Filmy Shilmy

The enigma of Talaash – Reema Kagti’s next with Aamir Khan

2012-01-23T07:05:00.002+05:30

Talaash trailer!

Talaash "holographic" "moving" ?? poster:

Notice the "Answer lies within" - this squarely hints at a psychological drama!

Everything about this film is shrouded in smoke – Dhuaan was a very apt early rumored title that has now been changed to Talaash. Written by Reema Kagti (director of Excel Entertainment’s Honeymoon Travels) and Zoya Akhtar (writer and director of Luck by Chance and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara), the film boasts of an interesting cast with Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor (last seen in 3 Idiots) but also includes Rani Mukherjee. Rani and Aamir were last seen together in Mangal Pandey years ago!
So what to we know about Talaash? The earlier Dhuaan suggests events clouded in mystery, fog. Aamir plays a cop named Surjan Singh Sekhawat and Kareena is called Sunaina, and is allegedly a sex-worker (as per Mid-Day). In a recent interview with Verve magazine this is what we learnt:

….. Kagti has been refining her suspense drama about a police investigation in Mumbai with Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji as the cast. Slated for a 2012 release, the word on the street is that the real star of the film is its script.
“Zoya (Akhtar) and I thought of the story and co-wrote it. We do a lot of writing together. We’re also best friends so it’s fun and there’s a huge comfort factor. All our creative arguments get resolved by who can bang her laptop harder on the other one’s head,” she says, grinning wickedly.
……
So is she intimidated to be directing an institution like Aamir Khan? “I’m not fazed at all, just extremely grateful to Aamir and the producers for this opportunity to make a film in a really nice way. Aamir has got a lot of foresight and is very interested in the well-being of the project. I really appreciate that and don’t see that as interference. Having said that, even if the situation gets challenging, I like challenges.”

There was to be an underwater shot in Mumbai but as per Wikipedia it was moved to an undisclosed water studio in London:

Read more HERE

Clockworks, Automata and the Silents – the magic of Hugo!

2011-11-28T02:06:00.002+05:30

A dazzling array of gears dissolved into the streets of Paris, and a single gear turned magically into a roundabout, and just like that for me Hugo went from the realm of near animation to reality. The teeming Gare Montparnasse is well endowed with clocks that all keep working on precisely oiled and turned gears. Making them keep perfect time is an orphaned boy called Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), who lives in the forgotten spaces between the walls of the train station. Hugo’s father (Jude Law), a clock-maker and museum employee, is dead, and his guardian, a drunk uncle who is responsible for keeping the station clocks running, has been gone for days. Between stealing a meager daily meal, avoiding the lame station agent Gustav (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his ferocious doberman who are constantly on the lookout for vagrant orphan boys, stealing clockwork parts from the toy stall owner Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), and keeping the innumerable near inaccessible clocks running, Hugo leads a busy life. But it does have a singular purpose – that of fixing an automaton his father had found in the museum. The automaton is child size, extremely wide-eyes, metallic, and is supposed to be able to write and draw when fully functioning. Hugo is helped by Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), the adopted daughter of Papa Goerges and Mama Jeanne (Helen McCrory), and in turn Hugo introduces her to the movies, particularly those of George Melies.

Read more HERE

Rockstar reviews!

2011-11-11T09:32:00.003+05:30

ndtv.com: 2.5/5 However, in its initial build-up, informed with a robust sense of quirky humour, Rockstar shows a fair degree of promise. Ranbir Kapoor, as JJ, makes a go for it with infectious intent. He gets the lingo and diction right; the gawky gait is delightfully apt.....Sadly, the narrative, lacks the substance that a film as long as this would have needed to sustain itself.

rediff.com:2.5/5Many will swoon over Nargis, and the fairer sex will find Ranbir's transformation irresistible, and forgive the fact that his fingers don't move at all like someone who has been playing the guitar since childhood. Or that throughout the movie he plays variety of gorgeous electric guitars without a cable -- or a wireless device -- attached to any of them. That's like trying to drive a car without fuel

timesofindia.indiatimes.com:4/5

film is a milestone in Ranbir Kapoor's career as an actor and a classic cut from the AR Rahman and Mohit Chauhan combo. Shammi Kapoor's presence as the classical artist enhances the gravitas of the film.

indiatoday.intoday.in: 2/5

It begins on an electric note, the big bad rockstar escaping from a fight, hair blowing in the wind as he races through the streets of Rome (or is it Prague?) to jump straight into a crowd waiting for him. From then on, it goes downhill, and spectacularly so.

bollywoodhungama.com: 3/5 On the whole, ROCKSTAR does not live up to the confidence and expectations from the otherwise very skilled and accomplished film-maker Imtiaz Ali. The film suffers immensely due to a disorderly screenplay, especially in its post-interval portions. However, the silver lining or the comforting prospect is the virtuoso performance by Ranbir Kapoor and the captivating score by A.R. Rahman, which justify that one extra star.

dnaindia.com: 4/5 But while good acting is always an incentive, it’s a director’s vision that makes a film truly watchable, and Imtiaz deserves credit for trying his hand at something different from what the mainstream churns out every week. And for bringing back the one aspect sorely missing from Hindi films lately -- music.

Bollywood’s ‘Ra.One’ - reviews

2011-10-23T11:23:00.007+05:30

Reviews of Ra.one:
Salon.com Andrew Hehir:

Pick of the week: From dazzling dance numbers to post-"Matrix" action, "RA. One" showcases Bollywood's confidence

hindustantimes.com/Mayank-Shekhar: 2/5

A year of relentless hustling, hype and expectations inevitably numb achievements, whatever they are, into the obvious. You wish to figure if this was worth this much fuss.
economictimes Gaurav Malani: On the Indian superhero scale, G.One is certainly way ahead of its Krrish counterparts but still miles behind Robot. Nevertheless Ra.One qualifies for a 'one' time watch.

twitchfilm.com J Hurtado: There was a fear that writer/director Anubhav Sinha had bitten off more than he could chew with Ra.One. Sinha is a director with a couple of minor successes and a couple of flops on his record, so taking on a project of this magnitude was a big risk for everyone involved. I'm happy to say that in my eyes, he's succeeded in a grand and captivating way.

baradwajrangan.wordpress.com: As I said, this isn’t a film that embraces tomorrow as much as it celebrates yesterday, and its most remarkable achievement may be that, with one foot tentatively toeing the future and one stuck resolutely in the past, it didn’t end up peeing all over itself.

telegraphindia.com Pratim Gupta:Ra.One is one of those lavish five-star buffet spreads where there’s something for everyone but not everything for someone. The game is risky but the playing too safe. The dream’s not dead but it doesn’t flicker back to life as often as G.One’s H.A.R.T. does.

hollywoodreporter.com Kirk Honeycutt: India’s first attempt at a superhero movie is both vigorous and emotionally fulfilling within the context of Bollywood traditions.

ibnlive.in.com Rajiv Masand: 2.5/5 What's missing from 'Ra.One' is a sure-footed director's touch. Anubhav Sinha fails to bring all the elements together, and while this superhero film has plenty sound and fury, it's sorely lacking slickness. I'm going with two and a half out of five for 'Ra.One'. Like the spaghetti and curds concoction that Shah Rukh digs into in an early scene, 'Ra.One' is clearly an acquired taste.

nytimes.com Rachel Salz: But if the storytelling disappoints (shocking!), the film mostly doesn’t. It relies on action and effects and Bollywood’s trump card, star power, to carry the day. This is Mr. Khan’s movie, and once he sheds Shekhar’s droopy locks, he shines as the deadpan, action-hero robot with digital snot and smooth moves on the dance floor.

Gulfnews - Manjari Saxena:
In all, a fun movie to catch and will definitely run full house during the Diwali weekend – making it a very happy Diwali for Shah Rukh Khan.

bollywoodhungama - Taran Adarsh:4.5/5 It's not merely a great looking film, but also has soul, which is so essential to strike a chord with the avid moviegoer. As for the business prospects, RA.ONE is sure to shatter all previous records and set new ones, in India as well as internationally.

emirates247 - Bindu Suresh Rai: All said and done, Bollywood’s advancement in FX and special effects is a boon for 'Ra.One', which heavily relies on the technical expertise to carry the story forward in the second half.

economictimes.indiatimes.com: 3.5/5 Here's a movie the Hindi film industry can be proud of. "Ra.One" can be touted as the first Hindi film that blends the elegance of Hollywood with Indian sensibilities.

supergoodmovies.com: 3.5/5 The movie is completely made in Indian (Desi) style, made on par with Hollywood standards. If you are expecting something like Transformers or Inception then, the movie is not for you. Go watch it as a common Indian who usually stays away from Hollywood movies.

bollywoodchaska.com: 4/5 RA.ONE is the most ambitious, most expensive and the most technologically complex Hindi film ever made. It pushes the envelope further. It's not merely a film, but an experience, an event. It's a film that will rewrite the textbook of computer graphics in Hindi cinema.

timesofindia - Nikhat Kazmi: 3.5/5

Small quibbles, actually, since Ra-One is sure to usher in a crackling Diwali at the box office and give the audience paisa vasool entertainment, with fine performances by both Shah Rukh and Kareena. Even young Armaan is efficient. Go have a blast.

Stardust: 3.5/5 Shah Rukh Khan has done a superb job in the flick in terms of acting and chasing sequences. The film is a visual treat with top notch computer graphics and other use of high- tech gadgetry. The film has raised the bar further for superhero flicks. It is certainly better than anything bollywood has offered so far and is more in consonance with standards of Hollywood.

deccanchronicle Khalid Mohamed: 4/5 Undoubtedly, the extravaganza belongs to Shah Rukh Khan. He’s ultra- high on energy and on infecting the viewer with his distinctive brand of tongue-in-chic chutzpah. Why the four stars? you may cavil. Answer: why not? Here’s a technical accomplishment with as much heart as hardware.

dnaindia.com Aniruddha Guha: 3/5 As Shekhar's wife, Kareena does little than preen at the camera in sexy outfits. Rampal scorches the scene with his screen presence. The kid Armaan, as Shekhar's son Prateik, who learns the importance of siding with the good against evil, is charming despite the awful hairstyle. Which brings us back to the film's best dialogue: "Raavan kabhi marta nahi". So then how can the good one ever be victorious? Oh well, we have the sequel to figure that out.

indiatoday Kaveree Bamzai: 3.5/5 Shah Rukh throws himself about, vaulting up and own buildings, leaping through the air and even landing on his feet with Kareena Kapoor in his arms. In the face of such indefatigable energy, we surrender. Go on, Shah Rukh, give it a rest. In the words of your superhero, you did good.

ibtimes Ralle Shele: Director Anubhav Sinha deserves all the accolades for making such a good film. He brought the best in Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and child artiste Armaan Verma. He did everything right from direction to screenplay to action sequences. Music by Vishal-Shekhar is also cool with songs like 'Chamakchallo', 'Dildara' and 'Raftarein' going down well with the music lovers.

ndtv Saibal Chatterjee: 3/5 As a vendetta saga, RA.One might be right up your alleyway. It delivers more than your money’s worth in terms of pure entertainment. It is impressively shot, technically good enough to pass muster and the hi-jinks drama has the pace to keep tedium at bay. What you see is passable, what you hear is enjoyable, but what you take away is insubstantial.

filmfare.com Rachit Gupta: It’s not very polished but it’s more than acceptable. In fact, had the storytelling been stronger Ra.One could’ve been a classic. Sadly it’s not but it is an enjoyable sci-fi and CGI fiesta that will transport you to a world of kooky fantasy and video game heroes.

