Watched Mary Kom last weekend & to say that I was spellbound would be such an understatement! It was amazing and an absolute treat to watch for rare movie goers like me. Can’t believe I’m calling myself a rare movie watcher now but well that’s the reality of my life these days. This is the second movie that we have watched with the little one, first one being Humpty Sharma in July’14. Yes, you read it right, only two movies till now as I took him for a movie only when he turned 2.5 years old. Before that in last two and half years we got to watch only one movie in theater. On why and why not, a separate post later. In nutshell, didn't watch any movie in theater earlier with the little one in the interest of him as well as other movie goers :). And this reminds me I must write down a post on my experience and preparations of first movie with the little dude... hee hee, I’m sure most new parents would relate to it. And after all those preparations, junior actually slept after five mins :P. 

But in Mary Kom, he was awake with eyes big wide open and I think I was not surprised. He gets so excited with any sports and esp. the one that involves ball or dhishum-dhisham. And this movie had both, a bit of football and loads, rather truck loads of dhishum dhisham. He was even trying to imitate the punches sitting on his seat. And I’m happy that he watched it. Yes, I know at such young age perhaps he does not even know what he was watching but this is one Bollywood movie which I think I will make my son watch once he grows up. It’s so inspirational and simply outstanding. And I strongly think that not just kids but perhaps every woman (India or outside, teenager or adult) must-must watch this movie. 

Not only it highlights the odds that a girl has to face who dreams differently and dreams big, it also very beautifully brings out the realities of her life when she grows up to be a woman. That passion for her profession, that love for her family; those dreams and ambition, those realities and priorities; that craving for self identity, that devotion for relationships... well, I think I can keep on writing on & on ... Even though I have got nothing to do with sports profession but still I could relate to it so much as its not the reality of one woman or one profession. I think many, rather any woman can relate to it a lot. I only got back to my career full-fledgedly (wait, is it full fledged yet? Can it actually be full fledged ever? In a separate post later maybe :D) earlier this year and there have been so many moments where I just don’t know how to cope up with it any more but I'm still trying to adjust, balance it out and move on. I’m glad my husband insisted me to watch this movie. Definitely gives me more inspiration and courage to keep on following the path that I am on right now. And if I may add further, stories like that of Mary Kom should be actually included in course books, aren't these biographies more relevant for kids of today’s generation than what they get to read otherwise?

Let cynics be busy with their cynicism but I would surely like to say - thank you Sanjay Leela Bhansali for a biopic like Mary Kom, kudos to you Priyanka Chopra for presenting it to us so beautifully. You and the whole team totally rocked it! I was actually teary eyed in some parts of second half of the movie.

And Salute to Mary Kom for living such an ordinary yet extra ordinary life. After watching this movie, now I plan to know more about you by reading your autobiography too. May you keep on inspiring us like this forever! Some might find these words to be exaggeration but still I will say that women like you deserve standing ovation from the whole nation for not only what you have achieved but for your grit, determination & perseverance. Respect and some more respect.

Mary Kom · Mary Kom Movie · Movies

Mary Kom: Must watch for every woman

Watched Mary Kom last weekend & to say that I was spellbound would be such an understatement! It was amazing and an absolute treat to watch for rare movie goers like me. Can’t believe I’m calling myself a rare movie watcher now but well that’s the reality of my life these days. This is the second movie that we have watched with the little one, first one being Humpty Sharma in July’14. Yes, you read it right, only two movies till now as I took him for a movie only when he turned 2.5 years old. Before that in last two and half years we got to watch only one movie in theater. On why and why not, a separate post later. In nutshell, didn't watch any movie in theater earlier with the little one in the interest of him as well as other movie goers :). And this reminds me I must write down a post on my experience and preparations of first movie with the little dude... hee hee, I’m sure most new parents would relate to it. And after all those preparations, junior actually slept after five mins :P. 

But in Mary Kom, he was awake with eyes big wide open and I think I was not surprised. He gets so excited with any sports and esp. the one that involves ball or dhishum-dhisham. And this movie had both, a bit of football and loads, rather truck loads of dhishum dhisham. He was even trying to imitate the punches sitting on his seat. And I’m happy that he watched it. Yes, I know at such young age perhaps he does not even know what he was watching but this is one Bollywood movie which I think I will make my son watch once he grows up. It’s so inspirational and simply outstanding. And I strongly think that not just kids but perhaps every woman (India or outside, teenager or adult) must-must watch this movie. 

Not only it highlights the odds that a girl has to face who dreams differently and dreams big, it also very beautifully brings out the realities of her life when she grows up to be a woman. That passion for her profession, that love for her family; those dreams and ambition, those realities and priorities; that craving for self identity, that devotion for relationships... well, I think I can keep on writing on & on ... Even though I have got nothing to do with sports profession but still I could relate to it so much as its not the reality of one woman or one profession. I think many, rather any woman can relate to it a lot. I only got back to my career full-fledgedly (wait, is it full fledged yet? Can it actually be full fledged ever? In a separate post later maybe :D) earlier this year and there have been so many moments where I just don’t know how to cope up with it any more but I'm still trying to adjust, balance it out and move on. I’m glad my husband insisted me to watch this movie. Definitely gives me more inspiration and courage to keep on following the path that I am on right now. And if I may add further, stories like that of Mary Kom should be actually included in course books, aren't these biographies more relevant for kids of today’s generation than what they get to read otherwise?

Let cynics be busy with their cynicism but I would surely like to say - thank you Sanjay Leela Bhansali for a biopic like Mary Kom, kudos to you Priyanka Chopra for presenting it to us so beautifully. You and the whole team totally rocked it! I was actually teary eyed in some parts of second half of the movie.

And Salute to Mary Kom for living such an ordinary yet extra ordinary life. After watching this movie, now I plan to know more about you by reading your autobiography too. May you keep on inspiring us like this forever! Some might find these words to be exaggeration but still I will say that women like you deserve standing ovation from the whole nation for not only what you have achieved but for your grit, determination & perseverance. Respect and some more respect.

Today I tweeted something about movies in the morning and it instantly reminded me the number of movies I got to watch in 2012 in theater. Guess how many? Well just TWO! Now who know me, know very well my movie stats till 2011 but then things change and have changed a lot since the little one has arrived. Though the good part is that we have started to spend more and more time at home these days playing and having fun with our little one. We both always loved watching good movies at home but these days our DVD viewing has gone up considerably. Where else will you get the comfort and convenience of watching movies with multiple breaks for diaper change, milk refill, play time etc. Yes, a two and hour movie is watched somewhere between 4 hours to 4 days depending upon what mood our little boss is into .

And at the end of hectic days coupled with all these breaks in between, all you wanna watch are movies that can cheer you up. You know those comedies that make you really laugh, rom-coms that bring a smile on your face and those girly-girly movies that you can never get bored of! Yeah those and my movie quotas generally consist of such movies these days, movies that just add some light and fun moments in my life. All my old preferences for world cinema and serious movies have been saved and well preserved for later stage in life. As of now, only movies that can cheer me up !

Here’s a list of five girly (caution: I repeat these are truly girly :P) that I watched in last few weeks and despite the fact that all these were re-watch for me, I still didn’t get bored of any .

• Confessions of a Shopaholic: Hee hee, whatay delight! Well as per what people say about me, I’m not a shopaholic I think but then Beccy does bring a smile on my face. You don’t need to be a shopping addict to relate to her, some part of her is definitely real, after all which girl does not like new stuffs ? And to add to that Hugh Dancy as Luke Brandson is absolutely droolworthy!
• Sleepless in Seattle: It must be my nth watch and I was still not bored of it! I’m sure anybody who likes to watch mush must have watched it. In case you haven’t, please stop reading this post and go watch it now!
• A Walk to Remember: When I had first watched it, I was totally surprised. I had expected it to be just another rom-flick but it was much more than that. I watched it again few days back and didn’t use the forward button at all.
• Julie & Julia: I just spotted a copy of this movie and for my love for cooking & baking and the fact that I am in kitchen more these days for the junior dude made me watch it again. Watch it for the love of food and the passionate chef inside you; you won’t be disappointed for sure.
• Music & Lyrics: Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore… do you need any more reason to watch a rom-com than these two? 

I’m a huge fan of Hindi cinema too but I wonder why don’t they make good light movies that one can think of re-watching again. The last hindi movie that I willingly watched second time was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and after that none! There are many from other genres in Bollywood that I can watch again but comedy? Well, I think none! Not at least any recent one.

So, which are your cheer-up movies that can lighten your mood anytime you watch them? Share it here and in case I have not watched it, I would love to whenever I get time next. 

feel good movies · girly movies · Movies · movies that cheer you up · rom-coms

Movies that cheer you up anytime :-)

Today I tweeted something about movies in the morning and it instantly reminded me the number of movies I got to watch in 2012 in theater. Guess how many? Well just TWO! Now who know me, know very well my movie stats till 2011 but then things change and have changed a lot since the little one has arrived. Though the good part is that we have started to spend more and more time at home these days playing and having fun with our little one. We both always loved watching good movies at home but these days our DVD viewing has gone up considerably. Where else will you get the comfort and convenience of watching movies with multiple breaks for diaper change, milk refill, play time etc. Yes, a two and hour movie is watched somewhere between 4 hours to 4 days depending upon what mood our little boss is into .

And at the end of hectic days coupled with all these breaks in between, all you wanna watch are movies that can cheer you up. You know those comedies that make you really laugh, rom-coms that bring a smile on your face and those girly-girly movies that you can never get bored of! Yeah those and my movie quotas generally consist of such movies these days, movies that just add some light and fun moments in my life. All my old preferences for world cinema and serious movies have been saved and well preserved for later stage in life. As of now, only movies that can cheer me up !

Here’s a list of five girly (caution: I repeat these are truly girly :P) that I watched in last few weeks and despite the fact that all these were re-watch for me, I still didn’t get bored of any .

• Confessions of a Shopaholic: Hee hee, whatay delight! Well as per what people say about me, I’m not a shopaholic I think but then Beccy does bring a smile on my face. You don’t need to be a shopping addict to relate to her, some part of her is definitely real, after all which girl does not like new stuffs ? And to add to that Hugh Dancy as Luke Brandson is absolutely droolworthy!
• Sleepless in Seattle: It must be my nth watch and I was still not bored of it! I’m sure anybody who likes to watch mush must have watched it. In case you haven’t, please stop reading this post and go watch it now!
• A Walk to Remember: When I had first watched it, I was totally surprised. I had expected it to be just another rom-flick but it was much more than that. I watched it again few days back and didn’t use the forward button at all.
• Julie & Julia: I just spotted a copy of this movie and for my love for cooking & baking and the fact that I am in kitchen more these days for the junior dude made me watch it again. Watch it for the love of food and the passionate chef inside you; you won’t be disappointed for sure.
• Music & Lyrics: Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore… do you need any more reason to watch a rom-com than these two? 

I’m a huge fan of Hindi cinema too but I wonder why don’t they make good light movies that one can think of re-watching again. The last hindi movie that I willingly watched second time was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and after that none! There are many from other genres in Bollywood that I can watch again but comedy? Well, I think none! Not at least any recent one.

