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‘Raid’, the latest Ajay Devgn star vehicle, is set during the 1980s and follows the exploits of an honest to a T income tax offi­cer, played by Devgn, to bring down a corrupt demigod politician. The film wastes no time in paint­ing Devgn’s Amay Patnaik as an incorruptible, saint of a man. In his first scene, we see him saunter into a country club. The guards won’t allow him in because he’s wearing sandals. In a normal situation, a per­son would fuss with the guards but not Patnaik. He instead appreciates that the guards are following the rulebook, and nobody’s above the rules. The entire movie from then on is an elaboration on Patnaik’s by-the-book approach to everything.

Drama/Thriller

RAID

CAST: Ajay Devgn, Saurabh Shukla, Ileana D’Cruz

DIRECTION: Raj Kumar Gupta

Patnaik has recently shifted to Lucknow with his wife (Ileana D’Cruz) to assume the local office of office the Internal Revenue Ser­vice. He’s a strict task master and always urging his junior officers to wage a crusade on tax evaders and money launderers. At home, he shares a sound relationship with his wife. They don’t fight, don’t argue but give positive feedback to each other. He compliments her for tag­ging along with a government ser­vant whose honesty always leads to abrupt transfers. She compliments him for his uprightness. Their talks are unbelievably sober and refined, given that he’s the kind of husband who’s rarely at home, and she’s the kind of wife who spends her dull afternoon at the verandah waiting for him. Like Patnaik’s saintly image, this relationship feels too idealistic and far-fetched.

The movie picks some momentum when Patnaik starts getting anony­mous tip-offs that direct him to Tauji (played by Saurabh Shukla), an influ­ential local parliamentary leader who enjoys a reputation as the dis­trict’s guardian. Patnaik leads a huge raid party to Tauji’s residence—‘The White House’—in search of InRs 420 crore worth of unaccounted wealth.

Director Raj Kumar Gupta loosely bases the story on the “longest income tax raid” carried out in Luc­know in the 1980s. The premise sounds interesting. But Gupta, who has previously directed ‘Aamir’, ‘No One Killed Jessica’ and ‘Ghanchak­kar’, settles for a more mainstream and dialogue heavy treatment this time. In his previous films, Gupta left things open-ended, without resorting to simplistic resolutions. One can speculate that because his last two films, except ‘No One Killed Jessica’, were box-office bombs, he this time wanted a crowd-pleaser with a dependable Bollywood star. In ‘Raid’ he is least bothered about breaking the film’s tempo: he sneaks in ill-timed songs and makes wild detours.

It’s a challenge to keep the audi­ence hooked to a single location for long, and Gupta and his screen­writer Ritesh Shah lose steam by the middle of the film. Though sup­porting characters—especially the ageing and wisecracking Maaji, the grandmother of Tauji household—provide some comic relief, the story has no interesting twists to break the drudgery.

Hardcore Ajay Devgn fans who like a brooding hero could find ‘Raid’ a passable companion piece to his ear­lier works like ‘Singham’, ‘Drishyam’ and ‘Gangajal’. But for the rest, it’s just Devgn on autopilot.

2 AND A HALF STARS

Wicked Spoon Fork & Rock, as the name sug­gests, is all about great food and good music. Located conveniently opposite the parking lot behind St. Mary’s School in Jhamsikhel, right next to the famous Roadhouse Café, Wicked Spoon is a popular venue for live music in the area.

With a dedicated stage complete with sound and lights, this live music venue fea­tures band and artists of different genres every weekend. From rock, blues and pop to contemporary and jazz, Wicked Spoon serves a variety of music combined with an elaborate multi-cuisine food menu. Combine that with the flaming bartenders mixing a delectable list of cocktails and you’re in for a treat.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

Beer Battered Fish and Chips

Lemon Chicken

Wicked Crispy Chicken

Opening hours: 10:00 am-10:00 pm

For reservations: 01-5522968

Cards: Not Accepted

Average meal for two: Rs 1,500 (including starters & main course)

 NON-FICTION

The Perils of Being Moderately Famous

Soha Ali Khan

Published: December 12, 2017

Publisher: Penguin India

Pages : 256 (paperback)

It seems every Bollywood actor, at one point of time, sees the need to come out with a book—on their spectacular flashbulb-lit lives, how they beat the odds for a comeback, or even a diet book, if nothing else. But Soha Ali Khan’s debut book ‘The Perils of Being Moderately Famous’, a collection of personal essays, doesn’t feel like an actor, one who belongs to such an illustrious family for that matter, boasting and bragging about life and its luxuries. Instead, as she recounts what it was like growing up as the daughter of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore, and being Saif Ali Khan’s sister, and Kareena Kapoor’s sister-in-law, Soha, with her wit and self-deprecating humor, narrates things so refreshingly that it makes her relatable, despite her star status. The book feels like a one- on-one conversation with the writer.

