Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Bomman Irani, Jimmy Shergil, Jackie Shroff, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Music: Shantanu Moitra
The movie opens with the queen (Sharmila) bed ridden listening to her husband, the king (Bomman) reading to her her famous Shakespearian sonnet. But all she keeps repeating is the name Ekalavya again and again. Their daughter (Raima) who is slightly mentally challenged keeps telling her father repeatedly, "Mom wants us to call Ekalavya daddy." But the king keeps ignoring it until he finally understands the meaning behind the word coming out of his wife's mouth. He strangles the queen to death.
Prince Harsh is asked to come back to the palace to perform the last rites for his mother where he meets Ekalavya (Amitabh) the royal guard again. Rajjo (Vidya) the daughter of the royal driver gives Harsh a letter that his mom had written for him. The letter reveals the truth that his actual father is Ekalavya and not the king. Harsh is confused and concerned and promises to his mother's burning pyre that he will protect his father Ekalavya.
Knowing that the king along with his cousin Jyotivardhan (Jackie) and his son (Jimmy) are scheming to dispose Ekalavya, Harsh works out a plan... The plan unfolds and anything more I write now might spoil the climax...
Go and watch this movie and enjoy the beauty of tight screenplay, well drafted story and acting at its best. The story has an uncanny Shakespeare like feel to it and all the settings and locations make it feel like one too. Amitabh and Saif steal the show while Bomman is simply brilliant. Vidya Balan does not have much to do in the movie although what little of her seen is awesome. Raima Sen as a mentally challenged girl has also done a good job and so have Jackie and Jimmy. Hey I almost missed out the role of Sanjay Dutt as the police inspector! He surely brings in the lighter moments of a mostly serious movie.
A must watch and in big screen too.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
So I guess I am back...at least I will try to bring up the pace slowly. Loads of changes, new good things and a few bad things but in the end life will sort it self out. At least I hope it will!
Today is Valentine's day and I am the only one sitting in the office having lunch all by my own. Everyone has met up with their darling or their friends for lunch. I am very happy about this because I could have my awesome smelling channa all alone not wondering who was going to get offended with the smell!
I am not very fond of the V-Day because I think it is unfair to those who don't have anyone to be with. This is a very segregating day! Think about all guys/gals that we can potentially make sad by leaving them to be on their own while we are with our loved ones! Bad! and I wont be a part of it. If at all I celebrate it I would do so with my friends and family!
I am not going to say do not celebrate V-Day but all I can say is don't make such a big deal out of it. It is just a marketing gimmick and wont you feel bad when you look back at it and see how you have been conned by Hallmark into buying one of those stuffed teddy's or cards? I would! And you should too! If you really want to celebrate it go ahead and make your own card/stuffed toy/cake/etc.
Also why are men under such tremendous pressure about getting somethings for their wives on V-day? Is their entire relationship based on it? That is not fair right? I mean, life is much bigger than giving flowers and cards on V-day. I believe so.
For me spending quality time with my husband watching TV/Cooking/Eating/Chatting/Bickering/etc are more fun than any of the cheesy things in world. Also spending time with my husband and his friends and our family is much more fun than going to dinner and feeling under pressure to celebrate a media created hype!
So by now you guys should have gotten my point! Thanks for reading.
Ciao
Today is Valentine's day and I am the only one sitting in the office having lunch all by my own. Everyone has met up with their darling or their friends for lunch. I am very happy about this because I could have my awesome smelling channa all alone not wondering who was going to get offended with the smell!
I am not very fond of the V-Day because I think it is unfair to those who don't have anyone to be with. This is a very segregating day! Think about all guys/gals that we can potentially make sad by leaving them to be on their own while we are with our loved ones! Bad! and I wont be a part of it. If at all I celebrate it I would do so with my friends and family!
I am not going to say do not celebrate V-Day but all I can say is don't make such a big deal out of it. It is just a marketing gimmick and wont you feel bad when you look back at it and see how you have been conned by Hallmark into buying one of those stuffed teddy's or cards? I would! And you should too! If you really want to celebrate it go ahead and make your own card/stuffed toy/cake/etc.
Also why are men under such tremendous pressure about getting somethings for their wives on V-day? Is their entire relationship based on it? That is not fair right? I mean, life is much bigger than giving flowers and cards on V-day. I believe so.
For me spending quality time with my husband watching TV/Cooking/Eating/Chatting/Bickering/etc are more fun than any of the cheesy things in world. Also spending time with my husband and his friends and our family is much more fun than going to dinner and feeling under pressure to celebrate a media created hype!
