Harry Potter finale is the grandest ever

Ten years, seven books, eight movies and a mindbogglingly finale close to the Harry Potter franchise. And what better way to close the chapter in 3-D. To ensure we get confirmed seats, we booked the 9.30 am show at Imax, Wadala. I don't remember going to a cinema hall that early in the day, ever. The action starts soon enough; first a recap of the last scene of the first part, Voldemort's access to the Elder Wand, followed by a grim look at Hogwarts patrolled by the Dementors who seem to be standing right next to your seat if seen through those 3-D goggles. It's surreal; you know in less than three hours it's all going to come to an end, no more anticipating the release of J.K.Rowling's books, no more reading the morning papers with pictures of children with the happiest faces as if they've won the treasure hunt after braving 5-mile long serpentine (thankfully not the Nagini types) queues in cold weather of foreign shores, with their latest Harry Potter books- sometimes personally signed by the author Ms Rowling- no more scouting on You Tube for a trailer of an upcoming Harry Potter movie and as far as I am concerned, no more anticipating to borrow the book from my nieces and waiting desperately to run off to Panchgani on a holiday armed with the particular Harry Potter book of the movie that is just about to release.

That's what I used to do; I never read the books well in advance, as soon as they hit the stands, fresh from the press for the first time ever, definitely not finishing the books in those crazy two to three hours that kids these days do with Harry Potter books. Even soirees last longer than that. My strategy was to pick up a book whose movie was about to release. Read that book a good two or three months before its movie version was to release, have the book fresh in my mind and then go to watch the movie without the knowledge of what has happened in subsequent versions. That way, I thought I could enjoy and appreciate the movies better.

The first part of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was much tamer than the grand finale, but the setting was perfect. Part-II moves fast, cuts out all the unnecessary riff-raff, the director cleverly assumes you're on the plot and read the book, and sticks to the bare essentials. The ending is changed a bit, but the ride is as thrilling as you'd ever imagine. Several moments stands out, especially the sensational break-in and the daring escape from the Gringotts Bank, the fortification of Hogwarts Castle by Professor McGonagall and team and Snape's touching encounter with Harry Potter. I also felt the 3-D experience to be more pronounced here than in Avataar but that's maybe because I am a Harry Potter fan and I never really much cared for Avataar. The Dementors- if seen through the 3-D goggles- will seem to be standing right next to you. Lord Voldemort lights up the screen every time he appears ; brilliant Ralf Fiennes will ensure his performance will go down as one of the most feared villains of cinematic history. Rowling's insistence on having only British actors work in Harry Potter franchise has paid off. To me- and countless Harry Potter fans- this will be one of the most memorable chapters of our lives, to have lived through the Harry Potter days, books, movies, spells and Hogwarts. 

'The King's Speech' is good, not great

Caught up with 'The King's Speech' recently, about a couple of weeks back, at the multiplex is Vashi, a quaint but very distant suburb of Mumbai. South Mumbai may be a great place to live, but I think if you want to go to best of malls or the cheapest of multiplex to enjoy as many movies as possible with a tidy budget, suburbs are the place to be. A ticket of Black Swan in Inox, Nariman Point  set me back by Rs350, but 'The King's Speech' in Big Cinemas, Palm Beach Galleria Road, Vashi, cost me just Rs100. Five of us watched it for a cumulative sum of Rs500. For years, townies ruled the roost, now I think the suburbanites are having the last laugh for affordable entertainment, while we townies pay through our nose! And Big Cimenas, Vashi, was very decent. Seats were comfortable, the cafeteria was decent and we had attendants coming in and taking food orders. Come to think, Palm Beach road didn't remind me that I was in Mumbai; it sort of reminded me of the outskirts of Pune.

Coming back to the movie, I thought the movie was good. Though I read somewhere that the British authorities have distanced themselves from many events that take place in the movie (despite this movie's makers claiming it's a true story). Colin Firth is a good actor and he turns up another fine performance; a worthy Oscar winner for his role. You could sense his struggle to get words out as he stammers his way through his lines as a reluctant speaker; the fear, the struggle, the helplessness, the sense of shame, all emotions aptly conveyed. It was nice to see so many Harry Potter movie actors in the movie, leading with Helena Bonham Carter who aptly played the role of the King's wife.

That said, I do not approve of the movie having bagged the Oscar for the Best Motion Picture. That honour belonged to 'Inception', in my opinion. The King's Speech was a feel-good, tear-jerker, that would appeal to most of us. But Inception was on a different level altogether. That its director, Christopher Nolan wasn't even nominated in the Best Director category was the darkest spot of this year's Academy awards and gives you a glimpse of the ways of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  

The President Is Coming

Caught a very funny play yesterday. It's called 'The President is Coming'. Apparently, it was adopted into a movie too- that got critical acclaim- but I did not catch the movie. Though I am glad I watched the play. It was conducted in the experimental theater at the National Centre for Performing Arts (Ncpa). This is one of the five theatres in the NCPA complex; the others that I have gone to are the Tata Theatre (where many large-scale production houses showcase their plays; entrance from the main Nariman Point road) and the grand Jamshed Bhabha theatre (entrance from the sea-touching promenade side of the complex) where usually the Orchestras are conducted.

The Experimental theatre has a very distinct setting to it. Instead of a usual theatre setting where the sitting is in the front of the stage, the experimental theatre has sitting in the front, at the sides and there is a balcony (you enter the main hall through the entrance much like everybody and then climb the steps right after you get in, to go up on the balcony which looks like a clutch of two rows of seats on a large platform, hoisted above. Very aptly, it is called the Experimental Theatre; infact choosing seats online (if you haven't gone there already like was the case with me) could be tricky. I played safe and chose the medium-priced tickets. It was my first at the Experimental Theater. Our alloted seats turned out to be at the left side of the stage, though I recommend the front rows facing the stage.

