The first one

I am incoherent (should probably turn off the TV). The anticipation was there for the last three years. The excitement, had now become palpable. It had become almost too hard to concentrate on work. I don't remember the last time I got this excited. May be it was the hype. May be it was the raves being showered already by the critics. But mostly, it was curiosity, I suppose. Can the Bat seem plausible in the real world past its origins? How do they make it real, this time? But first, my story till the multiplex. Ah.. no, doesn't matter anymore. Suffice to say that it involved waiting, more waiting, tickets, cancellation (Are you Serious), disappointment, more waiting, tickets, waiting, traffic jam, parking full (Oh.. no!!), parking open, running, settling in the seat, just in time. Back to the earlier question. Do they succeed in fitting the Bat in Big Apple? Yes, very much so. Does the Joker provide a plausible enemy? Yes. Does the Joker rise to become a formidable foe? Yes. ...

No wonder its Dieing Hard, at least in India. If you are the type who likes things blown to bits and hurtled to every conceivable edge of the screen, you are going to love Die Hard 4.0. Its more in the mold of True Lies than Matrix. And thank God for that :-)

After having a good night sleep, I am in the mood for making allowances. Or rather putting down these few more thoughts that occurred to me this morning. Firstly, speaking of songs, I do remember one, Tere Bina Besuadi - Besuadi .... Mildly aching and soulful, it was admittedly beautiful and well sung by Rehman . But as I have said before, this song too, is more of a reminder. Remember Swades ?? So, over all the music was routinely good but had a already-heard-before quality. Next, Madhwan and Vidya Balan didn't have much to do. But Mr. Madhvan should believe in his ability and should not look like he is acting. Bit harsh, yes, but after his opening RHTDM salvo, I have become a little circumspect of the guy. STOP COPYING , DUDE!! Vidya is easy on eyes though. Make up was also good. Abhishek looked rather convincing as the paunch flaunting, ageing industrialist. On the other hand, post Dhoom2, Ms. Rai seems to have shed the extra flab and was looking beautiful. These...

While the wife cooks me Sunday afternoon lunch, I am trying to pin down my thoughts on Guru. Pin down, yes... that's it, that's the reason. Guru doesn't leave you uncomfortable, neither here, nor there but comfortably in between. That should account for my lack of strong sense of either acceptance or rejection or invigoration or dejection or liking. Speaking of liking it, yes I did like the film. The experience was pleasant. That's what the film amounts to.. pleasant. And pleasant is gooood :-). The story of a lone crusader rising from the ashes to claim the top prize is not new. But the touch of reality makes it all too believable. And the references to the real person are not concealed either. (Ah... Writing after a long time does leave one searching for correct words..) :-/ Direction was good. I do not understand the need for song placements where they are not required. But amazing rain shots. As usual, in this directors case, I guess. Reminded me of Bombay. An...

Since, my emotions have now ebbed having seen the movie nearly 3-4 days ago, I'll not be as eloquent/scathing as I am generally prone to be ;-) Here, I'll generally list down certain facts that occured to me during the movie. Firstly, I found the movie underdeveloped. By that I mean a movie that promises more when it starts but delivers considerably less when finished. Considering that Ram Gopal Verma (referred to as RGV henceforth as done by my fellow bloggers) attributes this as his greatest effort till date, it whimpers more than it roars. Not that the movie is bad. Rather, the movie is just not good enough. Satya and Company were far more assertive and assured in their makeup. Sarkaar, on the other hand ends up a bit too restrained. Probably, the expectation of emulating the cult series "The Godfather" proved a bit too much. Let me try other explanations. The movie didn't had much weight. I wanted to get consumed by the movie. I wan't. Mere staring and ...

Firstly, the movie is wrongly titled. There is no war in the movie. Cause there can't be any one sided wars, can it? Mars Attacks Revisited or Attack of the Cloaks or The Running Cruise might be more appropriate. So, now that we have established the correct name of the movie, lets go ahead with the plot. Oops. There isn't any. Ok. Never mind. At least, we have the Tom Cruise. Cruise?? Hell, he didn't jump on the couch this time. Why did he have to restrain himself to hamming and running and generally irritatingly yelling at the kids? He even got under a table. At least he shoudl have climbed on it. Ok. Ok. What about the special effects?? Umm...they are ok, good actually. But only in some scenes. Watch them on TV rushes instead. Ah...Direction? I'll comment about that when Speilberg completes the movie in the sequel (which is never going to happen). Lets move on to Indiana Jones, Stevie..

The force is stronger in this one :-) Finally, got to see Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, yesterday. Pretty decent. Definitely better than the last couple of prequels. And it did stoke my fire to see the original series once again, mostly to see the flashes between Obi Van Kenobi and Vader. It would be interesting to see their interactions now that I have seen their relationship and parting encounter and note if they come across as stranger in the original series or not. Lucas has also been able to tie up the loose ends put forth in the last two prequels, nicely. It does indeed serve as a good docking point for the "A New Hope". Guess, they should release the original series again, at least in India. So, take out your sabers and run to the temple ...

