tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56282409400896425532024-03-13T23:43:37.932+08:00Good Koschan,No AnswerMostly movie reviews,some-times-some-other-things as well, such as travel destinations or tv shows or booze-till-you-snooze experiences.Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-67703737218061702202014-07-18T18:04:00.001+08:002014-07-18T18:10:18.094+08:00Trailer Review: Raja Natwarlal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So the same champak(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Natwarlal" target="_blank">Kunal Deshmukh</a>) who gave us magnificent hits like
Jannat, Jannat 2 & Tum Mile, is arriving with perhaps yet another movie that
might just make Amitabh Bachchan cry. <o:p></o:p></div>
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From the trailer, I have a hunch that we won’t be needing to
play any KBC to find out how well this movie’s going to turn out to be. I’ve
high hopes from iconic actors like Paresh Rawal and Kay Kay Menon, but these
are the same barely-paid actors who have done movies just to afford a bottle of
tharra. Or a bottle of jadi-booti in Paresh Rawal’s case.</div>
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Cinematography & direction seems weak. Music will probably
end up being every Emran Hasmi-fandom being’s favourite caller tune for the
next couple of years before Kunal Deshmukh delivers yet another hysterical
movie. Story concept is no rocket science, so it really all depends on how the
film moulds up to be. Doubt I’ll be catching this in theatres though.</div>
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With whatever little ounce of faith I have left in movies, beer & <strike>humanity</strike>food, I hope this movie does not turn out to be like the original <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Natwarlal">Mr.Natwarlal</a> starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha and Amjad Khan. The plots have little resemblance based on what I've seen in this trailer, but you never know. </div>
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If not for anything, let's all chuck it and watch it for Deepak Tijori who is also in this movie. Why the blasphemy wasn't he in the trailer, I have no idea. Maybe the director played a game of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na while deciding and poor Deepak, uski Tijori mein aaya Na.<br />
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Movie Release Date: 29 August 2014</div>
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First Look Poster: Emran Hasmi starring in & as: Raja Natwarlal. Kuch bhi kaho, hotness toh hai.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-55640459811097400802014-06-29T13:10:00.000+08:002014-06-30T12:31:34.688+08:00Movie Review: Ek Villain (2014)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><b>Prelogue</b></i><br />
Why anyone in their right-pea-sized-mind would ever expect a normal movie coming out of the Bhatt Camp is beyond me. Mohit Suri, one of the 1023456 adopted children of Mahesh Bhatt, clearly lives his life in spasms where he gets some hits such as Woh Lamhe, Kalyug, Murder 2 & my all-time-favourite Awara Pagal Deewana(aka. Mohit-Suri-Part-1-The-Only-Time-He-Gets-To-Be-A-Part-Of-Part-1) and then <strike>some</strike>alotmoremisses such as Aashiqui 2, Aashiqui 2, Aashiqui 2(thrice because my brain's having seizures too), Zeher, Raaz-god-knows-what-sherlock-Mystery-Continues and the best of the lot: Crook(this should be nominated for Oscars in Australia, Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman would be moved to tears till they had their own Ganges River).<br />
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With this in mind, I had very high expectations from this movie. Like it was char-botal-vodka-mixed-with-I-am-a-roadside-himesh-reshammiya-pankha high. Same way I admire Kamaal R Khan & his <strike>devoted</strike>deshdrohi-<a href="https://twitter.com/kamaalrkhan" target="_blank">twitter-fan-following</a>.<br />
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*****<br />
Ek Villain, is one of those movies where they throw you with a verbal diarrhea of key words such as "ek" and "villain" in every millisecond of the movie. It was like Mohit Suri made this movie for an alzheimer's-stricken audience & just wanted to make sure nobody forgets what the title of the movie is and who is the "ek villain". WARNING: Parents, do NOT bring your kids to this movie. They will fail in whatever little bit mathematical and logic skills they have being confused with so many actors being the "ek villain" in the movie.<br />
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The best part about the movie is the music. The worst part about the movie is that somebody came alone, sitting at seat number B17, to watch this movie. Kidding, there is no worst part. There *are too many that I will just list them down without any spoilers(cos that's just not possible,there are none.haha.no seriously, there are none.) When they said it's a "romantic-thriller" on wiki, they lied. That was the suspense of the movie. Rather, the trick to get you to watch the movie. It's not even Halloween and Mohit Suri is playing Trick-or-Treat with us. So LS yaar. #delhiiteslang #jfgi<br />
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<b><u>Ek Villain -</u></b></div>
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<b><u><strike>There's one in every story </strike></u></b></div>
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<b><u>There are too-many-in-this-story-that-is-more-confusing-than-why-archana-puran-singh-is-always-laughing</u></b></div>
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1. Aside from a verbal diarrhea, the movie also features a light-eyes-orgasm where from the <strike>pro</strike>antagonist(s) to the item number gujju-ben-turned-hotness prachi desai. Sowree-suri-missouri but I don't think your alzheimer's audience needed to know your brown eyes fetish. Actually I think I don't think anyone ever needed to know. Please keep them for your dates with Kamal R Khan. Also, you should listen to <a href="https://twitter.com/asliyoyo" target="_blank">@asliyoyo</a>'s songs more properly. It is blue eyes hypnotize and brown rang. Duffer kahin ka.<br />
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2. Shraddha Kapoor looked amazingly hot with a flawless skin & energy of 10 combined Duracell bunnies, which is exactly how a cancer patient(her character in the movie and no, this is not a spoiler) looks, acts & feels like in real life. Also, her witty sense of humour will make <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IndiaBakchod" target="_blank">All-India-Bakchod</a> to come up with a viral video soon. That, or they're planning to give up their careers and take tuitions from her, especially how she maintains her nauseating squeaky tone pitch throughout the movie.<br />
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3. Siddharth Malhotra was ekdum tota in the movie. But we already know that. Why am I even bringing up this point? Also, I don't think this is a flaw. I think I forgot the flaw I wanted to point out in him. Probably because I didn't give a poop about his acting. He did the best he could, he survived. Miraculously, so did I.<br />
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4. Riteish Deshmukh. He is the batman-superman-I-dont-know-what-man of this movie. He's the screwdriverman..or the raincoatman. Shit I can't decide, this is depressing. He does successfully manage to give you the creeps in the movie. Watch out for that every time he changes into his cloak right in front of you and miraculously attains some divine powers, also known as the screwdriver. It'll move you to tears like how Rahul Gandhi's touching speech about his grandma-pappa-everyone-dying in an interview with Arnab Goswami did.<br />
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5. The story has been commercialised to an Aashiqui 2 extent which is what it was meant to do because well DUH, it's a BHATT CAMP MOVIE. Also, because the writer is Tushar Hiranandani, the Sindhi who has contributed movies like Grand Masti, Kyun Ho Gaya Na, ABCD, Housefull 2, F.A.L.T.U. and Main Tera Hero to Indian Cinema. The only one he wrote when he wasn't on LSD is Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge.<br />
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So the story of this movie went something like this:<br />
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<i>At a bhel puri wala:</i><br />
<i><b>You:</b> Bhaiyya ek bhel puri dena</i><br />
<i><b>Bhel puri wala:</b> Ji didi, ismein main kheera tamatar, bhujia, chutney,chana,masala,bhagwaan,kola veri di, sab daalega. aapko pata hai har bhel puri mein yeh main padta hai aur iska secret ingredient hai mera paseena, kisiko na batana oh meri haseena kyunki o mere dil ke chain, chain aaye nahin dil ki dua ki jiye. kyunki yaari bina chain kahan re, woh toh bappi da ke galey mein rahe. woh bhi meri bhel puri kha ke itne khush ho gaye ki fooley na samaaye..literally didi..LOL.</i><br />
<i><b>You:</b> ...</i><br />
<i><b>Bhel puri wala:</b> :D :D :D </i><br />
<i><b>You:</b> ...</i><br />
<i><b>Bhel puri wala:</b> :D :D :D *cue item song & dances*</i><br />
<i><b>You:</b> ...</i><br />
<i><b>Bhel puri wala: </b>:D :D :D </i><br />
<i><b>You:</b> I just want my bhel puri. :/ </i><br />
<i> I'm hungry. :/ </i><br />
<i> Please. :/ _/\_ </i><br />
<i> Let me go. :/</i><br />
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6. Kamaal R Khan. He's the best actor in the movie, being true to all the things he stands for in life aka. "hot baby". Watch out for his amazing range of sunglasses, laughter & seeti-maar dialogues. Matlab stud hai yaar yeh, isne prove kar diya. #TeamKRK #socool #toocool #comedianoftheyear #letsstopthis.<br />
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This pretty much sums up the movie. I will confess I am addicted to their music, specifically Banjaara, Galliyaan & Awari. So if there's anyone who shouldn't be crying this movie happened is Ankit Tiwari, Mithoon & Soch The Band. You peeps are perhaps the only reason why some people went to watch this movie.<br />
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<b>My rating:</b> 2/5 stars. One for music and one for <strike>the hotness Shraddha-Sidharth have looked</strike> KRK.<br />
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*****<br />
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<i><b>Epilogue</b></i><br />
Post-movie, background music during end credits: Teri galliyaan, galliyaan galliyaan<br />
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Friend 1: Teri gaa-liyan, gaa-liyaan, teri gaa-liyaan. Mujhko bhaave, gaa-liyaan teri gaa-liyaan<br />
:D :D :D<br />
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Me joining in: Teri daliyaa, daliyaa, teri daliyaa. Mujhko bhaave, daliyaa teri daliyaa.<br />
:D :D :D<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-49658050622271670442014-04-24T14:26:00.001+08:002014-04-24T15:30:13.655+08:005 Bakwas Bollywood Movies You Should NOT Watch in 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Some movie trailers entice you/seduce you to be absorbed into a cinematic experience. Not all of them turn out to be amazeballs, but well at least the Director & production team was smart enough to trick you into believing that.<br />
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And then there are some movie trailers that almost gave you cancer,HIV,tuberculosis,heart attack,head attack and let me just die right about now already. </div>
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This is especially so in Bollywood, where every buffoon thinks he's gonna be the next Anurag Kashyap and ends up being more like Ram Gopal Verma, or better still - Subhash Ghai. As much as we all loved Ghai's movies a decade back, he is clearly still living in that decade given the kind of movies he produces now. </div>
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You've got to be an absolute Ganvaar if you even considered watching these movies. Either that, or you're that teenage couple going to movies taking up the last row,corner couple seats. In that case, very wise decision, this are the movies you could plan out your <strike>makeout</strike>movie dates for.<br />
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So save yourself from dying & give these movies a miss. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1) Purani Jeans</span></b></h3>
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Issey wahiyaat trailer maine nahin dekha hoga. Matlab ultimate sardard. Kya hai yeh? Kyun hai yeh? Yeh sab sunne dekhne se pehle marr kyun nahin gayi mein?! Guys saying dialogues like "always keep the secrets,never spill the beans" and "best friends forever" in the midst of a jungle just made me lose faith in there being any single,straight men out there anymore. I'm now depressed. Cause of my death would be the dialogue-writer of this movie.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2) Heropanti</span></b></h3>
I was really curious to find out how Jaggu Dada's son would look like/turn out to be cos you know, usually senior actors ke bacchey turn out to be such hotbods. E.g. Varun Dhawan. Galti se bhi kisi ne nahin socha hoga ki Humpty Dumpty David Dhawan ka beta itna hot niklega. If you still need more convincing, look at Sonam Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt.<br />
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And then enters Tiger Shroff. Ek toh iska naam hee kutton wala hai. Matlab theekh hai,baccha badsurat hai tumhaara par aise doggie waley naam de kar bichaare ko aur pareshaan mat karo. As it is he has to deal with his face every day in the mirror. Don't add more misery to his life. But clearly Jackie Shroff has a different opinion or a set of eyes. and brains. But seriously? Whattheheck happened there? Was/Is Jackie Shroff married to a chinks that we don't know of? :O<br />
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Heropanti mein not only does Tiger Shrofff's looks disappoint, it's the moment he opens his mouth that tortures you on a different magnitude altogether. Ek toh itne ghatiya dialogues, uske upar se uska chehra, uske upar se uski dialogue delivery. Matlab endless faults. Only thing that looks good in the movie is action and cinematography. Which are going to be pointless because you rather just watch Dabangg or Rowdy Rathore again.<br />
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Look out for the dialogue "kya karoon, sabko ko aati nahin, meri jaati nahin". Itna bhaari dialogue iss chusey se karwa rahe ho. kyunkyunkyunkyunkyun*seela-from-mehta-kuch-nahin-kehta-style*<i>(<a href="http://youtu.be/wmLKWEB-_ok?t=1m10s" target="_blank">see this to know reference</a>)</i><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3) The Xpose</span></b></h3>
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Iss trailer ki jitni tareef karo utni kam. Only good thing about this movie is that the trailer gives you a good laugh. Hadd chutiyaap. Everyone's spoofed,mocked about their dialogues and Hollywood imitations too much for me to repeat. I must say my favourite is Yo Yo Honey Singh staying true to his form when he says "iss duniya mein kapdon se zyada mard badalti ho".<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4) Mastram</span></b></h3>
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WARNING: This is MC-18 content.<br />
DOUBLE WARNING: One of the worst story ideas every crafted. Or attempted. Or I don't know what to call this.<br />
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So women(most at least) aren't going to watch such movies because we our idea of attending to our emotions and hormones is watching Aisha with a tub of ice cream. As for men, well they'd find this amusing but pakka guarantee hai ki isey hall mein toh koi dekhega nahin. Jahan itne GB/TB porn download kar liya, wahin se yeh movie bhi download karke dekh lenge.<br />
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Funny irony( or coincidence) - Yo Yo Honey Singh's Achko Machko song, essentially a remix of a Gujju folk song has been used in this trailer. I don't have anything to say except 3 words - Dandiya Nights, Gujurat.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5) Kaanchi</span></b></h3>
This is one of those movies where the story concept is fundamentally good but poorly developed. High time Subhash Ghai realised that having your leading heroine's first name starting with M does not guarantee success. Not for your movie and neither for your actress. I thought he pretty much figured that out with Mahima Chaudhary. But I'm guessing he's suffering from Alzheimer's. While we are talking about his formula for "hit films", let's also pray he wakes up one day and realises that making a guest appearance in your own movies isn't helping his luck at all. If anything, it is just freaking the popcorn out of my popcorn combo meal.<br />
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Upar se Dance India Dance ki aadhi team (i.e. Jay Bhanushali & Mithun) iss film mein featured hai. Koi inse pooch lo yaar yeh movie serious movie hai ya dance kompuhteeshan.<br />
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Again, the dialogues are what makes this trailer so ridiculous.<br />
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over-and-out.