The play started sharp at 8 pm, though it could have been five to 10 minutes here and there, but I did not notice. The play is set in 2006 when then-US president George Bush visited India and wanted to meet "the new India". It's about a group of six young boys and girls who compete with each other- reality show Big Boss style- to win the coveted chance (given by the US embassy) to be the one to meet and shake hands with the President. As the competition begins, the gloves come off slowly but gradually, as the contestants try various tricks in the book to outsmart one another and gain the upper hand in the competition. The play runs for little less than 2 hours with an interval thrown in. The show is directed by Q Theatre Productions (Q stands for Quasar Thakore Padamsee; one of the four- or was it three- founders of the production house). Well-written script, good direction, brilliant performances and tongue-in-cheek humour that will keep you applauding and asking for more. Going to the Ncpa is always a pleasant experience, especially if the play turns out to be great.

Don't miss it.


(picture credit: Q Theatre Productions' monthly e-newsletter blog 'http://qtpthescript.blogspot.com/')

Harry Potter and the Social Network

Watched 'The Social Network' last Thursday and 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - part 1' today. The Social Network is a classic film and surely one of the best of 2010. It's about how Facebook was founded, allegedly amidst theft, greed and deceit. I don't know how much of the Facebook story is true- I've heard that Mark Zuckerberg has distanced himself with the book 'The Accidental Billionaire' again allegedly a semi-biopic of him, and on which this movie is based upon. Nevertheless, if you're on Facebook, you must watch this film. I bet you'll look at FB a bit differently after watching this movie. It's not an action movie, yet is extremely engaging and fast-paced. There's not a dull moment. performances from the lead actor, his buddy and the entire staff is amazing. Despite being full of dialogues- and spoken really fast at at that you mat miss out on a few lines here and there- it captures your attention; the script runs like the edge of a sat thriller.



The above trailer is sourced from YouTube

I watched Harry Potter at the Imax Dome theater in Wadala, Mumbai. Only now they've removed the actual dome screen (the building structure and the insides of the theater remains) and replaced with a FLAT screen. But this screen is said to be the largest in town; atleast its the largest flat screen I've seen. It's quite an experience to watch a Hollywood movie here with special effects. Because the makers divided into two parts (Part I is released now; Part II will release in July 2011), the Part I rarely left out anything from the book so far. Details of many scenes from the book were left out, but all the important portions of most of the scenes are in the movie. The imprisonment and torture of the troika (Harry, Hermoine and Ron) was greatly shortened and without any sting, but apart from that, rest was all there. Few liberties are taken from the book such as an impromptu dance between Harry and Hermoine (the former tries to cheer up the latter who is devastated) inside the forest tent in the middle of the forest a few days after Ron abandons them. But the scene stealer is Lord Voldemort (masterfully enacted by Ralf Fiennes). As the evil wizard wanting to take control of the wizarding world, get rid of muggles (non magic people), Fiennes plays the part to perfection and evokes every bit of hatred from the viewer. Just the way he holds his wand, looks into your eye or cast a curse at you emanates terror and sends a chill down your spine. There's a certain energy and an edge-of-the-seat excitement every time he comes on screen, though he largely is there in the first and the last scene. Clearly, the best 'baddie' performance in cinema history, despite the least amount of dialogues.

Guzarish: A caricature

A serious matter such as Euthanasia ought to deserve a better tale than Guzarish, a movie by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. I watched the movie yesterday and came out disappointed.    At the end of three-hour extended marathon, Euthanasia came across as merely an excuse to paint an artistic canvas and create lush and the kind of opulent movie sets a cinematographer would love to create to win the the chance for an Oscar. But apart from the way the film looks- which by itself is unbelievable since it looks straight out of an ancient tale- there's very little else the film offers. You don't root for Euthanasia, you don't vote against it, you don't know why we should argue for it or against it.

The movie's central character Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan)- an ex-magician- has been paraplegic for 14 long years after a magic act went horribly wrong. He is looked after by his nurse, Sofia D'Souza (Aishwarya Rai) who dresses herself in long gowns- the kind you'd probably see in period dramas of 1920s and 1930s Spanish / Portuguese movies- bright red lipstick and a rose in her hair , and also by a few housemaids.

Guzarish could have been much more, considering there are many levels of Euthanasia that could have been explored on account of its complexity. The fact that there are dozens of cases pending in courts in many nations around the world, including India, and where the authorities find themselves in dilemma- are we going against nature, is it right for someone to take his / her own life- is in itself proof of its complexity. Performances are average. Hrithik's performance may be one of his best, but he is clearly not one of our better actors. Rai was just okay too. But to see the topic being reduced to an almost caricature- such as the court scene played out at the palatial mansion where Mascarenhas lives and fought by melodramatic lawyers (over-acted prosecutor v/s  melodramatic and teary-eyed defense attorney)- is disheartening. The movie is average at best, but mostly drags on, especially towards the end and it's long-drawn climax. The good part was that I got to see the trailer of Aamir Khan's upcoming production (directed by wife Kiran), 'Dhobi Ghat', in the interval. Now that's a movie I am dying to watch.

Endhiran Mubarak

Aamir Khan has admirers. Salman Khan has fans. Amitabh Bacchan has followers. But RAJNI has devotees. This is what I saw, experienced and felt after watching South superstar Rajnikant's latest blockbuster release, Endhiran (tamil version) at probably the last remaining bastion of Southern cimena, Arora Talkies at Matunga, central Mumbai. Part of my office Mallu / Tamil group of about 10 people, I was amongst the three who did not know Tamil. But was that important? Is that a hindrance? Naaah!!! A resounding NO. As it turned out, it was the the most thrilling movie watching experience of my lifetime. It dwarfed what I felt when I first saw Jurassic Park at Sterling or Inception or even Twister (I wasn't much impressed by Independence Day; was amongst the minority who liked Twister more than Independence Day)  

Arora Talkies wore a festive look. There were posters and banners put up by various Rajni fan clubs. An almost 40-feet tall gigantic effigy of his character from the movie (Rajni shades and shiny suit) stood tall and mighty at the entrance. Paper garlands with his mugshots were hung all over the cinema's compound as if somebody's wedding is going on. People were taking pictures themselves, their friends, group pictures, in front of Rajni effigy. When a TV crew arrived and started anticipating people's anticipation, the crowd went ballistic; the excitement was palpable. 

