Jaane tu ya jaane na

I brought in the New Year with one of the best movies of 2008… a long overdue review: I have enjoyed this movie each time I watch it! That does say a lot about the movie – I like experimenting with different movies but cannot watch all of them again & again!


A simple love story but very well narrated. A good story but more importantly very well written characters, and handled very well by debutant director Abbas Tyrewala. I cannot reiterate the fact that the writer and director of the movie being the same can result in a good product. Good background music, a good score by Rehman and the songs blending in well with the script and taking it forward…

This move is about the characters of the movie and Abbas has crafted each character very well, from Aditi’s parents who have a very modern outlook to Sushant Modi, the stereotype perfect boyfriend who likes to drink a little, party a little, work out, go on vacations, work…. and everything in his life is perfect! I liked the narration a lot, the friends narrating the story at the airport, the mother talking to the dead father’s (Naseeruddin) picture and especially the narration through the character of Mala, where I believe, Abbas is trying to stimulate the audience with her character – like her apprehension to listen to a story which would end at the airport (typical hindi movie story) or just before the interval, everything that Mala says is what the audience is thinking - ‘will Jai actually beat someone up’ and ‘will he go to jail’!! Her excitement when Jai rides the horse and she realizes that he has fulfilled the three conditions to become a Ranjhore mard are the emotions the audience is going through while seeing the movie (at least I did!!) Similarly, at the end of the movie, the way she starts liking the characters (Jai & Aditi), Abbas expects the audience to be in love with his characters!!!

The story and excellent narration was supported by the casting of the movie. You have good actors like the effortless Ratna Pathak, Naseeruddin Shah and Paresh Rawal supporting the bunch of youngsters. More importantly the group of friends which is the main cast of the movie are good actors, comfortable in front of the camera. Imran Khan is good for his first movie and though he has lot to work on, he fit the character and did justice to the role. I was most disappointed with Genalia D’Souza’s acting who is a little stiff and seems to be trying to act. All the others are just so comfortable. Meghna (Manjari Phadnis - I have seen her Mumbai Salsa too and didn’t form an opinion) is good in her role and her character is also very real… The characters of Jiggy (the typical gujju), the slow Sandhya, the radu Rotlu and the fourth friend (I am not sure why I forget her screen name though) are well enacted by the actors too

Some of the finer points I liked are
- when Sushant and Aditi return to Aditi’s place, her parents are playing scrabble and the word on the board is changed from ‘comfort’ to ‘discomfort’

- Amit and Aditi discussing about Aditi and Jai’s friendship. In the next shot Aditi asks Amit (played by Prateik Babbar) about the mice, “you really love him, don’t you?” And he responding “No, we’re just friend!”

- Meghna’s character who does not want to see the reality and plays the game “What’s this” and even her honesty at the end to continue living in her dream world…

- Amit’s character, where he accepts that he hates Jai coz every time his parents see Jai they wish they had a son like him but he knows that Jai is a very nice guy and he loves Aditi!

Overall a very good package and all credit to Abbas Tyrewala for making good cinema!

It is written

Two movies this past weekend, the theme of both being destiny... one depicts destiny in the backdrop of our traditional indian value system where a father on this death bed emotionally blackmails his daughter and then Rab Ne (read father on death bed) decides the Jodi and the other depicts Slumdog kids who are destined to be together...


Slumdog was well narrated with 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' in the backdrop and every question taking us back to the protagonist (Jamal Khan's) life... The first hour of the movie was gripping, some excellent shots of Mumbai, the filth, the dirt in which street kids grow up, the perils of being a street kid who are forced into begging and the females into prostitution! But somehow I feel the later half lost the magical touch of the first half... even if Danny Boyle and Lavleen Tandon wanted to make the love story the real meat of the movie, I feel it could have done without the 'masala'... but that's me, my expectation went sky high with the first hour and weren't suitably met in the second. Rehman's score is FABULOUS and that's replaced Yuvraj in my car now, especially Liquid Dance, Dreams on Fire and paper planes



Ab Rab Ne ke baare mein kya batayein? SRK started off well acting as a simpleton but started to HAM as soon as got into the shoes of 'Raj' - though the dialogue
"Raj - naam to suna hi hoga" actually cracked me up! Call me filmi but such stupid humor does make me laugh. Anushka Sharma plays her role well as a debutant and Vinay Pathak (though I expected more) is the versatile best... Adi could have obviously done more with this actor but I guess the story was only about the jodi! The problem I had with this movie was 'they don't make such jodis anymore' and secondly in contemporary India you CANNOT show a MCP who makes a statement like "...lekin use pyaar to is Suri se karna padega"... come'on Adi Chopra, how can you show your traditional roots to such an extent and expect the audience to accept such hypocratic crap! I would have been much much more happier walking out of the theatre if SRK would have transformed into a Raj or atleast accepted that he wants to transform into Raj for Tanni... but then it would have been Raj Ne Bana Di Jodi... guess Rab (read Adi) didn't want that!

