Tag Archives: Gauri Shinde
Movie Review: Dear Zindagi (2016)
Buy the movie at Amazon or iTunes
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon or iTunes
Dear Zindagi ("Dear Life") is one of those movies that's terrific through the climax, only to close with a denouement that undercuts much of the good that came before. Its unfortunate ending contradicts the primary life lessons learned by a young commitment-phobe over the course of the film.
Kaira (Alia Bhatt) is at that point where the biologically ingrained self-centeredness of the teens and early twenties must, by necessity, make way for a more empathetic means of interacting with the world. In short, she's stuck.
Already an accomplished cinematographer with dozens of commercials and music videos to her credit, Kaira wants to finally shoot her own feature film. The perfect opportunity comes her way via a handsome producer, Raghu (Kunal Kapoor), with whom she's been cheating on her handsome restaurateur boyfriend, Sid (Angad Bedi).
Raghu offers Kaira the chance to be the lead cinematographer on a film he's producing in New York City. To address any awkwardness in advance, he warns Kaira that his ex-girlfriend is also working on the project. Kaira seizes on this minor complication as a reason to blow up her budding romance with Raghu and her chance to make the film.
When a new renting rule gets Kaira booted from her apartment, she has no choice but to embark on a visit to her parents' house in Goa. Her relationship with her folks is icy at best, though only from her end. Mom offers to make Kaira's favorite foods, and Dad happily boasts about her professional accomplishments. There has to be a reason for Kaira's attitude, even if we don't know what it is.
With time on her hands, Kaira takes the opportunity to explore her failed romantic relationships by meeting with an unconventional therapist, Jehangir "Jug" Khan (Shah Rukh Khan). He pushes her to consider why she's so concerned about what other people think about her–and what, if anything, it has to do with her parents. To paraphrase Jug, Kaira is letting her past blackmail her present at the expense of her future.
Dear Zindagi deftly destigmatizes mental illness and therapy. Kaira is not conventionally "crazy," but she repeats patterns of behavior that make her and those around her unhappy. She also lacks the conviction that her life choices are valid, regardless of what others say. Solving those problems is a lot easier with help, and the film depicts a recognizable version of cognitive behavioral therapy, flavored with a liberal dose of Shah Rukh Khan charisma.
Kaira is a refreshing character, the flip side of the more common cinematic man-child forced into adulthood by the love of a good woman. The whole point of Kaira's journey is that she has to do it for herself, not for anyone else. Bhatt's appeal makes her a wonderful choice for the role. She shines during a lengthy monologue in which she recounts the source of her enmity with her parents. Director Gauri Shinde wisely keeps Khan offscreen while Bhatt speaks, the camera alternating between Kaira in Jug's office in the present day and flashbacks to her as a young girl. It's a credit to the director's faith in Bhatt as a lead performer that she doesn't rely on Khan's presence as a crutch.
Shinde — who also wrote the film — makes a couple of decisions that do a disservice to her complicated, intriguing protagonist. A small complaint is that, in addition to all of Kaira's more interesting flaws, she is also clumsy. After Twilight, clumsy heroines are a bore. Sure, there are a few lines about Jug's ability to repair broken things and broken people, but they didn't need to be visualized so literally.
More problematic is an ending sequence that brings back Kaira's ex-boyfriends for her moment of triumph. It's mostly an act of fanservice to give the audience a last glimpse of Kapoor, Bedi, and Ali Zafar, who plays Kaira's handsome Goa fling. Without getting into specifics, what transpires in this sequence undermines much of Kaira's self-actualization.
Challenging female characters are a rare breed in film, and Shinde wrote a really good one. That's why it's so frustrating to be forced to ultimately view Kaira through a male lens, instead of being able to regard her as she is, unfiltered. Dear Zindagi is a step in the right direction, but it stumbles just before the finish line.
Dear Zindagi at Wikipedia
Dear Zindagi at IMDb
This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged 2016, 3 Stars, Ali Zafar, Alia Bhatt, Angad Bedi, Bollywood, Dear Life, Dear Zindagi, Gauri Shinde, Hindi, Indian, Kunal Kapoor, Movie Review, Shah Rukh Khan on November 24, 2016 by Kathy.
Movie Review: English Vinglish (2012)
3.5 Stars (out of 4)
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon
One of my favorite feelings is when I watch a new film that makes me think, "Now this is a movie. I wish more movies were like this." Films that provoke that sensation for me aren't necessarily perfect, but they are always well executed examples of the form that feel both familiar and fresh. Watching English Vinglish gave me that feeling.
