Sunday, November 29, 2015

Tamasha : Imtiaz Ali's latest

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Actors: Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone

Have you ever looked at the mirror and spoken aloud in solitude? Have you ever read or heard a story and spoken out a dialogue like you would’ve? If a story reads….” He said: Just stop it! Enough is enough! Have you ever said it aloud to feel the emphasis which the storyteller is trying to provide? If yes then Imtiaz’s latest will pull a string at your heart.

When Don (Ranbir Kapoor) and Mona D. (Deepika Padukone) meet in Corsica they decide to keep their identities undisclosed to kill monotony. They almost fall in love but leave, without commitments or contact details of each other. The beautiful Tara searches and finds Don, in the form of Ved. Ved is not Don, the fearless, fun loving maniac who attracted Tara so much. The latter part of the film explores why and how did Ved become like this.

Although the struggle of creative people wanting to pursue their dreams and their confrontation with their families is old wine, a person putting upon a mask for the people and losing the track of his being is as fresh as an untouched drop of morning dew. Ved loves stories. He has heard so many of them that he can hold an audience enraptured for days together with his skills. But he is unable to configure the plot unfolding in his life. He speaks and does what is expected of him. However, we know that all is not lost because Don and so many other characters come out of hiding in front of his mirror. The only one who knows him as he really is.

I know of men and women who talk to mirrors. I know there are some who talk to animals, or birds, or inanimate objects or even themselves while walking, working, or when they are tensed before an important assignment. I believe that side exists inside each one of us. Unless we are absolutely open about who and what we are, to other people, we find a Raj inside every Surinder Sahni. We become too scared because we already have acceptance in Society as a Surinder. Who would want to risk the Raj coming out. Some let it through what they call getting a high. They drink, fool others that they are 90% drunk whereas they might be probably at 40 and unleash the Raj inside. Raj is their true self. Oh sure it’s safe. If all goes well, they are satisfied. If things get too embarrassing, it is nicely covered and buried under the garb. However, it suffocates.

When Ved is confronted by Tara in the present times he gets confused. His being is jolted by the two sides to him that exist. He wants to shout but he chooses to apologize. He wants to take right but goes left. He wants to mock but chooses to subject himself to mockery without realizing that he is strangling his soul.

If Ranbir is convincing, Deepika is endearing. The love story may seem complex but it is actually quite simple. You cannot give happiness unless you are truly happy. You cannot give love and care to your parents, your partner and friends unless you truly love and accept yourself the way you are and the things that you stand for.

Although I loved the theme, there are definitely areas that need help in the movie. The sequence at Corsica was too short and too simplistic in terms of events and conversations. Why would Tara be so moved by Ved even after so long is not clear. I fail to understand, that why do all characters of Imtiaz’s movies love so deeply and yet don’t know that they are in love until a long time. Is he portraying love in contemporary times, or is it his own insecurities about love and relationships flowing seamlessly into each and every film. I understand that a Director’s work may be reflective of his persona but why is the indecisiveness of human beings so deeply etched in all his stories that it almost ignores that people might fall in love hard and actually be clear and sure of what and who they want.

All said and done, I was fascinated by the story telling from a human psychology point of view. Watch it for understanding the layers of human behavior.  You might learn something new about yourself or the people around you.


Thank you

P.S. You can also watch it for the golden voices of Alka Yagnik and AR Rahman.
PPS: Raj and Surinder reference to the characters of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Maid In Manhattan

Movie: Maid In Manhattan

Director: Wayne Wang

Actors: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes



Snap out of it!! Alright. He doesn’t love you and you don’t love him. You have no connections, affiliations or loyalties. You are from two different worlds.

He is Christopher Marshalls (Ralph Fiennes) running for the senate, and she is Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) running around her odd job as a maid in a hotel to meet ends. Marisa is cleaning a guest’s suite when she stealthily dresses up in a Dolce Gabbana of that guest. That is when Mr. Marshall mistakes her for a wealthy woman and happens to go out on a walk with her. One thing leads to another. She doesn’t reveal her identity and continues to bump into him off and on. They fall in love and spend a night together.



Hell breaks loose as the Hotel finds out due to extremely overbearing and suspicious guest who has more than just a slight crush on our Mr. Politician. Her identity is disclosed in front of Marshalls while the paparazzi happily involve itself.

Mostly people from two different worlds do part ways, never to meet again. The practicality overcomes the magic; the crude image building often becomes the rude replacement for true desires. But this one is a fairy tale story, the modern day prince and peasant. And fairy tales never get out of fashion do they?

