Oh Nadaan Parindey, Ghar Aa Ja...

Yes.. This had to be the movie which brought me back to blogging, it being Imtiaz Ali's latest offering to cine-goers... Have there been other movies since July which have been worth blogging ? Hell yeah.. I can count off Delhi Belly & ZNMD right away, apart from a bunch of Hollywood flicks.. But lets not go there today.. Today belongs to Ranbir in & as Rockstar !

Ranbir as Janardan Jakhar (aka Jordan) catches the attention from the very start and shows the immense talent & range he possesses... From a student having fun in the corridors & lawns of Delhi University to an angry musician, it all comes across as a natural performance that few others could have pulled off... It is said that the initial story idea had been pitched to John Abraham who had agreed, but was later replaced since the script demanded someone much younger... I think they made the right choice.. ;) What also works in Ranbir's favour is the amazing chemistry between Nargis Fakhri & him.. Though it is amply clear that both acting & Hindi language are not her best talents yet, she does manage a decent performance as Heer Kaur... For her part, she looks gorgeous for the better part of her presence on screen & that should be enough for most audiences... As a character, Heer is rebellious & adventurous like most of Imtiaz's heroines but at the same time respects her family enough to try & draw a line between family life & naughtiness... Piyush Mishra is his usual brilliant self as a ruthless music studio boss & Kumud Mishra puts in a commendable role as 'Khatanaji', Jordan's well-wisher & manager... Aditi Rao Hydari, Shernaz Patel & the two young ladies playing the roles of Jordan's niece & Heer's sister also give good performances...

Mohit Chauhan does well as the 'voice of Jordan' and this movie could easily bring him back into the league... A.R.Rahman as usual pulls off an amazing set of musicals which seem to be perfect for every setting, be it the live & angry 'Sadda Haq', the sufiyana 'Kun Faaya Kun' or the haunting 'Tum ho'....

To those of you who haven't watched it yet, please do... Rockstar is easily Imtiaz's best from a direction front, though I tend to agree with many that it lacks a certain something in the story... That is made up for by excellent performances, music & overall techincal aspects which make it my current favourite...

Summer of Cinema

There have been a range of releases in the past month or so... I had left off in the 1st week of May and had planned to watch 3 movies then.. I did watch 2 of those... Chalo Dilli & Fast 5... Chalo Dilli was very average fare though Vinay Pathak impressed as usual... Fast 5, however, was quite the entertainer... The action is well-paced & doesn't leave you time to blink... Vin Diesel & Paul Walker have their customary roles & are pursued by Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson... There's no use going into a storyline, since, there isn't one... :)

After this, there came Ragini MMS... Now, this was a movie big on hype & marketing & had a lot of expectations around it... Well, the actors do not disappoint for sure... The performances are fantastic to say the least... The story, however, lacks depth, when you keep in mind that it is a psychological thriller...

Stanley ka Dabba, was the next in line, and was a treat to watch... A simple story-line, with stellar direction & amazingly natural performances that make your heart melt... This is one that should not have been missed...

After that was the run of the biggies from Hollywood... Pirates - 3, Hangover 2 & Kung fu Panda 2... Pirates was a bit of a bummer & come to think of it, I can't remember the plot all that well apart from a couple of mermaids and Penelope Cruz... :P

Hangover 2 is a fitting sequel to the hilarious comedy & follows the capers of the wolf-pack in Thailand... The follow-up is more explicit, shocking & about as funny, and even has time to pack in a car chase... Can't see how that could go wrong... And for that added bit of luck, there is another cameo from Mr.Tyson as well ! This was a hangover you wouldn't want to get rid of...

Kung Fu Panda is a film that I caught very late, last week in fact, though it has been in theatres for about a month... I really enjoyed it and will leave out any further explanations with the expectations that you watch it too...

X Men - First Class is another of the big hollywood releases that came our way & this too was a good watch.... The film provides a look into the origins of some of the other central characters from this much-loved super hero series... Magneto & Prof.X find their respective characters in the movie as they leave their alter-egos, Eric & Charles behind... We are also introduced to a younger Mystique, a newly created Beast & many other characters that will probably enthrall us in the years to come...

