A True Winner

Here is a true winner people... Slumdog Millionaire, a small film made at a production budget of 15 million dollars has grossed around 300 million dollars worldwide and has also bagged all the prestigious awards. However, Slumdog didn't do well in India because I think the Indian audience's taste is different and according to me most of the Indian audience felt bad because outsiders came and showed the real picture of Mumbai. I have been living in Mumbai for last one year and for me Slumdog Millionaire is a most authentic depiction of contemporary Mumbai. Its very difficult to find the contrast Mumbai offers than anywhere else in the world. Few of the rich people live in this city, superstars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan live in Mumbai and on the other hand it is having maximum poverty, filth and dirt. Even though Mumbai is a big and sprawling city, it offers you many small places (localities) that encompass the ugliness and beauty, tragedy and hope, and great contrasts in lifestyles and attitudes. Now, lets get back to Slumdog Millionaire. I am still aghast by a fact that how can an outsider come and make such a film about our times, our people. Just look at the scene in the first half where Jamal jumps into the shit to get glimpse/autograph of the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Most of the people haven't liked that scene as they argue that the toilets shown in that particular scene don't exist in Mumbai. But that's not the point. Cinema is an art form and there is a thing called metaphor. Jamal jumping into the shit is a metaphor, man. Its about going to the extremes for accomplishing a smallest thing. Its not about showing a dirty toilet purposefully for showing Mumbai in bad light. This is Danny Boyle's style. Just watch his previous work "Trainspotting". In "Trainspotting" Boyle has shown a drug addict going inside a dirtiest possible toilet for getting some drug pills. For me this is highly intelligent making. Anyway, this is my personal opinion and still, I will highly recommend everybody to watch "Slumdog Millionaire". I also found this small piece of text from an article on Rediff - Slumdog Millionaire DVD to reveal new secrets" Just check this out....

In a scene from Slumdog Millionaire Beaufoy said in an interview with Rediff India Abroad that while he had expected the toilet scene to raise a lot of concerns, it was not meant to be offensive to anyone. This is how he wrote the scene showing Jamal in a latrine, locked by his brother Salim who is running to see Amitabh Bachchan who has landed close to the slums for a film shoot.

"Jamal: No! wait! Salim, sala! Salim!

Rattles the locked door. Pulls a torn flyer from his pocket advertising an Amitabh movie.

Jamal: Wait! Amitabh...

He looks down the toilet hole at the sewage beneath him, the landing helicopter, the disappearing crowd. A final rattle of the door. There is one way out. He jumps down the hole, sprawling headlong into a year's worth of human waste, managing to keep the flyer out the mire. He runs for the helicopter."

The toilet scene has shocked or appalled many and amused quite a few. While some found it demeaning to the young actor involved, others see it as an imaginative comment on how crazy Indians are about movie idols. At the Toronto International Film Festival where the scene stirred quite a few people last September, several Indians were engaged in a heated argument over it soon after the screening. Some also said that the scene was utterly unbelievable.

"Can anyone, even a kid in a slum fall into s..t to get Amitabh's autograph,' said one. "It is gross, it is humiliating, it can never happen in real life."

One man chimed in: "But surely you don't know how many people committed suicide in Tamil Nadu when the actor MG Ramachandran died. In India people even marry the portraits of movie actors!"

The DVD offers insights on how the toilet sequence was shot.

Inglourious Basterds

The trailer of visionary director Quentin Tarantino's next film "Inglourious Basterds" is out. The trailer is looking extremely promising. Quentin Tarantino surely pushes the envelope further with each of his films. May it be his debut film Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown or Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2. Check out the trailer.

The Slumdog Millionaire

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Slumdog Millionaire is a finest film made in recent times. Whatever accolades and nominations it is receiving are absolutely worth it. Danny Boyle portrays the tale of love, hope with a backdrop of slums from Maximum City "Mumbai" beautifully. In simple words this is a tale about love and hope. A. R. Rahman's original musical score is pulsating for which, he has received 3 OSCAR nominations. He is truly a genius when it comes to blending indian and western classical and composing brilliant musical scores. (check out my old post on ARR) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy is amazing. The way Simon Beaufoy has constructed the story is truly a master's work. However, the screenplay has certain holes in the story as the links made as to how Jamal got specific answers like Amitabh Bachchan being the star of Zanjeer or Soordas being the author of the bhajan are oblique so you do wonder how Jamal would know the answers. On the other hand I felt that why need to spoon feed everything or explain everything in detail. From the scenes as a member of an audience I got an idea of how Jamal would have known all the answers. And again a legendary director Alfred Hitchcok has said "When drama starts logic ends" and here Danny Boyle has built a very beautiful, dramatic story. A must watch film and also a most authentic film made with Mumbai as a backdrop by outsiders.

a Wednesday

This year couple of films like Aaamir, Mumbai Meri Jaan have been released based on terrorism, effects of a terrorist activity on a common man's life and "a Wednesday" is one of them. As I am writing after couple of weeks "a Wednesday" released, I am not going to delve much into its execution, performances etc. Still considering "a Wednesday" has been directed by a first timer, its a polished product when it comes to execution, technical finesse. Apart from this what to say about performances. Nasiruddin Shah again shows that he is the only one when it comes being a character himself and audience feel like he is not acting at all.

