Politically Correct!

Raajneeti could be hailed as the casting coup of 2010, the best character actors (Naseeruddin Shah, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai)sharing the screen space with the younger brigade (Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif).



The movie is a modern take on Mahabharata – belligerent brothers (cousins), illegitimate offspring, shrewd manipulator caught in a war called "politics". The ultimate winner has an ulterior motive which forms the twist in the tale.

As far as actors are concerned – Shah is wasted, Patekar at his usual best, Bajpai stands out, Devgan sails smoothly, Rampal shows improvement, Kapoor steals the show, Kaif comes up with new expressions but that doesn’t guarantee her a National Award! Prakash Jha has captured the mode and mood of elections substantially well.

In short, Rajneeti rocks. What’s your opinion on this decent take on a dirty game?

A Different Take on a Romantic Tale!

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa – a love story about a boy chasing a girl, a girl chasing a boy and with a climax that the audience might not expect or accept!

Karthik (Silambarasan), 22 year old tamil boy, mechanical engineer, aspiring film director falls in love in the very sight with Jessie (Trisha), 23 year old malayalee girl, program analyst with Polaris and his neighbor. He stalks her, proposes to her and at a later stage she does reciprocate his love. Will they live happily ever after? That forms the different and distinct finale of the movie!



Silambarasan, unlike his previous large than life outings, has come up with finesse, flawless performance. Gautham Menon has indeed underplayed him, like the way he had done with his previous heroes. Trisha equally match Silambarasan with her restrained act, her chic sarees, salwars, western attires add to her confused, conservative character. Nobody could have acted the role of Karthik and Jessie the way Silambarasan and Trishan have portrayed, they share a visible, vivacious chemistry! Of the other support actors, the character of Ganesh, enacted by one of the producers, truly stands out.

The music and the background score – Maestro A R Rahman has done it again! Aaromale haunts you, for it plays throughout the movie! How could one do such wonders with Malayalam lyrics?

The flow being a little slow being the major flaw, but isn’t it made for audiences who love romantic tracks and have plenty of time at disposal?

I wonder and ponder - Is there anything called TRUE love?

The Call Worth Answering!

Karthik Calling Karthik – a thriller which doesn’t really send chills down the spine! Overall, it’s a well crafted movie with decent performances from the lead cast. The music and soundtrack really stands out, must say, Shankar Ehsaan Loy proved yet again that they are here to stay (for a very long innings!)

The movie revolves around Karthik(Farhan Akhtar), in spite being a IIM topper and diligent worker, is a loser in his personal and professional life. One night he receives a call from Karthik and his life no longer remains the same. He undergoes a transition from an introvert to an extrovert, gets promoted, and wins the heart of his colleague, Shonali (Deepika Padukone) who all the while was ignoring him pre metamorphosis! Now, the man behind his makeover remains the suspense of the movie!

What to say about Farhan? A multi faceted personality with eagles’ eyes picking up the character that suits his style! Deepika, looks gorgeous, her tresses and dresses make up for her acting skills! Farhan and Deepika share a reasonably good on screen chemistry!

The most important lesson learnt – If you are planning to change your landline phone, never go for the Chinese ones! Verdict – It’s worth one time watch, a tailor made movie made for the classes and not for the masses!

Did you pick up the phone? If so, did you enjoy the call?

Repaired Almost Something!

Sena se panga lena was not my intention, still I saw My Name Is Khan on the very first week of its release. Karan Johar, the director of this flick had stated in an interview that this could be the last movie of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol together, a good marketing strategy to keep the cash registers ringing!

It’s a believable story of an autistic guy Rizwan Khan played by Shahrukh, making a long journey to meet the president of USA just to win back Mandira played by Kajol, his wife, or the only true love of his life!

Here we don’t get to see Shahrukh doing his uber cool roles, in short, he really acts, not overreacts! Kajol gives him ample company. After starring in more than half a dozen movies together, the chemistry shared between Shahrukh and Kajol is still pleasurable and laudable.

Film tends to drag in the middle, which could have been edited, shortening the length by at least 15 to 20 minutes.

Verdict - Karan! "I am X(does it matter anyway?). I am not your fan, but I enjoyed this movie”. Its time for you to sing “I did overcome”, for you got over your fixation for the letter “K” and your style of making opulent, larger than life movies!

