3 Deewarein

Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor

Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Juhi Chawla, Jackie Shroff, Nagesh Kukunoor, Gulshan Grover

Released: 2003

My rating: destroy every copy ? horrible ? bad ? whatever ? flawed but enjoyable - good ? great ? amazing

A curious, intriguing movie this is. Amazingly non-glamorous, yet not hyping on any dirt. Lasts little under 2 hours and yet stays with you for quite a while after. Clever and with a twist that you never could expect, but not venturing into an impossible scenario area. As both a sum of its parts and the final product 3 Deewarein is, I feel, severely underrated.

The notorious ?bad man? of Bollywood Gulshan Grover is here a ?good man?, leaving aside his comic antics and theatrical villainous acting, trying to run a prison, where the prisoners are treated with humanity and everything is done to support their reformation. But some cases, apparently are beyond help. Three walls are a prison to three death convincts, each distinctly different from one another, but sharing the same lot. And the story serves as a probe to test their mentality and behavior face to face with death punishment and lengthy waiting for it. Nagya (played by director himself), keep believing his innocence would eventually be proved. Ishaan (excellent, excellent Naseeruddin Shah, stealing the show away and being incredibly charming even as a killer) is a sly-operator keeping his cool and plotting his escape. And finally Jaggu (Jackie Shroff) decides to be absolutely stoic, waiting for death as if she was his lover, whom he would welcome with some of his plentiful, melancholic poetry (which he recites so soulfully in his deep sexy voice that everything in me just couldn?t help but to be a Jackie Shroff-fangirl).

The makers did an excellent job in presenting the reality of life in jail and daily routine of the prisoners. When with the characters, you feel indeed enclosed in the same small world they are allowed to exist in, cut off from the world. There is nothing filmi about this prison, neither there is a Hitler-like jailor (waving at you, Sholay) and do not expect a happy song about how awesome it is to be imprisoned (avoid a movie called ?Army? at all cost). Within this atmosphere, both calm and full of anticipation, depending on which of the three condemned prisoners is pulling the story forward, the excellent performances by the actors make an intriguing tapestry of emotions and actions.

The medium through which the plot function though, is Juhi Chawla in a role of a documentary filmmaker. Simply clad, with simple talks, she is not what she appears to be to the world. These days expression ?women empowerment? is being thrown around right left and center, and it is unfair to forget that there have been character in the past that indeed reached the empowerment ? Juhi in 3 Deewarein is one of them, as she plays an abused wife who not only decides to satisfy her need for being creative, she manages to win over her husband all by herself too. And meanwhile she is also an avenger. And a rescuer. Her performance is brilliant (and for me personally her best, most intense), her presence among the mournful and pessimist prisoners like a fresh wind. And her despair in scenes showing her personal life nothing less than deeply disturbing.

The movie does not have any songs, but the background score and a lonely, touching melody of a flute, which sounds throughout the prison in the nights, are beautiful. Editing in some of the scenes flawless. There is a bit too much English for my taste, which is one of the minor possible complaints. If you are looking for a really good film, try this one for sure.

Yaariyan

Directed by: Divya Khosla Kumar

Starring: Himansh Kohli, Rakul Preet Singh, Deepti Naval, Gulshan Grover

Released: 2013

My rating: destroy every copy ? horrible ? bad ? whatever ? flawed but enjoyable - good ? great ? amazing

Mothers are saint. And girls exist to wear bikini and let random guys drool over them. Also, if you are a principal in need of saving your college, you should totally make a bet with nasty white man and send five most unlikable, lazy, undisciplined and just rubbish students you can find to fight a seriously stupid contest, because one of their fathers gave his life for Hindustan. Also, since the competition has some life threatening tasks, it?s fine not to have a single safety measure taken.

I expected this to be bad and stupid so you could say it exceeded my expectations. It was beyond dumb, dumbest film I have seen in a while. There is difference between taking some liberty as a filmmaker and making a film that is just RIDICULOUS STUPID and illogical.

