Kurbaan

A good taut action thriller with terrorism as the reason for the violence ..... Islam vs. the West ..... is the central theme. But like Fanaa this movie fails to tug your heart emotionally as well as a serious movie on terrorism should.

Otherwise for a Bollywood film this is much better than average with good characterisation, good strong performances, great camera work and stunts. My recurring grouse with modern Indian movies is about trying to show too much realism in violence e.g. somebody's brain spilling out from a bullet shot or a bullet wound being stitched. Showing the aftermath of a bomb blast can still be reasoned for trying to show the realistic horrors of modern day terrorism and therefore in a way promoting the message of shunning it.

Kareena Kapoor (Avantika) plays the damsel in distress most brilliantly and it seems to be an equally strong performance as her Dev and Omkara earlier. Incidentally Saif Ali Khan (Ehsaan Khan) puts her in trouble yet another time in a movie. Saif however has the weakest role in the film. His acting does not look convincing either in the emotional sense of love or in the ideology that he is shown following. In fact Vivek Oberoi turns up a much stronger performance in terms of emoting and dialogue delivery. Surprisingly the seasoned Om Puri is also not so convincing. Kirron Kher as the Afgani woman out to seek revenge for the Western atrocities is brilliant both in keeping her accent through out the film as well as delivering the most convincing performance out of all jehadis.

In fact the only really tugging scene is the last one between Avantika and Ehsaan climaxing in the last close up of Avantika whose grief shows up in her eyes.

Some situations are very unbelievable like a terrorist group recruiting a rank outsider and a Hindu father marrying his daughter to an unknown Muslim without proper verifications.

The film could have been shortened but the director also wanted to cash in on the Saif-eena chemistry and has introduced an unnecessary bed-room sequence which again is ideologically and passionately unnecessary and impractical. There were other means of Avantika achieving the same goal.

The music of new duo Salim Suleiman is good and catchy. Camera angles and movements are slick and of Hollywood standards. Sadly for all its filming techniques and brilliance of taut story-telling the film is very Anti-Islamic. It fails to show a balanced view of Islam or of the fact that only a few Muslims who really endorse terrorism. The background of how the protagonists became terrorists has been verbally retold in few sentences by the Afghan lady; however doesn't sound plausible. For example one can't become a suave English speaking professor and world's top terrorist and assassin within 4 years after surviving American bombings in remote villages of Pakistan.

It is a good time-pass entertaining thriller despite its shortcomings of being unconvincing on the central ideology. Kareena deserves some critical awards for her performance.....however the slim size zero her does not look too pretty to the eyes any more ... in many scenes she looks like a scary ghostly apparition moving silently in the dark !!! Saif can perhaps escape the criticism of looking old and haggard because of his characters "painful" background and current profession.

Rating : * * * * *

Wake Up Sid

How difficult can adults be.... difficult and stubborn, at most times insensitive. They start taking people and situations for granted. Everybody has an immature streak which can be very hurtful to the near and dear ones....how does it affect lives of all involved; that is what this movie is about. Everybody has problems and it is how one takes them on is what differentiates a child from an adult. And friends can be very helpful in showing the right perspective in the nirror of truth.

A brilliant portrayal of a rich spoilt brat Sid by Ranbir Kapoor and another strong earthy arty performance by Konkona Sen Sharma as Aisha....amazingly their pairing actually looks good. Also very strong portrayal of rich parents of a wayward teenager by Anupam Kher and Supriya Pathak....supported by mature and restrained show by new young actors playing Sid's college friends. The effect is a realistic picture of a college not like in the past where the joker of the pack used to be 40ish Johnny Walker, Rajendra Nath or Birbal. Situations are real and the emotions conflicting at times but aptly presented. The only place where the film defies any logic is when Sid puts on the Kurta of his girl friend Aisha !!

