Udaan

Movie - Udaan (Hindi)
Director - Vikramaditya Motvane
Producer - Ronnie Screwvala, Anurag Kashyap, Sanjay Singh
Cast - Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, Aayan Boradia, Manjot Singh, Anand Tiwari
Music - Amit Trivedi
Cinematography - Mahendra Shetty
Editor - Dipika Karla
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Vikramaditya Motvane, Anurag Kashyap
Lyrics - Amitabh Bhattacharya, Anurag Kashyap
Release Date - 16th July 2010






The poster above shows words ranging from Superman to Lingerie, a boy breaking free and the title, Udaan (meaning 'flight'). Which is exactly what we get while watching Udaan, a gritty, realistic and inspiring account of a young boy coming into his own and finally flying towards achieving his dreams. The previous such movie from Hindi, Wake Up Sid, was a rich guy's  coming of age movie, which I thought was really good, looks shallow and overrated now, after seeing Udaan. Udaan is the first Indian film in 7 years to be selected to the competition category of the Cannes film festival, and it totally justifies its nomination. And with the name Anurag Kashyap credited as producer and co-writer, fans of sensible Indian cinema have been waiting with bated breath for this movie. 


Synopsis - After being abandoned for eight straight years in boarding school, Rohan returns to the small industrial town of Jamshedpur and finds himself closeted with an authoritarian father and a younger half brother who he didn’t even know existed. Forced to work in his father’s steel factory and study engineering against his wishes, he tries to forge his own life out of his given circumstances and pursue his dream of being a writer.

Vikramaditya Motvane makes an explosive debut as a writer-director and makes sure that each and everyone sits up and takes notice of him. Vikramaditya is a protege of Sanjay Leela Bhansali (HDDCS and Devdas) and also one among the writers of the path-breaking Dev.D. (Interesting that he has worked on both Devdas and Dev.D) Here, he takes the simplest of plots and narrates it with many predictable events, but still delivers a brilliant movie. It is the nuances that he brings to each scene that makes the movie a great experience. The film flows seamlessly from one beautifully written scene to the next, each one connecting with the audience in some way or the other. Udaan is about the youth, its about parents, its about the generation gaps, its about frustration, its about rebellion, about breaking free, about love and the director conveys all these emotions in less than 2.5 hours. The maturity with which he has handled relationships in the movie should be reference material to many other filmmakers. Be it Rohan's relationship with his father, or his friends, his uncle and finally with his 6 year old stepbrother, everything is so real and convincing, that it is hard to believe that we are watching a film. 

Rajat Barmecha can give all our young superstars a run for their money with his acting skills. He resembles Imran Khan a little in his looks, but is a far more superior actor than Imran. He plays the dreamy-eyed, rebellious Rohan to perfection. He carries the entire film on his young and able shoulder. Ronit Roy is a revelation. The actor who used to act in silly television soaps gives an extraordinary performance as the part-rakshas, part-human father to Rohan and Arjun. He succeeds in making the audience absolutely hate him, yet understand him at points, which means that his performance was bang on. Ram Kapoor, another TV actor as Rohan's chacha was again brilliant, with the right amount of underplay in his performance. He resembles Anurag Kashyap a lot in his looks. For a while, I was thinking if Anurag was the one who was acting in that role. Aayan Boradia, the child who plays Rohan's kid brother Arjun is the cutest thing to have appeared on screen in a long while. And kudos to Vikramaditya for his perfect casting and extracting an endearing performance out of the child. Manjot Singh, the stud surd from Oye Lucky!! Lucky Oye!! comes in a very short role but makes his presence felt throughout the movie. He was as usual, bindaas!! The rest of the cast were also extremely natural and ably supported the main cast. 


Picking the best scenes from the movie is a tough job and it is better that the audience enjoys those scenes as they come in the movie, rather than already being aware of them through this review or any other reviews. There are some brilliant dialogues written which are both realistic and cinematic at the same time. And it is the small small things in each scene that makes Udaan work big time. And dont go with an opinion that this would be a dull drama between a father and son, Udaan has plenty of humorous moments which will make you laugh out loud. The interesting fact is that there are only 2 female characters in the film - Rohan's aunt and his dad's new girlfriend. But both of them hardly appear in more than a scene. Apart from that, there is a fat lady running in a swimsuit on the beach in Kanti Shah Ke Angoor, the adult film that Rohan and friends watch in a local theater. There is no romantic angle, because it simply aint a love story. And a million thanks to the director for not trying to squeeze in a love story for the sake of having one, like every other Hindi film. 

