Movie Review: Eega (2012)

Eega (2012) co-written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli

Nani (Nani--no really, that's the actor's name!) is in love with the cute lady across the street, Bindu (Samantha Ruth Prabhu). She's been playing hard-to-get with him while she works at a charity that donates school supplies across India. Since she's always looking for donations, he brings her a check for 15 rupees, basically pocket change. She meets with Sudeep (Kiccha Sudeepa), a corrupt businessman who is quite full of himself. He thinks he can make any woman fall in love with him and has his eye on Bindu. She has her eye on Nani, who has his eye on her. This situation infuriates Sudeep, who goes to the extreme of killing Nani. The big plot twist comes when Nani is reincarnated as a house fly and is dead set on protecting Bindu and getting revenge on Sudeep, who has a major business deal with the government that needs to go through or his company will fail.

So, the premise is bonkers. The filmmakers lean into the ridiculousness of the situation. They are quite inventive in coming up with ways for the fly to make Sudeep miserable. Thankfully, they do not have the fly talk, there is not even an inner dialogue of the actor speaking. The character expresses itself through physical gestures and occasionally using the environment to write things. The CGI is lackluster but forgivable because the story is a lot of fun (I am not sure viewers would want a highly realistic-looking fly protagonist). The actors are charming (except for the despicable villain) and a fun time is had by all (except for the despicable villain). The director is the same guy who made RRR and Baahubali, so if you liked those you will probably like this. I love over-the-top, creative movies so I had a great time watching this.

Recommended.

Movie Review: RRR (2022)

RRR (2022) directed by S. S. Rajamouli

In the early 1900s, British military leader Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his wife (Alison Doody) take a young girl from an isolated village. They basically want the girl as a house pet, to sing and paint the wife's hands with elaborate pictures. The villagers can't put up a fight but Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) promises to bring the child back from Delhi. He goes to the big city, fighting the British and a bunch of jungle creatures on his way. Once there, Bheem tries to come up with a scheme to bust the girl out of the leader's fortified headquarters. At this point, he's a wanted man because of his adventures in the jungle and because the British know he's coming for the girl.

Maybe a decade earlier in another part of India, Rama Raju (Ram Charan) sees his village attacked and loses many friends and family. As an adult, he vows to arm everyone who will fight against the English. He leaves a girlfriend (Alia Bhatt) in the village as he goes to Delhi where he begins a career in the English army, trying to rise through the ranks until he gets access to what he needs. He's an amazing officer though is often passed over for promotion because he's Indian. He has the chance to get a big promotion if he can bring in Bheem.

As luck would have it, they are both in the area and are traveling incognito (Rama is trying to infiltrate the rebels) when a kid is in peril. They work together to save the child in an amazing, over-the-top sequence. There's already been plenty of over-the-top scenes (Rajamouli is the guy who directed Baahubhali) so it does not seem out of place. The guys who should be enemies become friends, creating a lot of tension in the story. In the bigger picture, they should be friends because they both want to get out from under the heel of the British, who are about as dastardly as you can get in this film, except for the one lady who is the love interest for Bheem. Rama and Bheem flip from being brothers to being enemies a few times.

The movie is chock full of amazing, unbelievable actions sequences that are so well filmed and put together that I went with the implausibility. The scenes are so much fun. As an Indian film, plenty of dance sequences and songs are added. The film ends with a big song and dance number that pays tribute to the Indian revolutionaries who got the British out in the early 1900s. The film is joyous and delightful. There are some gruesome bits of torture and injury, so the film is not for the pre-teen crowd. If you are old enough, this is a very entertaining film.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Airlift (2016)