AKON
Senegalese-American musician Akon is reportedly recording a song for the soundtrack of the upcoming Bollywood superhero action film Ra.One, starring Shahrukh Khan. It’s rumored that Akon will also make an appearance in the film.

The Grammy-nominated singer will join the ranks of other Western music artists who’ve contributed to Bollywood films in recent years. American rapper Snoop Dogg performed on the title track of Singh is Kinng in 2008 and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue performed a song in Blue in 2009.

In Ra.One, Khan plays a software engineer who becomes a video-game hero and combats a virtual monster he created. Indian actors Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal also star in the film.

How I spent Friday night, watching middle-aged wannabe Casanovas – Rascals

2011-10-09T00:46:00.000+05:30

Take a Deewana Mastana story, twist it a bit so the third guy has a more active role in the film. Take two middle-aged leading men who have lost all sense of maturity, and throw them in with two young girls who are not afraid to strip down to their skivvies at the least provocation. Add lots of references to films past, gags using blind men, disabled men, and ethnic stereotypes, give up any pretense of having a coherent story or logic and you have a David Dhawan film in the 2000s.

Read more HERE

Putting the math into baseball – Moneyball

2011-10-05T08:38:00.001+05:30

The word baseball loses you about 50% fans as women do not care for sports, math loses you 25% of the remainder as sports jocks are not very cerebral people. Adding Brad Pitt into the mix gets 25% of the women back! But Moneyball proves that it is possible to make a smart film that stays true to the source material, and by eschewing real math and replacing it with occasional flashes of spreadsheets on screen, also make it crowd-pleasing. Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland Athletics. He describes his team as “There are big market teams, then there are the poor teams and then there is large gap and then there is us!!” Without any money, having just lost three of his best players, he is scrambling to put together a team that can play. That is when Peter Brandt (played by Jonah Hill) comes on board and things start to change for the Oakland As. A team of misfits that are supposed to do the job, are put together. But the team manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) refuses to buy into the big vision of Beane. Finally Beane guts the team to leave Howe with no other choice.

Read more HERE

Forthcoming releases to ring out 2011

2011-09-22T11:14:00.000+05:30

Here is what is left for us to view:

Mausam - Pankaj Kapur directs his son and Sonam Kapoor in a love story across time. Other than a long time in the making, a Veer Zaara hangover, and Shahid's ridiculous mustache, the movie does have some decent songs and curiosity associated with Pankaj Kapur's debut as director.

Speedy Singhs - Akshay Kumar produced this film directed by Robert Lieberman and starring (the only name of note) Russel Peters and many other no names. All reports say this is a certified dud.

Force - Nishikant Kamath's direction, John Abraham and Genelia D'Souza starring in an action drama that looks like John's muscles are doing most of the acting. Music is by Harris Jayraj but it has not made many waves yet.

Rascals - David Dhawan directs Sunjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn playing bad boys with teh ever incomprehensible Kangana Ranuat. Music is by Vishal Shekhar.

Ra.One - directed by one Anubhav Sinha, and produced by Shah Rukh Khan, this one promises thrills and CGI action in 3D. Kareena Kapoor costars as the red saree clad Chammak Challo. Music is by Vishal Shekhar.

Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl - directed by Band Baaja Baraat phenom Maneesh Sharma, this one stars Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma. Expect fireworks!

Rockstar - Imtiaz Ali directs Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri in this rock music extravaganza. Music is by A R Rahman, and Sadda Haq and Kun faaya Kun are already making waves.

Don 2 - Farhan Akhtar sheds his actor avatar and dons the director's hat for this sequel to the 2006 remake of Don. This one promises a unique story and boasts of Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra in the cast. Music is by SEL, and this will close the year out in a grand style!

Tell us how you think each of them will do critically and at the box office.

All those W(AK)OW moments – Asha Bhosle in concert!

2011-09-06T18:18:00.000+05:30

On the spur of the moment I made the decision to try my luck at the Flint Center where Asha Bhosle was supposed to be singing, along with Sudesh Bhosle. We rushed madly through traffic, arrived late, were told only cash could be used for ticket purchase and the ATM was out of money please! After everyone turned their wallets and pockets inside out we had enough money to get middling good seats, and walked in to see Asha ji on stage, spotlighted, in a baby blue bejewelled saree, talking of how RD Burman asked her to sing a song, which she was unsure of ever being able to do. It was for a Nasir Hussain film, and a bet was on between Nasir and RD about whether Asha or Rafi would do a better job! RD won and the song was a lusciously mad number Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera with the signature hyperventilation in the mukhda. She started to sing and the clapping and dancing in the seats and out of the seats began! Magic was ON stage and I was viewing it. (Thankfully NO male accompaniment, just pure Asha magic!!). We were told to not do any video photography - so to invoke the magic of Aaja Aaja, I post here the original version from Teesri Manzil:

The concert was an amazing blend of anecdotes, outstanding music from talented and very competent musicians, some male accompaniment from Sudesh Bhosle (more on that towards the end), and Asha Asha Asha in full charismatic and flamboyant mode. She was magical, had the range, the power and that indefinable "sexiness" that made her THE voice of all the sexiest songs in the 60s and 70s!

The acoustics at the Flint Center did full justice to the magic of her vocals. But this was no staid behind the podium singer that her sister is known to be, that is when she is not wagging her finger at you in annoyance if you so much as stir from your seat! Asha was a dynamo, constantly in motion, constantly swaying, and moving to the music, and sometimes breaking into dance steps that flashed her diamond wristcuffs with dangling strings of glitter! She quipped - now that I am 76 years old, and neither in heaven nor on earth, but somewhere in between, let me dance if I want to, who cares!!! And dance she did, evoking the magic of Helen and Bindu and countless other cabaret dancers of the movies! Age sucks all of us into its maw, but I have to say that that day watching Asha ji dance as she sang was a sublime experience, nothing short of magical!

She sang most of her iconic songs, to cheers and claps and sing-alongs and encores! She mentioned that her audience included those who had bunked school and college to see her films (and were now in their 40s and 50s) and those who simply had listened much much later! That described the demographic at the concert rather well. The songs included Chura Liya Hai, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, and the first half ended with O Haseena Zulfon Wali - sung to a crowd that was mostly on its feet in nostalgia and ecstasy!

After a break Asha ji came back, this time in a stark black Sari, glittering in the spotlights! She recounted how she and Kishore Da prepared for singing Jaane Jaan, she gleeful as she had sung it before in Bangla, he glum and struggling with the notes! Then there was Dum Maro Dum, and the classic WAKOW song. Sudesh Bhosle displayed his excelle mimicry talents by singing all the male voices in Hum Kisi se Kum Nahin - RD Burman, Rafi and Kishore, and then Asha ji chimed in and danced away in the number. The concert rightfully closed with Piya Tu Ab to Aaja from Caravan.

Trolling Youtube I did find one video from this same concert in Phoenix, a short clip, but it give a flavor of the concert, the magic, the moments.

Read more hereHERE

The song, romance and dance is no more – Shammi Kapoor dies at age 79

2011-08-14T22:46:00.002+05:30

Suffering from kidney failure, in and out of dialysis, Shammi Kapoor retained a joy for life and living till the very end. The joy he brought to each and every tole on camera was what made him an unforgettable hero. He danced, he romanced and gave a face to the smooth and silky voice of Rafi Saab. His dance moves were never choreographed, but an upswelling from within of how he felt the music. The light of fun and joy is gone, but not forgotten. While I can watch any Shammi movie anytime, some of the songs I love the most are so good they are worthy of repeat watches. Here are my top favorite ways to remember Shammi ji:
In O Haseena Zulfon wali watch Shammi Kapoor match up to the siren Helen:

Next up is Aasman se Aaya Farishta, Shammi Kapoor in a bathrobe makes sure Sharmila in a daring (for the time) swimsuit goes practically unnoticed!

Read MORE HERE!

Kishore Kumar - musical genius

2011-08-04T12:14:00.000+05:30

It is the birth anniversary of Kishore Kumar, a day worth remembering for all lovers of music. Born 4th August 1929, Kishore was never a trained singer. His biopic mentions that he once got badly injured as a child, cried very loudly for several days, and that "opened" up his vocal chords! It is one of those injuries that changed Indian music forever!

He started his film career as a comic hero in many films, where his costar was Bhagwan. It was films like Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, Nayi Dilli and Hum Sab Ustad Hain that established him as a comic hero of some repute. But his heart was in singing and he dabbled in it, until he was finally discovered and established by Sachin Dev Burman as a playback singer. His early tunes were magical, and best when he gave voice to himself:

Or this one:

Or my favorite:

But of course he is most well known as a playback singer for providing the singing voice to Dev Anand in films like Jewel Thief, Guide. His teaming up with RD Burman led to both reaching unimagined heights of creativity and success. The voice of Kishore also provided impetus to the success of Rajesh Khanna as a hero in the 70s and then Amitabh Bachchan in the late 70s and early 80s.

Read more here!

The gentle mellifluous genius – Jaidev!

2011-08-03T12:19:00.000+05:30

On his birth anniversary, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite compositions from this master. The winner of three National Awards for his compositions in the films Ankahee, Gaman, and Reshma Aur Shera, he also composed the music for Harivanshrai Bachchan’s Madhushala. Trained under Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, his music always went back to his classical roots. His first break in film music came under the Navketan banner and he came into his won from Hum Dono onwards.
It is really hard to pick a few favorites, but I’ll try. My first favorite is from Gaman sung by Suresh Wadkar:

The second one, sung by the incomparable Asha Bhosle, is from Hum Dono – the song and the voice are to die for:
The third is from Mujhe Jeene Do – a luminous Waheeda dancing on a mirror like floor, and a dacoit (Sunil Dutt) mesmerized by her singing and dancing:

See more HERE

Rafi – Tum mujhe yun bhula na paaoge!

2011-08-01T12:12:00.000+05:30

He died 31 years ago but his songs are immortal and give me joy even today! For all the fans of Rafi – here is a film made on his life, it contains great commentary, and wonderful video footage! Enjoy!