Mahendra Shetty's cinematography is certainly one of the best things about the film. He has framed the movie in such a way that the audience is also a part of Rohan's claustrophobic life. And the outdoor shots are a sheer joy to watch. Amit Trivedi's music speaks for the characters almost as much as the dialogues of the movie do. He has come up with yet another fantastic soundtrack which has enhanced the narrative like anything. The songs 'Kahani Khatam Hai' and 'Aazadiyaan' are the picks of the lot. Amitabh Bhattacharya has also contributed a lot through his inspiring lyrics. Rohan's poems in the movie are absolute gems, especially the one he recites to his dad at a park. Dipika Karla's editing was perfect for the movie. 


Udaan is sensitive, intelligent, inspiring and poignant. Vikramaditya Motvane in his debut has been absolutely true to his heart and has made a brave film without any compromises, proving that he is a craftsman to look out for. The Cannes nomination is just a beginning. This film is bound to go places and has the emotional quotient to connect with each and every person who watches the film. Easily the best Hindi film of the year so far. 

So its time for boys/guys to get all emotional and moist-eyed inside the darkness of the theatre once again after Taare Zameen Par. Udaan is certainly a must watch coming of age film, and it would be a grave loss if any of us miss it. It makes you laugh, it pulls at your heartstrings, it gets you inspired and in the end, leaves you in high spirits!!

Rating - 4.5/5

I Hate Luv Storys

Movie - I Hate Luv Storys (Hindi)

Director - Punit Malhotra

Producer - Karan Johar, Ronnie Screwvala

Cast - Imran Khan, Sonam A Kapoor, Samir Dattani, Samir Soni, Kavin Dave, Bruna Abdullah

Music - Vishal/Shekhar

Cinematography - Ayananka Bose

Background Score - Salim-Sulaiman

Editor - Akiv Ali

Costumes - Manish Malhotra

Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Punit Malhotra

Release Date - 2nd July 2010

IHLS starts off by showing us clips of some of the best love stories we've seen on the Indian screen - DDLJ, DCH and Hum Tum (though it wasnt anywhere near the first two films, and why didnt they show any Salman Khan movie clip?? :P ) with a narration by the film's 'hero' Jay (Imran Khan) on why he hates those love stories, which is immediately followed by a narration by the 'heroine' Simran (Sonam Kapoor) on why she loves them. With that kind of a beginning, we are almost sure of what will be happening throughout the film, and we get exactly that. Fights, Friendship, Love, Duet in foreign country, Break-Up, Airport, Reunion, everything is there in this movie as well in more or less the same order, and the best part is that the movie acknowledges and makes fun of these formulas while making use of them. Lets get to the review now. 

Jay Dhingra (Imran Khan) is the usual romantic film hero, who doesnt believe in love, until it happens to him one fine morning (or night, like in this one). Simran (Sonam Kapoor) is the hopelessly romantic filmy ladki who already has her Raj (Sameer Dattani), as her fiancee. Jay is an Assistant Director and Simran is an art director and they both get to work on the same film, directed by celebrated romantic movie director Vir (Samir Soni). A great relationship forms between Jay and Simran even before they could know it. And after some 'idhar udhar ki baatein, wagera wagera', the same old things happen here as well, only that it is presented in an entertaining way. 

I dunno whats with filmmakers these days making love stories of Assistant Directors!! There was Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya earlier this year, then came a lil known movie Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai with Riteish Deshmukh and almost the same storyline (with an alien thrown in). As I've worked as one myself, I know that assistant directors have hardly any time to romance around on the sets. (:P) Leaving that logic apart, a romantic film's set certainly was a great place to set this story and it works very well to carry the movie forward. The director Punit has gone the Farah Khan way by making fun of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his own producer Karan Johar, not one, but several times, throughout the length of the movie. And when a situation pops up just like an earlier movie, the director's not ashamed to acknowledge the original one with the right amount of cheekyness. But he loses grip in the second half, when the screenplay stretches much beyond how it shud be, and becomes as cliched as any other love story. But even in between those cliched scenes, he throws in some nice funny moments, which prevents the viewer from dozing off. Punit certainly shows some promise and hopefully will turn out to be a good director if he gets tighter scripts. 