So by now you guys should have gotten my point! Thanks for reading.
Ciao
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
There are so many things to write about but at this very moment in life my hands are tied. I cannot get myself to type anything more than regular e-mails. I hope this phase in life will pass me by and that I will get rejuvenated to write more things in this space.
Ya, my life sucks right now...when it is up and bright I will be back to write!
Ya, my life sucks right now...when it is up and bright I will be back to write!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Guru (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun, Madhavan, Vidya Balan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Music: A.R. Rahman
Where do I start? Okay let me first sequentialise my thought process...Way too many things that I feel like putting down in this space but at the same time I want to keep it simple and clear...
1) Mani Ratnam
2) The story
3) Acting
4) Direction
There I have it now...So let me start with my first topic...
Mani Ratnam: I have grown up enjoying Mani movies right from Pagal Nilavu to Bombay. Suddenly after he became this International director his story lines shifted from simple family stories narrated with beautiful scripts became lavish movies directed in more than one language. This movie Guru also falls in the category of Mani trying to keep pushing his bloated ego where he thinks people will watch whatever he directs. It did not work with Dil Se and Kannathil Muthamittal and neither did it with Guru.
The Story: There is a huge disclaimer at the very beginning of the story that redeems the movie of any relation to anyone living or dead...so believing that it has nothing to do with Mr. Ambani or Mr. Goenka...it is just a story that Mani himself came up with...So lets see how brilliant and convincing Mani is...
Gurukant Desai (Abhi) is a young lad who goes to Turkey to make some money from a small village called Idhar in Gujrat much against his father's wishes. After a few years of making money working for Shell gas company Guru comes back to India to make it out on his own. Of course his father is against it and Guru does not have enough capital. To solve this problem he decides to marry his best friend's sister who is unwed due to her "tried-to-elope" status. She came with a Rs. 25,000 dowry which would adequately meet Guru's business needs. Guru along with Sujatha (Aish) and her brother Jignesh (??) move to Bombay to start business.
After fighting many hardships and with the help of Nanaji (Mithun Da) Guru makes it big. Guru is the textile barron now and he has many textile mills running helping thousands people. He also makes his company public and people revel in the success of his industry. Everyone knows that Guru is not stepping up the ladder in the fast pace using honest means and when his mentor Nanaji hears about it he does not want to cut his protege any slack. He grooms Shyam Saxena as the heir to his media empire and also tells him to bring down Guru by exposing his misdeeds. Shyam hot on the tracks of Guru manages to do just the same using the newsprint media as his help.
Guru looses the trust of his investors. People blame him for loss of money and life and Guru gravely upset succumbs to a heart attack. With the love and care of his wife Sujatha, Guru slowly fights back only to realize that he has been summoned in front of a special panel of judges to decide what punishment Guru will be meted with. Guru gives a supposedly five minute speech and walks out of the room free...
Acting: Abhishek seems to be the director's actor. Has done a decent job and no complaints about it at all. Mithun though is brilliant in the movie. You can see the years of experience that is not visible in most of the movies cast. Aishwarya should stop acting. She has lost so much weight that she looks gaunt and has lost the charisma. Also, I always never thought she could act and she has not improved for sure. Madhavan surely looks handsome having lost some weight and he is also the director's boy and no complaints about him either. Vidya Balan is wasted in the movie and one wonders how her character affects the story at all.
Direction: Mani has always used the old locomotive train in all his period flick, its like he has some discount to use it.
He is not at all creative when it comes to directing videos. He needs to learn from Shankar. The video for Barso Re reminds you of Chinna Chinna Aasai from Roja and some of the videos are not even worth mentioning. Also what is the deal with the song Ek Lo Ek Muft by Bappi Lahiri? First it is inserted at a time when the movie has already lost its pace and then it is also badly choreographed and sung as well.
The promise in the first half of the movie that the story makes is not fulfilled in the second half. A lot of dialogues are redundant and incomplete. Also the final supposedly five minute punch line of the movie runs into more than six minute and is not at all convincing about why Guru should go free. He should have made the dialogue writers work harder.
The movie in terms of direction is an utter disaster. Mani should stop making formula movies and do something sensible like "Mouna Ragam" or "Agni Natchathiram."
Final Verdict: This movie is an attempt to deliver something old in a new platter. The serving is not only cold but also tasteless. There are many scenes which are incoherent or irrelevant. I hope that we can expect something better than this from Mani. God knows if even Dhirubhai is happy with his life portrayed through Guru!
