BOOK REVIEW - LIGHTS CAMERA WAR!

 

As mentioned by the author Rammesh in the preface, even I was wary initially as to how did the guy manage to find FIFTY Indian war films, that too good ones. But then I started recapitulating, and I realized there were quite many.

 

As soon as I laid my hands upon the book, I immediately checked the "Contents" page to see which all films the author had included. There were times when I smiled satisfied seeing a few expected names pop up. There were times when I read the movie name and realized – "How did I not remember this film!"

 

WRITING STYLE, LANGUAGE & GRAMMAR

Author Rammesh's writing style is grammatically correct and immaculate. I particularly liked how he designed this scoring system for each films based on a lot of criteria. To be honest, being a bollywood fan myself, even I had never analysed a war film with such precision and detailing. The way he categorizes the points to be seen in a war film are excellent. For example, the authenticity of artillery and weapons used, the authenticity of the costumes, the use of local public, the role of women (Very thoughtful observation, especially since our war films have a lot of clichéd female characters).

 

I also loved how he put down all the clichés in the initial chapters itself. The entire section of these and the scoring system was sort of a reference chapter which I kept going back to every now and then.

 

POSITIVES

As mentioned above, the biggest plus point of the book is its highly systematic format. It gives us an insight into the clear mindset of the author. They are his firm opinions. There is no confusion or vagueness anywhere.

 

Secondly, I connected with the author on his opinions of a lot of films. It makes a big difference. You immediately feel that here is a person who takes the pains to watch a film and properly analyses it, without any unnecessary rant over its actors or makers.

 

Thirdly, the point system devised by the author is indeed gold material. Infact i would recommend the so called film reviewers of today to use it as a reference while reviewing war films; for that matter of fact any film based on true incidents. I would advise whoever reads this book to pay special attention to the initial chapters, because they contain the key to all the ratings given in the book.

 

A random reader who simply looks up in the contents page and directly sees the rating given to that film might not understand why it is less or more. For instance, Amrit Sagar's film "1971" starring Manoj Bajpayee which released in 2007 remains one of my favorite war films ever made. It has a highly tragic end which moved me. And so as soon as I got my hands on the book, I checked what rating the author had given to that film. I was dismayed to see that he had given a pretty measly rating out of 5. However once I read his criteria and the details inside, I realized why and how he reached on that rating.

 

NEGATIVES

None actually, except the fact that a few films which I love had poor ratings given by the author. But hey, it is a subjective opinion. It is his opinion and I respect the thought and efforts behind his opinion. I respect the unbiased opinions given by him.

 

OVERALL, "LIGHTS CAMERA WAR!" is an excellent book especially for those who absolutely love Bollywood films. It is sort of a reference book which you can go back to after watching any film mentioned in the book.