The whole brouaha over the use of the word Bombay may well have been a publicity stunt pulled off by Karan Johar but in true sense this movie has enough in it to not need any such gimmick. With such a strong stoyline, brilliant characterization and casting, great camera work, tight editing and beautiful background music and meaningful lyrics this movie is a straight ace as brilliant as any master could serve. Might go down in folklore of Indian cinema ... and by the way finally the son of great Rishi Kapoor seems to be believable for the first time ..... may be Sid may have streaks of the real him that he has portayed it so strongly ... only time and his subsequent films will tell the true story.

This is ultimately an adult Taare Zamin Par and perhaps equally brilliant.....

Rating : * * * * *

Kaminey

.....Camera, Action !!!!! Oh you forgot the lights Mr. Vishal Bharadwaj? Ssshaahid Kapoor and Faahid Kapoor along with Priyanka Chopra and an unknown cast were so costly that you could not rent out the lights for shooting? Oh no...may be your Oscar winning Guru Mr. Gulzar or mercurial singer Sukhvinder proved too costly.....? What a shameful movie after a brilliant Makadee and dark yet dramatic Maqbool and Omkara.

When one comes out of the hall at the interval or at the end one is fearful of almost losing eyesight because of the complete darkness on the screen and in the hall for hours. In fact the brightest scene in the movie is the Dhen Taen Naan song which has the camera moving along with psychedelic colored lights of the dance floor where the hero and his violenr gangster 'brother' are dancing. The song has a good tempo but is almost impossible to view without damaging your retina. And people said that Babel had one or 2 scenes with jerky camera and psychedelic colors bad for the eyes !!! This entire movie is bad for the eyes and can give you a violent headaches if you are not used to the unnecessary profanity, blood and violence.

Shaahid Kapoor is good in his 2 roles and it seems Priyanka after Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion has gone back in time and is shown entirely in cheap get-ups as if from the movie Chandni Bar. Rest of the actors were as it is unknown; they may have been good but I could not read most of their expressions because the screen was so dark and most of them had wierd facial hair.

Strangely the film has dialogues in Bengali, Marathi as well as some south American language yet for Bengali and Marathi there are no subtitles which could have eased some pain in the eyes that the film was meant on giving.

A word on the great Gulzar who seems to have helped get the great RDs numbers introduced in the background in some scenes. But it is strange that he chose to write for this dark, dirty, profane, almost idiotic movie whereas we have always associated him with clean thematic and topical cinema. The words of his songs are still good, the music also is OK and popular but not brilliant. I am sure the great Gulzar must be regretting this movie as one of his works

And yet again critics at Times of India have swayed with the director's name and his previous movies to give this TRASH of a movie 4 star rating......Times of India is losing its credibility ... in fact I am sorry Mr. Imtiaz Ali but Love Aaj Kal was 10 times more brilliant.

However the title was most apt and people were seen coming out and heard saying "Vishal, you ........."

Rating * * * * *

Love Aaj Kal

It is a mish mash of recent movies and nothing else. I am surprised that critics at esteemed dailies like Times of India instead of trashing it have given 4 Star ratings !!!!

Mix Hum Tum, KANK, Bachna Ae Haseeno and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na in little measures and you get this movie - wow - so simple to make a movie these days. The movies today are mainly made for the confused NRIs.....and this is yet another attempt at the same. But even Hollywood sensibilities have not eroded so much; if a bride has to run away she does that before marriage not after it.

The son of a star Indian cricketer and the daughter of an Indian badminton star - Saif and Deepika are good and watchable together. But I think in the first few scenes the Brit Saif does not look too good, his real age shows on the screen. In fact the restrained Saif (Veer Singh) from 1965 is more expressive without talking too much whereas the Brit Saif of the 2009 is, at most times, too talkative and irritating. Deepika looks hot in a few scenes and has given some good emoting scenes also - she has done the best that her role had in the lost story line. The new comer Gisele Monterio (as Harleen - The love interest of Veer Singh) looks good and refreshing. Good to see a lot of real old-time actors from Delhi Doordarshan in small blink and you miss roles as Harleen's family. A great actor like Zutshi has been wasted in a tiny role as Harleen's Sikh father.

But the highlight is the great Rishi Kapoor who as almost the narrator of the story compares Love today with that yesterday. And of course if love is meant and shown to be mad, crazy and forever then the real hero of the film is the good looking Rahul Kapoor who predictably has to be the most mature and stoic.

