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The collapse of a ten-year-old friendship between Mahesh, a tech entre­preneur (played by Karma) and Anil, a dentist (played by Raymon Das Shrestha), begins when the latter buys an expensive painting. Their mutual buddy Devashish, a DJ who will soon inherit his father’s pashmina busi­ness (played by Kundoon) and who usually does not care about the world, is frus­trated as he finds himself buffeted by the envy, pride and self-centric nature of his two friends.

Based on an award-win­ning play by Yasmina Reza, and directed by Sabine Lehmann, ‘Art’ highlights the destructive nature of our negative emotions and how even an age-old friendship can fray when they go untethered.

The characters, their suppressed emotions and the events leading up to the opening of the play are introduced through humor­ous monologues. One can espy mutual bitterness of the characters towards each other through their restless­ness and the allusions they make. Mahesh’s envy of Anil is so strong that at times it becomes laughable. Devash­ish’s frustrated attempts to ease the tension between Mahesh and Anil also create some hilarious moments.

The experience is further enhanced by the musicals reiterating the events and the excellent soundtrack of Aman Karna and Prince Nepali which blends tunes of sarangis, guitars and electronic music. Kun­doon introduces his char­acter Devashish through a contemporary and catchy rap. Director Sabine Leh­mann and set director Lud­milla Hungerhuber make a brief appearance in the musical and proclaim the arrival of dark moments between the friends. Despite all the negativity the musi­cal packs in, it still evokes smiles and even laughter from the audience.

Further, moments of slap­stick keep the audience pre­pared for the exhilarating or devastating moments that are about to unfold. The ele­vating anger and the silly actions of the characters are accompanied by short sarangi notes. The repetitive, energetic electronic music played when the stage is being prepared between acts makes time flow slowly, thus giving us a perception that no time passed at all. The music also serves to heighten the tension.

The set is also colorful, and flooded with bright lights. Devashish’s messy room reflects his lack of care for life while Anil’s room sug­gests his grandiose personal­ity. The dresses of the char­acters are also revelatory. Anil is decked out in a white suit while Mahesh is draped in a black one, clearly show­ing the disharmony between the two characters. Devash­ish, in his role of a mediator who seeks to lower tension between his two friends, is dressed in a black and white t-shirt, showing that he is completely neutral.

The play suggests that we better learn to keep our emo­tions in check if we are not to let them destroy our lives. And it is worth watching. The show starts at 7:15 every Friday, Saturday and Sunday (from Dec 14 to 23). The final run will be from Dec 27-29. The venue is Hotel Vajra, Bijeswari, Swayambhu, and reservations can be made by calling 01-4271545.

Most of the world’s problems arise when emotions overtake us

APEX CHAT with Sabine Lehmann, Director, Studio 7 - Naga Theater

What inspired you to direct this play?

I like the works of Yas­mina Reza because they are quite straightforward in terms of human emotions. Her works vividly portray human behaviors and how negative emotions manifest and destroy everything. But her plays are not com­pletely dark as the char­acters always reconcile in the end and the entire pro­cess is filled with humor. Apart from my love of the source material, I also like working with Karma, Kun­doon and Raymon, as they understand and cooperate with each other. I wanted to challenge them to per­form a play like this where the portrayal of the human emotions needs to be pitch-perfect.

What is your favorite part of the play?

There are many parts that I like but the favorite part is probably the reali­zation and reconciliation phase, when the characters realize how their negative emotions will gradually destroy everything if let loose. It is then that they confront the fact that it takes a lot of time to change their feelings towards each other. Since they have insulted each other mercilessly and in an evil way, reconciliation seems impossible. But something dramatic happens and set­tles the tension between the two friends. It is this moment that makes this play a rollercoaster ride.

Was there any message you wanted to convey through this play?

Most of the world’s prob­lems arise when emotions overtake us. This explains why political systems fail, why rapes continue, why the society is getting sub­missive, why countries declare war and why men get into a mess. If we know how to deal with negative emotions, we get closer to solving those issues. It is okay for people to pursue wealth, power and rec­ognition but they should not forget the essentials. The first step towards such a healthy pursuit is to recognize the negative impulses within us. Kar­ma’s character starts this in the play when he says to Raymon’s character that they were happy with each other when they were not acting independently with regards to their taste.

Considering that you do not share the cultural background of your audience how do you ensure that the underly­ing message resonates?

I did not think that was the problem as human emotions are common across all cultures. You can recognize them and relate to the actions performed under their influence. Any­body will be able to grasp instances in the play where negative emotions are slowly gripping the minds of the characters. They will have no problem recogniz­ing them and getting what happens in the play.