View more HERE!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara continues to surprise and polarize

2011-08-01T03:14:00.000+05:30

What started out looking like a Spain tourism ad to some, a Dil Chahta Hai redux from the promos to others, was described by the maker as NOT that as most of the film is spent driving in a car, was slated to tank badly at the box office, have a short life span and be yet another yuppie wannabe film, has now taken on some legs at the ticket windows and continues to delight many viewers into its third week. The usual gang of reviewers ranged from panning it solidly to loving it unabashedly. Then we had this salvo fired by none other than Baradwaj Rangan:

I did not review Zoya Akhtar’s multiplex hit Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara for this paper – and I didn’t have to. I’d already reviewed Wake Up Sid in 2009, where I wrote, “It has all the weight of a television commercial showing sad people transforming into happy people in the course of thirty seconds, which is to say that nothing ever seems to be at stake… Everything is frustratingly preordained.” And, “But these bits of growing up are tucked away into inconsequential corners of the film, in song montages and the like, so we’re mainly left with the incessantly happy-cheery story of a boy and a girl getting together after a series of extremely minor hiccups. That’s not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, sure, but how you wish a few dashes of reality had been allowed to temper this unrelentingly feel-good fantasy.” The heft of a television commercial. The minor hiccups. The feel-good fantasy. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has it all.

Mr. Rangan went on to mock the audience favorite Rock On! (though I must admit that I found it underwhelming):

Read more here!

Bodyguard - Salman and Kareena!

2011-07-31T07:28:00.002+05:30

The first long song promo is out! Desi Beats is a catchy enough number but it does have some energetic choreography:
Here is my analysis:
1. Salman is looking quite youthful and fit – best looking Khan today.
2. He is actually dancing to the beat, following the choreography and playing to the galleries splendidly.
3. The backup dancers are shirtless, while Salman has a vest on and shows us his biceps!
4. Kareena is almost a glorified extra with little to do – but at least she indicates she is romancing Salman by looking at him or coming out from behind him.
5. Salman is so focused on the choreography that we get no indication he is even aware that Kareena is sharing the song with him! Reminds me of the kid who memorizes his lines so painstakingly that he forgets to add the expressions as he recites.

LINK

Madame Tussaud's to get Bebo as Chameli!

2011-07-23T08:56:00.002+05:30

Madame Tussaud's to get Kaneena as CHAMELI!

Hugo - Martin Scorsese film

2011-07-15T11:19:00.000+05:30

Don 2 - Farhan Akhtar returns as director

2011-07-14T07:49:00.001+05:30

Contagion - Steven Soderbergh

2011-07-14T07:47:00.002+05:30

The Tintin movie by Spielberg

2011-07-13T07:19:00.000+05:30

The new longer trailer!

Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows

2011-07-13T07:18:00.000+05:30

A tribute to Guru Dutt on his birthday!

2011-07-10T09:33:00.000+05:30

Born Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone in Bangalore in 1925, he was renamed Guru Dutt after an early childhood accident. It is also rumored that he was supposed to have dropped the latter part of his name because of his love for all things Bengali. Never formally schooled due to financial troubles at home, he joined the performing troupe of Uday Shankar (brother of Ravi Shankar) and studied with the group until it was closed down due to WWII. He later moved to Bombay and worked at a succession of film related jobs like choreographer, assistant, and also at times as actor.

His chance meeting with Dev Anand over a shirt exchanged by the laundry led to a lifelong friendship. They vowed to each other that if Guru Dutt made a film he would have Anand as hero, and if Dev produced a film then he would use Guru Dutt as its director. Dev Anand asked Guru Dutt to direct his Baazi - a noir thriller with wonderful music from SD Burman:

Guru Dutt never really did direct Dev in a film made by him, even though the wonderful CID was produced by him with Dev in the lead. The film also saw the beginning of the relationship between Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman:

The wikipedia lists the following as contributions that Baazi made to cinema:
"Baazi also highlights two early key technical developments in Indian movie-making that are attributed to Guru Dutt. The use of close-up shots with a 100 mm lens - there are over 14 in the movie - which became known in Indian movie-making as the "Guru Dutt shot", and the use of songs to further the narrative in the movie. Guru Dutt also introduced Zohra Sehgal (whom he met at Almora) as the choreographer in the movie, and he also met his future wife, Geeta Dutt during the making of the movie.:"

Guru Dutt would go on to direct, produce and act in a series of outstanding films that have retained their quality and left their mark on Indian cinema. A core company that included Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker, and Abrar Alvi (as writer and director for a few films) was part of most of these ventures. In Mr. and Mrs. 55 Guru Dutt played a poor artist in a marriage of convenience to the heiress played by Madhubala:

The success of this film led to other ventures like CID, Sailaab, and eventually Pyaasa. This latter film was an intensely personal story of an artist who is never appreciated until his death. Today the film resides in many international lists of best films and is gem-like in brilliance, and yet heartbreakingly melancholic. The lover who rejects the poet for a rich spose is played by Mala Sinha, and the woman who befriends and falls in love with him is the prostitute played by Waheeda Rehman. With many shades of the classic Devdas tale, Pyaasa mirrored the real life of Guru Dutt. He too was in a marriage with Geeta Dutt and yet his relationship with Waheeda was well known and not tolerated by his wife:

The next film that Guru Dutt directed was even more melancholic and even more personal, Kagaz Ke Phool was about a director, who sees all success, and then it all flees away from him. In this one too Waheeda was the muse, the actress he falls in love with, while married to another woman. The commercial failure of this film was a huge blow to Guru Dutt, and he was unable to recover fully from the shock:

After this Guru Dutt did not direct another film, though many speculate that he was the ghost-director for both subsequent films he produced, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Chadavin Ka Chand. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was a period film, moody and sprightly at the same time. The two leading ladies were polar opposites in character states and the film is considered to be one of Hindi cinema's masterpieces:

The other film produced by Guru Dutt was a huge box office success and it too had his indelible directorial mark. Set in the by-lanes of Lucknow, in a Muslim environment, the film about love and sacrifice, struck an instant chord with the viewers. Waheeda was the lady Guru Dutt fell in love with, and married, only to realize his best friend was also in love with the same woman....

Read more HERE

Roland Joffe's Singularity with Josh Harnett and Bipasha Basu

2011-07-04T13:41:00.000+05:30

Delhi Belly – fartastic caper that is predictable but amuses

2011-07-02T13:59:00.000+05:30

The only thing desi about Delhi Belly is the fixation on shit and farts, and the copious use of the BC and MC expletives. The rest is a highly predictable caper centering on the mistaken identities between a Babushka doll containing smuggled diamonds and a package with a stool sample. Smuggled goods involve couriers, dons, goons, and lots of guns and the laugh are provided by the hapless trio of Tashi (Imraan Khan), Nitin (Kunal Roy Kapoor) and Arup (Vir Das) who bobble the delivery of the goods. The women in the film are mostly props – be it Tashi’s girlfriend (Shenaz Treasury) who is the eternal ditz or the journalist (the obviously imported Poorna Jagannath), or the various women who seem to be serving food whenever we encounter them.

The street food is laced with goodies from the vendors nose and privates in front of Nitin’s eyes, perhaps that is why it makes its effect known immediately after consumption. This reviewer had just had dinner and the sight was enough to cause uneasy rumblings in the tummy. Thereafter the craps and farts gag is endlessly milked until the shock value wears off and one just waits for one more sound of the toilet flushing.

Read more HERE

First Trailer for Tomas Alfredson's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'

2011-07-01T08:48:00.000+05:30

Source: The Guardian
by Alex Billington

How do you find an enemy who is hidden right before your eyes? A fantastic new teaser trailer, the first we've ever seen, for Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson's new film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has hit the web thanks to The Guardian (via Awards Daily). This is his new British spy thriller starring a hell of a cast:Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy, along with Oscar winner Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds,Stephen Graham and Benedict Cumberbatch. It's only a quick first trailer, but it's an awesome glimpse of what's to come, and it looks like it's going to be quite a fascinating vintage spy thriller.

Watch the first UK teaser trailer for Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy via Guardian:

01:18

Set in the aftermath of the Cold War, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and described as a "breathtakingly ordinary" anti-James Bond, this tells the tale of a big spy hunt within the highest echelons of the British Secret Intelligence Service. Gary Oldman plays the lead role of George Smiley (once played in the 1979 TV mini-series by Sir Alec Guiness) a small, podgy spy who is charged with unearthing a mole. The film is an adaptation of John Le Carre‘sclassic spy thriller that follows a British Intelligence operative who delves into the world of Cold War espionage. Focus Features has this scheduled for release November 18th in the US.

See trailer here!

The conclusion: Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows part 2!

2011-07-01T07:20:00.000+05:30

The HORCRUXES - featurette!

http://youtu.be/BnE1oh4plHw

Four new song promos - Delhi Belly, BHTB, Singham and ZNMD

2011-06-25T13:29:00.000+05:30

Here they are folks!

Aamir's item number in Delhi Belly:

Go Meera Go number in Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap:

Saathiya from Singham with Kajal Aggarwal:

and finally Dil Dhadakne do - from Zindagi milegi na dobara:

My take? Aamir is trying too hard to be even more ashleel than he promised :-) Go Meera Go has Big B dancing in molasses, his steps are that slow. Saathiya works to a certain extent due to the Ajay Kajal fresh pairing. She is looking sweet and simple. Dil Dhadakne Do is a rehash of the same scenes we saw in previous songs - meh.

Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap!!!

2011-06-17T10:24:00.000+05:30

Raveena does an ITEM NUMBER for BHTB!

Goonies meets ET meets Close Encounters – Super 8

2011-06-13T03:15:00.000+05:30

Summer is just about to begin, and a bunch of school kids are clandestinely filming a zombie film for a student film competition.
They are an odd bunch with a fat kid (Charles – Riley Griffith) is the director, the leading man is a somewhat thick-headed Martin (Gabriel Basso), the zombie who always get killed at the end of every scene is the pyromaniac Cary (Ryan Lee) and the lights camera action man is Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) who recently lost his mother. To add some emotions to the proceedings the kids bring in Alice Dainard (Ellie Fanning) as the lead man’s wife. The filming is happening at an abandoned railway station when Joe notices a truck driving on the train tracks to meet an oncoming train head-on. A massive crash ensues and the train derails. The kids are witness to the crash, and the aftermath as the Military moves in to clean up. The town is soon besieged by a series of events leading to the disappearance of pets, humans and property. No one is able to explain the events and the military men talk of a mysterious entity and eventually begin an evacuation of the town. The being captures Alice and this spurs the children on to a mission to uncover what is going on. What follows has the thrill of a chase, the wonder of discovery, and the eventual and exhilarating thrill of freedom quite like the one we saw in ET!

