pratyush Reviews

Don 2 (2011)

Slow, lack of story in the middle. Avoid it.

[3/10 · 23 December 2011]

Don 2 promised a bit. Don, the remake by Akhtar was extremely slow but you could excuse it as it was a remake. Usually making a quality remake of a good film is pretty tough. In Don 2, Akhtar had the opportunity to experiment as there was no Don to bind him. Given the pedigree of Akhtar with Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya, you would want to think he would create some magic at least.

What we see in Don 2, however, sadly is a good opening 20 minutes or so followed but mindless action, no real story and a movie which cannot be differentiated from the hazaar Hollywood blockbusters. Action with a story line is okay but when you have repeated action scenes without any thing much at stake, you do not care about the action. The action itself is not very interesting. People fighting with hands mostly means it gets odious pretty soon.

The film is a bank robbery and I do not get how it is 'carrying the story forward', some thing Akhtar claimed when he started on the movie. This could have been any bank robbery film from any where. It could have been Italian Job or Inside Man, for all we know, though it was not as good as either. It could have been the recent Game starring Abhishek Bachchan produced by Excel, Akhtar and his friend's company for all we know.

One can argue the James Bond films didn't have plot similarities but this is a 3 movie thing by Akhtar and I would have liked to see it as part of a trilogy which stick together in storyline some how. The last 5 minutes of the film where the explain things is nice but it doesn't excuse for the boring tirade which precedes it.

On Priyanka Chopra - I am not sure why you need to keep on speaking with a sultry voice to try and appear sensuous. Angelina Jolie didn't need to do it any where and it looks desperate and is a big turn off. The idea of Chopra not killing SRK when she gets the opportunity as she might have developed a soft spot for him despite him killing her brother is cringe worthy to say the least. Their weird scenes are more vomit inducing than any incest, old man-young woman relationship which you might find awkward. While they are entering into a bank, SRK finds the time to ask her about her other relationship. Err, really? Farhan Akhtar was some one I had high hopes from after he did Dil Chahta Hai, even higher hopes after he did Lakshya. However, as I have learned over the past few years, it takes more than 2 films to make some one a genius. Perhaps his directing skills have become weak because of lack of keeping at it or perhaps he has been lacking in ideas. I do not know what the reason is.

If I want to pinpoint, I would say he has terrible editing skills right now. This was evident in Don and even Karthik Calling Karthik. I know he didn't direct Karthik Calling Karthik but seeing the similar slow style with even Don 2, I am convinced about the editing aspect at least. He needs to sit down with Aamir Khan, who is a master editor, which would make a big impact I am sure. In the interval of Don 2, I saw the trailer of the Agneepath remake. Get some original ideas people.. I know the film industry is risky business but they don't call it a creative medium for nothing eh? After Dil Chahta Hai, Akhtar was the director whose movies I looked forward to the most. Today, he is way down the pack. Anurag Kashyap takes his place and there are others like Dibakar Banerjee whose films I look to watch more.

Finally on SRK - He acted well and it isn't really his fault here but I wanted to punch him as he kept speaking and speaking and speaking. As Boman Irani said to another actor in one scene, shut up! His stocks are falling though as Salman Khan appeals with the masses and Aamir Khan appeals with the urban folk. Needs a bit of reinvention and let's see how he does on that.

Don 2 Rating - 3.5/10.

Mumbai Diaries (2010)

Dhobi Ghat - Themes

[10/10 · 1 February 2011]

The divide From Raj Kapoor and Nargis in Awaara to Aamir Khan and Karishma Kapoor in Raja Hindustani, love between a rich girl and a poor guy is a recurring motif in Hindi cinema. Dreams, magic, any thing can happen on celluloid. Love knows no boundaries. So they say.

Life is not like that though. There is a divide which is evident from the different utensils the maid gives Munna and Shai when serving them tea to the way the friends of Shai joke about her hanging out with him. Munna standing on the road while Shai leaves in her car is a recurring event in the film. Even when Munna joins Shai in the car, the divides are evident. Shai wants to take Munna's porfolio shots (as he wants to become an actor) out in the open but Munna wants them in the studio.

