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 Post subject: My Wife's Murder Review!
PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 12:43 pm 
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From Rediff:

Anil Kapoor's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

Raja Sen | August 19, 2005 12:47 IST


Anil Kapoor has persecution in his eyes. Perhaps it's the years of being written off as an A-list star; being constantly devalued and underrated by critics; or the ignominy of his filmography increasingly consisting of movies produced by his brother. Either way, it makes him a perfect choice for this role. His character, Ravi Patwardhan, goes through a pretty messy time, and Kapoor lends the film awesome credibility.

Patwardhan is a video editor, realistically working often-insane hours in an unrealistically client-free studio. His assistant, Reena, played by Nandana Sen, is guilty of being an attractive girl, something that irks his wife no end.

Sheila Patwardhan, brought to life with an appropriately annoying cameo by Suchitra Krishnamoorthy, is the definitive nag. Day in, day out, she blatantly accuses her non-confrontational husband of having an affair, lambasting Reena with the vilest of expletives. Ravi, as any man would be, is weary. All he wants is some quiet. The eventual silence he finds, however, is accompanied by a corpse.


My Wife's Murder operates with a superbly interesting premise. Death, like the snapping of a twig, or the fall of a house of cards, happens instantly. And irrevocably. Ravi Patwardhan could, and knowing his character, will, spend the rest of his life regretting the very moment his wife died, but that's a scene the editor can't quite rewind.

The deed is done, and blood is on the bedroom floor. As he sees himself reflected in the limpid scarlet pool, he's clueless. Cops? But that'll mean prison, what about the kids? Before he has time to think things through, the doorbell rings.

With this arrival of the bai begins Ravi's desperate, reckless misadventure as he traipses through flimsily cobbled together deceits. He's a man frazzled to the extreme, but completely relatable as Kapoor manages to shine with this rather straight-man role.

He hyperventilates, but he has bloody cause to! He pants, he huffs, and he stammers nervously – this is a man on the run, and this is an actor staying off the ham. Anil's always been a very fine actor, and it's a script like this that allows him to fully explore his range. This character needs believability, and he delivers.

Another man who delivers, as always, is Boman Irani. Seemingly going from strength to strength, the comedian might toss in a smile or two in this film, but his sunny demeanour is superbly replaced by casual, sardonic smirks. He's a cop, and he's sniffed something fishy. Doggedly on the trail, his inspector Tejpal Randhawa chomps constantly on junk food and lies to his wife, also a nag. He relates to the number of jhagras a marriage can bring, and is convinced of Ravi's guilt. This is the best performance of the film, a nicely fleshed out and well-scripted character done more than justice, by an actor at the top of his game. Wow.

Nandana Sen, as Reena, plays a very interesting character with a lot written between the lines. Behind her reverence for Ravi 'sir' hides a surefire crush, and when she becomes a part of the imbroglio, she joins in with great, stupid gusto. Ridiculously thrilled by all the drama the situation holds, Reena throws herself into the damsel-in-distress role, opening a brand new can of worms. Nandana is adequately natural, in a part calling for tremendous histrionics. Thankfully, the pretty girl can cry good. But it's important to mention that she follows in the tradition of Bengali actresses of the 70s – her Bangla inflection, like Sharmila Tagore, Rakhi, or Moushumi Chatterjee, is absolutely impossible to miss.

This is Jijy Philips' directorial debut, and the young man has done well. With every dozen or so films that appear from Ram Gopal Varma's infamous Factory, occasionally emerges one genuine talent with something to offer more than mere shadow-and-background-score. Jijy, with cinematographer P S Vinod, has given the film very effective visual treatment. Stylistically, while MWM might seem derivative of a number of foreign directors, it eventually stands unique. The first half, in fact, is framed magnificently and edited with ruthless sharpness. Nice.

This flags when we move, out of conveniently dark bedrooms with Superman posters and soundproof editing suites, into daylight where the ambient lighting isn't as moody or atmospheric. The plot, too, usually taut and crisp, falters in patches in the second half. It almost drags, but then the director reins it in just in time. Less cynically, we could say those 'slow' bits are there to give the viewer time to comprehend Ravi's predicament, and think. More probably, we can say that the film could have been even tighter, cut by about 20 minutes.