This is writer-director Gauri Shinde's first film, but you'd never know it. She gets how movies are supposed to be made. The pacing is excellent, and the characters are complex and grow throughout the story. English Vinglish is an impressive debut.
Shashi (Sridevi) is an Indian housewife unappreciated by her husband, Satish (Adil Hussain), and preteen daughter, Sapna. Her young son, Sagar (Shivansh Kotia), is still in the cuddly phase of childhood, and her live-in mother-in-law is sympathetic, but both require Shashi's frequent attention, reducing her existence to that of a short-order cook. Satish even resents Shashi's modest catering business selling her homemade sweets, insisting that cooking for her own family should give her satisfaction enough.
The real point of contention in the family is that Shashi doesn't speak English. Her husband speaks it at his office and her children study it at school, so Satish and Sapna are able to make jokes at Shashi's expense without her understanding. When Shashi's sister asks her to fly to New York for a few weeks to help with preparations for her daughter's wedding, Shashi is forced to confront her feelings of inadequacy regarding English. She enrolls in a language course that changes her perspective on everything.
Of course, Shashi's linguistic problems are just part of a larger identity crisis. Is she more than just a cooking- and cleaning-machine? Should she even aspire to be more than that? Why does she need to know English if she never leaves the house without her husband or kids to act as translators?
Shashi's search for self-worth is universal, but there are distinct feminine aspects to her problem. It's expected that men define themselves by their jobs, but what metric should a homemaker and mother use to define herself? As Shashi tells one of her classmates, "When a man cooks, it's art. When a woman cooks, it's duty." Defining a life by the execution of rote tasks seems insufficient.
The classmate Shashi discusses cooking with is a handsome French chef named Laurent (Mehdi Nebbou). They form a friendship based on their love of food as well as their sense of isolation as foreigners who don't speak the dominant language. The relationship is also fueled by Laurent's obvious crush on Shashi.
Laurent's affection puts Shashi in a precarious situation. She doesn't lead him on, but she's pleased to finally have someone — let alone a good-looking younger man — make her feel like she's beautiful, funny, clever, and talented. Laurent's compliments are hard to resist when the alternative is being treated like a glorified servant by her husband.
The French chef's crush is understandable because, at age 49, Sridevi still looks perfect. Her performance as Shashi is likewise flawless. She channels every mother throughout history when Shashi puts on a brave face in response to her daughter's insults, determined to hide her emotions until she's alone.
Sridevi's subtlety gives Shashi an air of realism: her quick, birdlike movements as she tries to comprehend the ticket machine in the subway; her slight smile as she silently mouths one of her newly acquired English words; even her dance moves are small and slightly embarrassed, rather than the broad gestures of a seasoned performer.
Nebbou's performance as Laurent is also perfectly restrained. Since he can't say the words, Laurent shows his fondness for Shashi through glances that linger longer than is considered socially appropriate. He's not pushy, but he is persistent. He's charming, but not in a cartoonish way.
The members of Shashi's family are well-drawn. Her niece, Radha (Priya Anand), is an enthusiastic co-conspirator who encourages Shashi's personal growth. Satish and Sapna aren't villains, but they seem to enjoy sharing knowledge that Shashi lacks. Little Sagar is adorable, and never annoying or distracting.
Shashi's English class is populated with characters who all have their own motivations, though not all are successfully portrayed. Jennifer (Maria Pendolino), the language school receptionist, is so believable that, for all I know, they cast an actual language school receptionist to play the part. However, the class's lone East Asian of unspecified national origin, Yu Son (Maria Romano), distracts with her indeterminate accent.
Also suffering from accent-related problems is David (Cory Hibbs), the teacher of the class who initially speaks with a quasi-British accent that fades as the movie progresses. What does not fade is David's flamboyant gayness. His over-the-top affectations make him into a caricature who can't even be humanized by Shashi's "gays are people, too" speech late in the film.
If the only real problems in a movie relate to a couple of minor characters, it's safe to declare the film a success. English Vinglish is a refined, adult coming-of-age story with a fantastic heroine at its heart. This is definitely a must-see.
English Vinglish at Wikipedia
English Vinglish at IMDb
This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged 2012, 3.5 Stars, Adil Hussain, Bollywood, Cory Hibbs, English Vinglish, Gauri Shinde, Hindi, Indian, Maria Pendolino, Maria Romano, Medhi Nebbou, Movie Review, Priya Anand, Shivansh Kotia, Sridevi on October 12, 2012 by Kathy.