Director has tried to cash in on good locales from the British country side and beautiful scape of San Francisco. But if the intention was to show that love is different in today's time and it has become more practical then the climax has been messed up. It is very very Bollywoody predictable; except that the last shot of the narrative brings a smile seeing a very special screen appearance from a very endearing personality of the Indian Silver screen from about 30 years ago.

Overall this is a shame from the maker of his great first movie Jab We Met.

Rating : * * * * *

Gangster

An intriguing screenplay with the use of flashbacks even at times one flashback inside the other .... a story of a young girl and 2 men in her life - one of them a gangster. The title of the film could have been something like "between a stone and a hard rock" because the whole story is from the leading lady's perspective. May be because the producers wanted it to be promoted as the life story of the real life don Abu Salem and his sweetheart Monica Bedi that they chose Gangster as the title but that is not certainly the central theme of the movie.

The actors Shiney Ahuja, Kangana Ranaut and Imraan Hashmi are not brilliant but very effective. Shiney's quiet act comes to life at the very climactic end, Kangana sways between average to brilliant generally on the louder side and Imraan is the same as in all of his film slightly under-played and detached sometimes not very convincing.

Music has been a big hit but even the background score is good, befitting the thriller it is supposed to be. Overall a nice one-time watchable movie.

Rating : * * * * *

New York

Friendship, love, passion for a cause, revenge, bad vs good are some of the oft repeated plots used in the Hindi movies. However New York is a complete pot-boiler having all these cliched concepts in right measure to create a refreshing story including the topical issue of Jehad, Islam vs the rest of the world, terrorism or the war against it. The movie shows some stark 'realities' of the US war on terrorism in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Some would say that the movie-makers have taken a lot of liberties in showing FBI brutalities on Muslim 'suspects'. However to the movies credit is a sense of balance that is restored in some of the latter scenes of the movie.

The m0vie has surprisingly powerful performances by John Abraham and Katrina Kaif who mostly in their careers so far were displayed only as wooden show-pieces. But most unexpectedly, both of them have carried out intensely emotive roles. Neil Nitin Mukesh carries forward his Johnny Gaddar act of a dumb looking, confused yet manpulative person with great aplomb. Irrfan is brilliant in his one-liner terse approach to wit and humor that relieves the palpable tension in the storyline. Thankfully the music is good and mostly through the background numbers and does not lead to loss of pace in what is a good taut thriller.

For the sake of not revealing too much of the story line I would not reveal who of these is the good or the bad guy but all of them are strangely human with each having a selfish interest in whatever they are shown doing in the movie. The chracterisation has been slowly developed through out the length of the movie. During the 2 and a half hours of watching the movie you sometimes feel angry with one of these characters and sometimes you feel for one but all of them are able to convey an entire range of emotional conflicts between suitors, friends, loved ones, husband and wife, law-enforcer and a suspect etc.

Technically the film is well shot, well edited and has a steady pace to it. One should not miss the start after the intermission because there are some really bold scenes - first in Indian movies - about detention atrocities (FBI Style). The only little flaw is in the beginning few scenes of the college life of the 3 lead actors....lipstick is a little over done and in a few scenes Neil's lips and around are smudged with a little bit too much of it :)

All in all a new refreshing movie with all the usual Bollywood masala including a love triangle.

Rating : * * * * *

Straight

Straight - Pinu Patel ki tedhi medhi love story......the simpleton, buffoon Vinay Pathak returns again.....triumphant again.  This unconventional looking actor tells yet another simple story with wit, humor and aplomb.  

The successful restauranteaur NRI, the owner of Gaylord in London downtown is confused about his sexuality.....hope he is not gay.  There are the ususal suspects from any Gujarati family i.e. the aunt and the uncle played by Ketaki and Rasik Dave, a cousin brother Rajat (Siddarth Makkar)....a cook turned standup comedian employee Kamlesh (Anuj Chaudhary)  and a beautiful girl from India Renu (Gul Panang) complete the picture. 