However, the film didn't worked for me at all because it sends out the wrong message in the end. I refuse to accept that even if a common man in India is suffering because of 'n' no. of problems, taking law in our own hands can not be a solution. More than this in the end Nasir is not caught by Police. (Here, structure of a story or plot comes into picture.) This was the 2nd reason film didn't worked for me. I found structure of the screenplay flawed in a sense that it supports the Nasir's way of handling terrorism.

More than "a Wednesday", other two films as "Aaamir" and "Mumbai Meri Jaan" worked for me because instead of just pointing fingers at the authorities they showed how as a human being we need to change ourselves at core. Change means in our behaviour, our thinking and ways of living. Also, I will like to mention a marathi film "Dombivli Fast". According to me "Dombivali Fast" was an amazing film. However, in this film also a protagonist takes law in his hands but in the end he has to face the consequences and he dies. I think that was the apt climax for the film and whatever, statements a protagonist "Madhav Apte" makes in "Dombivali Fast" were true to life. This film showed that everyone as a member of society has to change himself first because again system/administration/authority come from this society only.

Contrary to this in "a Wednesday" the protagonist just points the fingers at authorities and takes law in his hands. Again, above all these films only one film stands tall and i.e. "Swades". Swades also makes a point that change yourself and then country will change because I strongly feel that "only collective attitude of a society matters when it comes to taking your country forward."

The Dark Knight

A lot has been said and written about latest blockbuster "The Dark Knight", since its release. Hence, I am not going to write a review of the film here but I must say that "This is a film of the year". This film is especially for those people who say "I don't like super hero, sci-fi, disaster films, which are nothing but just special effects with zero story-line, drama and everything is just computer wizardry lacking zero efforts by a director."(Sometime I intend to write how a fantasy, action film is also a director's film and not made by computer graphics, special effects.) "The Dark Knight" is a film which will move you, force you to think. Its a dark interpretation of a super hero character, which is very relevant in today's times. The Dark Knight is complex, disturbing and spectacular in its presentation. The film is just perfect in every department of film making. May it be acting (Brilliant performance by Heath Ledger as a Joker), art direction, action, vfx and above all top notch direction by master director Christopher Nolan. Mr. Nolan deserve and academy award for this film. Every shot, scene from screenplay to celluloid is just perfect. Ladies and Gentlemen just go and watch "The Dark Knight".

Being Single is not Being Alone

Today, I was discussing "why one gets married" with one of my close friends. This discussion also reminded me of a Nagesh Kukunoor's film "Hyderabad Blues". In this film Nagesh K has played a character of Varun. Varun is a guy who has returned from US and is puzzled by the way of life he was living in America and the way of life people live here in India. As Varun is foreign returned and according to our traditions his parents are in hurry of getting Varun married. Nagesh Kukunoor has shown all this process/customs through some funny enjoyable situations. E.g. a milkman also asks Varun's mother that when Varun is going to get married. :)

Anyways, lets not much delve into storyline of Hyderabad Blues. According to me most of the times in India people think that if a boy/girl is not married then he is absolutely alone and living miserable life or will live a miserable life ahead. i.e. being alone, depressed etc.. etc.. However, I think there is huge difference between "Being Single" and "Being Alone". I personally don't find any relation between these two. I think in general primarily, people get married for one of the following reasons.

1) Companionship --> Companion is a person with whom one can share his views, joys, sorrows for whole life. Moreover companion is a friend with whom one can discuss all his private/personal things rather everything and one enjoys every moment being with he or she. However, not necessarily one has to get married for sharing his life. A general notion is that friends/family is temporary and one needs a companion but I think its not true. A person can absolutely share his views, personal things with close childhood friends and may be brother/sister etc. etc.

2) Care in later stage of life --> Thinking of future and getting married so that there will be somebody who can take care of a person in later stage of his/her life. To me this doesn't make sense. Its like getting married now and renewing a relationship as paying yearly insurance premium. So that when it is matured you will get benefit out of it.