The movie started at about 6.30 and as soon as the credits rolled, people were screaming everywhere inside the theatre. Ravi- my very own master translator who is fluent in Malayalee and Tamil- was helping me understand key dialogues. But his otherwise haughty laughter and voice that can cut through a St Gobain glass was muzzled by shrill, screams and yelling going around all over us. Our aviation reporter P.R.S. was literally on a high; a witty line from Rajni was enough to make him dance in the aisles. Even a seatbelt wouldn't have controlled him. It was as if Air Deccan bought over Cathay Pacific.  When the words 'Superstar Rajni' came on screen, people went crazy. It was mesmerizing. 

That the movie was in Tamil did not matter. It's not really that hard to understand a Rajni blockbuster. Language is hardly a barrier to enjoy a good, unadulterated fun that can liven up the atmosphere. It was electrifying. Every time Rajni came on screen and turned around facing us in a style, people got up, clapped and cheered their hero. Every time he walked in a song in his trademark style, the audience cheered. The climax saw some of the most imaginative visual effects that can even match the best of Hollywood. More than the visual effects, it was the movie making team's imagination that did the trick. 

It was the best movie experience of my life. I will take some days to recover.... 

Celebrating Dabangg

At first, it might sound surprising that Dabangg is still running houseful and after a little less than two weeks since its premiere, it's still not easy to get tickets. But once you watch the movie, you'll know.

Dabangg mainly caters to the front benchers, and God knows there are plenty of those in India. But what really helps Dabangg is its simplicity. Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) is a cop in a small town in Uttar Pradesh. He's street smart, practical and devious in his own way, with shades of grey but also has a heart. There is a baddie who goes about his extortion and illegal business. As Chulbul goes about punishing small time criminals, before laying hands on the big baddie, he falls for a damsel, marries her, at the same time fighting fires in his own backyard.  

Dabangg entertains; there's no doubt about it. It's classic old school Bollywood at its best. It celebrates Bollywood. Not necessarily the kind I subscribe to, but atleast it's great time pass. The story is okay, the movie is no cinematic excellence. It's not something that we can showcase to the international audience. But then, who cares? The movie caters to the quintessential Bollywood fan and it doesn't disappoint. There's romance, action, dance. And then ofcourse, there's Salman Khan. Plenty of him; he's all over the movie. He's beating up the baddies, he's singing, dancing, mouthing dialogues like he's never mouthed them before and as if that is not enough- especially for Salman fans- his bare chest with (believe it or not) his shirt ripping apart and flying away as he flexes his muscles in the climax before delivering the final punch to the chief villain. Don't  ask me for logic; it's all happening.

And oh, speaking of action, they might at first seem a novelty in Bollywood in the way that they are intelligently crafted, choreographed and executed, seem to be influenced by southern flicks- Rajnikant types- and also very loosely lifted from the Sherlock Holmes (2009).

Dabangg is not for you if are looking for a great plot and want to tax your brains, trying to solve some mystery. It's a mass entertainer. The story is well told and is backed by a good script, but a weak story. As the front bencher would say; paisa vasool. Go watch it, once.

Peepli Live

It's celebration time when we see a meaningful film being made in India that is devoid of the usual rubbish mushiness and pop corn romance that makes little sense and call for unnecessary flood of tears that seem to go nowhere. Or, say, when they pick up a realistic subject and attempt to allegedly make a story out of it. In an industry that turns West every time it falls short of original ideas, here's a movie that is both contemporary and as original as it gets. The trick in the Indian context, however, is to pick up what appears on the surface to be a typical tear-jerker, possibly a social issue (something that our TV serials amply do these days) and turn into a product that keeps the histrionics at a bare minimum, appeals to a wider audience and doesn't sound preachy. (I caught the morning 10.40 am show at Pune's Inox (one of my favourite theatres) and the hall  was about 20% occupied, mostly by young college kids. They were having a ball of a time, laughing merrily at  the various twists, turns and dialogues.) That, in a nutshell, is Peepli Live, a film made by debutant director Ms Anusha Rizvi, who was earlier a journalist.

The story tracks two farmer brothers Natha and Budhiya, in a fictitious village called Peepli, who lose their land to a bank when they cannot repay the bank's loan. Getting to know about how the government compensates the families of those farmers who commit suicides, the brothers decide that Natha would commit suicide so that the government pays his family (Natha's wife, three children and mother; Budhiya is single and lives with them) so that atleast the family can live. The media comes to know of this story and very soon there is a circus of frenzied media chasing the story scrambling upon each other to cover what appears to be the country's first Live farmer suicide (hence, the name Peepli Live) on camera and politicians trying to get a mileage out of this awkward situation. 

It's a serious subject, yet, not for one second does Peepli Live gets preachy. The film is not a documentary; it's a satire. It's a dark comedy about how the farmer brother duo aim to make a quick buck to ensure their family lives to die another day. The movie takes a satirical look at the the political class and the media. The opposition and the ruling State party falls head over heals to either take advantage of this situation or do a massive PR to save their faces. The media is only too happy to cover every aspect of the beleaguered farmer family, dissecting every little detail surrounding Natha, breaking news, and all of that; even answering nature's call becomes a big headache. It literally is a circus out there. It takes a journalist to show glimpses of how the media can chase a story, hook or by crook. 

The script is tight and the screenplay is fantastic. The performances are superb and it's a wonderful sight to see raw talented actors from little known theatre groups turn in such marvelous performances. Clearly, the best film of 2010 so far. 

