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Reviews
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Glory to the inglorious!
every once in a while, one sees a work of art being portrayed on the cinema screen - and it is so intense, that one does not realize how much time has passed absorbing it... This is exactly what happened to the 4 of us who went to see the Inglorious basterds tonight. It was a 10pm show & we realized it was 1pm after we came out!!
The Inglorious Basterds is not a typical Quentin movie..in fact its a Bollywood style movie that beats Bollywood movies black & blue by simply concentrating on one simple thing: attention to detail ....
Its a simple screenplay that Quentin would have ripped from any Bollywood movie - action, love, war, thrill & loads of comedy - all of that combined! But the mastery of the director lies in ignoring the story completely!! Yes, truly that is what happens - I did not care whether the story would go one way or the other! What I craved for with each longing moment was the dialogues & depth of scenes... The complete narration is held together by 7-10 scenes, but each of this scene is brilliantly composed - each speck of dust & each monosyllable, each movement by the actor / actress contributes to the moment in the scene... If you miss the smallest of gestures, you are bound to be left confused.
Now, I've heard somewhere that it took Quentin 12 years to write the complete screenplay. I can only imagine how he must have perfected each of these scenes by playing them over again & again in his mind - polishing each moment - each nanosecond of the movie. I was left not only breathless with wonder, but also hoping that the movie would never end- even after 3 hours of playing time!
Coming to the director's attention to detail - each word spoken by the actor is made to work hard along with physical movements, music & photography in order to contribute fully to the meaning. The language provides a loud charactersketch for each actor, while long climaxes (some even 2 mins long) are held together by expert movements, ever so subtle to catch the corner of one's eye, but not appear in the conscious view of the scene. All of this - together - makes the movie an unforgettable experience.
Look out for Col. Hans Landa (played by Christopher Waltz) - the scripting of the character & his portrayal by Waltz are a true work of art!
And yes, we laughed, we shuddered, we waited for the climaxes, we cheered the action - in short we did it all!!! Final word, go see it for yourself - though some of you would dismiss it as stupid... & yes - BEWARE - there isn't any story!!
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
A character-sketch of two personalities...
I believe that Letters from Iwo Jima is not a war movie. It is a dual character-sketch of two personalities - a general who has lived in the US before the war, & a baker dragged into the war due to conscription. The director has taken a conscious decision to not show the actual battle along with tactics. Instead, he concentrates on the mindset of the Japanese soldiers, their life and the state in which they struggle to protect the island. It also provides one important insight into the imperial Japanese society, pushing its subjects into desperate situations beyond its own control. The social fabric which hails patriotism above all else overlooks the discomfort and breaking morale of the commoners. That, I believe is the most important lesson of the movie. The letters that the baker hides at the end of the battle talk about a general's thoughts of US to his children, the baker's continued longing for his wife in the backdrop of an impending suicidal battle. Important dialogues show how the Japanese army discounts American technological prowess & ends up losing its infantry to arrogance, ignorance and misguided sense of patriotism. The very idea of committing harakiri instead of retreating to one's base & providing much needed manpower seems untactful - a strong statement about a medieval army facing a modern battle.
Delhi-6 (2009)
The monkey metaphor!
Last night i saw Bollywood regaining its lost maturity. We have seen many movies & television series in the 7os & 80s that had hidden puns & metaphors on public life. Rakesh O Mehra revives the glory of Nukkad, Mungerilal, Jaane bhi Do Yaaro & the likes. It would be unjust NOT to compare Delhi-6 with scripts that were brimming with social meaning.
I went into the movie expecting good songs & a messy story. However I came back amazed at the depth of the script, although it was quite messy. In addition R. Mehra was quite up to his act with a vivid portrayal of each character.
What caught my attention throughout the movie was that each character had a strong sense of purpose & definition in the movie. Screen time was not a criteria for etching out the depth of meaning each character was imbibed with. A local moneylender, the neighborhood idiot, a helpful halwai: all were woven into the script, and still stood their own ground as a performance. I was wondering if this was a theater act & not a movie. It would have still done excellently!
The script was shoddy in terms of its sequence. One thing did not lead to another and the jumps were hard to comprehend. But one must give a standing ovation to the scriptwriter who took the effort to take up a normal Bollywood story of the homecoming of an NRI & weaving it with an urban legend. The very portrayal of the story around this central theme is catchy!
The art direction is par excellence! Using Ramayana as a narrative to the ethics of the story, a revered local tree and the likes add life to the storyline. Rahman's music is also commendable & runs well with the speed of the movie. What's more interesting is that most of the songs are not shown in complete length. Rather, they are inserts into the movie's moods.
The two points are still about the movie's script & direction. However its the story that took my mind by storm. The depth of the script lies in the urban legend of the kala bandar, a monkey-man who took the imagination of Delhi-ites by storm. The script aptly presents each character's version of the imaginary monkey as a statement on the person's life / state of mind. It then goes on to bring out the mass hysteria that results. I am not sure if it should have touched the communal line, since I am not quite aware of the original monkey story that happened in Delhi. It may have carried the story too far, but it does succeed in capturing the meaning. The demon that lies within us is the true root of all our ramblings. The moral of the story is not effectively brought out since it jumps around too much, but the sequence to the same is commendable.
Atul Kulkarni gives yet another mind-boggling performance as the local fool who plays along the tunes of the neighborhood in order to feel one with them. His dialog delivery at the climax is truly breathtaking!
