Kangana Ranaut is one of the fiercest performers in Bollywood today. She has proved herself in movies like Gangster and Fashion but she truly became a force to reckon with the success of Queen. What equally exciting about her, is the strong character she comes across even in real life too. Though sometimes over the line, her brashness in interviews must be applauded. To be so confident in a male dominated industry sets her apart. We have had superstar actresses but none as outspoken as Kangana is, about the industry and its people. Today we see Raveena Tandon supporting Kangana and talking about other issues but in her heydays she walked quite. Commercial cinema actresses like Kareena, Deepika, Katrina and others have hardly spoken about the industry in a genuine way. Every word from their mouth comes sugar coated with appreciation for everyone. Solid performers like Vidya Balan and Tabu have rarely made it to the headlines for their wonderful performances, let alone for speaking on the women empowerment issues. Kangana's conviction comes from the fact that she has achieved everything, critical as well as commercial success, on her own without working with the top-shots of the Bollywood. If SRK can be talked about his self-made superstar journey then why not Kangana!
If you notice, for most of the big stars there was one movie which proved to be a game changer. Zanjeer, DDLJ and Maine Pyar Kiya comes to the mind instantly. For Kangana, Queen proved to be that game changing moment of her Bollywood innings. Queen gave Kangana, not only a solo-film success but a role that made people fall in love with her. In her earlier films, she played very few likable characters but the innocence of Rani in Queen was enough to melt the hearts of everyone. There were many powerful moments in Queen but the scene which stood out was where Rani got drunk and sobbed out her life story. As an actor, she never struck a false note in that scene and the same can be said about the film too. Not only Rani broke through the shackles of a typical Indian girl life but also, Kangana from the mediocrity of female roles in Bollywood. Today we are seeing a lot of women-centric films like Mary kom, Gulaab Gang, Highway, Neerja and many more. Who can forget Vidya Balan in Kahaani and The Dirty Picture, movies that started this trend.
Revolver Rani faltered at the Indian boxoffice but Kangana still shined. As if to prove that Queen was not a fluke, Kangana returned with Tanu weds Manu sequel. Without a conventional Bollywood lead, the film went on to do more than 150 crores at the boxoffice. Kangana in a double role and especially as Datto, was pure magic. From her Haryanvi accent to the body language of an athlete, she stamped her acting prowess over her contemporaries. A National award win in spite of losing at other popular film awards(read fake), confirmed the above statement officially. Very few of our leading ladies have been able to do comedy. Juhi Chawala and Kajol have showed their funny bone from time to time and often stole the show in their films. Kangana as Datto in TWMR manages to do the same. She simply owns the film, period.
She has interesting projects like Rangoon with Vishal Bharadwaj and Simran with Hansal Mehta. Given the track record of both the directors, expect a quality story from both the films. Kangana is at her peak and we should hope it continues, more than an average Indian actress career allows for in India. Rise of female power in industry will open up a lot of subjects for film-makers and writers. Bollywood needs fresh scripts and this is where from it will emerge. For industry people to have confidence in such subjects, we need Superstar actresses who can guarantee a recovery. My money is on Kangana, the Queen.
Mohenjo Daro and Rustom, both were on my watchlist since their respective announcements. One presents that chapter of history which we all have read in our elementary history books and the other one brings a case that changed the Indian judiciary system forever. Without a doubt, both the subjects are fascinating and deserves a Big screen appearance. But what these two subjects also deserve, is an expert film-maker. Someone who can capture the nuances of these two events in a subtle and genuine way.
When it was announced both the films are arriving on the same day, I was truly happy. We don't get to see a good Bollywood film for months usually, so two good potential stories in a single day is a treat for cinema lovers. What really bothered me were the directors of both these projects. Ashutosh Gowariker, a good director with movies like Lagaan and Swades in his filmography, is also susceptible to a love story narrative for his films. Our period films like Ashoka(SRK), Jodhaa Akbar(Hrithik) and more recently Bajirao Mastani(Ranveer), have adopted this narrative to tell the tales of these great emperors. Hence, my doubt. A new director in Tinu Suresh Desai, provided a glimmer of hope for new gen style of film-making or an eye for realistic cinema, but 1920 London trailer quashed that hope vehemently. A two and a half minute trailer is good enough to showcase your ability as a film-maker. There was not a single imaginative(read original) shot in the trailer, all it looked was a recipe followed to the tee by the film-maker.
The next thing to look forward to, was the trailer of these two films. Mohenjo Daro trailer was released on June 20 and I saw it within few minutes of its launch. Things did go according to what I feared, damn typical love story as the driving force of a powerful civilization! So I had factored that part in advance and had already made my mind to not feel disappointed by love story angle but still trailer didn't moved me. There was no feeling. It was flat, absolutely pitch perfect flat. It really didn't brought the feelings of an epic adventure film, as it should do. Baahubali was far from perfect with those unwanted love songs and item number but still it had those wonderful war scenes(the best Indian cinema has seen). All historical blunders aside, story is not looking impressive and now everything depends on what elements and situations Ashutosh Gowariker can create to swept the audience off their feet. Hrithik Roshan is a good actor but his speech modulation still irritates sometime. Hrithik is good for the role as only he can woo a Princess just by his looks. Not everything is lost, just the forecast is not good for the journey.
Rustom has an interesting story to tell as it will give us a look at India of the 1950-60's. How was the society structure and what were their moral principles. How a media house influenced the sentencing of a convict and instead turned him into a hero. The trailer of Rustom was strictly okay, sometimes it did give the feel of an Ekta Kapoor film(read OUATIM, Azhar) due to the setup, background music and also the characterization of protagonists and other important players. The story has been given way more commercial touch then it required, thus some of the characters didn't looked solid. Akshay Kumar is a perfect choice for these kind of roles, he looks every bit a no nonsense soldier. I hope he doesn't overdo it because too much of anything is always bad. Rustom does appear to have an ace up its sleeves, with classified documents of national importance coming into play.
What looked impressive on paper, has been lost in transition to screens. Those who know about these two stories will have very few things to get surprised about. All depends on the directors and what novelty they can bring in these two films. Before the trailer, both were on equal footing(story-wise not boxoffice collections) and after the trailer too, the standings remain same. Mohenjo Daro and Rustom both have average trailer and good music album. So currently its the battle of averages. Lets hope if not both then atleast one of them comes out good.