3) Security --> Most of the times person gets married out of sense of security. When a person fails in something or something bad happens then he feels that somebody is at home who is with him in such a crisis situation. Again, its not required that one has to be dependent on somebody for emotional/moral support. It depends on an individual and most importantly how he treats his own life without thinking what other people will say.

4) Sex --> Finally and honestly I feel sometimes people get married because they think that they will get a license for having sex. Particularly, this reason is beyond my understanding and I don't think if person is not married then necessarily he is a virgin. According to me there is no relation between these two things. (Check out this old post http://chinmayogale.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html )

Having said all this people get married if they find their soulmate and they are convinced with a concept of sharing their life with that person, which is absolutely fine. Rather, I will say if a person enjoys being with another person of opposite sex and to some extent is emotionally dependent or enjoys every moment spent with somebody then certainly he or she should get married. However, being in happy state of mind as a single or married is relative and depends on an individual. Hence, it is difficult to draw a conclusion that if person is single then necessarily he is alone and unhappy.

India

Remakes

In last couple of years a new phase in Indian cinema has started and i.e. "Remaking" some yesteryear film. Concept of remaking a film is not new in west. Many superhit/cult classic films have been remade in recent times. However, few gutsy film-makers from India decided and have started remaking old "Classic" films. Here I have mentioned word "classic" in particular because if we observe in India anything which is more than 20-30 years old becomes classic. As I am talking about films, if some film was made 30 years ago then it is not called as hit or flop but it is called as "Classic". The recent examples are DON, RGV Ki Aag. If you ask me I have seen old DON (Amitabh Bachchan) 'n' no. of times and I love it. Still, I liked the new DON very much. The only reason I liked it because it was a director's movie for me. It was beyond charisma or star status of Shahrukh Khan. The climax of new DON was absolute high point and it was masterstroke from writing point of view. However, in an old DON the film belonged to Amitabh Bachchan. If we take out Amitabh Bachchan from that film then from direction and execution point of view it becomes yet another old 70's style of routine hindi action film. Next we saw release of RGV Ki AAG. I better not talk about this anything. RGV Ki AAG was a complete letdown and disaster. Its hard to believe that how a master director like Ram Gopal Varma can make this kind of film. I am sure he must have gone insane. Anyway, coming back to concept of remaking a film. Personally, I think there is no harm in remaking any film. After all its just another story and other directors are also having absolute right of interpreting that story in their own way considering they have bought rights of an original story. E.g. last years Academy Award winning film "The Departed - a Martin Scorcesse picture" was a remake of cult classic and smash hit Hong Kong film "Internal Affairs". I have seen Internal Affairs as well as The Departed and man look what Scorcesse has made. The Departed is a masterpiece in its own way. Internal Affairs was more of fast-paced action/thriller kind of film whereas The Departed is a gangster thriller/drama. Hence, looking at both these films, I think films should be remade. Another example is films based on a literary "classic" DEVDAS. Since 1928 till today 9 films have been made on this book and according to the reports 2 more films by Sudhir Mishra and Anurag Kashyap respectively are in the pipeline . I have seen only 2 versions respectively by Bimal Roy and Sanjay Leela Bhansali and I liked neither of them. The story of Devdas didn't worked for me. I didn't found anything painful or full of emotion in that story rather I found character of Devdas foolish and childish. Anyways, coming back to remakes so if we look at the history of films made on Devdas or remakes of certain old english films, I think if a director is convinced then he or she should remake a film.