Voyeurism Shai shoots Arun while Arun is looking at Yasmin's videos. Love, Sex and Dhoka explored this theme in much more detail. The voyeuristic nature of our society is quite sad. As soon as you are interested in some one, you check out more info via google, facebook.When you encounter the person in real life though, like Shai sees Arun on the road, they try to hide away.

Unrequited love - A constant and most obvious theme in the film. I am always glad on the rare occasions when some one shows it on celluloid like in Kabhie Haan Kabhie Na, Darr, Saawariya and of course Devdas. There is a deep grief about unrequited love which is probably why it makes for great cinema.

The breaking of families Aamir is disconnected with the real world all the time. However, when he hears the possibility of going to Sydney, he becomes alert. He probably longs to see his son all the time. The old woman is some one whose children have left her on her own in all probability. I see a lot of older people being abandoned. I used to visit an old home till a few years back and it is heart breaking when you talk to some of these people.

The Daily Grind The day job of Munna is not enough. He has to kill rats at night to make ends meet. Munna idolizes the leading man Salman Khan. He has dreams but as responsibilities crush him, all he can think about is how to earn money. Any small role to make ends meet will do for him.

A lot of people haven't liked this film which is okay as it isn't a movie for every one. However, when you talk with people who have indeed liked the film, a lot of people say it is beautiful. When you look at the photographs of the people, it is indeed quite beautiful to look at. However, their life is a mess. Like Munna, they are trying to make ends meet, or are emotionally scarred like Arun, or even have had their lives destroyed like Yasmin. Munna asks Shai why she is shooting the common place Mumbai streets. "Why are you doing this?", he asks? "All is dirty here." For Shai, it is all very lovely from the outside. There is nothing beautiful about the stark, harsh realities of life though. 10/10.

PS - On Kriti Malhotra's performance- She was the soul of the film. Delectable in her portrayal of the innocent and full of love Yasmin Noor.

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (2010)

A tribute

[8/10 · 19 December 2010]

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey is an honest and sincere effort by Ashutosh Gowarikar put together with a lot of hardwork. Now, a lot of the times, such efforts may not work out on the screen but in the case of this movie, it results in a great piece of cinema.

Before going to the movie, I was discussing about the young deaths which had occurred during India's freedom struggle. Some one like Bhagat Singh was only 23. The film starts with youngsters playing football and the British taking over their play ground. All through the first half, a lot of screen time is dedicated to these youngsters.

It is important to understand the Ashutosh Gowarikar style of film making here. He is a director who likes to make the audiences feel his films and he does it by etching out a screenplay which has a pace of it's own. A lot of people find it slow but if it was faster, you wouldn't get the time to not only realise, but to absorb and understand the dreams and aspirations of the people on screen.

The story of the Chittagong uprising is one of the less popular epsiodes of the Indian freedom struggle So it is great that Gowarikar has brought this story into the mainstream. Through the movie, you feel regarding and remember not only the freedom fighters of the Chittagong uprising but all the unnamed people who took it upon themselves to fight to free India. A son tells his father that they will not sell imported clothes any more, a mother gives his son Rs. 100 to contribnute to the freedom struggle and it is about the sacrifices (small or large) of the common man who wants India free. The teenagers who fought in the Chittagong uprising were as common as they come. You see scene after scene of these young freedom fighters. It is really a homage to the many, many Indians who wanted India free and contributed towards that end.

When the film ends, photographs of the people who fought in the Chittagong uprising are shown side by side with that of the actors who depicted them. A lot of them are very similar in not just the fact that they wore spectacles but even in the hairstyles. It is testament to the amount of detail which has gone into making this film. That detail is scene every where in the film whether it be in the way the characters dress, the sets or the sceneries. In the second half landscapes of Bengal are recreated when the freedom fighters are on the run and it is really very well done. 8/10.