Read more HERE

Prakash Jha's Aarakshan

2011-06-09T22:06:00.000+05:30

A excellent first look:

K In Filmdom - Anupama Chopra's book

2011-06-06T12:34:00.000+05:30

Clean, beautiful diaspora glamour

India talks to itself via Bollywood and Anupama Chopra is there with a sharp ear listening and reporting back. Paisa vasool.

by Meghnad Desai

As Shahrukh Khan says in his generous foreword, Anupama Chopra, like him, is an outsider who has become an insider. With this book, she takes us inside the filmi duniya of the last 20 years—roughly the period which began with Manmohan Singh’s liberalisation experiment. There were the Mafiosi financing films before then—the Dawoods and the Haji Mastans. Suddenly, it all changed— financing, cinema halls, stars. Bollywood became wholesome with multiplex audiences demanding clean, beautiful diaspora glamour where our boys and girls may strut about in jeans but marry in traditional saat phera fashion. Hence Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.

More at LINK

Ajay Devgan in SINGHAM

2011-06-03T12:41:00.000+05:30

The official Ra.one trailer is here!

2011-06-01T07:58:00.001+05:30

David Fincher's - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!!!!

2011-05-29T04:59:00.002+05:30

‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ Red Band Teaser Trailer Hits The Net

Posted on Saturday, May 28th, 2011 by Germain Lussier

Popping up randomly in theaters across the world this weekend, the 100-second, red-band teaser trailer for David Fincher‘s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo won’t be officially released until next week. However, this early contender for trailer of the year is currently playing on YouTube. Check it out while you can.

If this gets taken down, we’re sorry, it’ll be up in a better version soon. But wow. What a trailer.

Did anyone see this in a theater this weekend? I know that I saw both The Tree of Life and The Hangover Part II at Arclight Hollywood, one of the premiere theaters in the country, on two of their best screens, and neither played this so it must be pretty elusive.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was first an international best-seller by Stieg Larsson which was then adapted into a hit Swedish movie directed by Niels Arden Oplev. The story centers on an investigative journalist named Mikael Blomkvist who is hired to bring closure to a long gestating missing person’s case.

More HERE

The National Awards – another controversy with Aamir?

2011-05-26T08:51:00.000+05:30

Why was Aamir Khan’s production that was India’s Oscar entry not entered for the National awards?
Read some details below and at http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2011/may/240511-Aamir-Khan-Anusha-Rizvi-Peepli-Live-National-Awards-Oscars.htm

From the nominations for the National awards
There’s more than that meets the eye as far as Peepli [Live]‘s exclusion from the National Awards is concerned.
When the awards were announced, it seemed like the country’s official entry to the Oscars was specifically ignored. Digging around, we found the film wasn’t even entered for the nominations!

Aamir Khan and Anusha Rizvi on the sets of Peepli [Live]
Could it have been an oversight (highly unlikely, considering how particular Aamir Khan is) or did he decide to ban the National Awards (like he does other popular awards)?
The film’s director Anusha Rizvi says she is clueless why the film was not entered. “I heard it, too. And I have absolutely no idea why the film wasn’t entered.
I want to clarify that the directorate and the jury members of the National Awards have been unfairly targetted.”

But wasn’t Anusha the one who did not want to be involved in promoting Peepli for the Oscars race not long ago?

Read more HERE

Vintage Madhubala photos!

2011-05-21T10:30:00.001+05:30

Hindi Movie Actress Madhubala in Her Room - Photographed by James Burke in 1951

Madhubala (1933 - 1969) was one of the great and talented Hindi movie actresses of 1950's-60's. She acted in many successful and classic Hindi movies like Mahal (1949), Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955), Howrah Bridge (1958), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Mughal-E-Azam (1960), Half Ticket (1962).

These personal and rare photographs were taken by James Burke for Life Magazine. The Life archive hosted by Google wrongly documented the date of these photographs as 1941, but probably these photos were taken in 1951.

Terence Malick's The Tree of Life - Cannes 2011 Guardian review

2011-05-16T21:16:00.000+05:30

Cannes 2011 review: The Tree of Life

Prehistoric and cosmic visions aside, Terrence Malick's film is an unashamedly epic reflection on love and loss

Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick's Cannes 2011 offering

Terrence Malick's mad and magnificent film descends slowly, like some sort of prototypical spaceship: it's a cosmic-interior epic of vainglorious proportions, a rebuke to realism, a disavowal of irony and comedy, a meditation on memory, and a gasp of horror and awe at the mysterious inevitability of loving, and losing those we love.

Sean Penn has a central but minor role as Jack, a careworn 21st-century corporate executive who is now disenchanted with his life. At the moment of crisis, he is carried back to an ecstatically remembered 1950s boyhood in smalltown America. He remembers his relationship with his demanding, disciplinarian father, played by Brad Pitt, and the brother who died at the age of 19: the news is brought to his distraught mother (Jessica Chastain) via an official communication – the telegraph delivery boy thrusts it into her hands and walks quickly away – so he appears to have died on military service.
Jack realises that time, far from healing the wounds of loss, only makes them more painful. Along with the dream-lit tableaux from his childhood, he is vouchsafed extraordinary visions of geological time and the unknowable reaches of the universe, in comparison with which his loss is meaningless. And yet meaning has to be found if the pain is not to be unendurable. In a sense, the purpose of these gigantic visions is to anaesthetise the pain of being alive and not understanding.
Brad Pitt dominates the bulk of the film as Mr O'Brien, who appears on the face of it to be a God-fearing family man with a button-down shirt and crewcut, brusquely but sincerely in harmony with his gentle, beautiful and profoundly religious wife. Chastain has a voiceover at the very beginning asking her sons to prefer God's grace to the beauties of nature, as the truer path. But O'Brien is far more complex than first appears: he is angry with his boys; he respects the severity of traditional churchgoing belief, but aspires to riches and worldliness, taking out patents in the aeronautics industry and dissipating the family's means in the process.

Read more HERE

Two divas born a day apart – Waheeda and Madhuri

2011-05-15T14:19:00.000+05:30

Sensationally beautiful in a most Indian way, trained in classic Indian dance, and their on screen presence full of abhinaya that only a trained dancer can have, Waheeda and Madhuri are two of a kind. Waheeda sizzled on screen whether it was as a nautanki waali bai in Teesri Kasam or a dancer who leaves her abusive husband to follow her passion in Guide. Madhuri came on screen in an era when class was being replaced by crass, but she made crass look classy whether it was Dhak Dhak or Choli Ke Peeche Kya hai. A tribute to both these beautiful ladies in two incomparable dance numbers full of a madness and passion for pure dance!
and
More HERE

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara!

2011-05-15T13:16:00.000+05:30

Bbuddah - hoga tera baap! The angry old man strikes back

2011-05-14T10:03:00.001+05:30

First look of Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap

Delhi Belly teaser!

2011-05-13T20:08:00.001+05:30

NEW POSTER - Delhi Belly!

Remembering Kaifi Azmi on his death anniversary

2011-05-10T12:34:00.000+05:30

At the age of 12 Kaifi penned a couplet, and then to convince his father he really write it, he had to pen a whole ghazal. Here it is sung by none other than Begum Akhtar:

Here is one filmed on Waheeda and Biswajit – Raah Bani Khud Manzil – who needs a destination when you have the loved one by your side on the road!

And the melancholy yeh duniya yeh mehfil:
Kaifi Saab penned the lyrics of the epic films Pakeezah, Heer Ranjha and Razia Sultan. Razia Sultan is considered in a class of its own. Pakeezah has some lilting melodies set to his words:

Read more HERE

Sartre’s No Exit – Hell is other people!

2011-05-10T08:27:00.000+05:30

The Electric Theater Company’s stunning production of Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialist play Huis Clos (No Exit) came to San Francisco, courtesy of the American Conservatory Theater. After rave reviews in Canada, the play opened to unanimous approbation at the Geary Theater. The play has been enacted much and thrice translated to film. But director Kim Collier manages to bring a unique perspective to familiar material.
Three people are ushered sequentially into a hotel room by a mysterious valet. They go in to find a room bereft of any furnishings but curtains that hide a window that is bricked in, and three chairs. They must then confront each other, their own inner demons, and the burden of their misdeeds. Vincent Cradeau (Andy Thompson) is the first one in, followed by Inez Serrano (Laura Saadiq) and then Estelle Rigault (Lucia Frangione). They believe that torture instruments and real hell awaits them beyond this place, and the Valet (Jonathon Young) is a mere bell ring away!

As they first posture and plead ignorance as to why they are even here, later they start to unravel and reveal each others’ past sins, and unpleasant lives, so much so that staying in the room together seems intolerable.

Read more HERE

11 Weeks – the Kashmir we can all dream of?

2011-05-09T05:09:00.001+05:30

Vir Nehru, in an old people’s home, encounters an errant orphan, Aslam Jehangir. Both have deep would inflicted by religious riots in the region – Vir lost his son and Aslam his parents. Initially the old man shuns the child...

Read more HERE and also find a link to watch the film online!!

Green Lantern Trailer (updated with theatrial trailer 2 )

2011-05-05T16:29:00.000+05:30

Salman Khan is READY!!!!

2011-05-03T18:58:00.000+05:30

Updated - Dhinka Chika Dhinka Chika

UPDATED - Humko Pyaar Hua

Updated with CHARACTER DHEELA promo!

Transformers:Dark Side of the Moon trailer

2011-04-28T23:53:00.003+05:30

Immortals trailer

2011-04-28T08:39:00.000+05:30

X -Men first Class Trailer

2011-04-28T07:20:00.000+05:30

Shaitan Trailer and Poster

2011-04-18T18:43:00.001+05:30

Firing neurons, dying brains and alternate reality – Source Code

2011-04-16T09:27:00.000+05:30

I was not about to quibble over the scientific accuracy of the premise. My main worry from the promos was that sending a man back over and over again to the exact same scenario could become highly repetitive and boring. Source Code proved to be the exact opposite!
It provided an edge of the seat thrill of a chase after a bomber who is about to decimate Chicago. Buried with the film were issues relating to the right to die and the eternal conflict between the humane cause of saving lives and inhumane way in which it is often pursued. Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovers he is a part of a secret Air Force outfit called Beleaguered Castle that runs the Source Code program. This can send a virtual being back in time for 8 minutes (the overlap between the time that neurons are still active in the brain of a dead man and some quantum Physics gobbledygook) to investigate and possibly avert a disaster or accident.
Capt. Stevens discovers himself on a train sitting opposite a woman Christina ( Michelle Monaghan), and in about 8 minutes the train blows up as it has a bomb on board. Colter finds himself back in a “pod”, being addressed on a TV monitor by Captain Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) and being told what his mission was. He is sent back again and again as he tries to piece together the puzzle of the bombing. Along the way the scene is set most innovatively each time, compressed in time so focus is on the new discoveries that Colter makes. Back in the pod he and Goodwin develop a camaraderie as Colter finds out he may not really be alive after all! The alternate realities that are created with his every visit back to the train end in explosive finales with all concerned dying. His penultimate trip is most interesting and sets up the stage for his getting a chance to create an alternate reality as his real self is terminated.

