Wednesday - and why I don’t read reviews !!!
Wednesday - and why I don’t read reviews !!!
Warning - long rambling politically & logically incorrect non serious post
I wonder why do people apply their brains so much at the wrong place ?
Why is it that a decent/genuine film people has to face more criticism (the word criticism opens a whole new pandora’s box actually) rather than a Singh is King, an Om Shanti Om or a “thali” film as RGV puts it ?
Why is it that a fake film elicits more praise from everyone than a genuine (or lemme put it this way a ‘lesser fake’) film like Wednesday ?
Some authors were having a discussion on wednesday and were finding it tooooooo disbelievable at times.
My question to them is what about the million other films where you willingly suspended ur disbelief ? Why nit pick ?
A film is like a person. You like him/her or you don’t. Do you analyse people like what exactly is wrong with KK ? his hair should be like this …his stomach should go in ..he should work out ..his smile is superb … he should apply fair and handsome cream …he needs to be more caring to women and children ?
Do you ?
Not unless i have hired you/you are a beautician/nutritionist/doctor/psychoanalysist/mahatma gandhi.
A film is a film is a film is a film is a film. you like it, great. you don’t, good.
But what simply takes the cake is every time a genuine/nice/decent film like Wednesday (manorama, johnny G) comes out which deserves praise (of course it has shortcomings) everyone starts coming out with their views on how a thriller should be ..everyone becomes a Hitch’cock’ (pun intended). Every one becomes an expert on why something in the film didnt work for them. And how the film had amateur moments plenty.
I remember an aspiring director telling me “Aisa low budget films mein audience will ALWAYS look for flaws ..they won’t in an SRK/Akshay kumar film.”
In Comes a songless decent thriller which actually ‘thrills’ (that is the very basis of a thriller…nothing else..if it thrills u its a thriller else not).
Why this objectivity ? Why this love for english and IQ and logic ? What logic ? What IQ ?
You goto a hotel and eat food. You tell me how good/bad the food is. Don’t tell me they should marinate the chicken breasts to 5 degree Celcius more. I’m NOT FUCKING INTRESTED IN THAT !!! It might intrest you ..and others.. Am sorry it doesn’t intrest me for sure.
Spoilers ahead
———————————————
I personally think Wednesday doesn’t preach, Naseer is awesome, anupam is perfect. Some scenes are tacky sure. More intelligent people may find ‘heads turning in unison’, someone pissing off at the sight of a cop, cop beating another cop, No live coverage, hacker kid is flat, windows vista GUI (dude goto microsoft.com to check out a video of windows vista if you want, don’t watch the film naaa..it’s not a bill gates comissioned documentary)
And even if you are distracted by the windows vista screen the film didn’t work for you I have a question.
How about Abbas mastan’s Ajnabee , om jai jagdish and Fida on hacking ?
Is wednesday about hacking ?
I don’t think so.
Is wednesday about why and how a Comissioner says “Bastard”
No… You are watching the wrong film.
“The peeing sequence was perhaps meant to reinforce the strength and force of Jimmy Shergill’s character. These are some of the scenes where I felt that the director was juggling between reality-made-interesting and over-the-top-reality-trying-hard-to-make-it-interesting.”
Why so much english ? What’s the point ? What is reality ? (In fact I will come to that in my next few paras)
“the gungho cop sez he doesnt need any backup and proceeeds to check out every floor of a multi storied building at frenetic pace.. “
He was the caped crusader, didn’t you notice ? (ok ok i admit ..that was an rgv response)
Spoilers end
———————————————
It has become a BIG trip on everyone (including me i admit) to pick on some ‘logical’ flaws. It’s not an IIT entrance exam paper or IAS personal interview questions paper that a film is. If you wanna do that pick up any nice book on mathematics and solve the prime number problem or any of the NP Complete problems.
And i must confess all this puts me off. It’s criminal to trivilise and criminalise and split hairs on a decent film. Hollywood or not, cinematic liberty or not, 4 stars or not, i dunno. It’s a good film. I liked it. I will reccomend it to everyone (except those who apply their brains a little too much and stephen hawking).