The Common Man Is Everywhere

I watched the 100th show of the 'R.K. Laxman's The Common Man', a one-man play based on the life and times of The Common Man; quite literally the mascot and the representative of India's middle class man. Ajit Kelkar plays the part of the common man. Through audio-visual slides that show select Laxman's cartoons of the Common Man, Kelkar chronicles the journey of Laxman right from the time he started and gave birth to the common man all the way through various socio-political changes the common man has seen.

His daily cartoons on one tiny corner on the front page were as looked after- or probably more- than the stories.  He is India's best known and widely respected cartoonist and has aptly chronicled- apart from Behram Contractor (Busybee; The Afternoon's founding editor)- the life and times of the Indian mass through changing times, political and economical, in India as seen through the eyes of the common man; his chief protagonist who is present in many moments that define India. It's political satire at its best; perhaps matching or even better than Yes, Minister; the classic British comedy. Laxman spoke through his cartoons that appeared on the front page of the TOI for years and years and Busybee wrote his legendary column 'Round and About'.

Coming back to the play, it was a good play. The performance was great and the message was as simple as Laxman's depiction of the Common Man. The idea to tickle our funny bone and it is also to provoke the society to not be mute spectators but to stand up and be heard. I loved the concept of the play, but I got this weird feeling towards the end that all the political bashing and lessons and preachings on the way India's bureaucracy works, is nothing new. Been there, done that. As glad as I was to have watched an original concept, I came out of the theater on a Saturday evening feeling like I have watched a rerun.

Little Miss Sunshine

Although I had watched Little Miss Sunshine more than a year back, I recently ripped apart the packing of its DVD that was lying in my DVD cabinet for months. There's no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon at home. Dysfunctional families have been immortalized in Hollywood, both on the big as well as the small screen in movies and series like Six Feet Under, Brothers & Sisters and so on. Perhaps also Home Alone?

In Little Miss Sunshine (LMS), you got a failed motivational speaker who motivates half empty classrooms but can do little to help his own flagging career. His family resents those little winner-loser speeches that he vomits on the dinner table and cringes when he is about to start to rattle them off. You got his dad, the coke-snorting potty mouth whose vocabulary starts and end with the four-letter word. The son is mute because he's taken a vow to remain silent till he is allowed by his parents to become an air-force pilot. The wife' brother is fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. While the wife struggles to hold this dysfunctional lot together and maintain some sanity, the family's youngest member, Olive-literally the heart that beats- is this wonderful flower (Abigail Breslin's finest performance that I can remember) who aspires to become a beauty queen starting by winning 'Little Miss Sunshine', a beauty contest in California. You put all of them in a VW mini-van and you get one of the most hilarious- yet touching- movies you'll ever see.

That's the thing about dysfunctional families. Atleast the Hollywood types. They bicker, they crib, they fight, they squabble. They talk nonsense, they argue, they shout, they yell. Yet, when it matters the most, they come together like a flock to face every challenge life throws at them. They seem divided on all matters under the sun, but faced with a life-altering adversity- or so it seems- they throw their differences out of the window and unite. They are different from one another like chalk and cheese, but when it matters the most, get so glued to one another, that you can't tell one from the other.

Moments like these are unforgettable in LMS. The grandpa has a potty mouth and can't see eye-to-eye with anyone. But when his son suffers his career's biggest setback, he just offers a pat on his son's back and says he did his best and he is proud of him. At the beauty pageant, when Olive gets underway with her hilarious dance sequence that shocks the judges and audience, her entire family stands up and joins her in the act. Even though her act is bizarre and causes many people to walk out, she can only see her goal in front of her because her family does everything possible to shield her. That's what dysfunctional families do. That is why they are called families. At that point in time, it ceases to matter whether they are functional or dysfunctional.

Holmes Sweet Holmes

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes does not seem to be the quintessential Sherlock you think you've grown up reading about. He doesn't wear his hat after all, appears most shabby in his upkeep and appearance, lacks hygiene, his home is like a junkyard, fights human bullfights, doesn't mind getting injured along the way and shares an uncanny relationship with his best friend and partner-in-crime (ofcourse solving, not the committing) Dr Watson and perhaps envies at the thought of losing his precious companionship without whom he cannot forsee a decent existence, to his fiance. 


But scratch the surface and you slowly realise that here's exactly the Sherlock Holmes you've read about. He is meticulous in his appoach, he has a great sense of humour, deciphers 20 clues on a crime scene before you can blink of your eye, precisely deduce from where his guest has come from, did what and where, down to the last 'T'. But there is still something extra that you see in Guy Ritchie's version of Sherlock Holmes. The way the story and the camera moves, you feel you're a part of the action. Ritchie also brilliantly gives us an insight into Holmes' mind before he goes about executing his opponents, meticulously breaking blow by blow the consequences before he delivers the final punch.  


Sherlock Holmes is an edge of the seat thriller that is not quite bound by a solid mystery. It is not a a great theft that is zeroed upon going through a massive pile of exciting clues and where you finally put the jigsaw puzzle, piece by piece, till you get the final picture that blows your mind away. This is not a murder mystery. Instead this is an action movie that follows the act of a devious mind, Lord Blackwood who gets arrested, convicted, put behind bars and finally hung only to resurrect once more and continue on his mission to take control of Britain, then America, followed by the rest of the world. Can Sherlock Holmes stop him or does the genius of Lord Blackwood succeed in mission terror? 


