Kambakht Yeh Kya Hai!

The joy of watching a movie on its day of release is out of this world (so what if it is not the first show?). I just got lucky last Friday and managed to get the last two tickets for my friend and myself at PVR - for Kambakht Ishq (KI).

Sigh! But I won't indulge in a full and complete movie review for this one - just because it is not worth it. A film becomes 'analyzable' only when it has met some basic requirements like... a storyline?

But I am of the belief that a film is 'watchable' if it has anything at all. A storyline would a good thing to have. But even if that is missing, I am willing to pay Rs. 1oo and watch a movie in the theatre if there are sufficient 'other stuff' in the package. Read on to find out some of that stuff for which you might want to see KI:

• Guys may want to watch it for Kareena. Her skin show. Her figure. Girls may want to watch it for Kareena too. Her attitude. Her stilettos. Kareena proves that acting is a comfortable forte for her no matter how stupid the script is. Attitude is definitely something that only Bebo can pull off the way she does. Simrata (aka Bebo) of KI underlines this fact.

• People of my species - who hear about Hollywood movies all the time from everyone around but have not seen too many of them - would want to watch KI for a peekaboo of Brandon Routh, Denise Richards and the big guy - Sylvester Stallone who looks like the old pancake-packed Kamal Hassan from the movie Indian/Hindustani.

• Each one of you might want to watch it for the exotic locales of Los Angeles. Oh yeah, there was also Italy stuffed in between so that hero and heroine could sing a song. But I like the Italy in Bachnaa Ae Haseeno way better! :D

• Then..... Yeah! Amrita Arora's skin show/bikini act in a dream sequence. Poor Aftab Shivdasani could only fantacize his wife in bikinis. Boys who want to give Aftab company can go to the theatres and watch Amu sizzle.

• The drama queen in me liked the scene where Akshay and Sylvester come together on stage for an award ceremony. Akshay gives a very emotional speech about our tradition of touching the feet of parents/elders/Guru during times of achievements. He follows it up with the words "Let me bow down to the Guru of Action, Stallone" and lo! He touched Rambo's feet with total conviction. Many of you may find it too melodramatic, but I felt it was electric! :) Go watch KI just for this scene.
  

• Since we just had a dry summer without ample dose of Bollywood, may be, you would want to go for KI just like that and enjoy humour here and there. But surprisingly, those few instances of humour also do not come from Khiladi Kumar.

If you do not believe in movies without a storyline, here is why you should avoid KI:

• Akshay Kumar claimed that KI is India's answer to Mr & Mrs. Smith. I have not seen this Brangelina flick, but I know Akshay's claim is totally untrue. Apparently, it is most remembered for the chemistry between the lead actors, but there is no such magic in KI - except for a very candid kiss that Kareena uses to zip her man's lips in the climax.

• Dialogues in a mainstream big budget movie cannot get more boring. And I still cannot recover from the fact that Anvita Dutt Guptan who made me proud as a girl with her work in Dostana and Bachnaa Ae Haseeno penned the same. In these films, her lines were so sexily sleazy, yet classy. In KI, she had to attempt about 10 strokes to make audience laugh once - with an Akshay in hand who usually has comedy even in his movements! I am astonished that she and her co-writers (that includes the director Sabbir Khan) did not realize throughout the making that a battle between the sexes cannot be established through name calling (read dog and bitch).

• Why Anu Malik/Salim Sulaiman, why? Copy some tunes from Arabia, jazz it up with some Jhankar Beats, add some Desi twist, do whatever - but produce some good music! KI numbers were so.. *yawn* in spite of a beautiful heroine, brawny hero and plush locales.

• Nothing can substitute the backbone for human beings, right? Just like that, the lack of even a reasonable story does major damage to this movie. I wonder why the producer Sajid Nadiadwala invested so much money in this flick to the details of an eight lakh worth dress for Kareena. A watch left in hero's stomach during an operation by the surgeon heroine and added complication in the form of a love story so that the watch can be taken out. Beat that!

Post Hatke!

Drum rolls! Here is the first guest post on my blog. It comes from a very dear friend who sweetly asked if I would be 'kind' enough to 'host' him. Being the nice person that I am, you would know what I said.

He is a bigger movie buff than I am, so it is befitting that he is doing a movie review here. Have a ball!

They are Gonna Hang me in the Mornin'..

