The jinx is finally broken?

After my rant exactly a year ago, the "jinx" finally seems to be broken! For the first time since 2002, someone other than well-past-his-prime-as-a-leading-actor Amitabh Bacchan, performs-well-but-gets-awarded-for-the-weirdest-roles Hrithik Roshan and I-yam-the-self-proclaimed-khinggg SRK has won the Best Actor at Filmfare. Lets give a round of applause to the David who managed to defeat these Goliaths - Ranbeer Kapoor. Janardhan Jakkhad has managed to do what people like DJ, Radhey Mohan, Munnabhai, and Chulbul Pandey couldnt! Hopefully, this isnt a one-off year when the choices are sane and this will usher in a new era of unbiased and non-SRK-in-hammy-self-anointed-king-role-winning-for-bullshit awards!

The Filmfare winners this year are given below. My choices can be seen here.

BEST FILM : Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
BEST DIRECTOR : Zoya Akhtar for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

BEST ACTOR : Ranbir Kapoor for Rockstar
BEST ACTRESS : Vidya Balan for The Dirty Picture
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE : Farhan Akhtar for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE : Rani Mukerji for No One Killed Jessica
BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR :  A.R. Rahman for Rockstar
BEST LYRICS : Irshad Kamil for "Naadaan Parindey" from Rockstar
BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE) : Mohit Chauhan for "Jo Bhi Main" from Rockstar
BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE) : Rekha Bhardwaj and Usha Uthup for "Darling" from 7 Khoon Maaf
Best Debut (Male): Vidyut Jhamwal for Force
Best Debut (Female): Parineeti Chopra for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl
Best Debut Director : Abhinay Deo for Delhi Belly
RD Burman Award for upcoming talent in field of music: Krsna for Tanu Weds Manu
Best Film (Critics): Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Actor (Critics): Ranbir Kapoor for Rockstar
Best Actor Female (Critics): Priyanka Chopra for 7 Khoon Maaf

Best Dialogue: Farhan Akthar for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Screenplay : Akshat Verrma for Delhi Belly
Best Story: Sanjay Chauhan for I Am Kalam
Best Production Design: Shashank Tere for Delhi Belly
Best Editing: Huzefa Lokhandwala for Delhi Belly
Best Cinematography: Carlos Catalan for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Background Score: Ranjit Barot for Shaitan
Best Sound Design: Nakul Kamte for Don 2
Best VFX: Red Chillies VFX for Ra.One
Best Action: Action Concepts for Don 2
Best Choreography: Bosco-Caesar for "Senorita" for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Costume: Niharika Khan for The Dirty Picture

Fire in the belly

I had not expected Karan Johar to back such an intense, gritty film, and I am pleasantly surprised he did! Agneepath is a difficult film to make, especially since the original, in spite of being a pretty bad movie with hammy performances, continues to live in memory of the audience. Kudos to Johar and director Karan Malhotra for making their own film borrowing only the basic theme of the original!

Agneepath is NOT your quintessential masala potboiler. Whoever claims it is probably does not know what a quintessential masala potboiler means! It is a dark revenge drama, replete with excellent performances, strong but rarely over-the-top dialogue and above all, hardcore, earthy action. The direction is really good, especially for a newcomer, and it is to the director's credit that he manages to extract focused performances from pretty much the entire cast! Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala is a knockout, and it is wonderful to see him play an out-and-out negative character at this stage of his career, not bothering about screen image and length of role. THIS is how a superstar ought to age! Sanjay Dutt is brilliant as Kancha and invokes terror every time he is on screen. His expressions, his dialogues and his overall demeanor are worthy of a villain and after the Munnabhai series and Vaastav, this is another performance of his that will be remembered for years! Hrithik Roshan carries off the main protagonist's role with a lot of intensity and pathos. His eyes speak when his lips dont and not giving him too many lines is a masterstroke, for I have always found Hrithik weak in the dialogue delivery department. He tends to mumble a lot and comes off as incoherent when given too many complex lines to deliver. Which is why he excels even more in this role which needs him to talk less and emote more. That he is brilliant at the latter is no secret and he proves it once again with a near flawless performance. Its just the end of the first month of the new year and we already have a couple of brilliant, award-worthy performances from Agneepath! Chetan Pandit as Master Deenanath Chauhan and Arish Bhivandiwala as the young Vijay are really good in their roles too. Cinematography is brilliant and complements the proceedings very well. The dialogues deserve special mention for being impactful without going over the top even once.

Now to the downers. Priyanka Chopra sticks out like a sore thumb in this mammoth cast and in spite of having almost nothing to do, still manages to botch it up by acting like someone who needs to be in a mental asylum. Once a competent actress, she has surprisingly lost all talent since 7 Khoon Maaf, which was perhaps the high-point of her career, acting-wise. Zarina Wahab playing Vijay's mother, has to make do with a confusing role and although she doesnt do a bad job, you cant really tell what her issue in life is. Does she not realize why her son is doing what he is doing? Does she not know a way of trying to stop him from being bad? Does she not want her daughter to never know about Vijay? Maybe she is supposed to be confused, but she comes off as indifferent, due to the poorly sketched role. The songs act like speed-breakers and at times, spoil the realistic portrayal of the story. Gun Guna is idiotic and takes the movie down a notch or two while it is on. Chikni Chameli is energetic but wasted. Shah Ka Rutba has some unintentionally funny choreography, although it goes well with the proceedings. Deva Shree Ganesha is superbly picturized and aptly used in the pre-climax. The background score is top notch and fits the mood of the movie. Action is excellent and, with the exception of one hilarious bit in the climax, takes the movie to a different level altogether. Thankfully, it is not over the top and very believable, which is a relief after watching some ridiculously choreographed set pieces in Bodyguard et al.

Ultimately, Agneepath is an action drama with a strong story and commendable performances. Its violent, yes, but its also gripping and in spite of being almost 3 hrs long, manages to hold your interest for almost all the time, which in itself is no mean feat. In times when good, sensible movies are few and far between, Agneepath is one movie that gives you pretty much all you could hope for from an action drama.