Archive for movies

Harry Potter still retains its streak of magic

{ August 28, 2009 @ 6:36 am } · { Harry Potter, book review, movies }
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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

Luck by Chance-A Review

{ February 2, 2009 @ 1:22 pm } · { movies, review }
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5904_luckbychanceeVery few hindi movies leave me with a sense of satisfaction of having seen something nice and special.LBC is one of them because it never ventures over the top.The story subtly unravels ,never once forcing itself and Zoya delivers a better take on bollywood than Bhandarkar did.The reason I say that is because Page 3 force feeds you,LBC lets you discover on your own.The movie is languid in its pace and the story requires that partly.
The movie has well fleshed out,all too familiar characters.Dimple Kapadia’s role of a diva mom living herself again through her daughter,Isha-the daughter who is spoilt but yet retains an innocence in her,Rishi Kapoor-the over the hill producer searching for that hit again and lastly Juhi Chawla the sweet trophy wife who states facts with such naivety are all very endearing.
Zoya like her brother did in DCH has an ability to create humor in an understated manner that you hardly notice that it hits you.Like the one where we are told why becoming a hollywood hero is easier than a bollywood one,or the one where Nina,kapadia’s onscreen avatar in anger tells that the name bollywood is denigrading or even the one where Anurag kashyap states that he ripped a hollywood movie to write it as the director wanted.The entire sequence of lucky 5 for Rishi Kapoor is perhaps the most overstated of the humor.The rest leave an impresion.
The cameos are cleverly interwoven with each star sportingly playing themselves.Thus Aamir comes as the one always wanting another shot,Kareena as the tongue in cheek heroine,Abhishek as the one who loyally conveys the presence of his dad in some way everytime,Rani as the sugary sweet and ever so diplomatic star,SRK as the larger than life star willing to pout advice and finally that brings us to the one not playing himself in a way ,Hrithik Roshan.Hrithik as Zaffar Khan is very good with a sincierity that shows.He plays the great star trapped in his own image mocking SRK when he says he works for Zaffar.the part where he conveys he no longer wants to work for his mentor is very well shot and so is the scene where he shows and then subdues a sense of insecurity.
lbc1-300x199Farhan like the movie is charming in an understated way.He holds the script well and never once lets the audience sympathy slip from him.He looks cuter and fitter and one wishes to see more of him.Konkana is good as usual but she is so very getting type cast in woman of multiple layer kind of roles that one wishes to see her in lighter roles.
Zoya impresses and seems equally good and perhaps better than her brother as a director.The art direction is average though.Luck by Chance succeeds in the irony it portrays and yet never makes you feel disgusted or depressed with any aspect of the industry shown.Its one of the good hindi movies I have seen in a long time.

What’s the fuss about the Slumdog?

{ January 30, 2009 @ 4:54 pm } · { movies, review }
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bildeIts been a while since I blogged.I have been busy in final year decadence with trips and treats and general fooling around. I have in the meanwhile been on a trip to Coorg , co founded a company called TLS,thought a fair bit about pot girls and hot girls, given identity and standing to sheikhu(he now tells me he is much better off than he was and when I last saw him was playing around in roller skates) and spent a day or two mourning the ingnonimous exit of Djokovic from the Australian Open.

There has been much lashing against Slumdog Millionaire in India. It started of course with Mr.Bacchan Sr himself .Many Indians have termed the movie an outrage on Indian sensibility,derogatory and even gone to the extent of advocating a boycott.The latter was done in quite a fashion by Mr.Arindham Choudhary in the Hindu occupying a quarter of his full page length add on ‘Dare to think beyond the IIMs!’

On a more serios note I think we are blowing a mountain out of a mole hill for no good reason.Status messages,blogs ad much more have derided the movie forbeing anti-indian. When I watched the movie I simply loved it.So vibrantly shot that it leaves you in awe for a while.I let out a gasp when Jamaal was asked the third Musketeer and did not forward the Jai Ho song.In short i thought here was an honesty about the film, a genuine attempt to portray the triumph of an under dog.slumdog_film_0126

People have accused the film of portraying an India of slums, riots, poverty, crime and insincierity.The truth is the majority of the country falls into that category.In fact i think what is more denigrading to the sense is the highly sanitised super rich families shown in Karan Johar’s movies. That slumdog in a sense refers not only to Jamaal but to India itself is true but the fact remains that the movie asks a genuinely puzzling question-’ how does India survive and thrive despite the problems?’ its indeed a matter of wonder that how a nation burdened with illiteracy,corruption,sectraian politics,terrorism has managed to survive an economic onslaught that has withered super powers like America.The answer the movie tries to give is that India survives not despite these problems but along with these short comings. The indomitable Indian spirit draws strength from the hardships faced.In a large sense its true and that is our strength and our weakness.