Cast: Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun, Madhavan, Vidya Balan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Music: A.R. Rahman
Where do I start? Okay let me first sequentialise my thought process...Way too many things that I feel like putting down in this space but at the same time I want to keep it simple and clear...
1) Mani Ratnam
2) The story
3) Acting
4) Direction
There I have it now...So let me start with my first topic...
Mani Ratnam: I have grown up enjoying Mani movies right from Pagal Nilavu to Bombay. Suddenly after he became this International director his story lines shifted from simple family stories narrated with beautiful scripts became lavish movies directed in more than one language. This movie Guru also falls in the category of Mani trying to keep pushing his bloated ego where he thinks people will watch whatever he directs. It did not work with Dil Se and Kannathil Muthamittal and neither did it with Guru.
The Story: There is a huge disclaimer at the very beginning of the story that redeems the movie of any relation to anyone living or dead...so believing that it has nothing to do with Mr. Ambani or Mr. Goenka...it is just a story that Mani himself came up with...So lets see how brilliant and convincing Mani is...
Gurukant Desai (Abhi) is a young lad who goes to Turkey to make some money from a small village called Idhar in Gujrat much against his father's wishes. After a few years of making money working for Shell gas company Guru comes back to India to make it out on his own. Of course his father is against it and Guru does not have enough capital. To solve this problem he decides to marry his best friend's sister who is unwed due to her "tried-to-elope" status. She came with a Rs. 25,000 dowry which would adequately meet Guru's business needs. Guru along with Sujatha (Aish) and her brother Jignesh (??) move to Bombay to start business.
After fighting many hardships and with the help of Nanaji (Mithun Da) Guru makes it big. Guru is the textile barron now and he has many textile mills running helping thousands people. He also makes his company public and people revel in the success of his industry. Everyone knows that Guru is not stepping up the ladder in the fast pace using honest means and when his mentor Nanaji hears about it he does not want to cut his protege any slack. He grooms Shyam Saxena as the heir to his media empire and also tells him to bring down Guru by exposing his misdeeds. Shyam hot on the tracks of Guru manages to do just the same using the newsprint media as his help.
Guru looses the trust of his investors. People blame him for loss of money and life and Guru gravely upset succumbs to a heart attack. With the love and care of his wife Sujatha, Guru slowly fights back only to realize that he has been summoned in front of a special panel of judges to decide what punishment Guru will be meted with. Guru gives a supposedly five minute speech and walks out of the room free...
Acting: Abhishek seems to be the director's actor. Has done a decent job and no complaints about it at all. Mithun though is brilliant in the movie. You can see the years of experience that is not visible in most of the movies cast. Aishwarya should stop acting. She has lost so much weight that she looks gaunt and has lost the charisma. Also, I always never thought she could act and she has not improved for sure. Madhavan surely looks handsome having lost some weight and he is also the director's boy and no complaints about him either. Vidya Balan is wasted in the movie and one wonders how her character affects the story at all.
Direction: Mani has always used the old locomotive train in all his period flick, its like he has some discount to use it.
He is not at all creative when it comes to directing videos. He needs to learn from Shankar. The video for Barso Re reminds you of Chinna Chinna Aasai from Roja and some of the videos are not even worth mentioning. Also what is the deal with the song Ek Lo Ek Muft by Bappi Lahiri? First it is inserted at a time when the movie has already lost its pace and then it is also badly choreographed and sung as well.
The promise in the first half of the movie that the story makes is not fulfilled in the second half. A lot of dialogues are redundant and incomplete. Also the final supposedly five minute punch line of the movie runs into more than six minute and is not at all convincing about why Guru should go free. He should have made the dialogue writers work harder.
The movie in terms of direction is an utter disaster. Mani should stop making formula movies and do something sensible like "Mouna Ragam" or "Agni Natchathiram."
Final Verdict: This movie is an attempt to deliver something old in a new platter. The serving is not only cold but also tasteless. There are many scenes which are incoherent or irrelevant. I hope that we can expect something better than this from Mani. God knows if even Dhirubhai is happy with his life portrayed through Guru!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Veyil (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Bharath, Bhavna, Shreya Reddy, Pasupathi
Director: Vasantha Balan
Music: G.V. Prakash
The story is set in a small town in a family of two young boys raised by their butcher dad and home maker mom. The father keeps a tight rein on the growth of his children and the children keep finding loop holes to get out the grips of their father. The younger son Kathir (Bharath) is the naughtier of the two and constantly keeps escaping from his father's lashes owing to his smartness. While the elder brother Murugesan (Pasupathy) is the silent but naughty guy always keeps getting into trouble.
