अमेरिकन शास्त्रज्ञ ज्युलियस रॉबर्ट ओपनहायमर याच्या जीवनावर आधारित हा हॉलिवूड चित्रपट नुकताच जगभरात प्रदर्शित झाला. हॉलिवूड जगतात, आणि संभवतः जगभरात प्रख्यात असणाऱ्या ख्रिस्तोफर नोलन या दिग्दर्शकाने या चित्रपटाची धुरा सांभाळली आहे. पुलित्झर विजेते काई बर्ड व मार्टिन शेर्विन लिखित “अमेरिकन प्रोमेथियस: ट्रायम्फ ऍन्ड ट्रॅजेडी ऑफ जे रॉबर्ट ओपनहायमर” या चरित्र पुस्तकावर हा चित्रपट आधारित आहे. ओपनहायमरच्या मुख्य भूमिकेत हॉलिवूड चा सुप्रसिद्ध अभिनेता सिलियन मर्फी असून मॅट डेमन, रॉबर्ट डाऊनी ज्युनियर सारखे अनेक तगडे अभिनेते सुद्धा या सिनेमात आहेत.

दिग्दर्शक नोलन बद्दल

हॉलिवूड दिग्दर्शक ख्रिस्तोफर नोलन त्या तुरळक लोकांपैकी एक आहे जो चित्रपटाला व्यवसाय म्हणून पाहत असताना आपल्या प्रेक्षकांना उत्कृष्ट अनुभव कसा येईल याची पुरेपूर काळजी घेतो. असं करत असताना त्याचे चित्रपट इतके गुंतागुंतीचे आणि समजण्यास अवघड असतात की बरेच वेळा एकदा बघून भागत नाही. द प्रेस्टिज, बॅटमॅन ट्रायलॉजी, इन्सेप्शन, डंकर्क सारख्या सिनेमांमधून नेहमीच काहीतरी भन्नाट, अफलातून दाखवत असताना त्याच वेळी मानवी भावनांच्या कसोटीवर इतक्या सहजगत्या नोलन ने कथांची मांडणी केलेली आहे की क्लिष्ट विषय, अत्यंत गुंतागुंतीची व कधीच सरळ रेषेत न जाणारी कथा, संभवतः प्रत्येक वेळी विचारही केले नसतील असे कथानक असताना देखील प्रेक्षकांना नोलन ची चित्रपटातील दुनिया नवखी किंवा परकी वाटत नाही. इंटरस्टेलर तर आजही जगातील सर्वोत्कृष्ट चित्रपट म्हणावा इतका परफेक्ट आहे. यातील डंकर्क काही प्रमाणात अपवाद आहे कारण तो सत्य घटनेवर आधारित आहे.

ओपनहायमरच्या निमित्ताने प्रथमच नोलन ने चरित्रपट अर्थात बायोपिक बनवलाय. अरेखिय कथन अर्थात नॉन लिनियर स्टोरी टेलींगच्या त्याच्या खास शैलीची इथेही आपल्याला मेजवानी मिळते. शास्त्रज्ञ ओपनहायमर याने अण्वस्त्रांचा शोध लावून जगातील पहिली अण्वस्त्र चाचणी घडली त्या मॅनहॅटन प्रोजेक्ट ची धुरा सांभाळली. थोडक्यात पहिली अण्वस्त्र घडवणारा हाच तो शास्त्रज्ञ. कथेची पार्श्वभूमी इतकी मोठी आणि व्यापक आहे की तुम्हाला त्याचं वरवरचं ज्ञान हे केवळ वर्षानुवर्ष शाळा महाविद्यालयांपासून ते पार मित्रांसोबत रंगलेल्या गप्पाटप्पा मधून casually आलेलं असेल तर तुम्ही कथेला किमान समजू शकता.

ओपनहायमरच्या कथेमागची पार्श्वभूमी

जगाची तत्कालीन राजकीय, सामाजिक, वैचारिक परिस्थिती, विज्ञानाच्या, विशेषतः पदार्थ विज्ञान अर्थात फिजिक्सच्या रुंदावणाऱ्या कक्षा नवनवीन वैज्ञानिक शोध घडवून आणत होत्या. युरोप अमेरिकेत अनेक नावाजलेल्या वैज्ञानिकांची मांदियाळी अगदी रोज नवीन शोध लावल्यासारखी व्रतस्थ होती. यात निल्स बोर पासून ते हायजनबर्ग आणि रिचर्ड फाईनमन पासून ते प्रत्यक्ष आईन्स्टाईन पर्यंत अनेक जणांचं योगदान होतं.

