Review of Julie & Julia (2009)...

Hollywood has a nag of taking real life stories and converting it into reel life stories. Julie & Julia is one such story, or should I say two such stories about two main protagonists Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) whose lives are set apart 50 years. The movie portrays the situations that both the females face in-spite of being generations apart and the fact that while generations separate the two and the world has seen tremendous progress, how somehow the environment around the two females create similar challenges for them. The story is a first hand account by Julie Powell and how she gets inspired by Julia Child's cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1962)" and goes on a 1 year journey that changes her life to say the least.

The movie tracks the lives of Julia and Julie in parallel, switching back and forth between 1950's and 2002. Julie Powell(2002) is a government insurance official who is unhappy with her job, and that starts to reflect on her personal relationships including that with her husband. She is encouraged by her husband to start a blog to take up a challenge to recreate Julia's 524 recipes from her cook book. So the blog is created, challenge is taken to complete 524 recipes in 365 days. While Julie is trying to discover her flair in cooking, the movie also tracks the life of Julia (1950's) and how she ended up actually creating one of the best cook books written on French cooking. Julia is posted in Paris with her husband and on being unable to find a good French Cooking book in English, decides to learn French cooking taking cooking classes. One thing leads to another in her journey of learning cooking, and she starts writing a book herself.

Interestingly the movie tracks Julia's life for couple of decades where as only an year of Julie's. In this one year, Julie ends up experiencing some of the situation that Julia found herself in, almost half a century back. What is interesting is that both these stories are based on separate books actually written by Julie and Julia on their lives. The director has taken two autobiographies and beautifully entangled them together. A unique idea, and it comes out really well. While the duration of the movie is around 2 hours, it does go on a very constant pace.

Characterization wise, Meryl Streep is tremendous in her role as Julia Child, playing it almost to perfection. She does not seem to do anything wrong. She has created the demur of Julia Child ( 6 feet plus) fantastically. She actually wore huge heals in order to remove the 6 - 8 inches height different between her and the actual Julia Child. Amy Adams is decent in her portrayal of Julie Powell. We also have Stanley Tucci as the back bone for Julia supporting her in her journey throughout, which he plays quiet well.

The story also tries to handle the long discussed question, "Should one do, what he/she likes?" or "Should one like, what he/she does?". Interestingly there are frustrations in both, as is evident in the movie. When one tries to like what they are doing, they get frustrated slowly and steadily, while when you try to do what you like, even a small failure leads to big frustrations. Clearly there are no perfect answers, as there are no perfect situations.

Julie & Julia is not a perfect movie, and neither does it perfectly capture the lives of its protagonists. But then, who cares till the time you get to see some unbelievable performances, specially by Meryl Streep. I would highly recommend watching it on DVD's, but keep in mind, that the movie goes on a slow pace and on a single track, with no major ups and downs.

Review of Kurbaan (2009)...

When one watches a movie like Kurbaan, one ends up wondering, what is the message of the movie, what is the director trying to say by using the movie as the means. I frankly did not understand what Renzil D'Silva was trying to convey. Was he trying to put a justification behind the Terrorist actions of his protagonist, or was he trying to show that there is still goodness amongst a particular community, which is generally associated with any kind of terrorism globally. He fails in both. The failure in the first is because there cannot be any justification to the killings of innocent people. Two wrongs don't make a right. Doing atrocities to people whom one holds responsible for the plight of your own can never be justified. He fails in the second as there is too much focus on the negativity of the characters, that one hardly thinks about the moderate or clean characters of the movie and there actions.

Kurbaan is the story of a group of people who are planning a series of terror attacks in America to avenge the what they feel are sufferings caused to people of Afghanistan due to the actions of Americans. The movie begins with Saif Ali Khan (Ehsaan) and Kareena (Avantika) starting their romance and then shifting to America for their career. Soon Kareena realizes that Saif is part of a Sleeper cell who are planning terror attacks in America. Meanwhile, Vivek Oberio (Riyaaz) begins his own objective of exposing this group, as they are responsible for the killing of his girl friend in a plane explosion. He becomes part of this group in order to understand their plans and get them caught them at the right time. There are multiple ups and downs in the movie with quiet a thrilling climax of around 30 mins.

