Ghajini - Someone tell Aamir, he's not Atlas!!!


Ghajini....much talked about, much pulled down, much marketed and much publicized..its a movie that can't carry its own hype. Aamir Khan tried to pull of a movie by carrying it on his shoulders and his alone. Given - his performance is stellar, perfect like a well carved diamond. The body language, the transformation of characters. From the sweet millionaire to the scorned, wounded lover seeking revenge. He had anger seeping out of his very pores...his portrayal of confusion made your heart go out to the poor man. The script was good, not fantastic, just good. But really, someone tell him he's not 'Atlas' himself and he can't carry a whooooollleee film on his shoulders and his alone. He needs good actors around him, he needs good songwriters, good music directors, good lighting, good camera. Frankly, besides him, there was nothing else that was good about the film. Perhaps he should've spent some of those marketing bucks on the production instead and he could have had a good movie. Someone tell him....before he tries another time!!

Sarkar Raj....I'm in love with the family!

Aaah what a treat to start a weekend with Sarkar Raj..with awesome yummy close-ups of Abhishek Bachchan...enough surpises to trip you over with every turn, the script was new, fresh and variable! Didn't give you a moment to settle in your seat. One moment you think you are resigned to the fact that nothing is happening between AbhiAsh. His wife is blown to pieces. The moment you think...here comes a song...Abhishek is killed. When you think a villian is finally established, he is killed and another one comes up. Much like politics it is...think...read between the lines, under them, read what is not written, what cannot be written and what should have been written but is not! A mindful..beleieve me!

Kudos to Ram Gopal Verma. It was truly the 'Godfather' of all 'Godfather' movies! Dialogues as mantras...roll them around your tongue and savor them. I did! All weekend....

"Apni sharton pe zindagi jeene valon ko..keemat chukaani parhti hai!" Amitabh to Abhshek

"Har baap yeh umeed mein jeeta hain ki ek din apne bete se uski haar ho..." Amitabh to the public

"Nazdiki nuksaan dekhne se pehle…door ka fayda dekhna chahiye." Abhishek to Amitabh when he talks about the houses that will be lost to the development project.

"Paisa vahin daalna chahiye...jahan fayeda ho...." Ash to Abh
"Fayeda vahi hai jo sabhi ka ho!" Abhi counters Ash!
Interesting...and much like Salman Rushdie...delicious!




the Kite Runner

After a really long time, I saw a movie which was gentle with emotions and not all slash bang and tears! Some say..movies don't do justice to books. I say...movies are one person's interpretation of a book. Whereas when we read, all of us, unless we are visually challenged and don't have a minds eye, see the happenings of the book happening in front of our eyes. To make up for the uninteresting visual of words one after another, the human mind makes up transparent visuals which are everything...touch, smell, view...and what we read gives our mind the ingredients to cook up this beautiful visual soup! When one mind is not the same as another, how can visualisation be?
Getting back to the topic...I think kite runner does justice to the idea...the story...the characters (although changed a bit). It held me with invisible gentle hands. Rooted to my seat, not because I wanted to know what happens next...that I knew! But because I wanted to see what the director had visualized next!
I loved the shots from a bird's eye point of view. The ones that captured the flight of the kite were awesome. The sound of the kite fluttering...and the swoop of one thread against another. Wow! The movie is worth watching because of these 3 second nuggets only!

300 ways to....


I saw 300! A little belatedly - but I saw it. I saw 3000 men on 300 kgs of testosterone kill 30000 men in 30000 ways! In slow motion....where you could see the entrails coming out of men. Brains splattering on people and rocks. Heads being severed and flying in the air like footballs at a crucial moment in the game. Where you can feel the disgust at semi-human abominations. Where you can feel the fear and smell the sweat on the men. Where you can get swept away by heroism and you can get an idea of what pride in your country feels like.

A little bit like the indian freedom struggle. But on a much much much smaller scale. Made bigger by cinematography! Melodrama in its modern avatar! IN SLOW MOTION!

Black Valentine!

Yesterday was Valentine's day. During Muharram the red spectrum of colours is not supposed to be used. Black on the other hand, is encouraged...so it was a Black Valentine for me! It turned even darker when I went to see the darker than dark film - Black Friday..
It had never occured to me that there is so much potential evil in our world. Where one man, just because his office was burned down during civil unrest, is capable of stoking the fire till kills thousands of people. People whom he wasn't even sure were Hindu, or Muslim, or Christian or Martian! And the fact that these kinds of people live just beneath the fabric of society. They are visible but not recognized. And that any of us has the potential of becoming a Memon if stoked properly. Creepy!