Sreyas S S

3:10 to Yuma is the remake of a 1957 film of the same name. Both films are based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a rancher who is struggling to support his family and is mired in debt. The creditor threatens to take over his barn in a week if he doesn’t pay up. Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, leader of a notorious band of outlaws feared in the region for their ruthlessness. Ben Wade is cruel and evil. But they are not the only traits of his personality. He is intelligent, suave and practically oozes charm in every scene. He quotes from the bible at opportune moments during conversation and makes dainty pencil sketches of things that draw his attention. He also has a thing for women with green eyes. Crowe completely owns the role.

After robbing a stagecoach belonging to the railroad company, Ben Wade stops by at the town of Bisbee for a barmaid (Vinessa Shaw) he may have known from the past. It is there that he is caught by Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) of the railroad company and his men. Butterfield wants Wade to be handed over to the federal court in Yuma where he is certain to get a death sentence. For that they need to transport him to the town of Contention where they have to make him board the 3:10 train to Yuma. Evans volunteers to join the team that is going to escort the outlaw for $ 200. As the posse travels with their captive, they are constantly attacked by Ben’s gang led by the particularly vile Charlie Prince (Ben Foster). “I hate posses,” he says after shooting men overseeing tunnel work who also might be a posse.

Evans is the straight guy. He is just, fair and is bound to do what is right. What is at stake for him is more than the $ 200 that he is going to get for accomplishing the mission. His son William makes no bones of the fact that he doesn’t think much of his father. He is torn by the fact that he is not able to take care of his family. He is disturbed by the way his sons look at him and the way his wife (Gretchen Mol) doesn’t. In the scene in the hotel room which is arguably the best scene in the film, when the local marshals and finally even Butterfield walk out of the mission for fear of getting shot by Ben’s gang and others (as Prince makes an open offer of $ 200 to the town folk for every marshal or captor they shoot) waiting outside the hotel, Evans persists never once budging to the incredible odds at stake or to Wade’s offers of money for letting him go. When Butterfield tells him that he can have his $ 200 even if he doesn’t take Wade to the train, Evans realises that it’s no longer about the money or bringing a criminal to justice. Escorting Wade to the train becomes a chance to restore his pride and honour.

Ben Wade’s character is more complex. On one hand, he is a murderer with seemingly no remorse. He kills a guy because he taunted him in the night with a song. But for a man known to be so bad, he makes a few strange choices during the journey. Though they never openly admit it, there is a sense that the two men find something to admire in each other and even develop what maybe interpreted as respect. Russell Crowe gives a truly amazing performance bringing to life a character that has more layers to it than is visible on the surface.

At its heart, the film is a character study. And a great one at that. It deals with the ideas of honour, respect, pride and of course the ultimate question – what is good and what is bad or what is right and what is wrong. And none of this ever seems forced or contrived, it is so inherent in the plot. All this while captivating the viewer with a brilliant story that allows tension to build and build until it reaches a breathtaking crescendo. As the clock starts ticking towards 3:10, both Wade and Evans discover sides of their personality that they never thought existed or thought were long lost. I wouldn’t spoil the ending but it is so perfect and in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film that it made me feel that no other conclusion would have had the same effect.

Cinematography is awesome. Action sequences are done well with the cutting crisp and modern. The leads are supported by steady performances all round by the likes of Peter Fonda, who plays a bounty hunter with a score to settle against Wade, Alan Tudyk, who plays a doctor, Logan Lerman, who plays Evans’ elder son and Ben Foster who plays Charlie Prince, the second-in-command in Wade’s gang.

3:10 to Yuma is a brilliant film because it does one thing better than most films – tell a good story and tell it well. Not many films have left me so shaken and amazed, yet pleased and satisfied at the same time. ‘Nuff said.

Colours of Kanchivaram

I have only faint memories of the movies that I watched during IFFK, last year. I had told you all, watching 35 movies back to back in just seven days can be quite tiresome. But Kanchivaram is an exception. My brain has captured this one movie crystal-clearly! The colours of Kanchivaram were that enthralling.

I am a fan of Priyadarshan movies from the 90s. But I lost my admiration for him when I watched a disaster called Vettom. And numerous other badly remade Malayalam movies in Hindi. But still, the name of this movie on the list of film screenings struck a chord with me, and I knew I wanted to go for it.

