Moview review- Hancock

All ye DC Comics and Marvel aficionados need to reorient your conception of superheroes. In the constantly meandering labyrinths of social transactions where the nature of man is redefined everyday our good old superhero hasn’t remained unaffected. Gone is the emotionless face wearing which he would clinically execute the fall of his super foes. Now they feel the love, get affected by loss & rejection and also get drunk & roundly abused. Are these the super guys we have grown up with? I am not complaining but merely marveling at the imaginative twist that the movie makers have come up with.

Will Smith has come a long way since his hip hop days. Back in the mid eighties to early nineties he was better known as The Fresh Prince, the lead vocalist of the group DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. His rendition of “Summertime” still remains one of my favorite songs. The movie’s Big Willie, Mr. Hancock is thousands of years old fellow whose flying skills can put Superman to shame. And while he is not busting the villains, destroying property worth several million dollars in the process he is busy emptying bottles of whiskey and taking a nap where he wills (pun intended). Besides defying gravity he is also bullet proof, knife proof and hit proof. In short nothing affects him physically. And here is the twist! The superhero goes ballistic whenever he is abused. How human! Due to his flawed crime fighting abilities and a foul mouth the media, the police and finally the public turns against him.

This is the age of celebrities who conjure up a hyped image of themselves aided and abetted by media manipulators euphemistically called image consultants. In walks Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) who becomes eternally grateful to Hancock for saving him from being run over by a train. Sensing an opportunity to put his PR skills to test he proposes an image makeover to Hancock which involves surrendering to the police, spending some time in the jail and waiting for the police to call him back because crime is bound to rise in his absence from the streets even as the public property is safe from him. There are some interesting shots of the jail. One of them is of the self purging meetings on the lines of those of Alcoholics Anonymous. After consistent refusals to open up, a single line comment “I am Hancock and I drink and stuff” is enough to be reciprocated by loud and encouraging applause. Soon Embrey’s plan begins to bear fruit and Hancock is back in mainstream circulation and this time without the previous opprobrium. At this time everyone can happily live ever after but what about twist number 2?

Mrs Embrey (Charlize Theron), as it turns out, is a super heroine as well and to top that she is “technically” Hancock’s wife since the like of them were made in pairs. The cynical Hancock suddenly finds that his love quotient has taken a northward swing. Only the object of his affection is torn between the loyalty to her husband and the love of three thousand years. The raison d'etre is twist number 3. The invulnerability of the super couple goes down when they come closer emotionally. In some ways it is a Greek tragedy where love is doomed despite best intentions. The resolution of this mess is what rest of the movie is all about. Its entertaining, its different and its fun. Go watch!

Movie Review- Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

It’s been way too long for Indiana Jones to whiplash his way back to the silver screen and only Spielberg could bring alive the persona of Indiana Jones, hat, boots, bull whip and all. For the uninitiated let me first give a small history lesson. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, two of the hottest talents of the seventies decided to come together to make a movie which at the time was promoted as “the return of high adventure”. The movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was directed by Spielberg & produced by Lucas, and went on to be one of the highest grosser of all time. Set in the time of 2nd World War, the pulsating story of the search for the Ark of the Covenant moved from US to Nepal and climaxed in Egypt.
It was followed by the not so good “Indiana Jones & the Temple of the Doom”. Amrish Puri made a forgettable Hollywood debut but the romance of Indy’s adventures remained alive. The third “Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade” is my second favorite because it had the unflappable Sean Connery who plays Indy’s father. The search of the Holy Grail is one of my all time favorite yarns.
The common thread in all the above movies was the swash buckling, devil may care Indy Jones who got into and out of the most impossible situations with charm and panache. He plays a professor of archaeology who goes after the most difficult searches for old and forgotten relics, fights the bad guys, gets the girl and always has a happy ending.
The latest offering is all of the above but hey, Indy is twenty years older and yet hasn’t seem to have lost his appetite of jumping over unjumpables and avoiding the million bullets that chase him. But then he has an illustrious contemporary in our own Rajnikant who can do all of this and more.
The movie is set in the mid fifties when US saw a commie behind every pole and the obsession of UFOs was coming of age. However Spielberg’s obsession with aliens continues to be unrelenting as ever. So this time we have a sword brandishing Kate Blanchett, a protégé of Stalin, who with a little help of stoic faced hoodlums manages to get hold of Indy to guide them to the high security warehouse where the US Govt. stores all its rare, unexplainable artifacts. Those who have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark would remember the last scene where the Ark is being wheeled into this warehouse to its new and anonymous residence. The desired object this time is, well what else, a crystal skull which is the key to untold knowledge and unlimited power. Indy scores in round one and escapes, only to resume the chase later in the time honored tradition of the perennial adventurer.
Accompanying him this time is a John Dean look-alike teenager with an attitude. As it turns out he is Indy’s son and from whom? Surprise, surprise, its Karen Allen, the vivacious, hard drinking, kick ass girl friend from the first edition of the series. Like Indy she has aged but the passion remains alive. It was great watching her all over again.
The end is predictable. The special effects from Lucas’s factory Industrial Light & Magic are awesome, especially the aliens sequence at the end. And Indy decides to settle down with his old lady love and the new found progeny. I loved his reply when asked by Karen if there were other women in his life and why he didn’t marry them. The man says”Yes there were some but all of them had the same problem. None of them was you”. Here’s a toast to old love and fairy tale endings. Cheers !!