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-36651031846668572222014-04-18T13:17:00.003+08:002014-04-18T13:39:27.373+08:00Movie Review: 2 States<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you've read the novel, you'll agree that 2 States is one of Chetan Bhagat's best bed-time stories written for 18-year-olds & above ever. It's a love story that connected with quite a number of darkness-meets-fairness couples in India. Also led to the contribution of fair&lovely creams' sales and trolling jokes on punjabis/northindians & southindians/tamilians/whateveryourbreediscalled.<br />
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So usually, the global trend is that a movie based on a novel can never be as good as the novel because duh, you cannot produce a 567803 pages novel into a 3 hours movie, even if you make an epic trilogy out of it like LOTR. Imagine the troubles Sooraj Barjatya & Karan Johar would have if they were given a task of converting such novels into movies. They would've joined Ekta Kapoor League (EKL) by now. But then Sanjay Leela Bhansali's already in it aur ek jungle mein 3 gadhe nahin ho sakte.<br />
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But if it's a novel as thick as 100 pages like Chetan Bhagat's, trend says movie is going to be 100x better than the novel, unless we are talking about One Night at the Call Centre. The movie was 100x worse than the novel. Oh well, I guess that's one of the same things. To no hallelujahs then, 2 States as a movie was spectacular. It's definitely going to be one of my all-time favourite romantic hindi movies.<br />
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2 States is paced rightly, capturing the timeline of the leading protagonists' life from college to being married perfectly. Abhishek Varman has directed the movie almost-perfectly (minor flaws i.e. too much dramatisation here & there). Alia Bhatt & Arjun Kapoor should be applauded for their acting or I wouldn't be surprised if they were playing themselves. Except neither of them would ever qualify intellectually so perhaps they were acting for some part. Their stylist should be given an award for making them look like college kids though at times I felt Arjun's wardrobe was still too cool for an IIT graduate doing his MBA from IIM, but I'm willing to overlook that simply because he's eyegasm for Indian women.<br />
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I love the music except for Iski Uski. Shahid Mallya's voice on Arjun Kapoor was as bad as Rabbi Sheirgill's voice on SRK in Jab Tak Hai Jaan i.e. Level Mismatched Frog Croaking. On top of that, the song's not catchy nor was it a visual treat. This is perhaps one of the most disappointing music I've heard from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio. Amitabh Bhattacharya, what were you thinking penning down the lyrics for this? Was Siddhu sitting beside you? Were you watching a match? Was it KRK's influence? Was it? WAS it? WAS IT? THE NATION WANTS TO KNOW! INDIA NEEDS AN ANSWER!<br />
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Ronit Roy, in his guest appearance of a role, reprised his character from Udaan and gave it a delightful twist. Unlike in Udaan, his character in this movie lives in shades of grey and grows with the movie. Your faith in actors,humanity,beer,hotness,everything is restored when you watch him on screen. His on-screen wife played by Amrita Singh in the movie did an excellent job in portraying a typical Punjabi mom. You hate her in the movie not because her acting is irritating but her character makes you want to pull your hair strings in frustration.<br />
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Baaki sab toh sahi hai, but here's a couple of minor flaws:<br />
1. Where Krish (Arjun) proposes Ananya(Alia). Too dramatic. We accept the singing and dancing drama but this was ridiculously chu-panti.<br />
2. Without trying to give a spoiler, the thing Krish does when he has dinner with Ananya's family after Ananya's mother sings on-stage.<br />
3. The counsellor in the movie was as redundant as Sonakshi Sinha's forehead in every movie she does.<br />
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Short mein kaho toh,<br />
Hilarious,witty dialogues, Brilliant performances by leads & supporting cast, Catchy music, Well-edited, Smartly directed & great cinematography.<br />
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My rating: 3.5/5 stars<br />
It's definitely worth a watch in theatres! Especially if you're a south indian-north indian couple. Or any other mix couple. Or any couple. Anyone seriously.<br />
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P.S. - That awkward moment when you realise Amrita Singh is the same chick Saif Ali Khan was once married to while watching the movie. #wtfhappenedthere<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-20309154595060844302014-03-22T13:11:00.000+08:002014-03-23T11:01:14.805+08:00Quick Look: Queen,Shaadi Ke Side Effects,Hasee Toh Phasee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
You know that moment when you realise you're too lazy to take out time to write an extensive review because you've a job and a social life commonly known as binge drinking on weekends like you live-in-Beverly-Hills syndrome,that's when you sit in the toilet and have a eureka moment on why not just write short reviews and put them up together for a post.<br />
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You kill two green piggies with one yellow angry bird -<br />
1. You get to still live your passion of writing reviews.<br />
2. You don't have to feel guilty about those beers.<br />
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So on this note,here's me starting a quick review column. It'll have three-four movie reviews. Giving you options to figure out which movie you wanna watch over the weekend..or not to bang your head into. </div>
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<b><u>Queen.</u></b><br />
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A quirky, funky movie with a déjà vu of English Vinglish background score,Queen is a movie that'll get you laughing at how desi desis can be abroad..AND in India. Kangana Ranaut's portrayal of a west Delhi girl is perfect to the Rajori Garden. Ditto for her sidekick. No one knows this better than me who has cousins in west Delhi. Nothing to be proud of,I live with it. I don't know how they do though. </div>
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The movie has been directed brilliantly. The manner in which the story unfolds itself is smooth,crisp and grasping. Amit Trivedi's musical touch gives you an ear-orgasm as usual. Dialogues are witty enough for the filmy keeda loser in you to repeat in front of others and make yourself laugh if not those others. Which will eventually lead you to again quoting a dialogue from the movie "ki mera sense of humour kitna funny hai". </div>
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Having said all that, it has it's reminiscents of a typical chick flick. I wouldn't even call it a Desi touch. It's just got one of those fantasy moments like the one in Cocktail between Padukone and P<strike>a</strike>enty (P&P) where one party animal P helps out a random Desi P in a foreign country. Because that's exactly what the cheerleader of my high school did with me. Or the one where you meet 3 random guys in Germany who turn out to be their racial/national stereotypes and being nicer than SRK in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. So it has it's ridiculous flaws but you forgive them because it's got Ranaut and Raj Kumar Rao(in a guest-you-love-but-are-supposed-to-hate appearance). </div>
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But you should watch the movie because of its endings. The strengths make you want to overlook the flaws because of its strong ending. So go watch this movie. </div>
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<b>My rating: 3.5/5 stars </b><br />
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<b><u>Shaadi Ke Side Effects.</u></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-snQ86yczc_w/Uy0Z0xKzvKI/AAAAAAAAKts/TijbM8kog9A/s1600/Shaadi+Ke+Side+Effects.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-snQ86yczc_w/Uy0Z0xKzvKI/AAAAAAAAKts/TijbM8kog9A/s1600/Shaadi+Ke+Side+Effects.jpg" height="320" width="220" /></a>If you've watched Pyaar Ke Side Effects, you would've already equated Rahul Bose as one of the men you love in your life(even if you're a guy yes). His portrayal of a typical ladka with a typical bandi in a typical setting was so remarkable that it inspired many non-typical ladke to become that and ruined relationships happily ever thereafter. The chemistry, the music,the wit that Pyaar Ke Side Effects possesses is perfecto, raising up the bar for its sequel.<br />
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Shaadi Ke Side Effects, surprisingly doesn't disappoint. It's almost-at-par with the original in terms of wit, Farhan Akhtar played out his character effortlessly making you also fall in love with him all over again. The concept of playing two gender stereotypes,mocking them yet secretly groaning in agreement with them was well played out by the two leads - Farhan & <strike>FatsoAunty</strike>Vidya.<br />
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While the movie was overall directed smartly, the stylist could've chosen to make Vidya look less fat,less aunty,less loud,less everythingsheis,less her,more someone else,chosen someone else. This is not because I have anything against the fashion she sashayed in, but for the love of being focused in the movie and not be distracted by her OTT/bizzare dressing. I cannot listen to what you have to say Aunty if you're gonna be dressed like that.<br />
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All bakchodi aside, the movie starts out well,crisis hits at the right time but just as I was going to say the ending was a perfect landing, there comes a little turbulence right before the ending. The twist-in-the-twist they bring towards the end of the movie was empty-popcorn-dabba-crushing stupid. It was redundant,cliched and baby-puke-worthy(that curdle curdle milky stuff they throw up).<br />
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On a big-fat-whole(to accommodate Aunty), movie's worth a watch, though not necessarily for all audiences. Only reason I was laughing hysterically at some of the jokes was because I have spent more time with babies in the past few months than with humans. Farhan's funny, music's fab, stereotype-mocking-humour was impeccable. Wait for a good rip or for it to be shown on TV though. Not a theatre watch..unless you're a couple-going-into-parenthood. Actually no,not even then. Just might not be appropriate. :/<br />
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<b>My rating: 3/5 stars</b><br />
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<b><u>Hasee Toh Phasee.</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Qk3Bsxtv4/Uy0Z4HGwwbI/AAAAAAAAKt4/BTPz3pj6Qv0/s1600/Hasee+Toh+Phasee.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Qk3Bsxtv4/Uy0Z4HGwwbI/AAAAAAAAKt4/BTPz3pj6Qv0/s1600/Hasee+Toh+Phasee.jpeg" height="320" width="221" /></a>This movie is your Centerfresh cheeinggum. It isn't your quintessential love rom-com. It is,but it isn't. It is, by Hollywood standards but not by Desi standards. Parineeti's acting is commendable given how I expected her to play the same role as in Shudh Desi Romance as in Ladies vs Ricky Behl as whichoneamimissingouttheyallseemthesame. Even chest-showing,body-showing,showing-show-off boy from SOTY acted fairly well given his limited lack of muscles-trained-in-acting.<br />
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Siddharth and Parineeti had a better chemistry than the Parineeti-Sushant kisses did in Shudh Desi Romance. The story crafted is light, cheeky and peppy. Vinil Mathew is one of those <i><a href="http://insaneintelligence.blogspot.sg/2014/02/movie-review-highway.html" target="_blank">mid-grounders</a> </i>in the league of Ayan Mukherjee. He's blended the two worlds of bollywood and reality smooth though at times I was resorting to "kya yaar..kya hai yeh..kyun hai yeh" in some scenes but it's all forgiven given I don't think Mathew was aiming to clinch an Oscar with such a movie or even make it there to have a selfie.<br />
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Music is your cliched v-day-catchy stuff you hear every time you got a chick/guy, you broke up<strike>,</strike> <strike>you got laid</strike>, you listened to it on a random day like some time in feb. It's awesome but with a low shelf-life. I like that Ishq Bulaava track though. Sanam Puri's got me hooked to his voice off lately.<br />
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So go watch the movie if you think you still dig young,stupid,hopeless,timepass romance. The movie's not for your parents or your toddlers. Nor is it for those of you who do not understand Bollywood tadka.<br />
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<b>My rating: 3/5 stars.</b><br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-44782250701218344152014-02-24T01:35:00.002+08:002014-02-24T01:45:27.035+08:00Movie Review: Gunday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This was one of the movies I had huge hopes from. Hopes bigger than Sonakshi's forehead & Hrithik's biceps. This was despite knowing that it's written & directed by maha-sardard champak Ali Abas Zafar(same guy who made Mere Brother Ki Dulhan). Ali is that wannabe coolness which oozes out of Dehradun in childhood and was later on dumped to a random DU ka college-which-only-KRK-would've-heard-of when his super-rich parents couldn't stand him anymore.<br />
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It probably went something like this -:</div>
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Ali(5 years old): Mumma mumma mekko movie banana hai</div>
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Mumma: Awww...so cute my bachaaa..of course tu bade ho kar star banega</div>
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Pappa: Hahahahha..good good..ya ya..now go make me another peg of JD.</div>
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Ali(13 years old): Mom I have this amazing idea yo..I wanna make movies..I think I can make movies better than these peeps in Bollywood ya.</div>
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Mom: Awww..so cute my bachaaa..of course tu bade ho kar star banega</div>
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Dad: Pehn de takke army kya tera pyoh join kar da si? Chal aur ice daal iss peg mein.</div>
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Ali(18 years old): Mom you have to have to send me to DU. That's the shitz yo. Jugaad lagaao na.</div>
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Mom: Awww..so cute my bachaa..of course tu bade ho kar star banega</div>
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Dad: Bhainskieyes tumse na ho paayega. Ja yaar..paka diya. Acha jaatey jaatey ek peg aur banaata hua ja. Lagaata hoon judaad.</div>
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Ali is that mid-grounder who fails to give you the right blend of fiction and reality. When you watch the trailer of Gunday, you are given these false expectations of an amazing cinematic experience. Not just because it has two brazen hot bods with the right amount of facial hair running and smiling and tungtungtungtung, but because the trailer promised you an action-packed fun-filled twisted story of 2 goons. The trailer was well-composed and it pretty much ends there. </div>
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You would've had a lot more fun watching the trailer than to have sat through the entire movie. While the first half is decent,the second half is full of cliches. From Priyanka's evolution of character to Arjun's wicked-smile-creepy-face. The background score is fantastic, the Bikram-Bala(can't remember which one is which) chemistry was more sizzling than any of theirs with Priyanka. The cinematography(Aseem Mishra) was mediocre with some moments of greatness. What really makes you cry is the poor, immature screenplay. </div>
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Do not even taken into account Irrfan Khan starring in it given his role was as small as Katrina's in Dhoom 3. I'm guessing he took up this commercial to make some pocket money since all the other movies he seem to be doing are offbeat cinema. The Lunchbox doesn't exactly seem like a movie which paid him anything except for a money plant. </div>
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Somewhere, you begin to also feel if Bikram-Bala are trying to pull off a Jai-Veeru in the second half which is just messed up because A. You can't remember to save a life who is Bala and who is Bikram and B. You thought they were pulling off a modern-day Ramayan somewhere in between. Ali attempts to write a stronger screenplay but falls flat on his dumbface. It's like he attempted to pull off an Ramesh Taurani with Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and then thought he might just get some success in being the next Tigmanshu Dhulia. Hate to add to your masala misery but sorry Ali baba, you're just failing in acting as a director too. Just staaaahp it. Staaaaahp staaahp staaaaaaaaarghhhhhthisisspartaaaaa. </div>
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In short, Catchy-retro Music, Good Acting, Meh Cinematography, Meh Storyline, Meh Direction,Meh Editing.</div>
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My rating: 2.5/5 stars</div>
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Sohail Sen has given some great dhinchak songs. If not for Ranveer-Arjun, I would've not even watched this movie. I wouldn't even have given it 2.5 stars. The movie tries to resurrect the feel of 70s-80s Indian Cinema,but somehow disappoints in its resurrection. Decent attempt. I have to say it's quite an improvement from MBKD Mr.Ali. </div>
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-72768342104607753882014-02-23T14:22:00.000+08:002014-02-24T18:10:21.040+08:00Movie Review: Highway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Prologue</i><br />
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Amongst many commercial directors & art-film directors, therein lies the "mid-grounders". The mid-grounders are directors who fuse the two polar opposites of cinema. Sometimes, this kind of cinema works for the audiences, sometimes it doesn't. It's like how you need the right amount of sugar,spice and everything nice PLUS Chemical <strike>SE</strike>X to make Alia,Kareena & Deepika. There are those other times they just fail like a champu trying to pataao Uttam Nagar ki item.<br />
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*****<br />