Kanchivaram is set in the legendary location where the renowned silk took its birth and from where it continues to unravel mysteries of beauty. Although the film is set against the backdrop of a growing communist philosophy, the basic thread of the movie is a very personal experience of the protagonist Venkadam (played by Prakash Raj). It talks movingly about the tragedy of a weaver who creates numerous expensive sarees for the affluent, but cannot afford one for his own daughter. However, he goes ahead and proclaims when his daughter Thamarai is born that he will get her married in a pattupudavai. The struggles that he goes through to materialise that word is Kanchivaram in a nutshell.

Prakash Raj's performance is picture-perfect. His bond with his daughter comes off so well on the screen; you cannot help feeling empathetic. Each time he called out "Thamarai," my heart went out to him. His helplessness at various moments through the film - when he loses his wife and becomes a single father, when he has to forgo his ideals and steal from work and when he finally loses his daughter for whom he struggled all his life - will definitely move anyone humane.

Shriya Reddy as the demure wife also deserves applause. That is so starkly different from the real person she is. Each other member of the cast, for that matter, is so apt for their character and has delivered a crisp performance.

The cinematography (Thiru), the art direction (Saby Cyril), and the music score (M G Sreekumar) contributes equally to the perfection of this masterpiece.

The narrative style that Priyadarshan has chosen reminded me of Maniratnam's Alaipayuthe. But the interweaving of past and present has been done just as beautifully as in a silk saree. You sit through the movie with just one picture in mind - Venkatam's daughter in that beautiful red bridal pattuchelai that he has been weaving. And when you realize that the journey was to end with him doing the final rites for her wrapped in that very same drape, your heart sinks. It is *flawless* storytelling, pure magic.

The movie encapsulates both the bright shades of silks made at Kanchivaram and the dull hues of the sorrowful lives of the weavers who make them. Priyadarshan deserves international recognition for this magnum opus of his. I am saying this with absolutely no partiality that he is a Malayali. It is just beacuse the movie is a sheer gem.

Pehli Pehli Malayalam Movie Review!

I am delighted as I write this post. It is surprising that I never wrote about my thoughts on any Malayalam movie before! It's not like I watched a lot of them while I was in Hyderabad. Still, there were a couple of them. May be because they were so rare. May be I would just sit and relish the experience of hearing Malayalam on DTS (and not Hindi) rather than blog about it! Anyway, better late than never, right?

Within a month of reaching Kerala, do you know how many Malayalam movies I have watched? Five of them - To Harihar Nagar, Banaras, Bhagyadevatha, Passenger and even Kancheepurathe Kalyanam. Those are just the ones I watched on Big Screen. The others would be Mayabazaar, Alibhai, Annan Thambi and Romeo. Quite a cool number of movies to have caught up on, na? And how could I have not told you about it?

Please don't be worried that I will draw up a thesis instead of a movie review to do justice to all these movies. Of course, I won't. I will stick to one that I liked a lot and one that I regret watching. Deal?

Passenger is an offbeat movie. Yes, it has Dileep, Mamtha and Lakshmi Sharma who are all commercial artistes. It has Sreenivasan who has risen to be a minimum guarantee hero of his own stature. Its director is not a Film Institute graduate and was trained under hardcore commercial directors. Yet, it is an offbeat movie. Why?

Just because it breaks the rules of being 'commercial' as laid down by today's Malayalam cinema. For one, the movie does justice to the script in terms of weightage given to Dileep's character. He is called the Janapriyanayakan of Malayalam cinema and is very close to superstardom. He could have been used to do all kinds of gimmicks, had the director ventured. But Ranjith Shanker did not. Adv. Nandan Menon played by Dileep tries to show off heroism, not for a second. Throughout the movie, the character has been downplayed and Dileep did a great job of it.

Second, the song that has been composed for the movie was used only for promotional activities. As a regular filmgoer who has gotten used to the recipe of a commercial movie, I was expecting at various moments through the movie "may be now, a song will come." To my pleasant surprise, it never came. The result - a tight narration with absolutely no non-sense to obstruct the flow.

Boy, the screenplay! It was simply fabulous (for lack of a better adjective). As the caption of the movie suggests, most part of the story happens in a day's span. Also, the story is not told from one character's perspective. The way Ranjith has linked the happenings to each other and blended the multiple perspectives to form a perfect symphony is commendable.

Also, he proved that one need not get preachy to deliver a message to the audience (except in a scene towards the end where Dileep makes a speech). The undying humaneness even in adversities is the theme of this story. The protagonist Satyanathan is a testimony to the fact that there are people who put at stake all that they have to help someone (quite contrary to popular belief, right?). Of course, Sreenivasan pulled off the character with elan.

