Liar's Dice

A slow drawn out road movie that features a young mother, Kamal, and her daughter Manya, traveling to Shimla from their village called Chitkul in search of her husband. Enroute they meet Nawazuddin, a roughneck of dubious character who acts as their escort. A multi-layered film exploring the tense man woman relationship in rural India with a socio-political backdrop. Brilliant acting again by Mr. Siddiqui and a fine performance by Ms. Thapa. Directed by Geethu Mohandas of Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare fame, the movie is India's entry in to the 2015 Oscars. For a change a movie of quality has been picked. 

Rating: * * +

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Gangs of Wasseypur

 

Was reminded of this * * * * movie when I saw Nawazuddin Siddiqui in The LunchBox recently. Plucked seemingly out of nowhere, NS plays Faizal Khan to perfection - a shadowy, chillum-smoking character who reluctantly transforms to become the lynchpin of one of the gangs involved in a bloody multi-generational tussle. GoW, the finest hour of Anurag Khashyap's career thus far, in a way is also a study of the evolution of India from independence to "modern" day. Outstanding soundtrack. And a brilliant cast of nobodies.

Rating: * * * *

The Lunchbox

Saajan Fernandes (Irfan Khan) is gearing up for retirement from his sleepy accounting job from a firm that is stuck in the past. Mourning his dead wife, he starts wading into the mists of after work life. This is when he finds a new spice entering his life through the lunchbox delivered by the famous Mumbai dabbawala service. The service that prides itself for never making a delivery error, ends up giving Saajan the lovely cooking of Ila who is a struggling housewife  yearning for the love of her disinterested husband. 

Interwined in this story is Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), Sajan's replacement at the firm, who starts off as an irritant to everyone but slowly makes his way to the viewer's heart. That sort of acting is hard to come by these days and Mr. Siddiqui's talent needs to be nurtured and given more exposure. Then there is Ila's invisible neighbor whose voice conveys so much more than what some actors convey with their faces. Throw in another appendage from the past; handwritten letters, and you have a romantic film that reminds one of Wong Kar Wai during his better days. 

Rating: * * * +