rascals!

this might be slightly late in the day for many of you, but for those of you who haven't watched the movie 'kaminey' here're some words of advice :

GET OFF YOUR BACKSIDE AND GO WATCH IT!!!

this was my first vishal bharadwaj (vb) film (yeah, sacrilege, i know!!!) and it is not considered as his best film by far... infact a friend who's a vb fan sayd that this film was very 'main-stream commercial' as compared to his earlier films... but i still enjoyed it thoroughly!

i'm not going to bore you with another review here... there are so many reviews out there already...
but i'd like to share some kaminey and vb trivia here with you...

- the song 'dhan te tan' was actually not made for this movie... it was used by vb in a tv serial in the 90s...

- there was apparently much choreography planned for the song dhan ten tan... they just went out there and moved to the music and some of that was captured (i find this hard to believe though)

- vb himself has sung the title track 'kaminey' and his wife rekha bharadwaj (she has sung the catchy 'gendhe ka phool' song in delhi6) is one of the singers of the song 'raat ke dhai baje'

- vb has directed, composed music, written the screenplay and sung for the film... its unhealthy! so much talent concentrated in one person! :P

- he bought the script for $4000 from a nairobi-based writer who he mentored in a scrip-writing workshop in uganda

- this is the debut film for amol gupte who plays the role of one of the key villains - bhope bhau. amol gupte wrote the screen play for the award-winning taare zameen par.

i have now decided to catch up on all the vb movies that i have missed - maqbool, omkara, blue umbrella and makdee. the big boss shudders at the thought! :)

shivaji resurrected!

a movie has to be really good to inspire me to write about it on my blog on the same day! (i watched delhi 6 a few weeks back and didn't write about it at all... well you know what that says about that movie! :) )

but this is about a completely different movie... its about this marathi film called 'mee shivaji raje bhosale boltoy' which has been making waves ever since it was released... in fact it is touted as the largest grosser for a marathi film ever!

this film could also be the comeback vehicle for actor-director mahesh manjrekar whose cousin brother santosh manjrekar has directed this film.

though the film is in marathi, most of you will be able to understand if you can understand hindi... though the film is about the 'marathi manoos' rediscovering his lost pride, a person of any other community also will be able to connect with the theme of the film...

the film is very slickly produced, just like a nig-budget mainstream hindi bollywood film... the casting is excellent, the dialogues are forceful and the pace doesn't ease up at all...

the film is about a middle-class bank clerk, dinkar bhosale, who is making ends meet... he is constantly ridiculed and pressurised and insulted by his office colleagues, family members, and many others in his day-to-day life... a strange twist in the story brings him face-to-face with the resurrected maratha warrior king, shivaji maharaj at his pratapgarh fort... (this does remind of you munnabhai m.b.b.s. but this film is very different)

after this he becomes a hero of sorts and resolves many issues related to the education system, police, politicians, builders, film industry, etc. some of these resolutions are fairly cliched but the overall charm of the film is not lost...

i must've watched a marathi film after more than 20 years! and i have been trying to watch this film for the last 2 weeks and for over 5-6 times my plans changed... i was convinced this film was jinxed :)
boy, am i glad i persisted and finally watched it earlier tonight...

if you are a maharashtrian, its a shame if you haven't wacthed this film yet!
if you are not, but are living in maharashtra (or were living in the past) then you must definitely watch this film...
and if you are not living in maharashtra and you do not understand marathi, then you should hire a dvd with sub-titles and watch this film...

you will thank me after watching it!

a math and movie evening

its been ages since i last blogged! and i have no clue why i had stopped... but i definitely have a compelling reason for writing here today... i have no clue whether this means i will be back to writing more posts now! :P

no prizes for guessing what could be the compelling reason... the big boss actually asked me the other day why i had not blogged for so long!!!
and there was one specific event which thought i would blog about... so here it is!

i saw this obscure announcement in the newspaper about a lecture titled 'history of numbers' by bill casselman who is a professor of mathematics at the university or british columbia.

now its not so much about the lecture, which in itself was quite interesting, that i wanted to write about. (the lecture was about the 9000 year history of numbers!)

what we found more fascinating was the motley bunch of 50-odd people who had assembled in a small lecture hall at the y.b. chavan auditorium in mumbai.