2002’s ‘Spider-Man’, directed by Sam Raimi, is often considered a land­mark movie for the super-he­ro genre. It tasted glory way before Hollywood struck gold in the box-office with the Avengers and the X-Men series. It was able to break the jinx on expensively-produced and CGI-heavy comic book hero flicks that had a tumultu­ous history of underperform­ing commercially and anger­ing comic book fans. Then, as the situation improved for the comic book-based mov­ies, the ‘Spider-Man’ movies ironically took a bad turn. After Raimi’s three ‘Spi­der-Man’ movies, the series was rebooted once in 2012 under the direction of Marc Webb, and then again in 2017 with Spider-Man gracing the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The idea of having yet another ‘Spider-Man’ ori­gin story can bring only one question to mind: How many more Spider-Man can we take? Enter ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, the latest animated film, and believe it or not, the movie’s basic premise revolves around the same question. That much is evident from the film’s fun trailer but the film goes much beyond.

 Who should watch it?

The animation style and the superb visual and dialogue driven humor gives this film a repeat value. This is a thoroughly enjoyable family entertainer for both hardcore Marvel fans and general audiences who want to have a fun time at the movies with their kids. Make time for this!

The humor is complimented by an equal doses of dramatically touching moments and exhilarating action sequences

We get a new Spider-Man in teenager Miles Morales (voiced by Shameikh Moore) who has to work together with five more Spider-Men from alter­nate dimensions. These other Spider-Men are a potbellied middle-aged Peter B Parker (a terrific Jake Johnson), a sassy Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), an anime inspired Penny Park­er (Kimiko Glenn), a noir pri­vate eye (Nicholas Cage) and a cartoon pig (John Mulaney). They are thrust together after a massive collider operated by the evil Kingpin ruptures the space and time continuum. Miles has to learn the ropes to master his newfound super­powers as well as gel with this ragtag team of Spider-Men so that everyone gets to their respective homes.

At one glance Miles is no different from the young Peter Parker, except that he is of mixed race, his cop father is African-American and his nurse mother is Latino. Miles is a geek, enjoys spraying graffiti art and is awkward when it comes to talking to girls. He also shares a close relationship with his uncle (Mahershala Ali). And just like Peter, he gets bitten by a radioactive spider. But within these stark similarities Miles embodies the spirited hero of the ghettos. He continues to take pride in where he comes from, even after his father urg­es him to take scholarship at a private school as his ticket out of the ghettos. Amid all the other Spider-Men stuff that’s going on, the story gives us plenty of reasons to feel strongly about the raw Miles as he earns his right to don his Spidey suit.

From its uniquely stylized animation design to the clev­er screenplay that incorpo­rates meta-humor and funny dialogue exchanges, ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ gives us plenty to enjoy. It coolly makes fun of itself and is self-referential to the Spider-Man franchise. Lately the super-hero genre flicks have grown a bolder sense of humor, so much so that this style is getting rath­er tiring to see. That is not the case here. The makers and the voice actors genu­inely make the ride fun and light-hearted.

The humor is compli­mented by an equal doses of dramatically touching moments and exhilarating action sequences. Even with so many characters and story threads, the film never feels bloated or hard to follow. The seamless writing and direc­tion make the story coherent and pack in plenty of surpris­es and twists, leading up to a deeply satisfying finale.

‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ is success­ful in accomplishing a rare feat. It gives an energetic and fresh spin to the deadbeat Spider-Man uni­verse and actually pumps new blood in the franchise to make us more excited about what’s next to come from Miles Morales.

Movie: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Genre: animation

CAST: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Mahershala Ali, Hailee Steinfeld

DIRECTION: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman

Abhisekh Kapoor’s ‘Kedarnath’ never transcends into the romantic epic it sets out to be, but at the same time, it’s difficult to overlook some of the film’s sub­versive storytelling choices and to shake off the charms of newcom­er Sara Ali Khan and an in-form Sushant Singh Rajput. Even with an inconsistent screenplay, direc­tor Kapoor’s masterful grasp over filmmaking craft doesn’t let in any dull moment. Tucked in the laps of the majestic Himalayas, Kedarnath is an Indian town and a popular pilgrimage for Hindus who throng there in num­bers to visit Lord Shiva’s Kedarnath temple. Here we meet our two central characters: Mandhakini (Sara Ali Khan), the bratty daugh­ter of a local Hindu priest, and Mansoor (Sushant Singh Rajput), a Muslim porter living with his single mother. At first glance, you can’t help but get a strong ‘Sairat’ (or its Hindi remake ‘Dhadak’) vibes from this storyline. And yes, religion/class conflict is at the heart of the romance in ‘Kedarnath’.

Who should watch it?

Sara Ali Khan doesn’t disappoint in her debut. If you liked Abhisekh Kapoor’s ‘Kai Po Che’ that blended friendship, cricket and religion, ‘Kedarnath’ can be taken as a good companion that gives similar treatment to romance, religion and natural calamity.

The first half unspools by bring­ing the two characters closer through cleverly shot montage sequences while also hinting at the dark clouds surrounding them in the form of Gullu (Nishant Dahiya). Gullu is an influential local Hindu leader, who we come to know has called off his pre-planned marriage to Mandhakini’s elder sister and instead taken dibs at Mandhakini to be his new fiancé. Mandhakini and Mansoor’s increasing intimacy is pitted against Gullu’s growing possessiveness towards Mandhak­ini. This in turn fuels a bigger ten­sion between the high-caste Hindu group and its working-class Muslim porter group.

