2010- Movies and Music

2010 has been a mixed bag in terms of the movies I watched. Though I haven't watched LSD or Guzaarish, my opinions are based on tweets and posts by different critics (Rajeev Masand, Raja Sen and Anupama Chopra) 


Movies I liked/loved:
1. Flipped : If you are a fan of Rob Reiner's classics like "When Harry met Sally", "A Few Good Men", "Bucket List", chances are that you will like this movie about two children growing up in the 60's in N America.
2. Inception
3. Udaan
4. Do Dooni Chaar
5. Tere Bin Laden
6. Band Baaja Baraat
7. Phas Gaya Re Obama
8. Raajneeti
9. Ishqiya
10. Dabangg

Ye Dilli hai mere yaar !!!

I emailed our DC gang about watching Delhi 6 at a theatre nearby. Watching a movie on First day Last show is a thrill in itself. In any case, after a lengthy discussion involving 50 emails over a period of 2 days, 9 of us went to watch Delhi 6 on Friday.

It was an amazing day for me, as I managed to get my stuff to work after a long time. Drove back home in just 4 hours, took a different route to avoid the traffic. Reached home, booted my system (bole to mast nahaaya) and off we went for the movie.

Delhi 6 is a collection of vignettes revolving around Roshan (AB Jr.) the main protagonist of the movie. But it's not the romance between Roshan & Bittu (Sonam as the feisty Dilli ki kudi) that captures your attention. IMHO, it's the ensemble star cast, where everyone has a definite role in taking the movie forward. Waheeda Rehman, Om Puri, Pavan Malhotra, Deepak Dobriyal, Vijay Raaz, Atul Kulkarni, Divya Dutta, Rishi Kapoor, etc..Also not to forget the cute Rama Bua..!!! A R Rahman's music is extraordinary and plays in the background for most of the time letting you enjoy the visuals. Rahman's songs flourish amidst the background of Delhi 6, watch out for the most creative collage of Times Square and Delhi 6. This week Rahman's work will be judged at the Oscars..and Delhi 6 is another award winnning score by the maestro. The movie has a message and though it gets a bit filmy in the end is immensely watchable. Take a bow, Mr. Mehra, this is a worthy follow-up to RDB.

2 different movies offering a glimpse of everyday life

I watched 2 movies over the weekend: Mumbai Meri Jaan and Thirakatha. MMJ is a movie depicting the effects of the Mumbai train blasts that happened in 2006. Excellent casting coup that features Paresh Rawal, Soha Ali Khan, Kay Kay Menon, Madhavan, Irfan Khan. This movie gives an insight into the workings of the Mumbai Police, unfair media coverage of the blast victims, Hindu-Muslim divide, trauma of traveling in trains after a bomb blast and finally the poor man's take on such blasts. I liked the actor who has played the constable's role, who is disgusted with the working of the Mumbai Police. Must watch movie !!!

Thirakatha is a malayalam movie by Ranjith that explores the life of a yesteryear film actress. Again a wonderful movie that includes a cameo by the director as well. The last monologue by Prithviraj lingers on: "Life is like a screenplay with lots of actors who do not know their roles and continue to act without the guidance of a proper director." Though this is not a word-to-word translation, I have tried capturing it's gist. Another must watch movie !!!

nostalgia...

I was surprised to find an invitation on LinkedIn from a friend. Apparently another friend/acquaintance/student wanted to send me a message after seeing my profile. Now he works with a very reputed company and his group has positions for a fresh PhD graduate and wanted to contact me wrt that position. Now what's the common link? So this friend was my student or the other way around I was the TA for a VLSI design class he had taken. 6 years back, I dealt with 150 students in the class. Honestly, I cannot remember his face, but it feels nice to be remembered.

Thankfully, this week looks bright atleast due to my Genius playlist featuring songs from Fashion, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Drona, Vaaranam Aayiram..!!! Mundhiram Parthe is my current favourite...!!!!

Rock on !!!!

I saw Rock On today. excellent movie !!! reminded me about my college days, etc. I saw DCH in 2001 and now this movie after 8 years is a more mature look at friendships. I guess I have grown older and that kind of changes the outlook towards life. I especially liked Farhan's dialogue "Zindagi main compromises karna padta hai aur compromises kaun nahi karta !!". Who talks about compromises fresh out of college? People talk about compromises only after some stage of their life and that's why this movie makes sense now. Also compromises need not be attributed to failures, I correlate compromises to adjustments. Adjusting to a new job, new country, new school, new car, new house, new wife (strike the last one out, just kidding !!! ). I am listening to this song and this song now, so watch the movie and Rock On !!!

Mithya

I read some very ordinary reviews and decided to watch 'Mithya'- latest release from the famed Bollywood factory. The decision to watch Mithya was based on my admiration of the director Rajat kapoor's previous movie 'Bheja Fry'. I was not disappointed by Mithya. Mithya stars Ranvir Sheorey, Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Naseeruddin Shah, Iravati Harshe, etc. (no superstars, only actors). Ranvir stars as a struggling method actor who replaces a real-life don as they look identical. For the first half an hour, you don't know what to expect next and kinda sympathize with Ranvir aks VK. Everything goes fine until he replaces the don aka Raja Bhai. I liked the twist in the tale and was mindblown by Ranvir's performance. Iravati is stunning and fresh as the don's wife and somehow brings life to the role. Neha plays the gangster's moll who develops a liking to the struggling Ranvir. Though the movie does not have a conventional Bollywood ending, you kind of feel sad for the turmoil Ranvir has gone through. I liked Rajat's second outing as a director and I hope this kind of movies will continue to be churned out from Bollywood. Hats off to the director and Sourabh Shukla(dialogues).
I rate an unbiased 4.5/5 for this movie. It could have done with a better background score. Watch it @ your nearest theatre.

TZP-reminding you about childhood

So I watched Taare Zameen Par (TZP), current blockbuster made by Aamir Khan(AK). Initially previewed as a movie for children, it comes as a surprise when the movie tackles a variety of emotions between parents and children. It's nice to see AK's honest effort in making a movie outside the regular masala fare dished out by Bollywood. I wish that this movie had come out a long time back and that would have resulted in less parent pressure and stress on children. The performances in this movie are outstanding (Darsheel, AK, Darsheel's parents, the school teachers) and some scenes linger in your memory for a longer time. My favorite scene is when Ishaan sees Nikumb Sir's painting and it kinda chokes you and makes you cry. The music is mind blowing and my favorite track is "Maa" and "Kholo Kholo".
Excellent movie and I was surprised to see that TZP already figures in the top 250 movies list on IMDB. Way to go...Aamir...!!! Read his blog here