Backed by a poignant premise and powerful performances, director Vikas Bahl generates some genuine moments in eerie situations
nga amma Chennai la enna pannitu irrundhanga?” (What did your mother do in Chennai?) pops up on the subtitles, translating a character asking two Tamil men in Bengali about their mother. This clever play on the legendary line from Baasha does not feel forced or out of place in Suresh Mari’s directorial debut J Baby, in which Urvasi plays the titular role.
J Baby introduces us to Shankar (Dinesh) and Senthil (Maaran), two of Baby’s five children who have their own reasons to not talk to each other. Like the first act of every buddy cop film, this unlikely duo is put on a mission together; they get summoned to their local police station to be informed that their missing mother is now in West Bengal, thousands of kilometres away from their home and it is up to them to put their differences aside to bring her back. But what is the reason behind their resentment? Why and how did Baby land in West Bengal? And what was she doing earlier in Chennai? As the brothers embark on their journey, a series of flashbacks unravel the knots.
Filmmaker Suresh’s nifty touches in the form of callbacks to his previous scenes make for some of the most entertaining bits. Until Urvasi comes in and steals our attention completely in the second half, it is the unintentional banter between the brothers that takes up a good chunk of the first half.
It is when we get to know the reason behind why Baby left her home — and who she was in her hometown — that the film shifts to top gear. Urvasi carries the film singlehandedly through its best phase. Be it her prowess over the character’s slang, her transformations thanks to the mood swings, and how they change when her motherly instincts kick in, the veteran actor aces her role as Baby, who, after years of taking in agony and pressure, turns into a volatile individual that her five children have a hard time managing. But that is where the flair of Suresh’s writing kicks in, making a character considered “abnormal” to be someone people should aspire to be. There is a scene where, in the heat of the moment, Shankar reacts adversely towards Baby only for her to come back to him for food.
To push the point home, director Suresh overdramatises the mother sentiment at times, and we get shots like a dog feeding her pups and a slew of pregnant women appearing throughout the film; this pulls us out of the relatability that J Baby tries to maintain considering it is based on true events.
J Baby, initially, also reminds one of
Maaniram which also deals with an elderly person with mental health conditions who disappears from his house, but this film develops into something unique.
Had there been more consistency with how the intriguing story unfolds, and the tonal shifts less jarring, it would have been a wellrounded product. Nevertheless,
Baby is still a heartwarming tale with astounding performances that could leave you in tears — or splits — in equal measure.
“UDirector:
Cast:
Storyline:
J Baby is currently running in theatres edicated to the crowd’ reads one of the title credits of the Telugu film
Gaami (seeker). For the uninitiated, the film began as a crowdfunded indie venture before a reputed production house (UV Creations) threw its might behind it.
Gaami was in the making for more than seven years as its makers — debut director Vidyadhar Kagita and producer Karthik Sabareesh — took several leaps of faith to narrate a story that is not within the ambit of conventional Telugu cinema.
The result is an immersive slowburn film that offers plenty to unpack in terms of its narrative and technical finesse, resulting in a visually rewarding experience.
Gaami draws us into the world of its protagonist Shankar (Vishwak Sen) from the word go. In the opening segment, we see the plight
Jcross the world, daddysavingdaughter stories keep many aging action heroes in the box office race. After Drishyam and Bholaa, this is the third film in a row where Ajay Devgn plays an overprotective father running against time to save his sweetheart from a monster. While in Bholaa, the action star’s invincibility was hardly in doubt, in Shaitaan, like Drishyam, he is up against an imposing wall called R Madhavan making the contest a lot more even and hence engaging.
Interestingly, like Drishyam, the story of Shaitaan is drawn from a regional film. Director Vikas Bahl, who is attempting a new genre in every film with varying success, has adapted the Gujarati film
Vash to create a frantic sensory experience. It is hard to sell a supernatural occurrence in 2024 but
Vikas manages to strike an emotional chord with a sceptical audience, the way Ram Gopal Varma used to do once upon a time.
The story is simple and initially gives the impression that it has already been told in the 140second trailer. Ajay and Jyothika play an urban couple who are struggling to keep their worldlywise kids in check. On a trip to their farmhouse, they come across a stranger named Vanraaj (Madhavan). Initially, he seems like an amiable gentleman who needs a little help but soon he shows his
Aof Shankar in an Aghora ashram somewhere in Haridwar. Even as we take in the different elements that have gone into creating the world of the Aghoras, we learn what torments Shankar — his inability to experience human touch. The ramifications of living with such a condition, which some of the Aghoras believe is a curse rather than a problem, is tough to articulate. The character’s struggles and his search for identity are gradually revealed by writers Vidyadhar and Pratyush Vatyam.