याच विज्ञानाचा गैरवापर करून अण्वस्त्र बनवण्यासाठी पहिला प्रयत्न हिटलरने सुरू केला. हा काळ पहिल्या आणि दुसऱ्या महायुद्धाच्या बरोबर मधला. दुसऱ्या महायुद्धाच्या वादळापूर्वीची ही जणू शांतता होती. हिटलरच्या सर्वश्रुत राक्षसी वृत्तीमुळे जर्मनीतील काही शास्त्रज्ञांनी आईन्स्टाईनच्या मदतीने ही बातमी अमेरिकेचे तत्कालीन राष्ट्राध्यक्ष फ्रँकलिन रुझवेल्ट यांच्यापर्यंत पोचवली. रुझवेल्ट यांनी निर्णय घेतला की हिटलरच्या अगोदर अमेरिकेने अण्वस्त्र बनवायचे. हे सगळं प्रचंड गोपनीयता राखत करायचं, इतकी की ही गोष्ट राष्ट्राध्यक्ष, शास्त्रज्ञ, सैन्यदलातील उच्चपदस्थ अधिकारी सोडता कुणालाही माहित नव्हती, अगदी उपराष्ट्राध्यक्ष हॅरी ट्रुमन यांनाही. रुझवेल्ट यांच्या निधनानंतर जेव्हा ट्रुमन राष्ट्राध्यक्ष झाले तेव्हा त्यांना ही गोष्ट समजली.

हे होईपर्यंत शास्त्रज्ञ म्हणून ओपनहायमरचा कसा प्रवास राहिलाय हे चित्रपट पाहिल्यावर तुम्हा सर्वांना कळेलच. यात त्याच्यावर असणारा साम्यवादी विचारांचा प्रभाव, त्याचे अमेरिकन साम्यवादी नेत्यांसोबत असणारे संबंध, स्टॅलिन प्रणित सोव्हिएत रशियाची हेरगिरी या सर्व गोष्टी सुद्धा पार्श्वभूमी मध्ये थोड्याशा अवगत असणं गरजेचं आहे.

समीक्षा

आता येऊ चित्रपटावर. IMAX कॅमेऱ्याने शूट झालेला हा चित्रपट शक्यतो IMAX थिएटरलाच बघावा. महत्वाचं म्हणजे सिनेमात एकही CGI निर्मित सीन नाही. त्यामुळे अणुस्फोट घडतो ते दृश्य IMAX स्क्रीन वर न भूतो न भविष्यति असा अनुभव देऊन जातं. लुडविग गोरांसनचं पार्श्वसंगीत हादरवून सोडणारं, अंगावर काटा आणणारं, खुर्चीला खिळवून ठेवणारं आणि प्रसंगी रडवणारं सुद्धा आहे. यात सीलियन मर्फी, रॉबर्ट डाउनी ज्युनियर आणि फ्लॉरेन्स पुघ या तिघांचा अभिनय काळजाला भिडणारा आहे. सिलीयन मर्फी ने मुख्य भूमिका ऑस्कर जिंकण्याजोगी साकारली आहे. भावनांचे अनेक कंगोरे त्याने इतके चपखल साकारलेत की स्क्रीनवर सुरू असणाऱ्या संवादापेक्षा पात्राच्या मनात काय सुरु आहे त्याकडे आपण जास्त लक्ष देतो. फ्लॉरेन्स पुघ ने साकारलेली जीन टेटलॉक प्रसंगी रडवते सुद्धा.

चित्रपटाचं कथानक एकाच वेळी ओपनहायमरचा जीवन प्रवास, त्याचा भूतकाळ, अण्वस्त्र चाचणी नंतर त्याच्यावर राजकीय उद्देश्याने बसलेली चौकशी समिती, त्यानंतर भरलेला खटला आणि अण्वस्त्राचा शोध व चाचणी या व अशा अनेक आघाड्यांवर चालते. एक क्षणही विचलित न होता हा चित्रपट पाहावा लागतो.

चित्रपटातील संवाद हा आणखी महत्वाचा स्तंभ आहे ज्यावर हा सिनेमा अगदी सक्षमपणे उभा आहे. यातील एकूण एक डायलॉग येणाऱ्या काळात अगदी म्हणींसारखा वापरला जाईल यात शंका नाही.

महत्वाचे तीन सीन्स (Spoiler Alert)