Rounding up the Hollywood brigade was the 3rd Transformers movie... This was released with much fanfare (on a wednesday, at that) so that it could be coordinated with the world release dates... Though the film delivers on the promise of action & excellent visuals (in some of the best 3D seen so far), the plot is too long drawn and one tends to lose interest as the film unfold... At 2 and a half hrs, it is one of the longest Hollywood productions in recent times, but fails to hold the audiences' attention for the most...

At the time of writing this, I have just returned from another film which was been eagerly anticipated... However, this film is deserving of its own personal space.. Hence, I will attempt to write a bigger piece on this movie soon... Bhaag, bhaag ... :)

3 nights, 3 movies

After a long hiatus, this week had a lot to offer for cinema enthusiasts.. As I flipped through the newspaper on Friday, I could see ads for 6 movies which I had been wanting to watch.. As I write this blog, I have watched 3 of those movies and plan to watch the rest over the next 3 days..

The first movie is 'Shor in the City'... I started to want to watch this movie only after hearing the positive buzz it had created in the days leading up to its release... I was not disappointed after watching the excellent performance from the cast, outstanding technicals by the crew & all-round brilliant direction from the film-makers... The script is taut & unpredictable, yet believable (probably since it was inspired by true events)... And the fact that the film-makers have used mostly fresh talent is even more note-worthy...

The next movie was 'Thor'.. For the uninitiated, Thor is one of the comic book super-heroes who forms part of the 'Avengers', the team of super-heroes from Marvel Comics... Marvel studios has been working on the series of films that will tie-in with its 'Avengers' movie (due for release in May'12).. The previous films in this series have been Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk & Iron Man 2.. Thor is the 4th film, and will be followed by 'Captain America - The First Avenger' which is due for release in July this year... Now that the introductions are through, Thor proved to be an engrossing watch, though, for obvious reasons, it is not an 'intellectually stimulating' movie... There is plentiful action, that too in 'glorious 3-dimensions' and the inevitable subtle tongue-in-cheek reference to the most successful films in the series so far, i.e. the Iron Man duology... The titular character is one that the audience will immediately identify with even though he is derived from a Norse myth - arrogant, chivalrous, brave, powerful... The other familiar faces in the ensemble are Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Russo & Natalie Portman...

The third movie was Source Code... Wikipedia describes it as a 'mystery techno-thriller' and I broadly agree... The concept for the movie is new, even though it will warrant inevitable comparisons with other films like Deja Vu & even Inception... At the risk of giving something away, I will refrain from revealing any more, but I will recommend it was a good watch...

The next 3 I have in my sights are I Am, Chalo Dilli & Fast 5... I'm hoping to catch these over the next 3 days and will make sure to scribble here about it when I do...

Encore !

i'm not even going to bother explaining this time.. No excuses... But I'll just say that the movie I watched today inspired the title of the blog, which seemed apt in describing the return to writing...

As I discovered today, 'Encore' means 'Once Again' in French... I've heard the word used many times in the context of music concerts, when the artiste returns to the stage at the end of the performance, due to the crowd cheering & demanding 'more' ...

The movie in question here is this week's release, Utt Pataang..

The film reinforces my appreciation of the work done by Vinay-Ranbir-Rajat-Saurabh-friends in making films that entertain audiences with fresh material without going the way of the so-called 'mainstream cinema'... The stories that they tell are as believable as they are unlikely.. The performances of the cast are outstanding, and playing double roles too absolute perfection seems to some naturally to them..

In this case, the double role is from Vinay Pathak, who plays the simple & heart-broken Ram, as well as the French-speaking casanova don, Lucky... Saurabh Shukla plays private detective Nandu, who is Ram's best friend... Mona Singh plays Koyal, a girl who's just broken up with her fiancee and falls in love with Ram... Mahie Gill plays Ram's ex Sanjana, who's now trying to con the don ... They all play their roles brilliantly and give extremely natural performances...