The film could have been named "never say never again" and there are a lot of examples in the film that advise us that one should look everything optimistically and keep havng new experiences.  There are really hilarious moments and as Pinu says people laugh more if the joke is not about them and is bhadda (sick).  Film explores the homo-sexuality angle in a hilarious yet humane manner and is a far better attempt at this topic then the ugly Dostana from Karan Johar. 

Vinay Pathak continues from his Dasvidaniya role and delivers a really powerful performance which will go unnoticed at the award functions but with each such role he is creating a new fan club for himself - he has the potential to go down with a special mention in the history of Indian Cinema.  

Must watch one time.

Rating : * * * * *

Aloo Chaat

Yet another bollywood movie set in Delhi.  Aloo Chaat is one of the most popular, tangy, spicy chaat snack in Delhi ...... however the movie is the most insipid uninspiring stuff to be dished in the name of a comedy.  TRASH !!! 

Rating : * * * * *

Billu Barber

Irrfan and Shahrukh Khan together - what do you expect - for Irrfan to overshadow the badshah of Bollywood ?  Well I did and that is what was proved in the movie.  Irrfan steals the show even at most times with his rather big bulging eyes and without speaking.  He has always been good at the make believe.  So he acts the perfect village bum Billu barber who tries to be witty at his own peril.  He rubs most people the wrong way by his frank speak.  

And then enters the super-star Sahir Khan (SRK) and his bevy of beautiful co-stars Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Kareen Kapoor.  He is arrogant, full of himself and true to Bollywood's star power creates his own story lines.  

The story of whether Billu knows Sahir from their past causes some hilarious moments.  There are  gossips, rumours and a distinct shift of power as all villager woo Billu.  Billu's wife (played by Lara Dutta who looks too hot to be a mother) and her two children also give Billu a hard time as they too want to meet Sahir the Star.  Billu refuses to have any of it and everybody hates him.  But the arrogant star clears some misunderstandings and ensures a happy get together.  

The music is passable with unnecssary songs and dance sequences filled in to accomodate the 3 guest star actresses.  The village atomsphere and the scenic beauty has been captured very beautifully.  However the storyline is weak and predictable.  Amongst the actors Asrani and Om Puri  have usual cameos and all of the Priydarrshan's usual team of actors are present.  Lara Dutta shows her hot figure in a sari however she has to do something about her face which is no longer as charming as it used to be.  SRK is Ok as an arrogant super-star and the role seems to be a perfect one for him but Irrfan is clearly the winner.  

As all SRK films this is just a time pass movie.

Rating : * * * * *  

Delhi 6

Brilliant !!!! Simply brilliant !!!!  Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has done it again ..... he is creating a distinct style of his own.  One in which the issues of modern day India are symbolised through history or mythology and looked at from the eyes of a neutral foreigner.  Rang De Basanti set the trend and Delhi 6 has carried it forward.  

The film explores the life of the lead protagonist Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) who is a young American born of Indian parents and how his life takes a dramatic turn when he comes to India with her grandmother (Waheeda Rehman).  

In Delhi 6 in the narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk he finds a whole range of human emotions, issues of modern India and the dual face of India's social fabric.  Uncle Baig (Rishi Kapoor), Madan Mohan Sharma (Om Puri), Jaigopal (Pawan Malhotra), Imam Saab (K K Raina), Gobar (Atul Kulkarni), Mangdu (Deepak Dobriyal), lala (Prem Chopra), Jalebi (Divya Dutta) and constable Ranvijay (Vijay Raaj) play small but very powerful cameos in bringing out the inter-play of religion, family honor, superstition and caste in the modern yet conservative India.  People are good at heart but are very gullible; everybody has a good and an evil side.  Cyrus Sahukar (Piddhu and Simi Girebal fame) plays a sleazy photographer who actually becomes one of the central part of the plot and has done a remarkable job. 

And not to forget Bittu Sharma (Sonam Kapoor)......she has given a very powerful performance as a middle class Indian girl who is akin to the pigeon (called Massakali) with the tied feathers or a little goat waiting to be slaughtered.  

