Skip to main content

Liar's Dice

This is a simple story of a woman from a village in Himachal Pradesh, who defies the elders of her village and goes looking for her husband who had left home to earn a living in the city, and hasn't been heard from in a while. Any other woman would have been fatalistic but not our fiesty protagonist.
She is accompanied by her daughter,(who is played by an adorable Manya Gupta, and made me want to just sit down and listen to her chatter.) and their pet lamb. Along the way they gain the company of an army deserter.
The protagonists of this movie are Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.


I stumbled upon this movie quite by chance when I was greedily looking for details about Geetu Mohandas and her work. I have been obsessed with her ever since I had the privilege of watching - Moothon, which deserves a review of its own.
The credentials of this movie are tremendous. It was given the National award for its cinematography and also the best actress award for 2013. It also has in its kitty several other awards and was the official entry to the Oscars for that year.


To paraphrase Geet at this juncture, "Aap convince ho gaye ya mai aur bolun" 😂😂😂😂


The cinematography by Rajeev Rai is amazing to say the least. He is the director's husband, not that it has any significance, but this spousal duo create magic together. The beauty of the mountains is sublimely captured, as are the murky depths of Delhi. This is helped by the sound of rushing water, which is used in lieu of a background score all through the mountains. This gets replaced with street noises in the city, but never with intrusive music. That in fact, is a key feature of how Geetu Mohandas, uses the city and its persona to create a mood of hope or futility.


I must confess that I have never seen Nawazuddin looking so rugged and personable. He  carries it very well. And Geetanjali Thaapa was such a revelation! Why isn't she in more movies? Just why? It's a question that needs to be addressed. If not the overhyped Hindi film industry, then why not malyalam movies? Why isn't she in anything great other than a two-bit role in Sacred Games? I don't want to rant beyond this, but I do declare this to be a travesty!

P.S: this movie isn't for you, if you want a plot with elaborate backstories and cut and dried breadsticks. So, no backsies please if you don't like it.



#MiniasReviews
#AllLivesMatter

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monica, O My Darling

Straight off the bat, let me tell you that I went into this movie cold. I just saw the trailer and put it on my watch list. I was totally enamored with the cast and the premise. I knew I was going to watch this one, so I didn't delve into the promotional shenanigans.  So if you are of the same bent of mind, stop reading and start watching.  And on your behalf, I did Google Ankola, it is a town in Karnataka and is not to be confused with Akola in Maharashtra. Ha ! Ha! Netflix has been delighting us with gems like Raat Akeli thi, Haseen dilruba and Bulbul. Add this one to that list and think Gehraiyaan. I need not stress on the proficient star cast. They are masters of their craft. Starting with the sneaky Rajkummar Rao, the sultry Huma Quereshi and the wily Radhika Apte, the ensemble includes the creepy Sukant Goel, the beleaguered Zayn Marie and many others. For me Sikandar Kher was a standout. A shoutout to his intensity and his baritone.  The dialogues are spot on and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your Smiles

Do you know that in all the days that I have known you, I haven't heard you laugh even once? Do you laugh? Do you find anything funny? Do you have a sense of humor? Oh wait! What? What is that? You find my questions amusing? It's these that are making you grin? Of All the things I say and do, it's my questions which are making you smirk? How come I never noticed that one of your tooth overlaps the other? Just like a lion bringing down a deer. How is it that I never realised how one of your eyes closes almost completely when you smile wide? How did I never realise that your smile starts at your lips and becomes a twinkle in your eyes? How did I never see the twirl you give your moustache when you are shaking with laughter? How could I never know that mirth can be silent too? How many times did you laugh with me and I didn't even know? How many times did you laugh at me and I didnt even know? How many times did you turn away to hide a smile when I wasn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shades of Grey

For a very long time I have held a rigid view about what is right and what is wrong. And never have I ever allowed myself to be deviated from what I thought was correct and incorrect. I am not saying that I always did the right thing, but yes even when I was doing the wrong thing I did know that i was wrong. No one had to hold up the metaphorical mirror and tell me that I was wrong. I knew it all on my own. So veering between being an absolute Gandhian and a naughty imp, I had more or less kept my moral compass due north. In fact I was quick to judge people on their actions, without trying to place myself in their shoes and walk a few miles, to see what the impediments were. I was always pretty  smug about knowing what was white and what was black. But as they say, its only when we experience something do we truly realize what it was to have stood in someone's shoes and made a decision which felt totally right at that time. Would you condemn a hungry urchin for stealing food? ...
Post a Comment
Read more