So, which are your cheer-up movies that can lighten your mood anytime you watch them? Share it here and in case I have not watched it, I would love to whenever I get time next. 

A big thanks to all my blogger friends who remembered to wish me last week. It's surprising, how we started to interact with each other in virtual world but now some of us are such good friends in real world too.

This b’day was indeed very special to me. After all, it was my first b’day as "Mumma" and that's what my b'day cake read :-). Though the little one is too young to wish me in words but his cute little activities whole day were sufficient enough to make me feel special and happy about the day. And the funniest part of the day has to be the way I got my first “Happy B'day Mom” card. It was not given by him rather snatched from him and that too with full force! After the cake was cut, N gave a card to the little one asking him to give it to me. Card was quite colorful and the moment he got this vibrant piece in his hands, he crushed it and put it in his mouth within seconds. Yes he has got something for papers, whenever he spots one, even the tinniest of pieces, he pounces on it with devilish gleam in his eyes and immediately stuffs it in his mouth.  The card also met the same fate. After some good amount of struggle we finally took it out of his mouth and hand. So, the card was literally snatched by me and it came to me all wet and crumbled and torn…ha ha ha, quite a b’day wish it was, sort of self claimed and forced.

As part of b’day celebration, I finally got to watch a movie. Oh yay, after more than five months I visited a multiplex. Now those who know me or have been reading me for long know my love for movies. From five movies a month, now my movie watching stats has reduced to a movie after five months. And I thought I would love any movie when I’m getting to watch one after these many days. But how wrong I was! Cocktail was quite a mediocre rather a disaster so to say. Still wondering what exactly they were trying to show esp. when you know that the movie has been made by someone like Homi Adjania of 'Being Cyrus' fame. So, what did one get out of this movie?

• That men like to have all the fun with the hot chick and then make the seedhi-sadhi, puja-path wali as their final pick!

That there are still some men in this world who use one-liners (that too such cheesy ones) to hit on women.

That you go to whichever part of the globe but if you are an Indian woman, you will be only considered a marriage material if you wear salwar kameez and do stuffs like laundry, cooking etc.

That… well this list can go on and on and on…

And how much so ever hard Saif tries he still can’t justify this ‘cool dude with all hot women in my pocket’ kinda look anymore. Even if you decide to ignore those wrinkles and horrible dialogue delivery, still he cannot and should not do such roles that advertise his age so loudly and desperately. Ufff overall an absolutely pathetic movie which I could have easily ignored! Not even worth watching on television I think.  

Did you watch this movie and how has been your reaction to it? 

Chalo time to log off for now, will be back with my next post soon.

Cocktail Movie Review · Just Generally · motherhood · Movies

B’day and Cocktail

A big thanks to all my blogger friends who remembered to wish me last week. It's surprising, how we started to interact with each other in virtual world but now some of us are such good friends in real world too.

This b’day was indeed very special to me. After all, it was my first b’day as "Mumma" and that's what my b'day cake read :-). Though the little one is too young to wish me in words but his cute little activities whole day were sufficient enough to make me feel special and happy about the day. And the funniest part of the day has to be the way I got my first “Happy B'day Mom” card. It was not given by him rather snatched from him and that too with full force! After the cake was cut, N gave a card to the little one asking him to give it to me. Card was quite colorful and the moment he got this vibrant piece in his hands, he crushed it and put it in his mouth within seconds. Yes he has got something for papers, whenever he spots one, even the tinniest of pieces, he pounces on it with devilish gleam in his eyes and immediately stuffs it in his mouth.  The card also met the same fate. After some good amount of struggle we finally took it out of his mouth and hand. So, the card was literally snatched by me and it came to me all wet and crumbled and torn…ha ha ha, quite a b’day wish it was, sort of self claimed and forced.

As part of b’day celebration, I finally got to watch a movie. Oh yay, after more than five months I visited a multiplex. Now those who know me or have been reading me for long know my love for movies. From five movies a month, now my movie watching stats has reduced to a movie after five months. And I thought I would love any movie when I’m getting to watch one after these many days. But how wrong I was! Cocktail was quite a mediocre rather a disaster so to say. Still wondering what exactly they were trying to show esp. when you know that the movie has been made by someone like Homi Adjania of 'Being Cyrus' fame. So, what did one get out of this movie?

• That men like to have all the fun with the hot chick and then make the seedhi-sadhi, puja-path wali as their final pick!

That there are still some men in this world who use one-liners (that too such cheesy ones) to hit on women.

That you go to whichever part of the globe but if you are an Indian woman, you will be only considered a marriage material if you wear salwar kameez and do stuffs like laundry, cooking etc.

That… well this list can go on and on and on…

And how much so ever hard Saif tries he still can’t justify this ‘cool dude with all hot women in my pocket’ kinda look anymore. Even if you decide to ignore those wrinkles and horrible dialogue delivery, still he cannot and should not do such roles that advertise his age so loudly and desperately. Ufff overall an absolutely pathetic movie which I could have easily ignored! Not even worth watching on television I think.  

Did you watch this movie and how has been your reaction to it? 

Chalo time to log off for now, will be back with my next post soon.

I actually quite liked Dhobi Ghat, I really did. When I voiced this out on Facebook, there were few who expressed their opinions reverse to mine with questions on how could I like “such” a confused and boring movie? Well, to each his own…not even for a second I found the movie to be boring and there was no question of confusion at all. In fact the sequencing was seamlessly interwoven to give a complete picture in the end. If anything, this not so obvious narrative actually kept me glued on to screen from start to end. Here are 5 reasons why you must watch Dhobi Ghat:

• It’s different, it actually is. Don’t remember any other Hindi movie being made this way.
• The story is interesting, keeps your attention focused on the screen from start to end.
• Prateik Babbar! Yes, he (character Munna) is definitely one of the reasons for me to like this movie; this actor has finally arrived. Apart from Prateik, definite mentions of debutantes Monica Dogra (Shai) & Ruchika Malhotra (Yasmin), they were awesome too. Difficult to decide who did better between the two, both lived their roles perfectly.
• The direction, I loved it. The way this movie interlinks different stories and different characters is just so fascinating.
• I remember reading a tweet from Rahul Bose which said something like “Dhobi Ghat is one Indian movie which qualifies as world movie”. I so agree to him, it indeed is a world cinema material.
  

Some flip side of the movie – it is slow and at times dragging too, does not have any bollywood commercialism in form of songs or dance sequences, can get boring for those who do not like slow movies. Heavy at times but has it’s light moments too with a very different treatment. While few from audience actually left the movie half way by criticizing it, there were other few who actually gave standing ovation to it once the movie ended! Overall, for me it’s a movie with artistic values and definitely worth watching.

Did watch many other movies recently – Anjaana Anjaani (thank god, I did not waste my money on it in theater), No One Killed Jessica (really liked it) & Black Swan (loved, loved, loved it, this movie definitely deserves a separate post).

Did you watch Dhobi Ghat? Did you like it?

dhobi ghat review · Movie Review · Movies · no one killed jessica · World Movies

Dhobi Ghat: A pleasure to watch

I actually quite liked Dhobi Ghat, I really did. When I voiced this out on Facebook, there were few who expressed their opinions reverse to mine with questions on how could I like “such” a confused and boring movie? Well, to each his own…not even for a second I found the movie to be boring and there was no question of confusion at all. In fact the sequencing was seamlessly interwoven to give a complete picture in the end. If anything, this not so obvious narrative actually kept me glued on to screen from start to end. Here are 5 reasons why you must watch Dhobi Ghat:

• It’s different, it actually is. Don’t remember any other Hindi movie being made this way.
• The story is interesting, keeps your attention focused on the screen from start to end.
• Prateik Babbar! Yes, he (character Munna) is definitely one of the reasons for me to like this movie; this actor has finally arrived. Apart from Prateik, definite mentions of debutantes Monica Dogra (Shai) & Ruchika Malhotra (Yasmin), they were awesome too. Difficult to decide who did better between the two, both lived their roles perfectly.
• The direction, I loved it. The way this movie interlinks different stories and different characters is just so fascinating.
• I remember reading a tweet from Rahul Bose which said something like “Dhobi Ghat is one Indian movie which qualifies as world movie”. I so agree to him, it indeed is a world cinema material.
  

Some flip side of the movie – it is slow and at times dragging too, does not have any bollywood commercialism in form of songs or dance sequences, can get boring for those who do not like slow movies. Heavy at times but has it’s light moments too with a very different treatment. While few from audience actually left the movie half way by criticizing it, there were other few who actually gave standing ovation to it once the movie ended! Overall, for me it’s a movie with artistic values and definitely worth watching.

Did watch many other movies recently – Anjaana Anjaani (thank god, I did not waste my money on it in theater), No One Killed Jessica (really liked it) & Black Swan (loved, loved, loved it, this movie definitely deserves a separate post).

Did you watch Dhobi Ghat? Did you like it?

Two movies and two dramatically opposite reactions: 1.) Tees Maar Khan – One of the worst movies ever watched 2.) Udaan – One of the best movies ever watched. These two movies are not comparable at all as they represent two very different genres, but even if I evaluate these within their own respective genres, my reaction still remains the same.

I was not expecting Tees Maar Khan to be any well-plotted, thought-through movie or any kind of intelligent comedy, but I didn’t expect it to be this disaster too. I thought it would be some slapstick fun but forget about having even a single moment of smile, throughout the movie I kept on wondering what the hell it was. I think Farah Khan made "Tees Maar Kan" exactly like the way Akshay Kumar made the movie "Tees Maar Khan" within "Tees Maar Khan"...story thought on the spot, dialogues conceived on the spot, actors clueless till the end and the director also clueless till the end! I was never a great fan of Akshay Kumar (in fact I don’t like him), and whatever good impression I had gained for Katrina after her performance in Rajneeti has got washed away with her “main aur make up laga ke aati hoon” recital in TMK. Trust me apart from Sheila ki Jawani dance, this is the only dialogue which she has spoken and repeated at least zillion times in the movie. Pathetic, terrible, disgusting and not a bearable movie even if you get tickets for free.

Coming down to the movie which I watched on DVD recently – Udaan, I’m wondering how I missed to watch it in theater. In fact was not even aware when the movie got released and went off theaters too. Huh, sad that lack of marketing can make people miss gem of a movie like Udaan and heavy buzz can actually make one waste money on a crap like TMK. But what a movie Udaan was! I just looooved it. Poignant storyline, great acting, superb direction and a fantastic ending. Must say that Anurag Kashyap & Vikramaditya Motwane have done an amazing job by making this film and no wonder this film was officially selected to compete in 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The story is about a 17 year old teenager Rohan who was expelled from his school on a silly mistake and had to return home to his abusive and oppressive father. The film revolves around the emotional journey of Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) who has to deal with the nuances of a tyrant father (Ronit Roy), a young step brother Arjun (Ayan Boradia) about whom Rohan was not even aware of till he came back from hostel a supporting chacha (Ram Kapoor) whom his father hates, the struggle between his dreams of becoming a writer and his father’s ambition of making him an engineer & finally his fight for believing in himself and standing for his own dreams. It’s a movie which touches a chord somewhere deep within, a movie you must experience on your own to really understand the emotions of different characters. Difficult to decide for me as to whether it was Rohan’s suppressed anger or Arjun’s suppressed fear which really makes your heart go out for those two poor kids…at times I really had lump in my throat. A must, must watch movie for all…a movie which you really should not miss at any cost.