Mamtha's return to Malayalam cinema after a brief hibernation is marked by a very balanced and believable performance as journalist Anuradha Nandan. I fail to understand though, why our heroines can't dub for themselves. Come on, Mamtha has won a Filmfare award for the best playback singer (Telugu). How much sweeter should one's voice be? Or may be, Mamtha was too busy. Whatever the reason is, it is high time Malayalam heroines understood that not lending one's voice to a character is leaving the performance half baked. One cannot be called a complete artist without an original voice.

In this movie, the relief is that the voice was fresh - Vimmy Mariam's and not Sreeja's or Bhagyalakshmi's. Otherwise, it is as though Kavya and Gopika are gone, but their ghosts linger around. Hold on though; Vimmy was heard talking from Kaniha's frame (Bhagyadevatha) too. It won't be too long before she becomes another cliche voice.

Passenger is not a cinematic masterpiece or so. Of course, the debutante diretor did commit a few mistakes in terms of lagging the narration at times and creating certain utopian situations. Nevertheless, I choose to have a short term memory loss about that. Just because I genuinely liked the movie, despite these flaws.

I particularly loved the final scene where Satyanathan comes home exhausted after an eventful day of life-risking incidents. Not knowing any of that, his wife checks his bag and shouts for having forgotten to buy tea powder. The plain reaction Satyanathan gives saying "Oh I forgot" with deep undertones of sarcasm and numbness that she, of course, does not understand, was a real cinematic moment, according to me. This movie train rode right into my heart.

And then, there is this mess of a marriage that I went for. For God's sake, Suresh Gopi was the hero! That's the only reason I stretched myself although I had enough clues from the posters that the film is going to be a disaster. And surprises happen rarely with Malayalam movies.

Two event management groups, two brother-in-laws who cannot see eye to eye, a rich girl who is getting married, two prospective bridegrooms, and lots of colour threads all around to indicate Kancheepuram - that is Kancheepurathe Kalyanam in a nutshell.

A helpless Suresh Gopi with a pathetic expression that reads something like "Why are you torturing me?" is seen adorning multiple bright coloured Khadi silk shirts and walking past the frames. A genuine attempt to recreate the look and humour of Thenkasipattanam; but unfortunately, the screenplay has not been penned by Rafi Mecartin. So the result is quite haphazard.

Sorry to say, but Muktha was a total miscast. The character was supposed to be a charming young lady with lots of style and screen presence. But she could not pull it off. Her introductory song was so damn insipid - also because of a lukewarm composition by M. Jayachandran that lacked punch and a predictable picturisation, but more because of her frame that gets lost among group dancers. And the thought that Muktha will end up as Suresh Gopi's pair scared me throughout the movie. No surprises again; that is exactly what happened. Thankfully, there weren't many romantic scenes or songs together. Still, imagine Suresh Gopi tying a Thali to Muktha. For me, the concept of wedding lost its sheen right at that moment.

Jagathy Sreekumar was the only saving grace in the film. The film had an ensemble cast of most comedians of Malayalam; yet nobody except him made me laugh. I cannot understand how he makes a golden twist with his part even if he is in a C grade movie. That is what is called talent I guess. And yes, there is a vibrant teenage girl who is obsessed with Sarath Kumar. Credits said 'Introducing Pooja.' I am guessing that's her. She looked quite promising.

And what can you say about bad editing? Forget it. I don't think I should waste my energy.

Forgettable, formidable and plain frustrating. That is KK.

PS: The only good thing this movie did is remind me of the gem of a movie called Kanchivaram. A masterpiece that I had forgotten to tell you about. That's coming up in my next post!

A Slumdog, A Hero and A Wife..

Watching three movies a weekend is an overdose. You agree or disagree? Two months ago I would have disagreed. Now I agree. IFFK is for sure one reason. The other is the weekend that just passed by.

On Saturday, I saw Slumdog Millionaire, finally. One lesson I leart is that I should not watch a movie so late, especially if it is being talked about, all around. Things about that movie were so all over me that nothing was new. Me being the loyal film-goer waited until I got a legal ticket to the movie without succumbing to piracy and black marketing and see what happened.

