visheshvijay

In an age when instant messaging, email, and various social media have made communication easier and quicker, debutant writer-director Ritesh Batra relies on scribbled notes tucked in tiffin boxes to deliver a charming, old-fashioned love story in The Lunchbox. There's a simple line in this sumptuous film that captures its essence beautifully: "Sometimes even the wrong train can take you to the right destination." It's a line that might help interpret the film's open ending, but one that also nicely sums up its unique premise.

I'm going with ten ratings for The Lunchbox. The greatest love stories are the ones that make you root for the protagonists to come together, despite their destinies. This film illustrates how love transforms the unlikeliest of people; it breaks down Saajan's walls and gives Ila the courage to fly. Treat yourself to The Lunchbox – it'll leave you with a craving to seek your own little happiness. Best film I've seen in a long time. Acting of Irfan 10/10 Film Rating - 10/10

I believe that this time LunchBox will surely make history in Oscars .

For years Hindi movies have drilled the same conservative, and often regressive notions of love and marriage into our heads. Shuddh Desi Romance takes that conventional wisdom propagated to us in the movies and turns it on its head. What's worth noting is that this movie comes from the stable of Yash Raj Films, the very studio largely responsible for breeding those notions through hits like Chandni, Dil To Pagal Hai and Bachna Ae Haseeno among others.Directed by Band Baaja Baraat's Maneesh Sharma and written by Chak De India's Jaideep Sahni, Shuddh Desi Romance is set amidst the bustle of middle-class Jaipur, where unemployed youngsters will happily pose as friends and cousins in a traveling baraat for a few thousand rupees and a gold chain. When he isn't conning white tourists into buying handicrafts from local merchants for a commission, Raghu (Sushant Singh Rajput) is busy falling in love. But he goes from sincere to conflicted to selfish in as long as it takes most people to change out of a wedding suit. So he'll woo a girl, win her heart, then develop cold feet at the mandap. This happens thrice in Shuddh Desi Romance, which would be tiring and largely predictable if it weren't for Sahni's crackling dialogue and the charming characters he puts on screen. Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) is a gregarious rebel Raghu meets on the way to his own wedding. She smokes, she's had boyfriends, and she lets Raghu move in with her when he ditches his shaadi. Tara (newcomer Vaani Kapoor) is the damsel who springs a surprise on both Raghu and the audience.Like most normal couples – hence, unlike the relationships we see in Hindi movies – sexual attraction is key to our protagonists' equation, and the film doesn't make a big deal about it. In fact, to give credit where it's due, Sahni's script never screams from the rooftops about the brave ideas it pushes so matter-of-factly. Skillfully avoiding melodrama or sloganeering, the film portrays a generation where single women can live in with their boyfriends without being banished by the housing society. This is a refreshingly real middle-class India where marriage needn't be life's sole ambition for young girls, and where women can hold their heads high and carry on with life despite having been ditched at the altar.There's so much to like about Shuddh Desi Romance, including Sharma's nicely textured portrait of the Pink City. The film captures the sights and sounds of a busy metro in ways that most films don't even try. Oblivious that he's ruined someone's appetite, a cook at a jalebi stall scratches his backside with a chhanni. It's little details like these that sparkle with originality.Pity then that the movie runs out of steam in its unconvincing final act, particularly during a confrontation between the two leading ladies that comes off as contrived. In other complaints, the talking-into-camera device is now overused, and seldom works unless what's being said is profound, which isn't always the case here. This in fact, adds to the film's already verbose and occasionally repetitive feel.What cannot be faulted, however, are the terrific performances from the central players. Vaani Kapoor makes an auspicious debut, carrying off Sahni's firecracker lines with the comfort of a pro. Sushant Singh Rajput as Raghu, has an easy charm about him and unmistakable depth behind that scruffy exterior. But it's Parineeti Chopra, reminiscent of a younger Rani Mukherjee, who this film belongs to. She has expressive eyes and an endearing manner about her, and turns Gayatri into the most real woman you've encountered on screen recently. The film also benefits enormously from the casting of an excellent Rishi Kapoor in the part of a feisty wedding caterer and Raghu's father figure.To a large extent, Shuddh Desi Romance reinvents the wheel as far as Bollywood rom-coms go. It's aggressively non-formulaic, and gives us characters who refuse to conform. The minor hiccups notwithstanding, this is a charming little film. I'm going with eight ratings. You'll enjoy it.

In a voice-over during the film's opening scene, as he stares emptily at his parents' corpses before him, Mukesh, the protagonist of BA Pass describes their untimely deaths as a betrayal. It's the first of many to come for this unsuspecting young boy, played by Shadab Kamal, who's at the cusp of discovering that it's every man for himself in the world outside.Adapted from a short story by Mohan Sikka titled Railway Aunty, which appeared in the 2009 anthology Delhi Noir, the film traverses the neon-lit streets of Paharganj, even poking and probing its way into the city's posh parts to ultimately lift the veil on the seemingly simple veneer of middle class life in Delhi.Taken in reluctantly by his aunt after being orphaned, Mukesh seems destined to live a life of humiliation and quiet desperation, until one day he encounters bored housewife Sarika (Chak De India's Shilpa Shukla), who seduces him Mrs Robinson-style. What starts off as an illicit affair quickly spirals into a dangerous web of prostitution and deceit, and we're mostly transfixed by this tale of innocence lost and conscience compromised.A little over ninety minutes, BA Pass is crisp and compelling because director Ajay Bahl, also the cinematographer of the film, reveals a firm grasp over the unflinching narrative. With minimal flourish or show-off, Bahl creates a moody noir that is at once irresistible. Yet, where the film slips is in the superficial, surface-level manner in which it addresses macro themes like empty marriages, sexual power games, and the frustration caused by extreme poverty.It doesn't help either that Shadab Kamal delivers a one-note performance as Mukesh, turning him into a singularly uninteresting fellow, and seldom allowing us a glimpse into his heart. Shilpa Shukla, as the ravenous cougar, is inscrutable throughout…but that approach works for her character, whose motives must remain sketchy till the end. The pair is surrounded by good actors in bit roles, including Geeta Sharma as Mukesh's unwelcoming aunt, Dibyendu Chatterjee as a chess-loving undertaker, and Rajesh Sharma as an angry husband who must take charge.BA Pass exposes a cold, dark, and bleak universe that is in equal measure grotesque and intriguing. Bahl creates the right mood, but doesn't leave you with much to think about when it's all over. Still I'm going with eight ratings as bollywood has started making real movies.Not perfect, but nicely done.