Despite the odd story, Sherlock Holmes is more of a action-packed dare-devil detective solving clues to get to his journey rather than the good old-fashioned Holmes solving what seems to be almost impossible murder; one that atleast used to provide fans such as me, the ultimate excitement. Yet, I found this Holmes to be a good watch. It's a taut 2-hour masala thriller. It is exciting and thrilling. Robert Downey Jr is absolutely fantastic as Sherlock Holmes, minus ofcourse his fake and put on british accent that sometimes sounds confused between American and British. Jude Law as Dr Watson also turns in a very good performance. There's chemistry between the two and together they light up the screen. Guy Ritchie recreates old century London very well- loved the several reminders of London bridge getting constructed- the pacing of the movie is fantastic, background score by Hans Zimmer brings alive the cinematic proceedings, there's hardly a dull moment here. 


K Rate: * * * * 

3idiots: Good, not great

I found 3 idiots to be good, not great or phenomenal or anything spectacularly out of this world, as it's collections and all those gushing reviews and feedbacks I came across. I am okay with films that revolve around social message and when it's made in an entertaining way- one that challenges your conscience like, say, Rang De Basanti- it works. 3 idiots also took a social message- the mess our education system makes out of us, our over-ambitious parents and their expectations from us, competition that leads us to take extreme measures in some cases like suicides, making wrong choices, and so on- and tried to tell us in an entertaining way.

It's problem was that it tried too hard. It was like as if someone thought of a social message and then thought to make a movie out of it. Social message will touch the public's raw nerve and entertainment will make it easier for them to digest. Scene after scene, it threw at us its central message, almost every aspect of hostel life was thrown at us, every answer to every problem lay in engineering-curriculum-told-in-a-fun-way type, student suicides, ragging, hostel life and so on. Scenes like child birth on a T.T. table, Rancho's lecture baazi and preachings were just too much or too far-fetched and so was the one of the paralytic man sandwiched on a motorcycle. And also, all that ronaa-dhonaa. I don't think grown-up, hostel guys would cry at the drop of their hat. And what is up with all that peeing? I bet I have not seen so much peeing since 'East is East' many years ago.

Now for the good parts. The performances were awesome. The troika of Aamir, Madhavan and Sharman Joshi were fabulous and they fit their roles to the T. Aamir as usual was flawless. Boman Irani- though not in the same league as his Dr Asthana's role in Munnabhai- was great as the lisping professor. Loved the balatkar speech, Omi Vaidya's (Chatur / Silencer) narration was flawless and so was Boman Irani's reaction of complete helplessness and volcanic frustration, as also Omi's overall performance. Omi's comic timing was perfect and kudos to the casting team of 3 idiots for this great find.

All said and done, the message of 3 idiots was good. And please, it does NOT inspire ragging or suicides. But it does tell us that we need to follow our heart and passion and not the smell of crisp currency when it comes to pursue our ambition. Because if you like what you do, success will automatically follow.

K-Rate: * * * * 

Awesome Avatar

It's been done to death with, every second person has seen, we all know what it is about, so I am just going to cut the crap and say it. I loved Avatar and it's simply breathtaking. Director, James Cameron, creates a world beyond our imagination and one that is far beyond anyone can ever expect to see. Floating mountains, dragons, flora and fauna we would never see in our dreams and much more. The move is a bit long at three hours and drags a bit in the middle, but for most parts, it's a journey you're not likely to see in a long, long time. Don't miss the beginning though, if you want to understand what the movie is all about. Hollywood special effects has just risen several notches from what we have come to know in the past few years. Fasten your seat belts.

Rocket Singh

It's refreshing to see a Bollywood film that breaks the stereotype and goes for something new. And if that something is not a love story but instead a slice and dice of real life, what more can you expect? Enter Rocket Singh, my second most favourite movie of 2009 after the eternal masterpiece Dev.D. (I haven't yet seen 3 Idiots yet....)

This is a simple story about a young graduate who enters the cutthroat sales and marketing industry of personal computers. He soon finds out that it's not a perfect life out there where you go in the morning, do your job honestly, get your paycheck, come home, watch TV, have dinner and go to sleep. Clearly, honesty has little prominence here where sales means more about pushing the product and less about service. Forget after-sales service. A chance encounter with a corrupt customer who insists on a cut for procuring a large computer order for his company forces our young Rocket (Ranbir Kapoor) to look inwards and embark on a tough, yet spirited journey to lay his ground rules and play the game his way. Go and watch if he succeeds in his mission.

Rocket Singh is a terrific film that tells us a practical story. In a country like India, where the sales person- and never the customer- is the King, you'll identify with Rocket if you're a customer, you'll also identify with him if you're into marketing or sales of a corporate. Extra smart (and mighty arrogant SOBs) bosses that shower their staff with the choicest of abuses- not just in private but shamelessly in front of the entire department- and push them to the wall, unachievable sales targets, crook managers that demand a cut of the cheque of which he is responsible to procure the best quality products for the firm that pays him salary (legally) to struggles and sometimes humiliation that honest people have to face in a competitive dog-eat-dog world, Rocket Singh has it all.

The film is not preachy. It's fast paced and crisp and there are no songs to interrupt the narrative. The background score is ideal and the story unfolds in a way its believable. I didn't quite like the climax; I kinda felt it was stretched and a little too idealistic, but it never ceases to be an inspiration, so these are minor quirks in an otherwise good script. Supporting performances, especially from D. Santosh- the porn-surfing, computer maintenance guy- to Gauhar Khan- the fiery receptionist- are great. Ranbir Kapoor has clearly emerged as one of Indian commercial cinema's finest actors. He plays his part sincerely and turns in one of 2009's finest, yet subdued, performance. From showing his angst to his grandfather who breaks his own provident fund to buy him a scooter he detests, to being shocked and awed when his boss turns the tables on him despite having done nothing wrong, to going about his own business, Kapoor brings dollops of dignity and lends a soul to make Harpreet Singh Bedi (the character he portrays) a likable sardar and never ones makes it a caricature like some of his industry counterparts have done over the years. You could say this performance is a slap on the face of all those sardar jokes that have been internet favourites.

You should go and watch Rocket Singh.