The storyline is aptly set in comparison to the story of Ram being shown in the Ramlila.  Raghuvir Yadav's folk singing talent have been very well utilised to create that narrative and provide symbolism.  

The music of A R Rahman is brilliant much better than his Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire score. 

There are some strong moments in the film.  At one point Waheeda Rehman wants to be in her Delhi home because she wants to die and get mixed with the soil of her homeland.  But later under a lot of distress over communal tensions around her she comments "ab to yahan marne ko bhi dil nahi karta".  Similarly Atul Kulkarni delivers the punch line towards the end "Kalaa bandar to hum sub ke andar hai".  

There is a mad fakir who keeps showing everybody the mirror and there is an English speaking  Sadhu (akhilendra misra) who promises to rid the city of the menace of the kalaa bandar. Rishi Kapoor has a small but touching role of a silent lost lover who still lives life king size. 

The film is cinematically and visually appealing much more so than this year's best film at the Oscars.  Who says that India has arrived because of the success at the Oscars this year; the reality is that Danny Boyle became successful by using Indian talent.  This movie again establishes that modern Indian movie makers are becoming more true to their profession and are making serious cinema which not only entertains but also makes one think.  A toast to the brilliance of one of the best director now we have - Rakeysh Mehra. 

Rating : * * * * *  

   

Dev D

The modern and punjabi version of Devdas.....well it is a great attempt at recreating the classic story with a lot of contemprory social issues like teenage sexuality, family honor, drunken driving and booze & drugs.   

First of all you should forget the details of the original Devdas story and just remember Dev, Paro, Chandramukhi and Chunni babu.  Apart from these main characters reverse almost everything you knew about the original and see everything from a perspective of modern Indian youth.  

The youthful Dev and Paro are both open-minded, not afraid of trying out the physical love.  In one of the most radical scenes in the Hindi movie history Paro carries a mattress on her bicycle in a field and tries to seduce Dev into having sex with her.  The camera just shows a small portion of her back while the rest of the screen shows greenery.  The suggestion is that she is astride him and tearing off Dev's shirt.  Dev refuses to have any of it because he suspects that Paro has already lost virginity to somebody else.  In another scene a friend of Paro is trying to cover the hickies on her breast after a few moments of passion and kissing with Dev

The dialogues are....... closer to how real youth might brag of their escapades...... again quite sexually explicit. 

The introduction of Chanda is again quite explicit in terms of the visual as well as spoken innuendo.   In Chanda and Dev's scenes together there are shades of "Leaving Las Vegas". While Dev indulges into all the vices possible drinks, women and drugs.  Chanda teaches Dev the need to move on in life rather than destroying it.

There are references to the vain Indian concept of family honor.  Once Paro asks her father why is he bothered about his own honor while disregarding hers.  At another time Dev's younger brother gives him a wad of notes to be given to Dev's lawyer but there is nothing for Dev himself who is otherwise not socially welcome in the family.

One should look at this moive as perhaps a milestone in Indian film making where various tabboo topics have been shown together and with quite a brazen openness.  The content however could have been handled more tightly.  At times it seems that the director is just trying to match art film making by using surreal camera motions and psychedelic colors and imagery.  

Overall it is a watchable movie but with the warning that it has strong and sexual language and content (specially in Indian context).  If watching with children be prepared to give guidance too !!

Rating :  *****

Taare Zamin Par

Taare Zamin Par or Stars on Earth is a simple story telling with some realistic look at the parent child relationships in modern competitive India.  There is little Ishan (Darsheel Safary) who is a naughty impish boy who does not like school and his elder brother Yohan who is good at studies and also a champion at tennis.  Little Ishan does everything to avoid going to school; when he reaches school gets scolded by every teacher; he sees alphabets dancing in front of his eyes.  Yet he remains incorrigible; he bunks classes; comes back home and has bloodied brawls with neighborhood children.  

His parents decide to send him to a boarding school and enters his art teacher Ram Nikubh (Aamir Khan).  Ram analyses Ishan's problem of dyslexia and rest is a poignant tale of how Ram nutures the child while fighting with society systems and parents' stereotypical reactions to such  problems. 