Almost like a fable, Shankar is told that he has to travel to the Himalayas where the cure lies in mushrooms with medicinal power; which are available once in 36 years. There are more conditions and he has to secure them within a narrow time window.
Gaami presents us with more than an adventure drama on the mighty
Storyline: true colours and turns out to be an Englishspeaking occultist who has possessed their daughter Janvi ( Janaki Bodiwala).
It is the nimble treatment and creepy twists that make Shaitaan leap at you at times in the darkness of a multiplex. For instance, in makeorbreak situations, Vanraaj asks Janvi to laugh or dance, ensuring the sense of helplessness of parents percolates through the screen. A lot of credit goes to Krishnadev Yagnik’s story which is aware of making the characters go slightly against the lay audience’s expectation from a supernatural setup.
Madhavan, who is known to play docile characters in Hindi films, is cast against type, making the eerie experience relatable. He lends Vanraaj a pitch that oscillates between lifelike and
Himalayas. We are privy to two other parallel stories. An illegal medical camp in a remote location uses adolescents as lab rats for experiments as lethal as lobotomy. From this hell hole, an adolescent, referred to as CT333 (Mohammad Samad), yearns for freedom. Elsewhere, in a hamlet in the Telugu States, a woman (MG Abhinaya as Durga) realises it is tough to shake off her ‘Devadasi’ past and her daughter (Harika Pedada as Uma), too, must run for safety.
Gaami opts for a deliberate pacing of the stories to allow us to empathise with the characters.
All the three characters are seekers of freedom. For one, it boils down to breathing fresh air and being able to look up at the vast skies. For another, it is the freedom to live without being preyed upon. From the claustrophobia of the medical camp to the vast Himalayas that dwarf humans, the visuals present the varied terrains in vivid detail.
For each step Shankar and Jahnavi (Chandini Chowdary) take on thin ice and fragile glaciers, we are conscious of the dangers lurking largerthanlife. If Ajay taps the vulnerable side of a father, Madhavan explores the mean streak of the demon well. Similarly, Jyothika lends freshness to the mother’s role and provides an element of surprise for those who have grown up on the romantic beats of Madhavan and Jyothika in Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001). Janaki, who reprises the part she played in the original, is not bad either.
Had Vanraaj been given a credible backstory, the film would have got a lot more depth or one should say Gehrayee (1980), the ArunaVikas classic horror that was also about a girl possessed by a spirit. It had a strong undercurrent on the horrors of lopsided development but here, from the charm of fake news to the spell of a demagogue on blind followers, there are plenty of possibilities and metaphors that seem waiting to be addressed but the writers prefer to keep it a straight battle between black and white. Even the verdant potential of a name like Vanraaj and the presence of transgenders in his team have neither been exploited nor explored.
Perhaps, the fact that Devgn is also the coproducer of the film came in the way. Perhaps, the makers sought to retain the U/A certificate for a horror film that showcases black magic with a disclaimer that it doesn’t support it. Otherwise, with a little more author support, it would have become a Madhavan show all the way. After a smart flourish in the denouement, the postscript feels forced to keep the heroic status of Ajay intact but it is Madhavan who makes sure that one shuts the door the next time one comes across a smoothtalking stranger. ahead.
While the protagonists of the three stories, set in different timelines, are almost cut off from what we would perceive as normal surroundings, Gaami introduces Jahnavi as a contemporary, urban seeker of medicinal miracles. There are scenes in which she is us, the audience, trying to understand Shankar and his search for cure.
Each of the three stories have cliffhanger moments and segments of dismal abyss when all doors seem
Director:
Cast:
Storyline: An Aghora who cannot feel human touch must go to the Himalayas in search of a cure. The journey turns out to be more than a physical exploration.
Shaitaan is currently running in theatres to close in on them. The gory happenings inside the medical camp work to make us root for the escape of the characters in the camp. Mohammad Samad and Harika are terrific in their parts.
Towards the preclimax, it is possible to discern at least some portions of how the tale is likely to unfold. As Shankar’s search for a cure turns into a soulsearching exercise, it is impossible to not root for Vishwak Sen’s unwavering performance. The same goes for the characters CT333 and Uma and we desperately want them to move to safer zones. Chandini’s character, at the outset, might come across as underwritten. However, it ends up beautifully complementing Shankar’s tale towards the end. In her limited portions, Chandini is effective.
Gaami is a film that is likely to be rewarding with repeat viewing. It is not always on top of its game. But this is a brave new Telugu indie that deserves appreciation.
Gaami is currently playing in theatres