But I liked the different perspectives on one topic... both in the indian context, one very traditional and other social, sensitive but yet contemporary!

Sorry bhai

My beauty is back (Chitrangada Singh) and I saw this movie only for her… And was I pleased… the dusky beauty looks ravishing as ever and cinematographer Sachin Kumar does a wonderful job at showcasing this beauty while capturing Mauritius through his lens. I can go on and on about how gorgeous she looks in the movie and this whole post might not be enough for that.

The director, Onir does a great job at handling this love triangle and kudos to Ashwini Malik for a good screenplay and story. The characters are well written too (could have been better) and the casting team (I belevee Onir had his contribution too) has done at a great job at choosing the actors. I am obviously biased towards Chitrangada but Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi and even Sanjay Suri do a good job with their roles. Sharman Joshi proves his talent with every movie... I had started to gauge his potential with Life in a Metro and in this movie he proves his versatility. Sanjay Suri is not the most versatile actors but he does his job well in such simple roles (investment banker obsessed with his work, in the movie) – I think he is more a director’s actor. Boman Irani is undoubtedly the best character actors we have in the industry today and every role that he is offered, he plays it with too much ease. Shabana Azmi is another very good actor and the character gives her an opportunity to show her acting skills. Chitrangada plays her role well and I believe the director could have given her a few more scenes to express certain elements of her emotion – love for Sharman or falling out of love for Sanjay.

As I mentioned before the characters could be written better and Onir could have exploited them a bit more, but no complains at how he has narrated the story. For example, many bollywood movies show the love bloom in a song and though Onir goes beyond a song and shows a few incidents I could not feel the depth of love between Chitrangada and Sharman. Also, Y is having sex the end and be all of realizing that you are in love? Indian directors, time to take cognizance of your audience and show something deeper… You obviously know that this movie is aimed for the metros and educated class audience, so y not present a better scene for the protagonists to realize the deep love for each other? Well, even after Sharman tells his brother about his love for Chitrangada, there is very little screen time to display Sanjay’s sadness or the responsibility which Chitrangada or Sharman should show after committing such a blunder… Don’t get me wrong and I don’t think there is anything wrong about they falling in love but there need to be a few more details on what happens next and how they proceed with their love life. Indian film markers have this amazing tool, a song, to run away from showing such explanatory scenes and take the story forward. Similarly, though well developed, Shabana Azmi’s character at the end looses its intensity when it takes her one dialogue from her husband to realize her mistake. The director did a good job at building the story and the last 10 mins seem to be rushed into…

Couple of things which make the story bold in an indian context - the mother suggesting a live-in relationship, Chitrangada's realizing her love towards Sharman, the dilemma to choose between her fiance and love but the decision to pursue her real love give the movie a contemporary real feel.

One stupid flaw in the movie (there may have been more but I was too lost in staring at my beauty) - in the first scene of the movie Sharman Joshi’s hair is short but in the last shot (which is actually a continuation of the first one), his hair have grown… come’on you actor / director, don’t loose credibility by making such avoidable blunders.

Overall, a good watch and as always shows the maturity of Indian film makers to handle such complex subjects.

A Wednesday

I cannot explain in words the way Indian cinema has matured over the years. I remember Nagesh Kukunoor’s comment while accepting the award for Best Story for Dor at an award function – ‘we all have stories to tell and I encourage our film makers to do so’. A Wednesday is a good story with above average screenplay, very good direction and stellar performances. It may not be as well shot as Aamir or have the emotions of Mumbai Meri Jaan, but I rate it higher than both these movies and put it in the category of Rang De (top notch) – just for being a complete in all aspects

They say ‘all’s well that ends well’ and I believe for a movie a powerful, meaningful end is what can distinguish it from being average as against very good. And Naseeruddin Shah’s monologue in the last 15 minutes of the movie and the last shot of the movie distinguish A Wednesday into an above average movie. Naseeruddin Shah and Anupan Kher, acting in one movie after a long gap (I read that the last they were seen together were in China Gate in 1999), prove that they are one of the finest actors in the industry. My philosophy of the writer and director of the movie being same is again proved with debutant director Neeraj Pandey who has not only written the story and directed the movie but also written the screenplay. I am guessing he knew exactly how he was going to narrate it and hence the direction of the movie also seems flawless – so much so that he even explains why he has called the movie ‘A Wednesday’

