Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 22 ENTERTAINMENT June 13, 2025 Stolen Is Gritty But Underexplored I t’s the same old miasma: festival films (this one was ready, as per IMDb, in 2023, busy garnering accolades in the international festival circuit thanks to Anurag Kashyap lending his name to the film!) and those meant for Indian audiences are far from congruent. Stolen, inspired by a real happening (two brothers be- ing accused of child kidnapping and being lynched by a furious crowd of villagers even as they plead innocence), adds a fictional element and tries to cram a thriller in 93 minutes. One late night, Gautam has come to pick up his broth- er Raman from a railway station as he has missed his flight as their mother (!) is getting married. Now, was the last deviance needed at all? Plot-wise, it does not make a fig of a difference! It could have been their grandmother (!!!), sister, friend or anyone else. By chance, a woman, Jhumpa (Mia Maelzer)’s five month-old infant has been kidnapped and the culprit, while running, dashes onto Raman, leaving him with the baby’s cap in his hands. All hell breaks loose when the now-hysterical mother accuses Raman of being in cahoots with the kidnapper. To cut a long story short, the police are called in and Raman is a shade rude with them when they are informed by the tea-seller on the railway platform that the kidnapper might be heading towards a disreputable mansion (kasuni kothi) nearby. Raman actually tells the policemen that they should help the woman instead of being indifferent and the cops order the brothers and the woman to accompany them to the dilapidated mansion. At the mansion, the woman who has done the kidnap- ping, Surili (Shrishti) attacks Gautam while he is alone outside and runs away, but falls to her death. Various things happen, a bribe with the cops is exchanged so that Gautam is not charged with her ‘murder’ and one of the cops leave. But Raman, who is an altruist of sorts, will not abandon Jhumpa even if some evidence points to her even being far from innocent. The two brothers and the woman finally leave the haveli but by that time the news has spread and angry vil- lagers chase the brothers and Jhumpa. Raman is injured and things become bloodier… But the full element of an action drama, or its social ramifications, isn’t satisfactorily explored. The chases oc- cupy a lot of screen time when considering the story and the total runtime. The social messages are subliminal and include everything frommass judgment of innocent people, primitive ‘justice’ being meted out, surrogacy, kidnapping for Mammon by a chain headed by a corrupt doctor and a comment on a sense of social duty irrespec- tive of personal gains. But the way the whole script pans out is quite languid, even as it is bloody and intense in intention. The cinematography (Isshaan Ghosh) is erratic and Arpad Bondy’s background score is minimal but alright. Karan Tejpal’s direction is effective for the most, but he should have ensured here that the script (he is also the co-writer) was more impactful and audience-friendly. The overall feel here is of the mediocre NH10 rather than any movie of solid substance, and of a story wanting to stay too ‘real’ at the cost of viewer appeal. Abhishek Banerjee is good as Gautam though Shub- hamVardhan scores much higher as the conscientious Raman. Mia Maelzer is excellent as Jhumpa, especially when shown in a determined mode. As the cops, Harish Khanna and Sahidur Rahaman make a mark. Wish the film had done this too. It is just about aver- age. Something vital from the ‘audience’ point of view has been clearly ‘Stolen’ from its execution. Can’t point an exact finger on this factor, but the movie left me strangely disillusioned despite the fab potential of this real-meets- fictional saga. Rating: **1/2 By RajivVijayakar PHOTO:TrailerVideo Grab Shubham Vardhan and Abhishek Banerjee in Stolen. Housefull 5 Is As Critic-Proof As It Can Get I t’s madness and mirth mixed with mayhem. Not for the critics (I am not one! I consider myself a reviewer, and in the Indian film context, there is a humongous difference between the two, as many a filmmaker and true cinema lover would agree), this film is not for the ‘pseudos’, either. Go in thus with your logical brain put to sleep (as in many an entertainer glob- ally) and just have a blast! Having come to know the difference between Housefull 5A (which is the one I watched) and Housefull 5B, I can only say that writer-producer Sajid Nadiadwala has been quite clever. There must be so many who have booked tickets for both versions, which is great for the moneys coming in. There will be loyal fans of the franchise who will watch both