Pink (2016)

 

Three men rush to a hospital because one is suffering from a serious injury to his head and eye. One of the men says they'll get revenge on those women. Meanwhile, three shaken and upset women are returning to their apartment in a taxi. They have spots of blood on them and we can tell they are the women who the man was talking about.

And we are off and running with one of India's biggest film hits from 2016. Although we're dropped into the middle of the story, we all know that one of these women had to take extreme measures to defend her virtue. 

This is a serious movie about a topic that Americans have had held up to the public eye for decades. But in India, that isn't the case and this movie was made to point out the double standards applied to women and the violence that can ensure.

 As the story continues we see the escalating forms of revenge the men attempt, the helplessness of the women,  predictable keepers of the status quo, and unexpected acts of kindness. Something the girls don't expect is when an old, possibly creepy, neighbor comes to their assistance as their legal counsel. Anyone used to Indian films knows from the beginning this will happen because he is played by acting legend Amitabh Bachchan. Of course he's the lawyer. 

However, the story really belongs to the young women and it is artfully and sensitively shown through small vignettes as they must come to terms with the relentless siege they suffer and their limited ability to fight for their voices to be heard. Indian films are usually very good about inferring sensitive topics rather than showing them and this does a good job at that.

We avoided this for some time because, as Americans, we've seen this sort of story told many times and I also don't like movies with victimization. However, it was a very good film in its own right, well told, and a fascinating look inside Indian society at a condition that their films are now exposing to the light of day.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!) 

Hannah and Rose discuss Pink in episode 53 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

Piku

Piku juggles her life as a successful architect and caring for her 70-year old hypochondriac father. When they take a road trip from Delhi to Calcutta, the owner of the local cab company has no choice but to drive them personally since none of his drivers are willing to endure Piku or her eccentric father. This crazy road trip reveals much more than a cure for the father's obsessive search for a good "motion" in the bathroom.

I wasn't sure about this one but the universal rave reviews made us give it a try. And they were right. Practically perfect in every way, this movie must have resonated deeply with Indian audiences whose cultural reverence for their elders must often put them in such fixes as we see Piku struggling with. Heck, it resonated with us, even though we probably didn't understand all the nuances of the family interactions.

Excellent acting all round, especially from Irrfan as the taxi driver who does more with a silence or simple glance than most actors do with their whole body. I was afraid Amitabh Bachchan would pull a Jack Nicholson and just play a broad version of himself. But no worries. He is simply fantastic as the elderly father obsessed with a particular aspect of his health. The way the big Indian family is portrayed is also pitch perfect to anyone who's ever been part of one.

No song and dance numbers because, really, how can you build a good number around constipation?

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Sholay — A Curry Western

A retired policeman in a small village summons a pair of small-time thieves that he had once arrested. He feels that the duo — Veeru and Jai — would be ideal to help him capture Gabbar Singh, a bandit wanted by the authorities dead or alive for a big reward. The policeman will pay an additional award if they surrender Gabbar to him alive.

Veeru and Jai grow fond of the villagers. Veeru is attracted to Basanti, a feisty, talkative young woman. Jai is drawn to Radha, the policeman's reclusive, widowed daughter-in-law.

Eventually, several skirmishes leads to big show-down comes with the bandits and the chance for Veeru and Jai to show what they're really made of.

Based on Wikipedia description

I've known about spaghetti Westerns for a long time, of course, but had never heard of a curry Western until I watched the most famous one ever made — Sholay (Embers).

This was set in the time in which it was made, 1975, but it still feels authentically Western. Rural India was fairly undeveloped technologically so there's the juxtaposition of a modern policeman, motorcycles, and denim caps with horse-mounted bandits, steam locomotives, and the simple village life. That setting totally works. You can identify elements of the source materials but the plot is still distinctively Indian and goes its own way, as is so often the case in these adaptations.

As an interpretation of The Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven, and Once Upon a Time in the West, this was perfect in so many ways. Yet being a meandering 3-1/2 hour film simultaneously makes it imperfect, at least by Western standards. It surely would have benefited from a tighter screenplay, but then it wouldn't have been a 1975 Indian film. So it is what it is.

I am now on the Amitabh Bachchan train and understand why so many people liked his acting. I'd only seen him in Amar Akbar Anthony which is a screwball comedy with a crazy plot that I wasn't a fan of, although I could see why it was an iconic film. In this, however, there was none of the over-the-top acting which is the Bollywood standard. He was very natural and totally cool. I could watch Jai all day.

I am sure that some of the other elements I loved are equally iconic:

• the coin flips
• the opening with a bandit gang mounted on horses trying to rob a Western-style steam train
• Basanti's dance to save Veeru
• the Holi celebration of colors
• the vicious villain Gabbar
• the first song with Jai and Veeru celebrating their bromance on a motorcycle with sidecar while one plays a harmonica. Good times.

I can see why this film has had such staying power.

Rating — for advanced viewers. (You've got to be willing to let this one wash over you, enjoying the ride for what it is ... and that means you've got to have seen enough other Indian movies to not worry about some dead space or romantic side trips. After all, how else are you going to see a musical Western with a Hindi celebration of colors?)