Dogtooth (2009)

Dogtooth - close to a masterpiece

[9/10 · 19 December 2010]

Not a lot of movies shock me. So I was quite surprised the unsettling impact Dogtooth had on me. A father locks up his 3 children who are in their late teens - early twenties in a large house and they have stayed there all their lives.

The three children are told lies of various degrees. Living totally isolated from the world and in a manufactured universe, they do not react like normal people would. The lack of awareness and exposure makes for very interesting scenarios and reactions.

The film can be pondered upon on several levels. For instance, governments never really tell their people any thing close to the whole truth. Thoughts on these lines - the harms caused by leaving people in the dark are the obvious things one can take back from the movie.

I am very interested in the alternate viewpoint of the parents though. They genuinely thought exposing the children to the world would be harmful for them. While that is not some thing one can possibly agree with, there are some positives which do come out of it in my opinion. For instance, when one of the girls who has never having been exposed to popular culture, dances, she creates some thing unique. As she has not seen any thing before, she is not influences by any thing and creates her own style. That is a positive in my mind.

This is film which is close to a masterpiece. When the film had released, it was panned in The New York Times and received an average review from Roger Ebert. I am quite pleased then, that it is slowly getting appreciation and is ending up in a few best of the year lists as well. This is a must watch according to me. 8.5/10.

The Seventh Seal (1957)

Engrossing

[7/10 · 31 March 2010]

This is my first full Bergman film even though I have seen a couple of scenes of Cries and Whispers. The Seventh Seal is all about death. The only certainty in life is death and death escapes no one. I have been scared of death in my childhood, wondered even more in my teenage years and now I am numb about it.

The question of what happens after death is intriguing. The main actor asks - what happens to those who believe, what happens to those who don't believe, what happens to those who want to believe. In the end, he hopes and hope is all he can do.

The narrative style is excellent. A lot of stories are mixed in but you never feel lost. It is perfectly coiled together. You see various people of different levels of intellect, insecurities and lives. Every one is overcome by death in the film except the actor who sees visions and his family.

The movie is perfectly edited, with brilliant camera work and shows what a true master Bergman is. I am truly in awe of his direction and the way in which he handles the narrative. The last half hour of the movie is a bit depressing as death encapsulates people.

Death itself has no answers for the main actor. Is there life after death? Is there God? Is there Devil? Death doesn't have the knowledge and the protagonist is kept in the dark about what happens after death. The family which escapes death is the part I didn't understand. Is Bergman trying to some how be optimistic in all the pessimism? I thought the film asked a lot of questions about death and areas surrounding it but it could have explored more. Half an hour more with more questions and I think it could have been deeper. I am okay with the length though as the film passes in a jiffy. Well edited as I said. I can't wait to watch more of Bergman. 7.5/10

LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010)

Disappointing

[3/10 · 27 March 2010]

Love, Sex aur Dhoka is Dibakar Banerjee's third movie and most experimental till date. However, it fails on various levels. The dialogues are not crisp enough, the story not crunchy enough.

The title of the film is sensational and creates an expectation of a fun yet engrossing film. A Gulaal mixed with a Dev.D. However, what you get is a casual story line which looks better because of the use of the smaller camera. A lot of people might be in awe of this movie and I can see why with an IMDb rating of 8.7 so far with 250 plus votes because it offers a bit of added masala.

This is no work of genius though. There is not enough love, sex or dhoka (betrayal) in the movie. By Indian standards, it is a good movie but if you judge it on an international level comparing it to the top world cinema in recent times like say Goodbye Solo, it falls way short. It is, in one word, quite ordinary. I must say though, I quite liked the ending.

Teen Patti (2010)

Awful

[1/10 · 27 February 2010]

15-20 people in the theatre again. Another flop. Teen Patti starts off OK. Amitabh Bacchan explains probability and some how manages to predict which hand will in a game of Teen Patti. Then, it starts to fade away with sequences which offer nothing of interest one after the other.