Yaariyan stands for everything that is regressive, lazy filmmaking, and if indeed this is Divya Khosla?s first attempt at it - well, I hope she is not making another film ever again, not if she wants to exploit stereotypes, drive them to extremes and insult me as a woman, as a student and as an audience.

Clich? upon clich?, the whole plot is ridiculous and forced, and it would be a waste of time to try point out all the nonsense involved. Unlikeable lead actors (with one exception only) do not show any spark of talent or screen presence, none of them is a lead role material. Boys are sex driven machos and girls are annoying, affected and with no soul (and yeah, their dorm look like a barbie house.) It just felt all so terribly degrading it might be the most awful film to women since last year?s Shootout at Wadala. Just puke-worthy.

I thought Student of the Year was BAD, but Yaariyan is much, much worse. I still don?t understand how an adult woman could pen down a story in which every single woman except for the saintly Maa is nothing but a sexual object. And it ends with a close-up of a girl?s ass being ? surprise surprise ? stared at by a boy who is at the same time busy kissing a girl he supposedly loves. And bam. Closing title are showing Divya Khola?s baby boy and her boasting how awesome she is to be both director and a mother. W-T-F woman!

The only better point goes to catchy music, which at few points acts as a saving grace (I unashamedly loved Baarish). A flickering light of hope in all the darkness is Deepti Naval in a short, ungrateful and unimaginative role, in which she still manages to overshadow all the unworthy younglings. Hell, even Gulashan Grover annoyed me because his character of the school principal was so in need of a shrink and nobody in their right mind would ever appoint him to be responsible even for a cat.

And why the hell was it named "Yaariyan"? It has nothing to do with bonding or friendship! Those are just superficial terms never explored in this superficial movie. Don?t watch this film unless you are brave enough to discover some real lows of Indian cinema.

(I accidentally deleted the film before writing the review hence I did not have an oportunity to take screencaps to go along with the review. Here: have the only bearable bit of the film instead)

3 Deewarein

Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor

Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Juhi Chawla, Jackie Shroff, Nagesh Kukunoor, Gulshan Grover

Released: 2003

My rating: destroy every copy ? horrible ? bad ? whatever ? flawed but enjoyable - good ? great ? amazing

A curious, intriguing movie this is. Amazingly non-glamorous, yet not hyping on any dirt. Lasts little under 2 hours and yet stays with you for quite a while after. Clever and with a twist that you never could expect, but not venturing into an impossible scenario area. As both a sum of its parts and the final product 3 Deewarein is, I feel, severely underrated.

The notorious ?bad man? of Bollywood Gulshan Grover is here a ?good man?, leaving aside his comic antics and theatrical villainous acting, trying to run a prison, where the prisoners are treated with humanity and everything is done to support their reformation. But some cases, apparently are beyond help. Three walls are a prison to three death convincts, each distinctly different from one another, but sharing the same lot. And the story serves as a probe to test their mentality and behavior face to face with death punishment and lengthy waiting for it. Nagya (played by director himself), keep believing his innocence would eventually be proved. Ishaan (excellent, excellent Naseeruddin Shah, stealing the show away and being incredibly charming even as a killer) is a sly-operator keeping his cool and plotting his escape. And finally Jaggu (Jackie Shroff) decides to be absolutely stoic, waiting for death as if she was his lover, whom he would welcome with some of his plentiful, melancholic poetry (which he recites so soulfully in his deep sexy voice that everything in me just couldn?t help but to be a Jackie Shroff-fangirl).

The makers did an excellent job in presenting the reality of life in jail and daily routine of the prisoners. When with the characters, you feel indeed enclosed in the same small world they are allowed to exist in, cut off from the world. There is nothing filmi about this prison, neither there is a Hitler-like jailor (waving at you, Sholay) and do not expect a happy song about how awesome it is to be imprisoned (avoid a movie called ?Army? at all cost). Within this atmosphere, both calm and full of anticipation, depending on which of the three condemned prisoners is pulling the story forward, the excellent performances by the actors make an intriguing tapestry of emotions and actions.