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Highway is a movie that is going to strike a chord with travel junkies. It would either give them an orgasm or might just prove to be a dream gone bad like travelling through the pretty mountains & pop appears Subhash Ghai's face saying bazinga!<br />
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I love Imtiaz Ali. Not just for his perfect features and face and uncanny hotness, but also for his writing style,direction & height. Right from his directorial debut Socha Na Tha, he pretty much nails it in being the perfect mid-grounder. His movies have a hint of <strike>fiction</strike>desi-drama in a pseudo-realistic setting. He's been said to extract the most juice out of his actors and that couldn't be more true 'cept in the case of Nargis Fakhri. But it's okay, we all make mistakes. We're willing to overlook one duckface.<br />
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In essence, Highway is a National Geographic Travel Documentary meets Bollywood Drama. If I was the Indian Tourism Board, I would've made Imtiaz Ali the brand ambassador of India by now. He should be the face of Incredible India! & "oh look mountains in India!" & "oh look chinky-people in our country speaking hindi!". With all those dopey eyes & curly-bush-of-hair, you can't blame him for the *cough*high*cough* he gets from mountains. Anil Mehta, the cinematographer, has done an impeccable job in relaying that love for India's beauty through his lens. FYI, he's the same dude behind the lens for Rockstar, JTHJ, Veer-Zaara, Wake Up Sid & so many more. Check out his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Mehta" target="_blank">Wiki</a> page.<br />
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The movie touches on a refreshing subject and sheds light into an unknown territory. No, by territory I don't just mean undiscovered parts of India, I also refer to the unspoken bitter reality of kidnapping & highway goons. Playing on the themes of crime,travel,family,fear & love, the story has been paced rightly. It evolves smoothly, Hooda as expectedly essaying the character of a random highway-goon & Alia shocking the eye-sockets out of you with her impressive acting. She's never looked prettier & more innocent. Her face was so raw and the nostrils-flaring talent was something I squealed at and would like to nose-five with her for. The supporting cast,i.e. the Hooda-the-hotness ke gang ke laundey, were cheeky in their own way.<br />
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What brought the movie to another level altogether was A R Rahman's music. Don't know how this legend always does it but I guess that's what makes him a legend. His music was perfectly-in-sync with the roads & beauty of India. I can bet my almost 11,000 tweets' life that Highway is the music album every desi is gonna be listening to when they're on the highways of India. Especially Patakha Guddi & Mahi Ve. I still can't decided which version of Patakha Guddi I love more. It's soulful, it's catchy, it's upbeat and I haven't even praised the lords enough for Irshad Kamil's magical lyrics. For the socially-awkward person that Irshad Kamil is, he's quite the man with the pen in his hands. I don't know how I'd ever speak to him though..or thank him. I think they invented social media for him. Something to hide behind and yet communicate. Funnily enough, he isn't very active on social media. Okay now seriously,how does one talk to this guy? AND get him to write songs for you. AND not just songs,MIND-BLOWING songs usually.<br />
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So the music's great, cinematography on another level altogether, acting by leads was pretty convincing too. The flaws lie in the screenplay. Some of the reactions that Alia gives as an abducted young girl was very filmy. Last time I checked, an abducted girl isn't exactly Miss Chatterbox extracted from Mr & Miss Little series. Neither does a kidnapper ever turn into a little crier,least of all in the midst of kidnapping. Especially not a Haryanvi kidnapper. Oh but then again, a Haryanvi kidnapper is never this hot whom you'd die to be kidnapped from and fall madly in love with and want to marry and have 500 bacchey. The movie also side-tracks to an episode of Satyamev Jayate Season 1 in the middle of nowhere, which was as random as Baba Sehgal's tweets. It took my friend and I a whole minute in figuring out whatthedouchery is happening. When we did figure out and thought(aloud) the response which Hooda should be giving to Alia on that randomness, we burst into laughter for being so in-sync with such humour.<br />
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Alia: *insert episode of satyamav jayate in the middle of kidnapping which has no link to being kidnapped or anything*<br />
Hooda: Silent, stares<br />
Friend 1 & I(as Hooda): Cool. Good to know.<br />
*insert hi-5s and chuckles too loud*<br />
Random audience mein baithi huyi ladi in the row infront: Excuse me, could you please keep your volume down.<br />
Me: Sorry.<br />
Friend 2: Sshhh..aunty police bula legi<br />
*insert more khikhikhikhikhikhikhi*<br />
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It felt good to be in primary school again for that moment.<br />
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In a truck-shell, Scenic cinematography, Soulful Music, Smart Direction, Impressive Alia, Expectedly-Great Hooda, Refreshing Storyline, Some-Really-Witty-Dialogues<br />
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My rating: 3/5 stars.<br />
It's worth a watch,but not necessarily in theatres. Watch it on your 42-inch Plasma TV at home.<br />
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*****<br />
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<i>Epilogue</i><br />
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I love mid-grounders like Ayan Mukherjee & Imtiaz Ali. They bring you into this "fantasy world" with good-looking male leads and everyone else is so good-looking that it's like you're in charlie & the chocolate factory for life. On a serious note, you have to give it to Imtiaz for capturing love in the most bizzare of situations so finely. It's an art to master.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-3426377111715611692014-01-15T21:33:00.000+08:002014-01-17T15:19:33.773+08:00Movie Review: Dedh Ishqiya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I wanted my first movie in theatres this year to be a good one just because I believe in resolutions and unicorns and flying pigs and realised I'd wasted too much money on watching some real gobar movies in 2013. But no-way-ho-zay is that happening this year. I need to save money to spend on beer and travelling, in that order. </span><br>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Given how amazingly mind-blowing sequels seem to be nowadays,my expectations from this movie were as high as the roadside pandits in Haridwar. Kidding,that's not the real reason why I had high expectations, cos roadside pandits in Hardiwar are high for real and bollywood sequels give you the worst downers without ever getting high in the first place. Real reason for such expectations was because of that man in the list of my favorite movie directors - Vishal Bhardwaj. I've said this before and will say it again till hopefully Mr.Guy-From-Meerut reads and acknowledges my compliment; VB is the <i>Modern Day Desi Shakespeare</i>. If Shakespeare could resurrect,he would right now to personally present a Nobel Prize to VB for capturing the essence of stage drama and having the talent of moulding it into a perfect movie. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">V.Bhardwaj experiments and he experiments well. Firstly,you feel good if you're a part of that "niche" audience who gets his drift,his movies,his songs,his bholi si surat aankhon mein masti door khadey sharmaaye. Secondly, if you analyse his films,you'll get why I'm saying he's the <i>Modern Day Desi Shakespeare</i>. V.Bhardwaj plays out his stories thematically. There are various recurring themes and they're in consistency. The dots are all connected perfectly well to make a beautiful web instead of an entangled mess(which Arbaaz Khan,Farah Khan & Kamal R Khan are competing the number 1 spot over). </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thirdly,I love his sense of music. I'm not saying Dedh Ishqiya had the most awesomeshizzles legendary music you'll remember and compare it with of R D Burman. Sometimes,the songs aren't exactly the kind of soundtrack you'd be checking out on a random day,or let alone even remember. Lekin,magar,parantu,kintu, his music gels well with the storyline. It's custom-made,a perfect tailor-fit. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Lastly,I love his dark,twisted,witty humour . He knows his subjects,he has a good command over the language and he knows how to perfectly blend the two, i.e. imbibing that sense of humour into his characters. He probably got that humour from his cultural roots. UP does that to you,makes you funny without even you realising. It's like one of those vaccinations we get every month from our gharwaleys. Look at Kumar Vishwas. That's another story his punchlines have now become controversial with velley activists who are on snooze mode most of the time. Or perhaps the fact that he stayed away from commercial cinema. </span><br>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Coming to Dedh Ishqiya, this movie is immensely gratifying to the soul. It outdoes its prequel, has too many punchlines that you wanna note down just so that you can throw them at people's faces and look all cool and badass. The chemistry between Naseerudin-Arshad, Arshad-Huma,Madhuri-Huma,Madhuri-Naseerudin is ekdum 555 wali pataaka chai. Especially Naseerudin-Arshad! Unlike many sequels, there was no forced humour nor dragging emotional senti chutiyapa in this movie. The storyline's a taste of smooth lager, which gives you more and more kicks as you down more and more pints. The comic timing of every actor apart from the four main leads, i.e. Vijay Raaz(Jaan Mohammed), Manoj Pahwa(Italwi) and Salman Shahid(Mushtaq) was as perfect as Leonardo Dicaprio's gelled hair in Wolf of Wall Street. The music, while it isn't as catchy as was of Ishqiya, compliments the storyline. </span><br>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abhishek Chaubey, director of Ishqiya and Dedh Ishqiya, did an even better job in directing this sequel, working upon the minor hiccups that were perhaps unsorted in Ishqiya. The Chaubey-Bhardwaj duo seemed to have worked wonders. Clearly, they understand each other like soulmates. Madhuri Dixit was quite a surprise for me as firstly, I expected her role to be raunchy rather than graceful and where there's grace,there's Mrs Dixit-Nene. </span><br>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you asked me to name one favourite scene in the movie, I don't know which one would it be. But I can tell you the one I was clapping and hooting the loudest on was when Arshad sings "kaatey nahin kattey.." to Huma,watch out for the 2nd last line. It was simply HILARIOUS. Double-seeti-maar to Bhardwaj,Chaubey & Gulzar,the team behind the screenplay! </span><br>
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All in all,<br>
<b>Perfect Direction, Consistent Cinematography(Ishqiya-Dedh Ishqiya), Well-Written Screenplay, Well-Delivered Performances, Complimenting Background Score & Smart Editing. </b><br>
<b>My rating: 4.5/5 Stars. </b><br>
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The movie captivates you from its first scene till the end. It finishes the way it begins and I loved that! This movie is a MUST-WATCH in theatres!<br>
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-35591039020641148772013-12-11T23:49:00.001+08:002013-12-12T01:14:47.456+08:00Movie Review: Bullet Raja<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
*****</div>
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<em>Prologue</em></div>
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Spot the red bull in Tamanche Pe Disco.<br />
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*****<br />
</div>
<div>
There're reasons why we do not have union sets of commercial and non-commercial movies in taxonomy. It just doesn't go man. It's like saying you want to have khichdi with chole bhature. Likewise,Tigmanshu Dhulia shouldn't have served us this half-here-half-in-Salman-Khan'<wbr></wbr>s-Pocket movie. </div>
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I had uber-duber high expectations from Bullet Raja cos A.Tigmanshu Dhulia(wohi wohi Ramadhir Singh) and B. I'm a half-UPite. While I usually diss away the UPite culture as being crass & urghhh..pleej okay so below my standardsss horn ok please, I secretly love the bhojpuri/whatever else UPite accent in movies because they make the characters so much more amusing. It's a kind of style I love in reel life but would barf out on in real life. Being also a half-Delhiite,my such hypocrisies are justified. In fact I'm more of a Delhiite than UPite but that's another thing I'm pardes mein rehne wali cultural identity crisis ki ambassador. </div>
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Bullet Raja is a movie that starts well but digs it's own grave because of its unnecessary commercial ads after every 3 scenes. There's the good, bad and ugly. </div>
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</div>
<div>
The Good:</div>
<div>
1. The overarching themes & storyline was very interesting. It's on politics and power play with the combination of friendship and style. Based on a true story, Bullet Raja has depicted the nuances of UPite culture and politics pretty well. </div>
<div>
2. Jimmy Sheirgill. I love this man. Wasn't a big fan of him when I first watched him in Mohabbatein but he had me at 'em gangster/nawab roles. His acting,screen presence is just very very classy. He doesn't overdo it. He somehow fits in any role you give him. I refuse to watch his punjabi movies because I'm afraid I might lose faith in the religion called JimmyS. </div>
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3. Saif Ali Khan. Despite being hit on the head with the wedding ring of Bebo, I think he finally made a wise decision in movies. I can't remember his last awesome movie. Was it Love Aaj Kal? Or something like that? In this movie,he's picked up the UPite language(including body ki),style & delivery of dialogues. It might be because he was formally trained under Ustad Vishal Bhardwaj during the making of Omkara or it might just be the Nawab's alter ego. Whatever it was,worked for him big time. </div>
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4. The language & dialogues. The two things Dhulia(Ramadhir yaar) managed to thankfully get right in this movie,which is probably what saved the movie whatever little bit it could. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The Bad:</div>
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1. Mahie Gill's Don't Touch My Body item & special appearance otherwise. Okay there's a highhhhhhh probability Dhulia meant to make her look super vulgar and cheap but listen dude,that was disturbing. Apart from the rickshawalas,I can't think of anyone who won't be cringing at her presence on screen. The song,the dance,the female in koschan,all was scary. Not aesthetically vulgar man. And I know you can do that,you've done that before in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster & it's sequel. </div>
<div>
2. Songs. While I mostly like the songs of the movie,none of them were required at any given point in the movie. Isiliye kaha Ramadhir Singh beta,tumse na ho paayega kawmursuhlaayisashun(<wbr></wbr>commercialisation). Matlab it was heights of kuch bhi yaaaaaaaaaaaaaar. </div>
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The Ugly:</div>
<div>
1-100. Sonakshi Sinha</div>
<div>
101-200. Sonakshi's fats</div>
<div>
201-300. Sonakshi's head. Forehead. </div>
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If you cropped out that behenji who's coming in EVERY Bollywood movie, you'll realise the movie is a decent watch. </div>
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</div>
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Ek toh woh,uske upar se uska character itna despo. I didn't get the need for her to wear brown contact lenses,they weren't helping her face look any better. I didn't get why and how and why does what she did in the movie. She was the flop commercial ads that mainly spoils the movie. As it is I can't stand her anymore given she's there in EVERY Bollywood movie,on top of that her redundant need in this movie. Minus her,the movie could've easily be made within 2 hours,or even slightly less. </div>
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<br /></div>
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*Saif in tension all sad due to some recent loss,afraid of being caught or killed by the villains*</div>
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Sonakshi: Awww..chalo na mere-2-din-ke-miley-huye-<wbr></wbr>pyaar, mera saath Kolkata chalo! Wahan hum dance karenge aur tumhaara mood theekh ho jaayega. Phir no oneeee would want to kill you. No oneeee. </div>
<div>
Saif: Bas laundiya ek tu hee mera khayaal rakhti hai,chal pass kar apni mishti bhog. :* </div>
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*heart shapes all around. Cue: Saamne hai savera* </div>
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<br /></div>
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Overall, the movie is a timepass. It's nice,but I couldn't fall in love with it thanks to flop commercial ads. The dialogues and style are witty. Action is pretty refreshing and smart. Ravi Kishan could do without being Radha. I sometimes feel Raj Babbar is bad luck. Jis movie mein aata hai,movie pit jaati hai. </div>
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<strong>My rating: 3/5 Stars. </strong></div>
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<strong>From direction to background score,I've mixed sentiments on how I found it. Poor editing and bad decision of commercialising Dhulia. Bad decision.</strong> </div>
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<br />
*****</div>
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<em>Epilogue</em></div>
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<strike>Spot</strike> <strike>ignore</strike> Delete the red bull from the movie.<br />