चित्रपटातील तीन दृश्य खास प्रभाव सोडतात. पुढे वाचण्याच्या अगोदर, तुम्ही अद्याप चित्रपट पाहिला नसेल तर हा पॉइंट स्क्रोल डाऊन/स्किप करा कारण यात स्पॉइलर्स आहेत. पहिलं दृश्य म्हणजे ओपनहायमर आणि जीन मधील सुरुवातीचा संवाद ज्यात विचारधारेशी निष्ठा असणं आणि गुलामी असणं यात किती फरक असतो आणि वस्तुनिष्ठ आकलन करून स्वतंत्र विचार कसा करावा हे इतकं वेगळ्या ढंगात आणि इतक्या चपखलपणे मांडण्यात आलय की त्याचे एकाच वेळी अनेक अर्थ निघतात. एक सीन ज्यामध्ये हिरोशिमा आणि नागासाकी वर अणुबॉम्ब पडल्यानंतर ओपनहायमर भाषण देत असतो आणि एकाच वेळी भाषणात जहरी राष्ट्रवादी भाषेचा वापर करत असताना त्याला नजरेसमोर मात्र अणुस्फोट आणि त्याची भीषणता दिसत असते. एक आणखी सीन आहे जिथे राष्ट्राध्यक्ष ट्रुमनशी झालेल्या संवादात हिरोशिमा व नागासाकी बद्दल ओपनहायमर हळहळ व्यक्त करतो. तेव्हा ट्रुमनच्या बोलण्यातून राजसत्ता कशी शोध व निर्मितीच्या शक्तीचा गैरवापर करते हे आपल्याला दिसून येतं.

त्रुटी व चुका

असं नाही की चित्रपटात काही त्रुटी नाहीत. तीन तासांची अत्यंत लांबलचक मांडणी असल्याने डोळ्यांना क्षीण येऊ शकतो. ओपनहायमर यांचा संस्कृत व भगवद्गीतेचा गाढा अभ्यास होता. त्याचा संदर्भ देत असताना तो जीन सोबत होत असणाऱ्या सेक्स सीन मध्येच का दिला हे कळायला मार्ग नाही. मुळात दिग्दर्शक नोलन यांना भारताचं विलक्षण आकर्षण आहे, ते त्यांच्या अगोदरच्या चित्रपटांमधून  या-न-त्या प्रकारे दिसतं, जसं की टेनेट मध्ये दाखवलेलं मुंबई शहर आणि एक अत्यंत महत्वाचं भारतीय पात्र, इंटरस्टेलर मधील भारतीय वायुसेनेचं विमान, बॅटमॅन बिगिंस आणि द डार्क नाईट रायजेस मधील रास अल घुल च्या त्या कैदखाण्याचं जयपूर मध्ये झालेलं शूटिंग वगैरे. एकंदरच या माणसाला गीता हा हिंदूंचा धर्मग्रंथ आहे हे माहीत नसण्याचं कारण नाही, मग अशा सीन मध्ये दाखवून शंभर कोटी लोकांच्या धार्मिक भावनांचा अनादर नोलन ला करावासा वाटला असेल? नोलन डाव्या आणि भारताचा द्वेष करणाऱ्या अमेरिकी लोकांपैकी नक्कीच नसल्याने हे त्याने जाणीवपूर्वक केलं असेल असं वाटत तर नाही, परंतु या सीनला विचारपूर्वक लिहायला हवं होतं हे नक्की.

हा ओपनहायमर चित्रपट एकंदरच या शतकातील, नव्हे आजवरच्या सर्व चित्रपटांच्या इतिहासातील अत्यंत महत्त्वाचा व सर्वात उत्कृष्ट कलाकृतींपैकी एक असून, जमल्यास IMAX मध्येच हा सिनेमा बघावा. आमच्याकडून या चित्रपटास 4.5/5.

Warm Regards,

Dnyanesh Make The DPM

The post ओपनहायमर – काळजाला भिडणारा अणुस्फोट आणि बरंच काही appeared first on Words Of DPM.

10. KGF – Chapter 2

The sequel of Kannada film industry’s all time blockbuster did not disappoint the fans. Instead, it was 4 times more successful than the first part. Despite being low case on story, KGF 2 won hearts by the unique Kannada style of storytelling. The background score by Ravi Basrur was solely responsible for audience being stuck to the seats in the theatre. Yash’s portrayal as Rockey was evolved. Raveena Tondon stole the show by portraying the antagonist Rimika Sen.

09. Sher Shivraj – Swari Afzal Khan

Released alongside KGF Chapter 2, this masterpiece of a movie was not as successful as its predecessor Pawankhind but still it managed to gather crowd for two weeks. The historic event of Afzhal Khan Vadh by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was brilliantly portrayed by Director Digpal Lanjekar in his fourth instalment of “Shivraj Ashtak” universe. This story was shown in series and dramas for many times before but this was THE PERFECT!. Minute details such as Afzal Khan’s signature statement written on his seal being played in the background, the diplomatic warfare between the lawyers of both Shivaji Maharaj and Afzal Khan, the smallest detail of Shivaji Maharaj’s multi dimensional strategy was so on point and subtle that only true history lovers would understand it. The best part was obviously the assassination scene but it was made best because of the “Ugra Veeram” background score by Devdutt Baji and Shantanu Pande. Chinmay Mandlekar’s portrayal of Shivaji Maharaj and Mukesh Rishi as Afzhal Khan were undoubtedly best castings I ever saw.