Baat khatam.
Anuragji you are right “90% of the films made are DVD remakes, the first original film which comes out, we SPLIT HAIR ON IT“.
Which brings me to the second and the more important point.
Some people felt Wednesday wasn’t REAL.
WHO OR WHAT DECIDES WHAT IS REAL ? YOU ? ME ? THE FILMAKER ? THE CRITIC? THE FILM REVIEWER ? THE AUDIENCE?
SO WHAT IF IT IS REAL OR NOT ?
SO WHAT ????
Does that make any good ? any bad ?
Everyone knows the topography of ramgarh village in sholay is south indian villagish.So what ????
DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD ?
THERE IS NOOOOOOOOOO SUCH THING AS A REAL FILM. IT’S BULLSHIT. REALITY IS OVERRATED.
Was googling as usual for manirathnam ..and Dil Se … and stumled upon this article
“Mani Ratnam’s much-hyped film Dil Se may have touched the hearts of millions of cine-goers all over the country. But in Assam, on the situation of which the film is based, Dil Se has failed to hit where it matter.”
Moving forward the article also says
“The Assam situation has been exploited by Mani Ratnam for commercial interests…Dil Se cannot be compared with Roja and Bombay. The other two were much better films as far as the backdrop of Kashmir and Mumbai were concerned. I am terribly disappointed. Assam’s basic problem has been focussed in a wrong manner”
And something which actually struck me as true
“Dainik Assam on the other hand has pointed out that the “human bomb” which Manisha Koirala turns into in Dil Se is typical only of the LTTE and not of any rebel group of the north-east”
While i must confess i do not have any idea about LTTE or ULFA and north east extremists. Am also not aware of the problems of North East, at the same time the article did set me thinking.
I spoke to apna pfc author Kenny who confirms that the regional language used in the film (when female Radio incharge fights with the sabziwaala, some minute dialogues of manisha interspersed here and there) are in assamese.
But then when i asked Kenny if the terrorists there used human-bombs ? The following was his reply
“I can give it in writing they never will use human bombing. The only suicide bombings in assam have happened a couple of times when the damn fool militants set off their bombs by mistake !!!”
May be the article is hinting that north east problems have not been shown as they are in the “real”
Which brought me to think … What exactly is REAL ??? Is it overrated ? Is it really meaning what it means ?
Here are a few questions from the films I love ..At times YES ..these may seem hair splitting ….
1. How real is the conversation of the gang in Jungle(assuming it’s “real” and of course ignoring the end) ? They have a slight Northern accent (UP-haryanvi etc) … How did people in the Western ghats (maharasthra) come to speak like that ? Evidently it is set there.
2. Satya .. why would hyderabadis work in mumbai gang ? Who is Jagga bhai? I always thought it would be muslims /maharasthrians/ Kannadigas as dons ….
Why does Inspector Khandilkar talk at times in a shudhdh hindi way (havent come across a single maharasthrian who uses either of the words) ? “Police sootron ke anusar ….”
How do you have a north indian Home Minister ? (“Prajatantra ka dhaancha hi kuch aisa hai”)
3. Rang De Basanti … which DU student will u see ‘bungee jumping’ into water ? Where exactly is this place ?
4. Sholay..as sriram raghavan says, why don’t jai and veeru take along Gabbar with them when Jai comes to the rescue of basanti and veeru (jab tak hai jaan song)….
Now that i have pointed out some ‘flaws’ in these films, Am i the BEST ?
I don’t care what you think.. really because i don’t read reviews. Rangan, raja sen, Khalid mohmd, mayank shekar and most of the people here on pfc, i only read reviews when i am sure that the review is not an objective one (or if it is hilarious)
Eg: i didnt think too much of subbupuram/rock on. But i would rather read a passionate piece on the same by pratimDa & Dpac rather than someone who finds faults in the film and gloats over in a jaccuzzi.
And i don’t read reviews. Too much analysis and english for me i must confess.
That doesn’t mean if i do an anaylsis or i talk in english i expect anyone to respond the same or any different.