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*****<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-17677132263157805002013-11-16T13:30:00.002+08:002013-11-16T13:30:17.712+08:00Movie Review: Ram-Leela<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One does not simply watch a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film with a non-fictional approach. One does not simply watch a SLB movie & expect a clear-simple-story. SLB rather prefers to be a Shakespeare-meets-Vishal Bhardwaj-meets-Farah Khan. Not exactly the kind of beauty-fool mix you look forward to. His usually abstract,oddly-made movies do not strike the chord well with the masses. Be it Saawariya or Guzaarish(or Saraswatichandra for that matter even). To no surprise then, I don't know how some smarties expected this to be a formula any differently applied.<br />
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Ram-Leela, was cinematic brilliance <b>in my opinion</b>. I thought it was quite a delightful adaptation of,and a fresh approach to, Romeo & Juliet. So kudos to Ravi Varman(guy behind cinematography of Barfi & many South Indian movies), for the cinematography. While Ranveer Singh was playing himself in the movie, Ms Hotness has made a significant mark in the movie with her performance. Padukone acted remarkably well from portraying the intense emotions with so much ease to dancing with a body so fluid. She has ACTUALLY acted & not just looked hot & made men gaga. That is not to say Ranveer hasn't acted well. He's still been as charming as ever, slipping in & out of characters with so much ease. Now imagine Ranveer Singh, the man who should've stole your hearts at BBB but in case he didn't, he left no hearts flipped out after Lootera, together with that Kingfisher hotness who can give your eyes an orgasm with her amazeballs acting combined, you will get a chemistry hotter than ever. It's like they're a beaker full of 100ml Hydrochloric Acid guys. It really really is.<br />
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Now enough with the compliments' ke bridges baandhna, let's get down to what went wrong in the movie & trash it like I always do. So firstly, while I like how a spectrum of themes(love,passion,humour,power,politics & revenge) were explored in the movie, what I couldn't get in my pea-sized brain was howintheworlddoes the love progress soooo fast. Like I knew Gujjus are very fast people, but going this fast is being a little far fetched. There was not much poetic justice being done to show the "epic love saga" of sorts between the Gujju Romeo & Juliet. Love hai, dhokla-khaakra thodi na hai jo fataafat aise khaatey jao. Aise nahin hota..no ji no ji no ji.<br />
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Adding to that, the plotline had a few misses here & there as well. Mainly because it was progressing way too fast. Faster than your average punjabi alcoholic in a wedding having 10 patiala pegs(which is equivalent to a blink of an eye mind you). SLB should've spent a little more time setting the stage than progressing towards the crisis stage.<br />
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Secondly, when Ranveer Singh said there's a kiss in the movie that's been the "hottest, bestest kiss ever onscreen Bollywood movie", which one exactly was he talking about? I kept looking out for everyyyyy kiss of <strike>his</strike>them(not because I'm a psycho-tharki but because he said that) in the movie but after every kiss I was like "okay so it's the next one..okay the next..okay when the douchery is it going to come". However, I believe "hottest" or "sexiest" aren't exactly the most apt words to describe their kisses. Sensual, yes. Full of sweet passion,yes. But hottest? No, leave that to Sunny Leone in her Sunny Paradise Productions.<br />
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Thirdly, too many songs. Perhaps the Gujju director was going for the musical approach he always goes for, but he could've cut out one or two redundant ones. Cos I genuinely believe Ram Chahe Leela was in no way required at that particular junction in the movie cos A. The lyrics didn't exactly go well with logic in the story but screw logic,we weren't made for that anyways & B.I *think* and only cos I *think*, it would've been better off as just one of those item numbers they put at the end of the movie alongside credits. <br />
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**SPOILER ALERT**<br />
Ang Laga De, as sensual as it was, was a little creepy. Why would anyone try to show Juliet turning desperado to have her bedding night(no typos there nope) in the midst of a war between families while she might just be hunted down before she can scream out of pleasure. <br />
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Juliet: Romeo! Romeo! Where art thou Romeo? Come let's make some Gujju love in Chandan Lodge & hopefully produce cute cute Gujju babies while our families hunt us down! **squeaky-voice-eyes turned chinky*<br />
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Romeo: Aww..you're too cute Juliet. I love how you always make sense. Come here my Gujju smarty.<br />
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**SPOILER OVER**<br />
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Apart from the lead protagonists, Supriya Pathak(Hansa Ben from Khichdi) did a spectacular job in the movie. She got it right from from the Gujju accent to delivering witty dialogues with such remarkable finesse that I went like "awwww..yehi meri mummy banegiiii" *tearsofhappiness*. Apart from Padukone, she was the actor who could express solely with her eyes in the movie and my my,the way she did it reminded me of my mummy. Richa Chaddha also delivered a good performance in the parameters of her character. She didn't overdo it,she doesn't go unnoticed. Abhimanyu Singh was another actor that I loved it in the movie given his own scope of character. Sharad Kelkar had too little for me to judge. Either that,or he just couldn't make a mark for himself in the limited role he had.<br />
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In a khaandvi-shell, the movie promises a musical romantic drama,set in the rurals of Gujurat where people are brash,loud & powerful with a sense of humour that keeps you maaroing double-seetis. Cinematically, it's very grandeur, magnificent & vibrant. The plot has some falls here & there, but I'm willing to overlook it for three reasons: 1. Oozing chemistry between Ranveer & Deepika. 2.Hilariously witty dialogues that too in a Gujju accent & 3. Supriya Pathak.<br />
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<b>My rating: 3.5/5 Stars</b><br />
<b>Fine Direction(could've been slightly better), Brilliant Cinematography, Great Music & Background Score(love the sounds of folk music!), Good Storyline(with some pitfalls) & Weak Editing.</b><br />
<br />
If you're willing to overlook the ridiculous steps Ganesh Acharya made Ranveer Singh do in Tattad Tattad(took me forever to overlook that given he's it's so painful to the eyes - both acharya and the dandruff-jhaadoing step), some of the storyline slips, I believe it's quite a fabulous adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. I like how SLB has twisted the complications & crisis instead of keeping it the classic way.<br />
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It's worth watching in the theatres once. (:<br />
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<i>Epilogue<br /></i><br />
Gujju mummies & pappas are gonna be flippin' after watching the boldness of the Gen Y romance. Gujju boys & girls are going to be inspired by this kind of love & lame sense of humour. Sadly, while Gujju girls will remain hot, no Gujju boy with hair or no hair on his chest is ever going to be as hot as Ranveer Singh. Especially not when they wear full-sleeved shirts sticking to their bodies that are far from being six-packs. If anything at all this movie has done, it has just led to Gujju girls being more & more disappointed with men of their komm.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-31724167561034511322013-10-18T00:06:00.001+08:002013-11-07T04:18:17.500+08:00Movie Review: Gravity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I first watched the trailer of Gravity, I remember agreeing with a friend that either this movie would be awesomeshizzles or it'd be the biggest let down in recent times. This movie is what you get when you put a producer(David Heyman) who has spent his entire production works on that weird-specsy Harry Potter series & a director(Alfonso Cuarón) who has worked on one of those Potter movies and also,is Mexican. The last time I remembered someone from Mexico, it was <strike>Corona Extra</strike>Gustavo 'Gus' Fring on Breaking Bad. No wait, oh yeah that's about it. The combination of such expertise results in a movie which is neither realistic nor a fantasy fiction of my dreams.<br />
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I watched Gravity in 3D Atmos. My Facebook newsfeed was already flooded with people-I-call-my-friends yapping on & on about how amazingly Greek-Gods-of-this-movie was. Moreover, iMDb's millions of users have given it 8.7/10 star rating. Clearly, I was thrilled like a teenager in a rock concert to watch this movie. I remember cleaning my 3D glasses with a special soft cloth before the movie multiple times until it was more hygienic than those germs-free floors they show on Dettol's commercial, just so that I could completely submerge in this outer space uber-duber-cool sounding movie.<br />
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Much to my dismay, the movie was all-effects & no story. Before all you smarties start judging me to find this movie a disappointment, hear my arguments out -:<br />
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1. The movie had practically no storyline. We spend 90 minutes watching Sandra Bullock being a stupid female who has a constipated face as she has in all her other movies. We watch her character Ryan Stone fighting off so many space debris, it was almost as if the space was taking out their anger on her for becoming an astronaut. If Newton was watching this in his grave, he was probably thanking the Gods that there was no gravity in space & probably tweeted "LOL. Stupid blonde".<br />
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2. As long as George Clooney was the Looney Toon(Clooney-Looneyyy.Get it?Get it? Get it? Okay nevermind otherwise) in the movie, there was still a reason to watch the movie. The moment his character is off, you pretty much have every reason to snore away in the remainder of the movie. It gets a little depressing to watch Bullock attempting to be smart,and then turning suicidal but then becoming the Bruce Willis of the movie.<br />
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3. I love the effects, I love the mini-ride to space this movie gives you. It's like the child in you is going "woahhhhhhh...soooo cooooool...I feel like I'm floatingggggg..wooooohoooooo...weeeeheeeee..heeeehaawwwww". Yes yes, all very good. But if you're rating a movie amazing on the basis of its audio-visual treat, then I hate to burst your bubble, but I think they made a Science Centre for that reason where you can do this drifting-into-space(literally). Not sure about other countries, but at least in Singapore, we have Singapore Science Centre where there's a an omni-theatre in which they give you a ride to outer-space & even show you the various star constellations. I think I'd prefer that to watching this absurdly abstract movie.<br />
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4. The cliched racist jokes on Chinese when she's to interact with a Chinese Satellite & they don't know a word of English and the WhitesvsAsian stereotypical mockery was as redundant as Justin Bieber pouncing on every chance to show his body in a desperate attempt to prove that he's not gay. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Seriously.<br />
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**Spoiler Alert!**Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to know the ending**<br />
5. The ending. My goodness. The fact that she miraculously survived this brought tears to my eyes,but not of joy but rather the degree of ridicule it possessed. Given the kind of logic they were trying to go with in the movie, there is no way in hell she could've survived, especially given her stupidity. ESPECIALLY.<br />
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I remember in the middle of the movie, one of my friends actually got up to go & attend nature's call. When he came back 5 minutes later, the movie was exactly where he left off. I can never forget the disappointment on his face, as much as I can't remember watching the movie itself with any interest.<br />
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The movie should be applauded for its digital effects, its cinematography. However, if you want me to say this was cinematic brilliance? That this movie deserves a standing ovation? Well then, you're probably a teenager who is yet to watch enough movies to make a sensible judgment, hence I forgive you. The story isn't gripping enough to make it a must-watch. Emmanuel Lubezki did a commendable job in providing you with the closest-possible experience of outer space. I'd even give a round of slow-claps to Alfonso for smartly directing the moves of astronauts, it isn't easy & all-constipation-aside, Bullock & Clooney did a great job behaving like they're in space. I can only imagine all the hardwork that went in choreographing the moves. If only he paid a little more attention to Bullock's expressions.<br />
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<b>In a nutshell,</b><br />
<b>Smart Direction, Weak Editing, Impressive Cinematography, Let-down Screenplay & a Well-Suited Background Score.</b><br />
<b>My rating: 3/5 stars. </b><br />
It's a decent watch for those who dig 3D effects & animation. Otherwise, not exactly the movie you can't live without watching.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-85453961654602983222013-10-17T21:42:00.002+08:002013-10-18T00:48:50.244+08:00Movie Review: Boss (2013)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By now,and by now I mean post-Ready-Dabangg2-Bodyguard-Rowdy Rathore-Joker-Poker-Fucker, you should stop having expectations from movies in this genre. You know they're going to be RGV meets David Dhawan mashup ft DJ Duffer.<br />
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Koschan is,if they've reached a new degree of hell or maintained with the status quo or it's find-a-unicorn-day. Hence you watch such movies to find the answers to such higher callings. </div>
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The answer I found is above maintaining the status quo and below unicorns. Boss is Akshay Kumar's Haryanvi throw-up of Dabangg with extra senti-chutiyapa. Mithun plays that annoying father as was Dimple playing that annoying mother in Dabangg whose death you rejoiced in that movie. Sadly Anthony D'souza didn't allow you to rejoice Boss ke pappa ki death in this movie. </div>
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The movie has it's funny moments. Akshay Kumar plays himself,the Haryanvi gunda who makes sleek,funny dialogues that make you chuckle or even maaro Desi style seeti. My favorite being "behen ki lorry" and "power-plant". The other time you'll love him is when he's fighting off losers-from-tollykollymollywood-orsomepartofBihar and he has this cheeky smile on his face that makes him look like that neighbour's toddler who has a mischievous smile on his face because he just peed on your welcome carpet. There's this sequence of action which adapts elements of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0GIuWoJGxk" target="_blank">Free Running</a>,it was one of the coolest and refreshing action scenes I've seen from recent Bollywood movies. </div>
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Ronit Roy plays this badass villain,an extension of his role in Udaan. Ronit Roy is perhaps one of the only few villains I could stand on-screen in such movies apart from Sonu Sood<strike>'s hot bod</strike>. This is perhaps the first masala flick where the villain strips and quarter-shows off(and then later semi-shows off) his body before the hero of the movie does. 'Twas kinda fun watching the haryanvi-cheeky-yo-yo-honey-singh's-BFF fighting with RishabhBajaj-MihirVirani-protagonist-turned-antagonist.<br />
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Shiv Pandit, being an actor I like after watching his performance in Shaitan as the protagonist-turned-antagonist, did a decent job in this movie as well. In the most unconventional way, I find him good-looking. He's no Ranbir Kapoor, but he's got an expressive face as well as a good physique. I think it's mostly the latter which makes me feel he's good-looking. He didn't do much in this movie but whatever he did, didn't make you feel like throwing rotten eggs at him. I hope to see him more, in better movies though.</div>
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Now let's come to the points why this movie made you almost barff out that Subway sandwich you sneaked into the theatre-:</div>
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1. Too much flashback. It was senti overdose with half the movie being in flashback. It's almost like the writers(Farhad-Sajid) mixed up garam masala for salt. The film was overdose on sodium which is only something you want to have with tequila shots. Clearly their wives left them for being such horrible cooks. Now those ladies are sitting in some bar having tequila shots without salt because they already had enough of it earlier thanks to ex-hubbies.<br />
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2. Too much senti in the present day. Mithun Chakraborty makes you want to pull your hair out after a certain point. You feel like grabbing him by the collar and saying CHUPHOJAAAAABUDDHEEEEE. KITNAROYEGAKITNAAAAAAAARRGHHHHHTHISISSPARTAAAAA.</div>
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3. You don't get why Johnny Lever was hired to play his non-existent part. I'm pretty sure there're enough extras or wannabe actors who'd do his part for free in the movie. A comedian you once loved,has become a redundant novel you won't ever look at forget reading.<br />
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4. Too slow. Thanks to the flashback(the biggest setback), this movie tests your patience like the way you wait after an exam to get out of the hall & the teachers take all their time to verify the number of answer sheets collected with RFID tagging & any other possible sadistic measures. By the end of the movie, you realise grown-up Boss(Akshay Kumar) had less screen time than kid-Boss(some kid).<br />
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5. Aditi Rao Hydari is perhaps the first female who doesn't carry off a bikini because being slim doesn't guarantee sexy stupido. Anyone who thinks she did this "stunt" of revealing & blah blah-she's-so-wannabe, need to know that it didn't work for her so don't cry so much. Leave her pear-shaped body to herself to weep over.<br />