Some of the finer details in the story, screenplay and direction which I liked were –
The last shot where Anupam Kher does not tell us the name of the protagonist (Naseer) because one would link the name to a religion,

The shots during the titles of the movies where they have shown the protagonist walk into a train station with a bag and leave without one creating suspicion in the mind of the viewer as to his intentions,

The partial face shots of ‘the man behind all the terrorist attacks’ while one of the inspectors is introducing the four terrorists and those being mixed with shots of Naseer on the top of the building,

When the protagonist is asked if he lost someone dear, he narrating the story of a boy who traveled with him in the train adds a lot of the strength to the character of Naseer and also adds strength to the ‘common man’ suggesting that you don’t have to lose a family member to do such an act and it could be just because you felt for an acquaintance and the loss of his family members

The movie starts off well introducing all the characters and moves along at a gripping pace. Though the story on the whole may seems a little far fetched, Neeraj Pandey has covered every detail to ensure the genuineness of it. I didn’t feel any shot in the movie was unnecessary and each one was building a character or the story. Even until the last shot of the movie we are not sure about Anupam Kher’s intentions and at one point it seemed like his ego was going to make him arrest / kill the protagonist. Even though the movie had a message, the monologue by Naseer did not seem like he was preaching.

Overall a MUST WATCH… especially for every Bombayaite who has witnessed how Bombay has always been a terrorist target – be it the riots of 1992, blasts of 1993 and 2006 blasts.

Aamir

A lot of good reviews about this movie had made this movie a must watch… though I hadn’t read any of the reviews – I only check out the stars which each critic gives – the name of the movie did hint that the movie would be about religious extremists and an Aamir who would be the odd one out! When I have high expectations from the movie, the movie has to be really good to meet those…

But Aamir just did that… A very well made movie – and everything from the music to the cinematography is amazing in this movie… I downloaded its songs a day before I saw the movie and the music sounded good. It sounded fresh and before I saw the movie I knew that the music would be well blended into the movie… and that’s exactly how it was. I had liked the soundtrack of Anwar and commented on how bollywood OSTs were catching on… and kudos to Amit Trivedi and Amitabh (soundtrack and lyrics respectively) for churning out this bold soundtrack. As far as I remember, before these two movies RDB had such a well blended soundtrack… Chakkar ghumyo lightens the moment in the movie when Aamir is confused about all that is happening with him; Haara speaks about his state of mind after he realizes what he has been asked to do; Ha Raham is a beautifully written qawali while he fights back to get ‘the bag’ back and Ek Lau is the perfect track to end the movie with – it gave me goose bumps when it played with the ending titles of the movie.

Debutant director Raj Kumar Gupta (he assisted Anurag Kashyap on No Smoking) and cinematographer Alphonso Roy do an amazing job taking the story through the ‘real’ Bombay and some of the filthiest parts of our city while depicting the plight of people from Aamir’s quom… The camera movement while the story travels thru the gallis of Bombay, though gives an effect of a handheld camera does not strain your eyes like in Sarkar Raj. Needless to say the script of the movie is the strong point and the character of Aamir is very well written… I am not sure if I agree with the end of the movie but I guess it seems like the appropriate end. The natural elements in Aamir’s character are evident, like when he is in a cab, flustered about the happenings and he snaps at the cab driver – but in the next moment apologizes to him; his journey from the airport to ‘National restaurant’, where he first refuses to sit in the cab and later on is directing traffic to reach his destination on time; he bursting out into tears after he snatches ‘the bag’ back from the thugs. Rajeev Khandelwal does a lot of justice to the character and even though he might have to work on certain aspects like dialogue delivery, his acting and facial expressions put him in a category of professional actors. Like every good movie, each character has its own role and importance in the movie… apart from the policeman chasing Aamir, none of the characters seemed unnecessary!

Speaking about cinematography some of the random shots of Mumbai through out the movie, the shots of people on the street when Aamir is directing the traffic are all so natural… I’m sure those are not actors and they have just been captured sometime during the shoot of the movie or even randomly at various spots in Mumbai.