Then, as we approach the third act of the movie, the sky grows darker, the mountains appear unstable and the film promptly shifts genre. From ‘Romeo Juliet’ it turns into a ‘Titanic’ scale disaster movie. As all hell breaks loose, the theme doesn’t hinge on ‘Man versus Man’ anymore, but on ‘Man versus Nature’. (The film is partly based on the devastating Uttara­khand floods of 2013).

‘Kedarnath’ belongs to Sara Ali Khan. In her first film she is not only easy on the eye but finds a delicate lightness and extra poten­cy in her portrayal of Mandha­kini. Likewise Sushant Singh Rajput looks earthy in a physical­ly demanding role. They make for an endearing pair and get you to root for them. The makers may have attempted a grandiosely imagined romance of two star-crossed lovers through popular cinema troupes, but there are touches here and there that give the film a fresh look and feel. Mandhakini is a damsel in distress but she’s also the initiator who woos Mansoor rather than the oth­er way around. And Mansoor is unlike the cocky and street smart small town heroes we’re used to seeing on screen lately. He feels more subdued and sensitive.

Just like how Mansoor’s charac­ter walks uphill carrying pilgrims on his back, the film contains too much, in that it finally starts to crack open. Kapoor tries to make up for the tonal inconsistency by pouring immense effort in design­ing the breathtaking final disaster sequence; still it sticks out as some­thing that belongs to a different movie altogether.

But despite the unstable screenplay, there’s plenty in ‘Kedarnath’ that keeps the journey emotionally thrilling and visually arresting.

Movie: KEDARNATH

Genre: ROMANTIC DRAMA

CAST: Sushant Singh Rajput, Sara Ali Khan, Nishant Dahiya

DIRECTION:Abhisekh Kapoor

The rich imagination of director Shankar and the suaveness of superstar Rajinikanth worked wonders to make 2010’s ‘Robot’ an enjoyable sci-fi flick, even with a preposterous story that gave us a modern-day Frankenstein in Chitti, an android made to serve, but nonetheless turning rogue and becoming the problem itself. Its sequel, ‘2.0’, after being stuck in a post-production hell for some time, is finally here. The previous film’s thematic footing was on the possi­bility of machines taking over the human race. The follow-up adds the angle of technology destroying the natural order. There’s much to admire in ‘2.0’. Shankar crafts a visionary cine­matic design propped up with ludi­crous amount of VFX trickery. His mastery over visuals and action set pieces cast a spell and make your eyes pop. The writing is a major problem though, reeking of older Shankar films like ‘I’, ‘Nayak’ and ‘Indian’. Shankar looks at complex issues of technology and environ­ment through a myopic and sim­plistic social lens. He’s stuck in a grand narrative that instead of posing questions wants to provide all the answers.

We meet genius Indian scientist Vaseegaran (Rajinikanth) and his new android assistant Nila (Amy Jackson) as they try to figure out why all cell phones are flying away from their owners’ hands. There are speculations: This may be some alien force, or a ‘black hole’ has opened up in the space, sucking in all phones. Soon there is a nation-wide frenzy, and the government is forced to declare a state of emer­gency and mobilize the army.

Vaseegaran calls for Home Min­ister (Adil Hussain) to sanction an order to bring back Chitti (also played by Rajinikanth), who has been dismantled and kept at a high-security museum. After much reluctance, Chitti is restored and with his superhero-like powers he’s able to track down a myste­rious supernatural villain Pakshi Rajan (Akshay Kumar), who is hell bent on revenge against telecom multinationals. We are made to wait till the second half, where the origin of the villain is revealed through a tedious back-story.

Shankar has so much unpacking to do in a single movie that the bur­den falls on the audience’s head. Chitti’s projection as a superhero, the villain’s flight for vigilante jus­tice and the social commentary sprinkled everywhere are played in a cacophonic disharmony of cine­matic excess. There isn’t a particu­lar likable quality in Rajinikanth’s portrayal of the bland Vaseegaran.

Of all the scientists you may have come across in films, Vaseegaran sounds the wackiest and veers close to being a hack theorist. His arguments and explanations are pure pseudoscience. The charm of Chitti is also lost somewhere this time. (I also admit that demanding more than a one-note performance from a ‘robot’ is somewhat unreal­istic from my side). Kumar makes a powerful presence as the film’s antagonist but his character isn’t fully realized and gets lost between playing a hopeless activist and a ruthless vigilante on a killing spree.

As a spectacle of grand design, it will be hard for any Indian film in the coming days to match ‘2.0’. But director Shankar lets this spec­tacle overtake storytelling. He’s so involved in painting his frames in VFX canvas that he is detached from his characters and plotting, which needed more polishing. The film’s mesmerizing look doesn’t spill over into its screenplay to give us an involving experience.

 Who should watch it?

All the hype surrounding ‘2.0’ has turned it into an event movie. It’s then most likely to work for admirers of Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar, but not for viewers wanting an edgier sci-fi narrative with complex characters.

Movie: 2.0

Genre: SCI-FI

CAST: Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Adil Hussain

DIRECTION: Shankar