Prateek's Musings

First Exposure to F1

I started following Formula 1 for a brief period in my childhood during the final years of Michael Schumacher's championship streak, only to get back during the pandemic when the topic came up while speaking to a close friend. Thanks to a reasonably priced Hotstar subscription, decent internet connection and a new-ish TV at home, I followed the sport through the COVID-19 stricken 2020, controversial 2021 and one-sided 2022 seasons. Then life happened, I moved to another city for work and lost access to all of these, only to be limited to highlights on YouTube.

While OTT subscriptions and binge watching took a back seat, I started watching movies on the big screen more frequently. From not watching a film in theatres for years together as a child, I now watch at least one movie a month on average in theatres. So when I saw my current and previous pastimes come together, I knew I was in for something special.

Synopsis and Credits

F1 is the story of Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a former Formula 1 driver who is forced to leave the sport thirty years ago after a horrific crash, post which he spends a decade on gambling and failed relationships before embarking on a journey of making one-off appearances in different types of car racing events across the United States. After one such appearance, Sonny is approached by an old friend and former F1 driver Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), who has bought a team named APX GP. After failing to score points for two and a half seasons and the imminent risk of a fire sale; Ruben offers Sonny a seat to save the team and fulfill his long lost dream of winning an F1 race.

The movie is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who last made Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, the sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun starring Tom Cruise. Joseph co-wrote the story with Ehren Kruger who wrote the screenplay. Kosinski also served as producer alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, Brad Pitt and seven-time F1 world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton among others. Hans Zimmer provided the soundtrack, while Kosinski's regular collaborator Claudio Miranda is the cinematographer.

Watching in IMAX

For the uninitiated, IMAX is a specialised projection standard with one of its key features being a taller aspect ratio (1.43:1 or 1.90:1) than the usual scope aspect ratio (2.39:1). F1 has been filmed for IMAX, hence it only made sense to watch the film on an IMAX screen.

Thankfully, the Mumbai metropolitan region has 6 theatres equipped with IMAX screens, spread pretty well geographically. Each screen has different projection and audio configurations, which results in a slight difference in their overall quality. Kaustubh Debnath aka KDCloudy has a Google sheet with the specifications of all the IMAX screens in India, which informed me that PVR ICON at Phoenix Palladium in Lower Parel could provide the best experience, with its Commercial Laser projector and 12 channel audio.

This wasn't my first time watching a film in IMAX, but I had started very recently. It started in December last year, when I watched Pushpa: The Rule at the newly reopened Miraj Cinemas at Wadala. Later in February this year I caught the re-release of the iconic Interstellar at the equally iconic EROS Cinemas in Churchgate, and later returned to Miraj Cinemas to watch Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. While the audio-visual experience at both venues was amazing, it couldn't match the experience at the Phoenix Palladium PVR.

Thoughts About The Movie

I went in with high expectations in terms of watching the cars on track, and pretty low expectations with respect to nuanced story telling and character development, and I was not disappointed one bit. It is the perfect popcorn entertainer to be experienced on the big screen, and kept me engaged from the first frame to the last. The film has the expected sports drama trope of redemption, but it doesn't resort to melodrama and sticks to tension.

The visuals of the races were breathtaking to say the least. Although it's unfair to compare the technical standards of Indian films with tentpole Hollywood films produced by the big studios, I was pleased by how realistically they were able to blend the APX GP drivers battling it out on track with the real world F1 drivers. The soundtrack is rousing, the theme especially is fairly simple but extremely catchy, and so were some other tracks.

Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes really stole the show amongst all the actors. His character has a lot of baggage - a massive crash that all but ended his career at his prime, a gambling addiction that manifests itself with his racing tactics, multiple failed relationships that reflect in his professional choices. But Pitt stays true to the genre and channels the swag and passion for driving for the most part, only showing glimpses of vulnerability here and there.

Damson Idris gives an earnest performance as Joshua Pearce, Hayes' younger teammate who is talented but inexperienced, and also pretty scared about the possibility of losing his place on the F1 grid if his team sinks. Kerry Condon plays technical director Kate McKenna, whose character is pretty important in the whole scheme of things, but is unfortunately subjected to some of the commercial cinema tropes. No complaints though.

