Kapoor & Sons** ½ 

Dir:  Shakun Batra

Starring: Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt, Rajat Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rishi Kapoor

Okay, it’s nice to see a Karan Johar (produced) film which doesn’t target (only) NRIs and which isn’t all about lovey-dovey families ready to break into a dance routine at the drop of a hat. To be fair Johar’s palette has darkened over the years but still the overly-slick, bubbly and sanitised flavour of his offerings remains. So Kapoor & Sons is a welcome stepping-off from the beaten path - even if it may prove to be a temporary detour.

That said, Johar and director Shakun Batra, haven’t completely gone slumming either. The titular Kapoors are still comfortably middle-class and English-medium types. So much so that the elder Kapoor son, Rahul (Fawad Khan) is a best-selling novelist, feted in the west while his younger brother, Arjun (Sidharth Malhotra) is also a wanna-be writer, working on his novel while tending bar in New York (where else?). The siblings return home when their grandfather (Rishi Kapoor) suffers a heart-attack and this homecoming heralds the resurfacing of some old resentments and rivalries. These are followed by some unsuspected revelations involving various members of the family, including the bickering parents, Harsh (Rajat Kapoor) and Sunita (Ratna Pathak Shah). Alia Bhatt is also on hand as Tia, the neighbour who may or may not have a thing for both brothers.

At first, it is refreshing to see a recognisable and relatable family dynamic. Slowly, however, it dawns on you that these characters never go beyond stereotypes (certainly Hollywood is full of these if Bollywood isn’t), the friction between the parents is never fully explored and matters are predictably resolved a little too neatly at the end. Even the movie’s biggest secret isn’t really much of one as it is telegraphed well in advance. That secret is well handled though in its reveal and without the near-obligatory filmi melodrama that could have easily accompanied it. This is a step forward for a mainstream Bollywood film and is to be applauded. Fawad Khan, too, is to be commended for his bravery in choosing a role which could have easily dented his heart-throb appeal and box-office draw. As it is, Fawad acquits himself as does the rest of the cast. However, Rishi Kapoor - otherwise a fine actor – overdoes it under heavy prosthetics as the roguishly lovable grampa - another stereotype.

Cut to chase: Neatly done but ultimately predictable.

 

What Happened, Miss Simone? *** ½

Dir:  Liz Garbus

Starring:  Nina Simone, Lisa Simone Kelly, Stanley Crouch

The very first Nina Simone song I heard was her version of the jazz classic "Mood Indigo". I was absolutely blown away and became an ardent fan there and then. As Stanley Crouch, music and cultural critic, has said, "You only have to hear her once. No one sounds like her except her."  However, all I knew about Nina Simone (born Eunice Waymon) was her voice and her songs.  So this documentary by Liz Garbus (The Farm: Angola USA, Bobby Fischer Against the World), made with the help of her estate and the assistance of Simone’s only daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, came as a revelation to me. It details her early poverty-stricken life in rural North Carolina where she also learnt to play the piano, eventually earning a place at Juillard. In fact, Nina Simone first sought a career as a classical pianist before becoming one of the premier jazz and blues singers of the 20th century.

The movie also chronicles her involvement in the civil rights movement of the ‘60s which proved to be an evolutionary catalyst for her music but which also impacted her career. Nina Simone’s personal life - including her relationship with her husband and manager Andrew Stroud and her daughter – was as turbulent as her professional life as she battled many inner demons and her bi-polar disorder (diagnosed much later in her life).

In many ways this is a pretty straight-forward documentary - though it unearths quite a bit of archival material and interviews and excerpts from Simone’s diary - without an overarching theme or judgemental world-view. It is, however, the featured Nina Simone performances captured on camera that really elevate the film. These are not to be missed and, put in context of Ms. Simone’s life, carry even greater emotional heft.

Cut to chase: If you don’t know anything about Nina Simone, you need to see this documentary.

Kmumtaz1@hotmail.com; Twitter: @KhusroMumtaz

* Not on your life ** Hardly worth the bother **  ½ Okay for a slow afternoon only *** Good enough for a look see

***½ Recommended viewing **** Don’t miss it **** ½ Almost perfect ***** Perfection