Back2Back: Review Corner

PK
Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani? Well, ideal expectation is a cinematic swagger. The end product is almost perfect, but isn’t the Christmas cake with all cherries and pies though.
What made other Raju films strike a chord with audience (Munnabhai, Lage Raho, 3 Idiots) was them being very close to reality and yet deliver brutal syndromes with sublime affection. They were not cacophony but drew us to the edge of the seats with simplicity and morality of life. PK, amongst all cheers, derails on this benchmark. But does come out with extraordinary moments and a powerhouse performance to stay large.
An alien sans clothes, ethnicity, language and complicated human trilogies, creates questionable situations wherever he lands and flirts with trouble in a fascinating turmoil. Most despise him, few dare to look at him and couple of them adored him. And that’s how, Jaggu and Sanju fit this palpable ride with the most unusual inhabitant of their worlds. One is a nobody but tries to be human, the other has problem of her own and is fighting with self, hoping to see a redemption that would entice sensibilities within a small little world. PK is probably the perfect stimuli to their incomplete lives and brings them to a world of his that’s defined by simplicity and devoid of human subjugation. He makes few to shed tears, brings many to their knees and vows all with his dose of ‘battery recharge’.
Such scripts are usually driven by 2 factors: lead actors and the director. Surprisingly, the director here supersedes the editor by few notches and I term it as the kaput of this plot. Couple of characters were wasted (not usually a Rajkumar Hirani attribute) and few scenes are mirrored from his earlier classics. Music is hummable; Shaan’s Chaar Kadam keeps my foot and heart tapping. PK is shot well, not overwhelming but keeps it to the stature. Supporting acts play around well, Boman Irani and Saurabh Shukla do their seasoned acts efficiently. Anushka as the bubbly and emotional Jaggu is endearing in patches. But her look in PK is probably the reason she will be adored. SSR has a cameo, and sticks to his sleeves.
Aamir Khan towers above all. His body language, expressions of being in an unknown land, framing people about their reason of existence in a manner of an infant who has lots of questions for this world and sharing his moments with people who found joy in his cherubic anecdotes – I was completely floored. He has been evolving as an actor, and PK places him in a pedestal of some fabulous legends we have seen in the world of Cinema.
PK – Precariously King.

Haider
When it comes to great films, I expect to see conflict in interests and perception, insatiable urge to achieve glory amidst ruins and oscillating ways of human relationships.
When it comes to Vishal Bharadwaj films, I expect just one. Awesome-ness. And Haider, is a marvel in the zone of the wannabe.
No one toys with Shakespeare as much as VB has explored the genre, and a menacing plot with lust and deceit can never overcome the bludgeon of human intracacies. VB brings in all in this steaming saga of a la Hamlet in the heart of a land which is considered to be the mother of all graveyards – Kashmir.
Kashmir is a long standing battle that burns more everyday. More importantly, there are people who survive and make money when the flames are higher and harder. Haider is born in a stable of hatred and conviction, thus learning that they are the only kinds of people living in this world. The plot is his story, and the symposium is the apocalypse around Kashmir where humanity dies every hour.
I think to be drawn with comparisons with Hamlet itself would be a crime, as they are separated by centuries and withstood by generations. Yet, the context, logistics and monstrous intentions around the epic in both versions remain unhindered. The agonising lives of thousands, the betrayal of their own, the dwindling hopes of a nation splattered in the blood of innocents and a waging war that is fighting their own demons. Haider has his own tale in a web woven out of drastic proportions.
VB’s protagonist is guilt and best ally is hatred. The sibling then, has to be vengeance. All characters belittle each other’s conscience to battered glory, and blood galore.
An uncanny resemblance to an iconic Maqbool is quite inevitable. Though, Haider has it’s golden moments. The mother-son moments, his fathers narration of his desire to avenge the infidelity of his brother and the haunting background score – all distinguish fragments of Haider’s soul.
Kay Kay Menon is quite understated, and Irrfan Khan sizzles in his cameo. But the winner is the mother-son duo. Tabu sparkles in a performance where men are meant to be frontrunners. Truly, she remains one of the most underrated actress in tinsel town. Shahid Kapoor is brilliant as Haider. He whims, drools, broods and perspires in a pit of vicious urge and tyranny.
Haider isn’t the best of the trilogy, but still manages to delight with grit and gross reality.