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6. **This is no spoiler** There is this scene where Ankita(Aditi Rao Hydari)'s brother(Ronit Roy) locks her in the house, disallowing her to meet her love interest Shiv(Shiv Pandit). Which is stupid because hello?? Which century do you live in pear-shaped-woman?? Sneaking out's the deal yo.*Jesse Pinkman style* So anyways, Ankita's very smart friend hatches a plan to help these lovebirds meet and cooks up a story to her brother ki their friend "Shivani's mother is in ICU and they NEED to be there with her". Okay firstly, SHIVANI?? REALLY? How the heck can one not see through that lie is beyond me. What makes it worse is that not only her usually-shown-to-be-uber-smart-villainous-brother realise the reference to Shiv, the next scene shows Ankita GENUINELY concerned about their friend Shivani's mom. WOW. Full marks for being a pear-shaped-gadhi. Secondly, why the hell does Ankita need to go visit Shivani's mummy in ICU? Surgeon thodi na hai jo uskey aane se mummy bach jaayegi??! dumbdumbdumbbbbb.<br />
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7. Prabhu Deva's guest appearance in that remake of apdi-podi-podi-somethingsomething song just makes you feel like immediately going to the nearest graveyard and burying that dance he does. Moving your body like a rubber band or Babool chewing gum doesn't make you an awesome dancer. It makes you a wannabe gymnast. Grow up tambi.<br />
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8. Sonakshi Sinha's forehead is where the party happened all night which ruined that party because her forehead proved to be too big & oily. People slipped off it without even starting on the yo-yo-honey-singh-pegs.<br />
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<b>In short,</b><br />
<b>Witty Dialogues for Akshay & Ronit, Mediocre Direction, Cliched Cinematography, Catchy-but-low-shelf-life Music & Horrendous Editing.</b><br />
<b>My rating: 2.5/5 stars.</b><br />
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If you're an Akshay Kumar fan, go catch it in the theatres. Otherwise, wait for the World TV Premiere on Colours/any one of those Viacom18 channels. It's a timepass movie. Better than his past few movies but not exactly amazeballs. </div>
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-45999440105761599622013-09-07T12:42:00.001+08:002013-09-07T14:12:36.609+08:00Movie Review: Shuddh Desi Romance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
*****<br>
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<i>Prologue</i><br>
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<i>Ek zamaana hota tha, jahan love aur romance ke naam par DDLJ, Hum Aapke Hai Kaun banti thi. Jahan 80s ke paidaaishi log aisi filmon se inspire hote the, aisi reel-based love stories par apni real-based love stories banaatey the. Har ladki ka pet dialogue hota tha "I'm a one-man girl" aur zyadaatar ladke bhi ek hee bandi par fida huye aur usi se setting kari full life ki. </i><br>
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<i>Sahi bhi tha..uss zamaane mein bahut badi baat bhi hoti thi relationship mein hona,love-shove and all that. Isiliye love marriage solid-hit formula tha. Ki bhaiyya issey pehle ma-baap tumhein kisi bhi bhains ke tabeley mein fit kar dein, tum khud hee ghodi ke saath fit ho jaao.</i><br>
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<i>Aur ek aaj ka zamaana hai. The "Kal Ho Na Ho" era. And by that, I still don't mean eternal,dying,mature & sensible romance as shown in K.Jo's movie. I mean ki "kal ho naa ho, aaj tu hai toh kal koi doosri ho, jo bhi ho mere saath apna future kabhi na socho". Economics mein teacher padhati thi na luxury goods and normal goods ka funda. Waise hee, aaj ki date mein love has gone from a luxury good to a normal good-that-is-good-for-nothing-might-as-well-be-not-there-I-don't-care-jhinga-la-la-hoo. </i><br>
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<i>Aaj kal toh experiment karna hai, time lena hai, shaadi kaun karey,kyun karey, hum "modern" hain kyunki we grew up watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S and until we don't become as messed up as Ross & Rachel, we won't learn our lessons and settle down. Until I haven't had a dose of Salaam Namaste, Cocktail, Love Aaj Kal(or just Saif Ali Khans), I'm no way in hell gonna be nearly getting married or as the indian society puts it, "settling down". </i><br>
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*****<br>
<br>
When you put together Piggy Chops' younger sister with OH-MY-GOODNESS-THAT-HOTTIE from Pavitra Rishta(whom you'd have never fathomed to be a hottie since you know..read the f*cking title of that serial he was in again), you get a chemistry so sizzling ki it'll make that sizzling platter in an Indian restaurant look like ice cream. Parineeti Chopra & Sushant Singh Rajput truly live up to the expectations of the audience, with their perfect portrayals of an average indian girl/guy. Their mannerisms, language, diction were perfect to the T. Kudos to the make-up & wardrobe team for making them look so naturally-fitting into their characters. Add to that writer Jaideep Sahni's quirky,cheeky dialogues and you've got a hilarious rom-com that keeps you amused throughout the movie.<br>
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The movie is a light-hearted, peppy take on love & relationships(and arranged marriages) in India today with a twist of nimbu ka achaar(i.e. arranged marriages). I loved the treatment of the subject matter at hand, which was how the heck do you make Sushant Singh Rajput look so god-damn-jaw-dropping desirable despite showing him as a champu you'd otherwise never date.ever.ever.ever.ever. Rishi Kapoor, unlike his usual love-guru-chacha avataar, was the love-guru-chacha in this movie, not to be mistaken for his otherwise love-guru-chacha avataars. On a serious note, loved his acting, character & most importantly, the Rajasthani-accent. One could never imagine him speaking that until you hear him speak & find him the cutest Rajasthani Santa Claus India could ever get. He completely lives up to your expectations & shows you that he's the daddy of Ranbir Kapoor. No really. He is.<br>
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There were three problems I had with the movie though, -:<br>
1. Vaani Kapoor can't really act. And that is saying something given her role was as BIG as Akshay Kumar in Dil Toh Pagal Hai. So while Shanoo Sharma made the perfect casting calls for Parineeti & Sushant, clearly he couldn't think straight for the 3rd time. But then again, I don't blame him. For a role that big, ki farak painda hai ki rajpal yadav ho ya archana puran singh. However, given this is here debut, I forgive her nevercossheshouldjuststicktomodellingreally. Not getting the vibes sweetie,I'm not being mean momswear.<br>
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2. The most awkward kisses Bollywood would've ever witnessed since JTHJ. I don't know if this was intentional or Sharmaji just lost it, but seriously dude, how could you approve those kisses??! It's like everytime Chopra & Rajput kissed, their chemistry went from sizzling to ice-<strike>cream</strike>. Ditto when Rajput & Miss Kapoor kiss. Usko dekhne ke baad koi couple dubaara shayad kabhi kiss na karey. R.I.P kisses never-because-you-had-to-witness-that-after-already-being-tortured-enough-by-bad-kisses-from-Emran-Hashmi-movies-to-that-Shahrukh-Katrina <strike>romantic</strike>horror movie.<br>
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3. The movie could've ended 10 minutes earlier. There's no way I can explain this without revealing the ending so I shall leave it up to you to watch it & figure out for yourself. If you still can't, you're probably one of those who loved JTHJ & Aashiqui 2, very likely to be belonging from the 80s era and still single,probably dying as a nun or somethinglikethat in YRF Studios.<br>
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Strangely enough, Shuddh Desi Romance mein kuch bhi na Shuddh hai aur na hee Desi. *cough*ifyouknowwhatimean*cough*.<br>
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In short,<br>
<b>Great Screenplay, Brilliant Cinematography,Peppy Music, Convincing Acting by the leads+Rajasthani Santa Claus & Good Direction. </b><br>
<b>My rating: 3.25/5stars</b><br>
This is not a theatre watch, but a good watch for its genre. Adding it to the list of my favourite rom-coms of this era.<br>
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*****<br>
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<i>Epilogue</i><br>
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<i>Ek funda hai movies ka. Beginning se zyada ending bahut matter karti hai. Beginning itni achi na ho,par agar movie sahi track par aa jaaye toh sexy lagti hai. Par jiski ending hee drag ya boring ho, woh movie chahe jitni bhi maal lagi ho shuru mein, katta toh hoga movie ka. </i><br>
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<i>Shuddh Desi Romance is a movie that starts off well, par ending is a little cliched plus they dragged it for 10 minutes longer. Henceforth receiving mixed reviews. Also, this movie is likely to strike a chord with young hearts,singles & Saif Ali Khan. So do not trust those happily-settled-in-a-relationship-typically-uncle-aunty-type-waley-log to give you a positive review. Just go watch the movie yaar. </i><br>
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*****<br>
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-18375605686681182582013-06-02T12:29:00.000+08:002013-06-04T10:06:49.543+08:00Movie Review: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I first saw the trailer of YJHD in wrecked-God-knows-how-its-still-standing Jade Cinema in Shaw Towers, and I heard the dialogue "Bunny tum samajhte kyun nahin ki agar tumne ek aur kadam bhi aage badhaya, toh mujhe tumse pyaar ho jaayega". And I could've BARFEDDDDDD && BARFEDDD && BARFEDDDDDDDDDDD more. And the wrecked-God-knows-how-its-still-standing Jade Cinema would've still absorbed all of that gooey-sick-liquid along with its stench and pardes mein rehne wale desi like us would still be going there to watch Hindi movies because we're that crazy and bewakoof, not to mention we take our Bollywood religion that seriously. We could skip a navratri being all vegetarian, but we must absolutely watch every new Hindi movie. Especially the ones which has big stars or toads like Ranbir Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Shahrukh Khan(toad) and Aamir Khan.<br />
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So back to Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. The trailer wasn't promising as such, it had cheesy/cliched dialogues against a what-seemed-like cliched backdrop theme of 4 friends, having the time of their lives, get drunk, have sex or not, have a reunion and blah blah blah it'salovestory blah blah blah. What was disappointing for me from the trailer was that it was Ayaan Mukherjee's 2nd directorial venture and I was expecting a little more than this, given his first movie, Wake Up Sid, was a fun,fruitful & youthful film. In all honesty, I was not even planning to catch this movie in the theatres.<br />
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But,magar,lekin,kintu,parantu, I went for the movie. First day, first evening show. All thanks to a Ranbir Kapoor-fanatic friend of mine. Not that I'm saying I'm not a fan of Jr RK. In fact I love Jr RK, all of it with his casanova style, pretty eyes, not that great a face but great personality, charming aura and great acting skills. So with low expectations, I went in for this movie.<br />
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I shall now come to the point and write the real review. *breathesin*breathesout*<br />
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani takes you by surprise. Yes,the movie doesn't start off too great. Some of the dialogues are really really lame and unconvincing. Yes, it has some really clicked/tacky/cheesy dialogues. Yes, Kalki's acting does not do justice to her otherwise great acting(I've a feeling it's cos she's used to doing messed up roles, so she just didn't know how to be normal anymore. Not that she was shown *normal* in this film exactly. I still love you Mrs Kashyap. Mom swear! *notinanylesbianwayofcourse*). Yes, some of the scenes do no make sense at all. But oh WHAT THE HELL! Movie's commercialised because the unconventional approach wouldn't have been a one-size-fits-all for its targeted audience i.e. the youth.<br />
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Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, is actually a beautiful movie that challenges you to consider about your life priorities and showcases how your surroundings, family backgrounds and friends influence in the development of your identity. Another recurring theme in the movie is *nodrumrollsneededbecausethiswasobviousfromthetraileritself* love & relationships. While many movies have explored this theme in several different ways(look at Aashiqui 2 & Jab Tak Hai Jaan for instance. They're the kind that gives you a delusional love life & probably make you go psycho or schizo or bi-polar. Have your pick), the way Ayaan has dealt with this theme in the movie is remarkable indeed. What I like about his direction is that he doesn't drag the movie. He keeps it simple and crisp. He understands the nuances of film-making so well, that he knows how to establish the setting, build up the storyline, reach a crisis and provide a resolution at a perfect pace. He's that perfectly-drawn bell curve. All this smartness at the mere age of 29, that too in an industry like Bollywood, is surely the signs of a wiseass! Moreover, he is so darn-goodlooking. He's one of the very few,limited edition good looking directors we have in Bollywood. Bhaiya matlab phaaaaad hai launda! Guess it just runs in the genes given he's the son of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deb_Mukherjee" target="_blank">Deb Mukherjee</a>(Bengali film actor), nephew of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Mukherjee" target="_blank">Joy Mukherjee</a>(Indian film actor), first cousins of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kajol" target="_blank">Kajol</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanisha_Mukherjee" target="_blank">Tanisha</a> & 2nd cousin of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Mukherjee" target="_blank">Rani Mukherjee</a>. Not that Tanisha has any good genes. I don't even know how she's a part of that family tree. Either she's the black sheep, or she was that child who was really picked up from a trash can. But it's okay. We shall forgive her for that. It's not about her right now anyways.anditwillneverbe.<br />
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However, there was one thing that I completely didn't get which was the fashion sense. You're in Jaipur for a destination wedding,I get that. But no-f*cking*way-in-hell would chicas,as modern as they may be,would wear bikini blouses and lehenga so revealing that it could make Sherlyn Chopra's eyes pop out. She would probably sue Mukherjee for stealing all the skinshow attention padukone & koechlin takes away in this movie. Meanwhile Jaipur girls will be like bhencho hum toh gali ki market mein bhi muh dhak ke nikalte hain! woh bhi black scarf se haan! Mummydaddychachachachiuncleaunty ne dekh liya toh jaan se maar daalenge! The fashion designer could have surely played down on the skinshow. This is a movie set in supposedly-real Mumbai & Jaipur & other locations. Not a Lakme Fashion Show runway.<br />
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The highlight of the movie is of course Madhuri Dixit. She's the only Indian film actor who can make an item number look so graceful & mesmerising! She's truly one classy lady who still has the same radiant glow on her flawless sweet face. Her expressive eyes and elegance brought the song Ghagra to a whole new level altogether. I was actually pretty happy with the audience in the theatre for whistling and clapping to her entrance. She deserves every standing ovation and every whistle for being such a starlight! But really, she is our very own Tendulkar of Bollywood! \m/<br />
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Another thing interesting to note was Deepika Padukone. This sassy chick has truly matured as an actor from Om Shaanti Om to Break ke Baad to now Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. I believe Cocktail was her breakthrough point. She came out of her shell & delivered a noteworthy performance in a negative role, even though the film itself was of sub-standards. Her role was convincing in this movie & also pretty much different from her other roles. So job well done Ms Padukone. I'm glad to see you out of *Kingfisher's crib*. I'm hoping that's what has made you wiser.<br />
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For Jr RK, I somehow felt he was reprising his role from Wake Up Sid, in a different setting. You could sense some of the similarities in terms of themes & flow of the story. So in terms of acting, this movie wouldn't be a fair point to judge him upon. But then again, this charming hot lass has already proved his ability to act. With this movie, he proves his ability & flexibility to dance as well! Badtameez Dil, if you haven't watched snippets of his performance in this song already, is AWESOMESHIZZLES! Goes perfectly in harmony with his real-life-casanova-style. God I love him. Yes, I'm outrightly biased towards him because he deserves that bias.<br />
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How can I forget Aditya Roy Kapoor. I loved loved loved his character in the movie. Strictly because he promotes alcohol in the movie. He's the "chal daaru pila"/"chal daaru peete hain" friend in the movie. Now come on, that makes him impossible to be missed. like IMPOSSIBLE. You HAVE to love him now. I wish I had a friend like that. I think I already do. Quite a few actually. Also, I think I might be one of them myself.<br />
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In short, the movie has great direction, smart editing, beautiful,catchy background score, decent storyline & amazing cinematography. The script could've been better but oh well,not all movies are supposed to be masterpieces. This movie certainly isn't perfect but you should catch it in the nearest theatre as soon as possible.<br />
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My rating: 3.5/5. I would give 0.5 extra for Madhuri Dixit. So okay fine, 4/5. :D<br />
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Watch this movie for:<br />
1. Madhuri Dixit in the song Ghagra<br />
2. Deepika Padukone's acting<br />
3. Ranbir Kapoor's adorability + his dancing<br />