The movie starts on a very dull note with the first 30 mins being extremely boring, then the next 30 mins are extremely exciting, when Kareena finds out the reality of his husband. Again the movie goes into slow motion to again become alive after sometime. The movie actually alternates like this for its entire duration of 2 hrs 40 mins, with the last 30 mins again being extremely thrilling. From a performance PoV, Kareena does not impress much, Saif has done a decent job, and Vivek is also so so in the acting area. Actors like Om Puri and Kiron Kher are wasted. The direction of the movie is sleek but in parts, and that is what keeps the interest a bit alive for the overall length of the movie. The title of the movie says, "Some Love stories have blood on them", frankly there is no Love story at all in the movie. The movie is full of flaws, How come Kareena does not find a way to escape and report the presence of this sleeper cell, even though she is left all alone in a shopping mall? How is a dreaded terrorist Khalid (Saif) able to roam openly in America, in spite of being on the most wanted list of FBI? Why does Vivek decide to take things in his hand, while he can easily expose this cell to FBI? How can Saif get away inspite of landing in the middle of a Gun fight with the Police and actually getting injured in the same? The list goes on actually.

I sometimes wonder the need to make such movie. With so much of hatred and misconception already afloat all around, is there is need to add to that. All this movie ends up achieving is creating a hateful opinion about a particular section of people and clearly for me, one could have done without having such a movie ever made. All that this movie spreads is not a message of peace or love, but rather a message a Hate, that is easily avoided in the current geo-political scenario of the world.

Watch it if you must, but please treat this movie as just a thriller and do not make any kind of opinions because of this movie. To which ever community you belong to, this movie cannot be taken on face value and the message of the movie should not influence you in setting an opinion about the other community.

PS: I have deliberately not named any community in this review, as that would defeat the whole purpose of the same. I regret hurting feelings of anyone because of this.

Review of My Name is Khan (2010)...

"My Name is Khan (MNIK)", one of the most media hyped movie in the recent years, which got released under a lot of speculation and hu halla!!! The only reason I was keen on seeing this movie was because in some of the reviews, the movie got compared to "Forrest Gump", one of my all time favorite movie. While the message of the movie is quiet appealing, the methodology used did not appeal to me much, thus making the storyline look very weak. The message "Every Muslim is not a Terrorist" has been shown in multiple movies in different ways and the same is the core of this story as well. The main protagonist of the movie sees the world with a filter of "Good" or "Bad" people, or in other words "Black" and "White". There is no place for "Grey" in there, which is probably the missing angle in MNIK. For me, a key part of being Human is the "Grey" area we all operate in, and react to similar situations in a different way given the current circumstances. The director has tried to show both sides of the story, the sufferings at both ends, be it Muslim or Non-Muslim and still he does not justify the actions of either of them. It is the circumstances which made people react the way they did.

The story of MNIK is about a man who suffers from Asperger syndrome (autism spectrum), and his life's struggle to overcome his inhibitions, from his childhood to his role as a father and husband. The character Rizwan Khan(Shah Rukh Khan (SRK)) grows up in a small mumbai neighborhood with his brother and mother. He then moves on to US to be with his brother, played by Jimmy Shergill (very unconvincing performance by him). There he bumps into Mandira Rathore (Kajol) and after upteen attempts convinces her to marry him. While all this is happening pre-911, their life suddenly changes post-911. Post a very tragic incident in their life, the only mission of Rizwan is to meet the President of United States and tell him that he is not a "Terrorist". On the path, Rizwan touches lives of multiple different kinds of people, some of whom become his fans and some don't.

The first 30 mins of the movie were actually a complete bore for me, but post that the movie is a little more bearable. There are certain incidents in the movie that do touch your heart, though just slightly, the general depth of emotions related to Karan Johar's(KJ) movie is missing here. Most of the scenes seem incomplete and very superficial. It is only in the last 30 mins of the movie that saved it slightly.

On the performance front, both SRK has given a good performance and Kajol has done a tremendous job. Certain scene in the movie Kajol has done so well, that you can call the movie "My Name is Kajol". :-)) Let me be candid here, I am not a big SRK fan, for me he has given only 2 good performances in his entire career, "Swades" and "Chak de India". I would put MNIK as the third good performance by him. The most surprising performance of the movie though was by Sonya Jehan, playing the role of Jimmy Shergill's wife. Her portrayal as a racial victim and the changes she undergoes have been captured by her very well, and she has also done a fabulous work to portray the same.

