Bajrangi Bhaijaan - Salman Khan of a different hue

[email protected] (Saibal Chatterjee)
July 17, 2015

Mumbai, Jul 17: Bajrangi Bhaijaan, an overcooked melodrama in which an orthodox upcountry man takes on the odds of history and geography to escort a six-year-old mute Pakistani girl back to her village, is anything but a conventional Salman Khan vehicle.bajrangi

The Kabir Khan-directed film sees the superstar trade his swaggering, wise-cracking persona for an infinitely more staid image.

Salman does not deliver thundering lines in the film a la Chulbul Pandey, nor does he jump into street fights with vicious villains and come out unscathed.

What's more, Bajrangi Bhaijaan does not have a single scene in which the actor goes shirtless.

He does resort to physical force once or twice when the girl in his protection is under threat, but he generally avoids violent combat. In fact, Bajrangi, despite his father's wishes, fails to make it as a wrestler because he is tickled by the touch of his opponents.

So, while the film might disappoint Salman's hardcore admirers, it might just win him some new fans.

This is a new, reinvented Salman. But is it an improved one? The jury is out.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan opens in a Pakistani village where a baby is born. Six years later, Shahida – that's the name of the girl – on a Samjhauta Express trip gets left behind on the Indian side of the border.

Shahida (Harshaali Malhotra) cannot speak, but she falls into the safest hands imaginable in thispart of the world – no-nonsense Bajrangbali bhakt Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi.

The latter takes it upon himself to restore the stranded girl, who he names Munni, back to her distraught family. Of course, that is easier than done. Pawan alias Bajrangi has to wage many wars – on his own deeply entrenched prejudices, on the air of distrust that engulfs Indo-Pak equations, and on a whole system loaded against him – before he can accomplish his risky mission.

The film's pacifist core is commendable all right, but the excesses that the screenplay takes recourse to in making its point undermine the impact of the tale to a great extent. On the way to his goal, Bajrangi finds a soulmate in Rasika (Kareena Kapoor, wasted in a half-baked role), daughter of the old Delhi man, who gives him shelter when he relocates from Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh.

In one scene, when Rasika announces to her family that Bajrangi is the man for her, her mother turns to the male protagonist and asks: what is your age? The question remains unanswered. Superstars aren't supposed to age, are they? There are several other questions that the film's plot does not answer. For one, what really is wrong with Munni? Why is the girl mute when her hearing faculties, as we discover soon enough, are in perfect order?

In a film like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, questions are probably out of place. All that you are supposed to do is go along with the flow of the narrative. If only the treatment wasn't so patchy.

But ignore the illogical leaps and the tendency to sink into farce – especially in the second half in which Bajrangi, with the help of a small-time Pakistani journalist Chand Nawab (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), faces many obstacles in the process of locating Munni's family – you might enjoy parts of Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is Salman Khan's film all the way despite the fact that he is minus his customary bluster. But it is the angelic Harshaali Malhotra who steals the show as the mute Munni. Watch the film for her, and for what it is trying to say to a world submerged by a rising tide of jingoism.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Washington, Jun 13: American actor Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up about her experience during the coronavirus quarantine.

According to Fox News, the 47-year-old star explained to Shape magazine, the July-August cover issue of which she has graced -- that she hadn't realised just "how much the normal pace of life was overburdening our bodies, our minds, and our nervous systems."

The Goop founder explained, "As we have been forced into the confines of our own homes, that has brought up a lot of emotional distress for some, and for others, it has been very peaceful. In my case, I have experienced both."

The 'Iron Man' actor said that she has now started to "settle down" in her "brain and body."

She added of the lockdown, "It has given me new perspective about how much I will take on going forward."

Paltrow noted that before the quarantine, she was always trying to get "wellness moments" in, but she wasn't "really decompressing" until the weekends or on vacations.

"Now I feel different, letting my body go to sleep and wake up in its natural rhythm, having my kids around all the time, eating meals together and having meaningful conversations," she said of her children,16-year-old daughter Apple, and 14-year-old son Moses, whom she shares with ex Chris Martin.

Paltrow noted, "We linger at the table; our dinners are an hour and a half long. My heart feels fuller, and my mind feels calmer in that respect."

For how she de-stresses, the 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' actor said, "I try to do exercises every day for my back and neck because of all the Zoom calls I'm on."

In addition, Paltrow says she and her husband Brad Falchuk go for walks at least three to four times per week. She also takes online fitness and yoga classes.

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Agencies
July 27,2020

Mumbai, Jul 27: Action director Parvez Khan, known for his work in films like Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun and Badlapur, died on Monday after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 55. 

Parvez, who worked in the industry since 1986, was rushed to Ruby Hospital after he complained of chest pain, his longtime associate Nishant Khan told PTI. "He suffered a major heart attack in the morning. He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead. He didn't have any health issues but felt chest pain last night," Nishant said.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who worked with Parvez in the National Award winning 2013 drama Shahid, said the action director was extremely skilled. "Just heard that action director Parvez Khan is no more. We had worked together in Shahid where he executed the riots sequence in a single take. Very skilful, energetic and a good man. RIP Parvez. Your voice still rings in my ears," Hansal tweeted. 

Parvez started his career by assisting action director Akbar Bakshi in films like Akshay Kumar's Khiladi (1992), Shah Rukh Khan's Baazigar (1993) and Bobby Deol-starrer Soldier in 1998. It was with Ram Gopal Varma's Ab Tak Chhappan in 2004 that he started working independently and went on to have a long-standing collaboration with filmmaker Sriram Raghavan in films such as Johnny Gaddaar (2007), Saif Ali Khan-starrer Agent Vinod in 2012 and Badlapur, featuring Varun Dhawan. He is survived by wife, son, daughter-in-law and a granddaughter.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: The Delhi High Court on Saturday restrained from releasing Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Chhapaak' movie without due credits to the lawyer who represented the acid attack survivor, Lakshmi Agarwal, in her legal battle.

The restraint will be effective from January 15 in multiplexes and live streaming and for others from January 17.

The court directed filmmaker Meghna Gulzar to give due credit to lawyer Aparna Bhat who fought the criminal case for the acid survivor on whose life the movie is based.

It passed the order on a petition filed by Fox Studio challenging a trial court order which had directed the filmmakers to give credit to Bhat.

Delhi's Patiala House Court had earlier this week passed an order granting an ex-parte interim mandatory injunction directed that the filmmaker has to carry a line "Aparna Bhat continues to fight cases of sexual and physical violence against women" during the screening of the film.

Fox Studios then requested the Delhi High Court to set aside the trial court order.

The petitioner submitted that if the order passed in a suit filed just one day before the release of the film, is not vacated, varied or modified, then the petitioner will suffer grave injustice and irreparable harm and injury.

The movie, which hit the cinemas yesterday, is based on Laxmi's life. In 2005, at the age of 15, she was allegedly attacked by a spurned lover.

Laxmi had to undergo several surgeries. Later, she started helping other acid attack survivors and promoted campaigns to stop such gruesome attacks.

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