4. Aditya Roy Kapoor's character. Because the man who appreciates alcohol, is the man who has a good taste. B-)<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-38291005850394614532013-02-10T15:18:00.000+08:002013-02-10T16:06:30.065+08:00Movie Review: Special 26<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Everytime I watch a con movie such as Special 26, I am inspired to become a well-renowned con artist. Or maybe just a con artist. Or an artist. Or a con. Or..whatever my mummy-pappa want me to become. Of course, I go with the bestest and safest option, a secret ninja turtle.<br />
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This movie is Akshay Kumar's comeback..from a world of flop-fantasy-fictions he was living in. Thanks be to the Gods. I never envisioned this day being possible given how our industry's leading commercial <strike>bangwagon</strike> bandwagon of actors are inversely progressing on the basis of their acting, on-screen & off-screen. And I really like Akshay Kumar. I mean he must've been a playboy in his hairy-chested,too much hair-everywhere days but he waxed, cut his hair, buffed up, got married, had kids & <b>stays faithful</b> somewhere along the way in this transformation. So I really like Akshay Kumar 2.0. Sadly, his career graph has been inversely related to his real life newly advanced good personality. It's almost like b*tch please, all those good karma = good paychecks were a lie just to rip off good free stuff from the bewakoofs. Ultimate hoax I tell you! *tsktsk*<br />
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However, before you make cool statements out of that & subscribe to that philosophy, maybe Akshay Kumar lost a number of grey cells in the midst of buffing up. So he made a <strike>few</strike> number of mistakes. Because he finally made a wise decision by choosing this movie. Mr.Desi Munda looks good, acts well & is bound to charm you with his smile in this movie.<br />
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Special 26, made by Neeraj Pandey(director & writer of A Wednesday), is a con movie that instills the elements of comedy, suspense, drama with a pinch of romance. It's light, it's amusing, it keeps you glued to your seats & it can be watched without downing alcohol. You can watch it with your mom dad though I advise parents not to bring their 4-year-olds to watch this movie. The last thing you need is the kid in the row behind you playing KBC with his mom-dad about the movie's characters,plot & locations. So please, no kids please. As much as I love them, I don't like them in theatres. Unless it's Ritesh Deshmukh's Aladin in which case, I don't give a poop.<br />
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Anupam Kher & Manoj Bajpai have given some classic performances. Huge admiration for the wide range of expressions and emotions Anupam Kher can deliver within the tangents of one character. He's truly brilliant. What makes him so admirable is how smoothly he slips in & out of multiple identities of a singular character. He's truly adorable in this movie. Truly a delight to watch.<br />
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Manoj Bajpai is another fine actor. No one could've portrayed his character better in this movie than himself. He has his own style and understanding and I think audiences are far from objecting to his interpretation. Well done Bajpai. Well done indeed.<br />
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Besides the Kumar-Kher-Bajpai trio to look out for, other key hits in the movie would be Jimmy Shergill & Divya Dutta. Their small but pivotal roles in the movie aid in keeping up the spirit of the movie. Good casting call by the production team. Except for Kajal Aggarwal. She has a pretty face but she can't act till Courage the Cowardly Dog got courage. Or my mom stopped watching what's-that-latest-crap-bahu-show. But then again, her role was pretty minor. They didn't really need someone who knew acting for her part. So fair enough .Good economically-efficient casting call by the production team.<br />
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The cinematography was wise,suitable to the movie's plot. Dialogues were well-written. Background score was amazing. Irshad Kamil's lyrics are pure honey for the soul. M.M.Keeravani's music only complement his lyrics, adding divinity to them.<br />
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In other words,<br />
<b>Good performances, good scripting, brilliant direction, soulful music & great cinematography.</b><br />
<b>My rating: 3.5/5 stars.</b><br />
Definitely worth catching in the theatres. Watch it for Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher & Manoj Bajpai. Move is truly entertaining in every essence. It's a good ensemble of cast & production team. And don't forget, asli power dil mein hoti hai. Yeh baat tum kabhi na bhool na!<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-43317458554583549932013-01-20T23:24:00.000+08:002013-01-20T23:36:52.524+08:00Movie Review: Inkaar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If I had to be reborn as a female, I'd like to be Chitrangda Singh. If I had to marry someone, it would be Arjun Rampal. The two most hottest bollywood celebrities sizzle in Sudhir Mishra's latest movie - Inkaar. Mr.Salt-and-Pepper-Long-Locks[SPLL] finally made some smart decisions in casting these hotties together. If not for the story, you're definitely getting audiences into the theatres to watch these gorgeous couple make chemistry on the silver screen!<br />
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Sudhir Mishra is another director who makes off-beat hindi movies. I love his style of infusing multiple themes & presenting it with such sleek sharpness that you almost feel like a part of the movie. With a few spins of his magical wand, his characters in any movie are created in such a way that someone or the other(if not the majority) is bound to relate to them. He's the sort of writer who is undervalued in our Indian Cinema's contributions. It's sad how Bollywood focuses on commercial value too much that it makes the Indian audiences dumber by every commercial movie produced. It is no wonder the stereotypical notion of song-and-dance-behind-the-trees is associated with Bollywood movies outside of India.<br />
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Anyhu, not like any of this really matters or is connected to the review of Inkaar. I was just trying to sound intelligent and make you look bad so that I can feel smarter & get an ego-boost out of that. HA! *smirks*<br />
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Coming back to the movie, playing along the lines of politics,vengeance,desire,lust,morality,justice & the-most-obvious-and-common-potient-of-mishra's-movies-LOVE, Mr.SPLL has delivered yet another amusing movie. This time, he has chosen the setting of an advertising agency. Many people are finding it cliched. That's because either, you've been scandalous yourself*ahem*ahem*, OR you're an insensitive little prick who has no appreciation nor taste for good movies because you're injected with that sensationalism drug called Arnab Goswami. Okay maybe I took that too far but hey! It's a free world where I'm entitled to my freedom of speech so whut-ev-errrrrr! *gives a super cool wannabe look*<br />
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Strengths of Inkaar:<br />
1. Good performances by Chitrangda & Rampal. Though I have to admit, this isn't Chitrangda's best performances,given her potential. She's a raw diamond that usually shines in SPLL's movies. So yeah,in some of the scenes, her acting makes you go like whuuuuuuut?!Trying too hard sista. Take it easy yo. Rampal's getting better by his every movie. Apart from minor hiccups like Ra.One of course. I hope to God you & I both don't have to bear anymore of hiccups from your end.<br />
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2. The movie keeps you glued to the screen thanks to brilliant direction by SPLL & intelligent cinematography by Sachin Krishn.<br />
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3.Background score is also decent, nothing too jarring. Again, very SPLL-movie type of music.<br />
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4.Vipin Sharma. This guy's funny as hell in the movie. He's got very few dialogues but whenever he says whatever he says, he says it right & says it well. You'll do more than just a chuckle. I promise. Provided you have a sense of humour of course.<br />
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Weakness of Inkaar:<br />
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1.As the movie begins till just-before-the-climax, it's pretty realistic. The ending, however, is something that'll only happen in SPLL's movies. So you might get disappointed. I know I did. Actually no, I think I was okay with it. But then not really happy. Actually, I don't know. I was just..dumbfounded. That does not mean I am dumb before you make any lame spin-offs in your little head about me, for the record. Also, HOWDAREYOUJUSTHROWAWAYANiPHONE Maya(Chitrangda's name in the movie)??!!! HOW HOW HOW??? What sort of an idiot throws away a smartphone when you could've just taken out the sim card?! [stupidity at its <strike>worst</strike> <strike>best</strike> <strike>worst</strike> <strike>best</strike> oh I don't know!! x-( ]<br />
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Inkaar sheds like on sexual harassment in corporate office - yes. That's pretty much evident from the trailers. What is interesting about the movie is HOW it is presented. Because sexual harassment at work is not an unknown territory on which movies have not been made in the past. Appreciate this movie for SPLL's style & understanding of what is actually like in such cases.<br />
I think the message he was trying to get across is that there are always two sides to a story. There is no right or wrong, it's just what you choose to see or believe. Like..you can't say beer is better than whiskey or tequila is better than vodka. That's all wrong. You must respect the different alcohols and understand that people have different tastes! Not that I'm saying that's how I perceive Rahul & Maya, the leading protagonists of the movie. :/<br />
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In other words,<br />
<b>Wise Direction, Brilliant Cinematography, Complementing Background Score, Witty & Smart Script, Good Editing. </b><br />
<b>My rating: 3.75/5</b><br />
This is not a theatre watch, BUT that doesn't mean it's not a watch at all. Wait for the DVD release or good print online & download it.<br />
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For all those fellow male amigos of mine, yes, there're bedroom scenes & Chitrangda looks as hot as ever so go ahead and catch it in the theatres.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-13130145459436430052013-01-14T16:33:00.003+08:002013-01-15T02:09:21.313+08:00Movie Review: Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Before I begin,<br />
Happpppppppppppppyyyyy New Year peepals! Hope you've had a fantastic time getting drunk and being too sloshed to welcome the new year(so that I can have a good laugh at it as I secretly curse you like a jealous female dog) or alternatively, had a family-friendly new year's eve. In any case, it's alright,I didn't have too much fun either so yayiee,we're in the same boat. That's a very cool thing...I think. Anyways, I hope to God you've not made never-am-I-achieving-those resolutions that everyone(the jobless & duffers) is so usually fond of making. Seriously guys it's about time you realise your resolutions won't even last you 24 hours. Unless you're that nerd in high school I felt like slapping everytime I looked at her. Nonetheless, I hope to God you get lots of luck,wisdom & happiness & booze & free food & free parties & free anything this year.<br />
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Now moving on,<br />
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola.<br />
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Vishal Bhardwaj is one of my favourite off-beat movie directors. His movies are always squeezing the juices out of your brains and should only be watched when you're a little drunk yourself. 'Cos that's a common denominator in all of his movies and I've big time respect for that yo. Also,it requires you to be a little drunk to comprehend his movies. Very cool. Very very cool. Even though my mom dad would differ. Other then that, my biases for him is also based on the fact that he's given Indian cinema epic movies adapted from Shakespeare's plays. I'm a sucker for William so Mr.Meerut earned brownie points for that as well. His style of movies is such that they're thematic by nature and everything in the movie makes constant connection to the theme(s) of the movie. EXACTLY like W.Shakespeare.<br />
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However, unlike his earlier movies such as Ishqiya,Kaminey et all, this one has a simple skeleton. It's easy to understand and the movie's been kept short & precise. It's a movie made for the masses. The movie stands predominantly on Pankaj Kapur's acting and portrayal of Harry Mandola. A simple background setting, one very interesting character, one very wicked & comical antagonist, one fool and two supporting characters with intensive use of typical Haryanvi language and you've got this movie! This movie revoles around the themes of politics,power play,family,love & ethics. Keeping the movie light-hearted with its brilliant sense of humour, you won't realise the 158 minutes. There is no drag in the film so kudos to editor A.Sreekar Prasad.<br />
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Here are some quick pointers on the movie -<br />
1. Anushka Sharma has a cliched opening scene. Very very cliched. Very very uncool. It's a delight for the men out there though. Totally feeding your testosterone levels.<br />
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2. Imran Khan can't act but somehow, he gets a tad-bit better as the movie progresses. He's a mediocre. Anyone could've done his role. No biggie. I don't know why Bhardwaj selected him for this movie though. They could've done with someone more rugged like I-can't-believe-I-am-saying-this but Abhishek Bachchan or Vivek Oberoi. Not a big fan of these guys anymore but my instinct tells me they'd have done a better job. Not typifying but Imran Khan's your pretty boy. That boy-next-door whom you'll only tolerate in sappy love stories. He really needs to come out of his shell if he wants to look & make audiences believe that he is badass.<br />
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3. Pankaj Kapur's chemistry with Shabana Azmi is fantastico on screen! Shabana Azmi has done an excellent job in portraying a Minister who enjoys making her son(Arya Babbar) & Pankaj Kapur dance to her little fingers & quirky eyes.<br />
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4. Arya Babbar was actually funny. Like naturally funny. His foolish onscreen presence was so natural that I'm pretty sure he was just being himself. Yep, 200% sure. This guy got paid to be himself on screen. Well done. That was a smart move(for a change) Babbar Jr! *clap*clap*<br />
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5. Anushka Sharma has actually done a decent job for her character. I guess it takes a Vishal Bhardwaj to control her loud-mouth-same-style-acting. You don't get a Band Baaja Baraat deja vu from her..for a change.<br />
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6. You might not enjoy this movie if you're a complete stranger to Haryanvi. This movie's soul is in its language and dialogues.<br />
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7. That pink cow(urf Gulabo) is to watch out for. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the relevance of it in the movie.<br />
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8.They've kept a relevant background score in the movie. It's a major plus point. Very typically Bhardwaj style. Bhardwaj & Clinton Cerejo have indeed done a great job with the music(as usual). Gulzar has resurrected from his graveyard lyrics for JTHJ to classic him in this movie. Thanks be to the Gods. It's really all about the director! The better the director, the better the quality of acting,music,editing,cinematography,script.<br />
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9. Oye boy oye boy charlie, tune dil ki baazi maar li is one helluva fun number that'll get you tickled & grooving. It's my favourite! The song's a visual treat in the movie as well.<br />
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In a nutshell,<br />
My rating: 3.5/5 stars.<br />
Smart direction, Well-written script(Bhardwaj & Sabrina Dhawan), Amazing dialogues, Precise screenplay(Bhardwaj & Abhishek Chaubey), Good music & Classic acting by Pankaj Kapur & Shabana Azmi.<br />
Watch it for Pankaj Kapur duo-personality & perfect comic timing! The movie is bound to entertain you.<br />
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p.s: You know what's really the moral of the story? It is that being drunk makes you a better person. I kid you not! If you don't believe me,go watch the movie and see it for yourself! This movie actually promotes staying drunk. See this is why Vishal Bhardwaj never disappoints me. B-)<br />
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p.p.s: Just kidding, please don't get drunk. okay maybe sometimes..occasionally..weekly..anytime. ... nevermind. Just go watch the movie.<br />
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</div>Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-69369939244765192062012-12-01T16:01:00.002+08:002012-12-04T22:44:32.434+08:00Movie Review: Talaash<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Talaash is the sort of movie you've got real real high hopes from for a number of reasons. 1. It's an Aamir Khan movie. Brand name sold. 2. Reema Kagti's the director & screenplay writer along with Zoya Akhtar. It's got even Anurag Kashyap as its additional dialogues writer. Top-notch creative team sold. 3. It's got Nawazuddin Siddiqui. This man's a class actor. He belongs to the league of unconventional actors such as Manoj Bajpai, Naseerudin Shah, Abhay Deol. Sold.Sold.Sold.<br />
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Riding high on the Ethos factor, you're naturally bound to have high expectations from such a movie. Moreover, Talaash's trailer has an intriguing appeal that gets you hooked. It leaves an impression that it will be similar to the genre of Kahaani. Unfortunately, it is far far away from a spectacular movie like Kahaani. Given it's an Aamir Khan production/starrer, you'll be really disappointed when they burst the bubble. The suspense won't kill you but rather shock you in a bad way. In a omg-you've-got-to-be-kidding-me sort of way. In a you-couldn't-be-more-cliched way. If this was porn, the suspense killer of the movie would be like you being turned on & then been left there hanging...basically KLPD yaar. Ultimate KLPD.<br />
