Mithya, Amu, Dil Kabbadi

Guys what a brilliant last couple of weeks watched 3 movies and all 3 were great watch!

Amu (8/10)

I started watching Amu as I couldn't be bothered to select another movie...I saw the name 'Konkana Sen' and thought can't be a bad watch ...can it be?...Never heard of it before...and no idea what it was about...well with my current schedule that does not surprise me. As the story unfolds Konkona Sen who's lived almost all her life in LA comes to India to discover her roots. She was 3 when she was adopted and taken to America...through her journey to find her roots she learns about the 1984 riots, the great human tragedy when 5000 innocent sikhs were killed in just one night and many more to die in the days following it. It's a truly touching movie and you have been warned not to watch it alone at home...

Mithya (8/10)

Had heard about this movie but had no idea again what it was about...well tan tandang its the 3rd variation of DON with Rajiv Shorey as the lead. Brilliantly supported by guess whom...Vinay Pathak who else! also features the lovely Neha Dupia, Naseerudin Shah and other usual suspects. Dont want to reveal the variation otherwise what is the fun. Totally enjoyed this one!

Dil Kabaddi (8/10)

Had heard about this that it is similar to Metro but nobody mentioned it's funny too. Features Irfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna, Konkona Sen and Soha Ali Khan...pretty impressed by Soha Ali Khan the rest you could expect to deliver any day. It's about the trials and false expectation (well!) of a man's post marriage expectation I guess ...really not sure what to write here...but nevertheless was a fun movie but not for the entire family I guess.

A small round up...

...hardly a round up...but I did manage to see 3 complete movies in the last 6 months, most of them probably released probably last year or so...


A Wednesday (8/10)
What a thriller! almost felt it was over in a ziffy! in the end you do feel well another masala movie but for me was time well spent as long as you feel entertained. I quite like Jimmy Shergill in the angry young man role. A phone call to a local police station about a plan to bomb blast bombay in the next few hours sets the tone of the movie with the first bomb planted right inside the police station...if you haven't yet seen it, I think it's worth a watch.





Aamir (8/10)
This one plays on your mind long after you have finished watching it. I wasn't very impressed by it initially as expectations were too high. It is probably better for me to not reveal anything about this movie except that it's about a young NRI returning home to find that his life is about to change the moment he is to walk outside the airport...nothing about reverse culture shock or anything there is a proper story here!


Khambakt Ishk (1/10)

The 1 is for the Dara Singh's son who made me smile with his Hi-Jack joke...the rest of movie the sooner I forget the better for me...can't believe they even hosted an Oscar and got Rambo to fight a local neighbourhood thug. I think I have had enough of Akshay now.







Mumbai Salsa (4/5)
4/5 because I am currently in the process of watching it and totally enjoying it, I would recommend this anyday! Its about the young generation next ..love and breakups in the fast mumbai metro.
[5 Dec 09] (6/10) Finally managed to finish Mumbai Salsa, the second half didn't live up to its initial promise, so not sure whether to recommend it!




Chandni chowk to china (0/5)....I gave up on this after 3 attempts and I think it was the right decision.

Ghajini

7/10

I must say Ghajini is a brilliant effort, and some great performances and being an ardent Aamir fan was a must watch for me. However I have to admit something about the movie didn't click too well with and I was left a bit disappointed. For starters a reset time of 15 minutes is too aggressive even by Bollywood standards. To put things in perspective, say you get up in the morning and you see the message that you need to take revenge...the reaction time to that is about a minute, then you need to cool down and brush your teeth - 3 min gone, take a shower - total 8 min gone, potty another 5 minutes. So finally you have 2 minutes to dress up, luckily no need to comb and plan for the next 15 minutes. So if it was not for the comb factor it would have been totally un-realistic timings! So either this is a thriller of an extreme kind or falls apart in the face of mankind's brains' limitation. Also when the villian manages to erase the messages on Aamir's body, he blanks out....surely he still has his long term memory right? So Jiyah Khan now becomes his short term memory, but it still does not make sense that she needs to narrate the book to him, surely that is part of his long term memory...if not he does not even remember Kalpana...so basically you have this man to whom you need to narrate a book to remind him of the very girl whose murder he needs to avenge...every 15 minutes! However all said and done I really liked the romantic parts of the movie and Aamir was brilliant, the villian really manages to stir up a lot of terror and all in all this is a good masala movie to keep you entertained for 3 hours....but I feel it falls short of the "Taare Zammen Par" and "Rang de basanti" league.