The music is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and is OK. Certain songs like "Sajda" and "Tere Naina" are good, but nothing great to rave about. May be good to listen to for a few weeks on your Ipod and surely by then something better will come over.

Now coming back to the comparison with "Forrest Gump", well there is no comparison. It is like comparing BMW with a Maruti 800. I did read somewhere, (i think in TOI), where the review said that MNIK has gone beyond "Forrest Gump" and SRK beyond Tom Hanks. I can just say this to the person who wrote this, "Get your eyes tested" or go and see "Forrest Gump", because either you are blind or you have not seen "Forrest Gump", just heard its story from someone. MNIK is not even 10% of "Forrest Gump".

Overall, it is not a bad effort by SRK and KJ combination. If you do not have anything important to do, please do catch this in the theaters, but frankly, if you were to do that over the DVD, that won't be a big loss either.

Review of Ishqiya (2010)...

What Ishqiya brought back for me is the "Mitti ki Khusboo". The Rustic rural setup, the calm and quietness of a small town and the simple looking complex problems of its people. Living in Bangalore now for the last 10 years, some how I have gotten cut off from the farm lands and rural part of India. The days I used to spend in my Grandma's house, with people living a really carefree life. I had started to believe that in this mad progress that India has made in the last 2 decades, that kind of India has been lost somewhere. Ishqiya has brought back those days and the belief that that India still is very much there, may be not in the Bangalore and Delhi's of the world, but certainly in the Gorukhpur's and Lucknow's of India.

Ishqiya is a story about 3 key characters Vidya Balan(krishna), Naseeruddin Shah (Khalujaan) and Arshad Warsi (Babban), and how there lives get entangled in Love, Lust and Deceit. There is the plutonic style love of Naseer for Vidya, and also the Lusty love of Arshad for her. Both the love stories progress together, and one cannot understand why Vidya is playing with the emotions of both of them, clearly she has an agenda of her own. All this going on with a Maoist movement, Murders and kidnappings happening in the background, A business man having an affair outside of his marriage, a young boy having his own dreams, a small time Bhai trying to recover his money or blow off the brains of our characters and all these characters being involved with each other in some way or the other. I will not reveal the plot of the movie further, as there enough twists and turns in the story, incase I was to reveal them, it would make your movie experience predictable. All I can say, the story is like a Onion, with each peel coming of, the story becomes more and more interesting. Just that in this case peeling of Onion does not bring tears to your eyes, but rather a smile to your face.

The screenplay is co-written by Vishal Bhardwaj along with Abhishek and Sabrina Dhawan, and is the main strength of the movie, like all the previous Vishal Bhardwaj ventures. He has not taken the role of Director this time, instead it is Abhiskey Chaubey who has directed Ishqiya. Inspirations from Vishal's previous works, Omkara, Maqbool are clearly visible though. Vishal has in the last few years has managed to create a handsome following for himself and a unique moving making style. In his movies, it is the characters of the movie that are in the limelight and not the stars playing them.

Though the story line is complex, it is told in a really calm and realistic way, and it grows on to you slowly as every leaf of the story unfolds. Each of the 3 main characters have an equally strong role to play and each of them try to outdo the other with their performances. There are equally strong support characters in the movie, which contribute to the movie becoming more and more gripping. For me the second half of the movie is more interesting than the first half. This does not mean the first half is boring or anything. Its just than the movie takes off beautifully in the second off, and does not look down after that.

On the performances, while we all are aware of the acting ability of Naseeruddin Shah, it is Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi, who have come out with some mind blowing performances. Arshad Warsi has clearly given the best performance of his career yet. Vidya Balan has shown that one does not need to be Size zero and wear small clothes to look sexy and seductive. A village girl can be as Seductive and attractive as a big town girl wearing designer clothes.

My favorite performance of the movie though was by Salman Shahid, playing the role of Jijaji in the movie. A person whose money has been stolen by Arshad and Naseer and he is after them to get his money back or blow off their brains. The way Salman has played his character is really fantastic. He has brought in so much of realism to his character with his Dialogue delivery and suttle nuances, that one looks forward to his return to the screen. We surely could have done with another 10 mins of his additional screen presence.

