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From Village Rockstars To Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Here Are Silverscreen’s Reviews Of Some Of The National Award Winning Films

By Silverscreen India Staff

The winners of the 65th National Film Awards were announced on Friday. Here are Silverscreen’s reviews of some of the National Award winning movies: 

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Of the many things about Village Rockstars, the Assamese indie film wonder that has been gathering love and accolades at many film festivals across the world, the most fascinating is the gleaming optimism that it proudly wears on its sleeve.

Making A Zero Budget Movie: The Tale Of Assamese Filmmaker Rima Das’s ‘Village Rockstars’

Newton presents a conundrum that probably everyone in their lives faces at least once in their lifetime – be doggedly part of the system and go by the rule book or wrap yourself with the cloak of cynicism and disdain. Nutan Kumar (Rajkummar Rao), who insists on calling himself Newton, meets with this conundrum when he takes up the duty of a presiding election officer.

Newton Review: Stark View Of The Conundrum Called Democracy

Recommended

Dileesh Pothan’s Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum is an astute tale of a theft. A newly-wed woman is robbed of her wedding chain while she is travelling in a state transport bus through a new, unfamiliar region. She sees a pale young man stealing, and then swallowing the chain. Her husband, a meek villager, awkwardly requests the thief to return the chain, while fellow passengers enthusiastically surround the suspect, manhandle him, and take him to the local police station.

Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum Review: Exceptional Film, Brilliant Fahadh Fazil

The Ghazi Attack is all bristling righteousness and patriotism. The film moves swiftly as the narrative pans from the internal struggle between the Captain (Kay Kay Menon hamming it up as Captain Rann Vijay) and his minder (Rana Daggubati as the stern-jawed Arjun), and over to the silent battle of wits between the Indian ship and the Pakistani one.

The Ghazi Attack Review: This Gorgeous Underwater War Drama Is Submerged In Patriotism

Baahubali 2, The Conclusion begins much like the beginning did. The Godmother is walking to a destination that is sacred, a pot of fire on her head. One misstep, just one, is a bad omen. People cheer her along the way. The camera focuses on her feet.

There’s no obvious misogyny in Kaatru Veliyidai. Nothing that isn’t camouflaged underneath lovely locales, beautiful clothes, and all the Amrapali jewellery, anyway. Or those random bursts of poetry. When Karthi as VC the fighter-pilot – with aviators and without moustache – shoves Leela about in a gathering, there’s an expectant hush. The wait is interminable: for the break-up that never comes.
Kaatru Veliyidai Review: The Pretty Pictures Do Little To Mask The Romanticization Of Abuse And Violence
Mom is a gripping thriller, thanks to its well-paced narration, some excellent characterisations and sequences. The brightest of its positives is its lead actress, Sridevi, who delivers a mesmerising performance. Especially during the instance in which she walks away from the room when Arya begins to scream hysterically at the sight of her. Sridevi’s face is stiff, unable to cry or come to terms with the pain of rejection. She empathises with Devki’s sufferings, and that makes this role one of the best in her career.
Toilet Ek Prem Katha ends up as a forgettable drama that ignores the complexities of reality and reduces the subject of sanitation to the issue of open defecation. It doesn’t pose questions to those who deserves the most to be questioned. Its earnestness and concerns do not come across as genuine. And it is essentially a lazily-made mediocre film that doesn’t respect the art of filmmaking.
Irada has those moments when the characters and the story become real without being preachy. A scene where Warsi’s character takes a ‘Cancer Train’ and encounters patients at different stages of cancer, even as insurance agents pace around like hawkers – it’s not a tear-jerking scene, but it leaves you with a lump in your throat.
Silverscreen India Staff is a at Silverscreen India, and can be reached by email at contact@silverscreen.in