David

Bejoy Nambiar's 'David' is a Well-Made & Well-Acted Film, that ranks amongst the better films from 2013. It has strong merits, but, its far from astonishing.

'David' Synopsis: The lives of three different men named David are about to take a step which is going to change their lives forever.

'David' narrates three stories efficiently. Nambiar is an amazing visionary & he directs the film spell-bindingly. He breaks free & walks away with a film that's genuinely engaging. Nambiar & Natasha Sahgal's Screenplay, on the other-hand, is gripping. But, the second-hour is stretched & dragged. It definitely could've been sharper & more powerful. Cinematography is top-class. Editing is perfect. The Music is in sync with the film's mood.

Performance-Wise: Neil Nitin Mukesh is splendid. Also, he carries off the part with a lot of style. Vikram is over-rated in here. Vinay Virmani surprises with a power-packed performance. He's excellent. Tabu is outstanding, as usual. Isha Sharvani is wonderfully under-stated. Nassar is in command after a long time. The veteran is superb. Lara Dutta is efficient. Monica Dogra is fabulous. Rohini Hattangadi is competent. Sheetal Menon is first-rate. Saurabh Shukla is lovable. Ajinkya Dev is excellent.

On the whole, 'David' is a fearless film.

David is a story of three lives in three generations that at the end cross each other's path. Bejoy Nambiar has directed this visually appealing and musically soothing movie in an attempt to hit the dart which he failed last time even after the exhibition of some fine artistic prowess in "Shaitan". At times joking, at times fighting and at times crying, it tries to say the same old story of revenge and love with slightly different recipe.

Neil Nitin Mukesh's David is a man-of-few-words-David, and may be the best story in all three. This one with its black n white tone sets the gritty mood right away. The actors here have acted their part well and even the story keeps you with it. A crime drama, which has its own set of twists brought to screen beautifully.

Vinay's David is a wanabe-rockstar-David. This one's a drama which could have been easily better with the potential the screenplay carried but the unconvincing portrayal by Vinay put it all off since the story fully rests on him. One as an audience will find it difficult to empathize with his character even when this is supposed to be more painful than the other two.

Finally Vikram's David is the drunkard David who is hated by his neighborhood for his unruly nature. Clearly not Vikram's best, he still has given something to the role which wasn't enough. The story tries to be funny with its unconventional screenplay like his dead father (Sourabh Shukla) coming to visit him after taking over a living person's body, randomly. The screenplay seems dragged and useless in many places.

Coming with the expectations for the director of Shaitan, surely left me disappointed. Shaitan by far beats this one, mostly for its lazy editing and poor acting. In general perspective though this is not half as bad as the usual Bollywood. (imeansuraj.blogspot.in)

David (tamil) ( 2013 )

The making. That was the main attraction of director Bejoy Nambiar's previous project : Shaitan. I was so excited to see that movie in a totally new making style. Bejoy Nambiar was added to my favorite film maker's list and I don't miss my favorites' creations. That's how I got in for 'DAVID' , the tamil version.

Watched this in a local theatre near to my house. The main advantage of this is that there wont be a 'mass' presence to disturb the peaceful movie watching. It was released quite a few days back and I went for a noon show on a Tuesday. So there was no chance of a disturbance and I like it that way at times.

'DAVID' is a sleek n simple tale of two persons with the same name. though their life is shown on a parallel mode, it happens during 2 different times(1999 & 2010). Jiva as the aspiring guitarist and Vikram as the so called 'unlucky' fisherman of goa, tabu as his friend,his mother,his dad; all were great delight to watch. Isha Shervani does her part decently and the good moments in this were in the Vikram's story.

The album is awesome and I loved all the tracks in this. The film opens up with the theme song of 'DAVID' and that's very exciting to watch. The unconventional 'khoya khoya chaand' style (of Shaitan) is repeated in this also in a fight sequence.

The way I understood , 'DAVID' is about the identity that each one of us have and why its not possible for one to be someone else. We all have a name, a soul and a character and we are supposed to do certain things which only we can do. So we shouldn't be trying to be someone else. If we did, then who is gonna do our part?? I felt that's what the movie is all about. The name 'DAVID' was just a random pick ; it could have be anyone , any name..

I just came home after watching David and i can't help but keep thinking of the 2 davids.David is a film about two very different persons and their journey.Most of the viewers find that there was no connection between the two stories while i felt that it is indeed connected deeply and its real content lies within and it is to be understood, for those who do understand its the journey of a lifetime.

David(Vikram) is a carefree youth who was dumped by Annie,his bride to be and he lives with that scar on his heart hating marriages.His best friend Peter informs him about his love whom he is going to marry and how that girl is deaf and dumb.Problem starts when David falls for his best friend's fiancé.David's dad as the wandering spirit and Tabu are quite good including Vikram. The only drawback is that Vikram is seen drinking in all the scenes from start to end and that is somewhat tiring.