My Wife's Murder is a fine film, a gripping story woven around an extremely thought-provoking story idea ending up making you question a million things, including marriage itself – all of the film's couples are miserable. Like any Factory movie, it's slick and dark -- this one just happens to also have a storyline.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:00 am 
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This is a good movie. I missed the first few mins? arrived late. enjoyed the movie thoroughly. If you like movies like Lagaan & Mangal Pandey, avoid this one. Anil Kapoor is fantastic. Having seen this film, and the promos of Madhyanam Hatya, I highly suspect they are the same film!! I need to order the dvd soon. lol



and oh yeah, this banner just reminded me:
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Go watch Barsaat instead. :roll: The theater that was screenin Barsaat was almost house full, on a freakin Tuesday night!! I would've never thought, a Bobby Deol film...that too, of this type...eeek


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 Post subject: 7 out of 10
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:38 am 
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Location: National Capital Region (India)
The movie was quite good with Anil Kapoor giving a commendable performance. I am just so glad that finally Bollywood is attempting different themes.

I give it 7 out of 10 stars.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 2:52 pm 
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Yuvan wrote:
This is a good movie. I missed the first few mins? arrived late. enjoyed the movie thoroughly. If you like movies like Lagaan & Mangal Pandey, avoid this one. Anil Kapoor is fantastic. Having seen this film, and the promos of Madhyanam Hatya, I highly suspect they are the same film!! I need to order the dvd soon. lol



and oh yeah, this banner just reminded me:
Image
Go watch Barsaat instead. :roll: The theater that was screenin Barsaat was almost house full, on a freakin Tuesday night!! I would've never thought, a Bobby Deol film...that too, of this type...eeek


yup, in theatre here, no one even bought one ticket!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:25 pm 
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I liked LAGAAN very much, and I think I'm gonna like this film too, so I'm not gonna avoid it at all.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:23 pm 
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Rita wrote:
This is just what I’m looking for- a good mystery/thriller, and I’m not going to miss this one! :D

I admire Anil Kapoor’s brilliant acting ever since I saw him in ‘1942: A Love Story’ and “Lamhe.’


watch it tonight! movies like this don't last very long, even in multiplexes. they will shift the film to inferior screens after the first week. Sarkar was an exception, but due to my hectic schedule at the time of release, I was not able to attend till the 3rd or 4th week, and caught it on an inferior screen.

Anil Kapoor is an underrated actor. Now that I actually think about his career, he performed well, even in garbage films with garbage directors & producers. Now that's something to cheer about! I liked him in Virasat and Bulandi!

anyone know if there is a soundtrack release to My Wife's Murder? since it has no songs, even in the background? It's got typical RGV BGM, even then worth owning the CD!

anyway, back to this film: it's no veer-zaara or KKKG but it's a very emotional film. it's actually very touching, from start(though I missed probably less than 5 mins wroth) to finish! it's not a mystery, but it is a Suspense/Drama/Thriller! Yet another RGV production just proves that Indians have the capacity to create GOOD non-forumla films. Had I been the director, I would've changed the ending a little bit. But my version would've taken out the senti-drama :twisted:

Congrats to RGV, and Jijy Phillips!

PS- don't read any reviews till after you watch the film :lol: & yay, i just noticed: my 400th post :roll:


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:08 am 
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POSSIBLE SPIOLERS:

I just saw the movie. I have to say, it's "all right"...that's it. It's far from "great." Anil Kapoor does a commendable job as a nervous, heart-broken father; everyone else does acceptable work (Boman Irani is fine, but nothing to write home about). The story is predictable, and the execution, at times, a bit slow. The ending is predictable (not that it matters too much, here), though it's "easy on the protagonist" nature is somewhat annoying. Altogether, the film gets about a "3-out-of-5" from me. Of Varma's other works, I'd compare it to (the under-rated, and better) Gayab. Technically, the movie is tightly made and sound. (I do, however, feel that Varma's almost-sophomoric fascination with "loud, exciting background music" rears its head in the project, and that this hurts the film in certain places). Some instances of flashback seem unnecessary, but nothing in the film really hinders it unforgivably. As far as Kapoor's 2005 releases are concerned, I can't comment on Chocolate (I haven't yet seen it), but I have to state that My Wife's Murder beats (the really bad) No Entry, hands down.


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