MOVIE REVIEW 'Eklavya: The Royal Guard' Vidhu Vinod Chopra's propulsive 'Eklavya: The Royal Guard' has epic sweep.
- By John Anderson Special to The Times February 16, 2007
Maybe it's the trains.Maybe it's the camels.Maybe it's the intermission. No matter: Something about "Eklavya: The Royal Guard" suggests a lost film by David Lean.With some muted echoes of "Hamlet." And a whiff of "Rigoletto."
Like so many Indian movies that make their way to Los Angeles, "Eklavya" - based on the low-caste warrior hero of "The Mahabharata" - is a movie masala.Unlike so many, thisstirring dramatic feature by Kashmiri director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, his first in seven years, marries its varied elements - in this case modernity and classicism,current-day India and its feudal past, contemporary corruption and blood tradition - in a coherent and propulsive fashion.There may be songs,but they are not sung by kohl-eyed virgins in rainstorms; there may be excess, but "camp" is thelast thing one would call "Eklavya." Something is rotten in Devigarh, an ancient Shangri-La of royal pretense, where the aging but still lethal Eklavya (Bollywood vet Amitabh Bachchan) protects the all-but-powerless king (Boman Irani). When the queen (Sharmila Tagore) calls out on her deathbed for Eklavya, the jealous sovereign strangles her, unleashing a tempest that will bring the brooding prince, Harshwardhan (Saif Ali Khan), home from London, and a whole world tumbling down. Chopra and co-writer Abhijit Joshi's portrayal of characters according to sex or caste is a bit dubious. Harsh's Ophelia-like twin, Nandini (Raima Sen), is more silly than disturbed; Rajjo (Vidya Balan) is Harsh's Sabrina (she's even the chauffeur's daughter). And the "untouchable" policeman, Pannalal (Sanjay Dutt), is simply a goofball. Harsh himself might have seemed the more obvious choice of protagonist in this melodrama of honor and revenge, but it is Eklavya who provides the far more potent and complex hero. He is faced with an insurmountable dilemma: Whether to honor the code of the royal guard or spare the life of his son. Chopra and his cinematographer, Nataraja Subramanian, create startling images that are used for seduction or, just as often, alarm: The shift in energy and rhythms and the velocity of the action keep the viewer off balance yet always in the flow of the story. There are dry spots, but Chopra is aspiring to epic cinema, both in his themes and his visuals, and most of the time it works. And, yes, there really is an intermission, just in case one needs to catch one's breath.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Lage Raho stuns Cannes
Mumbai 21st May, 07:
Lage Raho Munnabhai is still winning hearts across the globe. A packed screening on the 19th with the director Rajkumar Hirani present, the film was a huge hit with the entire the entire audiences. Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and director Rajkumar Hirani were in Cannes for the screening but producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had to return just before the screening as his mother took ill.
The screening of the movie at the Festival saw people sitting on the aisles as the theatre was completely packed. The film was screened in the ‘Les Cinemas du Monde' section which screened the best of world cinema on 19th of May 07. The 200 seater theatre was packed to capacity and had 80% of White audiences. There was also a big group of French students and clapped till the credits were finished.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya will be showcased at Cannes in the same section on the 24th of May
Lage Raho Munnabhai is still winning hearts across the globe. A packed screening on the 19th with the director Rajkumar Hirani present, the film was a huge hit with the entire the entire audiences. Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and director Rajkumar Hirani were in Cannes for the screening but producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had to return just before the screening as his mother took ill.
The screening of the movie at the Festival saw people sitting on the aisles as the theatre was completely packed. The film was screened in the ‘Les Cinemas du Monde' section which screened the best of world cinema on 19th of May 07. The 200 seater theatre was packed to capacity and had 80% of White audiences. There was also a big group of French students and clapped till the credits were finished.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya will be showcased at Cannes in the same section on the 24th of May
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Lage Raho Munnabhai & Eklavya at Cannes this year
After having got several prestigious awards and appreciation by the audiences and the industry, Lage Raho Munnabhai will now be showcased at Cannes this year. The film will be screened in the ‘Les Cinemas du Monde' section which screens the best of world cinema on 19th of May 07.
Inaugurated by the Festival de Cannes in 2005, the ambition of 'Tous les Cinemas du Monde' section is to illustrate the vitality and diversity of cinema throughout the world, the dynamism of its young creative talent and the involvement of its institutions in promoting international cinema.
Along with Lage Raho, Vinod’s own directorial film EKLAVYA will also screened at Cannes on the 24th of May. The film is being screened in the market section.
Eklavya is all set for an art house release in the US this summer.
Inaugurated by the Festival de Cannes in 2005, the ambition of 'Tous les Cinemas du Monde' section is to illustrate the vitality and diversity of cinema throughout the world, the dynamism of its young creative talent and the involvement of its institutions in promoting international cinema.
Along with Lage Raho, Vinod’s own directorial film EKLAVYA will also screened at Cannes on the 24th of May. The film is being screened in the market section.
Eklavya is all set for an art house release in the US this summer.
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