The medium through which the plot function though, is Juhi Chawla in a role of a documentary filmmaker. Simply clad, with simple talks, she is not what she appears to be to the world. These days expression ?women empowerment? is being thrown around right left and center, and it is unfair to forget that there have been character in the past that indeed reached the empowerment ? Juhi in 3 Deewarein is one of them, as she plays an abused wife who not only decides to satisfy her need for being creative, she manages to win over her husband all by herself too. And meanwhile she is also an avenger. And a rescuer. Her performance is brilliant (and for me personally her best, most intense), her presence among the mournful and pessimist prisoners like a fresh wind. And her despair in scenes showing her personal life nothing less than deeply disturbing.

The movie does not have any songs, but the background score and a lonely, touching melody of a flute, which sounds throughout the prison in the nights, are beautiful. Editing in some of the scenes flawless. There is a bit too much English for my taste, which is one of the minor possible complaints. If you are looking for a really good film, try this one for sure.

Yaariyan

Directed by: Divya Khosla Kumar

Starring: Himansh Kohli, Rakul Preet Singh, Deepti Naval, Gulshan Grover

Released: 2013

My rating: destroy every copy ? horrible ? bad ? whatever ? flawed but enjoyable - good ? great ? amazing

Mothers are saint. And girls exist to wear bikini and let random guys drool over them. Also, if you are a principal in need of saving your college, you should totally make a bet with nasty white man and send five most unlikable, lazy, undisciplined and just rubbish students you can find to fight a seriously stupid contest, because one of their fathers gave his life for Hindustan. Also, since the competition has some life threatening tasks, it?s fine not to have a single safety measure taken.

I expected this to be bad and stupid so you could say it exceeded my expectations. It was beyond dumb, dumbest film I have seen in a while. There is difference between taking some liberty as a filmmaker and making a film that is just RIDICULOUS STUPID and illogical.

Yaariyan stands for everything that is regressive, lazy filmmaking, and if indeed this is Divya Khosla?s first attempt at it - well, I hope she is not making another film ever again, not if she wants to exploit stereotypes, drive them to extremes and insult me as a woman, as a student and as an audience.

Clich? upon clich?, the whole plot is ridiculous and forced, and it would be a waste of time to try point out all the nonsense involved. Unlikeable lead actors (with one exception only) do not show any spark of talent or screen presence, none of them is a lead role material. Boys are sex driven machos and girls are annoying, affected and with no soul (and yeah, their dorm look like a barbie house.) It just felt all so terribly degrading it might be the most awful film to women since last year?s Shootout at Wadala. Just puke-worthy.

I thought Student of the Year was BAD, but Yaariyan is much, much worse. I still don?t understand how an adult woman could pen down a story in which every single woman except for the saintly Maa is nothing but a sexual object. And it ends with a close-up of a girl?s ass being ? surprise surprise ? stared at by a boy who is at the same time busy kissing a girl he supposedly loves. And bam. Closing title are showing Divya Khola?s baby boy and her boasting how awesome she is to be both director and a mother. W-T-F woman!

The only better point goes to catchy music, which at few points acts as a saving grace (I unashamedly loved Baarish). A flickering light of hope in all the darkness is Deepti Naval in a short, ungrateful and unimaginative role, in which she still manages to overshadow all the unworthy younglings. Hell, even Gulashan Grover annoyed me because his character of the school principal was so in need of a shrink and nobody in their right mind would ever appoint him to be responsible even for a cat.

And why the hell was it named "Yaariyan"? It has nothing to do with bonding or friendship! Those are just superficial terms never explored in this superficial movie. Don?t watch this film unless you are brave enough to discover some real lows of Indian cinema.

(I accidentally deleted the film before writing the review hence I did not have an oportunity to take screencaps to go along with the review. Here: have the only bearable bit of the film instead)