into Big B's shoes in Farhan Akhtar's sleek but wanting adaptation.
The young generation, however, unfamiliar with the magnitude of the first one, embraced the elusive Don with open arms (some even calling it better) leading to and, what the 1970s faithful will say, another needless sequel.
Read the review here.
Did Don work for you? VOTE!
Main Hoon Na
Farah Khan's irreverent and fun entertainer spoofed many an iconic moments and concepts of Hindi cinema to demonstrate what would later go to become her signature filmmaking style.
While those with an equally wacky sense of humour appreciated SRK's Ram to Rambo transformation and Basanti stunts along with the screwball narrative that takes nothing and no one seriously and packs in as many elements possible, many didn't share Farah's excitement for madcap excesses and dismissed it as a mindless farce that makes light of serious, sensitive subjects like Indo-Pak equations.
Read the review here.
Did Main Hoon Na work for you? VOTE!
Cocktail
Saif Ali Khan may have produced and played a central figure in Homi Adjania's Cocktail but this movie completely belongs to his leading ladies -- a supremely poised Deepika Padukone, doing a career-best and the first-timer with impressive restraint -- Diana Penty.
The story plays with their contrasting temperaments, one a proverbial live wire and the other is a demure, soft-spoken, sacrificing types.
Other than the usual Team Meera vs Team Veronica, Cocktail divided its audience of which one section found these stereotyped definitions of women to be rather defunct and demeaning while another felt that Cocktail is a refreshingly practical and un-melodramatic take on modern, urban relationships.
Read the review here.
Did Cocktail work for you? VOTE!
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Expectations were sky high from Karan Johar's follow-up to the epic romance Kuch Kuch Hota Hai starring Bollywood's biggest stars Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and Rani Mukerji in a ultra lavish family drama.
There's no denying the grandeur but many felt this 211 minutes long melodrama was overbearing with its dripping sentimentality filled with characters that find excuses to sob every few seconds and a script so jaded and lackluster that even the splendor seems jarring after a point.
But the K3G admiration society argued it's a perfectly opulent entertainer that celebrates the beautiful bonds within a family, makes us laugh, cry and offers us the rare opportunity of seeing all our favourite stars in one, single film.
Read the review here.
Did Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham work for you? VOTE!
Yuva
There's a reason why we carried multiple reviews of Mani Ratnam's Yuva.
It's a dynamic film about three youngsters from different walks of live explores the mindset and conditioning that dictates the varying priorities of youth but the responses it generated were hugely mixed ranging from massive disappointment to instant awe.
Even as some of our critics enjoyed the style, technique and robust multi-structure narrative along with a potent delivery from Abhishek Bachchan and A R Rahman's sensational soundtrack, others felt heavy dissatisfaction over Ratnam and his simplistic, idealistic solution to a complex, deep-rooted difficulty.