Maya Bazaar 2016 - A heady cocktail of odd-ball characters and brilliant screenplay !


ASHOK’s FIVE reasons to watch “MAYA BAZAAR 2016” the Kannada comic caper meets thriller film from Puneeth Raj Kumar’s production house. Directed by newbie Radhakrishna Reddy, the film is built on the demonetisation issue but that’s not the central theme; Maya bazaar 2016 is a wonderful cocktail of comedy, thrill, emotion, dialogues and whacky screenplay that lands just about right.
1.       Achyut Kumar is brilliant in his role as Joseph the honest police officer who is need of money because his wife (played by Sudha Rani) is hospitalised with cancer. He teams up with a small time con-man Kubera (Raj B Shetty) and later a hopeless romantic Raaji (Vashishta N Simha) to make some easy money by faking IT raids but as more characters enter the scene, there is a riot of confusion that leaves you in splits. Achyut literally carries the film on his shoulders and shines through even in contrast to established heavy weights.
2.       Maya Bazaar 2016 is extremely well narrated and made brilliant by superb acting. The cast includes Prakash Raj, Sadhu Kokila, Chaitra Rao and Huccha Venkat in a short cameo.
3.       The story by itself may not be too much to write about but it is quite amazing how several odd-ball characters come together and assemble a rollicking caper.
4.       The editing and screen-play are top class. Note how well the scenes move back and forth at the end when Raj and Vashishta are in Bangkok and how they land there is revealed through flashback shots coupled with wacky dialogues
5.       PRK productions seems to be on a roll after the earlier success of Kavaludaari and seems to be picking up the right scripts. There is also the one-off music number by the power star himself at the end of the movie.
Maya bazaar 2016 dabbles in emotional play in the second half but does not do justice to the light ad breezy pace that is set up in the first half. The film is worth a watch to see what tight screenplay, excellent cinematography and a pleasant background score can do when coupled with some sharply defined characters who are just having a ball through and through!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joker - Origin story of batman's nemesis and the brilliant Joaquin Phoenix

Image
ASHOK’s FIVE reasons to watch Todd Phillips’s #Joker– this is the origin story of batman’s nemesis and is dark, gloomy and disturbing but with an Oscar-worthy performance from Joaquin Phoenix. This is the story of Arthur Fleck, a loser and a loner in Gotham city with a neurological disorder that prompts him to laugh maniacally without reason and how his aspirations to become a stand-up comic pivot to tragedy and pull him down in a downward spiral. He lives with his mother Penny (Frances Conroy), is delusional about a single mom neighbour and is obsessed with the cheery TV host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro in a cameo). I think the team got carried away with the sublime pathos of the Joker’s story and as a result, the film is centred solely around the one individual delivering a riveting performance. The influence of Martin Scorsese’s work has a profound influence here especially films like Taxi Driver and The king of comedy. However, the problem seems to be a very serious
Read more

Kavaludaari - Kannada cinema's very own neo noir thriller !

Image
ASHOK’s FIVE reasons to watch “Kavaludaari”, the maiden venture of Puneeth Rajkumar productions streaming on Amazon Prime. Director Hemanth Rao weaves his magic once again after the success of Godi Banna Sadharanu Mykattu (GBSM) which won the Film fare award in the best film category for 2016. I have been an ardent admirer of the silent revolution happening in the Kannada film industry, which has always been the little brother to Tamil and Telugu and Kavaludaari doesn’t disappoint. Starring Anant Nag and Rishi, the story is an investigation into a forty-year-old crime carried out by a traffic cop who has a motive to solve the mystery. Literally meaning “At the cross-roads”, Kavaludaari is a realistic crime thriller that stands out for fantastic acting, interesting cinematography and a class of film-making which is unusual. 1.        Kavaludaari belongs to the category of what is called the Neo Noir film – made popular in 1950s Hollywood crime drama. You could sit through this film
Read more

Driving License - a license to experiment !

Image
ASHOK’s FIVE reasons to watch the Malayalam film Prithviraj starrer “Driving License” now streaming on Amazon Prime. Starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Suraj Venjaramood, the film explores the intricacies of fandom and how a momentary rush of blood can result in far reaching complications. Written by Sachy and directed by Jean Paul Lal, the film is based on a novel plot and has some interesting twists. 1.        Prithviraj plays superstar Hareendran and Venjaramood plays Motor Vehicle Inspector Kuruvila and an ardent fan of the superstar. Kuruvila desires to meet up with his hero and this results in a chain of events that make up for the rest of the film. Remember the Shah Rukh 2016 starrer Fan? Well this one is nothing like it but not too many movies have explored the nuances of fandom in India. And for that alone it is worth a watch. 2.        “Driving License” is based on a rather quirky premise but then goes on to morph into a David & Goliath story, then be
Read more