Hindi Medium - A sad kind of funny!

This is how it starts. There's a beautiful and soaking romantic Atif Aslam song playing in the introduction, where you see this young, blossoming but potentially unlikely love story where a tailor's son harmlessly (it is always harmless at least in the movies) stalking a customer he's fallen for. The credits roll lazily as you listen to this lovely song and watch him pursue her, without saying a word, becoming the rickshaw wallah, hiding behind the bangle seller, doing what not on the crowded lanes of Chandni Chowk  just to get a glimpse of her. And suddenly, you cut to Raj Batra's garment store in the same area where you see Irrfan teach his staff how to sell better to stereotypical Punjabi aunties and their spoilt daughters - in this case the adorable Mallika Dua. But from this point till the end of the movie, I continued to feel sad that this love story wasn't fleshed out enough though the movie does what it should do in the topic of education which is its primary purpose. I felt so sad, that a week after watching the movie, I'm still tempted to write about it to start cribbing with this very part. While the love story only serves to establish the premise that Raj Batra dotes on his wife and will do anything for her - a theory time and again tested and proven throughout the movie. If you've found a husband like Raj Batra, its likely you've lucked out and you can't complain.

Hindi Medium is about Raj Batra (Irrfan Khan) and his wife Mita (Saba Qamar) who do everything they can (quite literally) to enrol their child in an English medium school. They stand in lines for forms, hire consultants, think of offering bribes, eventually "become poor" to be able to enrol in the Right to Education (RTE) quota. The circumstances they choose to live in to prove their RTE eligible status is where they cross paths with Deepak Dobriyal and his family. As every movie Deepak has been with, he brings a new life to the movie and this one by now is sagging and the popcorn is getting over. The situations with him and his family prompt Irrfan Khan to disclose the truth to the Principal (Amrita Singh) who as annoying as any red tapeist is more than happy she can move someone from RTE to general and earn that extra buck. Amrita plays her annoying but thankfully short cameo well enough, in the end. Finally, the couple decide to send their child to the Government school which they have refurnished and sponsored to fix, to absolve themselves of the guilt they acquire from the Deepak Dobriyal situation.

The goods - Hindi medium tackles a topic which could have been incredibly serious and depressing, yet uses humor to bring out the worst in every situation. I would imagine it can't be entirely fictional, so it is a bit sad that the movie manages to bring out the flaws in our system and one might cringe when they're reminded of a family member or friend from what they see onscreen. It addresses a topic everyone knows and deals with but doesn’t want to talk about. It addresses how our country is hypocritical when we berate our own for not being able to speak correct English, but how we find it endearing when a Frenchman struggles with English in his own pronunciation. Though it overdoes the phrase "tumhe spelling bhi aati hai?" with Meeta asking Raj Batra time and again, it reminds you how we judge people for misspelling or misspeaking something in English. Grammar Nazis, please be prepared to feel a bit guilty and less vain.

Irrfan Khan is par excellence in every scene he is in. He's hilarious with every line he has and yet seems so natural in a very relatable way. You can almost be the guy who goes nuts dancing when Sukhbir's Oh ho ho ho plays, you can almost be the guy who gets admonished by his wife for kicking her at night, be the guy who lies to his wife saying I'm on the way when he hasn't left. There's a lot of natural elements at play in the movie, which work for it more than any other movie on such a topic.

There are some things which don't work - Firstly, how a well to do family who can afford a bungalow in  Vasant Vihar at the drop of a hat, uproots their living in days to go to a chawl is a bit beyond me - But I guess that's shoved in to show how desperate this family is for an admission, especially since their store employee gets admission in the same school they're giving tooth and nail to get. Mita's OCD for cleanliness shown in her first scene does nothing for the rest of the movie except add to her crazy quotient every time she takes a small potential issue and makes it end with Pia taking drugs and getting depressed. Plus, with Irrfan Khan being his level of awesome, Mita should've been played by someone who has more than one emotion. You don't feel for her, you don't relate much to her except her desire to enrol her child in an English Medium school. Amrita Singh's logic for being money minded and commercial don't work - she claims to have come from very modest beginnings but now feels a sense of power when rich parents who bullied her as a child are at her mercy for admissions. It’s a bit insane.

The story gets more overbearing towards the end with one too many emotional drippings (Dobriyal faking an accident to extort money, Ration collection and water filling fiascos, etc). In particular the song where Raj Batra tries to prove that Government school children are incredibly talented completely defies logic - How do those kids get there in a zap, how do they seamlessly perform with the elite school kids is a mystery to me.

If 30 odd minutes shorter, it is however much less flawed. It still remains the kind of movie you want to see because you'll laugh your gut out, but you realize you must see to understand the state of education even amongst the affluent lot in India. Release wise it competes with something as trashy as Half Girlfriend, which still gathered more than deserved moolah at the box office so it’s a good thing that Hindi Medium has been made tax-free in Maharashtra, something the other states should do as well. Go, definitely watch if you have time to spare and need some laughter therapy!

Nah, still doesn't explain why you killed Baahubali, Katappa!

