Tasher Desh

Tasher Desh is a psychotomimetic vision of Qaushiq Mukherjee's unapologetic experiment that goes beyond the professed acid trip. A madcap versifier, with almost fanatical obsession for the outré, conjures up compelling and bizarre images in a non-linear, dual narrative that slowly seduces the audience into a hypnotic psychedelic ride. The inertia of the chimeric first half explodes into a volatile kinetic force as we are introduced to the restless motley of Card soldiers in the fascist dystopo-neverland. The very Q-esque split-screen shots, hyperstylised edginess of hand-held camera movements, skip-edits and jump-cuts trigger the hallucinatory surreal eeriness of a grungy meta-reality. But everything goes downhill from then on. Our Mr. Infant Terrible suddenly turns into a glorified music video director haplessly resorting to deliberate abstractness as an escape route for his fizzling out self-indulgences. The sensory and visual striptease becomes clumsier in the amorous exchanges which reduces the prophesied sexual liberation into a libidinous exercise with an unsuspecting abrupt climax. Zany, techno-funk pagan Rabindrasangeet and Manu Dacosse's flamboyantly sumptuous cinematography are the two biggest gains from this discordant and floundering amorphous fantasy drama. And, a special mention for the subtitling which is impeccably apt and incredibly germane.

Chennai Express

A sadistic grandfather deliberately robs his adorable grandson of a normal, leave alone healthy, sex life. We get a sneak-peek into the damaged psyche of this horny 40 year old when he says: "I am not Angelina Jolie. I am a boy." Much to the surprise of an unsuspecting audience, he sets on a debauchery mission to Goa. However he ends up in a train with a South Indian babe and her rogue cousins. They compose limericks at the drop of a hat and even set them to the tunes of popular Hindi chartbusters. An extended Chitrahar without commercial breaks, and then he suddenly turns into an Aam Admi Party spokesperson, mouthing: "Don't underestimate the power of a common man." From a DDLJ tribute, the film transforms into an elopement drama at breakneck speed. Then one fine night, he manages to share a bed with her. As soon as his sex-starved mind does a high-5 with his Little Johnny, he encounters her split personality, a demonic rant-spouting possessed witch. And there goes his sex drive, kaboom. However he doesn't give up. Relentless in his pursuit, what follows are wild chases and epic badassery on display. He's beaten into a pulp, yet does a Karan Arjun-meets-Rocky Balboa act and beats the shit out of her gangstah dad's desi Hulks. So much for love. And sex. Moral of the story? Don't underestimate the libido of a common man.