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from unwanted elementsbeginningwith a globalarms kingpin, forms thecrux of this two-hour plus flm.

This is a film which exudes an aura of intrigueandbeing much-anticipated, onegoes in with a lot of expectations. But alas, the first half which starts with a fair amount of promise and an emotional quotient, degenerates into a mindless action film which fails to grip you and drags. Theweak and far-fetched plot meanders aimlessly, hinged on a weak motive both of the protagonist, Shabana as well as the intelligence group she works for.

The action scenes are expectedly well-choreographed and executed, but lack freshness as these offer nothing new. The foreign locales too don't help in elevating the film. The characters, perhaps with theexception of Shabana, whose back story is sharedto make her look complete, are all one-dimensional and appear out of nowhere. The dialogues are trite and lack punch.

Naam Shabana

STARRING: Manoj Bajpayee, Taapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher,Taher Shabbir

DIRECTOR: AShivam Nair

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Naam Shabana, a spin-off from the 2015 popular film Baby, is purported

Anaarkali Of Aarah

STARRING: Swara Bhaskar, Sanjai Mshra, Pankaj Tripathi, lshteyak Khan

DIRECTOR: Avinash Das

Nothing in this unexpectedstorm-trooper of a film has prepared you for its hig� velocity energy and ferventstatement on femalesexuality. Without exaggeration, AnaarkaliOfAarah(AOA)is thesurprise of the season.

It is stunning in thought, spellbinding in plot and utterly gripping in theway thestory of a small-town dancer-singer's adventures in lecher-land unfolds. AOA is many things at thesame time. It is a shimmeringsun-soaked mirror of small-town values wherein everysneeze or fart is noted and evaluated across the communities. And yetthestory of Anaarkali (Swara Bhaskar, spectacular) is also thestory of everywoman, urban or rural.

Lady,you may belong to Aarah or Arizona, therewill always be men who feel they'vethe birthright to own your body as and whentheywish.

So, here's thesimmering provocative scenario.Anaarkali,thesmall-town hottie who makes every guy in town horny, is on stage giving robust voiceandbody to her raunchy songs - yes, she does dirty dancing for a livingandenjoysherjob as much asSwara enjoysactingand I enjoy writing - whenthetown's prime educational institution'sViceChancellor (Sanjai Mishra) decides to take the 'Vice' too seriously.

He jumps on stage to molest the to be an action thriller whereShabana Khan (Taapsee Pannu)is a middle-class girl who lives with her mother and has a devoted boyfriend, college mate Jai (Taher Shabbir).

An incident onenight convinces her to put her martial arts training to use andshechooses to follow an uncharted path thereon. How she joins an intelligence group to save her country dancer, as her performing partner (playedwith poignant panache by Pankaj Tripathi) watches in muted horror. All hell breaks loose thereafter. While the lechersof Aarah seethe in anti-climactic rage, Anaarkali gives them a long rope to hang themselves with.

In onesequence,Swara strides, lookingcrushed,into thevice-ridden Chancellor's den only to make him look ridiculous at theendof it.And at the end her dance of defiance and exposureshe is so volatile and so deliciously over-thetopI foundmyselfjumping out of my seat to congratulateSwara.

No walkover, ourAnaarkali takes on the academic lout with such vigour andstrength that you will find yourself cheering and clapping for this femalehero of these times ofsexual ambivalencewhen menin positions of power misuse theirstrength to subjugate women in workplaces.

This is a sublime flm about the dignity of labour narrated with a raunchy rigour that is often appealing at times exasperating.

Swara Bhaskar hits all the right notes in the shrillest of scenes, bringing out the feisty Bihari woman's inner strength and an extremely appealing moral grounding evenwhen confronted by the demons of her disreputable profession. There are scenes where Swara is required to push aside all her inhibitions, even her innate feminine grace, to appear predatory in her aggression. To her credit Swara sidesteps sleaziness even whensheis required tosingandshakeher booty to

The film isTaapsee's canvas all the way and one must laud her martial arts prowess and hard work which shines in the action sequences. Her feisty persona and agility are praiseworthy. But that is where it ends. She fails to make an impact when she emotes and thescene during her childhood, when shewitnesses her parents f ght, is particularly tacky and unconvincing. lyrics that would make Yo Yo HoneySingh blush.

But there is a certain grace and dignity to the double meaning thrown out of the erotic dancer's pelvis thrusts,likefire leaping into thesky. Swara dances to these ribald lyrics with such familiarity and trust, you won't notice the sexuality in her thrust.You willsee the thirst and dare I say, the innocence, the determinationto remain an artiste evenwhen pushed so much against thewall that her body is stiffened and stymied by social order wheremen have the right to 'own' womens physicality.

Inthisnimbly-written ode to feminine grace, a cheesy dancer who probably moonlights as prostitutetellsthe predatory manwhere to get off. It kicks where it hurts the most andits doesso without the flourish of schisms. It is a terrific premisefor a post-feminist film. Writer-Director Avinash Das doesn't focus on remaining fashionable about women's empowerment.

Thesmell, the feel, the favour and the emotions of thestif ingly patriarchal small-town is so palpable, you areswept into the vortex of the film's vibrant vista. Fullmarksto thefilm's cinematographer Arvind Kannabiran for making Aarah andAnarkali seem wedded to one another, and of course Rohit Kumar's authentic folk songs they add so much

Prithviraj Sukumaran as the arms dealer Mikhail aka Tony, has a strong screen presence and portrays his character with conviction.

A melee of good actors appear for no real reason at all and naturally fail to impress owing to the poor script and characterisation. Anupam Kher and DannyDenzongpa in a miniscule role, arewasted.

EvenAkshay Kumar's presence as fellow agent. Ajay seems forced and uncalledfor. Manoj Bajpayee, as the mysterious 'Sir' with no name, who tracks and appoints Shabana has nothing much to offer by way of histrionics and neither does he appear comfortable in the skin of his character, merely mouthing patriotic lines.

Taher Shabbir as Jai, Shabana's boyfriend, is earnest and endearing. The actor playing her mother too is competent.

The music too is nothing to boast about and in fact the backgroundscore creates an unnecessary din, drowning everything else. "Rozana" by Shreya Ghoshal, is however, pleasant.

Overall, Naam Shabana tries hard to be an action-packed woman-centric film and while it lets Shabana deliver the last punch in the predominantly male bastion in which she supposedly shines, it fails to convince.

TroyRibeiro

value to the proceedings! A dizzying, combative explosive expose of smalltown hooliganism anda spunky girl's determination to survive all odds, AnaarkaliOfAarah has a memorable gallery of actors giving the goings-on a sterlingpush and a bracing vigour with their performances.

But above all there is Swara Bhaskar giving what history wiII record as one of the bravest and most important performances by a femaleactor in postmodernist Bollywood.

Don't eventhink about seeing any other film. With this towering achievement around the others don't stand a 'ghost' of a chance.

Gimme thespunk queen ofAarah any day rather than the bhoot of Phillauri.

Subhash KJha