K-Rate: * * * * * 

Kurbaan

I don't remember when I watched a movie the last time around, but thanks to my cousin who got us complimentary passes to the premier show, I caught up with Kurbaan. A decent effort from producer Karan Johar who is always known to make candy floss movies, but I found it to be a very simplistic take on America v/s Islam terror war. A young Delhi college professor Kareena Kapoor meets co-professor suave and charming Saif Ali Khan and falls in love after being briefly pursued. They fall in love and migrate to the US as Kapoor gets a job opening there. Saif Ali Khan too gets a job there and they move into a new house in an Indian neighborhood and life seems to go on Happily every after. Till the time that Kareena Kapoor accidentally stumbles upon a terror plot unraveling- and also a dead woman's body-  in a neighbour's house. The story kickstarts from there as she unwillingly falls into a well of deceit and terror.

The movie, though a taut thriller compared to Bollywood standards- takes a very potboiler, cliche Bollywood route to reach its goals. For instance, I cannot fanthom that a girl who has lived in the US (only to briefly migrate to India to look after her ailing father) does not dial the US emergency number 911 when she stumbles upon the terror plot. Saif Ali Khan gets a job at the university so easily. He also passes through the airport security checks so easily despite being on the US watchlist. Anyone who has been to the US post 9-11 would know that US is a totally different country and how seriously it takes its own security. Vivek Oberoi plays the supporting cast as the boyfriend who loses his girlfriend to terrorism. He decides to not to inform the police even after he gets a credible lead, but instead- and this sounds very Bollywoodish- decides to join the gang to get to the crooks himself. You'd probably expect a home grown character to behave like this, but this sort of approach is a little hard to digest for someone who is shown to have lived in the US and worked within the parameters of the US machinery. He also gets admission in the terror cell without so much as a background check done on him by the members. Also, the plot line of Kareena Kapoor seducing her husband in bed to get hold of the terror plot details sounds- if not exactly far-fetched- very amateurish. And do we really need such close-ups of how a person removes a bullet and also stitches up the skin?

Despite being in the same genre of New York (also produced by Karan Johar) and his upcoming My Name is Khan, Kurbaan is an edge-of-the-seat thriller and keeps you hooked on. The movie scores on good cinematography and screenplay. Unfortunately, there is no chemistry between the lead pair despite good performances.

Not fo fweet

After weeks of missing it for one reason or another, I finally watched 'Kaminey'. But since it's been quite some time, no theatre in South Mumbai was running a show at a decent evening time, so I decided to do my first. I ordered the movie on my Tata Sky connection. I paid Rs 75/- and the order was taken completely on phone; amount deducted from the advance to Tata Sky I had already paid for my subscription. it was simple enough to place the order and for Rs 75/- I could watch the movie throughout the day, great quality, legal copy and all. Yes, multiple times during the day.  And after watching the movie, I am so glad I did not go to the theatres.

This is a story of two brothers who are living their own lives (one is a good guy, the other is a crooked one) and have no intention of crossing each other's paths. Until fate brings them face-to-face and their lives collide as one mess unravels before another, till it leads to a full-blown confrontation at the end.

I don't understand what the big deal of the movie is. I think it is quite hyped up and certainly did not receive all the gushing reviews it has received by our movie critics and on blogosphere. Okay I could make my peace with the story pace, the strong supporting roles that lend a character to the movie, the gangster / reality / Mumbai underbelly kinda treatment, but I think that is about it. One brother lisps, the other stammers, does it really matter?

I could also make my peace with the fact that the movie is as unconventional as it can get and as un-Bollywoody as a Bollywood movie can get; loved the way the director turns the quintessential Bollywood bhai-bhai movie ending on its head. Here particularly- and amongst other things- it questions the very definition of 'good' and 'bad'. But that's about it. The movie, otherwise, is a bit going here, there and everywhere and does not manage to hold your attention. As a viewer, I feel dark movies need to be handled not just artistically but the artisty should also translate into something meaningful. It should make a connection and here's where I felt disconnected. Dev D was also dark and sinister but you could feel the guy spiralling downwards. At a point it felt that we are going down with him too. You could feel the protaginist's agony and self-distructive nature to the point that you either hated him or felt very sorry for him. Dev D was not just cinematic excellence; it had a story. Kaminey may be cinematic excellence, but the darkness shown on screen was nothing more that just awesome acting. Watch-it-enjoy-it-forget-it-move-on types. Just by showing guys on a high followed by a heated exchange of histroinics is not great cinema; it's mere brilliant acting. I didn't find it an egde-of-the-seat thriller and I kinda found it very hard to keep up with the pace of the movie, dialogues initially sound mutterred that spoken and it  took an effort out of me to keep up with it all. The intent is good but perhaps it got to be too intelligent for its own good.

K-Rate: * * * 

The Week That Was...

After a long and tiring week, a small wrap of things that went by. Some movies apart from the dud Harry Potter I managed to catch. 'New York' (John Abraham, Niel Nitin Mukesh, Katrina Kaif and Irfan Khan) and 'The Hangover'. NY was good, better than I had expected. This is a story of three friends studying in NY and how their lives get into one big mess post 9-11 massacre. It is a story of how racial bias can play havoc with you if you are caught on the wrong side of the law. The story picks up pace after the movie's only song and what seemed to be as long as the movie itself! Nice watch, though it could have been better.

If only our film-makers go the extra mile to make a good film, a great one. Whenever we show movies that place a lot of importance on locations or caste/creed/race, a little of research is required. Authenticity in this regard can elevate the movie by leaps and bounds. 'A Wednesday' could have come across as a much-better researched movie had the director not made the police van take a U-Turn at Chowpatty to go towards Nariman Point and made us believe, at the same time, that the van was proceeding towards Juhu. Remember the Nandita das starrar, 'Ek Din 24 Ghante' (copy of 'Run Lola Run') where Nandita runs from one end of Mumbai to another? Though it was a flop, this is an example I can never forget. I only hope that film-makers could get the road names right, and not pass off Peddar Road, for instance, as Linking Road.

