Film flirts with greatness but doesn’t achieve it
Vishal Bhardwaj Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut Kumar, to the scale, to the gorgeous set-piece song-and-dance numbers. The characters are flesh and blood. Julia, Rusi and Nawab are all distinctive and memorable.
And Vishal creates some unforgettable moments with them. The actors deliver stellar performances. This film is built around Julia, the Fearless Nadia-inspired actress, who goes from being a spoiled, silly star to a woman on a mission. She is abused, vulnerable, vain but always glorious. And Kangana Ranaut plays every shade with rigor – she is arguably the finest actress working in Hindi cinema today. Shahid is cast in the traditional heroic mold. But he replaces swagger and starriness with a righteous dignity. And Saif plumbs the tragedy in Rusi, a star who lost his stardom after an accident, a man who is bullied by his imperious father so he defines himself by exerting control on the only thing that is his – Julia.
These are fascinating characters and each one gets stand-out scenes. But the narrative around them wobbles precariously – especially in the second half. Go in knowing that it is a polarising film and that you are as likely to dislike it as you are to enjoy it. And yet, if you miss it, you miss a chance to immerse yourself into the epic imagination of VB.
If the opening credits of Lion hadn’t specified that the film was based on a true story, it’s likely the believe-it-or-not tale would have been mistaken for a work of fanciful fiction.
Adapted from Saroo Brierley’s memoir “A Long Way Home”, Garth Davis’ directorial debut
Celebrated Chilean director Pablo Larrian makes an inauspicious transition to Hollywood with the first Englishlanguage film of his career.
Not nearly as involving as it aspires to be, Jackie is a portrait of the former First Lady and 1960s style icon in the aftermath of the assassination of her husband, President John F Kennedy in November 1963.
Failing to convey a sense of immediacy, the non-linear narrative begins with a hackneyed framing device. Barely a week after JKF’s murder, his widow (Portman) summons a journalist (Crudup) to her Massachusetts mansion for an exclusive one-onone interview.
No longer the ingénue she was during her early days at the White House, Mrs Kennedy now