As a part of some notable and some forgettable films, Soha is what you could call ‘moderately famous’. But as Asian Age rightly noted, “Star­dom may have gone to the brother but grace seems to be a legacy received by Soha”, and it’s the grace with which she has penned her book that makes it such a delightful read. This is one memoir that’s not in your face, heavy with ‘brutal honesty’ and ‘frankness’ that feel forced.

She’s not trying to get you to like her or think well about her through her writing. She’s simply telling you her story. The ease with which she talks about those one off date nights and serious affairs and then her college life and foray into acting makes you wish the chapters were a bit longer. Life could definitely use a little bit more of her wit and insight.

And while she makes you laugh time and again, there are also moments in the book that are stir­ring and get you thinking. Bits where she talks about her father and her relationship with him as well as the pain of losing a parent whom she loves and respects in equal measure make you take a moment to remem­ber all the people and things you hold dear in your life.

What’s also remarkable about the book is that nothing feels over the top and there have been no attempts to sensationalize things. That is not Soha’s style. She is all about keeping it simple, humorous, and classy as she shares her personal expe­riences with warmth and a lot of integrity while offering some nev­er-seen-before images of her family, childhood, and her daughter Inaaya. Reading ‘The Perils of Being Moder­ately Famous’ affirms the fact that experiences are universal and that you don’t have to be famous, even moderately so, to enjoy the little things in life and be grateful for what you have.

 Comedy

Gaja Baja

CAST: Anupam Sharma, Sushil Sitaula, Barsha Siwakoti, Gopal Aryal

DIRECTION: Ganesh Dev Panday

*** 3 stars

A pure stoner comedy was long overdue in Nepali cinema. So when writer/director Ganesh Dev Panday announced he was making a film called ‘Gaja Baja’ about Nepali potheads, I was instantly curious. But it took the makers two years to release the film because of their long battle with Nepal’s Film Development Board. Apparently board members felt that the use of gaja (hashish) in the film title promoted drug use and asked the makers to change the title. The case was finally sorted and the film was granted an adult certificate and released all over the country with its original title.

I’m happy to say that Gaja Baja is a genuine genre piece. It sets its protagonists into an action- com­edy rollercoaster, in the vein of the popular ‘Harold and Kumar’ series and Seth Rogen-starrer ‘Pineapple Express’. But the film’s “one day in the life of two potheads” narrative is more similar to 1995’s Friday, a cult stoner comedy starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker.

Gaja Baja wholeheartedly adheres to the genre tropes. But as it is the first of its kind movie rooted in our own Kathmandu, it feels fresh and different from other regular Nepali films.

As mentioned earlier, the movie tells the story of a day in the life of two pothead slacker friends: Gorey (Sushil Sitaula) and Dadhey (Anupam Sharma). We never know their real names or their detailed backstory, only that Gorey has a dominating father, who feels his son hasn’t done anything in life to deserve milk tea in the morning. Dadhey’s parents too have given up on him. Yet the two are least both­ered about what their parents make of them or about getting jobs. They spend each day with one ambition: getting high.

But this particular day isn’t look­ing good; they have to scour the city’s every nook and cranny to get some weed. This day-long weed hunt brings them in contact with many colorful people and puts them in sticky situations.

Anupam Sharma as the dim-wit­ted Dhadey scores high on the laugh­ter meter. He embodies Dhadhey’s slacker sensibilities so well that he makes the character lovable. He shares a brilliant chemistry with Sitaula’s Gorey.

They feel real and convincing as they fully embrace the lingo and mannerism of potheads. However, their friendship’s spirit called for a smoother ending than the mes­sage-laden ending we get.

Ganesh Dev Panday’s previous offering ‘Manjari’ (2013) had met with an instant backlash when it was discovered that the film was a shot-by-shot remake of a South Indian movie.

He pokes fun at himself in Gaja Baja’s opening credits when he quotes Quentin Tarantino: “I steal from every single movie ever made.” While Manjari dimin­ished him as a plagiarist, his latest film will definitely help him erase that image. He has showed much can be achieved with a limited bud­get, a small setting (most of the film is shot around Mangal Bazar, Shankhamul and New Baneshwor) and a small crew.

Gaja Baja builds its comedy on irony and frustration. The two characters’ trash talking and childish activities are also watchable. All in all, it’s a simple, light-hearted comedy without any depth to its characters. It will, nonetheless, hold you attention for the full 90 minutes