Brahman Naman (2016)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Okay first things first, I am a female reviewing this movie. I really like the aesthetics. The medium film is a visual medium and this movie really makes full use of visuals and editing, also sound editing to make jokes. It's really inventive that way. Or maybe I just think it's inventive because I haven't watched enough movies to know better, but what I mean is, you know, whoever made this movie had a vision. Also like the writing.The jokes are funny, witty and the back and forth between the characters, it should sound forced and fake but doesn't. everything is adorably quirkyI guess this movie is setting out to capture that specific life of nerdy upper class Brahman college students in Bangalore in the 80's. I wouldn't know if it did that authentically, but somehow this all feels like something that must have been like that at some time.The movie is incredibly sexist and doesn't shy away from making its main character look like an elitist, sexist asshole. The male gaze is everywhere in this movie and it's obsessed with naked women, specifically their nipples and vaginas. The addition of the womens quizz team they meet in the train doesn't excuse all the objectification. Naina in the end, is as much a male nerd's fantasy as those nipples and vaginas. However, the movie isn't kind to it's male characters either, they're shown as hormone driven, insecure and even emasculated pricks. So yeah, the movie is shitty to both men and women. And while the sexism never gets condemned, it doesn't get justified either. For whatever that's worth.All in all, pretty good movie. I just wanted to make sure that sexism thing was gonna be mentioned in at least one of the reviews.

Brahman Naman starts of extremely well. Set in 80s Bangalore and being a Bangalorean all my life I enjoyed the setting, its about Naman and his gang of friends who are all into quizzing but are equally sex crazy and want to lose their virginity at the earliest. This leads them into some hilarious situations and some badly failed attempts.Its a great idea on paper and could have been the Indian geeky version of American Pie but somehow Mukerjee (the director) and Ramachandran (the writer) don't know which tone to keep the film moving.The movie does become a serious affair in the last half hour when Naman and his friends start looking for love and sex together which made me confused. Frankly, the comedy was so good that didn't require them to take such a serious turn. The rule is simple folks - Sex comedies should never become serious, keep it simple and light.If you are a quizzer like me you will love this film because there is so much quizzing here. I loved the idea of the director putting a question to audience between the film. There is a lot of Shakespearean English here , so don't get lost. And if you are a Kannadiga Brahmin or want to see a Brahmin way of living, this movie is decent watch.The performances are top notch. Shashank Arora is an actor to watch out for. He is extremely good as Naman the sex crazy quizzer who objectifies women, is very selfish and thinks he is some hero but actually is coward. Its not easy to portray such a character. His partner in crime is Tamanay and they share a nice chemistry on screen. The rest of the cast does a nice job.Overall, its a confusing film and watch it if you love sex comedies and quizzing.

Okay. So I watched this movie last night. I'm not sure what naysayers have against it, but I would most certainly recommend it to someone who's grown up in India. Even more so to someone who's been a 70s or 80s child. And really really very much to someone who's into trivia. And lastly to anyone who's been a young man in this country, wondering how to get the girls :) That being said, I'll list out some of the things that I loved about the movie --- 1) Look and feel: The movie has been shot remarkably well. The credits, the sets, the production.. it's all classy. Very nicely done. 2) The 80s feels: I do not know what the India of the 80s was like, but I was struck by how nicely they've tried to live true to the movie's setting. There were certainly things that I could relate to, having seen small town India in the 90s :) 3) Narrative, Editing & Direction: I cannot recall a single dull moment in the movie. The narrative grasps you right from the outset and does not let go till the end.

This piece of brilliant fusion between JethroTull and Cinema has blown me away from the beginning. The script is witty yet simple and one does see originality in it. This should be a lesson to all the 'Filmmakers' of Bollywood. I highly recommend it for the acting is simple yet strong at the same time. This probably is the first time that i have heard JethroTull in a Desi movie and for that alone you should watch it. Its 1.35 hours of pure unadulterated fun with the quality of the actors diction being recognized. Set in the 80's, this classic epitomizes the culture that one strains to see today. If it were a simple boy meets girl falls in love movie, i too would have given it a 5. something, however i rate it a big 9.