The movie flow is crisp and with a running time of hardly 2 hours, is aptly timed. The music is nice and simple and the camera work great. Another feather in the Cap for Vishal Bhardwaj, looking forward to his next movie now. Net net a great story, some sleek direction and great acting by the actors, make Ishqiya a must watch in the Theatres. Incase you can't catch it on the Theatre, Wait for a the DVD release. A good item to add to your collections.

Beware, the dialogues are very realistic (very U.P. like) hence it will not be a good idea to watch this with your Kids (what ever be there age). Strictly for Adult viewing.

Review of Love AajKal (2009)...

Might be coming a bit late, but happened to see Love AajKal now only. Has been sometime since I wrote a review, actually a full year, last one I wrote was in Feb'09. Lets hope I can write a little more consistently this year round.

Coming back to Love AajKal, well, in a nut shell, a crisp movie, great editing and some good acting by the protagonists of the movie. On the Story side, it has a lot of gaps, and not very convincing. The story runs on two parallel tracks between two Saif Ali Khans, one a hip and modern Saif set in 2009 and the other a Sardar Saif set in probably the Late 1970's early 1980's. The movie actually starts with a break up between Saif and Deepika, and that kind of sets up an interesting context for the movie. The story that follows is about the changing feelings and relationships that both of them have, still continuing to remain in touch, sharing every minutest details of their lives even now.

The 1980 story is that of a current Rishi Kapoor (Saif pays his younger self as a Sardar), a restaurant owner in London. Rishi is telling the love story of his times and how he took almost 1 year before even speaking to the girl of his dreams, and how he traveled from Delhi to Kolkatta, just to catch a glimpse of her and came back without even exchanging a word (instead exchanging a lot more without even saying a word). Something the current generation is unable to relate to. There is a conversation between Saif and Rishi to describe the difference in relationships of their respective times, where Rishi says, in his times, the Relationship start with "looks/ observing", moves to "Following each other" to "Romance" and then Marriage, post that the "SOMETHING" happens, where as the relationships of the current generation actually start with that "SOMETHING" and then if there is any future, there might be some "Romance" coming in. It would be right to term them as companionships more than relationships.

The factor where the movie fails is the way stories of Both Saif end. Very unconvincingly. I personally felt there should have been at least another 10 mins given to both the stories to make them end as dramatically as each of them started.

The story telling on parallel tracks is quiet interesting, which is why I commended the Editor of the movie, for surely he had a lot of work to do. The second person who stands out in the Movie is Deepika Padukone. She has given a Rocking performance, having a lot of scenes where only her eyes say everything. The music of the movie is very hum-able and actually stays with you much after the movie has ended. Big Thumps up for Pritam for having a rocking 2009. Saif definitely looks better in the Sardar role than the normal self. He has captured the essence of being a Sardar quiet well. Frankly a few close up scenes of his Normal self could have been shot with Soha instead and you would not be able to make that out. The most forgettable performer of the movie is a Brazilian who plays "Harleen", Rishi Kapoors romantic angle. The less I say about her performance the better. Can't understand why so much noise was made about her being the best kept secret of the movie. It is better to keep her presence in the movie a secret actually. :-))

I would say, watch it on Home on DVD or DTH surely, certainly not worth spending movie on the expensive tickets in Multiplexes.

PS: I deliberately have not compared Imitiaz Ali's two works Love Aajkal and Jab We Met, as I don't see any point in comparing works of the same person made at different times. Once the Circumstances are different, the outcome is always very different.

Delhi 6 and Slumdog Millionaire...