Movie Review- Sarkar Raj

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Sarkar Raj

The Bachhan family gets together finally and it’s a reasonably good for a fist time togetherness act. Also Ram Gopal Verma must have found his smile back. What intrigued me particularly how after safely copying the storyline of The Godfather in the first movie, would RGV hold the story together in the sequel. There is however a thinly disguised difference. Those familiar with the Godfather story would remember the Sollozo episode where he makes an offer of partnership for import of drugs to the Don and is turned down. And then all hell breaks loose. Well over here there is a proposal of setting up a power project (worth two hundred thousand crores, no less) by a well meaning Ash but she is surrounded by sleazy characters who are in it for their pound of flesh. The senior Nagre(AB) declines help because it involves displacement of thousands of people. The junior AB however keeps quiet because he has his own opinion on the project. His silence does not go un noticed. To quell a possible backlash AB junior goes to the masses. Things are not so cut and dried because opposition and resistance to his convictions erupt in the countryside spearheaded by the grandson of the mentor of the senior Nagre.
Interesting concept, yes, but the sequence of the action drags till the intermission. The story changes to political power play with the end game being to destroy the hegemony of the Nagre family. The opposition succeeds partially but the end is predictable. Paying homage to all the three Godfather movies RGV bumps off the entire opposition and at the end you are left with the feeling that Sarkar III is on its way. Whew, where will he find the story this time. Well there is no dearth of homegrown gangsters. Maybe now he won’t have to look for American aid.
Powerful emotions are sought to be highlighted by thumping background score rather than the expressions of the lead actors. Honorable exceptions are Sayaji Shinde, who plays the buffoon of a leader of opposition and Govind Namdeo who plays the sleazy fixer and of course Rao Saheb (AB senior’s mentor) brilliantly portrayed by Dilip Prabhavalkar (remember the Gandhi of Munnabhai). Amitabh is his usual competent self. Ash looks pretty. Abhishek is capable of much better.
The music is ordinary and (sigh) copied. “Govinda Govinda” is a straight rip off of “Ave Satani” from Omen II (Damien). Nothing to die for but the flick is a good watch especially if you have seen the first one.

IPL Masala

i think Bhajji has been taught the right lesson by being hit where it matters the most, monkey business was good but one can't go around hitting fellow players on the field. Bhajji should learn few lessons from our MP Sidhuji... he will teach him the trick to box without any loss...

IPL rocks.... but think cricket won't be the same here on... but then only thing permanent is Change so who cares..!!

Movie Review: Tashan

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Tashan

Tashan

For all those who haven’t seen this movie due to lack of interest/bad reviews/ time kahan milta hai/ main office main bahut busy hoon, its time to reschedule your thinking of orthodox perspectives, leave your brain behind your PC and enjoy this movie. Ask me why? We have seen the likes of this many times over BUT none has been executed this professionally. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the epitome of the great Hindi masala movie. Ask me how?