08. Pawankhind

The real heart wrenching thriller of legendary Battle of Pawankhind where 300 Maratha Soldiers fought bravely  against 10000 Adilshahi Soldiers and died. They died to protect Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj under the leadership of Maharaja’s one of the most valiant Military General Narveer Bajiprabhu Deshpande. Director Digpal Lanjekar filmed this story in a very limited budget but still in the best possible manner. Ajay Purkar’s portrayal of Bajiprabhu Deshpande was so realistic that it felt as if Bajiprabhu himself has shown up on screen. Chinmay Mandlekar’s role as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was absolutely flawless. The music by Devdutt Baji was good too. Overall, this film justified the legendary history of those 300 brave warriors and made a place in the heart of Maharashtrians.

07. Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

I’m not much of a Marvel fan but I was direly waiting for this movie since 2017. Dr. Strange is surely one of the most unique superheroes out there. After the death of Iron Man, Dr. Strange is the supreme avenger. Right from the grand visuals of multiverse to the chartbuster background score, Dr. Strange was indeed a treat to eyes.  Benedict Cumberbatch’s versatility was proved once again. Elizabeth Olsen took Wanda’s character to supremely next level effortlessly.

06. Ponniyan Selvan – Part 01

The combination of Maniratnam and A R Rahman is always hit material without a second thought. Mani Ratnam deserves a big salute to bring the story of one of the mightiest empires of Indian history on big screen. PS-01 is special because it makes North Indians aware of the great Chola Kingdom. PS-01 is unique in all aspects. Differing from Telugu way of storytelling, PS-01 shows realistic war sequences. It makes us believe that we are literally time traveling to the Cholan era. There is no second thought that the background score and music were splendid. In fact the music of movie is 50% of all the good it has. Aishwarya Roy’s portrayal of Nandini and Trisha Krishnan’s role as Kundavai were the best. The scene where these two characters face off on the palace staircase is enough to conclude this movie as an excellent masterpiece. There are debates whether the character of Aditha Karikalan was justified by Vikram’s portrayal of him as a devastated lover while in reality he was a ruthless warrior. We’ll leave it to the director to develop it more in PS-02. The post credit scene is such a cliffhanger and a hook for PS-02 and it provides the literal meaning of the movie as well. In my opinion, despite the movie being very good, PS-01 could have been India’s answer to Game of Thrones if it were a TV or OTT Series.

05. Karthikeya 2

This yet another masterpiece from Telugu film industry was one of the biggest surprises of 2022. The mystery thriller with a mixed theme of Spirituality, Mythology, History and Science was so adventurous, entertaining and eye-opening at the same time that I ended up loving this movie. Director Chandu Mondetti was successful in carrying the responsibility of a divine topic with purity, research and conviction. Nikhil Siddharth as protagonist Karthikeya is now a defined mystery thriller hero. Anupama Parameswaram did a fantastic job too. Anupam Kher in a cameo was a sixth gear propellant. Background score and music by Kal Bhairava couldn’t be better. The last song “Krishna Trance” made a very special impact.

04. Rocketry – The Nambi Effect

It’s our utter misfortune and shame that a veteran rocket scientist like Nambi Narayanan sacrificed a high paying NASA job for our country, risked his life amidst the Soviet Union’s fall to get the cryogenic engines and did many such great things which were considered simply impossible. ISRO is a renowned space organization today but the foundations stones of this organization were put by people like Nambi Narayanan against extremely negative odds. Still, the fruit he got for his extraordinary work was a sedition case, a false allegation of espionage, 3^rd degree torture, destruction of social image and family and a false honey trap case. He kept fighting for his justice. The Govt. Of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan award in 2019. Even after this, we did not know about him. Kudos to R Madhavan for bringing up his story on big screen and portraying it without any artistic liberty. On the other hand, the film was very sound on technical and other aspects too. The cinematography was outstanding for the short budget of ₹ 25 Crores. R Madhavan’s portrayal of Prof. Nambi Ji was excellent. The direction of this movie is a genius artpiece. This is a must watch movie for every Indian.

03. Kantara

Kannada industry’s yet another gem surprised us all with its unique story proudly carrying the cultural background of Kannada Tribes. The uniqueness in storytelling, the religious aspects of the Demigod concept were so beautifully crafted that you can easily relate with them. What makes this movie an absolute gem is its climax. If you have even smallest of the spiritual understanding, tears will roll down as you see the ending of movie. Rest assured, the movie managed to get splendid camera angles, excellent cinematography and of course, as this year will be remembered for, wonderful music and background score. You’re not human if “Varaha Roopam” song does not give you goosebumps.

