2 Fun movies

Wake up Sid!

Is a damn fun movie, nothing really new about it… Just a light hearted rom com. But very endearing.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy back with a bang, amzing music. And Ranbir and Konkona are awesome actors. They make a cute couple also.

Most people would have guessed the storyline by reading reviews and watching promos, that’s about what the story has in store for you. There’s no mystery factor as such.

But trust Karan Johar to come up with likeable cinematography and color schemes, which keep you glued to the movie. Absolute timepass, super entertaining and I assure you, you will come out of the theater with your spirits uplifted.

Rating: ***
Grade: V

Quick Gun Murugun

I watched this one on DVD. Well it’s a superb spoof! Shashanka Ghosh’s brainchild of an Indian cowboy which took 60 seconds of screen space on channel V in the late 90s has been made into a full fledged movie.

Amazing dialogue and characterizations. And it’s a laughter riot! It is really a must watch and it is the years biggest surprise hit. Really fun, this one…

With specimens like Quick Gun Murugun and Mango Dolly and Locket Lover and Rice Plate Reddy and Rowdy MBA! This movie is really awesome!
Slightly bad editing, should say as some of the spoofs get a little repetitive. But really, it’s an earnest effort… Watch it. Cos Indian Cinema has really come of age with this movie, it’s rare that you get such a pataka of a movie!

Rating: ****
Grade: O

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

What’s your Rashheeeeeeee…

After what seemed forever, the movie finally got over! I can’t seem to get over the fact that it was exceedingly long. Oh, I got so irritated by the end!
For Ashutosh Gowarikar’s standards, this movie is a big dud. Absolutely not comparable to Lagaan, Swades and Jodha Akbar.

Ashu, really you’ve got to stop experimenting with everything and just stick to what you do best. Make serious cinema with good story lines and music. All this new bling(!) isn’t for you!

This is just a story of a Gujarati boy who studies in the USA who is summoned to India to get married in ten days, irrespective of what. It’s like a sentence put on his head. So he decides to look at 12 girls from 12 different Rashees and choose the best.

What I didn’t like about the movie:

1) Made it clear, it’s 4 hours long, anyone will get annoyed. Really!
2)  Point above implies bad editing.
3) The story line is wobbly. It’s not strong and there are gaping holes in between!
4) I don’t know why Ashutosh chose Pritam instead of his usual ARR for this one, but Pritam’s done a terrible job. ARR would’ve worked wonders for the movie, especially since there are a hell lot of songs (which were not even necessary.)
5) Tooo many characters, there’s quite honestly too much of Priyanka Chopra. There are 12 different people and not all 12 all are really different. Some of the characters seem a little repetitive.
6) The end was a little anti-climax if you ask me…
7) Some unnecessary subplots were added to the movie to make it even longer.

What I did like about the movie:

1) Priyanka Chopra of course cos portraying 12 roles. Very very hard.
2) Some of the character sketches have turned out rather well.
3) There’s some fun factor about the movie, I generally have a soft corner for light movies where you know the end will be a happy one .
4) And curiosity is generated at the very fact that there are 12 characters played by 1 person. So watch it if you want to satisfy that…

Wouldn’t really recommend if you aren’t in the mood for something mindless!

Rating: ** 1/2
Grade: A

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Dhan tan daaannn!!!

Other than the obvious reason for the title, it’s also my 100th post! So… celebration time! Yay!

I watched what I could easily call the best movie of the year! Wow! I absolutely loved Kaminey. Why I loved the movie that much was not really for the script, but more for it’s near perfect execution. Vishal Bharadwaj… Hats off!

It’s an out and out Shahid Kapoor movie. He’s pulled off a brilliant performance. I would easily give him an award for best actor if I were on one of those award panels. As both Charlie and Guddu and their speech disorders… And what amazing dialogue delivery. I think “Aiffe aiffe, kaiffe kaiffe” is arguably the best dialogue of the year!

A technically very sound movie, ranging from editing, perfect. Superbly written screenplay and really awesome direction. And what neat dialogues… really, Vishal Bharadwaj is one great man! To top it off he’s scored the music which as you know has already been creating waves.

