Hi,

Rajat Kapoor is a good actor. He is a good director and a sensible man. I liked his last movie "Mixed Doubles". It was witty, scandalous. At the end, each person will have his/her own interpretation of the movie. This is what is great about the director.

This time, he came out with Mithya. Last night I saw it and really liked it. Some people are tagging it as comic thriller. And it's definitely not one. It's funny? Yes. It's interesting? Yes! Is it a comic thriller? Noway! This is an art film in a commercial comical disguise (remember "Jaane bhi do yaaro"? ). It makes you laugh with the protagonist and makes you care for him. First half of the movie has some funny moments and you sort of think you know where this movie is going. And then it changes. It becomes something completely different. It changes with the protagonist. Some people are saying that second half is slow. Well, what's wrong with that if it works? Watch it.

Ranvir Shorey has done an amazing job. He always does. BUt this one is by far the best role he's got. There's a line in the movie where this struggling actor says that Bollywood producers will always go after stars and will never acknowledge the real actors. So true. Ranvirs will never get good roles as long as Shahrukhs are there in the industry. But this Ranvir got his chance in Mithya and done amazingly well. Neha Dhupia has shown that in right hands she can do wonders. Naseeruddin Shah. Sourabh Shukla, Vinay Pathak all have done well.

If you like different movies, watch it.
If you like good movies, watch it.
If you like Chopra/Johar movies, watch it, you might just like it. And if you dont, ask yourself why?.


Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Last night I saw No country for old men. It's one of the best movies I saw in recent times. Storytelling at its best. It's hard, unrelenting and real.

It's full of "characters". But the real protagonist is the backdrop of the story. It all happens in Texas. Just like a cowboy movie but much much real. It's about a drug deal gone wrong. Everyone gets killed in the deal and a local man finds $2M. This starts a cat and mouse game between dealing parties, police and the man.

The directors just decided to tell the story without any "masalaa" as they say in bollywood. There is NO background music. I just couldn't believe it! No background music for an action/thriller movie? Last time I noticed this was with Hitchcock's The Birds.

The performances are brilliant. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson have done their jobs really well. But Javier Bardem stands out. He plays Anton Chigurh. This is one character that will stay with me for a long time. A cold blooded psychopath who is very committed to his profession, i.e. being evil. He will kill anyone who comes in his path and some times also kill those who dont. He has strange rules and follows them religiously. It's bone chilling stuff. Anton Chigurh is right up there with Hannibal Lecter.


It's a must watch for every movie buff.

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Recently I saw Tare Zamin Par. An excellent movie, good script, good direction, good performances. I loved it.

This post is about a scene in this movie. A dyslexic kid is asked to to "9-3" in an exam and he uses his imagination to come up with a (wrong) answer. This reminded me of an old Calvin and Hobbes strip. Today I dug through my C&H archive and found out that strip. Here it is :



I wonder if this was one of the inspirations for the movie. Actually, I am pretty sure it was.

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: CnH, Movies

Hi,

If you are a film buff like me, you must be aware of the controversies surrounding Ashutosh Gowarikar's to-be-released
epic Jodhaa-Akbar. In the film, a rajput princess Jodha marries a Muhgal emperor Akbar. Some historians somehow figured out that this is not what happened. They claim that this Jodha never existed and some said that if she existed then she was Akbar's daughter-in-law and not wife.

After reading this, I did some history research of my own (google+wikipedia = research). And found out the truth. And yes, it IS stranger than the fiction. So it has to be the truth. And truth prevails. The truth shall WIN.. so on and so forth.

What I found out was very strange. According to my research, these historians who made all these claims, never existed! Yes! I went through lot of historic documents, talked to Rajput Royalties, read Akbarnama thrice and nowhere I found names of these historians. Just to be sure, I searched for "historians are *" in google and these are some of the results I got:

* Historians are divided.
* Historians are pessimists.
* Historians are gossips who tease the dead.
* Historians are storytellers.
* Historians are notorious.
* Historians are biased.
* Historians are Humorless

Clearly, with all this evidence, it is proved that historians dont exist, and if they do they are a constipated lot.

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Humor, Movies

Hi,

Last night around 8 o'clock I asked one of my colleagues if he wanted to go for Rambo and he said why not now? I said, why not?! So we saw it last night itself.


It was a trip down the memory lane. I was remembering old Rambo movies rather than concentrating on this one. This one is also ok but old ones were better. There were couple of "Rambo" moments, for example, the arrow-bow thing and last machine gun fight. But it got over soon. I was waiting for the "knife" but it never happened. Also, the dogs were so harmless. And I wish Rambo would have killed the chasers one by one rather than in one big boom.

