One weekend, Two movies...

It was a busy last week, wherein I've seen a total of 4 movies (including one repeated twice) over the past 8 days... The one I saw twice was "Get Smart"... (no, I'm not much smarter watching it the second time) ... One helluva movie... (a good review by my frnd on http://without-an-h.blogspot.com/)

The next was "Made of Honour"... there's not much in the story so I'll just give it away... it's 'My Best Friend's Wedding' with a different ending... no prizes for guessing wat the difference actually is... One might wonder that it doesn't boast of the most famous of starcasts & the story is used, so what is left in the movie... the answer is that despite this it manages to hold its own with over-all good performances & an intelligent screenplay...

The last was "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" which is another sugar-coated Hindi movie (to quote a friend who hated it)... the story is predictable & performances are ordinary... though I did not get bored, I wouldn't say I'll watch it again even if I was paid to do so..... As Taran Adarsh puts it for many movies - "Average Fare"....

Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed...

These are the lines which keep repeating themselves during the movie 'Sarkar Raj' which I saw this morning... (for the few reading the blog who do not know what the title means, here's a helpful link... http://www.geocities.com/mahaabhaarat/glossary/page2n-z.htm)

The movie is interesting for the afficianados of the first 'Sarkar' who want to see the growth of Shankar Nagre (Abhishek Bachchan) from where he left off at the end of the first... that's exactly where this movie takes off from ... The plot is an intersting mix of the Dabhol project, the Thakerays & Shiv Sena, 'The Godfather' and many more twists in between a-la RGV... I wont give away too much for anyone who's intending to watch it...

Though the movie did get my attention for the entire length, I must say I was not too impressed... It's the same old story repackaged with one more Bachchan (Rai) but the numbers even up at the end....

Winner, Winner... Chicken Dinner...

21

I saw '21' last night and what can I say... it was one of the best movies I have seen recently... Iron Man was loads of fun, & Narnia was Narnia, but this was one excellent screenplay... Jim Sturgess, who has not done too much notable work till now, has put in one hell of a performance with a lot of help from Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth & Lawrence Fishburne...

This is one of those movies where everyone knows what the story is going to be, but you go to watch it anyways to see how it has been shown. I've seen a documentary on Discovery Channel about Jeff Ma & his friends from MIT who set out to beat the Vegas casinos by 'Card Counting' techniques... 21, however, uses the plot & twists it to make one helluva movie which keeps you gripped to the seats...

Next up, Sarkar Raj... whenever I get the time to see it...

Back after a hiatus....

Hello boys ... I'm baaackkkk !!! :-P.... (For the uninitiated, that was Randall Quaid's line from Independence Day.... I don't mean any gender discrimination...)

Its around 6 months since my last post, & I wonder what I have done in these past months ... For one, my laptop was stolen from my home, so I'm still kinda lost without it... Also, work's gotten pretty hectic, & I'm struggling to reach some kind of work-life balance, however cliched that may sound)...

But I'm happy to report that I've still been watching all the movies (though I've not seen Jodhaa Akbar yet)... The last I saw was Mithya... a brilliant movie in every sense ... Rajat Kapoor behind the camera & Ranbir Shourie in front of it... the movie is perhaps the best satire to come out of Indian cinema in a long time (the only reason I say 'long time' is that I have watched a certain movie called Jaane bhi Do Yaaro which is a class apart)...

Other than that, my DVD collection has built up considerably.... I watched Charlie Wilson's War yesterday, but was quite unimpressed... Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Julia Roberts starred in the movie, but the screenplay (by Aaron Sorkin) was not good enough...

Juno, on the other hand, was very good... Diablo Cody has written a witty story & has been supported in front of the camera by a brilliant performance from Ellen Page...

I'll get back with more reviews soon, & hope to be more regular...

Cheerio !!!

I'm Back ... & so is RGV...

After a 5-month long hiatus... I'm back !!!

I'm now working full time with Reliance Retail helping them set up their newly launched hypermarkets all over India... I just got back to Mumbai (my new home) after a month long stay in Ahmedabad where we launched Reliance Mart...

Well, thats enuff about my job... on to more exciting stuff

Though there r a lots of movies I've seen recently, there r none i'd particularly like 2 write about... Chakde was one of the best movies in recent times & Heyy Babyy was a wholesome entertainer... Ratatouille was amazing & Transformers was average... But what stole the show was RGV ki AAG... I don't remember seeing such a wholesome load of Crap in my life... For all those who thought Salaam-e-Ishq was the worst... we have a new contender in town !!!

I thought the movie was an utter insult to the original Sholay... if RGV wanted 2 spoof Sholay I think he should have just gone ahead & done so, rather than get caught in the dilemma of whether to spoof or to remake... even the Big B has embarrassed himself by becoming a mere caricature of Indian cinema's greatest villain...