P.S - im not intrested in reclarifying and elaborating on this ..i said what i had to say and may or may not respond to comments. Apologies
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I think i have a thing or two to say about this, kartik- meet you soon
And I think AW is getting way MORE praise than it merits- even Johnny Gadaar, Manorama, Aamir- way better films didn’t get this kinda reception! So why the rant?
disagree jahaan ….
AW imo desrves more than rock on ..and mmj …
Kartik..Just interested to know..who made these comments about Wednesday? Would like to read the complete POV.
The point is not about reality. It’s about being convincing. The way naseer drops that bag in the station is unbelievable!
i believed it jahaan …
anand - the commentators im sure will comment here too
Rock on is overrated too- but MMJ IMO is way better than both… now can’t I accuse you of splitting hairs over it?
welcome tana tana tana welcome
thats the point jahaan ..let’s not split hair over spilt shampoo
mmj might be a better film but i liked AW more
Kartik - I want to know why you liked AW more (than say MMJ). From your post( minus the spoilers, which I will not read till the movie is released in Dubai) I could gather the following, which was not enough, IMHO :
a decent/nice/original/genuine film
KK u need to relax…..
why get so worked up?
if i have my problems with a film why cant 1 or anyone else express it.
if you dont like it, think that its being unfare stay away from it s you said you do.
fair enough.
i said rock on/ jtyjn was a good film cause they delivered exactly what they promised, they did and succeeded in what they had set out to do.
where WEDNESDAY although is a good film, fails in doing so, there are too many faults which even the makers would know exist.
In the hollywood thriller ‘The Rock’, Sean connery who has been incarcerated for 3 decades - the first chance he gets to use a HumV simply drives i
Warning - short precise politically incorrect logically totally correct non serious comment
FUCK off KK!
yeah long rambling and boring just like AW .. i couldnt sit through wednesday either…
sg, dpac -
rick may be i need to chill ….
dpac by the way ..this is the only time i understood anything u have ever said
it takes effort for that kk..ehehe
effort for making movies
effort for reviewing them..
and above all a bit of sincerity.
and all that maybe a bit too much for a ur ‘lets wank off and leave a disclaimer on top’ rant league
ps: oops mebe the last phrase might need some effort to understand as well ehehehe
u win sir
u r so gracious sir..
u should have said ‘i lose’ eheheh
I absolutely agree with KK. There are two things what we as a reader look for in reviews. One is consistency and the second is honesty. No film according to me promises anything. So it is the mistake of the reviewer to go with expectations. Otherwise use different benchmarks for different kinda movies since I feel many reviewers aren’t consistent. One more thing is that some people need some time to digest a good unconventional movie. I am sure the same reviewers which criticised the movie will group it as a classic after some years ala Taran adarsh for DCH.
there are still road drawings, at least in calcutta, that claim the sun revolves around the earth.. there are also people who believe that and they all have their theories in place… those are theories not to convince others but to stay convinced themselves… like kk’s (and phoenixnu’s) theories about liking a film and subsequently making a propaganda out of it…
i also don’t care which reviewer says what about wednesday and i wouldn’t like to quote what i wrote in my own review in the telegraph… i just have serious problems with a film which
1. propagates something so dangerous (only anupama chopra touched this point by the way) and letting the guy get away with it…
2. takes the audiences for a ride by manipulating them… if anupam calls naseer a bastard in the first scene, how can he behave like a long-lost friend in the last scene??? so the bastard was for effect to tell people at the outset that he is a bad guy…
3. and, like KK, fakes to justify its point… IF A TV CHANNEL SHOWS AN EVENT LIVE, HOW IN THE WORLD CAN IT STAY A “SECRET KNOWN BY FOUR OR FIVE PEOPLE”???
i’m ok with bad acting, terrible spl fx, horrendous background music, same cam angles but manipulation and faking cannot be the highlights of a film which claims it has a heart… now that’s what i really call PSEUDO, Mr Krishnan…
Hi Kartik,
It’s obvious that your thoughts came red-hot out of the pen (figuratively speaking)
:) And your observations about people getting worked up so much more about a genuine film than an absolute trash, is correct. But then, that’s natural I think.