= +

Can't believe it’s been 11 months since my last blog, no wonder both the people who read my blog noticed it.
I must confess I haven't seen many movies in this period anyway, of the few I remember are 'Om Shanti Om' well was a bit difficult to resist the Shahrukh mania at that time (Gosh! what am I saying I am a AamirKhanite) and would you believe I had seen Madhumati (yes the one with my childhood crush Vyjayanthimala Mala in it) just a week before! Om shanti Om is nothing but original Karz and Madhumati squashed together. But nevertheless still a good entertaining movie, Deepika looked good and Shahrukh with his 6 pack looked ugly and Shreyas acted well.
I did see ‘Dhamaal’ which I thought was really funny with Arshad Warsi, Sanjay Dutt, Reethesh Deshmukh and Asrani. Of course you have to discount the usual bollywood masala to enjoy this movie but do give it a go.
‘Taare Zameen Par’ we all acclaim was the best of the lot in recent times, two reasons one its directed by Aamir khan and second it starred Aamir Khan in it.

The other movies I watched was ‘Mere baap pehle aap’ because it had Genelia D’Souza, ‘Singh is King’ because everybody was watching it, then I realised why, it had Katrina Kaif in it, it makes you wish ‘Katrina is Queen’ would have been more apt.

Probably one of the best movie I watched recently was ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ if you still haven’t seen it just go see it. It will remind you of your good old college days, good fun filled entertainer no wonder it’s from the Aamir Khan Production house.
More recently I watched ‘GolMaal Returns’ and wished it hadn’t.

‘Rab ne bana de Jodi’ with Anushka Sharma and SRK which I thought was decent but kept forgetting whether Surinder Sawhni was pretending to be Raj or Raj was pretending to be Surinder….”Punjab Power…lightning up your life ji” well sometimes you can forgive Shahrukh but I believe it was Anuska who was lightning up the house.
And even more recently I watched ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur” directed by Shyam Benegal and stars Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao. Funny in parts but stretched a bit too far.
Hopefully my next round up would be soon….till then thanks for being here!

Dhol

Dhol
Rating 2/10

Dhol stars the usual suspects Tushar Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Rajpal Yadav and a newcomer Kunal Kemu (remember the small kid from ‘Hum Hai Rahi Pyar ke’?). Priyandarshan is touching new lows with each successive release, soon I will have to start negative rating it seems! Not sure for how long Rajpal Yadav can be burdened the task to carry a film all alone. In the absence of a script there is very little an artist can do, even that little can be achieved if there is a director. In fact this qualifies as a film only because it has a beginning and an end otherwise you would like to believe you saw one of those Balaji episodes, a stupid story of 4 friends who are as aimless as the scriptwriter (if at all there is one!) looking to get rich by marrying a rich girl. I wish I could get back the 3 hours and 5 minutes I lost here. (The 5 minutes is for writing this blog, if I can help one innocent Bollywood fan out there, the purpose of the site will be served)

Verdict: Avoid

Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local

Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local
Rating: 9/10

Having liked Abhay Deol in ‘Socha Na Tha’ I have seen all his movies since his debut, well not sure if he did anything more than ‘Ahista Ahista’ and ‘Ek Chaalis…” the former was hopelessly disappointing while ‘Ek Chaalis..” is a complete comedy thriller. Earlier in the day I was watching an India-Pak test match and the commentator were on about this “Corridor of Uncertainty” where if pitched right, one is not sure which way the ball would go. As the hero of “Ek Chaalis..” you remain in this corridor of uncertainty where you are not sure which way the balls would go. So maybe not that much of a family entertainer but a must see never the less. It has a feel of ‘Pulp Fiction’ but seems to be pretty original, let me know if you have seen this in any other language. Abhay fits the bill perfectly as a Call Centre guy named Neelesh (I wonder when was the last time a lead was given that name!) who misses the last local train and then fate/destiny takes him to ride that will change his life forever. In a brief interval of two and half hours he manages to gamble with the underworld dons, fall in love, and see gang wars, heartbreak, police encounter and lot more…

Verdict: Don’t miss

Chak de! India

Rating: 8/10
I must confess I haven’t had time to see many movies of lately, but this one I made it a point to see it, wanted to see it across few days but saw it in one sitting. With the T20 win recently the movie is well placed to raise the patriotic fervor. It’s about a talented hockey player with a haunting past out to prove a point and redeem his lost stature. His only chance is to lead the Indian hockey team to an improbable win in the world cup. His challenge is to make them play as a team. Still no big deal you might think, then think again, it’s the women’s hockey team we are talking about here. Some typical Bollywood stuff here, might be a bit away from reality but then that’s what dreams are made off. Nobody gave India a chance in 1983 with odds as high as 1:70 at one stage and the rest as you know is history. With no lead actress to distract the King Khan, he gets on well with his job this time! And I quite like the movies churning out of Bollywood mill of lately daring to focus on the story rather than lead couples.

Verdict: Don't miss.