As the movie progresses, it becomes more pointless. It is disjointed and badly edited which gets poorer by the second. It becomes a movie which says greed is bad and shows how relationships break down, student commits suicide in stress and keeps ramming the fact that trying to earn money by this method is dirty. Then there is the supposed main plot of the movie where they are trying to find out the mysterious blackmailer which pops up every twenty minutes only to disappear.

And I haven't come to Ben Kingsley-Amitabh Bacchan scenes. First of all all we know is Ben Kingsley is a rich man, probably owner of a casino. And every 40 minutes there is a scene between the two mulling about life and giving away philosophies which are drab. Worst of all, they are dubbed in Hindi which is ****ing ridiculous. Makes the dialogues seem even more pointless, if that's possible.

And the acting by the actors including Amitabh Bachchan is very ordinary. I give the movie a 0.5/10 and that's only because I like two songs in the movie.

Karthik Calling Karthik (2010)

Pleasant But Nothing More

[6/10 · 27 February 2010]

Just about 15-20 people turned up for the show. The multiplex I go to (Inox Swabhumi) has small crowds but this was sparse by even their standards. Every one is still catching up with My Name Is Khan or Three Idiots.

The movie itself was a bit of a disappointment though I didn't expect much. I looked forward to seeing Deepika Padukone in the unorthodox and brave style she usually portrays and Farhan Akhtar in his logical usual because I enjoy both these roles. Deepika was excellent in Love Aaj Kal and Farhan Akhtar was good in Luck By Chance. As much as I love Farhan Akhtar (I placed two of his films in Bollywood decade top 10), I think his acting is good without being close to great. And that's fine, you can't be great at every thing.

Coming to the movie. It had a pleasant first half and an excellent start to the second half. The grip and tension could not be maintained though. It felt like a slow drama evolving in front of you instead of a thriller like it should have been (in the same pace of Johny Gaddar). There was never a moment of pure brilliance or a shot taken which really enthralled you.

The songs except Lehrake Bhalkake were all OK tunes and even though I don't care much about songs, I expected more here. Ram Kapoor of Rakhi Ka Swayamwar fame was good in his role of Farhan Akhtar's boss. The mystery behind the movie was not very complex and I figured it out partially very early into the film. I am watching Teen Patti next and I expect it to be the better bet of the two this weekend.

6/10

Road to Sangam (2009)

Best Gandhi Film I have seen

[10/10 · 7 February 2010]

*this review contains no spoilers* I went to watch Road to Sangam only knowing that it was a film with a connection with Gandhi and had won some awards. What transpired on the screen in the next 135 minutes changed my perception of Gandhi and changed me as a person. I am some one who did not regard Gandhi in the high esteem a lot of people regard him in. He, to me, was some one who was adamant and threatened the nation with his blackmails which were carried out promptly by his followers. What I did not understand was that it was the power of Gandhi's thoughts which made people act the way they did. It had reason, it had logic.

Coming to the film. We are given a rationale and the film makes a strong case for it. You almost start believing in the thinking behind it. Then, there is a slow process of change which is so slow and gradual. It is not some thing which happens right away or through a flash bulb of genius. It is realization in process. The way the change is shown is convincing enough for some one to believe in the Gandhian principle.

The film has many layers to it. It is a film which asks 'what defines Karma'. It is a film about holding upright the faith Gandhi showed in the muslims of India. It is a film about how a person be it a Muslim or a person of any religion (or even an agnostic or atheist for that matter) should behave. That's the bigger picture.

Then the film touches on tough subjects like partition and the role of an Indian Muslim. Many layers and subjects touched, all given due space.

Paresh Rawal is excellent in the role of a man who works based on logic and is principled at the same time. I can't think of a better actor to carry out the role. The part of a Muslim from the state of Uttar Pradesh, perfect with the local accent, who has his own little mannerisms and characteristics is played perfectly. The facial expressions are not exaggerated. The lines are spoken with a calm balance about them, exactly how the character would say it.