Earlier I thought the only way to stop most of the evil going on in the world is to smudge the boundary between Muslims and the rest of the world. Now I don't think that way anymore. I think there will be evil in the world, till there are disparities and people so intolerant of those disparities, that this difference in their minds can be used to accomplish anything! It is Muslim and the rest of the world today, it could be digital and non-digital tomorrow. Who knows?

So the only way to eradicate evil from the world is not to remove disparities, because that is a law of nature. But to create tolerance levels in people. Tolerance for other religions. Tolerance of other types of people. Tolerance for 'The grass is greener on the other side'.

And groupism where one group thinks they are better than the other should be eralicated. But that's meat for another blog post!

Star wars - Episode II - The return of George Lucas

Star Wars Attack of the clones was an experience to relive again and again. Fantasy on the verge of reality. Love on the verge of war. Childhood on the verge of maturity. Good on the verge of evil. Past on the verge of the future. There was even an instant where I thought I saw New York on the verge of Star wars! When Master Vindoo said 'The party's over!' to Count Dukoo and gang!

It gave you a sense of expectation because you know what's going to happen in the future. Hell I even know what's gonna happen in their children's children's future. But fun anyway...

I saw it on TV. I couldn't believe as a genuine Star Wars fan (I have 59 books out of 84) that I hadn't seen it earlier. Now I'm dying to see it on a large screen - Anyone know of where I can catch it?


Old man saves boy on bike!


Just when you think this guy has just gone and dunit...he surprises you with a glimpse of what he can be if given the chance! Abhishek Bachchan in Dhoom had dunnit ... But when I saw Guru I opened my eyes in true fimly ishtyle!
I thought he had taken off too much weight to be trendy in dhoom..but he lost weight to portray a sick old man in Guru! I thought his stance in Dhoom was too much like his dad. But hey in Guru it looked perfect. Like Abhishek!

I thought Guru was fantastic because I saw in Abhishek just a small shadow of his father in Agnipath! If he can do this at his age imagine all that he can do when he is his dad's age. I love the man. I named my brother Amit for Amitabh...wondering what I will name my son?

Shaking off the Abhishek fever...

D2. Short, sweet & simple. I walked out of the cinema hall swearing to myself that I'd never copy anyone ever in my life. Aish has lost weight, she looks grand! But did Abhishek have to go and lose his manliness too -- weight, muscle, nice clothes which made his shoulders looks like heaven!
Now his head looks like its a largish watermelon stuck on top a bundle of sticks! What's more, he insists of wearing clothes which

are one size too small for him. AND insists on sticking his head out aka Big B - now it looks like a displaced watermelon on top ...... Someone remind him that Amitabh Bachchan stuck his head out when he looked gently into the eyes of the heroine...who (no matter how big she was) looked petite in front of his large frame. So it looked like a giant being gentle. NOT like a displaced skull! And please someone teach him to dance.

I am so dissappointed in AB - I thought Hritik looked grand. All male. Tanned. Toned & Yummy!

By the way you can take that Ash poster off your wall - she's thin enough to be pinned up herself!

(Sigh) The Magic of Bond!

This is the magic that turns an ordinary guy into a demi-god and an OK looking woman with buck-teeth into a semi-goddess! Bond - whose jawbone could cut through glass, whose body works wonders like falling to the ground from 30 feet up & shaking like a cat and running again! Having his heart stop, defiblirate himself and get back to work....Having his balls whipped with a rope that could strangle godzilla and making a crack... Oooh I like this guy!


I, personally, could have never imagined a time in Bond's life when he could have come across a wet damsel in distress and not taken advantage of her! Now I know why and how he became that way!

Hard as rock! Soft and vulnerable too! Can he get any better? I don't think so! The movie was fantastic -- yada yada yada - but I guess you know that already!

Don ki cleavage ko dhoondhna namumkin nahin raha


You've gotta give the indian woman one thing after watching Don. She has finally learnt the flamboyant art of showing abundant cleavage. Gone are the days when lady actors had to wear too tight blouses to show that shadowy line going across the neckline. Today you can ogle at the assets that the indian actress has spent lakhs of rupees on - to your hearts content. But then hey - even the indian man (read shah-rukh khan) has come a long way there. His (ahem) doubtfuly male chest is out there taped into full glory and on display in "Pan banaras wallah!"...Here's to more of it where that came from!
But seriously, before watching the new 'Don' I never realized that 'Face off' was a rip off off the old Don. Think about it....let it sink in!