The characters were sketched out really beautifully
Charlie (Shahid) is an honest gangster! He values the ethics of the profession and he values friendship and has an amazing “LIFP”!
Guddu (Shahid)- Has a stammering problem, works with an NGO is sweet and shy and a scared and ethical boy, quite contrary to his twin. While they both have one common trait, a dream which they’re working to achieve which is all shattered by destiny!
Sweety- (Priyanka) is the most affable characters in the movie. She’s sweet and sour and wins everybody’s heart, though her role is small. She pulls of the Maharashtrian look, accent and body language really well.
Other characters worth mentioning…
Chandan Roy Sanyal as Mikhail. Superb! Leaves a lasting impression.
Amol Gupte as Bhope who’s based on Raj Thackerey, is really good too.
The cops, Lele and Lobo. Good as well.
Tashi played by Tenzing Nima was very distinct too.

It’s so nice when you have so many little characters that you usually wouldn’t have noticed that you remember after a movie. Hardly ever happens, now does it?

It’s a must watch. And it’s a very intelligent movie. A lot of people thought it was really violent, but it was an extremely well presented movie. My serious (and rather blunt!) suggestions to dimwitted people who can’t understand pace… Stay at home!

Rating: ****
Grade: O

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

A rare review!

I was generally channel surfing as I usually do and I chanced upon a movie playing in a telugu channel. The scene showed Sridevi… I decided to watch!

Then as I watched on, I figured the movie was called “Vasantha Kokilam” It gripped me and I was hooked to the movie.

The story revolves around 2 characters Viji and Seenu… Sridevi is a rich, well educated girl who meets with an unfortunate accident and she regresses to being a six year old child. She runs away and gets caught at a brothel but she meets Seenu (Kamal Hassan) who for no reason just buys her out of the place and takes her to his house. He’s an orphan bachelor. So Viji and Seenu live together.

What was so affable about the movie was the kind of love that exists between the protagonists. Not once does Seenu ever think of Viji in the wrong sense, he’s deeply attached to her and since she’s autistic he could have easily taken advantage of the fact that he’s living with a young girl but he treats her like  a small child. Their love is the most beautiful, and pure… It’s wonderfully shot. I was moved.

This movie was released in 1982-1983. In 3 languages, first in Tamil as Moondram Pirai and in telugu as Vasantha Kokilam and in hindi as Sadma. If you understand Tamil, watch it in Tamil else, whatever language you prefer.

It is a must watch, try grabbing a DVD.

Rating: *****
Grade: V

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Delhi-6

The most awaited movie, cos it was from the makers of the Legendary Rang De Basanti,  it didn’t live up to those expectations unfortunately.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra generally gives out a message in the movie, this one’s no different too… I can’t help compare it to Rang De. The movie has a very meaningful message to give out. But unlike RDB where everybody came out of the theatre saying “I want to do something for my country” this one didn’t drive home the point too well.

My problems with this movie were.
* Editing was pathetic. It was too slow paced.
* There were so many lines on which the movie could’ve been developed, but wasn’t. The full potential of the movie wasn’t made use of.
* The climax was a poor letdown after the magnanimous show of RDB and leaves a lot of loose ends untied.
* Sonam Kapoor’s character wasn’t made full use of.
* I believe Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor have rendered somewhat poor performances, despite the former’s character being well scripted.
* The movie was rather incoherent in certain places.

Where it scored the brownie points.
* ARR’s music, is brilliant and better than Slumdog if you ask me (Though I WANT him to win an
Oscar cos he completely deserves it, nobody deserves it more than him.)
* The message is very nice, simple and strong and the way they’ve used the metaphor of a monkey man is also good.
* Entertaining in certain parts.

Overall it’s worth a watch I guess…

Rating: ***
Grade: It was just good (I’m going out of the way of my usual grading system!)

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Movie Reviews- From Slumdog to China!

I planned to write this one long long ago, but just couldn’t find the time.

Slumdog Millionaire!
I am finally reviewing the Big Oscar nominated movie and it’s certainly worth a watch cos it’s Oscar nominated and it’s a landmark achievement for Indians all thanks to A.R.Rahman!
Frankly I thought the movie was overrated. I certainly didn’t believe it was worthy of Oscar standards. Maybe the English haven’t seen better movies, but we certainly have. I don’t think this was hardly as good as good as Swades, Lagaan, Rang De Basanti or even Taare Zameen Par. But the fact is the movie is made by an Englishman and this shows the amount of prejudice that there is at the awards. Now really, if you’ve seen the movie, chances are you will agree with me.