READ MORE HERE

Cowboy and Aliens ( updated with new Theatrical trailer )

2011-04-15T11:02:00.000+05:30

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - James Franco and Freida Pinto

2011-04-15T07:09:00.001+05:30

The Two Faces of Motherhood – Kannathil Muthamittal

2011-04-14T07:30:00.000+05:30

I finally snagged a copy of Kannathil Muthamittal through Netflix and spent New Yera’s Eve watching an amazing drama unfold. It began with Shyama (a winsome Nandita Das) getting married to Dhileepan (Chakraborty) in the backwaters of Sri Lanka and then a war takes over their romance. Shyama has to flee to India and is in a refugee camp as she gives birth to a child.
Several years later we see Amudha, a playful well-loved child (P. S. Keerthana), who is the darling (or burden) of teachers, parents and fellow schoolmates alike, in a very How to Solve a Problem Like Maria sequence. On her birthday she is told by her parents Thiru (Madhavan) and Indra (Simran) that she is not their biological child, she was adopted. This tilts her confident love-filled world and she constantly dwells on why her birth mother left her. Several attempts at truancy later the adoptive parents take her to Sri Lanka to try to find her birth mother. The country is torn asunder by a raging civil war and the trio are inevitably caught up in the mess, even while ably assisted by Dr. Vickramsinge (Prakash Raj). But this also leads to their meeting the new Shyama – one who finally is confronted by Amudha and asked why she abandoned her daughter.

The story of a child who has to grapple with the fact that she was abandoned at birth, her obsessive drive to reconnect with her birth mother, the unconditional love of the adoptive parents, the demons that drive the birth mother, the normalcy of Chennai and the horrors of terrorism ravaged Sri Lanka – Mani Ratnam made a masterful film that blended many ingredients into a saga that is soul stirring. AR Rahman’s music beautifully complements the magical and the poignant moments in the film. The film has excellent performances from Madhavan, Nandita Das, Simran and an absolute stunner role as Amudha – the abandoned one – done by the child artiste P. S. Keerthana. This performance won her a National award.

READ MORE HERE!

Trailer of Dum Maro Dum ( Updated with Thayn Thayn promo )

2011-04-10T11:32:00.000+05:30

Anonymous Trailer

2011-04-08T07:43:00.000+05:30

Ragini MMS trailer

2011-04-07T08:29:00.000+05:30

Ladies vs Rikky Bahl Shooting pics

2011-04-06T23:49:00.000+05:30

New Trailers ( Shor In the City , Luv ka the end and Always Kabhi Kabhi)

2011-04-01T16:05:00.001+05:30

Looks like GAME over for GAME! Reviews pouring in

2011-04-01T10:56:00.004+05:30

India Masala The film is shot beautifully, especially the parts in Istanbul, but the music isn’t that great and the director doesn’t seem to have much of a hold over his project. I suggest you concentrate on the other “game” this weekend.
Taran Adarsh 1.5/5 On the whole, GAME is high on style, but low on substance. Disappointing! (It is worth nothing that the other release F A L T U gets 3.5/5 from Taran!!!)
Koel Purie 1.5/5 Pace. Pace. Pace. Give me pace. I wanted to scream like the "give me red" ad. How can you make a whodunit without being mindful of the cadence?
Nikhat Kazmi 2/5 It's hard to believe Farhan Akhtar is behind this film, Javed Akhtar has scripted the lyrics and Shankar Ehsaan Loy have given the music. So many stalwarts and so little to savour. Can't remember a single song that was incidentally shot in a slipshod manner, including the item number by Sarah Jane Dias. And can't help wonder how Farhan could sign off a film which lacks both soul and substance.
SIFY.COM 2/5 Debut director Abhinay Deo (who has also directed the yet-to-be released Delhi Belly) makes the film slick and stylish, but is lacking in rock-solid content. That is the trouble with most Bollywood thrillers any way; this one is among the many.
mouthshut.com 2/5 Smoky silences, carefully orchestrated background music fishing for dramebaazi and a whirlwind trip through glitzy cities of the world doesn’t compensate for lack of thrills in a murder mystery.
Anupama Chopra 2/5 The actors veer between looking bewildered and grim and the only one who makes any impression is Kangna who brings some energy into this leaden enterprise. I’m going with two stars.
Sukanya Verma 2/5 For its entire obsession with ambiance, Game is, at heart, a frustratingly old-fashioned murder mystery. If you're the kind who follows the genre keenly, by second act, you'll have figured out the wild card and the culprit. Question is do you want to?

The Hangover 2 Trailer

2011-04-01T06:09:00.000+05:30

Awesome Posters of Harry potter : Deathly hallows part 2 , Hangover part2 and Tree of Life

2011-03-29T06:38:00.002+05:30

The Fly – body horror, Cronenberg style

2011-03-28T11:39:00.000+05:30

The Fly is true blue SciFi with teleportation machines, socially inept brilliant scientists, and talk of DNA fusion, made exciting and hair-raising by the excellent turn by Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Seth Brundle. Brundle is trying to develop a teleportation machine that works well on inanimate objects but fails to work on living things. He meets a reporter, Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis), falls for her and convinces her to see him at work.
The teleportation finally works and Dr. Brundle decides to try it on himself, ignoring the fly buzzing around in the pod. At the other end comes out a new rejuvenated Dr. Brundle with one big difference – he is now a fusion between man and fly! We then see a slow descent of the shy scientist into aggressive predator, and then into a hybrid being that slowly descends into becoming more and more fly like! Along the way Veronica is shown caught in a tug of war between her attraction and empathy for Brundle on one hand and a revulsion for the fly/human he has now become. She eventually has to run from him as she discovers that she may be carrying his child (watch out for David Cronenberg playing gynecologist!). She is helped by Stathis Borans (John Getz), her editor and ex-boyfriend, who goes from creepy stalker to a heroic figure.
Throughout the film, Cronenberg plays fast and lose with our emotions and expectations, as the good turn ugly and bad, while the bad redeem themselves. There is a heavy dose of the body horror that he pioneered – what can be more horrifying than getting another organism so deeply embedded in your genetic material that it can never be ousted? And what can be worse than all of one’s humanity getting completely swamped by the animal instincts of that most reviled of insects? The human begins to lose all organs and body parts the insect does not use or need – I was reminded of the recent Black Swan as Brundle began to grow bristles and lose his finger nails! The film progresses into the “not for the squeamish” territory towards the final minutes as the director pushes the limits of the transformation of Brundle.

READ MORE HERE

Videodrome – pornography and the moral police!

2011-03-25T10:42:00.000+05:30

Director David Cronenberg’s first serious feature film has James Woods playing Max Renn, a sleazy small time TV channel owner, and Deborah Harry as the SM addicted woman he is attracted to. Renn is constantly looking for questionable content beyond the usual soft-core porn that will take his channel to a new viewership.
He is shown a clip ostensibly coming from Malaysia, and captured by Harlan, the operator of a clandestine satellite dish. The clip is called Videodrome, lacks a narrative and seems to mostly be sadomasochistic pornography. Along the search for this content he encounters Nikki Brand (Deborah Harry) and also Harry O’Blivion (Jack Creley), a man known only through his video statements. Nikki sees the Videodrome clip, goes off to audition for the show, and disappears while Renn tries to track down the makers of Videodrome after learning that they are a dangerous outfit run by Barry Convex (Leslie Carlson) who make “snuff” films.

READ MORE HERE

Captain America :trailer

2011-03-25T01:21:00.002+05:30

Ra-One 10 second teaser - updated with 30 sec one too!

2011-03-22T08:25:00.002+05:30

RA.One: the most awaited film of 2011

From the perspective of box office collections, Ashish Saxena of Big Cinemas states that after a lot of films crossed the Rs 50 crore mark last year, the expected stakes and returns on RA.One, Don 2, Ready, Bodyguard, Agneepath and Agent Vinod, to name a few, are higher this year: “We hope to do a lot better this year with a fleet of promising films from leading actors.”

Link

Playing catchup – The Prestige & Master and Commander

2011-03-22T08:10:00.000+05:30

I have no idea how or why I missed these two films when they came out. Peter Weir and Chris Nolan are my favorite directors and I try and see their films as they come out. Maybe I thought The Prestige was some cop buddies film (like Training Day) and I do have this thing about avoiding Russel Crowe films… Big mistake this time around.

The Prestige was a mind-bending tale of two rival magicians Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) who want to outdo each other in fame and kind of illusions they perform.
Borden performs the ultimate illusion which drives Angier to look for solutions that take him to Colorado to meet Tesla (David Bowie). Tesla gives Angier the means to perform the illusion of the disappearing and reappearing man, with devastating consequences. The tale twists and turns, surprising the viewer with doppelgangers, betrayals, and confrontations. But the best is saved for last as the significance of the two cats and innumerable hats dawns on the viewer.

Both Bale and Jackman turn in excellent performances, Bale as the somewhat crude, upstart magician who resorts to every trick in the book; but in the end he is outdone by Jackman who is willing to sit back and let an innocent man be sent to the gallows. Michael Caine is wonderful as Cutter, at the start as the narrator explaining to a little girl the three essential parts of any magic trick – the Pledge, the Turn and the Prestige, and later as the man who tries to keep Angier from his soul destroying journey to top Borden at his game.
In keeping with the promise of Memento, Chris Nolan delivers a fast paced, excellently layered tale that takes one on a breathless ride through the obsession that drives two men. This one is definitely worth revisiting so one can appreciate it for all it is, and look beyond the glamor of the sleight of hand at every turn in the film.

The Peter Weir film I saw next was perhaps even more interesting, because I was expecting so little from it! The HMS Surprise, under the command of Captain Jack Aubrey (Russel Crowe), is told to pursue the French Privateer ship Acheron so as to limit Napoleon’s reach into the Americas.

MORE HERE

RIP Navin Nischol, starred in a favorite film

2011-03-20T06:26:00.001+05:30

I finally managed to watch Victoria no. 203 (1972), a rip-roaring comic crime caper. The roots of so many films of modern times could be traced back to this gem. It began with a museum display of diamonds, a thief who knows the sewage system runs under the museum, and he will exit from a manhole a block away after stealing the diamonds! Dhoom 2 anyone? The diamonds are stolen but have to be stashed away in a hurry as a double cross scheme goes awry. The rocks find their way into a Victoria (yes, the ghoda-gadi) standing nearby as the thief is stabbed.
After this, the story rapidly gets layer upon layer of intrigue that involves a railway station locker, a scrap of paper with the number of the Victoria, and a key hidden under a toupee! There is a chocolate boy hero (Navin Nischol) who mostly just dallies with various girls while he waits for the real thing. There is a leading lady (Saira Banu) with so much oomph then no item girl is needed in the film.