I was wondering if we have seen such movies before. I cannot really recall names of films but everything looked so 'Oh I have sen this before.' I felt it was a normal masala Hindi (oops English) movie. Nothing so spectacular as such. A good one that makes you feel good. And yes, phenomenal music. Apart from that, what is the whole hype about? It may be new to Hollywood, but to us? I doubt. I guess we just drowned in the Oscar frenzy. I genuinely hope that Rahman wins though.

There was a piece written by Arindam Choudhuri that appeared along with an IIPM ad in the Times of India. I am sure some of you have seen that. It read "Do not watch Slumdog Millionaire. It sucks." His main point was that the movie is just an attempt to position India as a land of slums; rewriting only our existing reputation in the west of being a land of snake charmers. I do not agree on the point that Danny Boyle had such heinous intentions. But there is a scene where a taxi driver beats Jamal up and he exclaims "See for yourself the real India" to his foreign tourist. The tourist responds "Now see a bit of real America" and pays him some money. The Indian in me was deeply wounded by this. Yes there are pitfalls. Agreed. This is a huge country with a huger population. Righteousness definitely co-exists with cruelty here. My complaint is that there isn't a single character depicted in the movie which has a ray of positivity in him/her.

I thought I was lucky to get tickets for Luck By Chance on the second day after its release. But while the movie was on, I thought otherwise. I felt the narration was a little slow. The ensemble cast is praiseworthy. The climax of the movie was super sexy. But I was generally disilluisioned. On an afterthought, I realised that it was the effect of back to back movies. It pulls down your energy and sensibility levels seriously.

On Sunday, I watched Veruthe Oru Bharya after about three months of wait. I had literally prayed the movie would release in Hyderabad. That's how badly I wanted to watch it after hearing the soaring reviews from my friends and family in Kerala. Gopika has done such a brilliant job of the typical housewife that Malayalis are so familiar with. I almost killed Jayaram in my imagination for being the chauvinist he is. I really hope he is not like that with Parvathi, his real wife.

Moral of the story is that I have decided not to watch more than one movie in a day. It harms my ability to enjoy a movie much more than anything.

PS: Luck By Chance is a good movie. Please watch it if you have a chance and get lucky. :P

Save the Green Planet, my sensory organs and a revelation..

Being a Communication student at University of Hyderabad endows one with some glorious opportunities. Getting to meet some stalwarts is one of them. Prof. Earl Jackson from Seoul University in Korea visited us this week to be a part of the visual culture programme that SN School is hosting. During his sojourn, he screened one of the movies that created a visual revolution of sorts in Korea called Save the Green Planet.

The protagonist of the movie is crazy in the world’s perspective. Five minutes into the movie he kidnaps a corporate honcho who he thinks is an alien who will endanger the whole planet and its species. The movie then went on for about ninety minutes to show the ruthless torture that our ‘hero’ (protagonist is definitely the better word) subjects the villain (?) to. From peeling off his feet skin to nailing his hands just like Jesus Christ, any cruel thing you can think of was executed in the movie. Technically well made; yes. But my eyes, ears and particularly heart were aching by the time the movie ended. I was wondering why anybody would want to watch such violence through a medium that is essentially meant for entertainment.

Prof. Jackson led a discussion after the movie and it was eye-opening. The over-the-top violence became the issue in discussion; he explained how Koreans as a civilisation are used to the violence depicted in the movie. A history of butchering, colonisation and oppression made them identify with it like they have experienced it themselves. It was not new to them as it was for me or any of my classmates who closed their eyes for most of the shots.

I then thought how wrong generalisations are. The one I made a paragraph above, for example. A medium that is essentially meant for entertainment. For whom? For us Indians, cinema equates to entertainment. (Possibly, for westerners too. There is no way we would have got this connotation for cinema from anywhere else.) For us, music and dance is an integral part of our cinema viewing experience (Agreed, this is not so for westerners). True, we too have had a past of aggression and oppression. But not of the degree that Koreans or Japanese have experienced. Rightly enough, their cinematic sensibilities are different too.

Prof. Jackson also mentioned that while it was a path-breaking film in Korea, it was a financial disaster. The interesting thing is that it was not because people did not watch the movie. The makers of the movie were so confident about their creation that they arranged a lot of free shows in the initial weeks of release for word-of-mouth publicity to develop. Sadly, all the people who were to watch it watched it then. Nobody bought tickets to watch the movie later. So that was a marketing strategy gone awry. Due to some weird policy in Korea, the talented director Jang Jan-Hwan who sank into a financial depression wasn’t allowed to make another movie.