I believe the movie was technically strong in a lot of areas, as in editing was really good. You don’t feel that it’s a drag, ever… I haven’t read the book Q and A by Vikas Swarup but Simon Beaoufoy has won quite a few awards for the adaptation.

My main problem with this movie is that it has shown most Indians in bad light. It has shown an Indian policeman beating up a thief, and the thief is saved by a foreigner and he’s the good guy! I mean it makes no sense. Besides, there is no other Indian (including the policemen and the TV show host) other than the protagonist Jamal who is good. I believe the movie has gone a little too far in showcasing the bad things about the country. But that’s just an outsider’s perspective and we gotta respect that and not give it too much credit as an Indian movie. It’s NOT an Indian movie, it’s just a movie shot IN INDIA with INDIAN actors.

Rating: **1/2
Grade: A

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Chandini Chowk to China

Was a senseless, baseless, crazy movie that had no coherence from one scene to the other whatsoever!!! OMG I had to write this review cos it is one of the most mental movies I’ve ever seen… Some thing’s just happening and you’re just left wondering… The only thing you come out of the movie with, is a headache and a sour feeling that you wasted time and money watching such cr**

Rating: 1/2
Grade: T

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Ghajini

I finally saw Ghajini… After a long wait. And I liked it! Well I didn’t LOVE it, but yeah, it was really good…

I think a lot f us know the story, considering a lot is revealed in the promos, I went in there expecting a big twist of events, unfortunately I was rather disappointed because, what you see is almost what you get. I mean if you’ve seen the promos you can pretty much add two and two together and predict the rest of the story.

But what I really liked about the movie is the romance between Kalpana and Sanjay (Asin and Aamir) Light hearted, very innocent love, which brings a smile on your face. Aamir’s just absolutely affable and I didn’t really like Asin’s portrayal of the character she’d been given. The character was well sketched, bubbly and effervescent but sadly Asin’s act fell flat on the face as she was a tad too irritating. There were times where she did a good job. I think that she’s better off with “sadder” roles.

The part after he loses his memory is somewhat violent and Aamir pretty much has no dialogues in the movie but his body language says it all… He was spectacular! Jiah Khan had pretty much nothing to do in the movie but still there was some adhesiveness that her character brought about to the movie. A poor choice, she was for the role though. The character of Ghajini isn’t very strong either. I mean considering he plays the title role, he doesn’t leave a lasting impression.

The editing was crisp, cinematography and art direction was decent. And overall there is a certain mysticism to the movie that will keep your attention. The movie is fast paced and doesn’t leave you bored for a second.

Music is good, background score also pretty appropriate but song placement is somewhat weird… All in all, worth a watch.

Rating: *** 1/2
Grade: V

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

The “magik” of Rock on.

And the best movie of the year is here (since TZP)… *drumroll*

Rock on is DEFENITELY not a sequel of Dil Chahta Hai and neither is it “inspired!” Watching a movie first day, first show is in itself a truly amazing experience. I’d really high expectations from this movie and trust me it lived up to every bit of it.

A movie about the “Youth.” About how life takes its own path without you expecting it, Rock On is a fast paced and light movie. Crisp story, neat screenplay and superb direction by Abhishek Kapoor. Timely dialogues by Farhan Akhtar.

 The best part about it is the music. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy-Farhan (I think you know why I’ve included the 4^th name!) have done a superb job! It’s not just about the music alone you know, it’s about how well it’s placed in the movie, there is music in the soul of the movie. But every song is amazing… They’ve churned out a chart-busting album. They’ve used Farhan’s voice for 6 out of 8 songs. It’s got a certain rawness about it. That is so charming…

Coming to the performances. As I said Abhishek Kapoor has directed all the actors to bring out the best in them. Farhan Akhtar is amazingly talented. The country’s best director (at least I think so) is also an amazing actor, dialogue writer and singer. And he looks really cute in the movie! Surely got truckloads of talent. Arjun Rampal with his Greek god looks has done a good job of his role, so have Luke Kenny, Prachi Desai and Koel Puri… And Purab Kohli is one guy with superb comic timing, great dialogue delivery and I think his character is the best sketched out one in the movie.