02. The Kashmir Files

Around 5 lakh people were forced to leave their homes overnight, many were killed, many women were brutally gangraped and murdered. Their homes were encroached by their own neighbours. Their neighbours stayed silent and many participated in this heinous genocide. Forget about making a movie, this fact was suppressed for 30 years. Those Kashmiri Pandits were never given an opportunity even to express their grief, let alone be their justice. Besides, the so called intellectuals of this nation never cared for these people, nor did the politicians neither the journalists. Plus, speaking of this incidence will automatically make one an Islamophobe. Allegations will raise that you want to create communal divide. In such a scenario, Director Vivek Agnihotri decided to make this movie and this decision itself is commendable. Speaking of the movie, it was a befitting reply to all the propaganda that has been peddled to our throats all these years. Using their own tactics and brutally exposing the leftist propaganda, the movie progresses to be the most valiant warrior of truth. Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Chinmay Mandlekar, Puneet Issar all were very good in their respective roles. The storytelling was non linear and nail biting. Overall, the movie made a revolution and this impact is enough to be called the second best movie of the year.

01.RRR – Rise, Roar, Revolt!

Writer K V Vijayendra Prasad, Director S S Rajamouli, The two leads N T Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan Teja and supporting actors Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Olivia Morris and many more, Music Director M M Keeravani and Visual Effects Supervisor V Srinivas Mohan deserve a grand salute for their collective effort which made RRR an unimaginable, Na Bhuto Na Bhavishyati kind of masterpiece.

As of now, nominated for Oscar for the best song “Naatu Naatu”, RRR has won millions of hearts before any award. RRR is very, very special and there are multiple reasons for that. Let’s dive deeper.

1.1 The Technical Aspects

Story, visuals, background score, music direction, VFX, camera angles, costume, art direction, screenplay, dialogues, casting, acting….you name it and everything is flawless in the movie. It’s literally the best, the world class material for almost every factor. Especially the background music and visuals of this movie are so marvelous that you never realise how magically it connects you with the movie and every character in the movie. Speaking of dialogues, director S S Rajamouli deserves a special Oscar to replace dialogues with non verbal communication between the protagonists in many cases. Their eyes speak louder than any dialogue and that’s exactly where the purpose of movie gets delivered. The emotions need no languages and anyone from any part of the world can relate with that. This defines the success of technical strength RRR has.

Music of this movie is on another level. The timings of the songs “Naatu Naatu” and “Komuram Bheemudo” were so apt that they uplift both the story and entertainment factor of this movie. The background score “Raamam Raghavam” is the best background score I have ever heard.

1.2 The Historic, Dharmik and Cultural Aspects

The story is a fiction designed on real freedom fighters Alluri Sitaram Raju and Komuram Bheem. For decades, the left leaning ecosystem of movie industry has used it as a tool to peddle the propaganda. Their “oppressor vs. oppressed” kind of storytelling is an age old audience grabbing tact and a validation standard. S S Rajamouli uses exactly this tool to counter their propaganda with a very indigenous thought process. It’s a true Indian story, in an Indian language and manner, presented to the world with best regards from India. Indian filmmakers have been blatantly copying western style and they failed to get their attention whereas Rajamouli brought entire US and Europe into theatres for his Indian movie.

The movie portrays the “Vande Mataram” flag earlier designed by the Indian freedom fighters. The movie salutes all the freedom heroes at the end of the movie one by one through the song Etthera Jenda.

Many so called intellectuals have taken offence at the flag, or at the fact that British were demonized in the movie. Well, this is the Indian story what we want to tell, not what they want to hear.

The characters from Ramayan and Mahabharat such as Hanuman, Lord Shriram, Bheem were shadowed on the characters very beautifully. The story runs inverse to the Ramayan story during climax and it was entertaining to see that.

The cultures of Hindus, Indian Muslims, Gond Tribe and the 20^th century Delhi were also effectively shown in the movie.

1.3 The Entertainment Aspect

The fight sequences and stunts shown in the movie are simply not practical but do you realise this, or even care for it while watching the movie? No. That’s the success of an excellent direction. The animal mayhem, public riots, emotions, one-on-one fight scenes, twists and turns and of course, blood ravaging background score and music, everything gives you pure entertainment for 3 hours. You stick to the chair and dare not to get up from it. Not once do you feel bored or stretched. You dance at “Naatu Naatu”, you laugh at comedy, you feel the vibes of Bheem at “Komuram Bheemudo” and you cheer the hell out at climax. That’s the entertainment value of the movie. It grabbed attention of audience not only from all across the India but in US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Russia too. It is the first time when a truly Indian movie is getting appreciated and celebrated globally. That’s the might of RRR.

These are the endless reasons why RRR tops this list. RRR is probably the best Indian movie ever made.

These are the Top 10 movies of 2022. Let us know your Top 10 in the comments below.

Warm Regards,

Dnyanesh Make “The DPM”

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TVF has always been the undeniable King of web content in India. From popular web series such as Tripling, Permanent Roommates, Pitchers and Kota Factory, they have always levelled up the quality of content. “Aspirants” is yet another milestone by TVF. Let’s have a brief review.