On one such occasion the angry father catches the sun bunking classes to watch MGR movies in a local theater while smoking with his friends. Murugesan is stripped naked and made to lie on the bare road throughout the day while his friends who walk back from school make fun of him. Angry with his father, Murugesan steals his mother's jewelery and elopes from the house.
His love for MGR movies leaves him penniless and destitute. He gets a small job and a place to stay at a local movie talkies and he grows up to be the theater operator. He also falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant right across the theater. And both of them are caught by many people alone locked up in the operating room. Ashamed the girl commits suicide and Murugesan is devastated. And his bad luck follows as the theater owner decides to close the business and now Murugesan is again in the street. On his friend suggestion Murugesan decides to head back to his village...
In the meantime Kathir has also grown up into a young man taking care of his parent and sisters. Along with a few friends Kathir has also started a small publicity business competing with the local company that has the monopoly. Due to his diligence and PR skills he keeps winning most of his competitors regular customers thus earning bad will from them.
Murugesan comes home to find that his father still hates him and he gets kicked out of the house even before he has a chance to speak with his mother. In the bus stand a lost Murugesan meets with his brother Kathir who takes him back home and makes him live with them.
How does living back in his family suit him? Does his family trust him? Like him? What happens to Murugesan? All to be seen when you watch the movie.
It is a beautiful movie showing how small things we do in our childhood can change our entire life. It also shows the great love and respect Kathir has for Murugesan in spite of being estranged for so many years. The movies brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion and I would certainly recommend everyone to watch it.
Acting/Directing/Screenplay/Story are simply brilliant. I don't have to single anyone out. Even Bhavna has done a great job as Kathir's girlfriend. Their love story is not a separate storyline but somehow feels like it is intertwined in the main story. The girl that Pasupathy falls in love with first (Priyanka) and his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Reddy) are also brilliant.
A definite watch. Loved it!
Cast: Bharath, Bhavna, Shreya Reddy, Pasupathi
Director: Vasantha Balan
Music: G.V. Prakash
The story is set in a small town in a family of two young boys raised by their butcher dad and home maker mom. The father keeps a tight rein on the growth of his children and the children keep finding loop holes to get out the grips of their father. The younger son Kathir (Bharath) is the naughtier of the two and constantly keeps escaping from his father's lashes owing to his smartness. While the elder brother Murugesan (Pasupathy) is the silent but naughty guy always keeps getting into trouble.
On one such occasion the angry father catches the sun bunking classes to watch MGR movies in a local theater while smoking with his friends. Murugesan is stripped naked and made to lie on the bare road throughout the day while his friends who walk back from school make fun of him. Angry with his father, Murugesan steals his mother's jewelery and elopes from the house.
His love for MGR movies leaves him penniless and destitute. He gets a small job and a place to stay at a local movie talkies and he grows up to be the theater operator. He also falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant right across the theater. And both of them are caught by many people alone locked up in the operating room. Ashamed the girl commits suicide and Murugesan is devastated. And his bad luck follows as the theater owner decides to close the business and now Murugesan is again in the street. On his friend suggestion Murugesan decides to head back to his village...
In the meantime Kathir has also grown up into a young man taking care of his parent and sisters. Along with a few friends Kathir has also started a small publicity business competing with the local company that has the monopoly. Due to his diligence and PR skills he keeps winning most of his competitors regular customers thus earning bad will from them.
Murugesan comes home to find that his father still hates him and he gets kicked out of the house even before he has a chance to speak with his mother. In the bus stand a lost Murugesan meets with his brother Kathir who takes him back home and makes him live with them.
How does living back in his family suit him? Does his family trust him? Like him? What happens to Murugesan? All to be seen when you watch the movie.
It is a beautiful movie showing how small things we do in our childhood can change our entire life. It also shows the great love and respect Kathir has for Murugesan in spite of being estranged for so many years. The movies brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion and I would certainly recommend everyone to watch it.
Acting/Directing/Screenplay/Story are simply brilliant. I don't have to single anyone out. Even Bhavna has done a great job as Kathir's girlfriend. Their love story is not a separate storyline but somehow feels like it is intertwined in the main story. The girl that Pasupathy falls in love with first (Priyanka) and his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Reddy) are also brilliant.
A definite watch. Loved it!
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