Its been a long time since I have read HP, I used to be an addict once. It was a compulsion to read it every day over and over.I know so many people like me. In fact we must count in millions.Over a period of time HP seemed a bit childish.I grew out of it.HP works its charm best when you are in school simply because in your life you can pick people out of JKR’s famed collection.There’s always a teacher you dont like ,a teacher who is indulging,a phony and most of all you have your friends too, just like Harry does. And we all want to live in that world or at least delude that we do.Thats what makes us read it when we actually fall of the cliff like the one in the catcher in the rye. This is the same formula that makes movies like DCH,JTYJN or the umpteen teen age romantic flicks clickeven among adults.
The books have always been far better than the movies.Perhaps the best movie amongst them is the latest one.Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Its the first movie better than the book. The movie is dark,thrilling and even has an art house -cinema- like quality about it at times. Daniel Radcliffe comes off age.Its the only movie in which his presence overshadows the more talented watson and grint.It may also be because this book is Harry-centric more than the first five.Whatever be the reason he is the star of the movie. he is sensitive,funny,serious,melancholic and angry without going overboard even once.He manages to pull all the strings the right way.
The plot is gripping enough and simple enough for even the non-HP junta to follow but then no one really cares about the latter.Bonnie wright fits perfectly as the tongue in cheek yet so pretty Ginny.there is not much for Ron to do and hence for Rupert too.That brings us to Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman. Rickman as usual plays Snape the way we imagine the character to be.with a touch of arrogance,disgust and a quality of mystery around the character.I am not a fan of Gambon. Albus Dumbledore is not a character written as Gambon has played it.In fact he was painful to watch in the fourth installment.However,like Radcliffe he does a majestic work this time around.Horace Slughorn is alright,maybe a little less thin than you would have imagined.He plays the character well. Slughorn is one of the characters with a strong tragic quality about him and yet he evokes no pity from you.The young hero tiffin plays that brooding,dangerous kid well.You could sense the evil lurking beneath the ice like exterior. He plays it a bit gay. But then Voldemort is probably gay. He is pretty,smart and not shown to have any sexual interest in a woman. Perhaps the young Tiffin could have played the role a bit less sinister.Afterall young Tom Riddle was supposed to have been charmingly convincing that even Harry falls for him.
Tom Felton is looking so dashing these days that its difficult to hate the character.In fact Draco seems almost likable looking at Felton!
This is the best film yet.Visually appealing with very convincing performances.A plot that rises above what JKR provides. It teases and leaves you waiting for more.
the truth
The Harry Potter series has come to an end and its time to say the customary.The past few days my blog stats have been wierd with abnormally high number of people being referred to the blog,generally its God forsaken.The reason ,I soon discerned was that this last book has created so much hype around it that people who never said potter before suddenly want to jump in the wagon and say I read the last book too.Which means they are actually trying to find out as much about the series as possible and searching for something like’About Harry and his friends’ and the like.The only glitch is that you will have to read the preceeding six tomes before coming to the last.Its just amusing to see these people try though.My advice to them is simply -Wiki you will get the plot in ten minutes and thats the most you will probably ever find.But then thats hardly the spirit of the Potter books.