While Slumdog Millionaire (SDM) basks in the glory of its recent Oscar glory, Delhi 6 got released in India on 20th Feb. I happen to see both the movies on consecutive days and could not help but think that both of the movies carried one common theme running between them, a strong social message relevant in the current times. While SDM gives the message to never loose hope and strong believe in Destiny, D6 on the other hand suggests to look for the devils inside us itself, and it is us ourselves who have to overcome them. Interestingly both the movies have a very strong background of India's 2 biggest metropolitan cities (Mumbai and Delhi). No prizes for guessing which which city sets the background for which movie. Both movies portray the power of Youth and how the young India can change the traditional stereotypes that have been with us for years now. SDM follows the journey of a Child from the Slums growing up and discovering his Country and in the process showing the harsh realities of the urban India. In D6, the main protagonist arrives in India to discover his country and grows as an Individual (not physically), learning and growing with his daily experiences. The director exposes the devil of Hatred and vulnerability that a common Indian carries underneath our secular and close community bonds. Both the protagonists challenge there surrounding and decide not to accept things quietly and lying down. While the objective of both the directors was to give a Social message, the modus operandi used by both of them is completely different. Danny Boyle in SDM has used the city of Mumbai as a story narrator and the daily events that change the lives of 2 brothers. ROM on the other hand in D6 uses his trade mark Metaphor way of story telling and uses Old Delhi and its residents as the medium to slowly proceed with the story. Danny Boyle has beautifully captured the essence and spirit of Mumbai, which makes you an instant part of his Movie. ROM on the other hand has used multiple Metaphors, Kala Bandar, The famous Delhi Ram Leela, the fact that Abhishek is half Muslim and Half Hindu also acts like a interesting Metaphor. His effortless ways of trying to get acceptance from both side and ultimately being abandoned by both the sides leaves a very interesting thought in the Viewers mind. Neither of the movies glorify the Cities they are based on, but they use certain key attributes for both the cities, which forms a great part of the overall story telling.

Moving on to the individual reviews of SDM and D6.

Slumdog Millionaire (SDM)
This British movie based on the Booker prize winning book "Q&A" by an Indian Author, beautifully captures the essence of a Hindi Masala movie, while retaining the sleek story telling ways of a Western movie. Reminds me of my visit to London. During that visit, I had gone to South hall with a friend. As South hall is primarily an Asian inhabited place, it carries the Soul of Asia and does not at all let an Indian feel home sick, but has the cleanness and planning of an European City block. I could not help but say to my friend there, this is the best an Indian City can strive to become, cleanness wise, design wise etc. In the same manner, SDM is the best possible amalgamation of a Hindi Masala story telling and Western style of Story telling. The movie starts with a Question and ends with an Answer, encountering lot of hope and the power of Destiny in between. Interestingly the whole theme of the movies seems to have flown out of the Reel life of the protagonists and into the Real life of the people associated with it. "Its Written" is the main theme used by Danny Boyle. Clearly the recent success and recognition this movie has brought to India is nothing short of "Its Written" or in other words "Destiny". Rumor has it that A.R. Rehman had made the tune of "Jai Ho" for the Subash Ghai produced "Yuvraaj". Subash Ghai dropped the tune, which AR took to Danny Boyle, who had an instant liking for the tune. He told AR that while there is no place for the Tune in the movie, he will make it part of the ending sequence of the movie. "Its Written" for AR to have gotten the tune into the Movie at the end. Another slice of Destiny is for Gulzar, to whom AR took the tune and asked to put lyrics around the same. Gulzar is said to have written the song in 15 mins, and look where that song has taken both AR and Gulzar. Both are famous with Worldwide recognition for the song. What can I say but "It was Written". Would you call this anything less than destiny that 3 kids were choosen one fine day from the Dharavi Slums and within 1 year were standing on the podium of Kodak Theatre in L.A. in the Oscar ceremony. In our entire history of Film production, one does not remember even the biggest of our film stalwarts having had that event. Even Satyajit Ray could not go to the Oscar Ceremony to receive his award. There might be a lot of people who might say, why make such a big deal about Oscar's, after all it is just an American awards. Well my response to that would be, why be so much proud about getting a Noble prize, or a Booker prize for the writers. Coming back to the movie, one takes an instance liking for Jamal Malik a small Slum boy and his struggle against all odds to unite with his childhood sweetheart. There is a flavour of the Hindu-Muslim conflict in Mumbai, to the Mumbai underworld and also the interesting take on our Tourism industry. As always, I will not get into the story of the movie and will leave that for you to see on your own. Would mention scenes shot by Danny Boyle. that deserve a special mention. There is a scene in which he slowly takes a aerial shot of the Dharavi Slums in Mumbai, slowly slowly going long after exposing the size of the Slums. The whole scene just makes it look so big, and in turn telling the viewer that the story of Jamal Malik is one of the million stories being written every day in Dharavi and not all end up being the Happy ending the way Jamal's ends. Surely this movie will provide a lot of hope to these people who are more depended on their destiny than help from Local authorities. The music score is catchy throughout the film and it enhances the movie effect. The whole ensemble of artists in the movie are so well fitting, that every just falls in place perfectly. No wonder everything just seems so perfect in the movie, even though the story is pretty straight forward.