The pace of the movie is neither fast, nor slow. It has it's own rhythm and flows rather than moves. The cinematography is excellent with aspects of small town India (the city Allahabad in this case) shown. There are panoramic views and then there is attention to detail. A man making aloo tikki is shown for instance to capture the flavour of the chaat which is so popular in small town India.

Coming to Gandhi films, I have seen quite a few. Gandhi was a great biographical sketch. Gandhi My Father shows the flaws of Gandhi - the father of his son. Lage Raho Munnabhai which was so popular tries to explain the Gandhi way of thinking and does a fair job of it. It has the bollywood masala mixed in it, was perfectly marketed and was a huge success. Gandhigiri became a trend. Sardar, again starring Paresh Rawal (as Sardar Patel), paints Gandhi as a principled, yet stubborn man whose will might have cost India There are umpteenth movies which are presented as documentaries on Gandhi, most of which are holistic. No movie portrays Gandhism, like Road To Sangam does. At least none I have seen.

The show I went for was almost canceled as only one other person showed up at the ticket counter. In the end, just five of us came to watch the movie which they did screen thankfully. One engineer who had studied from Allahabad itself remarked that Gandhism is dead as no one turned up for this movie. I remarked that Munnabhai was a huge success. So it is a marketing flaw and lack of funds which meant audiences didn't come to watch this film. There is another aspect to it. It isn't a masala flick like many other bollywood flicks or like Munnabhai. It is not boring in any way, mind.

I give the movie a perfect 10/10. Don't think it could have been made better.

I just hope more people see it. So go see it and spread the word!

Kaminey (2009)

Kaminey Review - Disappointing

[6/10 · 13 August 2009]

I went for Kaminey with a lot of anticipation. Vishal Bharadwaj has had a solid repetiore of films so far. I have watched all his films except Makdee and they all come in the 8-9/10 bracket except The Blue Umbrella which dragged a bit and would rate as a 7/10. Omkara and Maqbool were both superb, two of the best Indian films made, ever.

The promos promised an intelligent thriller. The songs were good and the there was a raunchy nicety one got from the first look of the movie. The film is about Guddu and Charlie, twins who lead different lives in different worlds. Charlie works in a gang while Guddu has a relationship with Sweety (Priyanka Chopra).

The brothers, separated and enstranged after the death of their father, find themselves wanted by two separate groups for two different reasons. They find themselves united once again in the mess. Speaking of mess, that's exactly what the movie is. It has gangsters, police, drug dealers and all kinds of shady people intertwining and crossing paths in the movie. The movie tries to be smart but in the end all it manages is to be confusing and poorly put up together.

The movie is darkly shot to give a noir look to it but it only makes things less interesting as you are not caught up in the supposed thrill of the movie. The plot is badly done but that is not the main weakness about the movie. The main problem is that you don't connect with the characters and don't find any thing to relate with them. Having no emotional feel for the characters, it is difficult to get involved intensely with the movie. Shahid Kapoor acts well while Priyanka Chopra has a very small role in the movie. The movie has crude dialogues, abuses but they are not that much.

Overall, the movie fails on it's promise and is disappointing 2/10.

Om Shanti Om (2007)

An ordinary film over all

[5/10 · 18 November 2007]

Although Om Shanti Om is an enjoyable at some levels, I can see why people who don't like Shahrukhkhanisms much might absolutely detest this movie.

Any one who goes to see the movie looking for logic after watching Main Hoon Na, looking at the promos or hearing a bit about the story would be kidding themselves. It does fall apart in the second half I thought... after a bit, Shahrukh Khan, Shahrukh Khan and again Shahrukh Khan in each frame becomes weary.

Instead of becoming a tribute to bollywood, which it could have pulled off, the movie becomes a tribute to Shahrukh Khan by Shahrukh Khan and his friends. For instance, we could have seen other star cast members giving more tributes to more heroes, heroines and villains of bollywood (it did happen like in a few scenes of Padukone and one tributing the villain Ajit) but it was mainly Shahrukh Khan trying to do a flick here, a flash there in an attempt to give a tribute or whatever it was.

