Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Krrish 3

No kidding: I was kind of excited for this one when I saw a preview for it before Chennai Express, and that's even not necessarily liking the first two movies a whole lot. Don't get me wrong, I liked Koi... Mil Gaya and Krrish well enough, but both of them were the "this is a weird thing that I've never seen before" kind of like: Koi... Mil Gaya was the first Bollywood movie I ever saw, and I only knew it existed because I saw the poster at "Bombay Cinema" in Allston - which I only knew existed because Clinton McClung and Garo Nagoshi were programming an Allston Cinema Underground "Weekly Wednesday Ass-Kicking" program there which was vaguely associated with the Coolidge (Clinton programmed the Coolidge back then and had some fliers out). And while I don't quite remember the circumstances that led me to realize Krrish was coming out, it's quite possible I didn't realize it was related to Koi... Mil Gaya before I sat down for it and was surprised to be seeing a Part 2. So, by those standards, I was pretty darn prepared for Krrish 3.

This is part of the fun for me with Bollywood films; I haven't been seeing tweets and blog posts and previews and festival program listings, so they tend to be surprising even beyond just being different in form from the Western movies I'm used to. Of course, this does make me wonder if I'm giving Krrish 3 a higher grade for just being more familiar; only one of the relatively-low three musical numbers really bugged me (I know there's probably a name for the love song where the characters stand in some location that has nothing to do with the movie and just sing, but I don't know what it is).

Krrish 3

* * * ¼ (out of four)
Seen 3 November 2013 at Regal Fenway #5 (first-run, DCP)

Here's a funny coincidence - Bollywood superhero movie Krrish came out the same summer as Superman Returns and its sequel Krrish 3 (I'll explain later) is hitting theaters the Diwali after Warner Brothers delivered a Superman movie franchise reboot. And while it shares some of the same issues that hurt Man of Steel for me, they seem more forgivable here, and more because writer/director Rakesh Roshan has finally figured out the best way to embrace the crazy nature of superheroics than my admittedly lesser attachment to the Krrish trilogy-so-far.

To recap (as the film does), developmentally-challenged Rohit Mehra (Hrithik Roshan) was given an intelligence boost by a stranded alien, which caused his son Krishna (also Hrithik Roshan) to be born with superpowers. Krishna romanced and married beautiful TV reporter Priya (Priyanka Chopra), and now secretly protects Mumbai as masked hero Krrish - which, admittedly, makes it hard for him to keep a job, with all the dashing off to save the day. But there's not necessarily much a superhero can do against a virus created by quadriplegic (but telekinetic!) mastermind Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) and set loose by genetically engineered "Manimals" led by the shape-shifting Kaya (Kangana Ranaut).

Both Krrish and Koi... Mil Gaya, the film that started the series (which is how you jump straight from Krrish to Krrish 3), were broad fantasies that suffered from some severe tonal whiplash, starting off with some fairly juvenile comedy and then backloading almost all the action so that it takes place after the intermission. There's still a bit of that happening here, but having all the set-up the audience needs handled in a five-minute clip package at the start lets Roshan dive straight into the main plot fairly quickly, and while the movie does go from cheerful to intense along the way, it's not the jarring switch from slapstick to bloody violence that happens in many other Indian movies.

Full review at EFC.

2 comments:

Rahul said...

People should support the efforts than just criticizing with Hollywood....Hollywood have more cinema experience. we have 100 years. Also Bollywood movie budgets are very low comparing the Hollywood.... so dont compare...just enjoy like Bollywood movie lovers...

Unknown said...

Rahul : I m totally Agreed with you. people Start Comparing instead of believing..

Rakesh Roshan has done Faboulous Efforts and ofcourse Hrithik is Just Mind blowing

People go and feel the magic touch of bollywood .