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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

M shra, Pankaj Tripathi, lshteyak Khan

DIRECTOR: Avinash Das

Nothing inthis unexpected storm-trooper of a film has prepared you for its hig� velocity energy and ferventstatement on female sexuality. Without exaggeration, AnaarkaliOfAarah (AOA) isthe surprise ofthe season.

Itis stunning in thought, spellbinding in plot and utterly gripping inthe way the story of a small-town dancer-singer's adventures in lecher-land unfolds.

AOA is manythingsatthe sametime. It is a shimmering sun-soaked mirror of small-town values wherein every sneeze or fart is notedand evaluated across the communities. And yetthestory of Anaarkali (Swara Bhaskar, spectacular) is alsothe story of every woman, urban or rural.

Lady, you maybelongto Aarah or Arizona, therewillalways bemen who feelthey'vethe birthrightto own your body as and whenthey wish.

So, here'sthe simmering provocative scenario. Anaarkali, thesmall-town hottie who makes every guy in town horny, is on stage giving robust voiceand bodyto her raunchy songs - yes, she does dirty dancing for a living and enjoys herjob as much as Swara enjoys acting and I enjoy writing - whenthetown's prime educational institution's Vice Chancellor (Sanjai Mishra) decides to takethe 'Vice' too seriously.

Hejumps on stageto molestthe to be an actionthriller where Shabana 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 one nightconvinces herto put her martial artstraining to use and she chooses tofollow an uncharted path thereon. How shejoins an intelligence groupto save her country dancer, as her performing partner (played with poignant panache by Pankaj Tripathi) watches in mutedhorror.All hell breaks loosethereafter.Whilethe lechers of Aarah seethein anti-climactic rage, Anaarkali gives them a long rope to hang themselves with.

In one sequence, Swara strides, looking crushed, into the vice-ridden Chancellor's den only to make him look ridiculous atthe end of it.And atthe end her dance of defiance and exposure she is so volatile and so deliciously over-thetop I found myselfjumping out of my seat to congratulate Swara.

No walkover, ourAnaarkalitakes ontheacademic loutwith such vigour and strength that you willfind yourself cheering and clapping forthis female hero ofthese times of sexual ambivalence when men in positions of power misusetheir strengthto subjugate women in workplaces.

This is a sublime flm aboutthe dignity of labour narrated witha raunchy rigourthat is often appealingattimes exasperating.

Swara Bhaskar hits all the right notes in the shrillest of scenes, bringing outthefeisty Bihari woman's inner strength and an extremely appealing moral grounding even when 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 when she is requiredto sing and shakeher booty to from unwanted elements beginning with a global arms kingpin, forms the crux of this two-hour plus f lm.

This is a film which exudes an aura of intrigue and being much-anticipated, one goes in with a lot of expectations. Butalas,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. The weak and far-fetched plot meanders aimlessly, hinged on a weak motiveboth 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 elevatingthe film. The characters, perhaps with the exception of Shabana, whose back story is sharedto make her look complete, are all one-dimensional and appear out of nowhere.The dialogues aretrite and lack punch.

Thefilm is Taapsee's canvas all the way and one must laud her martial arts prowess and hard work which shines inthe action sequences.Her feisty persona and agility are praiseworthy. Butthat is where it ends. She fails to make an impactwhen she emotes and thescene duringher childhood, when she witnesses her parents f ght, is particularly tacky and unconvincing.

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 Danny Denzongpa in a miniscule role, are wasted.

Even Akshay Kumar's presence as fellow agent. Ajay seems forced and uncalled for. Manoj Bajpayee, as the mysterious 'Sir' with no name, who tracks andappoints 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 background score 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, itfailsto convince.

TroyRibeiro

lyrics that would makeYoYo Honey Singh blush.

Butthereis a certain grace and dignitytothe double meaning thrown out ofthe erotic dancer's pelvis thrusts, likefire leaping into the sky. Swara dances to these ribald lyrics withsuch familiarity and trust, you won't notice the sexuality in her thrust. You will seethethirstand dare I say,theinnocence,the determinationto remain an artiste even when pushed so much againstthe wall thather body is stiffened and stymied by socialorder where men havethe rightto 'own'women s physicality.

In this nimbly-written ode to feminine grace, a cheesy dancer who probably moonlights as prostitutetells the predatory man whereto get off. It kicks where ithurtsthemost andits does so withoutthe flourish of schisms. It is a terrific premise for a post-feministfilm. Writer-Director Avinash Das doesn't focus on remaining fashionable about women's empowerment.

The smell,the feel,the favour and theemotions of the stif ingly patriarchal small-town is so palpable, you are swept into the vortex of the film's vibrant vista. Full marks tothefilm's cinematographer Arvind Kannabiran for making Aarah and Anarkali seem weddedto one another, and of course Rohit Kumar's authentic folk songs they add so much valueto the proceedings! A dizzying, combativeexplosiveexpose of smalltown hooliganism and a spunky girl's determinationto survive all odds, AnaarkaliOfAarah has a memorable gallery of actors givingthe goings-on a sterling push and a bracing vigour with their performances.

But above allthereis Swara Bhaskar givingwhathistory wiII record as one ofthebravest and most important performances by a female actor in postmodernistBollywood.

Don'teventhink aboutseeing any otherfilm. Withthis towering achievementaroundthe others don't stand a 'ghost' of a chance.

Gimmethe spunk queen of Aarah any day ratherthanthe bhoot of Phillauri.

Subhash KJha