Think these are the last two movies for me in 2010, more movies now next year only. So, what’s the plan for you for this new year eve? Planning to welcome it with a bang or deciding to spend it peacefully with family & friends :-)?

2010 Movies · Movie Review · Movies · Tees Maar Khan · Udaan

A movie you MUST watch & a movie you MUST NOT watch!

Two movies and two dramatically opposite reactions: 1.) Tees Maar Khan – One of the worst movies ever watched 2.) Udaan – One of the best movies ever watched. These two movies are not comparable at all as they represent two very different genres, but even if I evaluate these within their own respective genres, my reaction still remains the same.

I was not expecting Tees Maar Khan to be any well-plotted, thought-through movie or any kind of intelligent comedy, but I didn’t expect it to be this disaster too. I thought it would be some slapstick fun but forget about having even a single moment of smile, throughout the movie I kept on wondering what the hell it was. I think Farah Khan made "Tees Maar Kan" exactly like the way Akshay Kumar made the movie "Tees Maar Khan" within "Tees Maar Khan"...story thought on the spot, dialogues conceived on the spot, actors clueless till the end and the director also clueless till the end! I was never a great fan of Akshay Kumar (in fact I don’t like him), and whatever good impression I had gained for Katrina after her performance in Rajneeti has got washed away with her “main aur make up laga ke aati hoon” recital in TMK. Trust me apart from Sheila ki Jawani dance, this is the only dialogue which she has spoken and repeated at least zillion times in the movie. Pathetic, terrible, disgusting and not a bearable movie even if you get tickets for free.

Coming down to the movie which I watched on DVD recently – Udaan, I’m wondering how I missed to watch it in theater. In fact was not even aware when the movie got released and went off theaters too. Huh, sad that lack of marketing can make people miss gem of a movie like Udaan and heavy buzz can actually make one waste money on a crap like TMK. But what a movie Udaan was! I just looooved it. Poignant storyline, great acting, superb direction and a fantastic ending. Must say that Anurag Kashyap & Vikramaditya Motwane have done an amazing job by making this film and no wonder this film was officially selected to compete in 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The story is about a 17 year old teenager Rohan who was expelled from his school on a silly mistake and had to return home to his abusive and oppressive father. The film revolves around the emotional journey of Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) who has to deal with the nuances of a tyrant father (Ronit Roy), a young step brother Arjun (Ayan Boradia) about whom Rohan was not even aware of till he came back from hostel a supporting chacha (Ram Kapoor) whom his father hates, the struggle between his dreams of becoming a writer and his father’s ambition of making him an engineer & finally his fight for believing in himself and standing for his own dreams. It’s a movie which touches a chord somewhere deep within, a movie you must experience on your own to really understand the emotions of different characters. Difficult to decide for me as to whether it was Rohan’s suppressed anger or Arjun’s suppressed fear which really makes your heart go out for those two poor kids…at times I really had lump in my throat. A must, must watch movie for all…a movie which you really should not miss at any cost.

Think these are the last two movies for me in 2010, more movies now next year only. So, what’s the plan for you for this new year eve? Planning to welcome it with a bang or deciding to spend it peacefully with family & friends :-)?

Finally I got to watch a performance by long time blogger friend – Nautankey. Earlier when he used to write about his shows at different places, I remember asking him about his plans to come to Bangalore. And so when his team decided to perform in Bangalore, I was definitely excited. Went to watch his play “Battle of Sexes” last Sunday and must say that my excitement was totally worth it. As the name suggests, it’s based on the differences between the two sexes from Venus & Mars. Loved the characters, theme and performance by all the actors of the show. Great work Naut & you were just too good as “Mo”. Keep it up & look forward to your next play in Bangalore soon :-)

This was definitely a good weekend as far as entertainment was concerned, the same weekend I also got to watch the movie Guzaarish. I don’t think I can find suitable adjectives to express my reaction about Hrithik’s performance in this movie. It was a wonderful movie, made very beautifully. As much as I hated Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya or Hrithik’s Kites, more and more I loved both of them for Guzaarish. A lively movie on a very disturbing topic, Guzaarish is the story of an accomplished magician Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) who has become quadriplegic after an unfortunate accident. The movie revolves around the story of his life on a wheel chair, his relationship with his married nurse (Aishwarya Rai) and his decisions about the future course of his life. Though I found Aish’s get up in the movie bit overboard for a nurse kind of character but then overall she was good and Hrithik was just outstanding.!All other actors like Aditya Roy Kapoor, Suhel Seth, Nafisa Ali, Shernaz Patel or even a small appearance like that of Monikangana Dutta did an excellent job for their characters. It’s a must-must watch movie and don’t go by the critics ratings or negative reviews of the media. No idea on what basis they decide to give four stars to a crap like “All the Best” and two to an excellence like “Guzaarish”! Watch it and if you’re ok with bit of emotional heaviness, then I’m sure you will enjoy this movie.

Details:
Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Screenplay By: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Actors: Hrithik Roshan as Ethan Mascarenhas, Aishwarya Rai as Sofia D'Souza, Shernaz Patel as Devyani Dutta, Nafisa Ali as Isabel Mascarenhas, Aditya Roy Kapoor as Omar Siddique, Monikangana Dutta as Estella Francis, Suhel Seth as Dr. Nayak, Rajit Kapoor as Prosecutor Vipin Patel, Ash Chandler as Yasser Siddique, Vijay Crishna as Judge Rajhans, Makarand Deshpande as Neville D'Souza
Duration: Approx 2 hours

And did I mention, how much I am in love with the songs of Guzaarish esp. “Sau gram zindagi”… 'Der tak ubaali hai, cup mein daali hai, kadvi hai naseeb si, yeh coffee gaadhi kaali hai, sau gram zindagi ye, sambhaal ke kharchi hai'… must have listened to this song 50th time since morning and million times since I first heard it…love it, love it, just love it!

Battle of Sexes · Guzaarish Review · Movie Review · Movies · Rebelz

Battle of Sexes & Guzaarish

Finally I got to watch a performance by long time blogger friend – Nautankey. Earlier when he used to write about his shows at different places, I remember asking him about his plans to come to Bangalore. And so when his team decided to perform in Bangalore, I was definitely excited. Went to watch his play “Battle of Sexes” last Sunday and must say that my excitement was totally worth it. As the name suggests, it’s based on the differences between the two sexes from Venus & Mars. Loved the characters, theme and performance by all the actors of the show. Great work Naut & you were just too good as “Mo”. Keep it up & look forward to your next play in Bangalore soon :-)

This was definitely a good weekend as far as entertainment was concerned, the same weekend I also got to watch the movie Guzaarish. I don’t think I can find suitable adjectives to express my reaction about Hrithik’s performance in this movie. It was a wonderful movie, made very beautifully. As much as I hated Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya or Hrithik’s Kites, more and more I loved both of them for Guzaarish. A lively movie on a very disturbing topic, Guzaarish is the story of an accomplished magician Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) who has become quadriplegic after an unfortunate accident. The movie revolves around the story of his life on a wheel chair, his relationship with his married nurse (Aishwarya Rai) and his decisions about the future course of his life. Though I found Aish’s get up in the movie bit overboard for a nurse kind of character but then overall she was good and Hrithik was just outstanding.!All other actors like Aditya Roy Kapoor, Suhel Seth, Nafisa Ali, Shernaz Patel or even a small appearance like that of Monikangana Dutta did an excellent job for their characters. It’s a must-must watch movie and don’t go by the critics ratings or negative reviews of the media. No idea on what basis they decide to give four stars to a crap like “All the Best” and two to an excellence like “Guzaarish”! Watch it and if you’re ok with bit of emotional heaviness, then I’m sure you will enjoy this movie.

Details:
Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Screenplay By: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Actors: Hrithik Roshan as Ethan Mascarenhas, Aishwarya Rai as Sofia D'Souza, Shernaz Patel as Devyani Dutta, Nafisa Ali as Isabel Mascarenhas, Aditya Roy Kapoor as Omar Siddique, Monikangana Dutta as Estella Francis, Suhel Seth as Dr. Nayak, Rajit Kapoor as Prosecutor Vipin Patel, Ash Chandler as Yasser Siddique, Vijay Crishna as Judge Rajhans, Makarand Deshpande as Neville D'Souza
Duration: Approx 2 hours

And did I mention, how much I am in love with the songs of Guzaarish esp. “Sau gram zindagi”… 'Der tak ubaali hai, cup mein daali hai, kadvi hai naseeb si, yeh coffee gaadhi kaali hai, sau gram zindagi ye, sambhaal ke kharchi hai'… must have listened to this song 50th time since morning and million times since I first heard it…love it, love it, just love it!

Watched “The Social Network” last night and LOVED it totally. No, no its not because of my addiction to Facebook :), this movie is actually a very well made movie. Engrossing from the start, entertaining throughout & enthralling till the end. Now what else can you expect from a movie?

As we all know the movie is an adaptation of Ben Mezrich's non-fiction book 'The Accidental Billionaires' and the story is all about the social networking giant Facebook. Even though all the reel names of characters are exactly similar to the real ones, there have been numerous reports on Zuckerberg denying the factual authenticity of the movie. Zuckerberg has called it a “work of fiction” and the portrayal of the negativity around the success of Facebook in this movie is not a matter of concern for him. So, I won’t go into the debate of how much fact vs. fiction this movie was. I evaluated this movie as a standalone plot for a movie and I must say that the movie is thrilling to the core. What an excellent execution and what a plot; one really can make a thriller out of a nerdy topic like tech product development! Clever dialogues, funny quips, smart story-telling and a very smart end. The movie beautifully portrays the journey of an intelligent developer who takes the path of entrepreneurship and on his way goes through different lessons of friendships, jealousy, insecurities, trust, mistrust & betrayal. There was a time in the movie when Eduardo confronts Mark after he comes to know the game played on him for his share in the company. That particular scene really left me thinking about the cost of success which at times few people have to pay to make it to the top. Kudos to the screenplay, direction, music and acting delivered by the whole team. A must watch for those who want to see an intelligent yet dramatic movie.

Do check out these links in case you’re interested to know the reel vs. real characters and the fact vs. fiction of the movie.

Team Info:
Directed by: David Fincher
Screenplay by: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg), Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin), Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker), Brenda Song (Christy Lee), Rooney Mara (Erica Albright), Armie Hammer (Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss), Max Minghella (Divya Narendra)
Duration: 121 mins

facebook Movie · Movie Review · Movies · The Social Network Movie Review

The Social Network: An enthralling movie

Watched “The Social Network” last night and LOVED it totally. No, no its not because of my addiction to Facebook :), this movie is actually a very well made movie. Engrossing from the start, entertaining throughout & enthralling till the end. Now what else can you expect from a movie?