"He/she can't act!!". How often have youn heard this? Plenty a time, I guess. I mostly get amused when I hear this. This sets me thinking because this comes from ordinary, plain vanilla people like you and me (Well, I am not that plain ;-) ) who one would suppose donn know a whit about acting. What IS Acting? In my opinion, if somebody doesn't seem unnatural on screen, he is doing ok. Thats how the so called non actors like Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Sunil Shetty.. etc have survived more than a decade in the industry. Of course, they might not make u cry when they themselves shed loads of glycerine on screen. But generally, they won't make you inflict injuries upon yourself. To be concluded ...;-)

Because Art is an imitation of life and not life itself. So, I would like to work for the betterment of the quality of life rather than merely portraying it in some form or the other.

Why am I drawn to the movies? Why do I flock to the various theaters spread across the city week after week? What do I get in those 2 hours that I can shun the real world with all happiness? Who are those other people filling up the rest of the seats in the theater? These questions, every now and then, pop up from nowhere and make me wonder. so, I'll jot down a few things that have occurred to me over the past few years. 1. Life and movies: I find movies reflecting the life around me in some way or the other. Sometimes they are a saga of the triumph of the Human Spirit. Sometimes they depict the complex interplay between Man and Woman. Another time they paint the picture of humungous imagination (All those sci-fi flicks). Still another time, they paint human misery in such realistic colours that one is forced to take stock and realize how lucky one is not facing that same situation (war flicks, Black??). 2. The Craft: I am intrigued by the craft - the camerawork, the direction, the...

Oops...I lost all that I had written because of some curious mix of key presses. :-( Ah! Well... Audience, of course, is the parameter of success. And for a filmmaker, it definitely is. And by that paramater, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has surely succeeded. At least in my book. He made the audience go blank. After the movie. Generally, the noise, the clatter, the laughter, the chit-chat after the movie will give you an idea about how the movie has fared in terms of audience acceptance/rejection. In the case of BLACK, I found the audience curiously quiet. Were all of them affected by the movie? Were they moved? I would not know for sure. But I certainly was. Probably, the people were too. Or, somebody in there would have screamed when an already aged Amitabh touched(or at least gave an impression of) the lips of a young, in all its glory, Rani. Somebody would have whistled. It made me uncomfortable. I was afraid of the people reaction. The scene passed. And the director, too. Nobody m...

Yes..So where was I? Deconstructing Hum-Tum doesn't seem fun anymore. So, I 'll write about the rain. Yes, the rain. The rain in the movie. I loved the song towards the end that is picturised mostly in rain. Somehow, it seems to bring out the softer emotions of the heart. Drenching of the body gives me a feeling of cleansing of the soul. But then I love all slow, rythmic songs with the rain. One of my favourites being that Akshaye khanna song in the rain from the movie Taal. I even love all rain sequences in the movies. I loved the way Abhishek dragged Rani in the rain in their chawl type howrah home in Yuva. Didn't the heavy rain add such authenticity to the environment, the scene? Why do anger, frustration and passion seem more real in the rain? Who can forget the rain drenched sequences from Bombay? Love and passion were so beautifully lent flavor in that movie, mostly because of and by the rain. I have truly come to believe that rain can give life. Well, at least to the...

Kunal Kohli's latest effort is a lot better than the original "Mujhse Dosti Karoge". And it turned out to be a lot better than I expected. My first observation about the movie was its vibrant colors that currently have become hallmark of Karan-Aditya school of film making. So, the movie, shot in the locales of Europe, is visually appealing. But the cartoon strip doesn't work. Those small clippings/jokes of Hum and Tum cartoon characters are at best new indian cinema (although, can't deny the "How cute" parameter for all the girlish kind out there). I found them distracting from the films narrative. The movie, according to Mr. Kohli, is not in anyway like "When Harry met Sally" save for the fact that its a conversational film like WHMS. Well Mr. Kohli, u got it right and wrong. Right cause its in no way like WHMS, save for the extended tenure of should I say, courtship, which spans a decade. Wrong 'cause its Not a conversational film ...

And at around 6 pm, yesterday, I was at E square, all over again. The weekend was looming large and I had only one thought in my mind - Harry Potter. Yup! the new movie. But I was in for a disappointment as the late night show was a sell out already. But a couple of current show tickets were available. I bought tickets for the late night Hum-Tum show and was about to leave the scene. But then the megalomaniac movie monster inside me stirred. I had to get back to the office and finish some work. But what the heck..what of those few HP tickets still left. But then I hesitated. The battle lasted for exactly 3 mins which was just enough for the monster to squash the fledgeling voice of conscience. At the end of those 3 minutes, I was filled with that feeling of immense excitement and anticipation that is known to those who are have that resident evil lurking inside. But as it turned out the battle time was also just enough for the rest of the HP tickets to be sold out. I had rushed to par...

Yuva: ***1/2 Just when I thought that I'll have to settle nicely for the weekend movie at home on TV, the mobile rang and I was there at the theater about half an hour later, having hastily devoured whatever dinner I could eat in 2 minutes. Then the ever hardball master of bargain, Himanshu, ate into the first 10 mins of movie. Well..what the heck, we saved 10 bucks, at least :-) So, here is the my review. My hopes had drastically reduced after having heard mostly negative reviews of the movie. But as I never have too high a opinion about other peoples opinion, at least in this regard, this didn't effect me too much. The plot was nothing new. But neither was hackeneyed nor cliched. The movie revolves around creating the world of the three protagonists belonging different strata of the society. And it suceeds to varying degrees. The most fleshed out character is Abhishek Bachchans, Lallan Singh, the local goon. He is clear abt his goals of rising high and doesn't mind ...