I am not a big fan of the Harry Potters and Lord of the Rings of world cinema. I like movies with simple subjects which may not even have a message attached but touch my heart with their story. And seeing the recent change in cinema, the different subjects on which movies are being made and technical excellence showed by the film makers fortifies my faith in Indian cinema… For me to conclude on Aamir… it inspires me!

Amitabh - The Sarkar

Sarkar Raj is all about Amitabh. He proves that he is the most powerful actor Bollywood has ever produced and is only becoming a better actor with age! In the scenes with Abhishek he outshines his son by a huge margin. Abhishek cannot match up to his father’s acting skills and this movie reiterates that.

RGV proves that he may have got carried away by Aag, but in his soul he is a good filmmaker. The movie is not as fast paced as the likes of Company or Sarkar but the last 20 mins redeem the movie, and make it worth a watch. The movie is based on a back drop of Maharashtra politics and even though at times there is an over dose of Abhishek saying that ‘he cares for Maharashtra’ and ‘he loves Maharashtra’ it makes for a good political drama… And particularly the character of Rao Saab (played well by the versatile Dilip Prabhavalkar) does justice to the shrewd, cunning politicians. Though there are a lot of characters in the movie, some of them been barely carried forward from Sarkar (read Tanisha, Supriya Pathak)… The casting for other characters like Kantilal Vora (played by Upendra Limaye), Hassan Qazi (Govind Namdeo), Karunesh Kanga (Sayaji Shinde) is apt and each of them does justice to their small but important role. Aishwarya Rai comes as a package with husband and father-in-law and is the most wasted actor in the movie. Though her character is pertinent for the movie, she does no justice to it – honestly anybody else could have played that role and I am not sure if her presence adds any star power!!

The movie has been shot differently with RGV experimenting with the unstable camera, extreme close-ups and unnecessary angles… Somehow this ‘Hollywood’ effect which he has tried coupled with the sepia mode in which most of the movie is shot only puts a strain on the eyes.

There is nothing noteworthy about Abhishek in the movie and his character seemed a bit flawed to me. He is supposed to be the smart young politician / leader but some of the things which he does did not make sense – for example, the way in which he side tracks Chander seems to be more forced than a natural progression of the story. Similarly there are too many things packed in the two hour movie and at times the story seems to loose its control! But like I said before the movie is worth a watch only for Amitabh and his acting excellence. His transformation from being a supportive mentor to a sensitive father to bouncing back as the ‘Godfather’ is extra ordinary. He does justice to every scene and every dialogue which comes his way.

All said and done, a must watch for those who want to see a decent political drama and Amitabh! The last clip of the movie was a put off. But everything in the last 20 mins preceding that has made me eager to watch a sequel to Sarkar Raj – and if rumors are to be believed, there is one on the drawing boards!

Great shoes but no one to carry them off

I am not a cult Sex and the City fan. It's not the yin equivalent of the James Bond 007 for me. But, I have watched episodes of the show and enjoyed the life and travails of Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte. Unfortunately, Sex and the City is lost in translation on the big screen. The story plot is damning.

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) at 40 is finally planning to marry the on and off boyfriend Big (Chris North), who like John Abraham manages only two expressions throughout the movie. The storyline moves fast till the pathetic wedding scene, where Big ditches Carrie on the altar. What follows is ludicrous. Little logic here as to why Big can't muster courage to marry Carrie (the film tries to impress on Big's insecurity and how Miranda's one statement could have put him off). Not convincing!

Carrie is then rushed off to Mexico with the girls in tow, where she sleeps and sleeps till execrable humor shakes off her blues. The travails of the other girls include Samantha's (Kim Cattrall) valiant efforts at keeping a monogamous relationship with a Hollywood hunk. Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) trajectory of separating from her husband Steve for his confessed one night stand. She spews and spouts about being cheated throughout the film but is unwilling to discuss her marital sex life. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is happy most of the days with her married life and her adopted Chinese daughter. Her trials are varied from indigestion to getting pregnant.

In the end all loose ends get tied up rather poorly. All women get what they want: love, shoes, giant wardrobes, child, designer clothes and jewelry. Midway there's entry of Louise from St Louis, the Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson, who plays Carrie's assistant. The only African American in the film, Hudson has spunk but the role is wasted. She comes to New York to find love after breaking up with high school sweetheart but quits the job to finally get married to him.

Is this what women want?
Sex and City won fans not just because the serial showed fantastic shoes, which most working women can't really wear but also because it was a cool classy comedy about being single working women in their mid thirties who could talk and laugh about sex and romance tribulations. It was perhaps also the first truly adult comedy from women's perspective that could tap into urban working women anywhere in the world not just New York.