You’ve gotta watch this one. It’s truly ROCKING!

Rating: **** 1/2
Grade: O

Legend:
* awful! Who even thought of making the movie!
** All right. Watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** Decent. Watch it for pure entertainment.
**** Good. Worth the 150 bucks.
***** We have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Mumbai Meri Jaan- A review.

I saw this horrifyingly real movie, a movie that tells a story of the Mumbai blasts in the perspective of 5 different people, belonging to different backgrounds and how the 7/11 blasts affected their lives. Amazing storyline and all actors in top form…

Rupali Joshi- Played by Soha Ali Khan is a journalist who is at the receiving end of the insensitive media after she faces a personal tragedy. The mental torment that she goes through for days and the kind of fuel that her “friends” add to her wounds is very heart wrenching.

Suresh- Played by Kay Kay Menon who helps wounded people in the blasts. He’s unemployed and suspects all Muslims of being responsible for the blast. He plays a frustrated guy whose energies are diverted elsewhere.

Nikhil Agarwal- Played by Madhavan is from the upper middle class and a very responsible man. Not only responsible as a husband, father and son but also has a citizen. He’s torn apart by his love for family and the nation after the compartment he was travelling in was blown up by the blast and he survived with no physical injuries but a lot of mental injuries.

Constables ,Tukaram Patil and Sunil Kadam- Played by Paresh Rawal and Vijay Maurya respectively. Tukaram is an old about to retire man, who only cares about himself. Is essentially a good guy who doesn’t believe he can make a difference. And Kadam is the angry young man who can’t stand injustice. But is forced to give in. He makes Paresh Rawal realize that he was wrong and regret he didn’t make a difference.

Thomas- Played by Irrfan Khan is a coffee vendor from Tamil Nadu. He hardly has 5 dialogues in the movie but an amazing portrayal and a great character sketch. He’s poor and wants to take revenge against the rich world for discriminating him. Until he realizes what he’s doing is wrong.

The movie ends with all the characters continuing with their own lives. A story told by a city, it’s like an autobiography… It doesn’t end till the writer dies. And the end goes on to say that the city certainly isn’t dead.

Rating: *** 1/2
Grade: V

Legend:
* awful! who even thought of making the movie!
** all right. watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** decent. watch it for pure entertainment.
**** good. worth the 150 bucks.
***** we have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!

Bachna Ae Haseeno

I went with very high expectaions, Times of India had given it 4 stars, that’s as much as Taare Zameen Par.

What’s nice about this movie though is that there are good dialogues which are pulled off by the actors very well. Nice job by the entire cast. Minnisha Lamba, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone were really good! Ranbir Kapoor was just outstanding. This dude is true to his family name and has got the “star quality” in him. Ranbir Kapoor is not only good looking and charismatic but has also got a some talent! Special mention to Hiten Paintal. He’s done a good job of the faithful sidekick.

The cinematography was as usual upto Yash Raj standards, the outlandish and exotic locales is a pure pleasure to watch. Vishal and Shekar have given good music and even the background score is great!

But my problem with this movie is that it has the same “Yash Raj” wine in a new bottle. It’s very cliché and predictable from scene 1. This is too similar to Sidharth Anand’s Salaam Namaste and DDLJ. The editing is bad. And almost the entire story is over before the intervel. Though the movie isn’t long you tend to find it a little draggy…

Watch it for timepass and pure eye-candy. Deepika and Ranbir Kapoor have a lot of chemistry together! It’s amazing to watch them together. But this sadly comes nowhere near the kind of cinema that Taare Zameen Par was.

Rating: ** 1/2

Grade: A

Legend:
* awful! who even thought of making the movie!
** all right. watchable but you can still do better by staying at home.
*** decent. watch it for pure entertainment.
**** good. worth the 150 bucks.
***** we have a winner here. absolute must watch

O- Outstanding
V- Very Good
E-Exceeds Expectations
A- Average
B-Bad
T-Troll!