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..!!
Friday, 2 May 2008
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Movie Review: Tashan
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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
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Movie Review: Shaurya
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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.
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Movie Review:Jodha Akbar
After just about tolerating all the semi comical and amateurish stuff on television I had been expectantly waiting for a long time for an Indian movie maker to do justice to a historical/period movie. Jodha Akbar was a trifle disappointing but not a total disaster either. In today’s times when the attention span of the audience is progressively on the descendent holding interest for three and a half hours is no mean feat.
My disappointment as usual lies in the lack of direction of the story. The director is clearly confused on what he wants to present. It’s Akbar the conqueror at first and the reluctant lover next. Suddenly the statesman in him manifests amongst the angst of the ruled and secular dialogues are spewed forth. Where does that leave the pretty Jodha? Her character development is a little better. From a bride made out of political compulsions of her father to the Empress of Hindustan having an unbending will of her own, Aishwarya has conducted herself with élan. Her eyes flash a million expressions. The supposed love story and the impact it had on the Indian polity (as we are reminded at the end) remains half baked but interesting in patches.
It is inevitable that comparison with movies of similar genre be made and well, the good old ones like Mughal-e-Azam, Anarkali score higher in a lot many areas. For once the music of A R Rehman did not sound fetching except the song “Khwaza mere khwaza” which is a masterpiece of flawless performance and execution. Hritik’s sway to the beats of this song was synonymous with the devotion with which it has been sung by Rehman. One of his best, I reckon. Although Hritik looked fetching to the moony eyed girls in the hall, he lacks the gravitas and regal demeanor expected of a scion of the Mughal dynasty. But since he and Prithvi Raj Kapur potrayed different ages of Akbar a comparison would be unfair. However JA has been eminently successful in recreating the feel of the times it talks about. The photography is superb. The forts, desert, costumes and the princely splendor of Rajasthan has been captured with an expert’s eye for detail. Reportedly Neeta Lulla designed more than three thousand costumes for the movie. Her hard work shows and beautifully so. The battle scenes are good and gory but again no match for those of Mughal-e Azam. Gowariker missed a trick here. K Asif had hired the services of 63rd(or is it 61st) Cavalry for the war scenes. Computer graphics could have been a good substitute but they are atrociously expensive. However for the sheer scale of production and for the spectacle value I would rate the movie pretty high. Some of the scenes are unbelievably real especially where Hritik tames a wild elephant. The single combat at the climax, although a-la Troy is pretty engrossing and full of energy.
Some howlers are there but they are inevitable I guess. Just imagine, a full house “Deewane-e Aam” is adjourned because Aishwarya decides to sing a bhajan to Lord Krishna in a voice loud enough to reverberate in the corridors where state business is being transacted. My wife, however, was pretty charitable saying “Bhai, who Raja hai. Kuchh bhi kar sakta hai”. Agreed but I cannot forgive the next. The king is seriously wounded and unconscious with the medicine men pronouncing the worst possible prognosis. The queen instead of holding his hand or assisting in medication goes in for divine intervention and sure enough the next morning he opens his eyes. Sigh, it will take some time for us to come out with a Benhur or a Cleopatra. But till then the likes of Jodha Akbar will do.
My disappointment as usual lies in the lack of direction of the story. The director is clearly confused on what he wants to present. It’s Akbar the conqueror at first and the reluctant lover next. Suddenly the statesman in him manifests amongst the angst of the ruled and secular dialogues are spewed forth. Where does that leave the pretty Jodha? Her character development is a little better. From a bride made out of political compulsions of her father to the Empress of Hindustan having an unbending will of her own, Aishwarya has conducted herself with élan. Her eyes flash a million expressions. The supposed love story and the impact it had on the Indian polity (as we are reminded at the end) remains half baked but interesting in patches.