Another aspect was the mishmash between the tribute and the wacky story. The movie tries to do two things and doesn't strike the right balance, the audience can find itself loose attention a lot of times. Farah Khan, despite all this, is an innovative director and the movie has its funny moments too. The Filmfare Awards ceremony where Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan appear, acting arrogant was hilarious for instance. I enjoyed the movie in parts but over all, it was ordinary. 5/10.

No Smoking (2007)

Brilliantly shot and well told story

[8/10 · 5 November 2007]

Finally watched No Smoking. Loved it. This is very much in the category of experimental cinema. Kashyap doesn't rush through his scenes either. So you get a 2 hour film with the director projecting all the creativity he can on the screen. Two hours is pretty long for a creative movie not having much songs which is a good thing given how much Kashyap wanted to express in the film. The story was very abstract and people can make a lot of interpretations.

Essentially, it is a case of altered realities. Was whatever happening in the movie real or only going on in K's (John Abraham) imagination? How much of it was real, if at all? For instance, Takia mentions near the last scene that she was the secretary in K's office as well as his wife because K wanted it that way. Even when Ranbir shows that he has all his 5 fingers around the middle of the film, was that because his fingers had magically come back or was it always there, just K imagining a couple being cut? What was real and what was merely a figment of the imagination isn't very important here though, as points can be made for both sides just as was the case in Pan's Labyrinth. The more important aspect from a cinematic experience is how the movie is captured and told so brilliantly by a director who holds a lot of promise to do some superb work in the future. He already has Black Friday, and now this in his body of work.

Smokers, or any addict for that matter, in most cases believes that he knows his own limits and K thought he knew his own too - which is why, for instance, he was brave enough to go into that dark pit hole in the baba's place. However, he was constantly stretched in the movie till he lost his soul itself. In that (and it is one of many interpretations which can be written), it is definitely a moralistic movie where earlier, it seemed like going the Clockwork Orange way where the person with a problem would be forced to change his habit because of force and not free will essentially and exploring on the effects of forced changes - which No Smoking doesn't do.

No Smoking, as I said earlier, is about altered realities and consequences told very well. If it was left a wee bit more abstract and leaving the viewer pondering much more (the ending is pretty abstract mind) in the end, maybe it could have been even better but that doesn't stop it from being an excellent film.

Bari Theke Paliye (1958)

Lovely cinema

[8/10 · 5 November 2007]

Brilliant movie. A young, keen minded naughty boy runs away from his village to go to Calcutta. The movie has a lot of good shots of Calcutta in the 50s and a lot of real cinema without any attempt to glamorise or depress things needlessly as a lot of films try to do. Things aren't attempted to be too dramatic and the focus is on depicting things realistically. So you have happy stuff and sad stuff but not artificial stuff. Even the children in the movie act like normal children would. I loved how Ghatak took the shots. For instance, a busy street is shown from behind a street light in the middle of the road.

Jab We Met (2007)

Not a typical bollywood love story.

[7/10 · 5 November 2007]

Not a typical bollywood love story. It is an honest attempt to present real characters. The amusing, intelligent dialogue, steady pace and story of the movie means that you are engrossed in it.

Kareena over plays the Punjabi girl she plays but over all, it was not a bad performance. She shows that she is a bindaas Punjabi girl all right, but we can see that she is trying to show that she is a bindaas Punjabi girl. She wasn't able to convince that she was in fact that character which is a slight flaw (some thing on the lines of what Abhishek Bacchan made in Yuva like Amitabh Bacchan said once in an interview).

Shahid Kapoor was very good in the film. I was thinking that he was underplaying his character slightly in the first half despite the character being some one in a shell. However, he strided over it in the second half and showed a lot of promise. He can be a very good actor in the future according to me.

Imtiaz Ali, the director, shows a lot of promise again and I am looking at watching Socha Na Tha, his debut movie in the future and hope he can go from strength to strength.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The promise of a great dark classic was there

[6/10 · 3 May 2007]

I had gone for a premiere show yesterday. The story is very dark which is a great thing. I loved the graphics, the villains and the character depth people had in the movie. What I didn't like was the the trying to please every one, be it the kids or the romance lovers or the audience which likes movies a bit lighter.audience aspect which can come in with so many bigger budget films.