Story (Spoiler Alert)

The story runs on two timelines 6 years apart and revolves mainly around the lives of 3 young UPSC Aspirants – Abhilash, Guri and SK. For a brief detail, UPSC is the exam for qualifying to be an Administrative Servant for Government of India, and probably is the toughest competitive exam around the globe. These 3 aspirants have already failed attempts in order to crack UPSC. One of them, Abhilash, is trying for the last eligible attempt. Apparently everyone has some background and two of them have failed love interests. While this all running in flashbacks of 2013, in the present of 2019, one of them has cracked the UPSC and the other two have changed their careers.  This “Tripod” of friends is now striving to form a reunion at the wedding function of Guri, and are having hardships because of the hard relations they encountered in past. The story also has some mind blowing characters such as Sandeep Bhaiya, the Landlords, Abhilash’s girlfriend Dhairya and a UPSC dropout rapper Pema. To complicate the story, the sub-plot of Guri’s wedding with Abhilash’s ex girlfriend was a nice trial, which apparently has grabbed more focus in second and third episodes. The climax is an absolutely wonderful suspense. There’s a scene featuring Sandeep Bhaiya and his life lessons on unworthy sacrifices, perhaps the most beautiful part of this story.

Screenplay

This indeed is one of the most commendable jobs by the showmakers.

Whenever they showed the era of 2013, subtle references to current affairs of that era such as Augusta Westland scam, BT Brinjals controversy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the talks of Narendra Modi being next PM were absolutely on point. Similarly, while showcasing the aura of “Old Rajinder Nagar”, the UPSC aspirants’ locality in Delhi was screenplayed very effectively through dialogues. Dialogues like “Old Rajinder Nagar is UPSC’s Mecca” , “Nothing is worth if you have to sacrifice your friends and family” and all such dialogues that explain the motive behind doing UPSC, the dialogues that underline the importance of an IAS officer have been very gracefully written and delivered.

Overall, screenplay is very classically written to show the micro level details of direction and cinematography.

Direction & Cinematography

Apoorv Singh Karki, a junior name in web series has done quite a good job with direction. Though the double timeline style is not new, it still stands firmly out in case of Aspirants. In the meantime, the series becomes a little slower and I personally have felt that it could be better if a little faster. In comparison with Kota Factory, similar web series from TVF, I found that the details of classroom drama are not properly shown. This job belonged to both the screenplay writers and the director. A minute or two of the lectures of any of the UPSC subjects would have been really exciting. In Kota Factory, the lectures of Physics, Inorganic Chemistry etc. have been subtly sampled to add the effect. Still, Karki’s direction was marvelous. Just for example, here’s the scene from episode 4: When Abhilash and Dhairya were shown in each other’s arms in bed, the bed was a single bed and Abhilash could barely adjust on that. Such a micro level detailing of an aspirant’s love life.

Cinematography is yet another plus points of the series. Though not revolutionary, the camera angles are unconventional and very satisfying.

Background Score and Songs

Tusshar Mallek’s background, though not very engaging, but was efficient to create needed environment for the respective scenes.

Three songs – Moh Bhang Khuda, Dhaaga and De Mauka Zindagi, composed by Rohit Sharma were very melodious and pushed the story forward in a graceful way. I personally liked “De Mauka Zindagi” at the season finale. I don’t know why did I have tears rolling down when I heard the song for the first time.

Acting

The one with full pack of energy and has effortless acting skills, Shivankit Singh Parihar played the role of Guri quite wonderfully. SK played by Abhliash Thapliyal was also very nice. Namita Dubey’s portrayal as Dhairya was excellent, but sad that her role was very limited. The main protagonist of the series, Abhilash, played by Naveen Kasturia was a little mediocre. The best portrayal was by Sunny Hinduja, the character of Sandeep Bhaiya. All the supporting characters also did a nice job as well. All in all, everybody acted quite well.

Overall

The series is indeed a motivation not only for UPSC aspirants but every student out there. Amidst the mud of propaganda heavy, adversely affecting dark content, “Aspirants” is a ray of good hope. 4/5 from my side.

Warm Regards,

Dnyanesh Make “The DPM”

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As a mini web series, JL50 surely has its own scoring points and flaws but one thing that keeps the mini series out of the box, is that it has broken all the stereotypes of Indian web contents. While a lot of web content is full of Anti-Hinduism soft propaganda, unnecessary nude and sex scenes and full of abusive languages, JL50 has avoided all of these mistakes and cherry on the cake, it has, at least under the veil of “fiction”, glorified the ancient Indian culture in a very subtle way. The most attractive thing about its story, that the writer has dared enough to showcase a Communist in a negative, traitor-alike frame. JL50 scores full marks for story in this case.