People notice, think about, and challenge things that jump out of a context, jarr the prevailing environment. The environment created by, let’s say, a Singh is King is obtuse. It’s silliness followed by sillines and then some more. So when you have accepted that environment once, there’s nothing that breaks that acceptance of yours. So you don’t stir. You can only like or dislike that film fundamentally, you can’t nitpick.
A good film, on the other hand, raises the bar. It tells you very early to expect the best, nothing else. So in that environment, any small oversight gets magnified. You challenge it because it goes against the very thing it has told you.
A badly-dressed waiter fits perfectly in a run-down restaurant. You may not find a run-down restaurant agreeable, but an unkempt waiter there isn’t a shock. The same guy in a 5 star is unequivocally unacceptable.
That’s why A Wednesday will invite far more nit-picking than a useless thali film.
@ inca - apt analogy.
KK: I love your convenient “my way or highway” philosophy :):). It’s something I intend to practise a lot on you.
When you don’t like a film, all the logic, IQ and, god forbid, English is kosher for you. But when you like one, then the whole universe seems splitting hair when the point out a flaw. The problem with A Wednesday is many of those scenes and dialogs stick out in the film. And that’s why I remember them. It’s inconsistent and at times insincere.
Anyway, a lot of people on PFC (who were holding their breath) would be delighted to hear that you finally liked a film this year and all’s not lost for us. Hamare dhanya bhaagya
Dude KK, you’re giving too much importance to KK. What this KK likes, why KK likes what KK likes etc. Think of it this way - KK is irrelevant. Say KK took a walk tomorrow & one lorry hit him & that’s the end of that KK.
Look at how many times you have used “I” in this article. I spoke I did I didn’t I must confess I am I am not etc. Who cares what you did ? Who the heck are you ? 
So just tell us about the movie. Don’t bring yourself into it. Its passion for cinema, not passion for KK.
So after killing that ego, you go watch Wednesday or SiK or OSO. Then come back to pfc & tell us what you think.
But don’t go to film with this KK hat on, & then ask stupid questions about logic flaw, splitting hairs, reality, feeling good etc. If you don’t want to split the hair don’t split na ? Who is forcing you ? Somebody else wants to split let him split it. If you don’t care about chicken breast fine, you eat idlidosa. Somebody else cares, that’s why he insists on marinating it correctly. 10 years from now you will completely hate wednesday or sholay or whatever else. Movies are temporary high. You say you like wednesday more than mmj, is like saying you like Ash more than Katrina. Once you are married neither your wife nor you nor Ash nor Katrina will care what you like
subbu pratimDa lurker - point taken
While there is lot of discussion on Wednesday going on, unfortunately I can not participate as We at Jaipur are deprived of the film as it has not open on any of the screen.. (Jaipur still has to see Blue Umbrella in theaters).. Though Wednesday is already available on pirated circuits but Do I really want it to watch it on that route.. No Way… but do I have any other way than to wait for a DVD?
“3. Rang De Basanti … which DU student will u see ‘bungee jumping’ into water ? Where exactly is this place ?”
At Nahargarh in Jaipur..
On your Next visit to Jaipur will take you there.. though not as clean as in the film..
Just Superb.. one of the best movie i have watched in recent time … a must watch …
@KK
totally agree with you on this man,this is what happens when someone dissects and analyses a movie which touched you and then lambasts it saying that this is not upto the standard or the camera was 45degrees to the right and not to the left .
My fav movie is Serendipity and I don’t care if the movie has a rating of 6.0 or 3.0 on IMDB or whether a fucking critic likes it or not ,it is my classic and that’s it.
movies are an art form and it’s not about logic or science ,agar dil ko achha lagta hai to movie achhi hai varna sab bekaar hai.
yea there are things like cinematography and art direction and stuff like that ,but that’s a secondary thing ,the first and foremost thing is the love you have for the movie and the medium and every other thing is derived from it.