So you had kids scenes which weren't needed and looked very cheesy given the dark plot of the movie. Then, while the romance angle was a key aspect in the plot and adds depth to the movie, it was handled horribly. There were trillions of cheesy scenes related to the romance angle, so much so that some people walked out of the theatre even before the ending credits started rolling in.

The Venom moniker is used differently in the movie compared to the comins as while in the comics, Venom has a life of it's own, in the movie, it brings out dark inner desires out in the open and makes characters more aggressive. This subtle change provided great scope for exploring a darker angle in the movie. Inner tirbulations of Spiderman could have been emphasised upon. Instead, we see Peter Parker in a couple of egoistical comic scenes which, while funny, are a light diversion rather than a big addition.

The darker scenes were shot superbly and the plot provided immense potential for this to become a great movie. This is distinct from Spiderman I and II where the plots weren't as dark and so the light nature was fair enough. A bit more focus towards the darker side would have added a lot to the movie.

Water (I) (2005)

A very poor movie

[2/10 · 12 March 2007]

Water shows the plight of Indian widows in the late 1930s, says in the end that the problem still exists largely by giving statistics in the end, refers to Gandhi several times in the movie before finally having a scene depicting him and does nothing extra ordinarily innovative or new in the movie. Yes, the cinematography is pretty impressive but that cannot be the soul of any movie for me.

India has had several problems like many other nations but it has got rid of many of these problems at large. What if a movie is made on racism in America in a particular year which ends with 'x number of Americans still experience racism today'.

a) How would it be relevant, and, b) How would it be some thing so extra ordinary being depicted in cinema.

A view I read from a Deepa Mehta interview was that this movie is being interpreted as a voice for the marginalised every where. From reviews I read every where, the common thing I am hearing is how the director did a great job and was brave in bringing a problem to the world. The movie is more about a specific problem a society faced (and has got rid of through reforms at large).

I do not see any thing earth shattering about the movie. Moreover, the movie lacked soul and shifted between the plots of Chuiyya and Kalyani. Sarala, the young Sri Lankan actress, portrayed the role of Chuiyya superbly and that was the only thing which impressed me about the movie, sadly.

Sarkar (2005)

Sarkar, I am afraid, was a very poor movie.

[2/10 · 3 July 2005]

A remake can be successful. An adaptation can be successful. It isn't relevant whether its a remake or an adaptation.

A good movie is a good movie and a poor movie is a poor movie, regardless.

Sarkar, I am afraid, was a very poor movie. First of all, just by making characters look dangerous, or macho, they don't bring in an aura about them.

What was so brilliant about Nagre(Amitabh Bacchan's character) that we should have been in aura of his 'power' and what showed the 'benevolence' of the character? Nothing.

This fact was said by a commentator and Amitabh kept giving facial expressions. Now Amitabh can give brilliant facial expressions but why should it mean any thing if there is no history or story to go with it.

There wasn't proper charecterisation of the characters who worked under 'sarkar' too. Just because a man had spectacles, why should we assume he is wise. ] The flow of the movie was generally dullbecause scenes from the Godfather were created (like the policeman slapping Abhishek Bacchan), the older brother being killed by Abhishek (like Fredo was killed on instructions of Pacino) but too much was sought to be packed into the movie with too little story and depth to go with it. That was indeed the problem.

If you try to pack 3 hours of intricate detail like a Godfather in 2 hours and that too with few dialogues, what you get is a highlights show from a cricket match, never making the full impact watching a full match will make.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Less than expected

[5/10 · 16 June 2005]

A good action flick but the problem is it gets a bit long by the end of it and its like when will it finish.

Now I am not averse to long movies but indeed am averse to movies which drag even a little.

The movie has excellent action and is smooth in the first half. Just that it should have ended maybe 30 minutes early.