Shit happens. Love happens. And then- I love you and you love me too. Our hearts connect. Affiliations dissolve and loyalties are strengthened in the one world that you and I make.

Watch the independent woman get her man, her job and more. Its innocent, cheerful, and....well... a good time pass.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Movie: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara


Director: Zoya Akhtar

Actors: Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin, & Katrina Kaif

Made by Zoya Akhtar but with the flavour of Farhan Akhtar. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) seems to be the natural progression after the string of Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On. Its primarily about three best friends since school who go on a bachelor trip to Spain. No don’t get ideas of a Bollywood remake of Hangover. This one’s about living life to the fullest, to let go of your fears. The three men undertake three different sport activities which bring each one of them face to face with their fears and insecurities and overcoming each one is like a milestone achieved in the journey called life.

They come to terms with what they really want, and what they are missing out on by just living for others. Be it Kabir (Abhay Deol) who decides to stop the unwanted marriage, Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) who decides to stop looking for unwanted truths of life, or Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), who realises there’s more to life than financial trading 24*7.

The issues that the actors deal with are not new. However, it makes for an interesting watch because of variety of sports chosen and their different shooting mediums. Be it sky diving, underwater diving or running among the bulls. The Flamenco song ‘ Senorita’ and the beautiful locales of Egypt and Spain add a very fresh flavour to the movie. The slapstick humour of Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deolness of Abhay Deol were endearing but as far as I am concerned, I looked no further than Hrithik Roshan. The Greek God is there in all his glory.

The Shankar Ehsaan Loy music will take time to get on to my lips, but the Javed Akhtar poetry almost makes up for it, and gives ZNMD its soul.
Watch it for the poetry and inspire yourself to be not proud or guilty but just to be happy and thankful for this one life.



Dilon mein tum apni betabiyan lekar chal rahe ho,
Toh zinda ho tum
Nazar mein khwabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho,
Toh Zinda ho tum
Hawan ke jhonkon ke jaise azaad rehna seekho
Tum Ek Dariyan ke jaise lehron mein behna seekho
Har Ek Lamhe se tum milo khole apni Baahein
Hare k pal ek naya samaa dekhein yeh nigaahein
Jo apni Ankhon mein Hairaniyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh Zinda ho Tum
Dilon mein tum apni betabiyan lekar chal rahe ho
Toh Zinda ho tum


.
- Javed Akhtar for ZNMD

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Movie: Love Aj Kal

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Actors: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Giselle Monteiro, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna

And we twist...twist..twist....and its so sad that even after so much of twisting the story remains much the same! Its the stale old story. It does have a break-up party(who cares! ), mango people etc, but the freshness and brightness of Jab We Met and Socha Na Tha is missing! :( and obviously saying "tum toh hamesha correct baat bol deti ho jaaneman" does not help much.

On seeing the trailors I had thought there would be two stories in the same time setting, and couldn't help thinking how boring it would become. The setting of the stories in the two time-frames killed my fears and added an element of excitement. I liked the alamara lovers better. The sardar Saif is cute and the Brazilian model Giselle Monteiro who plays the role of Harleen( damn I thought she was an Indian), his love interest is pakki 1965 ki gali mein rehne wali ladki purane zamaane waali!

The modern day Saif looks worn out, old and does nothing that we haven't seen in Salaam Namaste or Hum Tum. The absolutely stunning ladies take the cake be it both the Harleens, yeah their are two ;) or Deepika who's acting, dialogue delivery, all have improved. Good going girls!

The movie has got some foot-tapping music, I can safely say that I like all the songs. Listen to aaj din chadheya for its uncanny attitude, it has got a rugged beauty and simplicity. The lala lala..baija baija is a fun song which sets me into gidda mode. Pritam, hmmm...well he sure gets 'inspired', but lets just forgive him this once.

But this movie is not what love aj kal is (which should be difficult to define). Dear Imtiaz, you are a good director, master of small moments, the comic timing of some scenes is brilliant, but please do realise that 'mango people' are not so dumb they don't take so long to realise that they are in love. However we the 'mango people' haven't given up on you totally, not yet! :)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Movie: Kaminey

Director: Vishal Bharadwaj

Actors: Shahid Kapur, Priyanka Chopra

Vishal Bhardwaj is one director who never fails to show the dark side of human life. Be it Maqbool, Omkara or the latest Kaminey!