The movie fizzles out because Michael Patrick King, the writer tries to tackle the problems of the four complex women now in their 40s but can't give the plot any depth. What we get is superficial problems and designer shoes. The only upside to this is to see these women characters back on screen together. They all look great. The movie has some funny scenes like when the gals are talking about sex life in front of Lily or Carrie's shoot for Vogue magazine. But, on the whole, unless you are a rabid fan, give the movie a miss.

- contributed by Ketaki

The Namesake

I saw this movie last year when it released… I had heard a lot about the book and I did start reading it, but the lazy me decided to stop reading it and took the first opportunity to see the movie. The following is a piece I wrote after I saw the movie, adapted and changed a bit to suit this blog -

A well written book and even better made movie. Capturing the essence of the book in the two hours was surely challenging but Mira Nair did a fabulous job at narrating the book. The performances by Irfan Khan and Tabu were par excellence. I can’t say the same about Kal Penn but he did justify the role and the casting seemed perfect. There wasn’t as much in the direction of the movie as there is in the book itself…

One important mention from the music lover to the soundtrack of the movie. It had caught my attention during the movie and I was hoping they come out with an album… and it did eventually get released. And for someone like me who loves fusion – the perfect blend of Indian instruments and world music – this album is a must. A sitar or a tabla playing side by side even with trance, just makes it my kind of music. But needless to say rhythm is a must!

The album is a compilation of every possible music piece played in the movie, including the Bengali poem recited by one of the guests at Ashima’s christmas party (towards the end of the movie) and an old Geeta Dutt sung bengali song which as far as I remember is playing in the background for one of the Calcutta scenes. But tracks like Airport grief, Farewell shoke, First day in New York are amazing… they have a similar theme, same instruments are used, have similar percussions and listening to them, one might feel that they are similar, but there is a uniqueness. Nitin Sawhney has used the sitar, guitar and flute with finesse to distinguish between the grief in airport grief and the mixture of happiness and sadness in first day in New York. Other good tracks include shoes to america, the title song and the background score during the opening titles.

Reading about this movie after it was released – from reviews to general articles, I’ve realized that everyone has a lot to relate to this movie. Some of us relate to the ‘funny’ names one’s parents have given us but for the countless desi immigrants across the world, there are a lot of similarities between the lives of Ashok & Ashima and even to the life of Gogol and Sonia. Most of the first generation of immigrants (me included) relate to Irfaan Khan and Tabu whereas many of the American born kids with Indian parents might be relating to Gogol and Sonia!A chat with my cousin back home made me realize that she did not enjoy the movie as much as the hype created and I told her that I loved it coz I could relate to a lot of things – maybe reading half the book helped because the book goes so much deeper into their lives. One aspect of the movie which I noticed and appreciated was how we try to live our 'lives' in this foreign land (and shown in the bengali parties in the movie), celebrating festivals in complete fanfare (to the extent of playing holi with colors & water), having elaborate weddings, having the cricket or bollywood gup over booze or chai, only to realize that once its time to go home, we have to take our large coats, drive out in our left hand drive cars and eventually sleep on spring mattresses! I relate a lot to these small things (and people who have lived longer must obviously relate to a hundred more things) shown in the movie and are obviously an integral part of the book. But ironically one such beautiful moment in the movie was towards the end when Tabu says about how this country has become home…

21 grams...

Research says that when we die, we loose 21 grams… Dr Duncan MacDougall who conducted this research wanted to conclude that the soul has weight. Hence the title of this 2003 Sean Penn, Naomi Watts movie…

The movie captures the essence of the name of the movie very well and shows a variety of emotions. The movie has stories running parallel and three quarters into the movie they start connecting… A lot of instances in the movie hit me… like when Naomi Watts looses her husband & two daughters in an accident, the shivering Benicio Del Toro when he realises he has hit & killed someone with a truck, but again its just me

It’s a well written movie which the director has handled even better. The treatment of the movie - mixing shots from the past and present – is what keeps you gripped. I guess this treatment of a movie always adds a lot of anxiety among the audience and keeps you hooked on to your seat – waiting to see what happens next! There are some good performances by the actors but I don’t consider them extra ordinary… A scene worth mentioning is where Sean Penn is shot, few seconds before that and a few after it, one can hear the dialogues at a low volume in the background and there is a loud deafening noise which over shadows everything…

Every emotion of human existence be it love, hate, revenge, guilt (which are all captured in the movie) is all worth 21 grams – coz whenever we sieze to exist all of that does not matter…