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Som | 33 | September 17, 2008 at 5:00 am | 12 views | NaachGaana Bol| Share

All NG members are requested to put up all the critics’ reviews of “The Last Lear”, “Loins Of Punjab Presents”, “Ru Ba Ru” and “1920″ in this one thread instead of posting them on separate/individual thread. Thanks!

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There Are 33 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Dionysiac 11 September 2008
   06:32:17 pm

   

   Khalid Mohamed on Loins Of Punjab Presents: For a few chuckles more

   B.Rangan on Loins Of Punjab Presents: A wonderfully quirky dramedy about a bunch of NRIs competing in a talent show.

   TOI review of Loins Of Punjab Presents:

   Loins of Punjab Presents is a clever rib-tickler
2. 

   Dionysiac 11 September 2008
   06:35:48 pm

   

   Buzz 18 review of “Ru Ba Ru”
3. 

   Dionysiac 11 September 2008
   06:57:26 pm

   

   Subhash K. Jha speaks about The Last Lear:Watch The Last Lear to see the layerings of emotion that the director extends into his narration without losing sight of the lightness of touch in the outer crust

   Greatness, they say, is never thrust on you. You are either born with it. Or you are not. Amitabh Bachchan is at a place today where nothing and everything he does surprises us. As the aging cantankerous flamboyant eccentric and embittered Shakespearean actor battling old age, unwieldy hair and a receding genius, the ongoing Bachchan saga gets one more twist in the tale.

   And what a tale! Rituparno Ghosh specializes in telling stories that pitch two utterly unmatched characters against one another in a battle where the lines are drawn between the egos of the two individuals. The Last Lear is actually a series of dramatic dialogues sewn together in a pastiche that suggests pain to be the constant sublimed text of all human interaction. So we have this bearded ‘intense’ director Siddharth (Arjun Rampal) who decides to make a film on the life of an unemployed aging clown. For the role he approaches the reclusive wacky stage- actor Harry Mishra (Bachchan) who sneers wryly at the very thought of entering cinema at his age, and then warms up to the idea and gives the part his heart and soul.

   Hmm…. Interesting possibilities pitching cinema against theatre, examined explored searched and dissected by the director with the microscopic maneuverings of emotions that the camera ferrets out of the human heart and makes visible to our eyes. In Ghosh’s incandescent world of human suffering and redemption, you won’t find more than two people in the same room at any given time. Sometimes there are three. But then the third individual is so still in her space, you hardly notice her presence beyond a shadow. Such is the truth of Divya Dutta’s character. As the benevolent nurse on night duty to look after the dying Shakespearean actor, she gives the actor’s mistress Vandana (Shefali Shah) and his co-star Shabnam (Preity) quiet company as the two women talk the night away on the man they’re both fascinated by.

   Ghosh goes backward in time from the night the film featuring Harry Mishra is premiered to the interactive events leading up to his selection and shooting for the film…The narration is purposely loose-limbed. Even the one-to-one interactions that are the backbone of this beautifully layered chamber-piece are done with the casual grace of a trapeze dancer walking the familiar tightrope blindfolded and not fearful of the fall. The characters are all in desperate need of redemption. Whether it’s the jaded but still-spirited Shakespearean actor or his unhappy overworked mistress, or the model-turned actress Shabnam, or even the young journalist (Jisshu Sengupta) trying to piece together the opulent mystique of the Shakespearean actor’s ego and enigma. The characters are perched on the brink of self-destruction, holding on to that thread of self-esteem, which keeps them from that fatal fall.

   The Last Lear is Ghosh’s second film in a row after the Bengali Khela to be located in the film world. The distance between the ‘reality’ of the acting world and the realism of the real world where people are often acting before one another, is covered by the sensitive director with supple grace. The English dialogues are spun in spoken sensitivity. But the words do get in the way of the characters’ sometimes. Rituparno Ghosh is a man of nuances. He revels in deep focusing on the quirks and whims of his characters, and in deriving drama out of their innermost demons and insecurities.