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The movie's got an interesting start,really keeps you gripped as the movie progresses but post-intermission,the magic starts to wear off and eventually, you realise it's just another cliched story. Personally, I had my own reservations even from the beginning of the movie. They could've done without the overuse of eerie music and uncalled for songs. It's like you're trying to make a suspense thriller at one hand while a Satyamev Jayate on the other. But oh well,I guess that's what you get when you hire Ram Sampath as the music director.<br />
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Plus,I couldn't agree more with Nikhil Taneja when he tweeted "Why do filmmakers *NEED* to use the name of the film in it? If you don't say "Talaash" 4 times, will the film be abt Mangal Pandey instead?"(Credits: @tanejamainhoon). I had the exact same sentiments everytime Aamir Khan used the word "Talaash" in the movie. It sounded as tacky as Chunkey Pandey's forever wardrobe malfunction, not to forget his unneeded attendance in Bollywood events. You really don't expect this from Aamir Khan.<br />
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For all Rani Mukherjee lovers, she was as good as being non-existent in the film so boo-hoo. The entire family angle did not click with me. I felt the movie had an unfocused plot with a really cliched ending. And I meannnnn cliched. When you watch the last scene of the movie, you'll get a deja vu of Satyamev Jayate. I kid you not. Also, Aamir Khan as a cop wasn't that convincing. I mean come on, you say he's an encounter specialist and all he does is give an unconvincing stare at people? Really? As great as an actor he is, he failed to invoke the elements of fear that he should have given his character brief that you get from the movie. Epic.Fail.<br />
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This movie is wrongly classified as a thriller. I don't know what genre to give it. It's like a cross between emotional drama and..I can't tell you the 2nd cos if I do,I'll be giving away the suspense of the movie so..go watch it and find out for yourself. Not really worth a theatre watch though.<br />
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<b>In short,</b><br />
<b>Mediocre screenplay,Poor direction,Average dialogues,Good music,Bad background score,Decent acting.</b><br />
<b>My rating: </b>3/5. The movie's a decent one-time watch. It's not a bad movie per se. It's just not the sort of movie you expect Aamir Khan to deliver. It's disappointing for the benchmark he's set so high for us audiences and himself too.<br />
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Also, you know Ram Sampath, you could've just produced a solo album and asked Aamir Khan or I don't know..some other big brand to co-finance it. You didn't really have to make sure it was a part of a movie. You've got good sense of music bro, but not really when it comes to background score. Yeah..you went a *little* overboard there. Try a little less hard next time.<br />
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P.S - You know what's the real moral of the story? People may die,bodies may decay, but gem stones & rings are forever. Also, if you find one, even in the most creepiest of locations, yeah you keep it.Cos finders keepers, losers weepers.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-7012833476535792342012-12-01T05:57:00.001+08:002012-12-01T15:13:00.207+08:00Movie Review: Jab Tak Hai Jaan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When you make a movie that audiences would've appreciated only about 10 years back, which is about an unrealistic,dialogues-and-poetry-filled romance saga, that's when you get Jab Tak Hai Jaan.<br />
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With all due respect to the late Yash Chopra, who I believe every Indian girl, if not every-Indian, is a huge fan of, this movie had way too many flaws to begin with. I don't know where & how to begin, so I will just list down all the flaws as and when what comes to my mind.<br />
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The Flaws -:<br />
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1. The lack of chemistry between Shahrukh Khan & Katrina Kaif would murder you. A more gruesome murder than you would've seen in any of the Saw series of movies. No really, they were trying way too hard. Especially that one scene where they're supposed to kiss. That kiss makes me want to never kiss again ever. EVER. Urghh..it makes me feel nauseous as I think about it again now.<br />
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2. NO-WAY, and I mean NO-WAY-IN-FREAKIN-HELL does SRK pass out to be a 25-year-old "poor" guy nor does Katrina pass out to be a 21-year-old in the flashback. Why would Yash Chopra make SRK the "poor" guy in a movie? WhyWhyWhy??? SRK can never pass out to be that bloke who does double shifts and yet owns a freakin' guitar with a designer guitar strap & 2nd -Hand Royal Enfield. Dude, 2nd-Hand or first, it's ROYAL ENFIELD! No kiddin' around that man. That's just way too insulting.<br />
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3. Neither Rabbi Shergill's nor Mohit Chauhan's voice is suiting SRK. Not even an ounce bit. Again, no offences to AR Rahman but whattheck was he thinking selecting such young voices for a face like SRK's? Please tell me he got hit by a truck or something as that seems to be the recurring theme of this movie anyways. So he probably got Amnesia or some other illness that failed him from making a wise choice of suitable singers for SRK. Please tell me that and reassure my faith in humanity.<br />
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4. The lyrics. Oh God. I don't know where to begin. It's as if "Ishq Wala Love" wasn't bad enough that I had to witness a song such as Saans. Ishq Wala Love was written by some wannabe never-heard-before-lyricist whose name-I-can't-remember cos it isn't important. BUT, the lyricist here in concern is Gulzaar! You really don't expect the legend who wrote songs such as "Mera Kuch Samaan" ,"Yaara Silli Silli","Ae Ajnabi","Beedi" and in the most recent times, "Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji" to write a song such as Saans! I'm guessing the age's finally acting up on him. Either that, or he had a writer's block. I've huge respect for him but apart from Challa, Heer & the title poem, the lyrics were just plain sad.<br />
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5. Anushka Sharma's hotness kills itself as soon as she opens her mouth. Her overacting & same bubbly role that's she been doing since Band Baja Baraat makes you want to step into the movie and strangle her squeaky tiny throat. Given her size negative-one-double-zero figure, I'm pretty sure she'd experience a death quicker than quickrrrrrr. Or 2-minutes maggi.<br />
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6. Never in my life have I witnessed a more dumb basis of argument than this movie is based on. I really don't know what's worse in this movie.. Katrina Kaif..or the character Katrina Kaif played in it. If I was SRK and I heard that crappy logic, I would take out a gun and shoot that female dog in the face & then shoot myself for ever falling in love with such a dumbass.<br />
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7. How Anushka Sharma stayed in London for soooo long despite she mentioning she'll have visa problem or some uncleared shit like that in the movie ten times beats me. How she say she's serious about documenting SRK's army life and yet be listening to her iPod at a bomb site beats me. How she can wear tinier clothes than beggar-out-in-the-hottest-of-climates in Kashmir beats me. How she can be a freakin' national swimmer and what not and yet be drowning in the ocean beats me. How How How...I've a list so long that I'll lose my memory by the time I finish typing out all of them.<br />
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8. The coincidental bomb-in-the-train scene is so so so hilariously stupid that it makes me want to cry. What makes it funnier is when SRK looks at a bag that's got the bomb and suddenly he's able to spit out bomb-language-words. and suddenly everything comes flashing back to him. Because you know, it's just that easy and he has x-ray vision of course.<br />
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9. Can someone explain to me how the HECK does Katrina looks the same after 10 years? Like NO wrinkles and NO,not even a milligram of extra fats, and NO change of dressing style and NO,not even a single strand of gray hair. Please tell me the secret of her effervescent beauty. Please tell me. Please give me the name of her make up & hair stylist.<br />
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There was an era of Veer Zaara, where I believed in romantic sagas and was mesmerised & smitten by that sort of love till a decade back. However, I do not believe that sort of magic does wonders for me now. Moreover, I would've still attempted to appreciate the movie had there been chemistry between SRK & the leading lady KK. You can try as hard as you want but you can't get chemistry out of a man in his late 40s and a lady in her late 20s. It ain't just happening in this case at the very least.<br />
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Having said all of this, SRK looks amazingly hot & sexy in his Army avatar(not that it makes sense for him to have such sexy hair and looks when the rest have SOP to follow for grooming but I'm gonna screw logic for just this once). I wish that never ended. I've never seen him looking this good in his recent movies. Last he looked good was probably Chak De..where he donned a similar look.<br />
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Old-but-no-Gold screenplay, mediocre if not cliched dialogues, wee-bit disappointing music, great cinematography, Old-but-no-Gold direction.<br />
My ratings: 2/5 stars.<br />
1 star for the legendary King of Romance - Yash Chopra. 1 star for title poem. I really love it. No one better than SRK could've read it.<br />
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The film is gonna hit a lot of lovestruck and fairy-tale believer hearts. Those who still live in a decade's back era & have unshakeable biasses and love for Yash Chopra, have probably already watched this movie 5 times on the silver screen. They're probably cursing me and vodoo dolling me as they read this review right now. But it's okay. I'm pretty thick-skinned and plus I could do with some acupuncture so thanks really.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-23258029973986596632012-12-01T04:56:00.002+08:002012-12-01T06:07:35.503+08:00Movie Review: Argo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Having heard raving reviews of Argo, I was really excited to watch this movie. Especially since I was sick & tired of the crappy alternative mostly-horror-movies that were screening here, apart from Skyfall. Plus the trailer seemed interesting. Plus the "based on declassified true story" claus got me hooked. Plus Ben Affleck's hot. Nuff' said.<br />
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Argo's a very interesting movie with a refreshing plot(obviously since it is based on a true story and the story's not been made into a movie until now). Ben Affleck's directed it fine. While Ben Affleck is the said lead protagonist of the movie, there isn't really a lead in this movie. It's rather about a team of characters that work towards achieving a particular goal. This teamwork shown in the movie is fascinating, perhaps even a learning point for all of us.<br />
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The positives -<br />
Interesting storyline,good sense of humour & timing of that humour,no dramatic effects or moves & thus very realistic,smooth flow of story. Hats off to the writers Chris Terrio and Joshua Bearman. The story was indeed well written.<br />
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The negatives -<br />
A *little* slow. Hence if you've had a long day or have tired eyes, choosing to go watch this movie wouldn't be one of the wisest choices you'd have made in that day. This movie requires you to pay attention as it has historical context and you won't get it if you don't follow through. Personally, I felt Ben Affleck could've given this movie a slightly better treatment. He could've covered the entire story at a 1x pace instead of the mostly-0.5x-pace he chose. Well written as it may be, it could've been better executed.<br />
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Fine direction, amazing screenplay, good cinematography, average editing.<br />
My ratings - 3.5/5.<br />
Although I've criticised the movie for it's snail pace, I have to give it for its inspirational plot. Given its historical significance, one is truly in awe when one witnesses the fairy tale ending. Having said that, I don't think it's a genre of movie that mass audiences would appreciate. Unless you're Canadian. Then perhaps the feelings of patriotism might rekindle in you & give you goosebumps. (:<br />
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Personally, I liked the movie.<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-57878329571639794362012-12-01T04:30:00.002+08:002012-12-01T04:35:31.935+08:00Drama Series Review: The Newsroom(2012)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>Prologue</i></b> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Read this <b><i>only</i></b> if you've free time & don't mind letting it go to a waste. Alternatively, read this if you care about me and are secretly stalking me.)</span></div>
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Despite growing up in Singapore, I've always been deprived of TV. Pretty much yes. Not that we didn't have a TV. I was just really deprived of watching my kind of stuff on it. By the time I got addicted to cartoons, mom called up those cable services guys and got that channel removed. By the time I got onto MTV, she took away that too. So while my classmates were watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Malcom In The Middle and Desperate Housewives away, I was stuck with a mom who had monopolised the television set with Zee TV, Star Plus & Sony. Her monopoly still rules the house. But then again, she monopolises practically everything.<br />
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None of this really matters. But I was just trying to show what a sad tragic deprived life I've had of catching awesome shows & movies from TV. And I love using hyperboles & emotional blackmail in vain attempts of getting public sympathy. That's why I've learnt from *cough*mom*cough*. Cos that's what she learnt from *cough*bakwassaasbahuserials*cough*.</div>
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So anyways, it's only in the past few years that I caught up with that deprived life I missed out on. It's pointless for me to write on old legendary shows like Friends, Prison Break, Big Bang Theory. However, I can write about most recent shows I've come across that I find interesting.</div>
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<b><u>The Newsroom:</u></b></div>
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This show is one helluva show that gets your attention from the first episode. Just got released in June, it's first season's done with 10 episodes. The show's all about The Newsroom. Quite literally. Focusing on US politics & world news from the eyes of an American reporter, it revolves around couple of folks who're driven to present news as objective as possible.</div>
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Given how we live in the "Fox News" syndrome where everyone and everything is sensationalised,hoaxed even, Newsroom presents you a refreshing perspective on world issues. Moreover, it provides you with the inside scoop of how television news is produced. Yes, that means what goes behind the camera, the hardwork that a team of journalists have to do, the producers' job and of course, the entangled lovesexbooze life of all of them.</div>
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The show's a brilliant concept with perfect execution. From the screenplay to dialogues to direction and scripting, they Aaron Sorkin's nailed it with this series! Character detailing of the lead protagonists Will McAvoy(Jeff Daniels) & MacKenzie McHale(Emily Mortimer) together with the supporting cast has been well-dealt. I am really looking forward to its next season due some time in 2013.</div>
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My ratings: 8/10. </div>
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If you're pursuing journalism or mass comm, this show's a must-must-watch for you. It's like your bible. It's the sort of stuff they won't really teach you in school.<br />
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<b><i>Epilogue</i></b></div>
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Thanks to be the Gods for my awesome friends who introduce me to such shows & doubly-thanks to be the Gods who showed that man who came up with torrents & piracy. Thanks you Gods for showing us the light at that end of the monopolized-tv-set-dark-tunnel.</div>
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Long Live Piracy! Hail Internet & wonders of the WWW. \M/ \M/</div>
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-10736709196242357222012-11-04T22:10:00.000+08:002012-11-05T15:59:45.835+08:00Movie Review: Skyfall - 007<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">**Disclaimer: I mean to offend no Bond Series Fan. I haven't watched the entire Bond series so my perspective may not be completely accurate. If you're offended, then shut up & get lost. Or go cry to your mommy. Bond would be so pleased to see his fan do that.**</span></b></i><br />
<br />
Judging by the various status updates & movie reviews on Facebook, I'd say Skyfall has received a mixed reception. Here's my take -:<br />
<br />
<br />
Skyfall is better than Quantam of Solace yet sucks in a lot other ways. Some action scenes are orgasmic while others are just..meh. I'm beginning to like Daniel Craig as Bond now though. Mostly cos' I've just finally given in and accepted that Pierce Brosnan's not coming back to play Bond anymore. So no more denial for me. The storyline is interesting(though a little predictable). The movie has its moments. The hi-tech guns & jumps from trains,buildings from cars,bikes are as awesome as ever. Javier Bardem has done a fabulous job in playing the antagonist. His evil eyes & wicked smile is bound to touch a nerve with the audiences. Judi Dench is well..Judi Dench. She plays a pivotal role in this one. Like for real real one real one.<br />
<br />