As we all know the movie is an adaptation of Ben Mezrich's non-fiction book 'The Accidental Billionaires' and the story is all about the social networking giant Facebook. Even though all the reel names of characters are exactly similar to the real ones, there have been numerous reports on Zuckerberg denying the factual authenticity of the movie. Zuckerberg has called it a “work of fiction” and the portrayal of the negativity around the success of Facebook in this movie is not a matter of concern for him. So, I won’t go into the debate of how much fact vs. fiction this movie was. I evaluated this movie as a standalone plot for a movie and I must say that the movie is thrilling to the core. What an excellent execution and what a plot; one really can make a thriller out of a nerdy topic like tech product development! Clever dialogues, funny quips, smart story-telling and a very smart end. The movie beautifully portrays the journey of an intelligent developer who takes the path of entrepreneurship and on his way goes through different lessons of friendships, jealousy, insecurities, trust, mistrust & betrayal. There was a time in the movie when Eduardo confronts Mark after he comes to know the game played on him for his share in the company. That particular scene really left me thinking about the cost of success which at times few people have to pay to make it to the top. Kudos to the screenplay, direction, music and acting delivered by the whole team. A must watch for those who want to see an intelligent yet dramatic movie.

Do check out these links in case you’re interested to know the reel vs. real characters and the fact vs. fiction of the movie.

Team Info:
Directed by: David Fincher
Screenplay by: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg), Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin), Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker), Brenda Song (Christy Lee), Rooney Mara (Erica Albright), Armie Hammer (Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss), Max Minghella (Divya Narendra)
Duration: 121 mins

What a month this has been, traveled out of city almost on all weekends – Nrityagram, Tirupati, Goa & then Mumbai. Phew! Have so many things to share about the books which I read recently, about the recent places visited, about some observations, some changes, and some movies but yet again running short for time. Blogging & writing at other places apart from a full time job is really taking up my time away from this personal space

First thing first, one of my favorite blogger (& a friend as well now), Smita had a baby boy on 9^th Aug! Yayyy! Congratulations to the new mommy & loads of love to the new born. Smita: We’re eagerly waiting for a pic of your baby soon:-)

Now coming down to the post, you know I watched Aashayein yesterday, in fact I chose to watch it before Antardwand as the former was a Kukunoor movie. But what a disappointment the movie was! "Rahul (John Abraham), a 35-year-old learns he has lung cancer the day after he won huge sum of money in a betting game. Bitter, dazed and irrational in his grief, he decides to abandon his love of life Nafisa (Sonal Sehgal) and come to terms with his illness in isolation. He heads to a hospice where there are others like him and each of them is unique in the way they are living their last days". It was not that that I completely hated the movie, in fact some of the scenes were quite powerful but then those “doots & bhoots” and all the complications around them completely spoilt the poignant plot. I think the writer was trying to weave the central theme with too many non-coherent pieces. Kabhi kuch, toh abhi kuch…the only thing which holds your attention is Anahita Nair who plays the role of Padma and some strong scenes delivered by John. For rest of it, Aashayein was quite a niraasha for me. Wondering what has happened to the brand Kukunoor!

Aashayein movie review · Movie Review · Movies

Aashayein was quite a niraasha

What a month this has been, traveled out of city almost on all weekends – Nrityagram, Tirupati, Goa & then Mumbai. Phew! Have so many things to share about the books which I read recently, about the recent places visited, about some observations, some changes, and some movies but yet again running short for time. Blogging & writing at other places apart from a full time job is really taking up my time away from this personal space

First thing first, one of my favorite blogger (& a friend as well now), Smita had a baby boy on 9^th Aug! Yayyy! Congratulations to the new mommy & loads of love to the new born. Smita: We’re eagerly waiting for a pic of your baby soon:-)

Now coming down to the post, you know I watched Aashayein yesterday, in fact I chose to watch it before Antardwand as the former was a Kukunoor movie. But what a disappointment the movie was! "Rahul (John Abraham), a 35-year-old learns he has lung cancer the day after he won huge sum of money in a betting game. Bitter, dazed and irrational in his grief, he decides to abandon his love of life Nafisa (Sonal Sehgal) and come to terms with his illness in isolation. He heads to a hospice where there are others like him and each of them is unique in the way they are living their last days". It was not that that I completely hated the movie, in fact some of the scenes were quite powerful but then those “doots & bhoots” and all the complications around them completely spoilt the poignant plot. I think the writer was trying to weave the central theme with too many non-coherent pieces. Kabhi kuch, toh abhi kuch…the only thing which holds your attention is Anahita Nair who plays the role of Padma and some strong scenes delivered by John. For rest of it, Aashayein was quite a niraasha for me. Wondering what has happened to the brand Kukunoor!

If I was excited to see TBL, then I must say that I’m THRILLED to see Inception. What a movie it was – MIND BOGGLING, FLABBERGASTING & EXHILARATING! I think I can keep on adding adjectives but won’t be able to do justice to the visual experience of this movie.


It’s a sci-fi movie but not on robots or aliens; rather it is on a very unusual topic – Dream Architecture. It’s about technology invasion on human minds while they are sleeping; planting and extracting information out of their brains by getting transmitted into their dreams. Sounds weird, isn’t it? Trust me I don’t think I have ever imagined anything of this sort in my life neither I have read or watched anything like this earlier. It's an imagination extravaganza so to say.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a dream-thief and specialist in the art of extracting information from sleeping subjects. He and his friends hook themselves up with wires to the drugged targets and creep into their subconscious mind. He does his job of digging out information skillfully and always perfectly, but lands his toughest challenge when he's hired by a powerful businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant an idea in a rival's head, instead of stealing one. And thus starts the tale of Cobb and his team entering into Robert Fisher’s (Cillian Murphy) dreams which gets followed by dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams…oh my god, the layering of the dreams and complexity of the plot just leaves you transfixed to the screen. You can’t afford to lose your attention for even a fraction of second in the movie. No more update on the story in the interest of those who are going to watch it but trust me even if you would have read the whole story then too the written content for a movie like this just can not act as a spoiler, for this is a movie which you really need to see (and that too maybe more than once) to understand it clearly. And the ending of the movie is such that it leaves you with a desire to watch it again in order to understand it better, that spinning but only slightly tipping top leaves you wondering if it was a dream or reality in the end.

From my side it’s a must watch, in fact me and husband are already planning to catch up with it again as soon as it comes on DVD. If you were thrilled by Memento & loved The Dark Knight, then go and watch it as Christopher Nolan won’t leave you disappointed with this engaging, gripping and a really different movie.

Inception Review · Movie Review · Movies

Inception: A dream extravaganza

If I was excited to see TBL, then I must say that I’m THRILLED to see Inception. What a movie it was – MIND BOGGLING, FLABBERGASTING & EXHILARATING! I think I can keep on adding adjectives but won’t be able to do justice to the visual experience of this movie.


It’s a sci-fi movie but not on robots or aliens; rather it is on a very unusual topic – Dream Architecture. It’s about technology invasion on human minds while they are sleeping; planting and extracting information out of their brains by getting transmitted into their dreams. Sounds weird, isn’t it? Trust me I don’t think I have ever imagined anything of this sort in my life neither I have read or watched anything like this earlier. It's an imagination extravaganza so to say.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a dream-thief and specialist in the art of extracting information from sleeping subjects. He and his friends hook themselves up with wires to the drugged targets and creep into their subconscious mind. He does his job of digging out information skillfully and always perfectly, but lands his toughest challenge when he's hired by a powerful businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant an idea in a rival's head, instead of stealing one. And thus starts the tale of Cobb and his team entering into Robert Fisher’s (Cillian Murphy) dreams which gets followed by dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams…oh my god, the layering of the dreams and complexity of the plot just leaves you transfixed to the screen. You can’t afford to lose your attention for even a fraction of second in the movie. No more update on the story in the interest of those who are going to watch it but trust me even if you would have read the whole story then too the written content for a movie like this just can not act as a spoiler, for this is a movie which you really need to see (and that too maybe more than once) to understand it clearly. And the ending of the movie is such that it leaves you with a desire to watch it again in order to understand it better, that spinning but only slightly tipping top leaves you wondering if it was a dream or reality in the end.

From my side it’s a must watch, in fact me and husband are already planning to catch up with it again as soon as it comes on DVD. If you were thrilled by Memento & loved The Dark Knight, then go and watch it as Christopher Nolan won’t leave you disappointed with this engaging, gripping and a really different movie.

Writing about movies after a long time as feel like definitely writing about this one :-). Watched ‘Tere Bin Laden’ last weekend and man, what fun! This movie reminded me of an old program – MTV fully faltoo. Ya, it was fully faltoo types, totally bakar yet fun. Tere Bin Laden is a comedy film about Ali Hassan (Ali Zafar), a reporter with some godforsaken TV channel DANKA in Karachi, he is desperate to go to US for better career prospects and a better life and keeps on dreaming of making it big one day. But unfortunately in some comic series of incidents, his visa has been refused six times in seven years. One fine day while doing a coverage for his crazy channel, he comes across Osama Bin Laden look alike and thus starts Ali’s humorous journey of becoming rich and famous using Bin Laden. And as I always say, won’t be a spoiler by revealing more of the story in the interest of those who are yet to watch it :-).

Slapstick, satirical and silly, yet the movie clicks mainly because of its content. It has an entertaining plot and some really funny moments to make you laugh off your seat. Though may not be one of the best comedies from Bollywood, but nevertheless far better than so called comedy movies like “All the Best” or “De Dana Dan”where one has to wonder whether to laugh or cry on those nonsensical acts and absurd dialogues. This movie definitely has some originality when it comes to execution. Not even a single known actor, no songs, no clichés but still the movie manages to hold your attention from start to end. From my side it is definitely a one-time good watch, for you need to see how a movie can sail through nicely based on its content even if no big name is attached to it. Happy to note that content still rules in some cases when it comes to Bollywood.

Going to watch Inception tonight, hope I like it as much as I have heard about it.

Movie Review · Movies · Tere Bin Laden review

Tere Bin Laden: Once again, content rules

Writing about movies after a long time as feel like definitely writing about this one :-). Watched ‘Tere Bin Laden’ last weekend and man, what fun! This movie reminded me of an old program – MTV fully faltoo. Ya, it was fully faltoo types, totally bakar yet fun. Tere Bin Laden is a comedy film about Ali Hassan (Ali Zafar), a reporter with some godforsaken TV channel DANKA in Karachi, he is desperate to go to US for better career prospects and a better life and keeps on dreaming of making it big one day. But unfortunately in some comic series of incidents, his visa has been refused six times in seven years. One fine day while doing a coverage for his crazy channel, he comes across Osama Bin Laden look alike and thus starts Ali’s humorous journey of becoming rich and famous using Bin Laden. And as I always say, won’t be a spoiler by revealing more of the story in the interest of those who are yet to watch it :-).