   When the film starts, Shabnam is on the verge of breaking up with her suspicious boyfriend. By the time she starts shooting with Harry Mishra in a scenic hill station she’s in an off-camera dialogue with her aged co-star and ready to scream out her angst in a war-cry of articulated liberation. The moment reminded me of the closing scenes in Ritwick Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara or nearer in time, Konkona Sen-Sharma’s screaming self-assertions in Anurag Basu’s Metro.

   Preity Zinta in her most accomplished performance to date does here what most actors shy away from. She actually listens to her co-stars as they express their angst. The film is littered with luminous performances. If Divya Dutta is quiet and warm in her small role Shefali Shah simply takes over the screen each time she walks into the frames. Here’s an actress who forces you to watch her. And after Rock On Arjun Rampal delivers another pain-lashed performance, giving to the director’s role a resonance that takes it to an inexpected level of sensitivity.

   As for Mr. Bachchan, what words would describe his wordy praiseworthy character, as the Shakespearean rhetorics and senile cynicism flow out in an un-stoppered show of a fading inner-glow? His expressions of uncertainty as he’s forced to step out of his home into the arc lights by the insistent director, or when he’s approached for an autograph or when he grovels on the floor in a drunken haze in front of his embarrassed director, show an actor at the peak of his abilities totally liberated of all starry vanity. Mr. B goes from venom to vitality in quick successions creating for his character of kingdom of theatrical yearnings. What do we say to the genius of Amitabh Bachchan…except Salaam, Mr. Bachchan. Salaam, Shakespeare. Rituparno Ghosh has created a world carved out of mahogany-like glistening surfaces(Indranil Ghosh’s artwork and Abhik Mukherjee’s cameras write out the poetry of the motion picture) hiding fears and anxieties that have little to do with age, and everything to do with the rage that the experience of life brings in its wake.

   Watch The Last Lear to see the layerings of emotion that the director extends into his narration without losing sight of the lightness of touch in the outer crust.
4. 

   Dionysiac 11 September 2008
   10:41:21 pm

   

   Taran reviews 1920
5. 

   ILG 12 September 2008
   06:23:56 am

   

   Thanks Mr.Jha.
   If someone comes across a BR review of TLL please post it here.
6. 

   ILG 12 September 2008
   06:58:41 am

   

   Some links to other reives. Since, I am not Lincoln, cannot put links the right way. May be RKS will rectify.
   http://ericsmoviereviews.blogspot.com/2007/09/live-from-tiff-last-lear.html
   http://www.cinematical.com/200.....last-lear/
7. 

   ILG 12 September 2008
   06:59:19 am

   

   Hey, guess what. The links work!
8. 

   ILG 12 September 2008
   07:02:06 am

   

   At the risk of sounding like a hopeless fan, I quote a line from one of the responses:
   “God could not act in movies,… so he created Amitabh Bachchan”
9. 

   Dionysiac 12 September 2008
   09:12:14 am

   

   Khalod Mohamad Reviews of

   LAST LEAR

   1920

   RU BA RU
10. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    09:16:11 am

    

    Rediff’s reviews of:

    LAST LEAR:Effectively intriguing

    RU BA RU:If only Ru Ba Ru adapted itself well

    1920:1920 is disastrously boring
11. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    09:19:54 am

    

    Anupama Chopra on Last Lear:The Last Lear is a poignant story that doesn’t realise its potential. It’s frustrating because the material and performances are rich. Go to the theatre prepared to be patient

    Anupama Chopra on Ru Ba Ru:Ru Ba Ru isn’t much fun. Steer clear
12. 

    neelu 12 September 2008
    09:21:32 am

    

    Hollywood reporter – Link

    Bottom Line: The presence of India’s greatest star, Amitabh Bachchan, cannot rescue this dull and misguided drama.

    I still want to see it, but I am not sure it got a big enough release to be available in my neck of the woods.
13. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    09:29:17 am

    

    Taran’s review of Last lear:On the whole, THE LAST LEAR has something for the Festival circuit, but nothing for the cinema-going audience in India. At the box-office, it caters to a minuscule section of moviegoers at select metros only. Disappointing!