@Lurker
Dude just one question…..what makes PFC ? is it the javascript or the HTML ?or the fancy design of the website ? it’s the passionate people who make up PFC.
If we were just there to analyse movies logically and by the rule book then we could have robots running PFC…..and it wouldn’t make an iota of difference…..perception is very important ,it varies from person to person and that’s what keeps the medium alive ,and who the heck is anybody to decide whether a movie is classic or not ,for me some movie may be a classic and no one can change that perception for me. end of story.
Wot i hated most abt Wednesday is it is or tries to be different for the sake of it. i mean the title “Wednesday”.. WHY??? jus to be different, it could have been anything. jus to justify, there is a dialogue in the end.
Itna hi kharaab hai to globus mein sindhi bhai log taaliyaan kyon bajaaye “yesterday - 6.45 pm show”??????
@KK
Nice artilce buddy !! total ageee with all yr points
well there are many feedback and review abt film “Wednesday’
u know we indian are afraid of change,
thoda kuch naya dikha to lage pin point karne…
Jodha akber film 3hrs &30 mint ki hai to problem hai Wednesday film 90 mint ki hai to problem hai,
first fall we should hats off to Niraj for such a great attampt, a nice movie with short budget & great message.
we should feel great that now Trends are changing and
and these kinds of films will open oppourtunity door for new talented Directors.
@vineet agree with points man
@ parth
u r saying U hate the film title
sir film main Title ke alawa bhi bahut kuch hai….dekhane ke leye…and by the whats wrong with title…..
Dost subhai ghai aur David dhawan ki filmo ki duniya ke titles se bhahar aa ja…
kyoun film ka title kya “sajan chale sasural wednesday” hona chaheye tha.
dost yaha baithe ke dusre ke kaam ka review karna aur comment pass karna easy hai….
please dont do that,
please see the positive point in film instead of negative ….
PFC is great forum where we need to encourage this dirs who are trying to make differnt film…
@ Indraneel: same thing happend at vashi cinemax when people claped at end of film.
Just saw the film last night. Never have I come across a film where the critics have got it all wrong so much ( Maybe Black was another such film.) The film is a one-trick pony, hinged completely on the twist in the end. Right from the scene where Naseer lodges a complaint about losing a purse ( Lodging a FIR about losing a purse! In that vague language, without details of the credit card and ATM card!) everything is very unbelievable and amateurish. Even taking it as a fantasy, the message is silly. No common man can have the wherewithal to pant the six bombs , and neither is it desirable. That is why they have the police and law-enforcing agency in every society. A film like Indian/ Hindustani is done in a different key, and the point of those films is not really justify the solution shown, but captre the anger and frustration. That aspect is totally lacking in this film. Increasingly I am getting convinced that the mainstream audience is a more reliable judge of the quality of a mainstream film than our present-day critics.
#
But as I said the problem is, it’s very flimsy premise, and Naseer’s character is very ill conceived. A common man can feel angry, but not have the gumption or the application required to carry out an operation like this. I mean that’s why he is the COMMON MAN. A common man is happy to lead an ordinary life, he does not expect much either, and he expects authorities like the police to provide him protection. And the nager you talk of is the writer’s imagination too. The common man is not all that worked up about terrorism. That’s why it is not connecting with audiences in a big way. In Indian/ Hindustan the Kamal Hassan character was worked up about corruption in daily life, at the RTO, at a hospital, things that touch all pour lives daily. Now terrorism, that’s a distant thing, even if it happens in a train you were travelling, it’s like an accident, or a natural disaster. And the execution is so pat, without any cost to oneself, philosophically that;s faulty. Hypothetically, even if a common man was worked enough, brave enough, and smart enough to pull this off, there would still be price to pay, causalities to be borne.Heroism is not easy and painless. At least films like Indian or Nayak did not underestimate the enemy.