As much as the movie left an image of hopelessness in me, it struck a chord with millions of Koreans. After decades of restricted film making freedom, Jang broke free with this film and it means so much to that nation. This revelation compensates for the disturbance that I experienced the whole evening after watching the movie.

I guess I will watch Slumdog Millionaire and instil back the hope in me. :) Can't wait.

Multi colour reality bytes....

A shameful confession first; Fashion is the first Madhur Bhandarkar movie that I watched. From what I have heard and read, his movies oozing of reality is no news. But sometimes, stating the obvious is necessary - Fashion is an impressive movie with oodles of colour and reality. 

I thanked God I never aspired to be a model when I watched it (fashion world should also thank, I think :P). I don't really know if that is what Madhur  intended to do - create the impression that fashion world is not for those who are emotional, weak at the heart and with principles; that you should be ready to lose it all if you want to make it big out there. In whichever case, a real bad impression about the industry unavoidably forms in the heart of every viewer. I have a complaint here that it cannot be after all, that bad. So there was a bit of 'non-reality' deep inside all that reality. 

Ahead, I have all praise for the movie. The screenplay of the movie effortlessly flows until the last half an hour of this slightly long-ish movie (2 hour 45 mins). The film is about the lives of three different women in the fashion industry - Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) is a smalltown girl who leaves home yearning to make it big in Mumbai, Shonali Gujral (Kangana Ranaut) is the reigning fashion queen, Janet Sequeira (Mugdha Godse) is a seasoned model who never got entry into that big league. The predictable plot of Meghna realizing her dream and losing quite a lot of other valuable stuff on the way has been done with quite a lot of punch. The parallel plots of Shonali's career biting the dust due to the new entrant and Janet chosing to live a life of compromise by getting married to a gay designer engages the viewer really well too. 

I am surprised by Piggy Chops' acting prowess. Seriously. Stellar performance is all what I can say. Her transition form the tensed smalltown girl who does not know the Don'ts (like not to kiss the cheek when people do the customary cheek rub while greeting) of the industry to the arrogant super model who is blind with success was phenomenally believable. One of the most memorable moments of the film for me is her expression when she woke up nude in an unfamiliar room and looked to her right with totally negative anticipation - who is sleeping next to me? It was drop-dead real. Her success track and downfall forms the livewire of the movie.

I have got bored of seeing Kangana in the crazy robe. She yells too much in all her movies. No matter how well an actor does a role, you get bored if you see the same thing a third or fourth time. She is convincing as a fantastic super model though even with her curls and not-too-lean look. Also, watch out for her wardrobe malfunction scene which supposedly got the movie an A certificate. Ridiculous is all I would say. It is too aesthetically shot and performed for an A certificate. Jai Indian moral police!

I am impressed by Mugdha. A very subdued performace which not once reminded me that its her debut movie. For once, Arbaaz Khan did a great job, and so did others of the huge cast - Arjun Bajwa, Kitu Gidwani, Harsh Chhaya, Sameer Soni.. One doubt remains though. Is it possible for such a huge percentage of people in the fashion industry to be gay? Let me stop that thought right here to avoid the risk of sounding sexist or whatever! But even otherwise, the males in the movie have little to do. It is totally a women's movie. :)

The dialogues of the movie need a special mention. They are truly power packed. Some of the punchlines:

• Yahaan pe jitna kum sochogi, utna zyaada kamaogi.
• Success ke bare mein hamesha wahi log lecture kyon dete hai jisne success kabhi experience hi nahi kiya?
• "Model banne aayi ho?" "Ji nahi, super model."

May be, I did not sound too convincing; but when ou see the movie you will know what amount of power these dialogues hold in those situations. The scene where a drunk Meghna exposes the real colour of Abhijeet Sarin (Khan) to his wife has been written really well too. 

The movie post Meghna's downfall drags a bit though. It is great that the otherwise depressing (due to hard hitting facts) movie ends well, but the rising of the phoenix took a while to happen and tested my patience. A little trimming of the flab there, and the movie can be rated AWESOME doubtlessly. Ya, with a repeated thought : Is the fashion world that bad? 

I guess we don't have a choice but to believe Madhur since most of us are not going to be insiders there. Unless thats happening, you should definitely watch this movie. :)

Hello, Good bye!

This was the first time I watched the adaptation of a novel as a movie – barring may be Omkara, which was more inspired by rather than adapted from Othello. I am right now nodding my head in consensus with the millions of Harry Potter fans who said adaptation is after all a bad idea.