Till I get to hear your opinion, I shall soak myself in Noor E Khuda!

When Aal is Not Well!

What happens when a leading director casts a leading actor and actress in his next movie? The expectation soars! To cut it short, 3 idiots has a decent start, a dreary middle and a drag ending!

The characters are over the top especially that of Rancho and Virus. Mr Irani as Virus is at his petulant best, a typical case of a great talent in a miscast! Ms Kapoor doesn’t have much role, in fact couldn’t make out why she was there – to add glamour quotient? Mr Khan as Rancho does well but his character does have shades from his previous flicks like DCH, RDB etc. Its time for the entire “Khan”dan to move on and make way for the “Kapoor” clan!

I was let down by the movie and its director Mr Hirani who had come up with some outstanding works in the past! Why Mr Bhagat made such a hue and cry, the movie is just “inspired” by “Five Point Someone”! May be Mr Hirani will ensure that Mr Bhagat is duly credited next time while filming “2 States”!

Mr Hirani, all I can say is “Aal is not well that does not end well!” Waiting for more Munnabhai type series from you! In fact, the audience is the 4th idiot for making the movie a roaring success.

Do you disagree?

2012 – A disastrous attempt on not so distant disaster!

It’s the first time in my life when I got to see a movie on the very first day of its release. The movie is all about the end of the world, and that too on 12-21-12 as prognosticated by an INDIAN astrophysicist (time for little Garv and Taliyan) Poor guy! Though his prediction turned out to be true, he and his family weren’t saved from the gobbling, gurgling waves of Tsunami!

The film depicts how in spite of the ark being built by Chinese workers, only the Richie Richs of the world, the ones who could afford to buy a ticket worth one billion Euro, got a chance to escape. Anyway, a heartrending speech by American scientist Adrian Helmsley, quoting the lines from the book written by Jackson Curtis convinces the G8 leaders to open the gates of the ark for more people. A melodrama! (What more can we expect from the makers of The Independence Day)

Now, who is Jackson Curtis? Well, he is the hero portraying a zero in life! His book didn’t have much takers, he is separated from his wife who is currently staying with her new surgeon boy friend and her kids with Jackson.

Jackson comes to know about the catastrophe and the film focuses on how he tries to save the lives of his kids, wife and her boyfriend! The movie ends in a happy note – US’s last president’s daughter gets a boyfriend in form of Helmsley (Mr. ex-President! Good that you chose to stay back, you were all the while the sole reason for your daughter being single!), Jackson and his wife reunites (Calamities can reduce divorce rates!) and the ark moves to Africa, to be precise to Cape of Good Hope!

Now, the most interesting part or the lessons learnt – Don’t press the panic button, now that you know that the world will end by 2012. If you have a fat bank balance, a Chinese visa, sound swimming skills and pilot certificate, you would be one among the lucky ones to make it to 0001!

Jokes apart, what’s the one thing that you would have regretted not doing before the end of the world? I would really like to know!

Slumdog Millionaire – A Bollywood story dealt by a Hollywood crew

American colleague of mine went gaga over Slumdog Millionaire, so I decided to watch it as well. Golden Globes win paved as yet another reason not to miss out on the movie.

It’s a normal rag to riches story where in the lead character Jamal played by Dev Patel participates in Kaun Banega Crorepati for the sole reason to get back his lost love, Lathika played by Freida Pinto.

The story commences with Jamal being in police custody where he is subjected to different tortures in order to figure out how a “Slumdog” like him is able to answer all the questions. Jamal colligates each question to instances in his life much to the surprise of the police played by Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla. Police releases him so that he can return to the show for the final question. Anil Kapoor plays Prem Kumar, the KBC host who tries to misguide Jamal in the end but Jamal triumphs. He gets Lathika back who all the while was pursuing the show.

The movie is based on a book Q and A by Vikas Swarup. It has indeed captured the life in Mumbai slums substantially well. All the lead characters have given their best shot. The sound track “Jai Ho” is quite catchy and will stay here for some more time.

