Thursday, April 30

cinema stubs

holiday homework.....A movie a day keeps all thoughts of work at bay !!!!!

1.Never judge a movie by its review.I stopped reading reviews and watching them after Rajiv Masand pronounced "Kabhi alvida...a brillaint movie"
2.I can't watch a movie in bits and pieces.I like them strong and on the rocks and I love having a celluloid hangover.
3.I am choosy and critical about the movies I watch.I often end up seeing reruns than new movies,if I can't find any.
A few memorable ones that I caught up with this vacation.

Dev D













Want to see some bOllywood ishtyle masala- romance-hate –romance ,chap films(that we can’t do without).Please don’t see Dev D.It’s one of those movies that take you by the collar and proudly declare that Indian cinema is experimental,bold,aggressive and dares to be different !!!and you are all shook by from the first to the last reel.

If you think remaking classics is foolish,then what do you call remaking and adapting a classic into a contemporary film that challenges conventions of its original masterpiece ….you can call it BRILLIANT.

It’s hard to ignore Mahie Gill as Paro,for her brilliance is partly conveyed through her expressions and sometimes just by her sheer presence(remember the scene where she vents her rage on the water pump).It is said that Anurag wrote Paro’s character after he met Mahie.

The characters are all there…Devdas,Paro,Chanda,chunni…..yet boldly reinvented.The moulds of the quintessential broken down by the bold and the brazen.Driven by love,lust,drugs ,anger and pacified by booze, this is the young and crazy India.

In case you were missing the songs,they are all there(all 18 of them),expertly woven and brilliantly synced.My favourite though is the Pardesi track.Beware the music is addictive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEoFZTGf8Y
It can’t get any better and we can’t wait to watch more Mr. Basu.

Slumdog Millionaire



You can either love it or simply hate it,but you can’t ignore the movie. It’s like looking at yourself in the mirror.You may not like what you see.There’ll be a lot of denial and blame on why things are the way they are.
The fact is that reality isn’t always perfect and beautiful.Let's leave that genre to Karan Johar and his band of men and women.

Why the movie made it to the Oscars and swept them all away is understandable.Precisely the reason why I chose to watch the movie weeks after the hyper -media –hype died down and despite the excessive oscarization(I have to admit) the movie does leave you with a bravo,semi patriotic,I am Indian(partly proud partly not) feeling.That’s what completes the Indianess in all of us.There’s a subtle beauty in all that’s grimy,dirty and filthy in India.We can’t escape that.That the world loves to see that filth and celebrates it, is also a bitter reality.Sadly,it takes a Brit to tell the world, the story about what lies beneath a shining India.
Rahman and Boyle deserve their due,but the real heroes were Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali and all the child artists in the film.They manage to tug at your heart and stay right there(in it) even hours after the credits roll away.

Dil Kabbadi


Okay okay…it’s a miserable ripoff of Husband’s and wife’s.I was warned.But I am a sucker for Irrfan movies,so couldn’t ignore this one.

This movie starts where the others end.The classic seven year itch just got shrunk honey !! to a three year one. The film follows the lives of two modern day married couples – Samit (Irrfan Khan) and Mita (Soha Ali Khan); Rishi (Rahul Bose) and Simi (Konkona Sen Sharma),who are caught in the classic boredom in bedroom feeling after a few years of holy matrimony.The ’They lived happily ever after’,is but a myth known and accepted only by the privilidged many–the married.The other side of marriage not always love,togetherness and fidelity.If you thought being in love was tough,then being married is tougher and being married and in love consistently with the same person tougherer….

Irrfan is his brilliant self as the adventure-lust seeking husband,complemented well by Soha.However,it’s Konkana who manages steal the limelight and the attention with her brilliant portrayal as the passive aggressive…partly confused,wholly irritating,but gets what she wants.character..a winner in the end.Rahul is cute,but boring(and yes ...I meant Both the Rahul’s please)

Being married and in love is a paradox….. no comments please !!!!

Pestonjee


A rerun,but one that amazes me every time I see the film.Definitely one of his best..no def Naseeruddin Shah’s best performance,till date.It has a heady and brilliant cast of big wigs like Anupam Kher,Shabana Azmi and several other stalwarts.Vijay Mehta ‘s direction leaves you spell bound.

See the movie,it's difficult to describe what its made up of.It’s one of those classics where actors transcend mere acting and performances are so lifelike that you fail to see them(actors) being anyone else but their reel avtars.

A must see.

Also watched...

Jodha Akbar

To sir with love

Bicentennial man (another brilliant watch)

Barah Aanah

(suggestions for any more movies are always welcome)

14 comments:

Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan said...

hmm... you've pretty much seen the good ones of this year aka Dev D & Slumdog.

Reruns worth watching :
While you were sleeping & Ocean's 12 ( Sony Pix presently )
Shawshank Redemption
( just such a smart movie )

I dont know really.. what're you in the mood for watching ?

satish said...

you are back. with a bang!

great!

i am sure you have watched many of them. watch Almost Famous. If you already havent. I mean Please watch it.

padma said...

looks like its back to back movie time for you!
try catching up...
Freedom writers, In Pursuit of happiness( both based on true stories)
an easy one could be mirror has 2 faces.. or When harry met sally ;-)
happy viewing :-)

Ritu said...

Chocolat, Oye Lucky, and the Shah Rukh one ..... his latest, forget its name Yeah Rab ne bana di jodi


www.phoenixritu.com

Gazal said...

@rosh
while you were and ocean's...great films.

but shawshank is def one unforgetable movie.

@satish
i'll catch that one.
:))

@padma
in pursuit...i have to get that one still inspite of all your reminders.

@ritu
oye lucky..... was brillaint as well.chocolate is another must watch on the list.thanks

broca's area said...

bicentennial man is really good..i liked it too...

havent watched devd yet..but will soon..thanks for the positive review:)

Shruthi said...

Certainly agree with your views on Dev D. Though I liked Chanda better than PAro :)
Angels and demons might get released soon so you can watch that.
and yeah I caught up with Roman Holiday, A walk in the clouds(aww), Strangers on a train and Momento. loved all of them. you can choose anyone of these.
and of course you can always watch Pirates. Aye!

Gazal said...

@bro
yup.watch it.

@shruthi
oh yes.those are classics you can watch several times over.

Salil said...

Interesting list. Totally agree on your view of Slumdog.
Wish you could watch Malayalam movies - I could recommend even better ones than these.
Enjoy your holidays. Not everybody in the world gets it though :-(
Cheers,
Salil

aMus said...

that's quite a good number...i've yet to see quite a few of them...

i'm watching this space now :)

*i loved "To sir with love"

Mampi said...

agree with you about all of them, yet to watch pestonjee. will watch it this summer. 'Miss Congeniality' is something that i have always enjoyed.

Gazal said...

@salil
so true.I miss out on a lot of kannada plays here.

@suma

i saw that movie recently,completely in one go.something i wanted to do since long.

@mampi

do catch pestonji.am sure you'll love the movie.i loved sandra bullock in that movie.

Unknown said...

Watched all except Pestonjee...thanks for the excellent list!!

Gazal said...

@sara
thanks for visiting sara.Hope you were able to cath pestonjee