In fact the leading lady dons a towel after a rain drenching, while the item girl of the time (Helen) merely walks by in a scene, fully dressed! But the real fun starts when Raja (Ashok Kumar) and Rana (Pran), two petty thieves come out of jail, are “gifted” a car they think they are stealing, and chance upon the toupeed gentleman, now dead, and the KEY! The duo are in fine form as they rampage through Mumbai looking for the taala to go with the chabhi! The 60+ year-old Ashok Kumar mostly skirt chases women of all shapes, sizes and ages (Sexy Sam of the 70s!), and drinks desi tharra like a fish imbibes water. The villainous villain Anwar Hussain has numerous henchman, who fall like flies as they try to double cross him at every turn. In the end there is a climax in a warehouse with ropes and barrels and a coal fire pit, and tricks with fake diamonds and real diamonds! Mr. Santoshi was taking careful notes at this point in the film – watch this and then Andaz Apna Apna to see what inspired the climax of that one!

Read More here

Life in a Metro – quite enjoyable despite the plagiarized bits!

2011-03-15T10:35:00.000+05:30

I saw two Anurag Basu movies almost back to back – Gangster and LIA Metro. I wish there was some way to put the best of these films together and make an awesome film. Gangster had a taut script and did not have as much disconnect as Metro, but Metro had some fine performances and great music.

Metro is centered around an apartment that belongs to Rahul (Sharman Joshi) and he is happy to loan the keys to all and sundry for an edge up the career ladder. Sound familiar? Of course it should, there was a great film called The Apartment with exactly this theme where Jack Lemmon played the beleaguered employee who had to spend cold nights outside while his bosses “used” the apartment. And Rahul loves Neha (Kangana Ranaut) from afar only to find that she is one of the girls the boss Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon) takes to the apartment. In the original this role of a vulnerable career girl was played by the incomparable Shirley McLaine and Kangana tries to channel her for all she is worth. Now to make his story original Mr. Basu flails about and adds on many other stories – Ranjeet has an ignored wife Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) who meets a man Akash (Shiny Ahuja) on a train/bus and starts to fall for him. Shikha’s sister Shruti (Konkona Sen Sharma) shares an apartment with Neha and is pining for love to happen to her. After some Page 3 type mis-steps (date is gay) she falls for Monty (Irrfan Khan). Confused? Wait there is more – Shikha and Shruti’s mom Shivani (Nafeesa Ali) meets up with her old flame Amol (Dharmendra) and he busts her out of some place she is not allowed to leave.

So these pieces ebb and flow in the ocean that is Mumbai and we see a slice of working class life in the metro. Whenever there is a poignant moment there is a beautiful song that no main character sings. Instead we have a flea bitten trio of singers who do the honors. This is right out of Something about Mary – worked there, but here it is hokey to the extreme and the dudes are very annoying. They totally ruin the fine music in the film.

READ MORE HERE

Dum Maro Dum song long promo - Deepika's item song

2011-03-11T11:22:00.004+05:30

Watch out for Johnny – Johnny Gaddaar

2011-03-10T13:19:00.000+05:30

If you grew up reading James Hadley Chase and his prototype stories of the not so bad (but not good) protagonists, who always fell for the wrong woman, tried to make it big, but things went wrong in a very bad way – then this is a must watch for you! I am still stunned by the sheer quality, charisma and entertainment of this film. Dharam was Garam, Neil does a credible job as a heart-throb and the film probably shows him at his best, even Rimi Sen was competent.
Dharam made me so nostalgic for the 70s – “It is not about age but mileage” LOL!!! I liked Rasika, Govind Namdeo, Zakir Hussain – in fact it is safe to say that no one turned in a bad performance. Neil Mukesh is one to watch out for – best when he played the innocent, but also great when he was the schemer. The new man about town was certainly Neil Nitin Mukesh after this film, too bad he has squandered most of that capital on lesser films and in lesser roles.

READ MORE HERE!

Fast Five trailer 2

2011-03-09T00:43:00.001+05:30

Cars2 Trailer (updated with Trailer 3 )

2011-03-08T19:46:00.001+05:30

The PERFECT awards! Oscars, TwiFi and others in between

2011-03-06T02:06:00.000+05:30

We were told TwiFi Awards would be the perfect platform to pick the best and most deserving candidates to award. It helped that the platform was being set up just as the usual award shows were going on in B-town, with the same perform and walk away with the prize allegations, the behind the curtain machinations, the favorites, and even talk of the buying and selling of awards. It all seemed a bit sleazy and most of these ceremonies were simply big dance and perform parties. A leading journalist took the opportunity to berate the B-town awards and tell to look to the Oscars for how it is really done – see their professionalism, their selection process, and their seamless and classy show!

Of course the Oscars happened, and I did spend my precious time looking to the show for all I was promised. I came away with a sense of acute disappointment as far as the show and the awards were both concerned. Give me Ranbir Kapoor in a dress over James Franco in a dress, and the Filmfare song dance routine over the disembowelled and butchered performances at the Oscars. As for the award choices themselves – I was left wishing for a “critics” category so the likes of Hailee Stenfeld, Jesse Eisenberg, Chris Nolan, and True Grit would have been appropriately rewarded! The members of the Academy did a fine job of mimicking the online voting set up by our magazines – the difference was that the magazines came up with a list of nominations using the brute force vote approach, while the Academy fuddy-duddies manged to use something like that to actually select winners!!! And yes the oft mentioned fact that Harvey Weinstein ended up pushing the King’s Speech into virtually every winning category reminded me much of the buying and selling of B-town awards.

READ MORE HERE!

Super Trailer

2011-03-05T02:30:00.003+05:30

Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom - Trailer 2011 ( Return of Awesomeness)

2011-03-05T01:44:00.000+05:30

Water For Elephants Movie Trailer

2011-03-05T01:43:00.000+05:30

Game trailer *ing Abhishek Bachchan updated with new song promo

2011-03-01T09:19:00.001+05:30

What happens when No Entry and Heyy Babyy mate? THANK YOU!!!!

2011-03-01T07:10:00.000+05:30

The 83rd Academy awards – YAWWWWNNNNN!

2011-03-01T02:47:00.001+05:30

It could have been the drugs I was on, but this was simply the worst award show I ever saw on TV. The hosts lacked talent in extemporaneous acting, and were too young and unestablished to really be in your face or iconoclastic. So she took to costume changes at the drop of a hat (reportedly advice from Shirley McLaine) while he probably took tranquilizers (no other way to explain that bit in the dress).

That was hardly all that was wrong with the show – other than one beeped out moment, all was PC and hunky dory in Oscarland. The musical numbers were inane and took more time to set up than was spent in the performance. I am sorry Rahman fans, but his rendition of If I Rise was sleep inducing, and not helped much by the woman in the orange hair.
The awards themselves were exactly what one would expect from an academy full of fuddy duddies who date back to Citizen Kane (or maybe even earlier). The best foreign language film was a lock as soon as I saw one film with a clip of little black children running behind a truck with white people in it! And we expect them to honor our strides in film-making in out country’s context? Arre forget it yaar – they are still stuck in the holocaust and colonialism! If you want to wow THEM stick to the colonial oppression script, if you want to make your own kind of films, forget about them.
The actors and actresses were all awarded as scripted and predicted for days – no surprises. The King’s Speech won all the major accolades, telling us yet again that while the Americans gained independence a long time ago, it may take another couple of hundred years to get them mentally free of the British.
The audience was worthy of some notice. Darren Aronofsky looked benign, but David Fincher looked like he was waiting in the dock for a sentence to be pronounced. Warren Beatty looked suitably proud of his wife, while the only crowd looking suitably smug and satisfied was the King’s Speech gang. A brief glimpse of Penelope Cruz showed us a radiant confident woman, and Scarlett Johanssen in that lace gown looked divine.

READ MORE HERE!!!

Rio International trailer

2011-02-25T23:08:00.001+05:30

22 films to look out for in 2011

2011-02-24T00:26:00.000+05:30

22 Films to look out for in 2011

Tom Huddleston and David Jenkins count down the 22 titles they're most eager to catch in 2011

That's it! Adios 2010, ola 2011! But what should be looking forward to in the cinemas this year? Well, Tom Huddleston and David Jenkins have put on their horn-rimmed glasses and deerstalkers and gone in search the great cinematic prospects of the coming year.

1. The Congress
Director: Ari Folman

One thing that the Cannes Film Festival does well is its programming of modern, leftfield, adult-oriented feature animation. Israeli director Ari Folman had a major breakthrough with ‘Waltz with Bashir', his 2008 film fleshed from harrowing memories as a ground-level grunt during the war in Lebanon in the early eighties. He's set to follow that film up with ‘The Congress', an animated adaptation of a short story by Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem ('Solaris') about a dystopian reality where hallucinogenic drugs play a major part in day-to-day life. It's been rumoured that an early cut of the of film was being shown to buyers in May 2010, so a Cannes berth in 2011 looks like a distinct possibility if the animators put a few late nights in.

2. The Skin That I Live In
Director: Pedro Almodovar
No, it's not a typo. The title of the new movie by Spain's Pedro Almodovar does appear to have a rhythmically superfluous ‘that' wedged into the middle of it. Still, you doubt that Almodovar will be making such simple cosmetic errors with the film itself, which sees him working with leading man Antonio Banderas for the first time since 1990's ‘Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'. The actor is set to star as a brutal plastic surgeon who works from an operating theatre in the basement of his chateau where his girlfriend, Eva (Elena Anaya), becomes his human pin cushion. On paper, it sounds a little like George Franju's seminal 1960 body horror ‘Eyes Without a Face', but Almodovar has assured in interviews that while the film could be considered part of what he coins the ‘terror genre', it's more disturbing than scary. The film has been pencilled in for a March release date in Spain, and should go on (as is now customary for the director) to Cannes in May.

3. The Deep Blue Sea
Director: Terence DaviesThis is easily one of the most exciting cinematic prospects of 2011, not least because it's being made by one of Britain's greatest living filmmakers – Terence Davies – but also due to the fact that a from our recent visit to the set, everything about is just looks like perfect marriage of director and material. The film marks Davies's highly personalised version of the 1952 stage play by Terence Rattigan which already received an unwieldy screen adaptation in 1955 by Russian expat director, Anatole Litvak. Concerning a fraught love triangle and set amid the ruin of post-war London, the film is at once a Sirkian-ode to suppressed female expression and, of course, another of Davies's finely-honed, visually rhapsodic memory patchworks. Rachel Weisz plays the starring role of Hester Collyer, and Tom Hiddlestone and Simon Russell Beale play the men she needs to choose between. The film wrapped shooting just before Christmas, and is set to go in to post-production in the New Year.