Overall a fantastic movie, deserves all the coverage it is currently thronging. Definitely a dekho from my side, make sure you catch it on the theatre once at least. Would be a great collectors items once the DVD is out.

Coming on to Delhi 6 (D6)
ROM returns after Rand De Basanti, with lot of expectations and lot of marketing and surprisingly no controversy before the movie. These days it has become a fag that every big release needs to be preceded with a controversy, that is best avoided. ROM decided to stay away from any such publicity stunts, clearly he had full confidence on his story, characters and his ability to connect with his audience. First of all, lets not compare RDB with D6, that will not be a fair deal to ROM. While RDB was about Indian youth finding a vision in life and rising to see the issues from an insiders PoV, incase of D6 it is a Indian youth, born and brought up in US who returns to India, and what he discovers, giving an Outsiders PoV towards the social issues that have been there in our society for decades or rather centuries now. There are a lot of characters in the movie, lot of social issues running in parallel. There is the issue of Hindu-Muslims living like brothers together and suddenly the same people becoming enemies. There is an issue of 2 brothers having a family dispute and going after each other at every instance possible. There is the issue of untouchables in the modern day Delhi still being brought forward, and in all these parallel stories is our main Protagonist, Roshan (AB) who is stuck in all these happenings. He is amazed by the sheer chaos of Old Delhi when he reaches India from US and slowly slowly understands the fact that it is not India which works but its people who make it work. A strong message from the Director, India is going to remain a closely knit society as it is bonded by day to day issues of its people. These issues do not differentiate with people based on their Religion, Caste, Color or Creed and the fact, it is the people who need to change themselves in order to see any change in our great country. Frankly, not as difficult as it may sound. I will not get into the Story or the characters of the movies as always, but will refer to some interesting Metaphors that the director has used to show both sides of our society. One side where there is unity, strength and hope and on the other side of the coin, there is Hatred, suspicion and hypocrisy of our society. Lets face it, Indian society is Hypocritical, the same people who will sit and praise their God Rama from eating half eaten fruits by an Untouchable, these very people will stay away from a person from so call backward people who pick up our trash (untouchables of the society). So what is it that brings in that Hope factor in D6? The circumstances that these people face due to a Metaphor called Kala Bandar. ROM has used this phenomenon of Kala Bandar fantastically. Why are we calling Kala Bandar a Metaphor. That is because, even though there is a shape to this metaphor that is the same, the emergence of this metaphor happens at different circumstances for different people and for different personal benefits. And how this Kala Bandar slowly converts the once harmoniously living people into people who are thirsty of the blood of the very same people whom they called their brothers and sisters. The movie beautifully captures the strengthening of the Kala Bandar with the help of the internal demons of the people who are planning to kill him. The more the people think of getting rid of him, the more they become like him and the more powerful he grows. For Star war fans, its like saying, the more one plans to kill the Sith, the more he captures your mind and the more powerful he becomes. Roshan, here is the Master Yoda, who has an outsiders view to this whole thing and hence is able to think independently and see how fast this metaphor is overpowering the lives of these people and spreading negativity all over.

There is a love story brewing at the background as well, which sets up an interesting angle towards the end of the movie, but clearly that is not the main story line of the movie for most part of the film. From direction PoV, the overall story telling is quiet sleek, sometimes it does gets a little sagging, but then ROM has picked up the strings pretty quickly before he looses his audience. There is a fantastic scene of Jama Masjid where prayers are being offered, and the sheer enormity of the shot is so beautiful, it is worth a mention. Then there is this scene when Roshan comes to India and he enters the Chandi Chowk area, the traffic chaos, the number of people around on feet, along with Cycle Rickshaws, Auto Rickshaws, Animals, Hand carts and in between them the latest cars, just goes on to show the diversity called India.