Hello, the movie, really is a bad idea! The amateur hands of the director, Atul Agnihotri, are seen swaying throughout the film. The camera angles he has chosen, the way he has made his cast perform, the flow of scenes – everything speaks for substandard directorial capability.

Showcasing the array of the Khan family just for the sake it also wasn’t really a great idea. The choice of the cast, on the whole, is dismal. Sharman Joshi who played the lead male role of Shyam actually suited to play Vroom. Sohail Khan looked way too old for Vroom. Sharad Saxena was wonderful in his Military Uncle suit. However, he would have done a better job being Bakshi, the beast. Each time Gul Panag laughed, I was horrified because she sounded more like a witch than a heroine. Eesha Koppikhar (Yes, that’s how she calls herself now) and Amrita Arora did not disappoint too much though.

Chetan Bhagat! Ignoring all the criticism his works have faced – shallow, lacking substance, being identical, filled with masala factor – let me confess, I like reading his books. One Night @ The Call Centre, I thought, was a very unique piece because of the story being depicted in a night’s time and its unusual narrative. None of this replicated in Chetan’s screenplay of Hello though. The narration lacked the soul which his book originally had. For example, the scene where Radhika along with her team discovers that her husband is betraying her was so plain and jaded that it made nil impression. In the novel, it was one of those moments that made me aghast. The chilling climax episode of the Operation Anti-Bakshi and the Operation Call Boom was so well executed in the book. The movie did not do justice to that. Suresh Menon as the systems guy made such a buffoon of himself with his non-sensical mutterings throwing all attempts of Chetan to infuse humour out of the podium. Also, for a person who hasn’t the read the book, the movie would not make much sense as my friend told me.

It is better that I don’t mention how the music was because I may end up sounding rude. I didn’t hear any music basically. There were just randomly thrown in songs which were shot even more pathetically. I guess you are not supposed to be surprised if you see semi nude men and women for no reason in Hindi film songs.

The look of the call centre was chic though. The art director did a good job. And that’s about it – the positives I mean.

On the whole, watch it only and only if you are a die-hard fan of Chetan Bhagat. I warn though – you might return losing the love for him.

The Drona who killed me..

After years together, I watched a movie first day first show. But I am asking myself now, WHY?

Yes, I am talking about Drona, the so-called super hero film which is supposed to push Junior B to a different league altogether. I am afraid that won't happen. I can give you a thousand reasons why.

The concept to start with is not digestible. You may ask me which super-hero film is. But normally, there is an element of fantasy in them that makes us dream and think beyond. Drona has nothing of that sort. To add to the dilemma, it has been scripted poorly. Coherence among scenes is totally missing. One of the first scenes of Abhishek -with the puppy- was so meaningless. Add to it a boring and unnecessary song; a very bad first impression was created. I am still wondering why the story began in a foreign location when it could have very well been set in India. In fact, that would have made the story much more believable. Okay, let us forgive that. But when does Drona reach the vast sanddunes of Rajasthan in India? Goldie Behl and his fellow script writers missed out out on giving various such important details to the audience. The transitions were just not smooth.

Goldies' direction also lacked that golden element which could balance out the script flaws. In fact, he ended up making Abhishek look helpless in most scenes. Priyanka Chopra looked more like the hero to me. This is not forgivable in a super hero movie especially since the director himself calls it one. (The feminist in me is happy though).

Lets talk about the hero of the hero-centric film. I like Abhishek. Really I do. But not in Drona. This is definitely not his cup of tea. I am not talking about his acting capability or anything. But he just lacks the charisma and screen presence to portray such a heavy character. I hate comparing Hrithik and Abhishek because they are so damn different at all levels. But after witnessing the gems of performances in Dhoom 2, Krrish, and Jodhaa Akbar, you won't tolerate AB as a super hero, unless you are an unreasonable fan of him. Casting a friend as the hero just because he is a friend and would give dates readily is not a good idea for both the friends; unless the role suits him.

I hate Priyanka Chopra. But I was able to tolerate her in this movie as hers was one of the very few (read 2) well-etched characters of the movie. Her entry was superb in a yellow sporty car. Her costumes were in sync with the theme as well. But again, the foreign setting and the sporty car didn't go too well with her looks. I told you, coherence was missing.