Slapstick, satirical and silly, yet the movie clicks mainly because of its content. It has an entertaining plot and some really funny moments to make you laugh off your seat. Though may not be one of the best comedies from Bollywood, but nevertheless far better than so called comedy movies like “All the Best” or “De Dana Dan”where one has to wonder whether to laugh or cry on those nonsensical acts and absurd dialogues. This movie definitely has some originality when it comes to execution. Not even a single known actor, no songs, no clichés but still the movie manages to hold your attention from start to end. From my side it is definitely a one-time good watch, for you need to see how a movie can sail through nicely based on its content even if no big name is attached to it. Happy to note that content still rules in some cases when it comes to Bollywood.

Going to watch Inception tonight, hope I like it as much as I have heard about it.

Get-togethers, Karthik Calling Karthik, Holi and lo the weekend disappeared just like that :(. It was surely an action packed weekend with main highlight being the festival of colors. In fact I got to celebrate holi after a looong time. It must have been years now that I had such great fun on any festival like this. Thank god, for a nice day in my life. But coming down to the main topic of the post, I think again it’s quite some time that I’ve posted review of any movie on this blog. Not that I’ve not seen any movies of late, as usual my minimum one movie a weekend quota is still going on :P but the lazy as well as busy me has just not managed to get time to write a post on recently watched movies. But you know I’ve to do a post on Karthik Calling Karthik and this amazing talent known as Farhan Akhtar.

To start with I think Farhan Akhtar is simple the best in Bollywood these days. I was so mesmerized by his multi-faceted performance in Rock-On; then came Luck By Chance where Farhan was again in a lead role. Despite the movie not being a huge commercial hit, personally I had loved it. And now with KCK (Karthik Calling Karthik), I’m in total awe of this actor. I know the movie has its own flaws and so is the storyline which gets bit too filmy at end, but overall if I have to rate this movie then my pointer will surely tilt towards “I like it” side. This movie is about a diffident guy Karthik who is being bullied by everybody around him, be it his landowner, his boss (Ram Kapoor), colleagues or his love of life Shonali (Deepika Padukone) who has not even noticed him despite spending four years in the same office. Then one day Karthik gets a call on his landline number which changes his life forever… No more details about the movie in the interest of those who have not watched it till now. It’s a thriller different from other Bollywood movies though I agree that the ending could have been a better one. After an entertaining first half and the gripping second half, the way in which the movie finally unfolded its main suspense was just too literal and dramatic. But nevertheless it was one of those intriguing movies which manages to keep your attention till end. Deepika Padukone was good, rather I should say better than some of her earlier dumb performances (me didn’t like her in Love Aaj Kal :I ). Writer-director Vijay Lalwani definitely deserves some accolades for trying out something different and Farhan as I said earlier was awesome! I especially liked the way this movie has been shot, the scene where the sun rises while the screen shows back of Karthik & Shonali sitting together on bench emphasizing their start of relation in a beautiful way - neither too loud like a typical movie nor too subtle to be missed out; or the last scene where Karthik falls down and the camera captures his expressions underneath the bed. Even the use of Rubik Cube at different stages to demonstrate the different states of Karthik’s life was interesting. Overall a nice and experimentive movie which gets a thumbs-up from a viewer like me.

Deepika Padukone · Farhan Akhtar · Karthik Calling Karthik · Movies

Karthik Calling Karthik

Get-togethers, Karthik Calling Karthik, Holi and lo the weekend disappeared just like that :(. It was surely an action packed weekend with main highlight being the festival of colors. In fact I got to celebrate holi after a looong time. It must have been years now that I had such great fun on any festival like this. Thank god, for a nice day in my life. But coming down to the main topic of the post, I think again it’s quite some time that I’ve posted review of any movie on this blog. Not that I’ve not seen any movies of late, as usual my minimum one movie a weekend quota is still going on :P but the lazy as well as busy me has just not managed to get time to write a post on recently watched movies. But you know I’ve to do a post on Karthik Calling Karthik and this amazing talent known as Farhan Akhtar.

To start with I think Farhan Akhtar is simple the best in Bollywood these days. I was so mesmerized by his multi-faceted performance in Rock-On; then came Luck By Chance where Farhan was again in a lead role. Despite the movie not being a huge commercial hit, personally I had loved it. And now with KCK (Karthik Calling Karthik), I’m in total awe of this actor. I know the movie has its own flaws and so is the storyline which gets bit too filmy at end, but overall if I have to rate this movie then my pointer will surely tilt towards “I like it” side. This movie is about a diffident guy Karthik who is being bullied by everybody around him, be it his landowner, his boss (Ram Kapoor), colleagues or his love of life Shonali (Deepika Padukone) who has not even noticed him despite spending four years in the same office. Then one day Karthik gets a call on his landline number which changes his life forever… No more details about the movie in the interest of those who have not watched it till now. It’s a thriller different from other Bollywood movies though I agree that the ending could have been a better one. After an entertaining first half and the gripping second half, the way in which the movie finally unfolded its main suspense was just too literal and dramatic. But nevertheless it was one of those intriguing movies which manages to keep your attention till end. Deepika Padukone was good, rather I should say better than some of her earlier dumb performances (me didn’t like her in Love Aaj Kal :I ). Writer-director Vijay Lalwani definitely deserves some accolades for trying out something different and Farhan as I said earlier was awesome! I especially liked the way this movie has been shot, the scene where the sun rises while the screen shows back of Karthik & Shonali sitting together on bench emphasizing their start of relation in a beautiful way - neither too loud like a typical movie nor too subtle to be missed out; or the last scene where Karthik falls down and the camera captures his expressions underneath the bed. Even the use of Rubik Cube at different stages to demonstrate the different states of Karthik’s life was interesting. Overall a nice and experimentive movie which gets a thumbs-up from a viewer like me.

OMG, again I’ve not come back to my blog for soooo long and I only realized it when a reader emailed me that she is missing my posts. Looks like one of my resolutions for 2010 has to be about being regular on my blog. There are so many things which I wanted to blog about but blame it on twitter, farmville or busy schedule including weekends that I’ve not been able to do so. And December weekends are all the more pre-occupied, well with so many good movies releasing every Friday and some cool live concerts happening in Bangalore, how is one supposed to sit at home and spend time with laptop? The only thing which has made me spend time on my laptop over weekends is harvesting as it's just not possible for me to let my crops die at my farm in Farmville. Such a hard working farmer I’m! Apart from my kheti-baari, every weekend I've ended up watching some nice movies and I think all four movies which I watched in December were amazing - be it Scent of a Woman on DVD, or Paa, Rocket Singh and the latest one Avatar in theaters.

Hmmm one mention of Avatar and lo I'm again spell-bound. I think it would be prudent to say that I've not seen anything so magnificent and terrific in my life ever. This movie is simply outstanding and soooo....uh I'm running short of adjectives now. Story wise it was just another fantasy movie with added flavor of love story in it but visually it's a treat for your eyes. The 3D effects are mind blowing. There are scenes which have just made me jump out of my seat. It's thrilling and must must must watch for everybody. Do watch it no later than today in case you have not till now. Only a director of James Cameron caliber could have done justice to this film. And speaking of caliber, I think I need to mention the acting potential of Mr. Bachchan. With his character as Auro in Paa he once again has proved it that there is only one Amitabh Bachchan in overall cinema industry. Man, what a film and what a performance! Paa is a beautiful story of mother-son relationship (yea, I think it was more mother-son than father-son story as advertised in promo campaigns). BigB's portrayal as Auro just leaves you amazed, and the bigger surprise package is Vidya Balan as the mother of 13 year old Auro. Only an actor of Amitabh Bachchan's caliber could have done justice to this film. Once again a must watch, if you have not watched it till now. Rocket Singh was nice too but it’s definitely not a mass movie; mostly people with corporate career can relate to this movie better. I personally liked it. Scent of a woman was awesome, I don’t think I need to write anything about it; in fact I’m wondering why I never watched it earlier. Next on my "watch-list" is 3 idiots which I'm going to watch sometime soon.

So, that's all on movie front. Will be back with my year-end post in a day or two. In the meantime, here's wishing all my readers a very happy new year. Hope you're enjoying this holiday season to the fullest :-)

3idiots · Avatar · Happy New Year · Just Generally · Movies · Paa · Rocket Singh · Scent of a woman

Hello, I’m there :-)

OMG, again I’ve not come back to my blog for soooo long and I only realized it when a reader emailed me that she is missing my posts. Looks like one of my resolutions for 2010 has to be about being regular on my blog. There are so many things which I wanted to blog about but blame it on twitter, farmville or busy schedule including weekends that I’ve not been able to do so. And December weekends are all the more pre-occupied, well with so many good movies releasing every Friday and some cool live concerts happening in Bangalore, how is one supposed to sit at home and spend time with laptop? The only thing which has made me spend time on my laptop over weekends is harvesting as it's just not possible for me to let my crops die at my farm in Farmville. Such a hard working farmer I’m! Apart from my kheti-baari, every weekend I've ended up watching some nice movies and I think all four movies which I watched in December were amazing - be it Scent of a Woman on DVD, or Paa, Rocket Singh and the latest one Avatar in theaters.

Hmmm one mention of Avatar and lo I'm again spell-bound. I think it would be prudent to say that I've not seen anything so magnificent and terrific in my life ever. This movie is simply outstanding and soooo....uh I'm running short of adjectives now. Story wise it was just another fantasy movie with added flavor of love story in it but visually it's a treat for your eyes. The 3D effects are mind blowing. There are scenes which have just made me jump out of my seat. It's thrilling and must must must watch for everybody. Do watch it no later than today in case you have not till now. Only a director of James Cameron caliber could have done justice to this film. And speaking of caliber, I think I need to mention the acting potential of Mr. Bachchan. With his character as Auro in Paa he once again has proved it that there is only one Amitabh Bachchan in overall cinema industry. Man, what a film and what a performance! Paa is a beautiful story of mother-son relationship (yea, I think it was more mother-son than father-son story as advertised in promo campaigns). BigB's portrayal as Auro just leaves you amazed, and the bigger surprise package is Vidya Balan as the mother of 13 year old Auro. Only an actor of Amitabh Bachchan's caliber could have done justice to this film. Once again a must watch, if you have not watched it till now. Rocket Singh was nice too but it’s definitely not a mass movie; mostly people with corporate career can relate to this movie better. I personally liked it. Scent of a woman was awesome, I don’t think I need to write anything about it; in fact I’m wondering why I never watched it earlier. Next on my "watch-list" is 3 idiots which I'm going to watch sometime soon.

So, that's all on movie front. Will be back with my year-end post in a day or two. In the meantime, here's wishing all my readers a very happy new year. Hope you're enjoying this holiday season to the fullest :-)

Mujhe toh movie maft lagi & Shahid ekdam jhakkaf! Aur ab jake samajh mein aaya ki yeh finema wale “Now Fowing” kyun likh rahe the har jagah :). Well, I’m not much of action flicks fan but for a change I actually liked some gang-war movie. After Omkara Vishal Bharadwaj has created his magic yet again with Kaminey! Now people like Farhan Akhtar or Vishal Bharadwaj really leave me amazed, how can one person excel in so many fields? Vishal not only is a great music composer but he is equally wonderful as director, producer, singer as well as writer! You need to watch Kaminey as well as listen to the song Kaminey to experience it on your own.