But, as this was my fisrt Rambo movie on the big screen, I enjoyed it. Its good but it could have been better. All said and done, I am happy with the booms, slashes, blood and gore. :)

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

A couple of days ago (right after they announced Oscar Nominees) I saw Juno and was amazed how it got nominated for best picture. There was a time when Gandhi was nominated and Dances with Wolves was nominated. But Juno?? It's a decent movie but best picture?? Something has gone seriously wrong here. Ellen Page is nominated for best actress. That's fine. She has done a good job. But she was better in Hard Candy. She is going to win atleast 3 oscars by the time she finishes her career. Mark my words.

The movie is about teenage pregnancy. If there is an example of a movie which cannot be remade in Bollywood for next 100 years, it would be this one. The attitude of parents, friends and in general the world towards this 16 year old pregnant girl looked so casual to my Indian mentality that it felt unreal. Maybe it IS unreal. Who knows?

Anyways, you can call this one a decent movie, a chick flick, a feel-good movie or whatever you want but this isn't a bad movie and isn't best picture material for sure.

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

As you might have noticed (it's ok if you havent though) that I have almost given up on blogging. This is my first post in last 6 months. And the reason I am writing this is (as usual) a movie.

Just finished watching a marathi movie called "Pak Pak Pakaak". I dont want to write a review or anything but I liked it so much that I dont want anyone to miss out on this one. I know that not many people will come across this post but if you are reading this and if you know marathi then you'd thank me.

Please watch it. I Beg. Good movies are rare to come by and this one definitely is one!

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Last night I saw on the occasion of christmas eve. Somehow I like all these christmas feel good movies (including Die Hards). And today morning I saw this news. Agreed that this movie kind of gives धट्टी कट्टी गरीबी, लूळी पांगळी श्रीमंती message but its hardly a communist movie. For one its very easy to follow and makes you grin. Practical Communism is known to have the opposite effect. After watching the movie you dont hate money and rich people but you will certainly think that its not the only thing in the world.

I like the movie.. comrade! ;)

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies, News

Hi,

Just came back from Happy Feet. This film is technically excellent but boring. Generally I like animated movies but this one is an exception. It is slow and without a plot and without good characters.

Just boring.

Have you seen it yet?

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Today I saw BhagamBhag.. a new comedy from the creators of Malmaal Weekly. A run-of-the-mill Priyadarshan comedy stuffed with usual suspects, Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar. The promos said that there is someone called Govinda in the movie but this turned out to be a red-herring. Akshay and Paresh are trying to do the same things they did in Hera Pheri etc. There is a mistery-elemement also for those who like that sort of thing. You will be surprised to know who the killer is (only if this is the first mistery movie.. or just the first movie you are watching). And if you really want to enjoy this movie, try to spot the people in the theatre who have convinced themselves that this is a very neat comedy and laugh at the slightest hint of humor. They will make you laugh for sure. Of course there is a duplicate Govinda in the movie who has done well in some scenes.

If you have seen Malamaal Weekly, do watch this movie too. After all you have nothing to lose.

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Just back from my third movie in this week. Spend 100 Rs. and saw .

Some ten or fifteen years ago I remember watching the original movie on TV. And till date I dont remember any other movie (except The Silence of the Lambs and Raat) that got me really scared. Priest-dying, Cycle-accident, photographer-decapitation. These are some scenes carved into my brain.

The new movie doesnt do the justice to the story. Its not scary and its not gripping. The casting is bad. So dont spend money on this movie. You should rather go and get old classic and watch it on TV.. again.


Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Just saw . It's one of those movies that made it to the this Hollywood-hating-town called Hyderabad. With me was my friend whose honest opinion about animated movies ("cartoons", according him) was that they are for kids and watching it on a big screen and actually paying money when something like that can be watched for free on Cartoon Network for free is absolutely a waste. I had heard the same arguments from my college friends when I literally dragged them to watch Toy Story 2.

Now after the movie, this guy is actually acting like Cheshire cat. I assume that I don't have to make my point that animated movies are almost always more entertaining than the usual crap we see. The movie was great. The story was predictable but it was very well done. The characters are just too cool.

And Schumi's cameo was the best part. :)

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies

Hi,

Over the weekend, I did a lot of things. One of them was KANK. I saw Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna one and a half times. Those who had seen it before me had told me that its bad bad bad movie. Still I had to see it. And I must recommend this to all of you who want to watch good movies.

Here is the thing. It is NOT a very good movie. But its certainly not very bad either. If you compare it to good movies it scores less than 35% and fails. But if you compare it to earlier Karan Johar movies it scores more than 100%. That's a HUGE improvement. K2H2 and K3G were really bad and were huge hits. If you don't watch KANK, these guys will go back to those movies and start pushing the crap. And I really don't want that to happen.

So please go and watch KANK and recommend it to everyone. Who knows, with this encouragement Karan Johar might actually make a good movie in the future.

Yours Sincerely,

Labels: Movies