Forget all this, the sheer amateurism of writing is what left me uninvolved from scene one. Naseer comes to the police station to lodge a FIR about a lost purse! H” how did you lose your purse? ‘ ” What do you mean? How does one lose one’s purse? ” No recording of the details of credit card card, nothing, just directing him to the toilet . I was not convinced at all. And referring to Naseer as ” the Common Man’ and Naseer’s impeccable English betrays the shallowness of the director, where the ‘ common man’; is an English speaking, muslim hating, computer savvy, morally ambivalent vigilante. No, this one is a college drama enthusiast’s idea of a brilliant script. And about as mature and meaningful.
@Utkal
While i do agree with you about not establishing Naseer’s background properly, which would have made his operation look more credible, there are other points, which somehow made no sense to me.
“And referring to Naseer as ” the Common Man’ and Naseer’s impeccable English betrays the shallowness of the director, where the ‘ common man’; is an English speaking, muslim hating, computer savvy, morally ambivalent vigilante”.
Where is the Muslim hatred comming into the picture, there are equal number of Muslims who think of terrorists as pests to be exterminated, and at no stage in the movie do we have any background of Naseer, whether he is Hindu or Muslim or Christian. Yeah he has given a FIR, using his name of Sharma, but even we are not sure whether it is his real name. Even when Anupam Kher asks him, whether he is Hindu, he just brushes it aside, saying that this is not a question of a Hindu or Muslim.
” The common man is not all that worked up about terrorism”
After the recent twin blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, there are many Aam Aadmi, who are really really worked up about terrorism. Many may not show it, but deep down inside, there is a lingering insecurity in the heart of the common man. What Naseer says in the end is not hyperbole, it is the bitter truth. The common man is fed up of terrorism. And while we may not do what Naseer has done in this movie, there are many of us who would happily do it, given a chance. Yes the Aam Aadmi expects the cops to protect him, and the Govt to fulfil its duties, but when it fails, the resentment in him rises. And that is happening in India right now.
Yeah maybe showing a common man planting bombs is not desirable, but then how desirable are movies which make heroes out of gangster or terrorists? How desirable would be a movie like Reservoir Dogs, which shows one of the lead character, deriving sadistic glee in torturing an innocent person? If you go by desirability factor, then 90% of the movies should not be shown at all, coz, most of them contain scenes, which do not meet that standard.
Ratnakar, please don’t compare films like Reservoir Dogs with A Wednseday. The former uses a far more complex and sophisticated language. Nothing is offered as a solution there. Watch Aamir to know the difference.
Also the whole thing is done so amateurishly, like a college play. Just take the FIR lodging scene and you will see how totally unconvincing it is.
After reading thousand reviews/comments on reviews/reviews of comment of MMJ, ROCKON and Now AW, i realised what anuragji means by ““90% of the films made are DVD remakes, the first original film which comes out, we SPLIT HAIR ON IT“.
Kartik, I’m with you on this one. I loved A Wednesday and will recommend it to everyone. I was about two minutes late and missed the intro voiceover, so if Mr Anupam Kher calls Naseersaab’s character a bastard, then that’s deceitful manipulation, but apart from that and the benches simply lying on the runaway thing, I was totally engaged. There weren’t many people in Movietime Malad, but the few that were there were heartily clapping at the climax dialogues.
KK itna gussa kyon? Just go back & read your own reviews of Shiva & No Smoking… We all are passionate about films… We like some,we loathe some… Everyone deserves to have an opinion
I wont stop reading reviews… Just because Khalid & Rangan loved KANK & I hated it… Or I still consider you a friend even though you hated No Smoking & I loved it:) This is a democratic world man, everyone deserves space here. Drink few beers & work on the script you wish to make into film instead of wasting your time like this… 
Sir i will have to say you have put my thoughts into words…everything u said is apt and very relevant…
at times one finds it ridiculous that crap like oso isnt called unrealistic bcoz it was meant to be a crap(why the hell did mature ones appreciate it then) but in brilliant works like wednesday or wts,people just look for flaws..if the ending was too good,they said only ending is exciting nothing else…this looks childish…everything apart from cinematography and background score was perfect,so these two were criticised like hell…wat about the main actor in every Indian action movie acquiring superpowers for some time(fight sequences),and behaving like superman(remember ending of blockbuster main hoon na)…
grow up friends…appreciate genuine class