If I describe the story, it will sound clichéd. Twin brothers (Shahid Kapoor) Charlie & Guddu, one good & one bad, poor ailing father, financial crunch in the family, bad became bad in need of money, good hates the bad one, has a girl friend Sweety (Priyanka Chopra), cool songs like Aaja aaja dil nichode & Raat ke dhai baje and some X number of different gangs in the story to create those twists n turns and dhishoom dhadam! But still I liked it simply because of its intelligent direction. Such a stereotype story but presented in such a clever way that it leaves you hooked on to your seat from start to end. At the end you definitely feel it once – oh that’s all about it, I mean a judwaa bhai saga is all it is about, but then when you think about how engrossed you were into the movie, you definitely feel it was a paisa vasool. Sometimes even typical stuffs can be presented in an atypical way! Shahid was awesome or rather awefome ;), this has to be one of his best performances till date; though Priyanka had a very small role but still lived up to it wonderfully. Surprise package was Bhope Bhau (Amol Gupte), he was really outstanding in his performance. I loved his character so much, even other dadas be it Taji or Bangali babus, all have done a good job.

Overall I loved the movie and would definitely recommend it to all. Go for it for the smart direction of Vishal Bharadwaj, that “fortcut & chota fortcut” funda of Shahid or for that cute dialogue of him where he speaks, “main फ ko फ bolta hoon” :).

Other details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 2 hours 30 mins
• Best to watch it with: Spouse, friends, family but it has some scenes and dialogues which are not meant for kids.
• Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amol Gupte, Tenzing Nima
• Director: Vishal Bharadwaj
• My Rating: 3.5 / 5 (Very Good)

Kaminey · Kaminey Review · Movie Review · Movies

Kaminey: MaFt & NiFe watch :)

Mujhe toh movie maft lagi & Shahid ekdam jhakkaf! Aur ab jake samajh mein aaya ki yeh finema wale “Now Fowing” kyun likh rahe the har jagah :). Well, I’m not much of action flicks fan but for a change I actually liked some gang-war movie. After Omkara Vishal Bharadwaj has created his magic yet again with Kaminey! Now people like Farhan Akhtar or Vishal Bharadwaj really leave me amazed, how can one person excel in so many fields? Vishal not only is a great music composer but he is equally wonderful as director, producer, singer as well as writer! You need to watch Kaminey as well as listen to the song Kaminey to experience it on your own.

If I describe the story, it will sound clichéd. Twin brothers (Shahid Kapoor) Charlie & Guddu, one good & one bad, poor ailing father, financial crunch in the family, bad became bad in need of money, good hates the bad one, has a girl friend Sweety (Priyanka Chopra), cool songs like Aaja aaja dil nichode & Raat ke dhai baje and some X number of different gangs in the story to create those twists n turns and dhishoom dhadam! But still I liked it simply because of its intelligent direction. Such a stereotype story but presented in such a clever way that it leaves you hooked on to your seat from start to end. At the end you definitely feel it once – oh that’s all about it, I mean a judwaa bhai saga is all it is about, but then when you think about how engrossed you were into the movie, you definitely feel it was a paisa vasool. Sometimes even typical stuffs can be presented in an atypical way! Shahid was awesome or rather awefome ;), this has to be one of his best performances till date; though Priyanka had a very small role but still lived up to it wonderfully. Surprise package was Bhope Bhau (Amol Gupte), he was really outstanding in his performance. I loved his character so much, even other dadas be it Taji or Bangali babus, all have done a good job.

Overall I loved the movie and would definitely recommend it to all. Go for it for the smart direction of Vishal Bharadwaj, that “fortcut & chota fortcut” funda of Shahid or for that cute dialogue of him where he speaks, “main फ ko फ bolta hoon” :).

Other details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 2 hours 30 mins
• Best to watch it with: Spouse, friends, family but it has some scenes and dialogues which are not meant for kids.
• Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amol Gupte, Tenzing Nima
• Director: Vishal Bharadwaj
• My Rating: 3.5 / 5 (Very Good)

Well, too many things to blog about again but sigh for I am not getting time to be regular on blogs. Reasons are many actually, but those deserve a separate post, as of now lemme stick to the movies & books which I read recently. But before that would like to share one of my articles which came on pluggdin today, check out: Twitter getting Twilmy: An opportunity for brands? @ http://www.pluggd.in/bollywood-celebrities-on-twitter-what-indian-brands-can-learn-from-twilmy-tweets-297/

Watched Love Aaj Kal last weekend and since then have been planning to do a post on it but…anyways coming down to this movie, I think I have a very confused reaction towards it. I liked it and I didn’t like it. Now the confusion is which reaction is the dominant one? I think the later one; I found it to be just an ok type movie, maybe a one-time watch for those who love light Bollywood flicks. I very much like Bollywood movies but this was just another movie for me which has nothing special to be shared except for the way it has been made, that was definitely new. Some parts were enjoyable like Veer Singh’s (Young Rishi Kapoor played by Saif Ali Khan) love story with Harleen Kaur (a brazillian model Giselle Monteiro) but other aspects of the movie were really big disappointments esp. Deepika Padukone; she looked gorgeous, absolutely ravishing but her acting was pathetic! It was as good as an exotic looking dish but salt missing in it! This has to be one of her most plastic performances ever. Even very powerful scenes were lifeless because of her expressionless expressions. Saif Ali Khan was good but I found him better in his sardar old generation role, in fact overall also I found the “Kal Love” to be better than the “Aaj Love” in the movie. Music was great but the most promoted song was not a part of the movie, it was at the end as a part of concluding casting. Surprise package was definitely Neetu Kapoor, ah I love the grace of that lady so much that her presence (even though it was hardly for a minute or two) just gave a lift to that movie. She looked as fabulous as ever. So, in case you’ve not watched this movie till now, go for it for that slight glimpse of Neetu Kapoor or for the sweet love story of Veer & Harleen. That part is definitely worth a watch!

Bollywood Celebrities on Twitter · Harleen Kaur brazillian model · Love Aaj Kal · Movie Review · Movies

Love Aaj Kal: Kal was better than Aaj!

Well, too many things to blog about again but sigh for I am not getting time to be regular on blogs. Reasons are many actually, but those deserve a separate post, as of now lemme stick to the movies & books which I read recently. But before that would like to share one of my articles which came on pluggdin today, check out: Twitter getting Twilmy: An opportunity for brands? @ http://www.pluggd.in/bollywood-celebrities-on-twitter-what-indian-brands-can-learn-from-twilmy-tweets-297/

Watched Love Aaj Kal last weekend and since then have been planning to do a post on it but…anyways coming down to this movie, I think I have a very confused reaction towards it. I liked it and I didn’t like it. Now the confusion is which reaction is the dominant one? I think the later one; I found it to be just an ok type movie, maybe a one-time watch for those who love light Bollywood flicks. I very much like Bollywood movies but this was just another movie for me which has nothing special to be shared except for the way it has been made, that was definitely new. Some parts were enjoyable like Veer Singh’s (Young Rishi Kapoor played by Saif Ali Khan) love story with Harleen Kaur (a brazillian model Giselle Monteiro) but other aspects of the movie were really big disappointments esp. Deepika Padukone; she looked gorgeous, absolutely ravishing but her acting was pathetic! It was as good as an exotic looking dish but salt missing in it! This has to be one of her most plastic performances ever. Even very powerful scenes were lifeless because of her expressionless expressions. Saif Ali Khan was good but I found him better in his sardar old generation role, in fact overall also I found the “Kal Love” to be better than the “Aaj Love” in the movie. Music was great but the most promoted song was not a part of the movie, it was at the end as a part of concluding casting. Surprise package was definitely Neetu Kapoor, ah I love the grace of that lady so much that her presence (even though it was hardly for a minute or two) just gave a lift to that movie. She looked as fabulous as ever. So, in case you’ve not watched this movie till now, go for it for that slight glimpse of Neetu Kapoor or for the sweet love story of Veer & Harleen. That part is definitely worth a watch!

A quick update: Would like to share two of my articles which got published on two different portals today, thanks Pluggdin & BlogAdda for selecting these!

• Digitization of Indian Cinema @ www.pluggd.in: http://www.pluggd.in/digitization-of-bollywood-indian-cinema-297/
• Movies you don’t know you’re going to love @ www.blogadda.com: http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/07/22/5-must-see-world-movies

Would love to see your comments on these.

Digital India · Digitization of Indian Cinema · Marketing · Movies · World Cinema · World Movies

Indian Cinema & World Movies

A quick update: Would like to share two of my articles which got published on two different portals today, thanks Pluggdin & BlogAdda for selecting these!

• Digitization of Indian Cinema @ www.pluggd.in: http://www.pluggd.in/digitization-of-bollywood-indian-cinema-297/
• Movies you don’t know you’re going to love @ www.blogadda.com: http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/07/22/5-must-see-world-movies

Would love to see your comments on these.

Well, I’ve been off from blogging scene for last 2 weeks now. Wondering which one could have been the larger reason for the same – hectic work, my intention to be off laptop after work hours till late night, writing some long work related documents thereby lesser intent to write personal posts or a combination of all these? I think larger one is definitely me not being on laptop for long at nights these days but I think I’m enjoying it like this as of now. At least I’m able to trade off that time with gym or walk. Now that I’m back I have too many things to share but lemme stick to only one topic for this post & that has to be of course HARRY POTTER :-).

Yes, yes I watched it on Saturday itself, though missed initial few minutes of it (thanks to horrible Bangalore traffic on weekends)!!! And I am the kind of person who has to watch a movie from absolute START i.e., from that censor board certificate to Chopra or Mehra presents…so one can understand the frustration of missing the beginning of a movie like Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince! Grrrrr…###...!!!...but few minutes into the movie & my anger simply vanished as I got completely engrossed in it. As any other HP movie, it was fun & captivating. Lord Voldermort, the Death Eaters wreck havoc in London and danger is hovering over Hogwarts too. In Hogwarts, during a potion making class, Harry comes across an old copy of book belonging to ‘Half Blood-Prince’. From there starts a perilous journey of Harry along with old Dumbledore leading to different twist & turns and finally a dark end. Of course I’m not going to give you all details of the movie in the interest of those who have not watched it till now. Anyways, Harry Potter movies are review-proof I think, whatever be the feedback or critic rating you have to read the book or watch the movie to experience it on your own. Movie was good but well it was less of fantasy & more of drama this time. Ron & Hermione were more interested in their love lives than the problems surrounding Hogwarts and their acting somehow seemed to be very plastic, others surely were damn good. Despite being a good movie, I somehow felt that there was something amiss and this definitely did not qualify as “my most favorite Harry Potter movie” for sure. A darker shade with an end which leaves you wanting for more, this movie overall is surely a must-watch for all Potter lovers and one-time watch for others. After all you need to see the movie at least once which has broken all records of midnight BO collection :-)

Other details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 2 hours 40 mins
• Best to watch it with: Anyone, but a better treat with kids.
• Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gombon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Jim Broadbint
• Director: David Yates
• My Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)

Harry Potter · Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince · Movie Review · Movies

Back with “Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince”

Well, I’ve been off from blogging scene for last 2 weeks now. Wondering which one could have been the larger reason for the same – hectic work, my intention to be off laptop after work hours till late night, writing some long work related documents thereby lesser intent to write personal posts or a combination of all these? I think larger one is definitely me not being on laptop for long at nights these days but I think I’m enjoying it like this as of now. At least I’m able to trade off that time with gym or walk. Now that I’m back I have too many things to share but lemme stick to only one topic for this post & that has to be of course HARRY POTTER :-).