there were a few school & college students, (some of who were clearly brought there much against their wishes by their enthusiastic parents), academicians, maths enthusiasts and some curious souls like yours truly! there was even one white-haired & bearded elderly gentleman who could easily pass of as an eccentric genius! :P

this is when we both realised that there exists a completely different world in cities like mumbai, far removed from the daily hustle and bustle and the frantic tracking of the stock index... a world which sighs when they see a picture of an ancient clay tablet with some scribblings on it, a world which takes pride in being able to decipher a set of hieroglyphs and finds immense satisfaction that the ancient babylonians knew how to add up a series of numbers to the base of 6!

it was with this humbling feeling that we waked out into a muggy evening and decided to take in a movie... and that's how i came about to watch 'the curious case of banjamin button' which is worth a watch just for the amazing kate blanchett... the ladies might like to feast their eyes upon brad pitt, but i think i'll just pass! :)

slumdog made millions!

and i'm not talking about the character in the story of the film 'slumdog millionaire' but the people who made the film including the producer, director, actors and the rest of the gang!

i saw the movie last night, a late show as usual! along with the golden square gang.

this morning my friend (who was part of the gang last night) called to check my take on the film... so here it is.

i loved the movie... liked the gritty edge the film has through till the end... (i would score it a 6.5 on 10)

1. it is a well-made masala film... a love story well-told
2. a good story well adapted into a film (in fact one of my school friends said it was better than the book. and that's something!)
3. the brit accent seemed jarring
4. the actors were all pretty good especially irfan khan and anil kapoor were very good. i thought dev patel gawked a bit too much! :)
5. i also agree that we take many aspects of the poverty (child beggar-workers, child prostitution, slums, filth, etc.) for granted and it doesn't shock our sensibilities as much as it would most of the rest of the world... including other asian countries.
6. i am sure the film made on vikas swarup's next book 'the six suspects' will also be good... its finally about the story and how well it is told
7. but at the end of the day i am not sure this is oscar material, the nominations notwithstanding. its possible that inspite of so many nominations it doesn't win any oscars. and then maybe it will... maybe for technical aspects.
8. but if it does win the oscars for best film, then it proves that the film impressed the western critic and sensibility... india being presented to the westerner through a westerner's eye! in all its grit, grime, gore and glory!
9. but i also believe there are many new-age bollywood films which present a story as well, if not better (wednesday, tzp, etc.)

finally, there is one line in the film which comes to my mind... the actor says that 'today india is at the centre of the world'.... i would add to say that 'mumbai is today the centre of the world'!

my friend felt that the movie wednesday was far better... i agree with him... it had better cinematic values... a story very well told, gripping, and slick... and most importantly, it presented mumbai in a far better light! (manish, murli and i are planning to watch trainspotting soon!)

p.s. for film trivia buffs and those who saw the film, did you'll notice the director's signature style in the frames in the last dance sequence on vt station? (hint : check the time displayed on the large digital clocks on the platforms!)

i need some solace!

yeah, i need some solace!

why, you ask?

when you go for a bond flick, after sacrificing precious sleep, you expect to be entertained... you expect to get introduced to freaky gizmos and gadgets... you expect edge-of-the-seat action... you expect technical brilliance... you expect class and pizzazz and more... (and the women of course!)

and the least you expect is a classy opening credit sequence...

don't you all agree?

and the last thing you expect is a sentimental bond! and i just can't picture bond holding on to a dying man and feeling senti and all...

if you look at 'quantum of solace' in isolation i guess you would rate it as a decent action flick... like international khiladi or something!
but this flick did not have any iota of the class that one has come to expect of bond films! as one of the friends in the group said after the 90 minutes dragged itself to an end - 'i mean, how difficult can it be to make a good bond film? just put in some funky gadgets, some exciting stunts, some great chase scenes, some mind-blowing ladies, some torrid scenes, and some excuse of a plot! i can't believe they couldn't manage something as simple that!'

well the excuse of a plot was definitely there. no doubt about it! but the rest of the formula was forgotten completely!

i guess the producers and the director forgot one cardinal rule of sequels - if it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it!

so if you haven't seen the quantum of solace yet, i would advice you to wait for it to be shown on hbo or star movies! especially if you are a bond fan!