Thankfully, NY didn't have such a problem (to the best of my knowledge, atleast), but it got the the thing wrong. The accents of its actors. Though John Abraham's character has been shown to be out and out Americanish in lifestyle and mannerisms, his accent was of quite the Indian college yuppie. Where was the American accent? Katrina fitted the role to a 'T', but that's largely because her real-life accent, I think, is quite American/British. The little kid too has an American accent, so to this extent it wasn't bad. But even Irfan Khan,a NY native and a police officer (presumably then, that's he's been living in NY for many,many years) has a totally Indian accent, in other words, his original. This is why I feel makers like Mira Nair are a cut above the rest. Take Irfan Khan's example again. He had a perfect Bengali accent in 'The Namesake'. So did Tabu. But I found Khan's accent more original and flawless than Tabus' though the latter is one of the finest actors of this generation. Who could tell, after watching that movie, that Irfan Khan is not a Bengali. This is what I call, paying attention to the finer details. The quest for perfection....

But I would still New York. Watch it once.

The other movie I quite liked was 'The Hangover'. Awesome movie, well-made, good performances and a great comedy. Four friends go to Las Vegas for one of the chap's bachelor party. The fun goes majorly awry when after the 'night', the groom disappears and the remaining three friends are left with a baby and a complete memory loss of what happened the night before. If you want a proof of why Hollywood movies are way ahead of desi ones in terms of originality of ideas, here's one more.... I don't think I'll ever figure out why our desi film-makers can't get their heads out of making love stories or partition stories and think of something original like this.

*****************************************************

Two natural events were a no-show this week. I did not catch the Solar eclipse at the Nehru Planetarium, but I think I'm glad I didn't go. It was way too cloudy that morning and I thought we won't get a clear view. I don't know whether Mumbaikars got to see it, but newspapers reported that day that Mumbai views weren't all that great at all.

The high tide spectacle was also a whimper. I went to the Gateway of India (Apollo Bunder) on 24 July (Friday) and today, 25 July (Saturday) at around 2 pm. Yesterday though, the authorities had put up barricades so that we could not get to the parapets. The show was a flop as even though the sea had swelled up a lot, the tides were nothing great. I have seen tides much higher than the ones I saw yesterday and today. But it was good to be at the sea shore and to see the sea all swelled up and angry, tossing and turning. Monsoon by the sea side in Mumbai is always a pleasant sight.

NOT QUITE THE CHARMS

I had no plans to watch the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series yesterday evening, but circumstances led me to Sterling Cineplex eventually; a personal record for me, I have watched all the editions of Harry Potter here. Plus, of course, a reasonable ticket price of Rs 120 bodes well for me, although I am not such a great fan of Screens 2 and 3 in here (there are a total of three screens). Screen 1 still remains much better than the other two. But a ticket price of Rs 120 and a food court down below makes Sterling a good multiplex deal.

So did I like Harry Potter and the half-Blood Prince? The answer is a resounding 'No'. I do not want to go on a trip of how the makers did not adapt this or that from the book and left out this or that, and so on, but yes if you are adapting an exceptionally well-written book, you had better lived up to the standards. Like it or not, adaptation is crucial. You may take creative liberties from the book- which this movie seemed to have the most so far in the series- but you do not leave out essential threads that help weave various aspects of the story into one smooth-flowing narrative.

The most crucial part of the movie that is the foundation of this story- the Half-Blood Prince- itself was not explained properly. We see Harry and Ron scrambling to get their hands on this book, but how the book impresses Harry and takes him completely over and casts a 'spell' over him, enough to ignore Hermoine's concerns, is not dwelled upon adequately. As a result, when he does come to know of the true identity of the Half-Blood Prince, it's importance is diluted and holds negligible significance to the audience. Apparition- a magical method of transportation from one place to another, a method used so commonly by Professor Dumbledore and Potter in this movie- is not explained. Even though the movie embodies magic as a way of life, I feel crucial details like these if explained well, brings in audience and convinces them that the movie is not just about silly magic that we see only in fairy tales, but something that comes across as believable even though at the end of the day, it's just a story.

The love angles too are told in a hurry. The students are clearly growing up and experiencing raging hormones, but the angles between Potter, Ginny, Ron and Hermoine seemed to have been taken for granted. The climax sounds much better in the book and had a great potential to be told on the big screen, but unlike the fascinating climax fight scene so elaborately picturised in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the 5th installment in the series), is reduced to a caricature here, with even a crucial liberty taken in the movie in Professor Snape's depiction. I have not yet read the seventh book so I do not know how Snape would pan out there, but he was treated much more liberally in the Half-Blood prince movie.

A disappointment, but watch it once, just for the sake of a brilliant novel told on screen. Remember though, you'd be lost if you watch the movie without reading the book.

K-Rate: * * *

The Vagina Monologues

IT IS NOT A BAD WORD. And contrary to popular belief, it's not even a cuss word. Infact, as per the fantastic cast and crew of the phenomenal play 'The Vagina Monologues', whose 200th show I caught up with at the NCPA Mumbai, it's not even something that women should feel shy of looking at and even admiring it. That's Vagina we're talking about. But why you ask? Because it's there, stupid. It's a reality. More importantly, it's a body part and it's nature. It's a biological organ. That Vagina- or as the play also claims is called kunt, coochie-schnooker, honky-tonky, sugar-box- is a body part that women should be proud of, and what goes in there- or comes out from it- is also a woman's decision, and not anyone else's is the underlying and powerful message that this play seeks to spread.

