the ring 2
Director: Hideo Nakata
Cast: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, David Dorfman, Sissy Spacek
4/10
As the tagline says, fear comes full circle in The Ring 2 ? and kicks off again in slow-replay mode. Life has moved on since the first nightmare of The Ring, Rachel (Naomi Watts) has shifted to a new town with her son Aidan (David Dorfman), but the spooky video tapes still exist and evil Samara still keeps crawling out of her well once in a while.
The horror thrills and frills are still the same ? the water seeping through the floor, Samara’s face hidden behind her long, wet hair ? but are good enough for a few muffled shrieks in the darkened theatre. If there’s a weak link it’s the ambiguous nature of Samara’s ghost ? which changes from a diabolical spirit into a lost kid who sees her mother in Rachel and comes running towards her with her long, rotting arms stretched out. That’s too funny to be spooky and you can hardly call it the perfect mother-daughter reunion.
Satadru Ojha
Arahan
Director: Seung-wan Ryoo
Cast: Seung beom Ryu, So-Yi Yoon
4/10
Much is common between India and Korea, including arrogant politicians, punks and dons. They too have goofy cops, and our hero is one. But where the celluloid Korean hero scores over the Bollywood Khans is that he is brimming with chi, and can do things that would make our fight composers blink.
The story of a bumbling rookie with enormous unrealised chi-power transforming to a martial arts master, Arahan (The Ultimate Power) is essentially a series of battles with hand and sword. Everyone joins in, including the heroine, who leaps across skyscrapers and runs down walls to catch villains while taking toilet breaks in office.
The fights are progressively spectacular and, backed by excellent camerawork and editing, keep the audience popping corn through gaping jaws. In between, the script uses slapstick and humour to hold interest. Good, of course, triumphs over evil.
Sudip Mallik
Raju uncle
Director: Haranath Chakraborty
Cast: Prosenjit, Sayantani Ghosh, Ranjit Mallick, Anamika Saha, Arun Banerjee, Rajesh Sharma, Kanchan Mullick, Dolon Roy
4/10
For Prosenjit fans, who do not want to miss a moment of their hero on screen, the good news is that he doesn’t become invisible like Anil Kapoor in Mr India. Though, like Anil in Mr India and Shammi Kapoor in the much earlier Brahmachari, Prosenjit too gets to sing to sleep orphaned children he has picked up over the years and made a home for. And not just sing, he gets to copy too many things Anil did in Mr India. Which for Prosenjit and Haranath fans, is interesting, actually. For the first time they try to test how their phenomenally successful, combined chemistry clicks when pitched against a genre that moves away from the histrionics they are famous for. And for a change, work with children, instead. And Sayantani, though she doesn’t entirely disappoint in her debut film, one is thankful to Haranath that he doesn’t try to make a Miss Hawa-Hawai out of her. Just not cut out for that.
Deepali Singh
Dwiragaman
Director: Nandu Bhattacharya
Cast: Satabdi Roy, Ravishankar Pande, Dilip Roy, Paran Banerjee, Bhaskar Banerjee, Soma Dey
3.5/10
Reasons to be grateful to Nandu Bhattacharya ? (1) Dwiragaman purposely underplays Tollywood brand action; (2) The soundtrack is, in most parts, unobtrusive and makes no great demand on viewers’ nerves; (3) It casts Satabdi in a meaningful role after Devipaksha, which she ably fleshes out; (4) It accords veterans like Dilip Roy roles which at least do minimal justice to them; Dilip is a sensitively portrayed dadu in the film.
Reasons why our gratitude doesn’t develop into any great liking for the film ? (1) Deja vu is too strong for the originality to break through. A hijacked groom (Ravishankar) rescuing a bride (Satabdi) from being a lagnabhrasta is a theme harking back to the 60s, the Apur Sansar era; (2) Satabdi, a la Debashree in Parabat Priya acts out the pampered child tantrums well, but her man-phobia is neither plausible nor convincing; (3) The emotional souffle goes flat with not-too-crisp dialogues and bland storytelling; (4) Ravishankar is less favoured by the script than by Satabdi in the movie, and choreography is at best pedestrian.
Arnab Bhattacharya
