madanmarwah

This movie is based on a 63 cult classic of celebrated director Akira Kurosawa named " High and low". Though the storyline is the same the treatment is different since technology and methods of film making have changed in this age of internet, social media, mobile etc. It is set in New York at the present times. David King ( Denzel Washington) is a highly successful and popular music magnate who is in the process of finalising a costly business deal. His peaceful life becomes topsy-turvy when he gets a call that his young son has been kidnapped and he has to pay a huge ransom amount. He pays the amount but the arrangements go wrong and David along with his loyal personal driver decide to get their money back at great risk to themselves.

Director Spike Lee in this " joint" of his has for a change not gone for a controversial subject but has gone for the remake of a classic giving it a contemporary look of today. His favourite actor Denzel is there to essay the role of the protagonist to almost perfection. Both veterans have done a fine job in their respective fields. There is enough excitement and entertainment to keep you riveted. Some nice outdoor cinematography and in the swanky interiors of the penthouse.

A teen aged girl called Apple is normally angry and aggressive since she is mentally and physically harassed by her drug taking abusive mother. Apple leaves home and with nowhere to go she roams the streets till she decides to go to her estranged father's home. He and his wife don't accept her because she is pregnant. Finally she lands up in a social worker's charity home where teen girls who are mothers are given shelter. When Apple becomes a mother her father brings her home to stay. Apple is in a dilemma whether to stay with father's family who are comparative strangers or her teen friends with whom she had shared a bond of affection and friendship over some time.

Director Ron Krauss has created an emotional and touching movie which many will like. It is an endearing narrative made engaging by the good acting of Vanessa Hudgens who goes through various layers of her character with the necessary compassion. Her expressions as she talks to her new born baby are extremely well done. Her transformation from an angry teenager to a serene new mother is depicted very naturally. The end is convincing. The supporting actors have all done a fine job.

In his debut director Aryan Khan seems to have taken inspiration from Farah Khan's " Om Shanti Om" where his dad played a Bollywood actor.

This is a spoof on Bollywood by A listers of Bollywood where stuntmen jump from buildings without safety equipment and producers get contracts signed from actors in parties in high decibel environment. The actor also says that he reads scripts not contracts.

The characters have become caricatures due to hamming and overacting. Everything is too loud for comfort . If this is the way things work in Bollywood so be it and all the while I thought it was more like " Luck by chance". I wish Aryan had patterned it on this movie.