This is a story about two brothers(double role played by Shahid Kapur) Charlie who has a lisp( woh fa ko fa bolta hain u fee!), and Guddu who stammers while t-t-t-t-t-talking. They lead different lives, Charlie a small time gangster who fixes horse races and Guddu who’s the boy next door with a good heart who frantically looks around for the packet of Kamasutras on his first night with his mulgi(Priyanka). No he really does believe in safe sex he even goes around doing streetplays, and distributing nirodh to spread awareness regarding AIDS.

But one day the paths of the two brothers cross!!!! DHAN TE NAN…….And enter, Tashi – the drug dealer, Bhope- the big bad ‘jai maharashtra’ politician brother of Sweety(Guddu’s very own mulgi), two corrupt policemen, three Bengali babu moshais , guns, dope and guitar and a lot of running around, adventure, emotion, dialogue, pita ka pyar and bhaiyon ki takrar!!

The movie is no doubt for an intelligent audience. You’re expected to understand! Who is this guy?? What happened to the police?? Hadn’t this guy died?? etc. etc. Which is a good sign, and actually good fun too.

Shahid Kapur has played two challenging roles with absolute élan. A complete delight. My personal favourite scene would be when he runs(upper body- bare) with the horses with the blinkers(on Shahid and the horses). A feast to the eyes! *sigh*. Priyanka Chopra manages her marathi well, very natural, a little clinky maybe but that is her character. Apart from these mega stars Bhardwaj has made use of new actors who wear their characters as a second skin which makes the otherwise out and out drama a believable affair.

The movie’s cinematography moves in dark colours, the frames are shaky, huddled, which makes it a little a difficult to figure out what’s going on, sometimes. The pace of the story drags a little during the first half, but I am glad that the second half more than makes up for it. I did not it find it too surprising, shocking etc. In short I was desperately left asking for more as far as the original DHAN TE NAN moments in the movie are concerned.

Watch it for Bharadwaj’s brilliant movie-making sense, Shahid’s coming of age performance, okay fine the story’s also not that bad, and THE song…DHAN TE NAN!!!!

…..and do tell me how it was !!! :)
Movie: Serendipity
Director: Peter Cuelson
Starring: John Cusack, Katie Beckinsale
Hey! Guess what I watched another movie- a fortunate accident...oh! I am sure that you know what serendipity means. So...... a boy and a girl end up meeting each other in the middle of Christmas chaos and have some coffee....the boy wants the girls’ phone number which she writes in a book, only to sell it off to a book store the next morning......and asks the boy to write his name-number on $5 note and buys some candies with it. So they (rather she) play this little fate game of – let’s see if you get this book and I the note and then go on their own way. Now the rest of the movie is about whether they meet or not-well actually they have to otherwise there’ll be no movie! So it’s about how they meet, what all ordeals they have to go through, whether both of them are interested in meeting the other person or not?
Well the story is engaging...acting fine...music good...gawd I sound bored....I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been watching some great stuff like Shawshank Redemption!
Trust me you won’t be missing out on much if you don’t watch this one....but it’s kind of sweet...it’s those kind of movies....don’t you get it....yeah I know you do so smart one go make your own choices in life....it’s not every day that you get that chance...
Movie: Shawshank Redemption
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
Very much predictable...most of the twists, catches in this movie are very predictable. So you get to know before two suicides before they actually happen....you know this time this man has bluffed that man and how....in short at various points this movie lacks originality doesn’t really force you to think. But then this is not a suspense thriller dude! It has a lot more to it.
There’s a man called Andy Dufresne who gets implicated for the murder of his wife and her lover (psst...extramarital affair) and is sentenced to two life imprisonments back to back at Shawshank . now you’ll think that rest of the movie is about proving who did the murder...did he didn’t he but that is just one tiny bit of this film. This man is subjected to a lot of tortures, both at the hands of fellow mates and jail officers. He faces them all, makes a place for himself...and doesn’t lose one thing and that is hope!
This movie inspires you ....inspires you to do something worthwhile with your life..it tells you that if opportunities don’t come knocking at your door then you go out and knock that door down..and well... do your own thing.
The brilliance of this movie lies in the cinematography..I just love the first shot of Shawshank, it’s a beautiful one long shot( must have been taken from a helicopter or something) giving the overview of the entire jail..absolutely beautiful. The script is quite strong with some really cool lines and also I found the script quite intelligent...it had all the punches in the right places. But this movie is really long and really slow, so much so that half way through the movie I felt shutting the laptop down...but I guess the feeling that something good is coming up was always there and it did. Trust me the second half is surely the better half. Take my advice... gulp down two tablets of patience with a glass of water and watch this movie it’s worth it....cause patience did it for everybody in this movie it’ll do for you too.