Being big fans of Baahubali, the Beginning, no surprise that we were waiting for the release of Part 2, The Conclusion. I still remember walking out of the theatre two years ago and telling the Mister that we will be back to see Part 2 on the first day of the release. Well, that didn't happen and I spent day 1 deleting all the spoilers on Whatsapp (thanks by the way) during my time on vacation but nevertheless, we made it the first weekend we were back. As spectacular as Part 1 was, I went in expecting so much from Part 2 that I think I spoilt it for myself a bit. If I absolve myself of that, I still think I came back from a feature film which was a mishmash of Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi Baahu thi meets Game of Thrones meets Mahabharat in parts and somewhere there's a smattering of a bad Bollywood comedy - All this despite the movie being a treat for the eyes visually, given the sometimes over the top VFX. So, here's some thoughts:

Characters

While Amarendra Baahubali is a beautifully fleshed out character - He is just, fair, kind-hearted, giving, helpful, all that while looking like a million bucks; Shivagami came across a bit messed up - Lets rewind to the same fearless lady breastfeeding hers and another's child as her own, while presiding in court; she's the same lady who instituted Baahubali over the less kind Bhallal as king though the results of that contest were different. In this part, she lets her ego and her anger get the better of her. She behaves like a sore mother in law when Baahu wants to marry Devasena against her wishes and pretty much in every exchange involving the three of them afterwards. The only thing missing was a "Ladka humare haath se nikhal gaya "dialogue. I wish you were the same awesome Part 1 Shivagami in this one too! 

 

Devasena, the indomitable and absolutely impressive warrior princess, who knows how to sing, use a sword with the same oomph (Recall. -Jodha Akbar), sometimes comes across as a petulant child looking for trouble. While I admire how she gives it back to Shivagami (You go girl!), sometimes she's just unnecessarily aggressive making already broken matters worse. To top it all, it amazes me how someone with this unbreakable spirit throughout the movie agrees to be meekly subdued and serve as a slave in chains till her son (who she saw drown minutes after giving birth to him) comes back. Appreciate the optimism but how did she make no effort to run, to check on her son or rescue him - Its honestly mind boggling. 

Then there is Katappa - the mean but not lean warrior leader who was revered and feared amongst the ranks but we knew he had a softer side, especially for Baahubali the young prince. But, watching him behave like Kader Khan trying to help Govinda woo his heroine in the first half cracking painfully silly jokes is a let down. Towards the second half, how he agrees to do something against his conscience again doesn't allow you to feel for him. His allegiance to the regency is known but not seen as strongly as his loyalty to Baahu - Discarding that for royal duty in a scene I didn't fully comprehend was just very sad. 

Bhallaladeva - the antagonist. He has more lines, more dialogue, makes more sense, more every thing in part 1. In this, he is, a caricature of Duryodhan from Mahabharat ever listening to his scheming mentor (here also his father), not close to spewing enough venom and not looking half as much as the villain you so much want him to be. There was a brotherhood, some semblance of dialogue between him and Baahu in Part 1. Here, Nada. Except a monologue scene with a dead Baahu that I didn't quite get. 

The low point for me - A Scene I didn't comprehend or even like

Baahu's death was such a non-event - it is sad. The build up to the defining moment of Part 1 was under-impressive and mediocre at best. Was Katappa really captured for treason when Baahu saved him? If yes, then how did he suddenly want to keep his promise when he was under treason in the first place for breaking it? The only explanation he offered a dying Baahu was "Rajya aadesh" after which Baahu tells him to look after his mother - forgetting all about the wife he sacrificed the kingdom and his family for. Further, how Bhallal appeared at the scene that too alone, is so questionable, given that in the same place a few seconds ago, infiltrators were being fought off.  Was the whole thing a ploy? SSR could've explained better what in hell was going on there especially when this scene is supposed to answer the most popular question for the last two years - Why did Katappa kill Baahubali?

Other things

While the special effects are of course killer - they have some excellent teams bringing in these mysterious lands which seem real, the animals don't seem like clunky CGI, very up there level of VFX in the league of Game of Thrones for me. But, it is sometimes over the top. The ship bringing Baahu and Devasena back to Mahishmati turns into a plane like flying saucer object with horses flying aside it for company as well. The catapult using palm trees idea is ingenious but the multiple times imagery of the shields turning into a small fortified flying object comes across as overdone and bizarre!

I also didn't comprehend the regressiveness with the whole idea of Baahubali thinking his mother will soften towards him if he has a child. Why, when you have creative freedom and you're creating an entirely fictional story in fantasy land, would you want to insert such ancient regressive ideas, is beyond me. That too when you have three such strong women characters - Shivagami (the matriarchal ruler of Mahishmati), Devasena (the warrior princess), Avanthika (the warrior almost princess!). 

Now, to Avanthika - while she's important to part 1 and the whole first half has Shivu chasing behind her, in part 2, she's barely there. In fact when the flashback ends and we cut to the present, you can't even spot her in the frame. Is she so unimportant to the plot? And the rebel army she fights for whose main agenda is to free Devasena - the head seems like the king of the Kunthala desh which is where Devasena was from - But this loose end is never tied up. You're left to do some match the faces and figure this out for yourself.

Nevertheless, Baahubali, as a franchise deserves to be seen. It has two amazing war sequences and just simply to have a movie of that scale with special effects as seamless as any comparable English fantasy movie, with such good looking Brawn in the shape of Prabhas and Rana Daggubatti is truly appreciable. However, Part 1 clearly rules my heart over part 2. Novelty factor aside, I felt it was richer in storyline, fuller in characters and more consistent throughout which I think Part 2 may have sacrificed for the grandeur and effects they received acclaim for in Part 1. I will in the future watch both the movies again but they'll never be watched without Part 1 hogging more viewing time. The franchise will remain one of my favourite movies of all time and I'll be ever proud for a movie like this to come out of India.