after watch- ing one. Not that this is the first film (as claimed by Sajid) to have two climaxes: a 1998 Malayalam film had one, but that was a romantic triangle. This one is a comedic thriller, and there are two killers each. The change happens only in the last 15 min- utes and everything else is the same. The silly portions of Housefull 5 sur- prisingly work despite being more than a shade predictable and, sometimes, even moronic. Tributes are offered to many an old film: a character’s mobile ringtone reprises the Tezaab hit, Keh do ke tum ho meri varna / Jeena nahin mujhe hai marna (an apt mukhda, all things consid- ered, for the situation!), while frequent background musical riffs recreate the title song of Khal-Nayak after Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff come in. The song Papa to band bajaaye from Housefull 2 is often used in brief parts. The climax too has shades of the 2003 Hungama with a difference—instead of an electric circuit causing a human parade, this time there is a giant propeller. There is a whiff with a difference of Malamaal Weekly as well. All the action happens aboard a cruise liner and so the first compliments need to go to the production designers (Rajat Poddarr, Rajnish Hedao and Iain Andrews) who do a magnificent job of the sets. The next most deserving technician is Mani- kandan Velayutham as the cinematogra- pher, whose work is the main face of the grand mounting of this visual spectacle. Do It Creative Ltd and NY VFXWaala also deliver great work in the VFX. Julius Packiam’s background music cheers and steers us unobtrusively through the long- ish 165- minutes length. Slapstick, toilet, situational and witty: the comedy is a mixed spread of these var- ied sub-genres. No one will find every ele- ment in the humor fitting their taste, but there is something for everyone. That said, the plot moves more like a thriller, with the first few minutes resembling a slasher movie, and while screwball comedy is the leitmotif of the Housefull canon, there is a strong undercurrent of a suspense drama here. The story?Well, Ranjeet (Ranjeet) is set to celebrate his 100th birthday. He is among the richest Indians in London and owns a cruise liner where guests are invit- ed on sea for the occasion. Unexpectedly, he dies and so leaves a will in which his entire assets (a stupendous figure), will go to Jolly, his first wife Shakuntala (Archana Puran Singh)’s son. His on-board team including the captain and doctor also includes Dev (Fardeen Khan), his second wife’s son. The team has invited Jolly, but instead of one, three Jolly’s land up: Jalb- hushan (Abhishek Bachchan), Jalabuddin (Riteish Deshmukh) and Julius (Akshay Kumar), with their respective wives. A furious Dev orders the on-ship doctor (Akashdeep Sabir) to check their DNAs (don’t bother how a Muslim and a Chris- tian can be Ranjeet’s and Shakuntala’s son!): the doc seems to be an all-rounder and the cruise liner (which also has a jail!!!) has facilities for doing this high-tech medicolegal test! But that night the doctor is murdered. And the body count mounts later. Two detectives who have been sus- pended in London, Baba (Jackie Shroff) and Bhidu (Sanjay Dutt) are summoned and the investigations begin. Romantic mix-ups, Ranjeet’s corpse, a Gujarati officer (Johny Lever), a Maharashtrian Interpol officer Dagdu Hulgund (Nana Patekar), a parrot named Gucci and a pair of monkeys from an earlier Housefull film all add to the nutty goings-on. The songs are surprisingly tuneful while on, though forgettable later. The direction is confident and Tarun Man- sukhani does a smooth job of the comic genre. The dialogues (Farhad Samji) are as needed. Akshay Kumar is in synch with his char- acter of Jolly. There are whacky and mad touches, like the Afghan wife breaking into fluent Punjabi, and the sequence where Jalabuddin exclaims “He Bhagwan!”. Or the scene where Baba and Bhidu plan to meet Dagdu and why they chicken out! The rest of the cast is competent and more, with Abhishek Bachchan, Dino Morea, Fardeen Khan and Rit- eish Deshmukh standing out. From the females, Sonam Bajwa scores highest, though Soundarya Sharma also is effective in a supporting role. This is a filmmeant for the masses and those classes who well know that classic Hindi entertainers are about such all- round buffet spreads of manoranjan. After all, when you go in for a buffet spread, you can savor what you like, and choose not to partake of or spew venom on what you do not want, even as you pay for the whole experience! Rating: ***1/2 By RajivVijayakar PHOTO:Universal Communications Jacqueline Fernandez, Abhishek Bachchan, Nargis Fakhri, Akshay Kumar, Sonam Bajwa and Riteish Deshmukh in Housefull 5.