Music wise the songs are quiet hummable. While "Masakali "will catch your attention quickly, it is 2 other songs, "Genda Phool" and "Delhi" that will stay in your mind for longer. Would not like to comment on the acting of the actors as that would not be fair on my part to do so. I never do that in my reviews, unless someone does a highly great or disappointing work.

The message of the movie is loud and clear, we as the people of this great nation, have to fight our internal demons to make a difference in our lives. We will encounter lot of Kala Bandars in different forms in our lives, it is up to us to see inside ourselves and choose the God within us or the devil. The essence of delhi though is not completely captured. The reason I say that, being a Delhite who has been away from Delhi now for 8 years, I did not feel very Nostalgic after watching the Movie, though a little nostalia did come over, but not something that remained with me for long.

Would recommend this movie to be watched in the Theatres once. Incase, you are not the kinds who like movies with heavy social messages, you can choose to see it on the DVDs once it gets released.

Ghajini and Rab ne bana di jodi... Reviews...

Two movies of two Big guns of the Hindi Film Industry got released in the Last month of 2008. Huge expectations, lot of publicity were involved with both the movies. While both movies are from very different jouners, there are some very stark similarities between the two. You might say, Ghajini is an all out action/ revenge story, while RNBDJ is a emotional drama about a confused girl(read Director as well). First similarity, both movies have a very strong plot of a Love Story running in the movie. While in Ghajini, the Love story gives way to a Revenge plot, unfortunately in case of RNBDJ the love story actually does not take the Plot of the movie anywhere. May be that is the main difference between the 2 movies. While Ghajini's love story grows on you slowly and in between has a strong revenge theme going on, incase of RNBDJ, there are 3 different love stories, which are trying hard to find a meeting point. The meeting point happens to be a tag line, "Usme mujhe Rab Dikhta hain" (Phew, a lot more is expected from Aditya Chopra). Another very strange similarity between the 2 movies is that in both the movies the Main herione of the Movie ends up not finding the reality of her partner. Coincidence, I am not sure, but very interesting aspect of the movie. This aspect of the movies shows the maturity that our films have achieved. I am sure, if these movies were made 5 years earlier, there would have been a effort made to reveal the identity of the heroes hidden from the heroines. Not any more, today movie makers expect the Movie audiences to make certain assumptions and be part of their story telling. This also shows that the average movie goer is no longer expected to keep his brains and heart back home while going to watch a movie. Another strange co-incidence, both movies heroes have there Initials as "SS", Surender Sahni in RNBDJ and Sanjay Singhania in Ghajini.

Now getting down to the actual reviews of both the movies, let me start with RNBDJ, as I feel that will be a short one.

Review of RNBDJ:
What do u expect when Aditya Chopra directs a movie after 5 years and has his favourite Shahrukh Khan as the main protagonist? A LOT!!! Does the Movie deliver? O hell NO. There is a plain Simpleton Surender Sahni and there is the ever present Raj (can there be a Aditya Chopra movie which does not have one?). Enough songs and dance moves, enough emotional mumbo jumbo. So for die heart Shahrukh fans, movie is a just right. So then, what does the movie lack? For me, basically the movie has been made in a hurry. Yes, yes, aditya chopra has taken 5 years to make a movie, clearly he has not spent those 5 years on RNBDJ. I agree in relationships Patience pays, but not the kind of one dislayed by Surender Sahni. There is'nt enough background to the story on why Taani (Anushka Sharma) has such an attitude towards life and more so blames Surender Sahni for the same. She builds a impression in her mind, that her life is ruined as she has married a person working in a 4 by 4 cubicle, 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. But then, does Surender Sahni make enough efforts to show his love towards her. Just letting her go for Dancing classes does not warrant enough. He expects Taani to recognize his love for her, while what does he do to make her feel special, or for that matter make her feel his love. Nothing actually, other than a Sumo wrestling match (A horrible fight sequence on that). There are 3 love stories, Surender Loves Taani, Taani thinks she loves Raj and Raj loves Taani (atleast he proclaims he does). Does he really love her, I dont think so. As I said earlier, the basic missing point in the plot is that these Love Stories do not meet up throughout the movie.