Jodhaa Akbar

A lot has been said and heard about Jodhaa Akbar before its release. Historicals don't work at box office. Making a historical is not everyone's cup of tea. But master director Ashutosh Gowariker shows that if one is having conviction, vision and guts to make a particular film then it can be made. Jodhaa Akbar is such one film and one can see efforts put in by entire cast & crew. Finally, Jodhaa Akbar emerges as a brilliant, amazing film in true sense. When watching Jodhaa Akbar, don't look out for facts and history. Just enjoy this beautifully crafted fairy tale because we haven't experienced something so magnificent, opulent and splendid in terms of technique as well as content on Indian screen before. Jodhaa Akbar is essentially a love story of a prince and the princess on the lines of stories we read in magazines like Chandamama, Amar Chitr Katha. However, the story of Jodhaa Akbar relies on 2 characters from history and the rest is fiction. There is a scene in Jodhaa Akbar when a group of Sufi singers lost in thoughts and in trance twirl their bodies in front of royal audience and emperor Akbar himself mesmerized joins the group in the midst. The audience will get same kind of experience when watching this magnum opus/epic romance. You will not help but get transported to that royal era. Distinction marks to complete cast and crew and of course the captain of the ship Ashutosh Gowariker. They have absolutely succeded in creating that ambience, era and setting. The work by each and very department is top notch. Without a shred of doubt it is at par with any hollywood or international film. May it be costume designing by Neeta Lulla, production design by Nitin Chandrakant Desai or photography by Kiran Deohans. War sequences are good. Especially the long shots are good however, when it comes to close-ups war sequences give you a deja vu feeling of watching battle sequences from Ramayan or Mahabharat. Dialogues by K. P. Saxena are apt. Unnecessarily dialogues are not in pure Urdu and hindi dialogues serve the purpose well. The blend of hindi and urdu is perfect but at some instances the dialogues lack the punch. E.g. the line by Akbar in a last scene. "Hum ab ye chahenge ki Mallika-e-Hindustan hamare kareeb aayein" We don't expect this kind of line in Akbar's darbar. Gowariker's intention of making dialogues simple and not using Urdu in every place is noble but for that purpose you can not have simple period-cum-contemporary hindi. More thought should have been given on dialogues front. However, on a whole not at a single point of time technique overpowers the content and thats where the brilliance of a director can be seen. Now, lets come down to performances. I am not a great fan of Aishwarya Rai but after watching Jodhaa Akbar, I must admit that she hasn't looked so gorgeous before and she shows that she can act too. Aishwarya Rai brings Jodha's character alive on the screen. Hritik Roshan is The Akbar. For me discussion ends here. Hritik Roshan gets under the skin of character and delivers a bravura performance. His performance is so convincing that it seems like Hritik was born to play Akbar. He shows the complex shades of character with panache. Just watch Hritik's expression when he tells Jodhaa that he is illiterate. All supporting cast is fantastic. Special mention has to be made of Nikiten Dheer (Sharifuddin Hussain). He is just amazing. Music (Original Dramatic Score) by A. R. Rahman is top notch though songs fell short of expectation. All the songs come as a hindrance in a narrative. They don't take story forward. Second half is bit long and more editing was required for sure. Rather overall length of the film could have been around 2 Hrs 45 minutes. However, on a whole Jodhaa Akbar is an amazing film and thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable. Again, I will like to mention that Jodhaa Akbar is a prime example where director hasn't gone overboard when it comes to technique (production design, camera work, costumes etc. ). There is a perfect balance of content and technique. This shows the brilliance of Ashutosh Gowariker and his understanding of cinema as a medium of story telling. After Lagaan, Swades and now Jodhaa Akbar, Mr. Gowariker you have raised the bar once again. Now, We are expecting something more great in your next film. Raise a toast and take a bow Mr. Ashutosh Gowariker.

Pre-Marital Sex!

Yesterday, two of my friends and me were having a discussion on how relationships in modern India are working and in general our view on institution of marriage and relationships. The discussion led to a point of "Pre-marital sex". There's a lot of buzz going on these days regarding this. Few months back actresses Khushaboo and Sushmita Sen expressed their views on Pre-marital sex and it created a lot of controversy. Hence, this forced me to think on this point and I thought that I should write down something but instead of writing down my own thoughts I came across following post on one of the blogs. Interesting write-up. Just check it out.
(found this post at http://atulskulkarni.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html)
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Last week Pune Times came out with a an article with a flashy head line about this topic. The article was claiming some figures about young India's perception of "Pre Marital Sex" and their openness to it. I almost let this article pass out of mind until it was yesterday, that I was asked to present my views by two of my close friends about this topic. Though the topic was a little digressed more towards our group and we guys in person. I was caught little off guard!

It all started with a situation where in I am in the US and "Unmarried", would i go the path to lose my Virginity with a person other than my “would be” life partner? or resist from it and present my self Virgin to my future life partner? The answer was clear to me and I gave it with no ambiguity too booth of them! This was the second path I would take and be patient! But, one of us had some other ideas and was of the opinion that, we might miss something, if we do not live that moment in life and "enjoy" at that very moment in our life.
Later the discussion moved over to another topic, this time one which almost took me by surprise again. "What is a chance that you would get a Virgin wife?" I was not expecting this to be a topic discussed with most us barring me saying "very less chance" and making remarks like what is the guaranty that she has not had affairs earlier!

What took me off was the uncertainty and suspicion they for their future life partners! I mean if people take this stand and start doubting their life partners they would barely be able to live their life with any peace. It is really the emotional bond you establish with your life partner that last for long than the other marital attractions. It is important that you accept your life partner as he/she is and not try to peel off the past every now and then that would make your relationship a one with bruises and bitterness than a one with sweetness and love! To many in the twenties love means/resembles lust! May be in the initial stage of marriage it might be true, to not so some extent, but then that does not really last for long!!(That’s what I have read at least!!!)