I really enjoyed the acting by both Pitt and Jolie though I am not a huge fan of Pitt.

Alas had it been less repetitive with a less predictable story line and a bit more short and sweet, it would have been so much better as a movie.

Amu (2005)

Good plot spoiled by a poor screenplay

[6/10 · 8 February 2005]

The fact that Indian movies are much more viewable is shown best by movies like Amu appearing in theatres.

Amu is about Kajju's (Konkona Sen's) exploration into her past. Right from the time I saw her in Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, I have regarded her as an excellent actress. This movie is no different. Excellent, flawless acting bu Konkona who plays an Indian girl who has grown up in the US and comes back to India.

The acting by the grand mother of Kajju is interesting with some sharp dialogues 'how do girls pee from pants?'. The step mother's role is played excellently as well. However, the actor playing the boy friend to Kajju is far from satisfactory with his expressions. The screenplay also leaves a lot to be desired as a movie just about 90 minutes long has enough scenes in between which could have been edited to make the flow of scenes smoother.

The movie is about how Kajju slowly finds out about the dark riots of 1984 where Sikhs were mercilessly killed in Delhi. The politicians are shown as supporting the riots and the policemen doing nothing to help. It is a shocking reality which makes one wonder how human we really are.

And it is ironic that just as Kajju seems to come to terms with her tragic past, a newscaster from NDTV is shown on TV reporting about a train being burnt down in Godhra. That was the beginning of the gruesome riots of Gujarat which occurred in 2003. It seems we really will never learn from the past.

Pursued (2004)

Good thriller

[7/10 · 11 January 2005]

I 'pursued' this movie with low expectations but was presently surprised.

It is a fast paced thriller with a good flow. The pursuer will do any thing to get the pursued recruited. Good acting from every one in general with specially good one from Ben in the movie.

One question is why the wife is so immature to not trust her husband and find it good when a stranger keeps giving free gifts. Also, the police can be brought on if some one is stalked the way it is sown in the movie.

Its a neat movie which slowly goes into the violent aspect without being totally unreal. Good editing is of of the strong points. Over all, if you are looking for a movie which would give mild thrill without testing your brain too much and yet be slick and cool, its very much perfect.

Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Forget Ocean's XI and you will enjoy this movie

[8/10 · 10 December 2004]

I have been waiting for Ocean's XII ever since the day I finished watching Ocean's XI. My joy knew no bounds when I heard it was going to have an international release and will be released on 10th December itself in India.

To many of the fans of the first movie, that is the biggest problem. When we walk into the movie hall, the expectation is to have some thing similar to Ocean's XI. Its a sequel. But if you do every thing similar, where lies the fun?

Ocean's XII has much comedy, many special scenes specially involving Matt Damon who doesn't disappoint in the movie and a fast track which can be too fast for some at times. Ocean's XI was much simpler in the sense that it had one robbery and one villain in Benedict. The goal was clear.

Here, we have various characters who 'think' for themselves a lot more and are very real. If you forget the minor supposedly intelligent aspects like some viewer questioned how Zeta Jones found Pitt and walked straight into his door and think about the motives of the characters more and stress on the plot, the movie becomes a classic.

There is the character of Roberts who was totally underplayed in Ocean XI, Benedict revealing he wants the money and interest and isn't concerned with any thing else, the Blue Fox, and practically all characters had suffiecient air time and interesting cameos.

You laugh more watching this movie. It makes you feel awed with scenes such as Damon, Clooney and Pitt walking on the road and talking. I liked their combination a lot. The comic moments like the short guy getting deported to a completely different city because of a mistake is hilarious.

The only reason many people feel or will feel disappointed is they don't actually see the final 'stealing of the egg' as it were. Or maybe like me you had a hugh expectation from the movie.

Had I not seen Ocean's XI, I am sure I would have given this movie a 9/10

I felt a wee bit disappointed there wasn't a more dramatic ending which i also a reason I sadly ended up giving it just a 7/10.