The movie has some touching moments specially about relations between parent and a troubled child and about the 'concerns' of parents when dealing with such a child. 

Aamir is brilliant as usual and Darsheel really comes out as a very precocious talent.  It is a must watch film which really shows how "each child is special" if adults can see what each child is capable of.  The music is good, cinematography is artistic and colorful as the movie is really about children.  It is a pity that the film has already bowed out of the Oscars race; it would have been a worthy competitor - but now a days the world likes movies about violent life in the slums more than the problem of more innocent children. 

Rating: * * * * * 

Dostana

Dostana is one of the sickest movie ever to have been made in India.  It is beyond my understanding and sensibilities for sure.  

 It makes fun of the gays; it makes fun of those that are straight; it makes a mockery of the words friendship and love.  It is vulgar, it is demented, it is worse than a C grade cheap film made in Bhojpuri.  Had it been any other film maker even David Dhawan or M F Hussain people would have burnt the movie halls and vandalised muliplexes.  But since it is from 'the great' Karan Johar people still want to go see the movie.  

In fact the original Dostana which was a predictable love triangle was 100 times better.   On the subject of homo-sexuality 2 good movies I have seen are Philadelphia and My brother Nikhil.  But I do not know what message does this Dostana want to convey.  

 

In fact had it not been for Priyanka Chopra (oomph as well as some little bit of acting) I would have left the movie after 1/2 an hour. 

Karan Johar started with a good fresh kind of movie in Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai. This was mostly based in India.  Then came Kabhie khushi kabhie gham half of which was based in the UK; this was an average passable movie.  Then Kabhi Alvida na Kahna which was the worst from Karan Johar till then; it was totally based in the US.  This one has proved that the 'great' director is on a consistently steady decline even when he now makes movies only for the Punjabis based in the West.  

Wonder why was he trying to make fun of the gays while also making straights look perverted ?

Rating : ***** 

Luck By Chance

It is very difficult to laugh at oneself, be critical of ones own fraternity and look at your own life objectively....yet this is what this movie tries to do and wih quite a bit of truthfulness and honesty. It is not about creating spoofs of earlier movies or parodying old songs or critisising famous personality.  What this movie attempts is a realistic look at the Indian film industry, its struggles, pains, manipulation and machinations.  

Its a story of 2 struggling actors - Vikram Jai Singh from Delhi (Farhan Akhtar) and Sona Misra from Kanpur (Konkona Sen Sharma).  Its a story of a star daughter Nikki Walia (Isha Sharvani) whose star mother Neena (Dimple Kapadia) pulls the strings of her life.  Its a story of a bunch of Producers Mr and Mrs Rolly (Rishi Kappor & Juhi Chawla), Mr Chaudhary (Aly Khan) and a flop actor turned director (Sanjay Kapoor).    In between a lot of big stars including Amir Khan, Shahrukh, Rani, Akshaye Khanna, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Anurag Kshayap and Hrithik Roshan have been thrown in.  A lot of attention has been kept to small details like a messy open  suitcase lying in the actor's hotel room or a small middle class kitchen of the struggling actress.

The struggler hero Vikram is a smooth talking suave city boy who plays around with different people's emotions to go up the ladder of success.  And there is the naive actress Sona who keeps waiting for others to give her a lead role for 3 years, only to realise that one makes ones own success and failure.  

An acting school teacher explains to his students that to make it big in the Film Industry one has to be at the right place at the right time.  Karan Johar later also reminds the big star Zafar Khan (Hrithik Roshan) that outsiders like SRK and Amitabh became big because bigger stars of their times didnot accept different type of lead roles in Darr, Baazigar and Zanjeer.  

Vikram becomes a star of the film industry and Sona of Television.  Same people who would scoff at a struggler would be quite ready to mingle with you if you have become big.  There is no preaching of morality, right or wrong but just the plain and simple motto that Nothing succeeds like success.  