Jaya Bachchan, like Abhishek ends up looking foolish in a robe that doesn't suit her. She is paying the price for being emotional while agreeing to roles are not for her. Maharani Jayanti Devi required a much more charismatic person to empower the role. Like Rekha. Ha! I wonder if Goldie would ever cast her considering his love for Jaya Aunty.

The second well-etched character is - Riz Raizada. Kay kay Menon was believable in an unbelievaby baddie form. The director's attempt to make a villaneous punchline of "Mogambo khush hua" sorts is successful I should say - with Gustaakhi maaf. But the disgusting makeup of the villain-look-alike creature was falling off and deteriorating as the scene proceeded. Didn't the director see that? I did. So he shoud have.

Also, I am wodering what Goldie Behl told his art director when he conceptualised the movie. The fantasy land Raazpur, where Drona goes to discover where Amritha kumbham is, was so damn colourful and all that. It appealed to my girly aesthetic sense too. But what about the movie? Its mood and tone? They lost it all.

The music by Dhruv Ghanekar is not very enthralling. The only tune that still lingers in my mind is Nanhe Nanhe by Sadhana Sargam. Other than that, the music doesn't help the movie a bit.

On the whole, I was disappointed. With all my love for Abhishek - one should experiment for sure, but with a little bit of foresight. Also, with the right people who are not necesarily friends.

A Stunning Wednesday!

The first time I went to watch the movie A Wednesday, I was late by fifteen minutes. I liked the remaining 100 minutes so much that I watched it another time; this time the whole of it, that too on a Wednesday!

The second time I watched the film, I wasn’t too impressed by the first fifteen minutes. Especially the part where the-remnant-of-an-Channel V-VJ was made to appear as the biggest star of Bollywood only next to the Khans was ridiculous. May be the jocular effect is what the director intended; but it did not suit the film’s overall mood. Five minutes later though, I was in a strong grip of concentration and curiosity. Each shot was so exciting that I kept asking myself “What Next?” The director Neeraj Pandey put together the shots so excitingly that you cannot help being thrilled.

The film is spectacularly well-scripted by Neeraj. The fact that he tells the story through a protagonist without a name shows its uniqueness. The scenes are tightly packed into each other that you don’t have a moment to flutter your eyelashes. They flow effortlessly from one to another with an amazing amount of unpredictability that chills you. The dialogues are so to-the-point that you end up sharpening your auditory sense by listening carefully to not miss a word. When Anupam Kher confidently invited his officers to his place for a drink in the evening just before sending them to a dangerous operation, the whole theatre just gasped.

The performances! Riveting is the best word I can find to describe the performances by two stalwarts of Indian cinema. I can bet - a film that is essentially a telephone conversation between two people would fail miserably had it featured anyone short of Kher and Shah. The dialogue battle in the climax between the two is mesmerising. Goosebumps are all what you feel. The intimacy with which Shah delivers the deepest of insecurities and concerns of the ‘stupid common man,’ is just beyond words. That scene is a perfect balance of emoting and subtlety. Shah’s versatility comes out in the fact that he performs his conversation with the terrorists also with the same amount of believability. I can see the Bharat Award trophy taking a peek-a-boo into Shah’s cupboard, already. Anupam Kher has put up an act that is very subdued, yet powerful, as the Commissioner of Police, Prakash Rathore.

Jimmy Shergill, Aamir Basheer, Deepal Shaw - each and every person in the cast is so appropriate that you see real people in front of you rather than characters. Aamir‘s Sub Inspector, I would say, was a role where the casting was particularly well done.

The movie has been technically quite well made too. The cuts are crisp and the camera work adds a lot to the script in building up the mood of the film. There are no songs stereotypical of a Hindi movie; only fine background music that keeps up the movie’s tempo.

I can go on and on about how much I loved the movie. The point is that millions of other Indians loved it as well. Any Indian with genuine feelings for his/her country couldn’t have helped empathising with Shah’s character. They, like me, are sure to have found their unheard voices reverberating through his.

A success of this dimension was probably unexpected for a small movie with hardly any *starry* actors. That is exactly the reason why that accomplishment becomes all the more spectacular. It is the success story of a movie that relied solely on its script and the talent of its human resources – no marketing gimmicks, no formulas, no star acts, nothing. This gives much hope in all the right directions for the Indian film industry that provides bread and butter to many. More importantly, it stands as a testament to the much elevated sensibility of the Indian audience.

Neeraj and all my fellow Indians, it is a perfect ten for you – for making the movie and for making it a success.