The story has the classical theme from the genre of James Hadley Chase novels where interesting episodes are woven together to form a story, which is there but you can always predict what’s going to happen next. In there lies the excellence of the movie making craft in making the predictable interesting. The flashbacks have been artfully deployed for proper narration as also the stage whispers which have been effectively used to shove the story forward. The editing is slick and the action fast paced. I wonder if the audience has properly appreciated the action. Before eulogizing let me explain. The action in this movie is sublime and gross. It’s the gross you carry in your memory. But Bollywood has finally paid homage to the kung fu genre of movie/craft after a long time. The exaggerated and the gross violence have an eminent precedent. His Eminence Run Run Shaw of the Golden Harvest Productions fame made this genre a craze way back into the 70s. He was the guy who introduced Bruce Lee. Every Chinese movie of his with crazy names like “Snake in the monkey’s shadow” or “The drunken Shaolin Monk” had the hero fighting a couple of dozen guys and blasting all of them with a single roundhouse kick.

Most of the songs could have been done without but I love the improved quality of extras dancing in the background. Of course Sukhwinder’s rendering of “Very happy in my heart, dil dance mare re” is out of this world. The locales of the Mediterranean and Ladakh are breathtaking

Kareena has chiseled her body to perfection and is one of the few Bollywood heroines who look stunning in a bikini. Now whether it’s a before or after a Saif development I would leave to the gossip mongers but Man she looks like an angel with a deceptively innocent smile. Her vivacity comes across like a whiff of fresh air. Saif is his usual competent self. I am partial to Akshay Kumar , so whatever I may say about him will seem biased. But his characterization of the UP local hoodlum ought to win him a few awards.

Anil Kapoor deserves a separate paragraph. Bhaiya ji, has rendered am exemplary performance as a killer don desperately wanting fluency in English. Saif is the Guru ji employed to teach and for all his efforts what comes across is an amazing mix of English and Hindi from the streets of Kanpur. A scene or two could have been managed by everyone but carrying it through the entire movie is a feat for which Kapoor as well the script writer deserve kudos. The sequence where he recreates in Hinglish the unforgettable monologue of Amitabh Bachhan from Deewar. “Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum” turns into “Lots happy you must be”. But let me not play the spoiler. This you need to experience yourself. Celebrate the gross and the ordinary and enjoy

Movie Review: Shaurya

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Shaurya

I hadn’t been to a movie theatre since mid February and was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms. I am so glad that I ended this sabbatical with Shaurya. For once I happily overlooked that the story is a straight lift of “A Few Good Men” and thoroughly enjoyed the drama adapted to the Indian context.
The story is about the Court Martial of an army officer accused of killing a fellow officer. He maintains a silence on his guilt or otherwise. Two friends in the JAG branch are transferred to the accused officer’s place of incarceration to take on the roles of the opposing counsels in the trial. What is supposed to be an open and shut case takes another dimension when a chirpy journalist, the forgettable Minnisha Lamba, introduces some doubts in the mind of the defence counsel, Rahul Bose. In a happy go lucky and devil may care life a sense of purpose is introduced. The movie is as much about the awakening of maturity of the dedicated to fun Mr Rahul Bose as about the ready to die for his convictions Mr Deepak Dobriyal who plays, ah what else, but a conscientious and a nationalist Muslim army officer. The evil that men do find a persona in the character of Brig Pratap who confuses every Muslim with the demon who had wiped out his family. KK does immense justice to this characterization with his usual professional competence. Deepak Dobriyal rides the movie with a searing intensity which flows from his glowing eyes. Javed Jaffery like me is at last beginning to look old but still, like me retains his sense of fun. He sizzled a bit in the beginning of the movie, a totally unnecessary dance number accompanying the not so sizzling Rosa of the Saif fame. It’s a bit tragic to see the could be Begum of Pataudi reduced to an item number.
The songs are forgettable, the background music is tremendous and the photography is good. It was great to watch shots of Patiala’s Mahindra College and the beauty of Manali which is supposed to be Kashmir in the movie.
A word again about the two principal players in the movie. I admire Rahul Bose on many counts. He lives life the way he wants to. Does movies, plays in the national Rugby team, stays single and remains fit. Deepak Dobriyal, for the uninformed is an Uttarakhandi and my parochial Uttarakhandi chhamak challo has decided that he is the real hero of the movie. So as of this evening my children have a new Mama. So what does this have to with the movie? I feel that both of them bring freshness to the cinema that at least I have been yearning for some time. Both are young and different and harbingers of a new era. Cheers and amen to that.