The best thing about this self-critique is that there has been no attempt to paint anybody fully black or fully white.  There are realistic people - all of them having shades of all human emotions.  At one point the jovial producer (Rishi Kapoor) calls the starlet's mother as a "crocodile in chiffon" to explain her greed which she is now fulfilling through her daughter.  Rishi Kapoor and Juhi are brilliant as the fully loaded Punjabi producer couple who have made big movies and stars and are looked up to by the industry as star makers.  

Shahrukh Khan later delivers a very strong reminder that Its a cocktail - a heady mix of fame, money and power.  But as a star one would do well to not forget those who were your friends when you were a nobody because they are the only ones who will tell you the truth. 

A very good philosophical kind of film from the debut director Zoya Akhtar. The music is good - there is no violence at all and it is quite a clean classy kind of movie.  

I reckon the movie will do good in big metros and cities but might not work as well in small town India.  But it should get a lot of well deserved awards for the director and the lead actors. 

Rating : *****

Dasvidaniya

The Best Goodbye!!! Its a beautiful picturisation of the daily struggles of a middle class Indian Amar (meaning Immortal).  This simple bespectacled pot bellied guy has an obesession about planning his life on a To Do list every day.  He is a perfect conformist who leads a mundane but disciplined life - the home and office being the 2 poles of his entire life.  He bears the whims and eccentricities of his boss until the realization about his mortality hits him.

What follows is his new struggles of saying a nice peaceful goodbye to all his friends and loved ones.  In the course of this  journey  (his new 10 things to do) he realises the truth about the fickle & changing nature of relationships, childhood friendships, teenage romance, love, luck and death.  

Its a movie that should surely appeal to Indians who have seen the struggle, aspirations and hope of the Indian middle class.  The movie makes you think about life and reminds you of death being an integral part of it.  Characters are very real, life like and quite endearing.  There are a few over the top exaggerations in the cameos played by Saurabh Shukla, Ranvir Shorey and Purvi Joshi. These 3 portrayals help the lead player Amar understand that life can be fun too.

 Vinay Pathak (Amar), Sarita Joshi (Mother) and Gaurav Gera (Vivek) are brilliant.  Surprisingly Neha Dhupia gives a very restrained and beautiful performance as Amar's love interest from his teenage life.  And Rajat Kapur as a long lost friend completes a very able ensemble cast.  

Certain scenes like the one where Amar plays dumb-charade with his sweetheart and the one where a Russian prostitute saves Amar from committing suicide are touching.  

This is kind of old time cinema of Basu Bhattacharya and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.  Whereas Vinay Pathak played a perfect buffoon in Bheja Fry in an out and out Comedy; this time he has out-done himeslf as a very loveable city-simpleton who has considered himself to be a loser all his life despite so many endearing qualities.  

A most watchable film - one of the best ones to come out from Bollywood in recent times !!

Rating : *****

Ghajini

A good movie - at least a different treatment than many violent love stories. Aamir is as usual brilliant and the heroine Asin is good in spite of this being her first Hindi movie.

The movie has lots of shades of South Indian movies in its music, dance, and fights. In certain parts the movie has some illogical sequences if you start analysing. e.g. MD of a big telecom corporation does not go personally to select a site for putting an advertising hoardings. Or the henchman of a Haryanavi don are all South Indians. Or the damsel in distress not using texting on the mobile.

But technicaly it is a brilliant and gripping picturisation. Narrative keeps moving with good camera work, colors, editing, background music and sound affects. The song picturisation is again very South Indian.

The start is violent, middle has some violence and the ending is quite violent. The violence however is a necessity at various places but some gory details that are kept in today's movies for realism sake could have been left out.

The romance of the Sanjay and Kalpana is handled brilliantly with Asin's innocent and carefree side and Aamir's quiet admiration turning into adoration.

All in all it is quite a complete Bollywood movie with a good mix of light comedy, suspense and tragedy, fast paced action, and just the right concoction of human emotions of love, anguish, pain and anger.

