Khwabon ke, tinko se, chal banaye aashiyaan...

I had heard a lot about 'Barfi! before I finally saw it... The music was some of the best this season, and that alone would have sufficed to pull me to the cinema hall... The cinema-goers of Bangalore, though, had other plans for me... A house-full first weekend ensured I had to wait a bit longer... This did turn out to be a blessing, since I got to watch it with my significant other... :)

Back to the movie... Now, I'm not going to comment on the merit of the selection of this movie as India's entry to the Oscars... Now that it is done, I trust the Oscar jury much more than the folk who shortlisted it here, to make the right choice...

That said, this movie is definitely near the top of my list of best films this year... A simple, heart-warming story, with a suspense angle to boot, it is further propelled by the stellar performances of the entire cast... We must doff our hats to Ranbir, who continues to pick roles very few others would have, and make them his own... I think he's chosen some excellent films in the past couple of years, and has graduated with ease from the typical casanova roles to the niche Jordan & Barfi... It would be unfair of me to ingore Priyanka Chopra who, like Ranbir, has pulled off another excellent performance... I have always maintained that she's showing an amazing improvement with every film, and there is no exception here... The romance that follows is touching to say the very least... Ileana is the also extremely good in her first Bollywood appearance, and I will not be surprised to see more of her soon... Saurabh Shukla, Ashish Vidyarthi, Rupa Ganguly and the rest of the cast all deliver and make this film an all round joy to watch...

Some people called the movie 'slow' but I believe it was the correct pace to show the story of Barfi. The script is amazing & some of the scenes will definitely move you to tears (atleast they did for me)... Anurag Basu has given us a romance which we will not forget for the rest of our lives...

Thoda sa tera sa hoga, thoda mera bhi hoga... Apna ye Aashiyaan...

From Kaminey to Basterds...

I was just going thru the archives of Bollywoodhungama.com (a.k.a. IndiaFM) to see which were to movies that came to screens during the almost 3 months that have passed since my last post... This was especially important since I couldn't remember anything significant in the period other than Kaminey, Wake Up S!d & Inglourious Basterds... I realised, that I really hadn't missed anything... There have been movies with great promise (What's Your Rashee, Blue), a few comedies (Life Partner, Do Knot Disturb, Daddy Cool) and those that just couldn't figure out what to do (Main aur Mrs Khanna), but most sank without any traces... There were some like Wanted & All the Best (both of which I unfortunately tortured myself with) which did bring in the masses but did little for us real cinema lovers...

Anyways, Kaminey was a revelation... The portrayals were superb all around, from Shahid (x2) to Priyanka to Amol Gupte... Even the Bengali bros. were effective in their roles... Vishal Bharadwaj continues to show his proficiency behind the camera... And of course, there was the music... Dhan Te Nan to Pehli Baar Mohabbat to the title track... all gems in their own genres... This is one movie I'd definitely but for my DVD collection...

Next up was Tarantino's masterpiece in the form of a spaghetti-western style world war 2 satire, called Inglourious Basterds (no spelling errors) ... The movie features a mind-blowing performance from a relatively unknown Austrian veteran actor, Christoph Waltz & another one from French actress Melanie Laurent... Waltz's performance almost gaurantees him an Oscar nomination... There are also some good performances by Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth & Daniel Bruhl... Of course, there's no doubt that all of these performances are fueled by Tarantino's brilliance as director... (I watched it twice on the big screen and it is going to become another part of my DVD pile)

Another one I watched twice in the cinema was Wake Up S!d, from newcomer Ayan Mukerji and produced by Karan Johar... Ranbir plays the titular character of final yr student who hasn't grown up to a T (and wears some great Tees on the way.. :P) ... Konkona is great as usual as a goal-oriented woman from Kolkata who comes to Mumbai in search for a job & independence... Wont go on about it since this is a movie everyone should watch and learn from.. There is, quite literally, something for everyone...

Another good film I watched was Julie & Julia, which is directed by Nora Ephron and stars Meryl Streep & Amy Adams... The subtext of the title proclaims it is based on Two True Stories.. Amy Adams plays Julie, who is a government employee with ambitions of becoming a writer, and a love of cooking... she sets herself a goal of cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook (524 recipes in 365 days) and begins a blog about her 'adventure' ... This part is set in 2002-03... Julia Child is played by Meryl Streep, positioned in the 50s, when she was learning French cooking and subsequently wrote the book.. The two stories inter-twine as the movie progresses and parallels are drawn between Julie & Julia, and the problems they encounter and the solutions they find... Both Streep & Adams deliver good performances in an overall simple movie that succeeds in making one smile...

Moving on to what is in store this winter, 'Ajab Prem...' is releasing this week, along with Bhandarkar's Jail... I'm intrigued by 'Ajab Prem...' not only due to pairing of Ranbir & Katrina, but also because it is from Rajkumar Santoshi who is making a comeback to comedy after Andaz Apna Apna (heck, even the name makes smile... :D)... Then there is Kurbaan (Saifeena) on the 20th Nov and De Dana Dhan on 27th Nov (Akshay, Suniel, Paresh & Priyadarshan, with Katrina added for good measure, can they recreate the magic of Hera Pheri ?)... In December, there is Paa (Amitabh playing a 12 yr old, with Abhishek as father.. definitely must watch), then Rocket Singh (Ranbir again) and to end the year, 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani's take on Chetan Bhagat's bestselling Five Point Someone)...

On the Hollywood front, we will have A Christmas Carol (Jim Carrey directed by Robert Zemeckis in a Disney film), 2012 (apocalypse expert Roland Emmerich is at it again), Avatar (James Cameron's epic which he waited to make until technology supported his vision) and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr. playing the world's most famous detective, with Jude Law as sidekick & directed by Guy Ritchie)...

Well, it promises to be a 'Cool' winter...

Jaane Kyun, Dil Jaanta Hai...

I just came back from Dostana, one of the most hyped movies of the winter (if you can call it dat in Mumbai), and came bak feeling not too impressed... I mean, its not as if it wasn't fun... John luked gr8, Priyanka was smoking hot, and Abhishek was the cool dude he's made himself of late... Some of the scenes were hilarious and the expressions on the actors' faces priceless... but the story didn't really pack a punch...

Going into unchartered territory for mainstream Hindi cinema ( ... the gay theme .... ) one would have thought a better crafted script would have come out.... wat it makes itself to be, is a series of predictable encounters, expecially in the second half where one thought that things were just getting to be interesting... I read a review that said the film was 'insensitive' (yes, must'be been the only journo who didn't get a goodie bag after the premiere) and I tend to agree in some portions... the gay-bashing is quite apparent & there are other instances too which seemed very inappropriate... wont say anything more at the risk of giving anything away.....

One thing I did note is the increasing prowess that Priyanka is showing in her roles.... I was really impressed with her in Fashion, and here too, she seems the most real among many over-the-top characters in the film... her expressions seem authentic & her portrayal flaw-less.... kudos, Priyanka.... keep it up....

I'm looking forward to Dasvidanya this week too... especially in the fear that it wont last another week in the Navi Mumbai theatres.... after that it'll be up to December with RNBDJ & Ghajini.... i can't find any update on the release dates of Hollywood movies, so don't know the scene dere...