The 200th show had special appearances by Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhar who read out a

beautiful poem called 'Boys are all that matter and Girls are Meant For Burning' written by Mahabano-Mody Kotwal (the co-director and producer and also actor) based on her childhood friend who suffered from dowry demands from her in-laws, followed by a dance performance by ace-choreographer Sandeep Soparkar, Jesse Randhwa and Smylie Suri based on the life of Hassina Hussein, a lively and vibrant girl whose life took a drastic turn when her boss splashed acid on her face and disfigured it and her soul, forever, because Hassina declined his advances.

After a short interval, the play started. And there was no turning back. The Vagina Monologues is no ordinary play. It might shock you, but it's not meant to churn you. Without sounding preachy, it educates you about women's freedom and the fact that she has a right to choose and to say 'No'. Fantastically performed by Mody Kotwal, Dolly Thakore, Avantika Akerkar, Sonali Sachdev and Jayati Bhatia, yesterday's show also had actor Imran Khan as one of the actors on the show; the first male actor ever on this show.

Each actor is seated in a line and is supposed to say a monologue. These monologues are a result of painstaking interviews taken by the show's original founder, the American Eves Ensler, by interviewing over 200 women all over the world and then beautifully told to the audience in the form of well-enacted and brilliantly emoted stories. Each monologue has a deep-meaning message that could keep you at the edge of your seat making you laugh at one instant, cry at the next and be shocked at the one after. Difficult to pick and choose one monologue over another, but the one with the old Parsi lady who had never looked at her vagina since the last 60-odd years and Bhatia's performance of various orgasms, stood out. So did the brilliantly-emoted monologue of a young 10-year old girl who was abused by her father's friend, but was still blamed somewhat, by her own mother. The skit 'My Short Skirt' was also very good and was a direct reference to the Marine Drive rape case that took place in 2005. The hard work and the chemistry shared by the actors on the stage shows when at the beginning of show, right after the audience is shocked, thoroughly amused and liberated- all at the same time- into saying the V-word loudly, where an act of all the five women saying a word or two in quick succession, one after the other in perfect coordination, without pause and faster than the eye can move from one actor to another, is brilliant.

I am proud to be a Mumbaikar for having being part of a city that celebrates culture, is open-minded about hosting shows of such nature and uncensored and the way it needs to be told; it reminds me that Mumbai is, after all, not just one of the most broad-minded places to live in India, but is also one of the safest places in India for women. After all, The Vagina Monologues is provocative, shocking but not erotic. It's in your face, but liberating. It's funny and serious. But at the end of it, it attempts to make you respect women, their choices, their decisions, and well, let them just 'BE'.

Picture 1: The cast and crew; from left: Sonali Sachdev, Avantika Akerkar, Mahabano Mody Kotwal, Imran Khan, Dolly Thakore and Jayati Bhatia.

Picture 2: Acid attack victim Hassina Hussein in a yellow salwar kameez in whose honour this play was dedicated to with Farhan Ahktar

Picture 3: An impromptu dance of Dolly Thakore with Sandeep Soparkar on 'Jai Ho'.

A Dose of Parsipanu

A day after celebrating Navroz (if I can call that celebrating in the first place; but I'm not sure), I finally caught up with Little Zizou. I just realised that the seating at Sterling Cineplex isn't all that great if you catch a movie in Screens 2 and 3. Screen 1 is the best and the biggest. But for the price of Rs 120, I think it's a steal and one of the best options in South Bombay. And the foodcourt downstairs is an added attraction. Besides Sterling has been one of my old favourites, so I'll continue to visit there. But if you happen to watch movies in screens 2 and 3, and find that the seats are too low and you can't watch the screen properly, do always ask for a pillow. Place it on your seat and then sit on top of it. The management has been very forward-looking I guess and may have well anticipated this problem when they modified the erstwhile single-screen theatre. Such prompt action from the management can turn a disadvantage into a great service opportunity. Good!

Coming back to Little Zizou. I have been a fan of its director Sooni Taraporewala. She is an acclaimed screen-writer, having written the screenplay for much-acclaimed movies like Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, etc. She is also a damm good photographer; I am the proud owner of her first coffee table book on Parsis - the story told through pictures. Little Zizou is her first film as a director. But I was a wee bit disappointed. I expected much more from Little Zizou, considering Sooni is good at films. The story was way too simplistic and much of the Parsipanu was cliche to me. I mean, how many times must I have heard this debate of conversion, pure blood, etc etc being played out. Maybe I think like this because I, too, am a Parsi. I think that is perhaps why non-Parsis liked the movie alot and Parsis loved it too because it was a movie on, well, Parsis. And despite all the Parsipanu and gheloo-gandu, I think it portrayed the funny side of Parsis, unlike 'Being Cyrus' where the lead protagonist was a negative character. I remember a lot of Parsis did not like that movie because of this. But I think production- and technicality- wise, 'Being Cyrus' was a much more superior movie than Little Zizou.

You'll draw a lot of parallels to plot-lines and sub-plots of the movie - conversion, the question of pure blood, Russians, Scandinavians, whoever running a parallel Zoroastrian movement in their countries converting into Zoroastrians and inviting wrath from conservatives in India, a community newspaper - somewhat like apru Jame-Jamshed - spitting venom at people with different ideologies than that of the paper - to some of the current happenings in the community. But where the movie fails is an absence of a strong story. Good performances and a lot of Parsipanu, though, has found many takers of this film. I too enjoy watching Parsipanu on the big screen, after having endured fake Parsipanu in much-degrading style in many Hindi Bollywood; my blood boils when I see such scenes in such atrocious Hindi movies.

But speaking of Parsipanu, I just got snubbed heavily the first thing in the morning of Navroz by someone in whose house I have virtually grown up. Why? Because I had not had a bath as yet till then. I usually wake up a little on weekends. I consider this to be very rude that people who have had their bath refuse to touch others who haven't had their bath, just so to remain pure and clean. Please! Purity in mind and speech is more important than having luxury baths and hairwashes and wearing designer labels. Isn't "good words, good thoughts, good deeds" the essence of Zoroastrianism? Then from where has this parsipanu come from?