If fact yesterday's discussion reached a stage where I was told it could destroy the entire family (parents and siblings!) if your life partner has had any Pre-Marital Affairs or Pre-Marital Sex!
Now for that matter I would say even if you get a "Virgin Partner" (per say) but due to some reason of your own you go own to have an Extra Marital Affair! Now what? Who is betraying the partner? Who is at fault? This discussion can lead to a very very personal part of someone's life where only good people to comment are the two partners involved! I would rather like to keep away from this analysis as I feel this is really not needed! The base line is it is not important if you get a Virgin life partner, but it is utmost important if you get a partner who cares for you, loves you for being with him/her, and commits to be with you all the life!

Rather than discussing if I would get a Virgin life partner I would suggest, do think on building a relationship and a bond of love and care with your life partner. That would help a lot in future. Thinking "if I would get a Virgin life partner?" only sends negative Vibes through your mind and sets it up for a wrong and biased analysis of the situation. Hence avoid such thoughts and live happily!

Cheers!

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Bhool Bhulaiyaa

Finally, I watched the much discussed film "Bhool Bhulaiyaa". After watching the film I was wondering, what were the intentions of director and screen-writer behind making this film. Director Priyadarshan and screen-writer Neeraj Vora have handled a serious subject like "Para-psychology" in very immature and childish way. Bhool Bhulaiyaa is another stupid hindi film, which defies logic, is having lots and lots of loose ends in screenplay. In first hour of the film film-maker has succeeded in creating a little bit of suspense but not an engrossing story. The major drawback of the film is Aditya's (Akashay Kumar) explanation of Avni's (Vidya Balan) case to Siddharth (Shiny Ahuja). The film becomes verbose after this point. Aditya explains how he saw shades of psychological disturbance on Avni's face and in her behaviour. Priyadarshan expects us to believe that Avni is a patient because now Psychiatrist Aditya is telling me. Let's consider a scene in a temple where Aditya and Avani argue upon the pair of "Ghungaroos". In actual scene not a single expression on Avni's face can be seen indicating that she is getting furious because of an argument but when Akshay Kumar explains it Priyadarshan show Avni's furious face. Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! This is very childish. How come suddenly the expression on Avni's face changed? Next point Akshay Kumar tells that he has seen abnormal attraction towards Manjulika's clothes/jewellery on Avni's face. Excuse me, Mr. Director show any girl in this god damn world such a pure silk clothing and antique jewellery and she will melt like anything. As an audience after Aditya's explanation it becomes to believe that Avni is mentally not well. Mr. Director you are having a strong audio-visual medium at your disposal then use it. Cinema is not a book where everything should be explained through dialogues and then force audience to believe it. Give audience some hint about Avni's mental problem and then let some character or sequence in the story prove and transform that hint into fact. In this case, director has miserably failed to convey his true intentions. On other hand the movie is predictable. Akshay Kumar enacts his part well but Shiney Ahuja has been wasted. I was wondering what an intense and very good actor like Shiney is doing in such a stupid film. I request Mr. Priyadarshan to only make senseless comedies like Dhol, Hulchul etc... and please don't touch some serious topic such as "Para-psychology". But what we can do Indian film-makers do have this habit of making films on some "hatke" topic and messing up some serious issue/subject. After watching this film, I need to watch some awesome psychological/super-natural thrillers like The Sixth Sense, Memento, Fight Club.

My Music

My Music

Ram Gopal Varma Ki AAG

After watching much awaited movie of the year "Ram Gopal Varma Ki AAG" I felt like is this a same director who gave us brilliant gangster films like Satya, Company and Sarkar and also films like musical romance "Rangeela" and intense emotional love story "Nishabd" because RGV Ki AAG is complete letdown. The performances by entire cast are good. Special mention of Mohanlal and of course Amitabh Bachchan as "Babban". Just watch AB's expressions when he chops of Mohanlal's fingers and when Tambhe (Sushant Singh) dies. Only word to describe it is "brilliant" and for the first time in hindi cinema I have seen such a psychotic villain. For this character presentation RGV deserves 100 marks but in all other departments film completely fails to deliver a required impact. Even if this is not compared to Sholay, I felt like I have been watching film made in 1970s. Action sequences are complete letdown. Nothing new in any scene. However, I am confident that despite of failure of AAG, RGV will bounce back with Darling next week and being a RGV devotee I am definitely going to watch it.