Coming back to the racing, it is pretty accurate for the most part. There are obvious cinematic liberties, and a couple of them are pretty outrageous for ardent F1 fans. There is an incident that happens in one of the races that could end very differently in real life. In an earlier race, the tactics employed by a driver result in a very light penalty than what would be meted out in the actual sport. But these act as plot devices and keep you at the edge of your seat rather than take you out of the film.

Final Thoughts

If it's not become obvious by now, I highly recommend watching this film watching this movie on the big screen, especially on a 4K LASER IMAX screen for the best theatrical experience. If you are an F1 fan, you will get the rare experience of watching these machines on the big screen. If you don't follow F1, you still get a thoroughly engaging commercial movie experience.

Siblings Atul and Ajay Gogavale, popularly known as Ajay-Atul, have been in the music industry for more than 20 years. Despite no music training, they manifested their passion for music by absorbing Maharashtrian folk music. Starting their career with Marathi stage plays, television soaps and devotional album; they soon caught the attention of filmmakers like Mahesh Manjrekar and Ram Gopal Varma, and then there was no turning back.

Looking at their discography, one might easily think that the quantum of their work is pretty less for the time they have been active. However, no can disagree that the quality of their work has almost always been exceptional. This is why I thought of speaking about 5 of my favourite Ajay-Atul songs which show their prowess as music composers and arrangers.

Shree Ganeshay Dheemahi

This song from the 2001 album Vishwavinayaka might be the first glimpse of Ajay-Atul's grand vision of music arrangement. The blend of the Western instruments and chorus with the Sanskrit verse and traditional tune was a complete revelation for me when I first heard this song. I wouldn't really call this song underrated in terms of popularity, because it became an integral part of cultural programmes in school. This song also became the gateway for Ajay-Atul into the film industry, as the song was used in the 2004 Hindi film Viruddh directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, starring Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham.

Lallati Bhandar

This song sung by Ajay Gogavale from the 2009 Marathi film Jogwa is an excellent example of Ajay-Atul's music elevating the intended effect of a film to the next level. The movie explores the love story of a Jogta and Jogtin, individuals from a community in rural Maharashtra far removed from the realities of modern urban life and stuck in discrimination and oppression. The song is inspired by the traditional songs sung during a "jagar" in the Hindu calendar month of Shravan, when there is a festival organised at Goddess Yellamma's temple in Saundatti, a place in the Belgavi district in Karnataka.

The film won 5 National Awards with Ajay-Atul winning the award for Best Music Direction. Singers Hariharan and Shreya Ghoshal also won the Best Male and Female Playback Singer awards respectively for the song Jiv Rangala, another complex yet brilliant composition from this film.

Adhir Man Zhale

Shreya Ghoshal is my favourite playback singer across industries, and most of her collaborations with Ajay-Atul have produced memorable songs. This song from the Marathi film Nilkanth Master starring Pooja Sawant could be in my top 3 songs from the Ajay-Atul and Shreya collaboration, and it definitely is the most underrated one when compared to other more popular songs like Aatach Baya Ka Bawarla from Sairat or the aforementioned Jiv Rangala from Jogwa. Shreya imbibes the mood of the song while the arrangement places it firmly in the period where the film is set. Shreya is a versatile singer and her strengths really come out pretty well in this song.

Morya Morya

This song from the 2008 Marathi movie Uladhaal has reinforced my opinion about Ajay-Atul being second best only to A. R. Rahman when it comes to devotional songs. This is probably of the last songs written by legendary Marathi lyricist late Jagdish Khebudkar (who hailed from the village where my paternal grandparents stay). While the rhythm is created using the dhol taasha used in processions during the Ganesh festival, the lyrics clearly bring out the emotion of surrendering to Lord Ganesha and requesting Him to empower us in an amazing fashion.

The signature of Ajay-Atul's music which reflects in this song and many others is their long-drawn interludes where the rhythm pattern and the notes change from the base composition at the beginning but meet again at the end. Of course interludes are used in a lot of songs, but I haven't been impressed by any other music director's interludes apart from "Isaignani" Ilayaraaja.