Mr Amitabh Bachchan has recently slammed the movie saying that it depicted India in a poor light. Well, Mr Bachchan, slums do exist in India and it’s a ground reality. We do expect celebrities like you to come forth and lend a hand on noble causes instead of walking hand in hand with cretins like Mr Amar Singh.

Summing up, I give a thumbs up for this movie and its worth watching one time. The heroine is seen in yellow attire every time she meets the hero. Do reason it out and let me know as well.

Thirakkatha – A Lackluster Katha

I had been to Kerala on a long vacation and decided to catch up on some path breaking movies of 2008. One such movie which had lots of hoopla around it was Thirakkatha. It’s based on a true story of a yesteryear actress, late Srividya and an acting legend, our own Kamal Hassan. Story has been penned and directed by Renjith, known for his brilliant and aesthetic narration.

Priyamani dons the role of the actress Malavika, once a reigning box office queen, now a disgraced soul, whose current whereabouts are unknown. Anoop Menon plays a struggling actor Ajayachandran, now a reigning superstar, who had a romantic liaison with Malavika which ended in a brief nuptial.

A promising, new director Akbar played by Prithviraj is in search for an appealing and original plot for his next movie. The expectations from him are quite high since his debut movie was received stupendously by the audience and critics alike. He decides to make the love story between Malavika and Ajayachandran as the plot of his upcoming movie. As Akbar searches for Malavika, the love story between her and Ajayachandran unfolds as flashback. The meeting of these three characters forms the climax.

Overall, the story lacked depth and the characters not well etched. The climax too, was filmy and overdrawn. The national award winning actress Priyamani failed to impress. May be it’s her character which just failed to click. Anoop Menon was total miscast as Ajayachandran. His dialogue delivery reminded one of superstar Suresh Gopi during his “Commissioner” days. Prithviraj, though had a brief role, did complete justice as Akbar. His potential needs to be harnessed so that he can reach the leagues of Lalettan and Mamooka.

If you have plenty of time at your disposal or are insomniac, watch it.

Vaarnam Aayiram – No Varnam At All !!!

Well, well, well. What should I write about this movie? If K3G was all about loving your parents, this is about loving your dad (in fact an overdose of it). One suggestion to Mr Gautham Vasudev Menon, the movie should have been released on Father’s Day. The director made a film of three hours to convey a vital message of "Smoking is injurious to health" [:-)]

I won't completely write off the movie because there were some moments which simply took my breath away. The director has brought out spanking new ideas of expressing love and I must say they were really eye catching and worth experimenting!!!

It's out and out Surya movie and he has done complete justice to the dual characters of father and son. Among the leading ladies, Simran is outstanding, Sameera looks stunning (she is completely covered up this time [;-)]) and Divya totally out of sync.

It’s worth one time watch. If you are hard core Surya fan, you will never complain. Still wondering why Surya got those 6 packs!!!. If you can reason out, do let me know as well.

The Edge...

The movie starring Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin is one that I can never stop watching. Whenever I am down, I just watch it and get rejuvenated.

Its is a story of two men struggling to survive in the wilderness after their plane crashes. Their only chance for survival is each other. This film has some of the best dialogue and the action scenes are beautifully paced.

Some thought provoking dialogues are

Why is the rabbit unafraid? 'Cause he's smarter than the panther.

For all my life, I've have wanted to do something that was, um, that was unequivocal.

You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame.
What?
Yeah, see, they die of shame.
What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this? And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives.
And what is that, Charles?
Thinking.

I seem to be able to retain all these facts, but putting them to any useful purpose is a different matter.

What are we going to do Charles?
What are we going to do?
We're going to kill the bear.
What do we use for bait?
We lure him in. You know, Masai boys in Africa, eleven years old-- they kill lions with spears.
Uh huh... how do we lure him?And what one can do, another can do.You can't kill the bear, Charles! He's... he's... he's... been ahead of us the whole time! He's playing with us, he can read out minds.
He...What one can do, another can do! You coward! Do you want to die out here? Do you?! Do you hear me?! I'm going to kill the bear... say it!I...Say it! I'm going to kill the bear. Say it!I'm going to kill the bear.
I'm going to kill the bear!What one can do, another can do!What one can do, another can do!

...I never knew anyone who did actually change their life. I'll tell you what... I'm going to start my life over!

How did they die?
Those men died... saving my life.