What puzzles me is the intolerance shown.There is a stereo typing of India to cater to the western audiences but this movie is not alone in that crime.Curious Case of Benjamin Button ,Outsourced and a host of others are partner to it.Its similar to the portrayal of Westerners as promiscous and untrustworthy in Indian movies.That the story is based in the slums necessitates the struggle for survival shown. I do not see any degrading aspect of portrayal in slumdog as compared to the one in Salaam Bombay of the same Mumbai slums. Slumdog Millionaire is an unabashed drama with its heart in the right place.It narrates a telling tale of survival in an indomitable city.If its crime is that it exaggerates Indian poverty then a greater crime in that regard is committed by our English media .If the problem is that it glorifies poverty then our Hindi movies have long committed that sin. We do not complain against derision of gay couples in Dostana, we swallow an assault on our sensibility by a string of Bollywood films but have suddenly woken up to claim that Indian pride rests on boycotting this movie.

The movie is brilliantly shot and enacted and to all of Mr.Bacchan’s claims of equally good Bollywood films i beg to differ.You can count those in your finger tips and regional cinema is often far more superior to the films churned out in Bombay.Its indeed a moment of pride that Rehman has been nominated to the Oscars for these awards do far better justice to excellence in movies than our very own national and film fare awards.

The director I love-Mani Ratnam

{ June 5, 2008 @ 5:29 am } · { QTB, movies }
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Today morning when I switched on the T.V for news and was generally channel swapping i came across the song ‘mottamadi mottamadi’ from anjali, a tamil movie.it was like being caught in a time warp reminding me of the days when i sang val jhodi val jhodi instead of well, luv jhodi.The movie according to me is the best from mani ratnam, unsurpassed by the brilliance of Roja or the slick flick ayutha ezhuthu or the poignant kannathil mutthamittal. More than a decade and half before Aamir could utter every child is special, MR gave us a masterpiece on child psychology and the world of special children. It beautifully explores the relationship between a child suffreing from mental retardation (role essayed brilliantly by then baby, sharmilee) and her mother, siblings and the society at large.It does not have a fairytale ending but speaks more of a stark biting  reality in the rosy world of children that includes imaginary ET inspired trips to the moon and back.

There is only one person who occasionally surpasses MR in the art of story telling and thats Kamal Hassan. Watch Nayagan when the two came together for the first and what possibly is the last time. Brilliantly narrated story of the rise and fall of a don- vellupillai .The movie is partly inspired by Godfather and the real story of the don of dharavi-varadharaja mudaliar, the man who ruled Mumbai’s murky underworld before Dawood stepped in. Company doesnt even come a close second.ManiRatnam succeeds because his films are so very rooted in local issues that it always seems uncannily that he tells you exactly what you want to listen and think is true.He perhaps  has understood his audience better than anyother filmmaker has in recent history. Here’s a pick of some of  Mani’s best.

Thalapathi: based on the mahabharath, it explores friendship and the relative perception of right and wrong. Mamooty, Rajnikanth and Shobhana with a young Arvind Swamy. It was the precursor to his successive  takes on underworld and the murky politics that comes with it.its special because,perhaps it was the last time audiences saw rajni the actor on screen.This is the movie that gave us Rakkamma kayathattu..

Mouna Ragam:Brilliant music and a poignant tale of love. Watch this, you will know where bhansali went wrong with Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.incidentally, Cheeni Kum’s music is borrowed  from the Illayaraja’s score for this movie.

AgniNatchathiram: fight between the sons of two wives of vijayakumar for pride, standing and identity. A heady combinantion of karthik and prabhu. The movie marks a turning point in the Indian Music industry.It was the last time Illayaraja held sway. The movie marked the split of Maniratnam-Illyaraja combination, forcing MR to bring in a young Rehman for roja, the rest as we say is history.

Iruvar:if you want to know what defines tamil nadu politics, watch this. the tale of MGR,Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi, played perfectly by Mohan Lal, well you are not dreaming-Aishwarya Rai(her debut) and Prakash Raj.It also features Revathi.Gouthami, Tabu and Madhubala.Aishwarya’s best performance till date. The only blemish being the ending. watch it you will understand.

AyuthaEzhuthu: redefined  cinematic narration and technical brilliance.Madhavan,Surya,Siddharth,MiraJasmine,Trisha and Esha Deol. Inba and Michael Vasanth, simply unforgettable. Yuva, its hindi version is almost a shame compared to this.

Tiruda Tiruda: not directed but roduced by RGV and MR together.A great entertainer with seemingly no logic. Yet memeorable for all the right reasons. Hira Rajagopal turned in a gem of a performance.

Mani Ratnam is arguably the best director in India today. He is also the director of Roja,  Bombay, Alaipayuthey, DilSe , Guru and Kannathil Muthamittal.He is the one who gave south indian cinema , a recognition and a standing. Today much of the film industry in south owes it to him be it for Rahman or international acclaim .He is astutely a tamilian first and then a director, the reason why his movies work  and can never be copied satisfactorily.It also the reason why he fails to recreate the magic in Hindi, Guru’s success not withstanding. He prefers not to be called an art director and cannot be more correct.His stories are not offbeat, the way they are told are.There are actors who would do anything to act in his movies and not without reason. Its simple, theres only one director when it comes to me and thats Mani Ratnam.