HAPPY JOURNEY: Love Goes for a Spin!

 

Happy Journey is one of those little gems whose scenes one likes to allow our imagination to revisit again and again... A haunting tale whose value slowly permeates the viewer's consciousness for days, weeks or years to come.

Sachin Kundalkar's film in Marathi explores the life of Niranjan (Atul Kulkarni), whose childhood is filled with a constant outpour of innocent and pure love for his newborn little sister Janaki (Priya Bapat). Time goes by and just as he is growing up and discovering the joys of his first teenage romance, Niranjan's sentimentally rich journey is brutally truncated when his parents suddenly send him off to Dubai to earn money for his family. The result is a growing feeling of abandonment that makes Niranjan a hurt and detached young man who gets easily exasperated with his family obligations. It is this angry man who comes back to his hometown when the family is faced with difficult times. Once in India, his charming sister Janaki (Priya Bapat) will take him on a fantastic trip that will ignite an inner discovery.

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Pink Power: QUEEN, GULAAB GANG and GULABI GANG

At a moment at which the limelight is turning towards women empowerment and women struggles in the media (see this week's post on celebrating brave women on Indian television), cinema takes part in this offering through documentaries and what this blogger would call "chick flicks with a bang". Whether it is in the form of Kangna Ranaut's layered big screen entertainer Queen, Nishtha Jain's serious documentary Gulabi Gang or it's Bollywood counterpart Gulaab Gang (starring divas Juhi Chawla and Madhuri Dixit), women are at the center of the discussion table as International Women's Day approaches.

Which of these films might be more effective as entertainment while also being socially inspiring? If we had only one film to pick this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day, which would we recommend? Let us briefly gloss through each plot and trailer.
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GATTU Review: A Child Conquers the Sky

When a movie without special effects, exotic locations, huge stars and song and dance sequences is released, it tends to be classified in the art film category and is immediately slotted for an intellectual or purely regional audience. Gattu breaks the mould and brings us not only Indian entertainment but also simple and meaningful cinema.

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DEV ANAND's HUM DONO: A Walk in the Clouds

Hindi cinema today has its set of glories. Current producers, directors and even stars have nevertheless grown up and nourished their creativity on yesteryear’s Hindi films. The likes of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Bharat Bhushan and of course Dev Anand defined what cinema was to become and what a son, a husband, a lover and simply a man was all about. Likewise, Nargis, Madhubala or Nutan incarnated the ideal of feminity on the silver screen for generations.

In a renewed effort to bring back the glory days of Indian cinema in all its splendour to audiences today, ‘Hum Dono’ has been released in its colour (rangeen) version at multiplexes throughout the country and abroad.

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