4. Melancholia
Director: Lars von TrierNot to be confused with the 1989 film by Andi Engel, the late founder of UK distributors Artificial Eye, this is in fact the latest from Danish devil, Lars von Trier, and it looks to be his most technically ambitious project to date. Having shirked the pristine production values of early works like ‘Europa' in favour of tactile DV grot in films like ‘The Idiots', Von Trier appears to returning to that original, plusher style (though in fact, you can never really tell with him until you see the movie) in a film that sees him turning the thumb screws on a hapless group of people who are fleeing from earth due to the small fact that it's on collision course with another planet. Kirsten Dunst, who in an interview described Trier as one of ‘the best director's she's ever worked with', plays the lead, while Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgård, Brady Corbet and Trier regular, Udo Kier join her. And again, Cannes 2011 looks like it'll be a lock considering the film is scheduled for release in Denmark shortly afterwards. UPDATE: UK release has be scheduled for 1 July, 2011.

5. A Dangerous MethodDirector: David Cronenberg
Those hoping that David Cronenberg might one day return to his body-horror roots should brace themselves for disappointment, as the director heads back to the UK for a stately historical biopic about the fractious relationship between psychiatrist Carl Jung, his respected mentor Sigmund Freud and the troubled woman who came between them. Marking his third collaboration with Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen stars as Freud, keeping his ‘Eastern Promises' sidekick Vincent Cassell on as Austrian analyst Otto Gross. The cast is rounded out by Keira Knightley as the love interest, Michael Fassbender as Jung and a grab-bag of miscellaneous European talent in the smaller roles. It may sound a touch dry and stuffy, but with Cronenberg in the chair and noted screenwriter Christopher Hampton (‘Dangerous Liaisons') wielding the pen, this should be 2011's period drama to beat.

6. Wuthering Heights
Director: Andrea ArnoldIt's going to be a good year for the Bronte sisters: alongside Cary Fukunaga's supernaturally charged ‘Jane Eyre', 2011 will also see the release of ‘Fish Tank' director Andrea Arnold's bold new take on this A-level classic. For those who skipped the 6th form, the story takes place high on the wiley, windy moors (cheers, Kate Bush), where ill-tempered foundling Heathcliff, played here by newcomer James Howson, has a charged and fractious romantic relationship with prissy lady-of-the-house Catherine Earnshaw, played by the equally unknown Kaya Scodelario. Anyone familiar with Arnold's previous work will anticipate that this won't be a traditional BBC-style take on the material: expect naturalistic performances, plenty of heavy weather and one hell of an emotional kick.

7. Coriolanus
Director: Ralph Fiennes
It's ‘The Expendables' for grown-ups, as Ralph Fiennes gathers a motley, muscular posse of scowling man-thesps for his directorial debut, a modern-day adaptation of one of Shakespeare's lesser-known blood-soaked tragedies. Fiennes takes the title role of the battle-weary General who refuses to play the political game and sparks a riot on the streets of Rome. Though in this case, the majesty of the ancient world has been traded in for a filthy East European battleground: Fiennes shot the film in Belgrade this year, ditching swords for sidearms and togas for military khakis. Gerard Butler, William Hurt, Eddie Marsan and Brian Cox round out the testosterone-heavy cast, and the film will receive its world premiere in Berlin this February.

MORE AT LINK

Awesome trailer from Zack Snyders Sucker Punch ( updated with new trailer )

2011-02-23T09:18:00.000+05:30

Sucker Punch ( HD )

Santosh Sivan's URUMI

2011-02-22T01:38:00.000+05:30

Genelia, Prithvi, special appearances by Tabu and Vidya Balan and promise of a Hindi dub makes this an interesting wait!

Vishal's World

2011-02-20T05:55:00.000+05:30

Grounded: Bhardwaj says he wanted to become a director after watching Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

When 19-year-old Vishal Bhardwaj returned from cricket practice that morning, his home had been emptied out on the street. Chairs, tables, utensils, clothes, photo frames—everything lay strewn on the road outside his home in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. In the midst of it, right there on the street, his poet father—for long his best friend—lay sprawled. And lifeless.

It was one of the moments that would change the life of 45-year-old Bhardwaj, one of India’s brightest film-makers and music composers. “It was like a steady cam shot,” Bhardwaj recalls, squatted on the floor, wearing a white shirt, denims and a black jacket. He leaned against a cushion in his modest office in suburban Mumbai, gesturing the movement of a film camera with his hands. “No one said anything. They just stood there, silently looking.”
“I was very close to my father. His loss made me lose the fear of death. That is the primal, basic fear,” Bhardwaj says in an interview a few days before the release of his new film 7 Khoon Maaf. “Once you overcome that, you can take any leap, any plunge in life.”
Leaps of faith have been Bhardwaj’s favourite form of travel on his meandering journey so far, from western Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai, to becoming one of India’s most adored and acclaimed film-makers globally—a director of six well-received feature films. Bhardwaj is a true Renaissance man—he directs, composes music, writes scripts and is a singer who also writes lyrics.

The Interview ends with this:

But he doesn’t have to worry about it at all.
“I am beyond success and failure. I didn’t deserve this also. I never learnt music, I never learnt direction,” says Bhardwaj, as he slips on shoes for his next meeting.“My biggest fear is what I have seen happening to a lot of people…starting to do bad work, without realizing it.”

Read it all at LINK

Insidous , Apollo 18 trailers

2011-02-19T08:11:00.000+05:30

Thor Trailer

2011-02-18T09:32:00.000+05:30

7 Khoon Maaf - Review

2011-02-17T21:23:00.004+05:30

2.9/5 so far!
Pankaj Sabnani glamsham.com 3/5 The film gets a bit predictable after a while but the engaging screenplay makes sure that there aren't any dull moments. The gradual ageing of Susanna from a 20 to 65 year-old is deftly shown.
Gaurav Malani Times of India A different, daring and darling attempt, 7 Khoon Maaf is killer stuff. In a Vishal Bhardwaj film, music certainly has to be a highpoint. From the Russian folk inspired ' Darling ', to the rock number ' O Mama ', to the sublime ' Bekaraan ', he simply weaves magic with Gulzar.
Nikhat Kazmi Times of India 4/5 In terms of performances, 7 Khoon Maaf would undoubtedly end up as a milestone in Priyanka Chopra's career graph. The actor displays exquisite command over a complex character that is definitely a first in Indian cinema. She renders a subtle and restrained portrayal of a lonely and wronged woman who wanted love and only love from life.
Blessy Chettiar dnaindia.com 3.5/5 All in all, no words can fully express the wicked experience of 7 Khoon Maaf. Go catch it for some ‘bloody’ good performances and a great storyline.

Raja Sen rediff.com 2/5 Priyanka tries her best, but is simply not a good enough actress to justify being in a role this nuanced and demanding. It is a fantastic character, one deserving of a Sofia Loren or a Penelope Cruz..
Anupama Chopra ndtv.com 2.5/5 But this mysterious gothic world of murderous servants and their mistress who keeps cobras as pets, needed to be more fully realised and our journey into it needed to be far more seductive and engaging.
Mayank Shekhar hindustantimes.com 3/5 his movie, in some ways, is the complete, exact opposite of the popular, American 'fem-jep' ('females in jeopardy') genre. Wherein a woman silently goes through male hell.
Kahlid Mohamed passionforcinema.com 2/5 First day-first-show sprint to the multiplex on a Friday morning. You go all gung-ho but but but.. you return mumbling oh-no. What in the name of Belzebub was that?
Namrata Joshi blogs.outlookindia.com unrated Here’s a film which could have played out like a simple yet profound fable, somewhat like Blue Umbrella. Instead you find the opulence of the dreamlike frames clashing unnervingly with references to actual events
Kaveree Bamzai India Today 3/5 It makes a wonderful series of vignettes, with Susanna, the hostess, played by Priyanka Chopra, graciously allowing herself to be used and abused. Sadly, though, it's no more than that.
Taran Adarsh bollywoodhungama.com 3/5 However, the film will meet with diverse reactions - some will fancy it, while some will abhor it. The film will appeal more to the critics/columnists and the festival circuit. However, it is not the kind of cinema that will set the box-office ablaze.

Milliblog

MUSIC REVIEW

The Kalinka-inspired Darling has an underwhelming rhythm…for such a mesmerizing tune! Usha Uthup and Rekha Bharadwaj make an incredible combo, but get their due only in the other version, Doosri Darling – the soundtrack’s magnificent highlight! This one gets an exciting and authentic Russian background, while Rekha’s vocals acquire a naughty edge. Vishal’s own vocals in Bekaran, along with that dulcet tune and Gulzar’s love-soaked sentences bear the composer’s standard style, but also a lot of Rahman. O’ Mama is very Amit Trivedi’ish, with its gradual build-up and rock riffs; KK rules this track and Gulzar stands out with his brilliant ‘Ek meow si Ladki’! Its acoustic version is a wonderful listen too! Master Saleem’s Awaara is templatized for most part, but for that haunting orchestration and a short sitar interlude. Tere liye seems to mildly invoke Eagles’ Best of My Love – this soothing, Suresh Wadkar-sung song is absolute magic in every sense. Dil dil hai enters Amit Trivedi territory again; Suraj Jagan does the honors in style in this incredibly energetic and catchy track. Rekha’s Yeshu is almost eerie, for a heartfelt prayer, but moves to an expansive chorus in the antara. Vibrant, delectable music from Vishal…yet again!

Akki tries for his Lagaan moment – Patiala House!

2011-02-15T10:13:00.000+05:30

After the box office disappointment of Chandni Chowk to China, director Nikhil Advani returns with a film set in London with full on Punjabiyat and nationalism at its core. Right at the start we see racial riots, skinheads, racially motivated killing of a member of the Kahlon family and are given the back story for why Rishi Kappor is the kind of patriarch he is. He lives in his own little enclave, populated with his extended family that we are never really introduced to, other than to be told that they all have aspirations that do not match the expectations the patriarch has of them.
So the family lives on London and yet hatred for the “goras” simmers in Baauji’s heart. He feels that making jalebis is more patriotic than becoming a chef, and running a corner convenience store in London is anti-British, while playing cricket for the English team is traitorous behavior. This is the tyranny that the Kahlon family suffers under, while they live in a mansion and have lavish Punjabi weddings and festivities. This is accompanied by Punjabi, rappy and peppy music.
To deliver them from under the tyrant’s rule, Gattu (Akshay Kumar) must revive his dream to play cricket for England and give them the courage to pursue their dreams. Why is a 34 year old man, who never played test cricket, even given a chance? Apparently England are hurting bad and county and university cricket throws up no possibles other than a man who quit the game 17 years ago! All this while we see Akshay Kumar in a glum and morose, almost funereal, avatar, where he neither speaks much nor ever cracks a smile. He tells us this is his finest role to date – I say give me Bachchan Pandey any day! He is persuaded to bowl for the Queen by a motormouth neighbor Simran (Anushka Sharma) who is always accompanied by a pint-sized kid. Next there are a series of improbable events that allow the clan to hide all evidence of Gattu’s (now called Kaali) going against Baauji’s wishes. The cricket shows us people we are likely to see around almost all the time in these days of event upon event in cricket, no novelty there. Other than the mention of Lala Amarnath and Akshay’s strange bowling movement nothing new or unique comes our way via the cricket.