People compare it to the original movie 'Memento' but that is unfair. When the director producer have acknowledged that their movie is an improvised version of the Hollywood movie then we should accept that. Obviously an Indianisation of the plot had to happen and songs and dance had to be introduced, so why this hullabulloo? People say that it was not a movie worthy of Aamir's skills - but then do we think any other actor could have done more justice to the role of a person afflicted by Short Term Memory Loss. People say that the movie is very loud ... but aren't most Indian movies. So why do we benchmark our movie against its Englsh original rather than compare it with other movies of a similar genre.

Ghajini has also proved that Aamir is versatile enough to be able to handle romantic as well as violent kind of roles apart from the thinking person's role like in Lagaan, Rang De Basanti or Taare Zamin Par. Cheers to that !!

Rating : *****

Slumdog Millionaire

Rags to Riches story ..... a wonderful tribute to Mumbai and its people .... a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating !!!  This is how the Western media and film critics have rated this movie.  However it is just another  run of the mill Bollywood movie.  If one wants to watch a realistic view of Indian slums and poverty then one should rather watch a Satyajit Ray (the Appu trilogy), Shyam Benegal (Manthan and Ankur), Govind Nihalani (Ardh Satya & Aakrosh), Gautam Ghoshe (Paar) or Prakash Jha (Damul).  If one wants to see normal Masala bollywood potboilers on the theme of a life of crime and luck paying big then why not watch umpteen movies like Bunty Aur Bubbly, Dayavan, Nayakan, Sarkar or Oye lucky..... etc. In fact a very recent rags to riches story about real India and its struggle is Shyam Benegal's Welcome to Sajjanpur   

Slumdog Millionaire is like any other B grade movie being churned out by Indian film makers and hardly touches any chord with the audience.  It makes fun of India specially Mumbai as a city where you have to be a local goon, a murderer or a pimp to make it big or you have to simply be plain lucky as the Slumdog Millionaire Jamal Malik is. Jamal has hardly done anything in his entire life shown in this movie....at least his elder brother Salim has some guts and gumption to fight his way out of trouble. 

Thankfully for us Indians it has even made fun of the Brits who can be sold any story about Indian History by a 12 year old kid. Queen Mumtaz died in a road accident, and that Emperor Khurram wanted to make a Hotel but died before it could get completed. 

The film has illogical continuity and is badly researched.  The story ends in the period of late 2005.  Therefore the scene about a young Jamal getting Amitabh Bachchan's autograph amongst the crowd mad about their superstar idol must have been early 1990s.  Bachchan's helicopter lands near the slums somewhere and a madly euphoric crowd wants to catch a glimpse of the superstar.  However in the early 90s Amitabh was already on a downhill path and almost semi-retired from films.  

Again Jamal and Salim both of whom have never cared abour their studies grow up into fluent English speakers and Jamal even develops a natural British accent.  Salim's voice goes from a child's voice to a much deeper voice in the early teens back to a child like shrill voice when he turns a full-fledged henchman of the local goon. 

All questions on the quiz show relate to the events in the life of a slumdog, the show is telecast live, even in India it is not called Kaun Banega Crorepati by its host and after whole night of 3rd degree torture Jamal goes on to participate in the Quiz Show without even a scratch on him physically or mentally.  This cannot happen in real life but remember this movie is about hope and optimism ...remember that its a Cinderella story!!

The film has no technical brilliance either. The music is the usual Rehman and at various places like in the scene when Jamal is searching for his beloved in the brothels the music seems 'inspired' from Lakshmikan Pyarelal's Choli ke peeche kya hai. 

Its just that this is a movie made by a Brit that this movie is beng hailed as something extraordinary;  otherwise Salaam Bombay was almost a similarly dark narrative about the city slums of India.  How I wish an Indian makes a film on the life in Harlem of New York or of the East End of London and then let us see how the same Western media reacts - I am sure they will call it blasphemy !!  We Indians have seen so many movies of this or similar themes.  One of the best ones made in India on the topic of poverty and street children is a film called Boot Polish.  Slumdog Millionaire will get the Oscars ahead of Taare Zameen Par makes me laugh at the system of film selection at the big western film festivals..... but how can a citizen of a Third World under-nourished crime infested country like India laugh on the Gora Sahibs ......Amen ! 

Rating : *****