The talented Vinay Pathak is also wasted in a role that does not do justice to his acting caliber. Anuksha does show the simplicity of a girl, who is reluctant to take on the world to fulfill her dreams, while she has anger inside her. The scene where she puts Shahrukh on the pillion of the bike and takes on another couple from the dance classes is shot in a interesting manner. Apart from that, there is'nt much of Camera excellence that is generally part of Aditya Chopra movies. There is though a scene at the Golden Temple which is just brilliant. Golden Temple simply looks stunning and takes a breath away. Beautiful monument of our Heritage, do make sure you the Golden Temple once in your life time, there is a lot of peace and serenity in the environment inside the Gurudwara.

Overall, wait for the DVD to release and watch it at home instead of spending money on Multiplex tickets.


Review of Ghajini:
Aamir Khan does it again, and this time puts in an extra effort in marketing the movie as well. Not spending a lot of time telling the story of the movie, in a nut shell, the story revolves around Sanjay Singhania and the circumstances that lead to him becoming a patient of Short term memory loss. Story is gripping and more importantly has been told with an ideal mix of flashbacks and present times. The effort made by Aamir on his look and physique are visible and more so make his portrayal very convincing. There is a scene in the movie where 4 police personnel lift an unconscious Sanjay and put him on a Table. The whole feel of the scene and the fact that it would actually take 4 people to lift that kind of Body comes out brilliantly. In another scene, when Sanjay regains consciousness while an inspector is searching his house. Sanjay is tied to a chair, and the spontaneity and anger with which he makes a mince meal of the chair is just unbelievable (actually you believe that a person with that kind of Physique can that). During the climax, there is a sequence in which Sanjay comes face to face with Ghajini (yes, actually the movie is names after the villain), he just lifts him from his collar and throws him 12 feet above on the adjoining wall. Again, no doubt comes in the mind that how can a person simply pick up and throw a person that high. Aamir has done extremely well in the portrayal of a person who keeps switching between someone with no reason to live, and a person who has a focussed mission.(This may not sound convincing, but you need to watch the movie to realise the same).

I think I have praised Aamir enough, lets move on to the other breath of Fresh air in the movie, which gives a totally different dimension to the movie, ladies and gentlemen, watch out for the next star of Hindi Film Industry, Asin. Asin plays Kalpana in the movie, a struggling Ad actress who uses Sanjay Singhania's name to improve her positioning in her Ad agency. While Aamir gives that Hardcore and dark angle to the movie, Asin acts as a totally opposite taste in the movie, bubbly, Sweet and spreading spice in a much needed tense atmosphere. I will not tell much about the story, as that will take away the fun of watching the movie, but there are some scenes that really moved me. Asin does a brilliant display of a Chirpy and lively persona in the movie. The movie has put in a lot of expectations from her and she clearly will be an actress to watch out for. Beware Priyanka, Kareena and Katreena, there is a real competition facing you in the shape of Asin. Surely, Asin, Deepika and Anushka will be competing with each other for the crown of the queen of Hindi Film Industry in the years to come.

The movie is not just about Bam Bam!!! fights and songs, there are some really touching scenes, with the best being, in the climax, when sanjay is about the repeat what Ghajini did to Kalpana (Kill him), that is when he gets a single tear running his cheek. He is for the first time mourning the loss of Kalpana, an extremely touching scene. The director is able to make you feel the pain and misery of Sanjay, and that for me is the brilliance of Murugodass's story telling. All throughout the movie the Ill Sanjay Singhania is searching for the Person who killed Kalpana, but does not realise what Kalpana meant to him or the fact that he has lost some one very dear and near to him, probably some one who meant the world to him.

Overall, deserves a dekho at the Movie Theatre and not to be scene in your 29 or 32 inches TV. Get to the movie theatre and have a good 3 hours of brilliant story telling.

Aamir wins hands down in the battle of the Two khans this time round. Shah Rukh needs to pull out a miracle to be able to get any major award for RNBDJ this time round. But then, this is India Meri Jaan, aur yahan sab kuch bikta hain. :-))

Disclaimer - I am not refering to any awards here. :-))

Stay tuned, I will be back with a review of Delhi 6 and Slumdog Millionaire, again compared together. Till then keep thinking, what are the similarities between the two.