wednesday!

thanks to a good friend, who's a movie buff like i, i watched 'a wednesday' on wednesday!

and boy, was it a good film!

this is one of those movies which made a relatively quiet entry and has only gathered momentum over the past few weeks! and i think many people are watching because of sheer 'word of mouth' publicity and it is slowly acquiring something of a cult status already!

if you have not yet watched it, you must! you will enjoy every minute of the film, take my word for it! (there was only logical loop-hole i found in the film... and if you have watched the film already then i'd like to know if you spotted it too? write in with your answers and i'll reveal the flaw in a couple of days! :) )


the best part of the film is the powerful message delivered by two equally powerful and towering actors (naseeruddin shah and anupam kher). nothing preachy, just a simple message delivered with a punch.

the story line is kept taut throughout the film... there are a few surprises thrown in and some questions left unanswered...
the complete package is almost perfect, the music enhances the mood of the film (no songs in the 120 minute film), the cinematography keeps you engrossed without going overboard!

the characters are very well etched, and all the actors deliver... the dialogs are very well written and there are a few humorous moments as well!

all in a all, this is film-making at its best! a total 'paisa vasool' film... go and watch it... you can then thank me later by writing in :)

p.s. check out more details at http://www.awednesdaythefilm.com/... though the site didn't load when i tried! :(

got rocked!

the 'big boss' is very particular about her quota of sleep. nothing comes in between her and her quota. not even a discussion that i want to have after a sinful dinner about life-and-death issues like the extra 2 inches that i seem to be putting on at the wrong parts of my anatomy!

so if she's sacrificing her sleep and doesn't grumble about missing her sleep for some nonsensical get-together or movie or something, then you can be rest assured that the reason she sacrificed must have been really worth it!

we watched 'rock on' last saturday! very late show... the movie ended at 1 am! we both loved it thoroughly! she actually said that this movie was definitely worth losing sleep for!!!

the movie has a 'dil chahta hai' feel to it! the best part of the movie for me was the music! the actors were perfect for the roles they portrayed, the story was simple and stayed true to the theme, there was a very gritty and natural feel to the entire film, nothing was over-the-top... very highly recommended if you have not already seen it!

i got a late sms the same night after the movie from an ex-colleague who also must have just seen the movie... let me reproduce the sms here as a short review of the film :
"Hey friends, do watch ROCK ON... its a superb flick! Its a sensitive movie with music as a metaphor for life... with delightful little nuggets of humor & realistic dialogues. The movie is refreshingly witty! The music is great, true to a raw band type. Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal & Luke Kenny have done a great job but my personal favourite is Purab Kohli. I loved the end of the movie as well! Take aways -
1. Pursue your passion, no matter what because the happiness & satisfaction you get is beyond measure.
2. Never let a small misunderstanding injure a great friendship... good friends are forever!
3. Life mein compromise karna padta hai!
4. The journey is more important than the destination.

ROCK ON completely ROCKS... Go enjoy the MAGIK!"

yeah i know, quite a long sms!
but it hit the nail on the head and it saves me the effort of reinventing the wheel and writing a review! :P

saved the best for last?

just saw taare zameen par this afternoon. had read enough reviews and got feedback from friends who had already seen it and couldn't miss it.

it was exactly what i had expected from the film, an aamir khan film. (i think even if he hadn't directed it himself, he would have ensured it was treated the same way!)

its definitely worth a watch. so don't miss it. given the timing of its release, i think it will be rated as the best film of the year 2007 and also be a hit in 2008!

darsheel safary as ishaan awasthi, the dyslexic kid, and tisca chopra as his mother get my votes for the best actors in the film. and i think the film would have been as wonderful even if aamir khan had got anyone else to play his role in the film. the subject matter and the way it was dealth with would have ensured that. don't you agree?

the movie, like most of our films, ends on a happy note. that's part of aamir's formula for commercial success and you can't hold that against him.

but life doesn't always have happy endings in store for such dyslexic people. but the film at least increases awareness and attempts to sensitise people to this phenomenon.

like i said earlier, its a film you must watch. if you haven't already!

p.s. i would be lying if i said that i did not have moist eyes during some of the poignants portions of the film. (so be ready for some 'moist eyes' yourself!)