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Reviews
Maurh (2023)
Legendary subject handled with lot of sincerity & transformed into a well made movie.
It is almost impossible to appreciate total sincerity of the makers in Indian movies especially low budgeted punjabi movies.
Lot of liberties have always been taken in script writing, maintaining facts, ignoring realism & above all the intelli of viewers. Which hurts me most, when I see how film makers think so little of intelligence of its viewers. The most essential part of film making itself is to convince & satisfy its viewers even if they're showing total fiction. Movies like Titanic, Avatar, interstellar have lot of fiction but convincing. The recent addition to that list is "Dune".
The main reason to write this particular review is to appreciate the non protagonist's of this movie. I am so much impressed by them that it seems like a duty to be done.
Watch this movie just for the sake of talent appreciation of costume designer & art director( set designer). There are others too who done a fabulous job but none better than these 2. We've to appreciate director & assistant directors too. Because without the vision of director it may not be possible. It is his vision which has been put to picture movie form by some talented individuals. As we don't know, who was holding guns behind scenes, who had taken charge & whose narration has been followed. Assuming, he'll be the director ( the master of ship) and subordinates like costume designer & art director who made it happened.
My congratulations to them for churning out this special work.
Movie also done well in other aspects too like locations, soundtrack, camera work & screenplay, acting performances. I specially liked the look of debuted Mark Randhawa who played small role of Chatra. He got the eyes to capture the camera & his agility of movements I. Front of camera make him noticeable. Niaqra kaur looked promising in small role of love interest of Maurh, very similar to how Sonam Bajwa's character in her debut role in 1984. Vikramjeet virk looked authentic & impactful in the role of "Dogar". His voice & dialogue delivery will be assets he can cash on in coming future. Dev kharoud as Kishna fits the bill perfectly. Kind of side actor role which has lot of potential to explore & he did reasonably well. It helped that role suited his personality.
This is where is think main protagonist " Ammy virk" lacked in the portrayal of legendary character of Jeona Maurh. Lot of times he seemed out of place with his looks,voice,demeanour,body language. This is one role that asked hard questions from him to be different from whatever he had been doing till now. He is comfortable mostly to play himself if his image in previous movies but this demands lot more to lift this character. It needs improvisation like Amitabh did in Agneepath or more recently Kangana did in " Tanu weds Manu returns". Now you can already guess what a daunting task Ammy had to deal with.
Not saying he did a bad job but politely saying it was beyond his cup of tea ( currently) He tried & did more than average job. It is good that he tried, it'll only inspire him to take such challenges & going to help him to improve. He is still watchable & doesn't look too much out of place ( barring some crunch scenes)
Now coming to real hero, the director "Jatinder Mauhar". They all look good because he directed them well. His navigation was good. I've not scene his previous movies but heard some decent things about "Mitti". Anyways this could be his evolution too. He is mostly spot on in most part of his job. If I have to raise one concern, it would be script. Script has its deficiencies. Though screen play is fluent & well handled but script itself lacks the depth to be great. That is irony to pick biographies which doesn't have much new to offer. And are not that old that screen writer could add convincing fiction to it. If ever I've seen it been done decently, it was in "Milkha Singh". Jatinder Mauher with this in his feathers now joined the elite list of young ( professionally) & talented punjabi directors. And believe me most of them are doing better jobs then their contemporaries in Bollywood & Tollywood
Got only one song from jasmeen Sandles & it is good enough to settle the 'score'. Again the music director & singer did it extremely well to merge it well into the motion & look a part. Again👍 to director who visualised!
Sorry one character of Maurh's sister played by Richa Bhatt I forget to mention above. She is good to be tried in many more & even bigger roles. As newcomer she looked very versatile!
My overall rating 9/10🙏
Jodi (2023)
It really touch you deep!
Emotions high drama of the rising music star & his collaboration with female lead to create duets (Jodi). Become instant hit with the public mainly because his lyrics considered to provoke sensuality (in many ways vulgar in some part of society). Though he believes he sing what he see & hear around in surroundings & society. Public relates to his lyrics because I.e what punjabi culture was in rural Punjab & those who're not caught by Bollywood & Hindu values in towns also adore him. Truthfully, this is the imaginative depiction of Chamkila & Amarjot life story (liberties are taken to add commercial value & entertainment). In right words, it is influenced by them.
Amberdeep as script writer did well with screenplay but I still think he could have done better by adding some more reality & depth to his story. After all everyone in Punjab can understand he based his story on Chamkila ( biggest punjabi singing star of 80's). When you choose such heavy characters for the base of your story, you must do justice to the aura of that personality. You become responsible to pay appropriate tribute to the life of this great personality. It needs more research,which actually lacks in story. You can't pick such life stories just for light entertainment. I would've liked more substance in it. Even a normal person of that era or afterwards knows more about his life.
Anyways direction wise he did very good job. Flow of movie is smooth and keep the public interested throughout. There is no drag, well paced movie. One thing that I noticed about Amberdeep again. Whenever he writes or direct movie for other stars he usually does very good job. Problem is when he does same for his own starrer he usually has done very average job. He needs to learn to be better at that. Overall he has enhanced his reputation once again& in very short time created a well deserved niche among list of good punjabi directors & writers.
Daljit steels the show though Nimrat is equally good in her portrayal & their chemistry as couple is top notch. It is the emotional scenes where daljit has shown great variation. He has improved a lot as an actor in this movie. His transitions from being juvenile to being intense is quick & effortless. This is the actual test of an actor to create such emotions nonchalantly. Actor needs to be very precise in his portrayal to avoid any kind of overacting or under playing emotions. He succeeded! Nimrat's USP is she fits so well in next door punjabi girl roles. Being a part of this culture it comes naturally to her. Her body language, her accent & even her expressions comes very naturally. Her screen beauty is admirable too, on most of the close angles she looks stunning accept very front on close angle where her face looks too wide on occasions. She should be aware of it and try to avoid it in future, work with her cameraman to achieve better results. Her acting is getting better too, she still needs to get better in high emotional scenes with big close ups. But she is refreshing overall, she got the oomph in her expressions which can hold the male viewer without even saying any words. Which is big asset!
Songs are gud, mostly the old lyrics but sounded even better in diljit & nimrats voices. Last sad song is heart wrenching. Overall soundtrack is gud, which is gud for punjabi cinema. New directors must learn the art of using soundtrack well in their direction,it is very integral part of modern direction.
Supporting cast has done their job well. All characters suited to their roles & performed well.
Overall, it is the movie that touches you in every way. It fills your heart with happiness & add smile to your face when passing through romance and also makes you feel gloom. But to go through real emotions you must watch the movie. Go through this joyride in cinemas. I'm sure you'll enjoy it👍
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Commercial version of classic " Dam busters"
This is actually a commercial version of 1955's classic " Dam busters". That was based on real events but this is just an action flick with commercial story line. Which we as viewers accepts even if script is not fully convincing. This has got Tom cruise, his action, his charm ( which still exists ) & what you need. Dam buster was made beyond its time. It is still equally watchable considering that times technology. A Great War movie. This is rather not classified as war since no war time is reffered. A regular action thriller with big budget & star cast. One time watch for old sake. It will not bore you but it is also not a special one!