    Taran’s review of Ru Ba Ru:On the whole, RU-BA-RU is a decent fare, but in view of the fact that there’s no buzz for the film and also scant awareness, it will meet with a disastrous fate
14. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    09:31:41 am

    

    One more review of Last Lear:Well it’s as they say, all that glitters is not gold. Or, in this case, all that’s carbon is not diamond
15. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    10:45:40 am

    

    Buzz 18 review of 1920:Vikram Bhatt gets it right with this one
16. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    07:02:17 pm

    

    Rajeev Masand on:

    Last Lear:But because of its languid pace and its needlessly heavy-handed direction, The Last Lear is ultimately only half-good. It’s a film that achieves only part of its potential. I’m going with two out of five for director Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear – muster up the patience and give this film a chance. There’s thought gone into every scene, even if it’s sometimes a little too much thought

    1920:1920 is for fans of classic horror. It’s not quite a classic itself, but sets up a chilling mood nevertheless. Hence two out of five for director Vikram Bhatt’s 1920

    Ru Ba Ru:Rubaru is dull and dreary
17. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    07:10:50 pm

    

    Deepa Ghalot on Last Lear:Only Bachchan could have played the part of a crotchety old Shakespearean actor, contemptuous of the world of films and modern life balancing the theatricality of the character with an unmissable poignancy
18. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    07:17:38 pm

    

    Times Of India’s reviews of

    LAST LEAR

    1920

    Ru Ba Ru
19. 

    Dionysiac 12 September 2008
    07:59:39 pm

    

    Mayank Shekhar on:

    LAST LEAR

    Ru Ba Ru

    1920
20. 

    Dionysiac 13 September 2008
    10:05:55 am

    

    As William Shakespeare once said: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players…” (As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII, 139-140). Let me tell you Mr. Rituparno Ghosh, you have played your part brilliantly
21. 

    Dionysiac 13 September 2008
    11:48:07 pm

    

    LAST LEAR
22. 

    Dionysiac 13 September 2008
    11:49:25 pm

    

    Vikram Bhatt`s ‘1920’- an engrossing horror flick!
23. 

    rockstar 14 September 2008
    02:31:02 am

    

    http://in.movies.yahoo.com/movies/The-Last-Lear/reviewdetails-604.html

    ( review of last lear- movie talkies)

    http://upperstall.com/films/2008/1920

    http://upperstall.com/films/2008/ru-ba-ru

    (upperstall’s review of 1920 and ru-ba-ru)
24. 

    rockstar 14 September 2008
    02:32:17 am

    

    http://www.indya.com/news/news.....0080911_42

    (indya review of last lear)
25. 

    rockstar 14 September 2008
    02:34:43 am

    

    http://allbollywood.com/movies/2008/898/the_last_lear/

    ( reviews of last lear )

    http://allbollywood.com/movies/2008/839/1920/

    (reviews of 1920)

    http://allbollywood.com/movies/2008/916/ru_ba_ru/

    (reviews of ru-ba – ru)
26. 

    rockstar 14 September 2008
    02:55:17 am

    

    http://sandhyai.blogspot.com/2.....sents.html

    ( sandhya iyer’s reviews loins of punjab)
27. 

    Dionysiac 14 September 2008
    08:57:24 pm

    

    Glamsham review of Last Lear
28. 

    Dionysiac 14 September 2008
    08:58:18 pm

    

    One more review of Last Lear
29. 

    Dionysiac 14 September 2008
    09:03:39 pm

    

    Subhash K. Jha on

    Ru Ba Ru

    1920
30. 

    Dionysiac 14 September 2008
    10:41:55 pm

    

    Amitabh Bachchan excels as Shakespearean actor in ‘The Last Lear
31. 

    Dionysiac 15 September 2008
    01:32:08 am

    

    Indiaglitz review of 1920:Hats off to Vikram Bhatt, for he hasn’t just penned a horror story, but has delivered the smartest work on designing powerful characterizations and best technical quality
32. 

    Dionysiac 15 September 2008
    01:34:02 am

    

    IndiaGlitz review of Last Lear:If you are planning to get relinquished of watching an exceptional film and if you are ardent fan of Shakespeare and Fedrico Fellini’s style of films, The Last Lear would be best one. While for others, it’s about dashing their hopes
33. 

    rks 10 October 2008
    09:33:01 am

    

    Movie review: ‘Loins of Punjab Presents’ – Star Telegram

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