But,But,But. Here are the wtheckwthellwhyywhyywhyy points - <br />
<br />
1. 007 is chasing for a freaking disk which has the list of names of all the MI6 agents. This is how the movie starts and the story evolves from there. The evolution's only bit of surprise is whenever Silva(Javier Bardem) is on screen. Besides here & there, there is not much guessing work required for audiences. I've a big issue with their craptacular basis of evolution. Even a Second Grader could figure out what's about to happen next. Two rotten eggs for coming up with such an overuse-and-abused idea. Too cliched man. Even Bollywood movies have stolen that cliche & used it too many times in their wannabe action movie attempts now. [Read: Agent Vinod, Ek Tha Tiger, Don(2006) etc]<br />
<br />
2. Bond girl ain't no Bond girl fellas'. Yes. It's true. She's there but isn't exactly the depiction of "The Bond Girl". Berenice Marlohe is looking smokin' hot in the movie no doubt. But she's all skinshow,no meat(metaphorically only guys. She's got plentyful of meat *FIGURE-atively*). Not that I am implying that previous Bond Girls played substantive roles(*snorts*). But what I mean is that her role is as minute as one of the extras in Karan Johar's whatshislatestflopfilmname. <br />
<br />
3. Lights,Camera,ACTION! The lights and cameras were there but the action wasn't much except for the climax scene. If Casino Royale & Quantum of Solace were all about action,this was all about lets-go-back-into-the-past-and-make-it-a-lameass-chase-film. <br />
-----------------------------------<br />
<br />
I wouldn't call the movie baddddd. But I wouldn't call it amazinglyawesomedontmissit sort! It's a one-time watch. You might be disappointed if you're a True Bond Fan. But if you're one of those blinded-fools-Bond-Fan,then you'll be awestruck as usual. It's alright, I forgive you. We've people in India who are blinded by the faith that worshipping cows,billion Hindu deities' statues & snakes is the ultimate way to wash your sins such as murdering girls, taking bribes & forcing engineering down every son's throat from the moment he is born. So yeah, you've still got a long way to go brotha!<br />
<br />
Average storyline,good direction,classic bond cinematography,some classic bond moves,good dialogues,classic bond background score...but...not-really-classic-bond action. But...no-classic-bikini-chick-coming-out-of-water-bond scenes. So boo-hoo-hoo. <br />
<br />
My Rating: 3/5 stars. <br />
As I once tweeted-: With time,movies are becoming more hyped,sequels are becoming worse & legacies are no longer holding any true. It's a "Skyfall" indeed. *punintended*<br />
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Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-43085426243340752212012-10-26T13:45:00.001+08:002012-10-26T14:47:09.023+08:00What Not To Do As A Celebrity: Raghu Ram Leads By Example!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
He may not be the epitome of coolness for all of us...okay he shouldn't be for any-of-us. Really. NO REALLY. Even before this latest shooting-myself-in-the-mouth-and-then-stabbing-my-balls-brains-heart-to-death move that he made, he was still cool,but not exactly the *epitome* of coolness. He basically created a revolution in India for all those college dropouts/rejects to have their shot at making big<span style="color: #c27ba0;">[because media industry is that sleazy and requires that low qualifications for you to make it through.whydidIchoosetodomasscomm.whywhywhywhywhy]</span>.<br />
<br />
He ACTUALLY became cool because he's hot-tempered and disposes vulgarity as easily as Satish Shah had a spitting power in Main Hoon Na. He has this cool demeanor of having a misdemeanor <span style="color: #c27ba0;">[too much irony and paradox going on there] </span>that got nutcases<span style="color: #c27ba0;">[Including me.But I <strike>have</strike> had a thing for bad boys/rebels.Also,mine lasted for a very short period of time.By the time I discovered him,I was already half-way through disliking him.so yeah.]</span> coming together to create a fan base for the Bad-Ass-Kick-Ass facade he'd created in front of MTVIndiageneration. Little did the nutcases know that it WAS JUST A FACADE. He's FAAAAAAR from being cool and whatever little doubt they had on his identity crisis,just got resolved with this sexy move he made on Twitter.<br />
<br />
So I,who followED him,decided to get out of my half-lying-down-half-only-head-up position on the bed to sitting up and quickly screenshotting-and-cropping-and-editing this uglydouchebag-what's-his-face's tweets. I shan't say no more & let you witness the collateral damage he's done to his publicity-gone-wrong campaign. If you don't get what's wrong in it & have sympathies with his tweets, I'll make it a point to shoot your face and dunk it in poop and be fed to the cannibals. Two birds with one stone I kill - you're dead & I've given cannibals a bad meal.<br />
<br />
With immediate effect,Raghu Ram unfollowed. Like A <strike>BOSS</strike> WISE YOUTH.<br />
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Click on the photo and read from left to right,bottom to top order:<br />
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oh-kuh-tock-uh-doodley-byes.<br />
<br />
insaneintelligence.<br />
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p.s: I could almost visualise Raghu Ram crying while he tweeted away. It's a very funny visual when you think of the juxtaposition of his trademark evil grin while making Roadies cry & him crying while MTV,RannVijay & the toli replicate his trademark evil grin. OHHH..BURN! B-)<br />
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p.p.s: Check out his Twitter handle: tweetfromRaghu. So unoriginal. I don't know why I followed him in the first place. urghh. *bad-ass boy image shattered to bits & pieces till bits & pieces disappeared*</div>
Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-87077163328225052372012-10-14T08:30:00.000+08:002012-10-14T20:48:38.722+08:00Movie Review: English Vinglish<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A refreshing subject, a mesmerising actress & a really really really really really really adorable little child actor. This basically sums up the reasons so as to why English Vinglish deserves a watch.<br />
From Sridevi's "two drops of coffee in a cloud of milk" pretty face to her natural acting, she proves that she may be from yesteryears,but she is still DA BOMB!<br />
<br />
Movie is women-oriented(if you haven't had the two cents to guess it by the trailers & posters by now) and the message that it delivers is so simple,that it usually goes unnoticed in our lives. The underlying conditions for that to be true is that A.You're an Indian, B.You live in India..okay not necessarily..but mostly relevant to India. And C.You've a mommy who's a forever damsel-in-distress because that's what Ekta Kapoor(Maneater wh*re who's topping my #HITANDHATE list a.t.m) has etched as the definition of an "ideal bahu", in most of their(mommies) emotional hearts & heads.<br />
<br />
They've kept it simple,realistic & pleasant. It's a good watch. Not that I'm being "judgemental",but men won't like the film as much as women will. It's about us. DUH we're bound to like it more. The most messed up part about this fact,is that even a 16-year-old Indian girl would say "yeah man..totally..like I can so connect with Sridevi's character". Why of course you can. Marriages & pregnancies with a family to take care of and you being a mute,reserved & easily-dominated wife is something you experience at your age nowadays. That's the norm. Like village-culture's back yo! **Right at this moment,a 16-year-old butts in:Yo B*tch!Everything's fine but we don't do marriages.Don't ever insult our pea-sized brains to commit such a horrendous mistake of getting MARRIED and THEN have babies!**<br />
<br />
So the point is that yes,Indian women are likely to enjoy this movie more because we feel like we can "connect" to it better than those M.C.Ps we have in our lives.*snorts* Middle-aged Indian women would especially be able to relate to this movie,while at the same time,I would say children might also be able to relate to this movie. Either they'd feel remorseful and cry their eyes out for being such inconsiderate little brats towards their moms. Or they'd suddenly appreciate their moms more and get all teary-eyed. In any case, it's a win-win situation for Indian moms. Hence if I was a mom, I'd have made my kid watch this movie the minute he/she was born. To instill the emotions of care,concern,respect towards me of course,not fear. Most definitely not fear...of the consequences of repeatedly humiliating me publicly ever. No,no,that would've never been my agenda.<br />
<br />
From what my sister tells me, Director Gauri Shinde is from Advertising background. That makes her the 2nd director from Advertising to have delivered such a brilliant concept. First was Shoojit Sircar/Juhi Chaturvedi to have delivered Vicky Donor. It is precisely for this creative backgrounds they hail from that compels me to be biased towards them. They dare to experiment & explore unknown territories. So kudos to such emerging talents! In the day & age of Tees Maar Khan, we could definitely do with a bit of Vicky Donors & English Vinglishs to save us from losing full faith in Indian Cinema.<br />
<br />
In short,<br />
refreshing screenplay,good direction,pleasant background score,witty scripting & classy cinematography.<br />
My Rating: 3.5/5..+.5 for Sridevi's simple,classic beauty = 4/5.<br />
This one's not really a theatre-worth watch though.<br />
<br />
P.S - 'two drops of coffee in a cloud of milk' is how Sridevi is described by one of her classmates in English lessons. This ain't no spoiler. No really.<br />
Also, "judgemental" is only a pun you'd understand after watching the movie. So go watch it to get what I mean.<br />
<br />
P.P.S - I know I've only mentioned the little child actor who plays Sridevi's son in the movie once but man he's adorable! He is the sort you'd wanna steal away from the world and keep him all to yourself. I could hug him and kiss him and cuddle him all day long. Aw man. I sound like such a typical girl. But heck. I've a soft spot for little ones and he just took it all with him! Adorability at its best!</div>
Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5628240940089642553.post-75666960250552995812012-10-09T23:46:00.001+08:002012-10-10T00:26:43.403+08:00That C-Grade Arrangement,A-Grade Ghazal Maestro's Performance.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dad-to-Mom: I'm getting complimentary tickets to Pankaj Udhas Concert. Would Isha and you be interested?<br />
Mom-to-Dad: <i>Haan haan le lo..chal lenge</i>(Read:yeah please do take it because it is free.why is this even a valid question?!)<br />
Dad-to-Mom: Ok I will get 2.<br />
Mom-to-me: <i>Isha tere Daddy ko Pankaj Udhas concert ki 2 tickets free mil rahi hain..chalegi?</i>(Read:Isha,I'm asking you a rhetorical question:Would you accompany me to anywhere-in-the-world-because-your-dad-got-free-passes?)<br />
Me-to-Mom: <i>Af-Course chaloongi. </i>(Read: there was no typo in Af-course.That's just how you're supposed to pronounce it when you're interacting with your Indian parent.)<br />
<br />
And then Dad says he will be free to go for the concert. So plan change: Mom & Dad will go. And then Dad says he will try to arrange for one more ticket for his daughter he loves oh-so-much-that-he-has-to-make-sure-she-reaps-the-benefits-of-a-complementary-ticket-to-a-Pankaj-Udhas-Concert. Because you know..her daughter is so old that she is 22-years-OLD and she needs to attend a Ghazal concert on a Friday night instead of just watching a kickass Hollwood/Bollywood Movie or drowning her liver in an infinite pool of impure drinks with a bunch of lunatics she calls her friends.<br />
<br />
So after a lot of back-and-forth conversation,finally it is settled that I have to grace the occasion as well. Okay, I may sound like an Anti-Ghazal typical Gen Y kid(which now when I think about,I should be.Heck maybe I am a generation behind. Explains the lack of friends within the age bracket of my social circle. *eurekamomentoftheday*squealsofjoy*), but I am not. I actually enjoy some Ghazals from time to time. Mostly the renowned ones...you know..the ones found in bollywood movies..but this is besides the point. The point is, I discovered that a good friend of mine was also stuck in a similar family obligatory situation(kind of things we kids do nowadays for parents.if only parents knew.sigh). Except,his parents ditched him for some ABC-they-are-smart-and-enjoy-torturing-their-kids-like-any-indian-parent-XYZ reason. So dancing on the chancing,I decided to ditch my mom-dad and sit with friend Vinayak and his brother. They didn't appreciate this at all,let me assure you that. I even got dubious looks from my mom pre-and-present-and-post-show.<br />
<br />
Now let the show begins!<br />
And begins it does!<br />
<br />
Now for a Ghazal Masetro such as Pankaj Udhas,you'd think they'd have the decency to hold the event at a respectable,classy place such as The Esplanade or heck,if you're concerned about having a small,*niche* audience(balding men with overly dressed aunties..make that double if we are looking at Sindhis),then perhaps at DBS Auditorium or something. But oh how could we expect such level of intelligence from Indian event organisers. So we ended up watching in a never-before-heard-of auditorium called Shine Auditorium in Shaw Towers. Let me enlighten those who're clueless about Shaw Towers. Shaw Towers houses corporate offices,is pretty-much rundown and has Jade Cinema(where Bollywood movies are screened). Jade Cinema's two theatres are a journey through a big hollow haunted house in itself. One of them is better by 0.01cm though.<br />
<br />
These are the main points I took away from this concert:<br />
<br />
1. Presenter 1: hello and welcome...yada yada yada...ladies and gentlemen please welcome on stage Pankaj Udhasji.<br />
Presenter 2: yada yada..helloIhaveasqueakyirritatingvoice..yada yada..IdontknowhowIamqualifiedtobeanRJ..yada yada..Ihaveasenseofhumourthatwouldkilldeadpeopleagain..yada yada..please welcome aspiring Ghazal singer Ravin Raj on stage.<br />
*holysmolywhattheeffs moment #1* *messedupmuch*<br />
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2. Wannabe reached a new level of degree with Ravin Raj's Ghazal performance. He pronounced joom instead of JHoom and bool instead of BHool. That's the sort of problems I encounter with the primary 1 kid who I teach Hindi. On top of that, he had no range of voice. He was like a Flat Sprite. Like flatter than flatrons(ifyouknowwhatImean) flat. Obviously this is something you can't even expect at a minimum level from an *aspiring* Ghazal singer. I just have too high expectations.<br />
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3. Wannabe Ravin Raj's English was even more fabulous. Before he began to ruin the evergreen classic <i>Yeh Daulat Bhi Le Lo</i>, he says - let me now sing a NOSTALAGICAL song. (I felt my heart being stabbed like how Faisal Khan shoots Ramadhir Singh in GOW 2.) If I was one of the event organisers, I'd have gifted him an Oxford Dictionary as a token of appreciation,along with a Hindi Pronounciations 101 book.<br />
<br />
4. Wannabe Ravin Raj's singlish accent only deteriorated his murderous command of English. What made it funnier was when he decides to introduce his "friends" on the musical instruments...and then FORGETS the name of one of them. Epic Win. *two thumbs up*<br />
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5. RJ-Presenter Renuka makes way too many blunders for me to even list all. That woman has the capacity to bring down the entire women's race just by opening her mouth. She's the sort who could give Aishwarya Rai's hyena laugh a run for her redundant-husband-ABJr.<br />
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6. Pankaj Udhas is a walking-talking oxymoron. For a person with the surname Udhas,he always has a smile on his face. Even when he isn't smiling,it seems like he is smiling. Not that I am complaining. His performance was an utter delight to watch and listen. He was the only saving grace about the entire evening.<br />
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7. Funny thing Pankaj Udhas said on-stage: feels good to be back to Singapore..duniya ka "sabse khoobsurat sheher". I think I snorted out aloud at that point. I like his sense of humour.<br />
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8. In one of his ghazals, there is a line that goes - hum bhi pagal ho jaayenge,aisa lagta hai. Cue:Anu Mallik. Cue: Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega movie. Cue: <i>Aatey Jaatey Jo Milta Hai </i>song. Cue: Almost-same line-hum toh pagal ho jaayenge,aisa lagta hai. *holysmolywhattheeffs moment #2*<br />
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9. Besides the fact that they chose a shady place to hold a concert of a legendary Ghazal Maestro, had messed up irritating presenters, had a wannabe ghazal singer perform before the maestro, their food arrangement was overpriced as usual. More importantly, they did not provide whiskey to enjoy a Ghazal evening. Someone please tell me how is anyone supposed to enjoy a ghazal without some warmth in the belly because of a good ol' scotch or a decent whiskey?! pleasetellmeplease.<br />
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10. Icing on the cherry-and-strawberry-smeared-cake: Advertisements. Now because they had a wide rang of sponsors and had to make as much money as they could(I am beginning to get a feeling the organisers were either baniye or gujjus. possibly sindhi also though..but sindhis have class usually..*usually*), they had advertisements being screened on the only large screen they had on the centre stage,sort of directly above Pankaj Udhas. From time to time,they showed the face of the Ghazal Maestro. Other then that, audience that was getting bored or sleepy by the ghazals were made to stay awake by the distracting(and even disturbing at times) ads. Ads ranged from being about spices to maths tuition your indian child needs to let's go to a Dance Bar called Club Colaba. Brownie points earned for understanding that they are addressing a family audience and that kids would show excitement at the visuals of bar dance girls. And all along, Pankaj Udhas thought people were cheering for him. Little did he know. Sigh.<br />
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That be alls.<br />
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oh-kuh-tock-a-doodley-byes.<br />
<br />
insaneintelligence.<br />
<br />
P.S: Only time the event team was good in managing was its facilitators who were quick to jump and stop you from video recording or photography. So very cool.</div>
Isha Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00267246757534434734noreply@blogger.com1