The story & direction is by first-timer Srikanth V Velagaleti, and the screenplay & dialogues are by Saurabh Shukla... They succeed effortlessly in keeping the audience riveted to the events of one night that changes everyone's life...

Anyways, enough said.. In keeping with tradition, I'm not going to divulge any more... Please go & see for yourself...

A Prolonged Absence...

Wow... A 5 month hiatus.. That's a long time... And its not that I've been too busy, or that there haven't been enough good movies to write about... The primary reason why I did not get the urge to write was that I had already read something close to what I'd have written on a subject somewhere else..

Take for instance, the masterpiece from Hollywood this summer, i.e. Inception... I simply loved the movie, and a post on it would have been a natural extension for my post on The Dark Knight.. But I don't think anything I'd have written would be 'original' in any sense, having read so much about it before & after I watched the movie.. Anything that I thought would be interesting about the film would already have been covered...

That brings me to what brought me to write this post today... I have seen a few movies in the past couple of weeks that the critics would have panned for various reasons like lack of a plot, too much violence, predictable storyline, etc etc etc. However, these movies proved to be extremely entertaining, especially to a male, action-loving audience. These are the movies which prove to be excellent breaks from the monotony of office life while not forcing you to think beyond what is visible on the screen. There will be no hidden plot elements that you will intelligently recall as the story develops ("Hey, look at that.. They'd shown that same thing in the first scene, remember!") and no moralistic lessons to learn... The movies in question here are the A-Team & The Expendables.. Both movies are mindlessly fun to watch, though the humour in A-T would score a few extra points ("He's trying to fly a Tank")... It is amazing to note that Sylvester Stallone, at the age of 64, can pull off a movie like this, especially since he's directed & co-written it as well.. Kodos to you, sir.. (P.S.: To be fair, I watched Salt too which could fall into these categories above, but lets just leave that out of the reckoning since it made the audience feel plain stupid. No offence, Angelina)

I also watched Peepli Live & Aisha which I'll not dwell too much upon, since neither impressed me too much, frankly..

Due on my list of must-watches is Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai & Lafangey Parindey...

Till next time... Cheerio...

Who's on the line ? Tell me Who's calling ... ?

Ahh.... It's a relief to see a hindi psychological thriller which does not leave the audience feeling stupid due to the sheer predictability of the cliched screenplay & settings... That's not saying that the script is not predictable.. But it is presented in a way that is most original & intelligent... As a friend, who typically hates the song & dance routine of Bollywood, put it, its not like most hindi movies... In fact, I read on a review on PFC that it's nice to see that the scenic locales of Cochin have not been used for the actress dancing around on a boat with the actor in tow (both deep into a song routine)..

The director realises the importance of the Pledge, the Turn & the Prestige in any thriller while at the same time respecting the discerning cinegoers' intellect... This means that there are tidbits & hints left over during the first half which all tie up in the second half as the mystery is unravelled.... All this is pretty impressive, especially considering that the writer / director is a debutante... I guess Excel Entertainment have made it a habit to get promising writers & directors in their fold... Farhan himself is a good example, and so is his sister Zoya ..

On the topic of Farhan, it is impossible not to shower laurels on his performance in the film... He is simply outstanding... His performance & transition from the shy, reserved & constantly bullied Karthik to the sharp, outgoing & aggresive Karthik is commendable... Deepika too seems to be headed in the right direction... Not only does she look amazing in the movie, her acting skills have improved considerably over her expressionless Bachna Ae Haseeno & Love Aaj Kal... Oh, and did I mention that she looks amazing... ? Well, she does, really... Uff Teri Adaa, I like the way you move !

Well, next on my list are Road Movie & Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge... which I'll hopefully cover within the week... I've covered many movies during the time I've not posted (November was the last one) though am not in a mood to get into that now... Will try and catch up over the coming posts...

Till then, cheerio !

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...