It is inevitable that comparison with movies of similar genre be made and well, the good old ones like Mughal-e-Azam, Anarkali score higher in a lot many areas. For once the music of A R Rehman did not sound fetching except the song “Khwaza mere khwaza” which is a masterpiece of flawless performance and execution. Hritik’s sway to the beats of this song was synonymous with the devotion with which it has been sung by Rehman. One of his best, I reckon. Although Hritik looked fetching to the moony eyed girls in the hall, he lacks the gravitas and regal demeanor expected of a scion of the Mughal dynasty. But since he and Prithvi Raj Kapur potrayed different ages of Akbar a comparison would be unfair. However JA has been eminently successful in recreating the feel of the times it talks about. The photography is superb. The forts, desert, costumes and the princely splendor of Rajasthan has been captured with an expert’s eye for detail. Reportedly Neeta Lulla designed more than three thousand costumes for the movie. Her hard work shows and beautifully so. The battle scenes are good and gory but again no match for those of Mughal-e Azam. Gowariker missed a trick here. K Asif had hired the services of 63rd(or is it 61st) Cavalry for the war scenes. Computer graphics could have been a good substitute but they are atrociously expensive. However for the sheer scale of production and for the spectacle value I would rate the movie pretty high. Some of the scenes are unbelievably real especially where Hritik tames a wild elephant. The single combat at the climax, although a-la Troy is pretty engrossing and full of energy.
Some howlers are there but they are inevitable I guess. Just imagine, a full house “Deewane-e Aam” is adjourned because Aishwarya decides to sing a bhajan to Lord Krishna in a voice loud enough to reverberate in the corridors where state business is being transacted. My wife, however, was pretty charitable saying “Bhai, who Raja hai. Kuchh bhi kar sakta hai”. Agreed but I cannot forgive the next. The king is seriously wounded and unconscious with the medicine men pronouncing the worst possible prognosis. The queen instead of holding his hand or assisting in medication goes in for divine intervention and sure enough the next morning he opens his eyes. Sigh, it will take some time for us to come out with a Benhur or a Cleopatra. But till then the likes of Jodha Akbar will do.
Monday, 11 February 2008
Movie Review: Mithya
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This one is strictly for Multiplex movie types who are still caught between the erstwhile art and the nouvaeu experimental cinema. I admire Rajat Kapoor for having attempting this at all. But, but, but (Oh my buts, no pun intended) the movie begins and ends from nowhere to nowhere. Well that’s the feel I got. The story is there but not quite. The performances are great but from entirely unexpected quarters. The music is forgettable. The locales are fantastic. The photography is surrealistic at times but efficiently done. So like the movie where do I begin and where do I end this write up.
The words of the immortal James Douglas Morrison flashed through my mind while watching the movie and crystallized at its end.
“The program for this evening is not new
You’ve seen this entertainment through and through
You’ve seen your birth, your life and death
You might recall all the rest
Did you have a good life?
Enough to base a movie on?”
Apparently Rajat Kapoor thought so about his hero. This dark comedy is about an aspiring actor, brilliantly portrayed by Ranvir Shorey, emulating the countless wannabe heroes in the tinsel town of Mumbai. His idyllic struggle in the moviedom is rudely interrupted when he is becomes an unwilling witness to a murder attempt on an underworld don who, well, looks exactly like him. The don’s enemies devise a plan to takeover the business of reigning Don. So they kidnap our hero, terrorize him, threaten him, pay him and then train him to take the place of his look alike, who is then waylaid and shot. All the pieces are now in place or are they?
He settles down reasonably well in his new role and just when things seem to be going as per plan he falls down from a banister and loses his memory. I won’t play the spoiler and reveal the subsequent developments. The sudden twists and turns in the story keep the viewer interested but somehow one doesn’t quite find what one is looking for. Like I said, almost there but not quite.
The spectrum of human emotions has been explored quite cleverly. The character of Ranvir takes off from being a happy go lucky youth, to a contented family man, to a terror struck brutalized victim, to hopelessness and bewilderment with remarkable aplomb. Vinay Pathak walks through his role of a Mafiosi thug with consummate ease. Neha Dhupia, despite her rapidly expanding bottoms, was a pleasant surprise. Saurabh Shukla and Naseeruddin Shah were the two unexpected disappointments. The first was too loud and Mr Shah too quiet in a most insignificant role. Harsh Chhaya, as the dead don’s brother exuded the menace of a professional gangster.
Despite my reservations, my compliments must go to Rajat Kapoor for being there in frontline of the brave new movie makers. It is a fantastic effort and he can only get better. He has created a laudable mirage. Take what you can from it !
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