Read more HERE

Incendies - best Foreign film nominee

2011-02-13T00:35:00.001+05:30

What an astonishing trailer!

7 Khoon Maaf updated 2 song trailers

2011-02-12T09:50:00.000+05:30

It is raining posters! I like this one:

This is one is the real Priyanka, not a stylized picture!

Patiala House - reviews

2011-02-11T11:35:00.002+05:30

Ratings at 2/5 SO FAR!

Anupama Chopra - NDTV 2.5/5 gigantic loopholes hobble Patiala House. As does the lazy writing – none of the other family members make an impression and Bauji is such an exasperating character that even Rishi Kapoor can’t humanise him.
Kunal Guha yahoo movies 1.5/5 what's terribly disappointing for anyone who understands the game even a bit, is that our Punjab express chucks every single time (check bowling action!).
Taran Adarsh bollywoodhungama.com 4/5 On the whole, PATIALA HOUSE is a film about attachments, affiliations and familial bonding. It's a compelling watch, more for its drama and histrionics than anything else.
Sonia Chopra sify.com 2/5 Director Nikhil Advani's storytelling is archaic and simplistic... when Gattu explains .. that his dad's heart would break if he played cricket, you actually hear a thunder-and-lightening sound effect.
Mayank Shekhar Hindustan Times 2/5 To use popular journalese, the peg of this Patiala (House) story is British racism of the early '90s. . . If anything, this is one of the best of recent Akshay Kumar flicks, from a rapidly expanding annual inventory, of course.
Rajeev Masand CNN IBN 1.5/5 Akshay Kumar as Gattu ... it’s a labored performance, lacking the subtleties and nuances that could have made it truly heart-felt.

Khalid Mohamed passionforcinema.com 2/5 They’re U K, you’re not O K. In fact, you suffer in silence as the cliché-drops keep falling on your head
Nikhat Kazmi Times of India 3/5 Every little twist and turn of this self-realisation soap opera is pre-ordained and terribly familiar.

Super Bowl Movie Spots

2011-02-09T10:47:00.002+05:30

So Aamir has signed on to do Dhoom 3 – rewind back to Dhoom 2!

2011-02-05T12:04:00.000+05:30

Reading the news of Aamir signing on to do Dhoom 3, and also that Katrina would be in the film led to a flashback to my attempt to see Dhoom2!

I watched this one in installments. The first 15 minutes go by -
1. Thief defies laws of Physics and para drops right onto a moving train, landing with his feet firmly planted
2. The queen coincidentally has a long face and beaked nose just like the thief – what was he, her long lost son or something?

3. The queen has guards that fire bullets made of India rubber, unable to penetrate a surfboard – the thief can deflect them one after the other using said surfboard.
4. One qualification to be the queen’s security guard is inability to shoot straight – said guards cannot shoot at a man who is hooked up to the train and being pulled behind it on a surf board.
5. The thief has a supernatural surfboard that can cross over train tracks and go from side to side. Wait – maybe it can deflects bullets too?
6. The thief then surfboards away among sand dunes – is the surfboard motorized? we are now 5 – 6 minutes into the film…
7. cut to a hot number with lots of hip grinding dance moves, muscled thief and scantily clad babes and all…
8. cut to a boat onto which a motorcycle lands and stops just like that. Sat up and took notice of some Uday Chopra dialogs
9. Two bad guys have guns drawn on him and they wait, and they wait, and they wait
10. A jet ski comes out from UNDER water, flies sky high and lands on the boat and stops just like that. ACP Jai rides it with his hair unruffled
11. Is the boat an aircraft carrier?
12. People stand around and shoot at each other, now no one even makes a pretense of ducking.
13. Amidst all the shooting and standing around the phone rings and some Bangla conversation starts.
This queen – he/she was the ugliest royal I have ever seen (and you know that feat is actually pretty hard to accomplish) – but then of course in Dhoom 3 Mr. A will turn out to be her illegitimate son and so they had to resemble each other! I watch a bit more to catch the most beautiful woman but no appearance yet.. In the meantime

Read more HERE!

Caught Between Three Walls – Teen Deewarein

2011-02-02T12:00:00.000+05:30

I saw Teen Deewarein recently and was mesmerized by this film. At first I got the feeling that I had seen all of this before and I hate that. A little bit of analysis told me that I had seen all that in Bas Ek Pal which came out 3 years later. Nagesh Kukunoor’s masterpiece inspired a lesser ripoff which still managed to keep me engaged.. but that is another topic. Back to Teen Deewarein..

Three men are on death row. Jaggu (Jackie Shroff) repeatedly stabbed his wife, Naagya (Nagesh Kukunoor) is accused of pushing his wife in front of a speeding car, and Ishaan Mirza (Naseeruddin Shah) is accused of shooting a pregnant bank teller during a botched bank robbery. They are all in the same jail being run as a benevolent dictatorship by the jailer Mohan Kumar (Gulshan Grover). A beautiful documentary film maker Chandrika (Juhi Chawla) walks into the jail and wants to document the lives of these prisoners on death row. She follows them around and tries to get their stories. Naagya repeatedly professes his innocence, claiming that he did not push his wife, Jaggu is waiting to die so he can be justly punished for killing his wife, Ishaan says he tripped over someone and the gun went off accidentally but he cannot find who he tripped over. Jail life is shown simply and effectively – the story treats the magical and sordid moments in a very matter of fact way. Chandrika’s husband is a wife beater and abuser and we get that story without any melodrama. The circle does not seem complete though and you wait for something to happen. It does seem to happen when Chandrika helps Ishaan to escape from jail. The shocking revelations that follow do not complete the circle and also leave one important hole in the story for me. Hence the spoiler warning!!!! Why was it important to show who tripped Ishaan yet not show her having any remorse over the fact that he really did not fire the gun deliberately? Either we did not need to see this and could have been left with an enigma – was Ishaan pulling our leg all along or was he innocent, or we needed to see the circle completed fully which did not happen. This is one thing that prevents me from giving this film a rating of 10. Other than that – I love it, love it!

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What if Bachchan was one of us?

2011-02-02T11:49:00.000+05:30

Raja Sen
Audiences refuse to believe that stars are human too
Aishwarya Rai has the worst fans. Being an Internet-based film critic for awhile now, I can attest to having received a wee bit more than my share of hate-mail. It’s quite staggering, really, to realise just how passionate people are about cinema, and more than a trifle alarming to wrap the brain around the fact that a very significant number of folks would love to bash my skull in based merely on disagreement – simply because, for example, I didn’t like 3 Idiots.

And while I haven’t yet faced physical violence – threats stopped fazing me quite some time ago – it’s always interesting to see just how quickly people jump to their feet to democratically proclaim an opinion wrong. And then there are the bizarre kneejerk reactions – like being branded ‘unpatriotic’ after finding fault with something Amitabh Bachchan does — and fantastical accusations of favouritism.

For example, a cursory glance around the Web will lead you to all sorts of conspiracy theories about how I am a corrupt champion of all things SRK, and while I think Mr Khan – whom I have met all of one time, during which he didn’t hand me a mithai-dabba stuffed with banknotes – is a better actor than usually given credit for, the claws come out for his films just the same as everyone else. (Of course, under those reviews a new bunch of commenters wisely proclaim that I live in Akshay Kumar’s pocket.)

The Internet messageboards are a thing of wonder. The process, in a nutshell, goes thusly: An article mentions Rajnikanth. A reader instantly calls Bachchan the real God.

A third brings in a Khan. Cue conchshells, signalling the onset of war. And there we have it, boom, a simple review spawns a shameful discussion: a riotous melee, complete with racial slurs and regionalistic jargon and extreme obscenity. Bad, bad bloodshed, this.

Now, the haters have found Twitter. One unfavourable adjective about an actor they have a crush on results in my timeline choked with abuse. I stopped taking the bile personally several years ago – a close friend put it enviably well when she pointed out that I “had made enemies among the ungrammatical” – but since I actually enjoy Twitter, it is occasionally jarring to stumble upon a swearword when expecting a smile.

Which brings me back to the first line of today’s column, one Ash should perhaps be concerned about. I frequently rip apart movies I consider bad – and she has admittedly kept herself in the firing line all through the last year – but her fans, and especially her online fanclubs, are the most profane bunch by a mile. Hiding behind stunning pictures of her, they use language that would shock a Mumbai policeman. Shame, Ash-fans, shame. Do you kiss your Taal poster with that mouth?

LINK

Ajay Devgan drinks some Koffee with Karan

2011-01-31T08:37:00.001+05:30

This was one of the more candid and refreshing episodes of KWK. Having Ajay as a guest and hearing from the horse's mouth tidbits about his life was very interesting. Ajay is media shy so this was a coup of sorts. Fun episode.

Peep World Trailer

2011-01-29T09:29:00.002+05:30

Soul surfer Trailer

2011-01-29T08:09:00.000+05:30

Dhobi Ghat - Baby Steps into the 20th century

2011-01-26T10:47:00.000+05:30

Hindi cinema, particularly that called Bollywood cinema, is often a pastiche of snippets and vignettes from cinema all over the world. And the influences are usually aged and not modern. Thus Life in a Metro, the film that could almost be Dhobi Ghat if minimalized, took an entire sequence in its interconnecting stories from the Billy Wilder 1960 film The Apartment, but wove in a few other tales around the trysting place to modernize the whole. Others did not care as much – Tees Maar Khan went right to deSica’s 1966 film After the Fox and simply added in a few extreme characters and item songs to season the tale for Indian palates.

Now Kiran Rao has dared to drag Hindi cinema into the 20th century by making Dhobi Ghat. Simply for that attempt to move beyond the set narrative based films we should commend her. However, these are still baby steps and a large distance remains to be traversed. The influence of world cinema is very strong on Dhobi Ghat. The set of interconnecting stories shifting and reforming like dynamic puzzle pieces around a teeming city, and the pensive mood set by the reclusive artist as he broods over video-taped letters he finds, makes it easy to spot the unmistakable Wong Kar Wai influence. In 1994 Kar Wai made Chungking Express, a story of two love-lorn policemen, unconnected tales, except for the city they were in, and the fact that both had lost love. There too the mood was pensive, dreamy, and whole film an artist’s palette of color, mood and motion. Of course more recently Inarritu has taken interconnecting stories to a different level, starting with Amores Perros. The stories intersect usually triggered by some violent or catastrophic event, something that has no doubt influenced Kiran Rao. Skirting city centric films like Paris Je T’Aime, which somehow tried to connect 20 stories set in the real star of the film, Paris, she makes Mumbai an almost living breathing entity without glorifying it in any way. This is a scary Mumbai, where the watchman does not know what happened to a past tenant and (without spoilers given away) that seems almost unbelievable, there are drug wars and killings, and good looking men pimp their looks for money.
The package is let down by some amateurish writing that is riddled with coincidences, and some miscasting that drags down the effort.
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