Yes, yes I watched it on Saturday itself, though missed initial few minutes of it (thanks to horrible Bangalore traffic on weekends)!!! And I am the kind of person who has to watch a movie from absolute START i.e., from that censor board certificate to Chopra or Mehra presents…so one can understand the frustration of missing the beginning of a movie like Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince! Grrrrr…###...!!!...but few minutes into the movie & my anger simply vanished as I got completely engrossed in it. As any other HP movie, it was fun & captivating. Lord Voldermort, the Death Eaters wreck havoc in London and danger is hovering over Hogwarts too. In Hogwarts, during a potion making class, Harry comes across an old copy of book belonging to ‘Half Blood-Prince’. From there starts a perilous journey of Harry along with old Dumbledore leading to different twist & turns and finally a dark end. Of course I’m not going to give you all details of the movie in the interest of those who have not watched it till now. Anyways, Harry Potter movies are review-proof I think, whatever be the feedback or critic rating you have to read the book or watch the movie to experience it on your own. Movie was good but well it was less of fantasy & more of drama this time. Ron & Hermione were more interested in their love lives than the problems surrounding Hogwarts and their acting somehow seemed to be very plastic, others surely were damn good. Despite being a good movie, I somehow felt that there was something amiss and this definitely did not qualify as “my most favorite Harry Potter movie” for sure. A darker shade with an end which leaves you wanting for more, this movie overall is surely a must-watch for all Potter lovers and one-time watch for others. After all you need to see the movie at least once which has broken all records of midnight BO collection :-)

Other details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 2 hours 40 mins
• Best to watch it with: Anyone, but a better treat with kids.
• Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gombon, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Jim Broadbint
• Director: David Yates
• My Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)

Unfortunately got to watch Chandni Chowk to China yesterday, oh yes some of my friends had warned me against it but as I said “UNFORTUNATELY” ended up watching this movie and I don’t have words to express my reactions towards this movie. No, I won’t write any review of this movie, as I don’t think there is anything to write about this movie at all.

Rather I would simply tell you 5 reasons as to why NOT to watch this movie even if someone is offering you a free ticket:

1. It’s one of the most moronic movies I would have ever seen in my life.
2. Even if you have slightest positive feeling for Deepika Padukone and her acting skills, you should not watch this movie as suddenly you will find yourself hating her. You keep on wondering, “why on earth did she decide to work in this movie”?
3. Dialogues of the movie have to be definitely awarded as one the worst dialogues ever written. I’m wondering what could have been the quantum of pegs which the dialogue writer would have taken before writing the dialogues of CC2C? 15 or 17 or more???
4. After seeing Mithun Chakravarty’s kicks on Akshay and its after-effects, you will lose your all knowledge and belief on Newton’s gravitational laws and other such theories which you would have acquired by working hard in your childhood days. Trust me even Rajnikanth’s stunts look more believable as compared to the ones shown in this movie!
5. Story is not story at all, rather it looks like a spoof of all masala movies of yesteryears – twins getting separated in childhood, heroine looking for her lost twin, godfather of the hero killed publicly in the mid of a village by goondas and people standing mum, heroine trying to take revenge of her father’s death, hero building body and learning action stunts to fight with bad men and hero-heroine singing songs by flying in air, no not in a plane but in an umbrella! Yes song placements were horrible; it can easily become case study for aspiring film makers to learn “where NOT to place songs in a film”

Need I say anything more? I think you would have got my TRUE feeling about this movie by now. These are my personal views and you are free to differ from mine but personally speaking I will NOT recommend this movie to anyone at all.

Other Details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: Close to 3 hours
• Best to watch it with: Someone with whom you want to take some revenge, get him a ticket and make sure he can't come out in between :-)
• Cast: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Shorey, Mithun Chakravarty
• Director: Nikhil Advani
• My Rating: - (minus) 5 / 5 (Hopelessly Pathetic)

Movies

Chandni Chowk to China: Don’t watch even if it comes for FREE!

Unfortunately got to watch Chandni Chowk to China yesterday, oh yes some of my friends had warned me against it but as I said “UNFORTUNATELY” ended up watching this movie and I don’t have words to express my reactions towards this movie. No, I won’t write any review of this movie, as I don’t think there is anything to write about this movie at all.

Rather I would simply tell you 5 reasons as to why NOT to watch this movie even if someone is offering you a free ticket:

1. It’s one of the most moronic movies I would have ever seen in my life.
2. Even if you have slightest positive feeling for Deepika Padukone and her acting skills, you should not watch this movie as suddenly you will find yourself hating her. You keep on wondering, “why on earth did she decide to work in this movie”?
3. Dialogues of the movie have to be definitely awarded as one the worst dialogues ever written. I’m wondering what could have been the quantum of pegs which the dialogue writer would have taken before writing the dialogues of CC2C? 15 or 17 or more???
4. After seeing Mithun Chakravarty’s kicks on Akshay and its after-effects, you will lose your all knowledge and belief on Newton’s gravitational laws and other such theories which you would have acquired by working hard in your childhood days. Trust me even Rajnikanth’s stunts look more believable as compared to the ones shown in this movie!
5. Story is not story at all, rather it looks like a spoof of all masala movies of yesteryears – twins getting separated in childhood, heroine looking for her lost twin, godfather of the hero killed publicly in the mid of a village by goondas and people standing mum, heroine trying to take revenge of her father’s death, hero building body and learning action stunts to fight with bad men and hero-heroine singing songs by flying in air, no not in a plane but in an umbrella! Yes song placements were horrible; it can easily become case study for aspiring film makers to learn “where NOT to place songs in a film”

Need I say anything more? I think you would have got my TRUE feeling about this movie by now. These are my personal views and you are free to differ from mine but personally speaking I will NOT recommend this movie to anyone at all.

Other Details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: Close to 3 hours
• Best to watch it with: Someone with whom you want to take some revenge, get him a ticket and make sure he can't come out in between :-)
• Cast: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Shorey, Mithun Chakravarty
• Director: Nikhil Advani
• My Rating: - (minus) 5 / 5 (Hopelessly Pathetic)

With this new product launch on my head, weekend was again a working one :-( (God, when will it get launched completely!!!) and but obvious choice to unwind for us was MOVIES. Watched two movies over the weekend – Closer on a DVD on Saturday night followed by Dostana on Sunday in theater. So, shall I start with Closer as I watched that first? No, I think let me start with Dostana…well I know not many people have liked the movie (few of my colleagues in fact HATED it) but honestly speaking I liked it! Yeah I can see some frowns raising but I seriously think it’s at least a one-time watch. First half of the movie in fact was hilarious; we just couldn’t stop participating in the laugh riot in theater. The story is of two guys Abhishek and John who say that they are a gay couple in order to stay as tenants in Priyanka’s apartment which otherwise would not have been possible to get as Priyanka has got an aunty who wants her baby (Priyanka) to stay with only babies and not babas :-)…Rest I will not reveal as that’s for you to go and watch in theater :-).



I think this has to be Abhishek’s one of the best attempts at comedy, some of the scenes like that Venice scene or the one with Boman Irani was too funny! Priyanka looked cool and John looked hot. This year definitely is of Priyanka Chopra with not one – two rather 6 releases in last 6 months! First 4 doomed at box office but I’m sure Fashion and Dostana are going to be hits of the year. Now whatever be the fate of her movies but the lady definitely looks glam and absolutely gorgeous these days! Second half of the movie was bit boring and some of the scenes looked dragging but still it was bearable except for that gay kissing scene…Ummm that was bit too much and the rationale behind the scene was not at all justified. Though I do have a major complaint about one of the aspects of the movie – the movie plays with child psychology which influences the most important decisions of central protagonists but at the end they don’t show anything about the issue at all. John and Abhishek manipulate Veer’s (Bobby’s son) innocent mind to influence Bobby’s decision of marrying Priyanka and they actually succeed in their manipulations but at the end they didn’t show anything about that important issue and about that kid at all! Rest of the actors like Kirron Kher, Sushmita Mukherjee are as usual good. Music of the movie is ok and hummable with my favorites being “Jaane Kyun…” and “Maula…”. And I agree to Karan Johar's statement which says it’s a HAPPY & GAY movie, yeah there is this gay angle to the movie but its shown in a very different way. Over all the movie was enjoyable and I would recommend it to anybody who is willing for a light flick with some insane and real crazy moments.

Other Details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 3 hour +
• Best to watch it with: Spouse / Partner or Friends. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT watch it with Kids or Parents at all. No kids as they won’t understand it and it has quite some adult talks and no parents as they can’t understand it and it has quite some adult talks :-)
• Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher, Boman Irani, Sushmita Mukherjee
• Director: Tarun Mansukhani
• My Rating: 3/5 (good)
  

I think I will end with Dostana and will leave Closer for my next post later.

Movies

DOSTANA: A Laughter Riot!

With this new product launch on my head, weekend was again a working one :-( (God, when will it get launched completely!!!) and but obvious choice to unwind for us was MOVIES. Watched two movies over the weekend – Closer on a DVD on Saturday night followed by Dostana on Sunday in theater. So, shall I start with Closer as I watched that first? No, I think let me start with Dostana…well I know not many people have liked the movie (few of my colleagues in fact HATED it) but honestly speaking I liked it! Yeah I can see some frowns raising but I seriously think it’s at least a one-time watch. First half of the movie in fact was hilarious; we just couldn’t stop participating in the laugh riot in theater. The story is of two guys Abhishek and John who say that they are a gay couple in order to stay as tenants in Priyanka’s apartment which otherwise would not have been possible to get as Priyanka has got an aunty who wants her baby (Priyanka) to stay with only babies and not babas :-)…Rest I will not reveal as that’s for you to go and watch in theater :-).



I think this has to be Abhishek’s one of the best attempts at comedy, some of the scenes like that Venice scene or the one with Boman Irani was too funny! Priyanka looked cool and John looked hot. This year definitely is of Priyanka Chopra with not one – two rather 6 releases in last 6 months! First 4 doomed at box office but I’m sure Fashion and Dostana are going to be hits of the year. Now whatever be the fate of her movies but the lady definitely looks glam and absolutely gorgeous these days! Second half of the movie was bit boring and some of the scenes looked dragging but still it was bearable except for that gay kissing scene…Ummm that was bit too much and the rationale behind the scene was not at all justified. Though I do have a major complaint about one of the aspects of the movie – the movie plays with child psychology which influences the most important decisions of central protagonists but at the end they don’t show anything about the issue at all. John and Abhishek manipulate Veer’s (Bobby’s son) innocent mind to influence Bobby’s decision of marrying Priyanka and they actually succeed in their manipulations but at the end they didn’t show anything about that important issue and about that kid at all! Rest of the actors like Kirron Kher, Sushmita Mukherjee are as usual good. Music of the movie is ok and hummable with my favorites being “Jaane Kyun…” and “Maula…”. And I agree to Karan Johar's statement which says it’s a HAPPY & GAY movie, yeah there is this gay angle to the movie but its shown in a very different way. Over all the movie was enjoyable and I would recommend it to anybody who is willing for a light flick with some insane and real crazy moments.