Coming to the performances, the lead pair has some crackling chemistry and that has helped the film majorly, making us forget about the plot-holes at least to a certain extent. Imran gives a new definition to cool, but the way he plays it reminds you of Saif Ali Khan and Aamir Khan many a times. After disappointing us in Kidnap and Luck, Imran is back to his comfort zone and charms the audience with his casual and natural performance. It is hard not to like Imran Khan in this film. But when it comes to emotional scenes, he is a huge let down. Jay's character is liberally borrowed from Akash of Dil Chahta Hai played by Imran's mamujaan. And they have even ripped off that famous scene where Akash breaks down over the phone to his parents, which has been done very badly in IHLS. Imran needs to go a long way before he can even be compared to his maamu. But those scenes are few and far in between, and Imran manages to excel in almost all the other scenes. 

Sonam Kapoor is being touted as the new diva and she makes perfect use of that status. A combination of being cute and sexy at the same time, Sonam shines in a tailor-made role through which she showcases her acting skills, something which she couldnt do in her earlier films Delhi-6 and Saawariya. She looks like a dream in Manish Malhotra's costumes during the duet song in New Zealand. I didnt mind the movie getting dragged in the second half coz I didnt have any complaints watching Sonam even longer than I would otherwise. The two of them are an amazing on-screen couple who share an excellent chemistry (maybe after Ranbir and Katrina in Ajab Prem Ki...) and the movie works only because of these two people. 

The supporting cast doesnt really have much to do. Samir Dattani and Bruna Abdullah appear in stereotypical roles, and evoke some laughs here and there. But yea, Bruna Abdullah is super-hot!! The Sprite guy Kavin Dave is excellent, especially in the second half, and lifts the film whenever he appears. That guy sure is promising. The fat young girl from Wake Up Sid (dont remember her name) is there as well. She was fabulous in that movie, but does not get much scope in this one. Samir Soni as a combination of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar is excellent. The Gabbar Singh security guard was good as well. 

The film has a chartbuster soundtrack by Vishal and Shekhar who are back in form after a long time. Each song is great in its own way, my favourite being the unplugged version of the sad song 'Bin Tere'. 'Bahara', a wonderful track by Shreya Ghoshal spoofs Karan's and Bhansali's films complete with sets and costumes. 'Sadka Kiya' is more like a tribute to Yash Raj's love stories and their songs shot abroad. 'Jab Mila Tu' is  very cute and establishes the lead pair's relationship very well. Background Score by Salim-Sulaiman picking up apt Bollywood tunes for each situation is smart, to say the least. Loved the use of the tune from 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' during a funny sequence in the movie. 

Ayananka Bose excels yet again with his slick and stylish frames and lighting, even though all the jazz and eye candy that you usually see in all Dharma and Yash Raj films are still there. The art direction team has also done a great job, especially with the sets for the movie that Vir is directing (in this movie). Manish Malhotra's costumes are like another star in the movie. He makes the actors look their best through some fab costumes. Imran's tees are damn cool. (where do i get stuff like that) and Sonam looks hot and beautiful according to the situations. Editor Akiv Ali has done a good job and there were some really cool cuts in the film, but he could have done a better job with the second half. 

On the whole, I Hate Luv Storys begins by making fun of all the cliches and formulas in our love stories and ends up falling prey for the same cliches and formulas. But I think, that was the whole point of the movie, where a cool guy who doesnt believe in Bollywood love stories goes through the same stuff that happens in any such film to get his true love. (I'm sounding like the dialogue writer of this movie here :P). The movie's time-pass, at least for the fantastic chemistry and acting of Imran and Sonam, some genuinely funny moments and some great visuals. On the whole, it is just like any other love story, but the only difference is that Raj doesnt get Simran here, Jay does. Wonder what Veeru Paaji must be up to?

Rating - 3/5