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