I think that's sufficient bashing for now... I'll try 2 keep the blog up 2 date with the latest in my life...

Ciao for now...

Ta Ra Rum Pum

As I was preparing to leave my house to watch this movie yesterday, one of my friend's strongly opposed my plans. Her exact words were, "nahiiiiiiiiiiii .... don't!!!!!!!!!! .... i've seen it ... it totally sucks!!!!!!!! ... spend ur money elsewhere ..." I explained to her that it was the only movie I cud watch wid my family and that another frnd had told me it was "cute & a one time watch" so it cudn't be that bad... She finally submitted and said "so when r u leavin for the gawdawful saccarine fest called tararumpum ..." (for the uninitiated, saccharine means 'sweetener' and pertains to the word 'Shona' which finds wholesome use in the movie).

However, she also proceeded to give some more 'vishesh tippani' on the film... "that movie totally pissed me off ... redundancy at its best ... i think rani does only those kinda movies ... in which she is like the fulcrum for the whole house ... n the heroes r just spineless morons ..."

After this kind of an appetizer for the movie, my expectations were zero... Maybe that's why I quite liked it... :-)

Ta Ra Rum Pum is another movie from the Yash Raj Films (YRF) camp that attempts to do something different with the Hindi film, to get across a larger message for society with a story devoid of "bad guys" and maintaining enough value for the entire family to watch. Director Siddharth Anand's second movie (after Salaam Namaste) has proved to be something that all people, from adults, to the youth & the kids should be able to relate to... The story & situations of the movie are something almost everyone who has watched the ad will know... A successful racer, who loses it all in a race accident... and the tale of how he & his family brave the circumstances & succeed....

A carefree man who stumbles upon an early success in life ... This is Saif's character called Raj Veer Singh (RV) in the movie... He is uneducated, is a highly successful racer and loves to splurge... Rani's character (Radhika) is the opposite ... She plans everything, is pursuing her degree & is penny-wise even though her father seems to be a millionaire... They hook up, get married and have kids... RV becomes hugely successful and the audience waits for the "crash" which everyone seems to have seen in the trailers...

Yes, the crash changes everything for RV... After a gap of 1 year where he recovers from injuries, RV gets back to racing, but seems to have lost the "killer instinct" with which he raced before... After a series of losses, he is kicked out by the team... On the street, with no income, RV & family find it tough to cope with the lifestyle they have become used to... The loans for the house and the cars are unpaid and the family is forced to shift into a low class society, with no assets to speak of... And RV still doesn't have a job...

The rest of the story deals with how the family learns to cope up with poverty... RV becomes a New York cabbie, Radhika plays the piano at restaurants & clubs, and the kids save their lunch money so they can contribute to the school fees... have tears in your eyes? Well, so did I...

But after all, TRRP is a Hindi movie, and a happy ending is inevitable... In the end, RV teams up with his pal from race-days, Javed Jaffery, and gets back to the track to earn enough money for his son to have an operation... Obviously, he wins the race... And success returns to the family...

Like a grade school fairy tale, the filmmakers give us a "moral" at the end... not to spend beyond your means, live wisely, plan your future... Gosh, that was like a "message issued in the interest of the public"

However, there were ridiculous sides to the movie as well... For starters, Who the f~#k calls their kids "Princess" & "Champ", even if they're only nicknames ??? (I found out their actual names, Priya & Ranveer, on another review, n I swear I didn't hear them in the movie ...) And why was the first half so cramped up with songs??? And how the hell did they manage to find four animated bears (named Ta, Ra, Pa & Ma ...) to sing n dance with on the kid's birthday (I just cant make myself use their so-called names) and that too at a Disney store, which was magically open for them late at night, without any burgler alarms or the sort...

Hehehe, between these inanities, I still quite liked the movie...

Coming up next, hopefully, will be a bit on YRF and how they've contributed to Indian cinema...

It's over, folks....

Yes, ppl, Its over... A year (10 months to be precise) of moulding us into managers has concluded... It's 2 weeks since I've been back at home, n I've just been making up on the sleep I've lost over the past 10 months...

I've been 'preparing' to join Reliance Retail, and RIL is famed for stressing out the employees.. I figure it can't be worse than Ispat, where 12-14 hour work days were a norm, and the 'alternate Saturdays off' remained just in the HR Policy...But it will be challenging to enter a company which is poised to transform the retail sector in India. Whether it succeeds or fails remains to be seen, but I'm sure it will be a hell of a ride...

Aside from Reliance, another thing happening this summer will be 'Sequels'... As Spiderman: 3 releases today, it starts off a juggernaut of 'thirds' and then some which are set to release this summer... Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Ocean's Thirteen, The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Live Free or Die Hard, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Rush Hour 3, Mr. Bean's Holiday... these are a few of the sequels lined up... Being a movie buff, I think my summer's gonna be quite busy....