Story & Screenplay

Coming to the core review of the series, this is one of the rare science fiction experiments in India. Just search the keyword “Time Travel” and you get tons of Hollywood content but rarely any Indian on the list. Time travel is a very messy concept with so many paradoxes in itself. JL50 has kept it simple. The story is not very complex though, but has been very beautifully presented. However, it feels that the end has been written and shot in a hustle. A CBI probe for a missing or hijacked aeroplane goes on to reveal that a Time Travel experience has been carried out. An aeroplane named JL50 takes off in 1984 and lands in 2019 (or should I say crash-lands?). There’s a full separatist conspiracy going on behind the curtains and an interesting sub plot of the protagonist’s personal life. Writer-Director Shailender Vyas has done quite a good job in the overall story. It seems that there are one or two unnecessary characters but the focus of the story remains unaffected.

Acting Performances

There can be a mixed reaction for performances in this series. Abhay Deol’s role as protagonist, CBI Officer Shantanu was too average. He needs to work a lot on his expressions. Professor Subroto Das played by Pankaj Kapoor was also not that good, or even if it was, the portrayal was ruined by his fake Bengali accent.

CBI Officer Gaurango played by Rajesh Sharma was very good. Rajesh Sharma surely is an underrated actor. But the character of Gaurango was unnecessary. The performance was, honesty speaking, wasted.

The two most impressive performances were Bihu Ghosh by Ritika Anand and Professor B C Mitra by Piyush Mishra. Ritika Anand had literally acted with her beautiful eyes and Piyush Mishra, the one whose voice acts the most, makes his impact throughout his screentime.

Scientific Background

Time travel is very debatable but let’s be scientific, it’s imaginary and not possible for humans at least for now. So while depicting that in the story, writers and show makers must make a clear vision of what they want to portray. Interstellar is a benchmark for time travel scenes. JL50’s core story revolves around a time travel incident happened between 1984 and 2019. They straightaway ignored the grandfather paradox where you can’t just kill anyone if you travel in past. Secondly, they ignored the fact that if someone is to travel back in time, that would already have been there since the very beginning. You can’t just change the past. But after all it’s a fiction and they showed all they could afford.
The scenes were very subtle when the protagonist was not convinced that he travelled back in time and he gets every evidence by himself that he reached 1984.

Special Effects

There was a large scope of using special effects in this series but seems like the opportunity was missed because of the low budget. The special effects used were very common and found in almost every other series or movie.

Music and Background Score

The background scores and one or two songs to push the story forward are directed by Aseem Trivedi. The problem with Indian music industry is that, there’s hardly any originality left and thus, despite the background music being very good, it fails to leave the impact on the audience. The Bangla song “Moner Moto” composed by Aseem Trivedi and sung by Shailender Vyas himself, is very melodious and enjoyable. The most impactful song, however, was Jungle Ki Raaton Mein, written, composed and sung by Piyush Mishra. I personally have a bias for him, but he indeed is a great actor, great music director and a great lyricist all at once. Checkout that song

Overall

Amidst the garbage of Indian TV serials and propaganda-heavy, typical (stereotypical to be precise) web content, JL50 is surely a ray of good hope. All the criticisms aside, I personally recommend this series for a one time watch. 3.5/5 from my side for this amazing, path breaking content in Indian web media.

Warm Regards,
Dnyanesh Make “The DPM”

The post JL50 – The Breaker of Indian OTT Stereotypes appeared first on Words Of DPM.

This is the feeling you get when you step out of the theatre after watching Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. I waited for this movie for more than one and a half years. I was excited when I heard the news in June 2019 that some scenes of Tenet were shot in Mumbai and that there’s an Indian actress, Dimple Kapadia, playing the role of an important character in the movie. I literally lost my patience when they released the trailer back in December 2019 and that the movie was supposed to be released on 17th July worldwide. The corona pandemic had this movie’s release postponed in India till 4th December. It’s quite obvious that this review may contain my bias, but I’ll best try not to be.

Talking about the story of the film, it’s very good, or is it actually very simple? The core theme of the story, the prevention of World War III, is a typical Hollywood thing, but make no mistake, the science fiction of ‘Time Inversion’ is used in a comprehensively stunning way. Mildly inspired by Interstellar, Nolan’s best ever performance till date, Tenet also unfolds in such a way that nothing in the movie feels illogical or unreasonable. The parameters of judgement for Nolan’s movie must be very high and that’s why I say, Tenet’s basic storyline is a little disappointment.

However, the sequencing of story is, as always, Nolan style, but not non-linear this time. It is more like an epic sage. I will not explain much about it here. You gotta watch it at the multiplex.

The acting by almost all the characters was absolutely wonderful. The protagonist John David Washington and the antagonist Kenneth Branagh were the best amongst all without any doubt. In a very important role, Indian actress Dimple Kapadia played a wonderful character of Priya Singh. All the other characters were absolutely flawless in their respective characters, especially Robert Pattinson in a supporting role.

