'Bhoomi': Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao chemistry elevates the film (Movie Review, Rating ****)

Film: 'Bhoomi'; Director: Omung Kumar; Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharad Kelkar, Shekhar Suman; Rating: ****

"Jadd se ya dhadh se?" Sanjay Dutt plays a cruel KBC with his daughter's rapist, offering to either kill or castrate him.

The pleading begging rapist takes the knife and plunges it into his pants.

I squirmed , as I was meant to. Bhoomi a film about a father and daughter's revenge on her wrongdoers set in the seamier side of the city of the Taj Mahal, is not an easy film to view. Just because it stars Sanjay Dutt, don't expect him to rise Phoenix-like to the occasion. With remarkable disregard for his larger-than-strife image, Sanjay Dutt plays an aging caring doting father who is a helpless mute entity in the case to fight his daughter's violators.

The rape-revenge motif has been done so much to death I wondered why we need another film on the theme. But "Bhoomi" has plenty of surprises to offer. It never lets the very beautiful Aditi Rao play the victim-card eventhough she is violated humiliated and vilified repeatedly. Yet she stands tall and dignified. This could be because Aditi Rao in the film's titlular role is just so frigging ethereal. Her makeup-free scrubbed and honest face conveys hurt, suppressed anger and hastily dismissed bewilderment. She is a treat to watch.

Put her on screen with Dutt and you have magic. Scenes such as the one where she tells her broken dad it's time to rise above the tragedy, are pitch-perfect in their shrill yearnings, neither overstating nor trivializing the very grim issue of rape.

Sanjay Dutt though a little wheezy and out of rhythm, is heartrendingly avuncular.His breakdown in the courtroom is so raw and unrehearsed it washes away all cynicism. He seems so protective of his "Betu" and so shattered by her violation that we tend to forgive the film's absolute absence of novelty. A parent grieving over a daughter's rape is not just familiar territory it is also a territory that threatens to explode under the weight of overstatement in our cinema.

With rather unnecessary detailing Bhoomi charts out the daughter's rape. Shot in a ramshackle single theatre ironically named Bhagwan Talkies, the gangrape is filmed against a backdrop of a film being screened within the film. In this way we are reminded of how cinema is responsible for an increase in sex crimes. (more)

Kabali film review: Weapon of mass attraction Edit

The expectations from Kabali are as high as the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the setting for almost 80% of the movie, not least because it's a Rajinikanth movie. The reasons are varied: the audience need a taste of the Rajinikanth of yore, not a do-gooder Samaritan (Lingaa) or a CGI generated version of a warrior Prince (Kochadaiiyaan). Thalaivar fanatics just wanted him to have fun, which was rarely the case ever since Sivaji. The teasers of Kabalisuggested Rajinikanth is back to his glory days of Basha, Padayappa and Pedarayudu.

You wanted badass, you get industrial levels of badass in this Pa Ranjith movie. His previous film Madras had a delightful off-kilter sensibility. Sadly, here he spends too much time deifying his larger-than-life protagonist. And that makes the movie a giant 150-minute slog.

It opens with the erstwhile gangster getting released from a Malaysian prison after spending 25 years there. As soon as he steps out, he's apprised of how his rival gang (consisting of Kishore and Winston Chao) has grown from strength to strength and has turned the city into a teeming hub of drug abuse and prostitution.

Kabali starts cleaning up right away, while getting reunited with his daughter and wife along the way. You have to be punch drunk on Rajini mania to sit through the movie without dozing off or trying to play Pokemon GO at the cinema itself. The only saving grace is the man himself. The wizened visage hasn't lost a bit of its grace and infectious scowl.(more)

Movie Review Captain America: Civil War is MCU's best yet

With Captain America and Iron Man locking horns, the world of superheroes comes alive on screen

In March this year, critics had a field day pointing out how and why DC Comics and Warner Bros went wrong with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Less than two months later, Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War has hit theatres and this time there is little to complain about.

The Russo brothers (Joseph and Anthony) have taken the challenge of a superhero face-off head-on and succeeded in making an entertaining movie that completes the trilogy neatly. Take a leaf out of Marvel’s book, DC — this is how you make a clash-of-the-superheroes movie.

For the fans, the movie is a treat, with superheroes walking in and out of the frame. The very presence of so many Marvel characters meant that the movie ran the risk of being rushed and cluttered. The director duo, however, manage to keep things simple, the story and screenplay tight and the pace brisk.

In terms of screen-time, Civil War identifies Steve Rogers aka Captain America(Chris Evans) and Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) as the leads, each gaining depth in their character as the movie progresses. The rest of the cast — Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton aka Hawkeye), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson aka Falcon), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang aka Ant Man), Paul Bettany (Vision) and the others — come in, do their job and leave the screen.Read More

Netflix blocks India access to global content

When Netflix announced its India launch, audiences were delighted thinking that they would get access to its mammoth library of global content. The US-based company priced its services in line with global strategy at $7.99, or the equivalent in Indian rupee. The services in India are available under tiered pricing - Rs 500, Rs 650 and Rs 800 a month.

Most Indian users were disappointed when the online video services provider restricted their access to a very small portion of its library. The company says copyright issues prevent it from giving Indian consumers access to international content. The users, however, figured an easy way out. They continued to access Netflix's US content through virtual private network (VPN), which allowed them to imitate the internet protocol (IP) address of users based in the US. This effectively meant dodging the Netflix firewall without much effort.

However, the company has now started blocking the VPNs and Indian users are being redirected to the Indian site. "Using VPNs or proxies to virtually cross borders violates Netflix's terms of use because of licensing restrictions on TV shows and movies," Netflix said in an emailed response.

But it seems VPNs have figured out a way to beat the new Netflix blocker as well. "NordVPN did have a number of servers blocked, but (it) has found a number of workaround options that are working thus far... Users can connect directly to Netflix server or they can connect to a few dedicated Netflix servers manually. We are also preparing backup workaround options in case Netflix decides to intensify their VPN crackdown. We have received a number of inquiries from other VPN providers checking to see if our service was still working. It is sad to see that some users are being forced to choose between online security and streaming," said Marty P Kamden, CMO, NordVPN, a Panama-based company, in an emailed response.

Netflix, however, said it would keep finding ways to block the international content despite the price differential on content versus costs. "Netflix uses a variety of technologies to properly geo-locate members and to avoid attempts to circumvent proper geo-location," stated the company.

This, experts believe, will hit Netflix more than it expects. Users, who were ready to pay for content, will find ways to illegally access it via torrents or unsafe streaming websites, impacting the company's India revenue stream.

Even Netflix accepts that blocking the users would lead to problems, at least in the near future. "People will always try and find ways to get the content they want no matter (what) the technological barriers (are)," it said.