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Reviews
Boom (2003)
Boomerang
Going to the movies is a wholesome experience for me. I look forward to the movie as soon I have my tickets booked. I have certain expectations from the movie and I switch off the outside world along with my cellphone as I settle in to watch the movie. This is how I settled down yesterday evening to watch this movie called Boom. The movie promised to have the elusive right mix of oomph and a real story coupled with good actors and behind it all a director who has been threatening to deliver for a long time. The spin-doctors had given good publicity to the movie by making sure that its every round to the censors was well publicised along with the usual comments on whatever happened to freedom of expression and self-censorship.
The two hours of the movie passed in a whirl and it was difficult for me to conclude on what was worse- the movie or the audience. I for once pitied the censor board who has to see such junk like this in its raw form and then be criticised for censoring parts of the movie. I also came out of the movie with significant additions to my knowledge bank- I got to know, for example, that a bag of cement costs around 100 rupees or so and can be delivered the next day morning if it ordered around 7pm. How I know is because the person next to me was a cement dealer and obviously likes to conduct his business on the phone in a cinema hall when he is not whistling or nudging his partner everytime he saw a bikini on the screen. In addition, if I missed a double meaning dialogue in the movie then I only had to concentrate on the animated conversation behind me to hear it again amid a thousand giggles. With such wholesome entertainment all around me who wants to see the movie.
Not that there was anything in the movie to watch. It's amazing how easily you can go wrong even if you put a bunch of talented actors on screen and some models who can also talk and a woman named Bo Derek thrown in for some more oomph. So much of oomph in that movie that I almost oomphed my way out of the hall! They were traces in the movie that reminded me of Pulp Fiction or even Sex and the City, which are both amazing productions in their own right and if only he had copied them we would have got everything we wanted. But no sir, we are too much into the East meets West syndrome these days. East meets West and takes a dive into the Pacific Ocean never to show itself again. Atleast not in the form of Boom! If this is what fusion of cultures is about I am all for pure breeds. I cannot imagine that I paid money to see a movie like this. I won't see it even if someone offered me money for this. The movie is like an orchestra in action and everything is being played out of tune and what is worse is that you can recognise what they are trying to play and that is driving you even more crazy.
As for the crowd, what can I say, it deserved the movie as much as the movie deserved the crowd. Every show of skin and every raunchy dialogue were greeted with such cheers that you would assume that these women had landed in their laps! All this while cellphones were buzzing in the hall and everybody was talking to everybody else telling them they were sitting in a hall watching a movie- and what's up?
Please go and see this movie and maybe it will help you appreciate how bad movie making can get. Its always nice to see the worst so we can better appreciate the good.
As for the director and producer - BOOM BOOM!!
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)
Message in a Bottle
The movie starts in picturesque Darjeeling (Bengal, India) where Meenakshi Iyer( Mrs. Iyer) is setting out with her one year old son Santanam on a bus ride to the nearest railway station and from then on a train ride to Calcutta.This is also where she meets Raja who promises her parents to see her through to Calcutta. The bus represents a unique picture of India both in terms of regions but also age groups and mindsets.On their way to the station they run into a communal riot(Hindus and Muslims) and 3 days of curfew and Raja who is a Muslim is saved by Mrs.Iyer who declared him as Mr. Iyer.
The movie addresses a whole spectrum of issues from communal violence, to caste issues and to a certain extent public apathy. Mrs Iyer is an Iyengar Brahmin , 100% vegetarian and will eat food cooked from "known sources" only. Inspite of her education, a Masters in Physics, she is first shocked by the fact that Raja is a Muslim and runs away from him until better sense prevails later!. An old Muslim couple is found in the bus and taken away by the mob and no one bothers to inquire about them and all the police say is that they are inquiring. Fellow bus passengers address Muslims as terrorists and perpetrators of violence
Rahul Bose(Raja) is at his best, I would say playing himself..the easy going wildlife photographer who prefers to deal with issues with his camera. But the find of the year is Konkona Sen(Mrs Meenakshi Iyer) who pulls through her role with such finesse that its hard to believe that its her first Hindi/English movie. She has perfected the Tamil Brahmin accent write down to the last T. She moved effortlessly between this naive, innocent sheltered wife in the first half to being more vocal and open about her affections for Raja in the latter part of the movie.
Full marks to the director of the movie for her very sensitive potrayal of the violence and this lovely caring between Raja and Meenakshi in the middle of it all.
Oh! did i say somewhere that the movie is a MUST WATCH ?
Leela (2002)
Almost There!
One's been seeing a crass of movies made on the Indians settled abroad and how do they relate to their environment vis-a-vis their origins. Some of the movies have been downrightly funny (Bend it Like Beckham)to make any serious comment , some have been very good.. like East is East.
The feeling one got after coming out of seeing Leela was that why did the director keep it so short at 97 mins.. they were so many openings ( for lack of a better word) which the director could have explored. For eg: the relationship between the son Krishna and father Jai could have been taken up, one was also not very sure on why Jai and Chaitali broke up and Jai seems to be having a good relationship with Jennifer.
Having said all this, the movie is a must see, it has sensitively treated the issue of a teacher falling for her student.Also makes one think about relationships which are kind of surviving in India , breakup under a more liberal and accepting environment.
Dimple Kapadia is ravishing as usual and its nice to see Deepti Naval back on screen after a while . I have always felt that she could offer more , and just needed a good director to get it all out. The kid Krishna also comes up with a good performance. The movie soundtrack is superb especially the last ghazal which has the Krishna doing a little jugalbandi with Vinod Khanna.