The best, the worst and the in between - adieu 2010

The year is racing to a finish, and it is time to look back at what went by, or rather whizzed by. I wish I could have read more, seen more films, traveled more places – and eaten less
Films: There were some really good ones and there were some really bad ones, and then there was mostly a lot of stuff in between. After a hiatus from Bollywood I went back to watching a lot of BW films (mostly what released in theaters here), while picking my HW films with care and caution! Here is a HW list:
1. Inception – loved the film, the mind-bender that kept us thinking and discussing for days on end. Leo DiCaprio did not disappoint and Marion Cotillard was luminous.

SLB se meri Guzaarish!

I am a fan of his films, I admit it. I saw Khamoshi 2 years ago and found it mesmerizing right from the moment that Seema Biswas got close to the speaker and the LOUD music came on. AND I finally understood why Salman could create mass hysteria. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was a musical feast full of rioting colors and Aishwarya and Salman had a crackling chemistry.

Guzaarish reviews start coming in! 2.6 stars so far

Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama 4 stars  On the whole, GUZAARISH is an invigorating tale. Bhansali, as a film-maker, has scaled several notches above his past accomplishments to create a near-perfect cinematic experience
Nikhat Kazmi, Times of India  4 stars  A film like Guzaarish isn't made for the box office. It's made for the gratification of the senses. And that it does, in ample measure. 
Subhash K Jha, BWHungama  no rating  During a year when cacophonic crassness masquerading as comic entertainment has been sanctioned by critics and the masses, Guzaarish comes along to remind us that excellence of the highest order is alive and throbbing in our cinema.
Renuka Rao - DNA India 3 stars  Guzaarish is poignant but hardly phenomenal
Kunal Guha - Yahoo movies 1 star A song in the film Guzaarish warns you about the film. It goes something like, "Sau gram zindagi hain..." so think twice before wasting some of it watching this film.
SIFY review 2.5 stars hansali’s love story doesn’t move you the way it is intended to. It’s unique, but not necessarily special. That pretty much sums up the film as well.
Aniruddha Guha, DNA India 2 stars The flaws are many. The acting seems right out of an ’80’s hamfest.
Raja Sen Rediff 2.5 stars - Hrithik Impresses, Bhansali doesn't!
BigOye 3 stars The film is a splendid drama, but fails to excite the audience. If you are a patron of Bhansali's art work, go for it!
Anupama Chopra NDTV 3 stars (well 2.75 actually!!) This fantasy would be effective if the writing was more organic and the emotions felt more authentic but Bhansali never gives us a chance to invest in these people. 
Pankaj Sabnani, Glamsham 3.5 stars  GUZAARISH is poignant, amazing and simply 'magical'. A sincere 'guzaarish', please go watch it. 
Komal Nahta 1.5 stars On the whole, Guzaarish is a beautiful film for the classes but will face rejection among the masses. 
Rajeev Masand, CNN IBN 2 stars Guzaarish is beautifully shot and has a larger-than-life operatic feel to it. But it’s also shamelessly manipulative. It’s hard to care for Bhansali’s characters because the emotions never feel real. 
Namrata Joshi UNRATED! I will see Three Colours Blue. Asap. Just so I can get back to appreciating the use of colour palette in a film. 
Sukanya Varma, Filmfare no rating Guzaarish is not the storm he may have intended it to be, but it is that little spell of rain that invades your life for a bit. But just for that bit…
Khalid Mohd. PFC 2 stars Overloaded with English dialogue, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish, never quite comes to grips with its theme of mercy killing. Or emotional healing.
Gautam Chintamani, BUZZ 2 stars What matter is living life to the fullest even it’s just 100 grams! All in all Guzaarish isn’t all that bad but then it’s not worth dying for.
Shubhra Gupta, Indian Express 2 stars Guzaarish is a pretty picture with precious little magic: Bhansali needs to recharge his wand.
Vinod Mirani, Indian Television no rating Yes, this also another pretentious Hindi film in English in most parts.
Read more: ‘Guzaarish’ Review By Komal Nahta | Koimoi.com 

Baradwaj Rangan, Blogical Conclusion 3 stars The last scene, the last image actually, is over-the-top ludicrous – but perhaps it’s because the film can never decide on which side of the good-taste divide it wants to fully settle into.
Mayank Shekhar, Hindustan Times 3 stars  Let’s not hear any more rubbish on this movie not being a direct inspiration. Bhansali’s Guzaarish is as much The Sea Inside as his Black was Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker (1962). A whole lot. And yet, not wholly.
Shubhra Gupta, India Today 2 stars How fake can a movie get? Well, you know when the heroine flounces around in Victorian costumes, when the hero sings "It's a Wonderful Life" (ruined the song for me for life) and when the understudy dresses like Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker.

Sabyasaachi talks about the styling of Guzaarish!

Sabyasachi Mukherjee

How was it working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the second time after six years (Black)?

I have to tell you, in spite of the fact that both Sanjay and me are such intense people, it was great. I enjoy working with him because he is so methodical and organised. While the rest of the directors are still finding out what to do with their scripts, Sanjay is ready and bound with his script months in advance, everything broken down scene by scene. Sanjay knows exactly what he wants with his set, light and costume. Unless you do that, it is impossible to make a great visual film. You cannot make a visually stunning film unless the director of photography (Sudeep Chatterjee), art director (Sumit Basu) and costume director are in sync.

And in this case there was the great Bong connection ‘in sync’…

Yes. We three Bengalis were on the same page, sharing similar sensibilities.

Guzaarish updated with 4th Dialog promo - REVEALS ALL

Baradwaj Rangan writes an ode to Guzaarish music!

Between Reviews: Songs of the Soul

In Between Reviews, Cinema: Hindi, Music: Indian Film, Music: Review (Hindi Film) on November 6, 2010 at 6:00 pm

Long, meandering thoughts inspired by the long, meandering melody lines in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s remarkably expressive score for ‘Guzaarish,’ his latest ode to the opera.

NOV 7, 2010 – METRE IS TO MUSIC what iron bars are to a lioness in captivity – it calms us with the illusion that the untamable has been tamed. Without this rhythmic symmetry, we are no longer in charge. The music is in charge, the music controls us – much like how free verse mandates that we bend to its idiosyncratic will in ways that formally fashioned poetry doesn’t. When music is compacted into neat measures, we can afford to relegate it to the background as we cook and do the laundry and drive to work with the corner of an eye on the latest incoming text message. We can even hum along. Pop music – whose mission is to be contemporary and catchy – thrives on metrical precision, and because most Indian pop music is really film music, our songs are almost always constructed like pop songs, with short musical phrases, with intentional repeats at regular intervals, and with the metre exposed through pulsating percussion. One-two-three-FOUR, one-two-three-FOUR our internal metronome goes, and our feet pick up these subconscious signals and tap along in sweet submission.

Allegations that Bhansali's Guzaarish is a copy!

A still from Guzaarish More Pics

Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) is in the middle of a plagiarism row.

According to veteran writer/director Dayanand Raajan, his unpublished novel Summer Snow has been ripped off, almost in totality, by the makers of Guzaarish. Raajan has dashed off a legal notice to the producers, UTV and SLB asking them for an explanation on how their film has so many similarities with his novel. A seven-days notice period has been given to the allegedly accused failing which Dayanand will move court to get a stay order on the release on the movie.

Guzaarish updated with new song promo - UDI!