MOVIE REVIEW

Namte Namte

Director: Rana Basu
Writer: Aditi Majumdar
Cast: Rajatava Dutta, Roopa Ganguly, Saswata Chatterjee, Bhaswar Chattopadhyay, Sanchita Ganguly, Kharaj Mukherjee, Gourav Pandey
Runtime: 124 Minutes
Strength: Acting
Weakness: Confusion in mainstream and commercial approach
Showbiz rating: 2/5
Plot: The film revolves around a typical middle-class family of Bengal. Rajatava Dutta is a very meek guy and is scared of confronting people. His wife, Rupa Ganguly is however a spirited woman and remains tense about him and her family. To get rid of their daily ordeal, Rajatava Dutta asks for help from a small-time goon Saswata Chatterjee, who in return takes advantage of Rajatava Dutta and his family.
Review: Rana Basu debuts as a director in Namte Namte. The story is based on author Dibyendu Palit's story Traata.
The story line very much relates to many middle class families of current Bangladesh urban society. An adaptation from book-to-film and gathering excellent and proven actors for his debut film, the director overall deserves a pat on his back for his first try as a director. Acting is the only strength of the film. A star cast, including Saswata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta and Rupa Ganguly makes the simple storyline worth a look. Other aspects of the movie are nothing extraordinary. Possibly it was intended by the director so the viewer only concentrates on the main theme of the story. The story is very much black and white; where good guys too good and the bad guys are just plain old villains. The main purpose of the movie is to evoke sympathy for a family and hatred for the goons who torment the family. If it was the main purpose, the director is successful on invoking rage and sympathy. It loses points for not trying to explore any other dimension in the characters.

Reviewed by Zia Nazmul Islam

***

Satyagraha

Director: Prakash Jha
Writer: Prakash Jha & Anjum Rajabali
Cast:  Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpai
Runtime: 119 Minutes
Strength: Star ensemble cast, strong acting
Weakness: Too many strong actors fight for their presence on screen, weak storytelling
Showbiz rating: 3/5
Plot: Satyagraha is the story of a son who yearns for a father. Of a father, who grieves for his lost son. Of a young woman who fights so hard with life that she has forgotten to love. Of an ambitious rabble-rouser, for whom action is the knee-jerk mantra. It is the story of how these four discover one another, and come together to raise hell, shaking the powers that be to their very roots! But, Satyagraha is also the story of an influential power-hungry despot who will stop at nothing to destroy them.
Review: Satyagraha director Prakash Jha once again raids the headlines, this time turning his gaze on the growing public resentment towards the deep-rooted corruption in the system. Jha borrows liberally from real events and the lives of real people, including famed anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and the Jan Lokpal Andolan he inspired. Jha's heavy-handed direction turns this well-intentioned drama into a plodding sermon. Parakash Jha needed a lot more than a sensitive subject like anti-corruption movement, great actors, and the usual masala. He needed a tense and dark atmosphere and a well synchronized story to make the kind of impact that audience were expecting when they came to see Satyagraha. The movie delves into too many issues and ends up finding no solution for anything. Manoj Bajpayee is outstanding. Amitabh does not miss a beat. Ajay Devgn seems committed but is not at his best. Amrita Rao is average. Kareena Kapoor is a waste of talent in this movie. The romance between her and Ajay Devgn is forced and out of context. In Satyagraha, Jha effectively meshes the urban angst witnessed on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook with the ground realities of India's heartland, but the plot subsequently loses its way. Sadly, the director's storytelling has become so hackneyed that his cinema now merely pays lip service to issues instead of making a stronger statement.

Reviewed by Broti Rahman

***

The Internship

Director: Shawn Levy
Writer: Vince Vaughn & Jared Stern
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Will Ferrel
Runtime: 119 Minutes
Strength: Easy going story with a feel-good effect at the end
Weakness: Repetitive and predictable storyline
Showbiz rating: 2.5/5
 

Plot: Two salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital age find their way into a coveted internship at Google, where they must compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses for a shot at employment.
Review: It's no surprise that Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn have such entertaining chemistry onscreen. We saw it before in "The Wedding Crashers", the gigantic sleeper hit of 2005. But, If you've seen Vince Vaugn and Owen Wilson in other movies you know the way the act doesn't change from one film to the other and this is still the case. It definitely helps if you are a little bit of a fan and like these actors. The film has a little dose of everything centered around the comedy. In conclusion the film is well worth a watch even if you are not a big fan of Vaughn, Wilson and Ferrel. Any cynical review is out of place because this film is lovable. The ending pumps up the suspense in an artificial way, but by that point the real work has already been done. It's not about winning the competition. It never was. Billy and Nick are baffled by much of what they encounter at Google, and both have their challenges. They're only in their forties but they're already being treated as old and irrelevant; it's a new experience, one they are not yet used to.

Reviewed by Mohammad Haque