The second plot revolves around David(Jiva) who portrays an aspiring musician and at a later stage an angry youth searching for answers. Jiva is exceptional and this is his best performance till date.Nasser is very good and he evokes a sense of empathy when he come to terms with himself and with others.

Overall this film is connected in the way how both David's initially refuse to accept the way of life and find themselves at troubled waters not being able to handle pain,how they come to terms with themselves and accept life forms a major part of the story which others describe as slow and a weak screenplay.In my opinion David is one of those films that is not to be missed and i recommend this to all of those who wish to see a meaningful movie which will touch your heart.

Many a times there are instances when we receive a very attractive & elegantly designed print advertisement or invitation mailed to our address, informing us about a new lavish restaurant in our locality with some tempting offers. Impressed by the look of the card, we opt for it in the next weekend and really love the ambiance of the place, decorated beautifully with many well chosen props and great music playing in the background along with a pleasant staff. But after a while when we are finished with our dinner and dessert, we don't feel like having served something exceptional or out of this world. The taste is just the same as usual and the food fails to rise above the routine, which doesn't allow us to say that it was an entertaining evening well lived or enjoyed.

Now exactly same is the case with David, which has everything fine in technical terms but still is not able to convince or entertain the viewers at all as promised by its well designed promos. Director Bejoy Nambiar (of SHAITAAN fame) chooses a script which must have looked innovative and exciting on paper talking about 3 different Davids in 3 contrasting eras of 1975, 1999 and 2010 connecting with each other in the climax. And he also begins quite well with the 1975 era shown in grey tone making way for the other two in bright colours. But as the film progresses, the narration neither gives you any entertaining moments nor has any unexpected shocks stored for the viewer till the intermission.

Actually as soon as we know that the film is about 3 different Davids, its anybody's guess that the three will eventually find a connection with each other in the climax and that's precisely what David offers in the end without making any kind of solid impression on the viewers. The second half has some better moments in comparison to the first but those too are not able to pull you in collectively. Moreover few insertions in the script are really absurd like the spirit of 2010 David's dead father entering into various persons in order to talk with his son and 1999 David's meaningless relationship with her gorgeous student. Also there is a scene in which a kid is shown drinking straight from the bottle like an adult which strangely was not objected by our honorable censor board who strongly thinks that cigarette smoking should not be shown on the screen without any warning notification.

The different stories of 3 DAVIDs keep coming in one after another indicating towards a conclusive end but none of them is engaging enough to provide you the much needed excitement resulting in enough boring moments in its both halves. Having said that, I really loved watching & hearing the maestro REMO after a long time and this made me remember all his hit songs of the 90s once again. The man really eats, sleeps & lives music literally and it was really sad that he decided to isolate himself from the industry after that tragic unfortunate event in his life.

Coming back to David, its undoubtedly a technically polished product with a stunning cinematography experimenting with different colour tones and an energetic background score composed well. Its frames are interesting and characterisation intense which unfortunately fails to deliver an equally amusing film in totality. Musically too David is unable to hit the right note and I really didn't like the forced & energy-less remixed version of the famous "Dama Dumb Mast Qalander" used unnecessarily.

Content wise, the story of 1975 has the same Mafia Don's family affairs shot perfectly featuring a passionate love affair and the 2010 section has the ages old love and sacrifice formula used once again without any vision. Therefore the David in 1999 here has something new in terms of storyline depicting the real meaning of religion expressed in few well written dialogues in its second half. But since the film fails to en- cash these impressive moments further, it remains only a well attempted product in the end with few unjustified revelations made in its climax, questionably pointing towards the writers. For instance its really confusing to see the two middle aged intelligence people in 1975 suddenly shooting at unarmed David and his father like mafia dons and then a hardcore musician becoming a Father in the Church at such a young age.

Interestingly in the performance department too I have a different opinion than most of the reviewers since I found the acts of Vinay Virmani (1999) and Vikram (2010) much better than the one by Neil Nitin Mukesh (1975). Though Vikram was given the most clichéd plot to work upon (looking overage for his role of a one sided lover), the actor still delivers an honest performance along with Vinay Virmani who simply excels as the helpless youngster in front of the powerful politicians. Neil Nitin Mukesh performs well too but as I felt he couldn't move ahead that the other two Davids in the film mainly due to his routine kind of plot (1975) shot artistically. In the supporting cast there are many renowned names such as Tabu, Lara Dutta, Milind Soman, Satish Kaushik and Prahlad Kakkar (in a cameo) who all do well in their small roles. Monica Dogra and Isha as the love interests make an impact along with Rohini Hattangadi as the politician and Nasser as the targeted Father spreading Christianity. Plus Akarsh Khurana, Neil Bhoopalam, Nishan Nanaiah, Ajinkya Deo, Sheetal Menon & Shweta Pandit (Singer turned actor) all shine in their small acts throughout.

In all, David is technically perfect and a visual treat to watch with some impressive sequences post intermission. But despite of so many positive features in its making the film fails to hold you convincingly in more than two hours of its duration and thus cannot be rated more than an above average venture.