Talking about the action sequences and special effects, Nolan never disappoints. The time inversion theory shows us that a person or any object can move reverse in time. Action sequences are so beautifully designed in this order that almost every scene, I repeat, every important scene either has a reverse chronological effect at the same time or has something to do with the reverse order sequences. The action of doing things in reverse order is very very tough to choreograph but all these scenes are choreographed, acted, shot and edited in a mind blowing way. This is first of its kind, yet unmatchable. No one can do it even remotely close to how Nolan did.

Everybody knows Nolan shows realistic scenes and is very less dependent on VFX. This time in Tenet, the scene of plane crashing in an airport museum was real. Yes, they literally crashed a whole damn real aircraft into a building. Al Qaeda, this is how and why one should crash a plane in a building. Given below is the photo of that scene. I’m not giving a spoiler, this scene is in the trailer itself.

Adding to the downsides of the movie, is the background music. As already mentioned here, the parameters must be very high for Nolan and thus, the background score was not as expected. The background scores of Inception and Interstellar set a benchmark. Tenet’s score is far behind that benchmark.

However it nowhere means that the background score wasn’t good. It was actually very good but not upto the mark. The sound effects, though, were incredible. Imagine a sequence in reverse, how’d a car engine sound when time moves back in reverse? It is very aptly worked on in Tenet. You’ll experience it only in theatre.

One thing for sure, the costume design was wonderful in the movie. The cinematography was also good. Overall the basic strongholds are kept at standard to make the movie a must-watch.

It seems Tenet 2.0 will come.

I strongly recommend you all to watch this movie only at theatres.

Ratings: 4.5/ 5

Warm Regards,

Dnyanesh Make “The DPM“

Due Credits :

Featured image : IMDB.com

Plane crash image : Hindustan Times

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Coming to the point, Ramayan versus Mahabharat. As stories, they’re the best literatures ever written. Still, Mahabharat stands a little higher as it is more complex, having more grey characters with darker stories and gives a religious stronghold of Bhagwad Geeta. Thus, as an epic, Mahabharat is a bit greater than Ramayan.

Now comparing the legendary and record breaking TV serials by Doordarshan. These serials were first aired in 1987-1990 (collectively). Roads used to be empty on every Sunday afternoon, buses wouldn’t leave the stations unless the episode ends. These were re-telecasted on Doordarshan and DD Bharati in this period of lockdown. I watched them both, without missing a single episode. While Ramayan managed to break all worldwide records surpassing Game of Thrones, Mahabharat also scored a good amout of TRP but couldn’t break records. A lot of my relatives and friends watched Ramayan with all their devotion and interest but could barely even understand the story of Mahabharat. Not only that but this Mahabharat directed by B R Chopra was telecasted several times after 1989 on different channels, is also a reason why Mahabharat scored less TRP.

Comparing the direction of the story, which is a big factor why Mahabharat wins, is obviously better in case of Mahabharat. In Ramayan, the focus is on only few characters, while Mahabharat justified every character by giving them apt screentime and dialogues. In 78 episodes, Ramayan was completed and the story was evenly spread over the series. Mahabharat contained 94 episodes and the story, not just evenly but was appropriately completed considering all the pre-post aspects. Cinematography and camera angles are better in Mahabharat while background music was better in Ramayan. Important scenes were very good in both the serials such as abduction of Seeta and Cheerharan (Sexual Harrasment) of Draupadi.

In case of acting by prominent characters, Ramayan is again less scoring. While Arun Govil and Sunil Lehri portrayed Shri Ram and Lakshman too good, Sita’s acting was an absolute disaster, which was hidden by the actor Deepika’s perfect Seeta look alike face. Ravan played by Arvind Trivedi was the best. Swapnil and Mayuresh played Kush and Lav and they did a very good job. Bharat played by Sanjay Jog was also close to perfect. Hanuman played by Dara Singh was average. Rest all characters were loose.

In Mahabharat, there are a lot of characters, at least 100 and all of them being prominent. The best portrayal was by Nitish Bhardwaj who played the role of Krishna. Second best being Bheeshm played by Mukesh Khanna. Third best were Duryodhan played by Puneet Issar and Karna played by Pankaj Dheer. Arjun played by Feroz Khan, Kunti played by Nazneen, Bheem played by Praveen Kumar, Draupadi played by Roopa Ganguly and many to list more, were very good. The only prominent character over acted was Shakuni, played by Gufi Paintal.

Music is the only case where Ramayan is much better than Mahabharat. Very good use of music at war scenes. While title tracks of both the serials are unmatchable, Ramayan gives more music in between as well.

Talking about special effects and technicality of war scenes, both serials are very poor, still Mahabharat was better. There were a lot elephants and cavalry in Mahabharat war than Ramayan war. The war sequences were also better.

Overall, the result is not hidden. Mahabharat is a clear winner in this case. Ramayan still remains much entertaining and engaging show though

Warm Regards,

Dnyanesh Make “The DPM”

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