Airlift (2016) directed by Raja Krishna Menon

It's 1990 and Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar) is an Indian businessman living a successful life in Kuwait. He's rather self-centered and imagines himself a Kuwaiti rather than an Indian. After taking his wife Amrita (Nimrat Kaur) to a lavish party, he's woken up at three in the morning by a call. The Iraqis have invaded Kuwait. Since Ranjit is well-connected, he's certain he can take care of things with the Kuwaiti government. By the next day, the government is gone and Ranjit races with his driver to the Indian embassy to find a way out of the country. They are stopped at a checkpoint and the driver is killed. Ranjit has to deal with an Iraqi Republican Guard officer (Inaamulhaq) who was once a bodyguard for Ranjit during a visit to Baghdad. Ranjit gets some assurance that his family will be safe; when he returns to home, he discovers it's been ransacked by Iraqi soldiers. Desperate to find his wife and child, Ranjit looks everywhere, eventually going to his office. His family is there, along with his employees and their families, a rapidly growing group of people. The Iraqis are killing anyone who is Kuwaiti and the Indians are worried about being mistaken for locals. Ranjit has the chance to flee with his wife but he realizes there's 170,000 Indian citizens in Kuwait City with no way out. He rises to the occasion, forming a refugee camp at a school campus and looking for a way for everyone to escape safely.

The movie is based on a true story about the 170,000 people trapped in a country that's no longer its own country. The story is powerful and inspiring, how one man rose to the occasion and organized the people to survive and escape. Even though he starts as dismissive toward India and has a lot of trouble getting help from the Indian government, he sees other people (including bureaucrats in the Indian External Affairs Ministry) rise to the occasion too. By film's end, Ranjit has a sense of pride in his homeland and his fellow Indians. 

The movie is both exciting and well-told. The acting is great. Kumar and Kaur have good chemistry and play the dramatic moments just right, showing both the tension and the love in their relationship. The production values are top-notch, especially the war-torn streets of Kuwait City. As a Bollywood film, there is one song-and-dance number early on. The rest of the film is more straightforward, with the songs giving emotional heft to visual montages. 

Highly recommended.

The movie is discussed on A Good Story Is Hard to Find podcast #255. Check it out!

Movie Review: Singham (2011)

Singham (2011) directed by Rohit Shetty

Police officer Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) is a small-town cop in rural India. He's also the greatest cop ever. As his theme songs tells viewers, he's the terror of evildoers and champion of justice. His actions follow those words. He solves disputes and beats down bad guys.

Almost everyone in his small town is related (or at least they know each other). He falls for Kavya (Kajal Aggarwal), a girl who keeps getting into trouble or having stuff stolen from her. Her dad is moving up in the business world. If fact, her family moves to Goa, the big nearby city, when he gets the chance.

The big city has big problems. The movie starts with another good cop committing suicide because he's been framed after investigating organized crime boss Jaikant Shikre (Prakash Raj). His widow seeks justice through the system, but most if not all of the police force in Goa has been bought out or is under the thumb of Jaikant. He gets away with everything. He is ordered, as a formality, to report in to Singham's office for a minor incident. Jaikant sends his lackeys; Singham refuses them and demands Jaikant report in four hours or be tossed in jail. Jaikant comes with a lot of his goons but the townspeople show up in support of Singham. Jaikant has to submit. With his bruised ego, Jaikant has Singham transferred to a Goa office where he has little support in his crusade for justice. Nevertheless, Singham persists, winning over his fellow officers in his conflict with Jaikant.

The movie is a larger-than-life, over-the-top action film. Singham sometimes has to resort to violence, at which he is a master. The fights are more like Jackie Chan than Sylvester Stallone. They are visually imaginative and outlandish in a fun way. The movie almost completely lacks blood and gore, a refreshing change from contemporary Western action dramas. On the other hand, the opening scenes of the cop driven to suicide and the surprisingly serious fate of Jaikant are at odds with the otherwise whimsical tone of the film. A few musical numbers are thrown in, which is standard for a Bollywood film. I particularly liked Singham's theme, which is the most visceral and stirring theme since the first season of Attack on Titan.

The movie is discussed in depth on A Good Story is Hard to Find #230. Thanks to Julie and Scott otherwise I would never have seen this entertaining gem.

I watched it here on streaming since I couldn't find it available on other streaming services or on DVD. There is an animated cartoon on Netflix which I haven't watched...yet.

Recommended.