Other Details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 3 hour +
• Best to watch it with: Spouse / Partner or Friends. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT watch it with Kids or Parents at all. No kids as they won’t understand it and it has quite some adult talks and no parents as they can’t understand it and it has quite some adult talks :-)
• Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher, Boman Irani, Sushmita Mukherjee
• Director: Tarun Mansukhani
• My Rating: 3/5 (good)
  

I think I will end with Dostana and will leave Closer for my next post later.

Watched Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion last night and in one word I can say that it was CAPTIVATING! Right from start to end I was totally hooked onto the movie. Not that the story was unpredictable or plot was not known…of course it was a Madhur Bhanadarkar’s movie on Fashion world and so I had expected it to be like this but still there was something about the movie which kept me totally engaged. It looked realistic and different.
To start with, I think Kangana was outstanding and Priyanka was awesome! This has to be Priyanka’s best performance till date. The story is of Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) from Chandigarh who comes to Mumbai with a dream of becoming a supermodel. In all the glitter and glamour of fashion world she encounters the ruthless realities of life. The movie revolves around her journey and her struggle to make it big, how she meets and deals with Shonali (Kangana) who is a very successful showstopper and her competitor, her relationship with Janet (Mugdha Godse) who is also a struggling model with very clear priorities but settles for something quite weird in life, Manav (Arzan) who is also a new-comer and shares a strong bond with Meghna and Sarin (Arbaz Khan) who is the owner of Panache the most sought after brand for super models. No further details of the story in the interest of those who want to see the movie J. Each and every actor has delivered such a strong performance but Kittu Gidwani definitely deserves a special mention. She was too good and yeah she looked as ravishing as ever. Madhur Bhandarkar has done a great job in some of the scenes like the wardrobe malfunctioning one and the fiasco after that, Priyanka’s self-realization in front of mirror after she comes back from that shady hotel or Kangana’s reaction in rehab center. Songs were average but some of the background scores were very good. Madhur Bhandarkar has once again proved it that he knows what he is delivering. To me as I said the movie looked real, absolutely real.
Overall, I loved the movie and I would recommend it to everybody who would like to watch something different. Though the theme is serious but it’s not a heavy movie, it has its masala scenes and light moments as well. From my side it’s thumbs up to this yet another powerful presentation by Bhandarkar.

Other Details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 3 hour +
• Best to watch it with: Spouse / Partner or Friends. It’s a strict NO for kids becoz – 1. It’s a serious stuff, 2. It has some adult sequences as well
• Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Arbaaz Khan, Arjan Bajwa, Kitu Gidwani, Raj Babbar, Kiran Juneja
• Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
• My Rating: 3.5/5

Movies

Fashion is interesting

Watched Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion last night and in one word I can say that it was CAPTIVATING! Right from start to end I was totally hooked onto the movie. Not that the story was unpredictable or plot was not known…of course it was a Madhur Bhanadarkar’s movie on Fashion world and so I had expected it to be like this but still there was something about the movie which kept me totally engaged. It looked realistic and different.
To start with, I think Kangana was outstanding and Priyanka was awesome! This has to be Priyanka’s best performance till date. The story is of Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) from Chandigarh who comes to Mumbai with a dream of becoming a supermodel. In all the glitter and glamour of fashion world she encounters the ruthless realities of life. The movie revolves around her journey and her struggle to make it big, how she meets and deals with Shonali (Kangana) who is a very successful showstopper and her competitor, her relationship with Janet (Mugdha Godse) who is also a struggling model with very clear priorities but settles for something quite weird in life, Manav (Arzan) who is also a new-comer and shares a strong bond with Meghna and Sarin (Arbaz Khan) who is the owner of Panache the most sought after brand for super models. No further details of the story in the interest of those who want to see the movie J. Each and every actor has delivered such a strong performance but Kittu Gidwani definitely deserves a special mention. She was too good and yeah she looked as ravishing as ever. Madhur Bhandarkar has done a great job in some of the scenes like the wardrobe malfunctioning one and the fiasco after that, Priyanka’s self-realization in front of mirror after she comes back from that shady hotel or Kangana’s reaction in rehab center. Songs were average but some of the background scores were very good. Madhur Bhandarkar has once again proved it that he knows what he is delivering. To me as I said the movie looked real, absolutely real.
Overall, I loved the movie and I would recommend it to everybody who would like to watch something different. Though the theme is serious but it’s not a heavy movie, it has its masala scenes and light moments as well. From my side it’s thumbs up to this yet another powerful presentation by Bhandarkar.

Other Details of the movie:

• Duration of the movie: 3 hour +
• Best to watch it with: Spouse / Partner or Friends. It’s a strict NO for kids becoz – 1. It’s a serious stuff, 2. It has some adult sequences as well
• Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Arbaaz Khan, Arjan Bajwa, Kitu Gidwani, Raj Babbar, Kiran Juneja
• Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
• My Rating: 3.5/5

Last weekend was a working weekend and hence quite tiresome. Sunday evening we thought of unwinding by watching any movie and since not much choice was available, we decided to go for “HELLO”. I had read the novel “One Night At Call Center” by Chetan Bhagat and so there was definitely this curiosity to watch the cinematic avtaar of the book despite all the bad reviews and critical comments about the movie all across the media.

Well to start with, I think critics have been too critical of this movie unnecessarily; it’s not that bad and I found it to be an average watchable, at least better than some of the real disasters which I watched recently like “Bachna Ae Haseeno” or “Ugly Aur Pagli”. Let me tell you one very important thing about this movie – in case you are like me who just can’t stand the sight of Salman Khan even for few minutes and have avoided this movie as all promos of the movie were full of “Bang Bang” song and other garish dance movements of Mr. Khan then I have a happy news for you…this movie is hardly having Salman anywhere. Salman and Katrina play the role of preface part of the book i.e., Salman the part of Chetan Bhagat and Katrina the part of that mysterious girl whom Chetan meets in a train, only difference being that instead of train the whole plot is shifted to a helipad waiting area. The story is of 6 call center employees - their professional struggles in life, their personal relationships, their frustration and that one call from God which changes their life forever. Yes, a call from God! Won’t write the story in detail in the interest of those who want to watch this movie but overall it’s an exact adaption of the book. In fact while I was reading that book, then only I had found the story to be bit bollywoodish. Overall the movie was not that terrible but yes, the movie definitely went weak in two important areas – 1. Star Cast, 2. Climax. Not that one needs big names to make a movie hit but the very fact that all actors had given a very mediocre performance including Gul makes the overall impact quite weak. Infact I like Gul a lot and after watching movies like Dor and Manorama six feet under, one definitely expects a lot more from an actor of Gul’s caliber. And as far as climax is concerned, I think the movie really went wrong in that. I was definitely prepared for an unrealistic presence of God as I had read the book but somehow the way it was shown was not that impressive. I think they showed it too fast without much emotion or depth! It fails to cast that impact of some life-changing moment. Music of the film was not of my taste though I think the songs are doing good in the market. On the whole I would say it’s a one-time watchable movie if you are not looking for some very quality stuff or some movie with depth.

Though I must say one thing, I don’t agree with all the media bashing of Chetan Bhagat, infact I really appreciated the effort of Chetan Bhagat after watching this movie. I think he has done his job well atleast as far as the dialogue part is concerned. Also considering this was his first effort in Bollywood, I think he did an ok job. At least the man is having the guts to try out different things and the effort is not as awful as it is being criticized in media esp. when this year we have enough examples of duds coming out from some of the biggest names of the industry. From my side it’s a thumbs up for Chetan Bhagat’s effort and an average rating of 2.5 in 5 for the movie with a hope that Chetan will come out with a better book (I had loved Five Point Someone, hope he writes something as interesting as that again) and maybe a better movie next time.

Movies

Hello: Movie Review

Last weekend was a working weekend and hence quite tiresome. Sunday evening we thought of unwinding by watching any movie and since not much choice was available, we decided to go for “HELLO”. I had read the novel “One Night At Call Center” by Chetan Bhagat and so there was definitely this curiosity to watch the cinematic avtaar of the book despite all the bad reviews and critical comments about the movie all across the media.

Well to start with, I think critics have been too critical of this movie unnecessarily; it’s not that bad and I found it to be an average watchable, at least better than some of the real disasters which I watched recently like “Bachna Ae Haseeno” or “Ugly Aur Pagli”. Let me tell you one very important thing about this movie – in case you are like me who just can’t stand the sight of Salman Khan even for few minutes and have avoided this movie as all promos of the movie were full of “Bang Bang” song and other garish dance movements of Mr. Khan then I have a happy news for you…this movie is hardly having Salman anywhere. Salman and Katrina play the role of preface part of the book i.e., Salman the part of Chetan Bhagat and Katrina the part of that mysterious girl whom Chetan meets in a train, only difference being that instead of train the whole plot is shifted to a helipad waiting area. The story is of 6 call center employees - their professional struggles in life, their personal relationships, their frustration and that one call from God which changes their life forever. Yes, a call from God! Won’t write the story in detail in the interest of those who want to watch this movie but overall it’s an exact adaption of the book. In fact while I was reading that book, then only I had found the story to be bit bollywoodish. Overall the movie was not that terrible but yes, the movie definitely went weak in two important areas – 1. Star Cast, 2. Climax. Not that one needs big names to make a movie hit but the very fact that all actors had given a very mediocre performance including Gul makes the overall impact quite weak. Infact I like Gul a lot and after watching movies like Dor and Manorama six feet under, one definitely expects a lot more from an actor of Gul’s caliber. And as far as climax is concerned, I think the movie really went wrong in that. I was definitely prepared for an unrealistic presence of God as I had read the book but somehow the way it was shown was not that impressive. I think they showed it too fast without much emotion or depth! It fails to cast that impact of some life-changing moment. Music of the film was not of my taste though I think the songs are doing good in the market. On the whole I would say it’s a one-time watchable movie if you are not looking for some very quality stuff or some movie with depth.

Though I must say one thing, I don’t agree with all the media bashing of Chetan Bhagat, infact I really appreciated the effort of Chetan Bhagat after watching this movie. I think he has done his job well atleast as far as the dialogue part is concerned. Also considering this was his first effort in Bollywood, I think he did an ok job. At least the man is having the guts to try out different things and the effort is not as awful as it is being criticized in media esp. when this year we have enough examples of duds coming out from some of the biggest names of the industry. From my side it’s a thumbs up for Chetan Bhagat’s effort and an average rating of 2.5 in 5 for the movie with a hope that Chetan will come out with a better book (I had loved Five Point Someone, hope he writes something as interesting as that again) and maybe a better movie next time.