The same should be said of Vijay Raaz as the typical Delhi policeman. His acting actually makes us despise him and laugh at him in the same breath!
The central character of Abhishek Bachchan is not too strong in the movie. But that is expected when stalwarts of cinema & theater are given their due in small but well framed roles of the community people. Every one of them presents a classy performance!
Dev.D (2009)
Dev.D a dissection
I hadn't the slightest clue that the movie was a remake of Devdas! I only realized that halfway through the movie!
The movie follows a pattern of few western movies like Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth (the new versions set in the modern world). I found both the above to be quite palatable.
I would first commend the director for making this movie, just to show what the audiences can also expect from THE SAME OLD STORY! The story of Devdas, although quite an interesting piece of literature, would have worked great in the 90s, when showed in the same manner. But this is the 21st century & we would like some creativity in the movie.
At the risk of being thrashed by a dear friend of mine, who is an ardent Madhuri fan, i have to say that her & Shahrukh's Devdas bored me to death! I found the whole portrayal so stupid, i couldn't have found a worse way to spend my time! The performances in the movie were excellent (except for Shahrukh, who is capable of doing much better work), but the script, the art direction & the locations were absolutely wasted for this era of films! SL Bhansali must understand that even theater needs creativity, lets not be monkeys!
To come back to DevD, the movie was absolutely stunning from the point where i realized it was a remake of Devdas. Till then, I was lost, trying to understand why this movie was even made.
Abhay Deol gives yet another great performance with his no-nonsense no- emotion acting. The non-Indian actress also gives a good performance, while Mahi Gill leaves a lot to be desired, including her wardrobe choice.
The movie moves very fast (thankfully), brashly trashing unwanted parts of the original story & adapting itself to the current society. Most of all, the director tries to give it an enormous amount of accountability (by connecting it to current events) & making it interesting, but reflecting on the society through a historic story! That part is what i liked best! That also forms the premise of the remake, and the freshness endowed with such directorial angles makes the movie lively & bewitching!
Bewitching, because although we hate some characters, although we hate some parts of the movie, it keeps us glued! As if, he director intended to bring out hate in us for some parts! That, I think is a class work of art!
Another aspect of the movie which i wanted to discuss is the way viewers are kept sub-consciously confused and drawn into the movie. The art director uses a lot of high paced, loud sequences, which keep changing the environment in a jiffy. Although it creates a shock, it does not make the viewer lose interest at any point. The repetition of a few words, characters' names, incidents from current society; all of these mixed with trance music & dazzling colors & carefully choreographed scenery create an effect of a high!
This, i think is the most important part of Devdas's story! The whole story is about a man in a trance, due to whatever reasons in life. Dev-D does justice to that aspect & hence portrays the story more realistically & in a more classy fashion than Bhansali's true-to-the- book version!
Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)
Gripping narrative
The movie moves ahead as promised & as the critics have said about it.. I'm hardly going to describe the movie so please switch to another site if you are interested in the story..
The theme of the movie is not about the blasts (thankfully).. and it is not even about people (Aaamir was good but slow & painful)... its a movie about mindsets & more importantly a commentary on the current state of affairs...
i love the way the narrative can compare with ease India & the USA...despite obvious differences of lifestyle. As is rightly said, fear is completely unbiased of race, creed, color or wealth.
The movie talks about how fear and social psychosis affects a layman, and how a common person becomes the fearful one, the tormentor, the victim and the attacker at the same time. I don't know if the director had visualized all this, but i think i found much to learn from the movie.
Most of all what i like is its portrayal of different communities, and Paresh Rawal's utmost sensitively given sermon on the state of affairs and clashes between community, the ways of seeing the world and the urge to make a difference. The movie ends with a beautiful touch of hope, which i don't think could have been portrayed in a more artistic manner. I still haven't got the chance to see who the director was, but its a very good job!!!
So do make a point to watch it while its playing in the theaters. I promise you better & more sensible entertainment than mindless mas-ala....
Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008)
Lucky's character sketch
i saw the movie OYE LUCKY, LUCKY OYE after reading quite a few reviews, and hearing most. I was awaiting a movie by the director of the famed KHOSLA, but the reviewers were quite put off by the show...
I had, however, made my mind & saw it tonight. In order to clarify my stand, let me start by saying that LUCKY is exactly like KHOSLA. In both cases, the director aims to create a character-sketch of a complete set of society, not just an individual. In both cases, the director succeeds completely! For those who went to see the movie for a story a.k.a. Bunty & Babli, they were highly disappointed! Most complained that there was no story. While I agree with them, as the movie ended, i realized: a story WAS NOT needed...
The director wants to present a set of characters, and portrays their life. If he were to weave a story, i would have been aghast. The movie ends with a hint of naughtiness, which leaves us with a smile on our face. And the very way that non-relevant parts of introduction & conclusion are handled by photo-presentation, is quite ingenious!
The very simplicity of presentation struck me. There is no set-up, in order to give the movie a MOVIE feel. It is quite like a normal person's biography, just that in this case, he happens to be a thief.
The movie does leave a lot to be explained, like why he doesn't sell what he steals, or where he gets money to live off from... But the story is so convincing, it sets the right pace, concentrating on the person & not what he does... That i believe, wouldn't have been possible to achieve, had the director tried to show details.... Its like seeing a movie adaptation of a novel before reading the book.. I wish i could get the script & discussions of the story writer & director...
Well, to conclude, its a carefree movie, like KHOSLA, which succeeds in showing what it aims for, and not wondering why everything else happens.... I think its worth a watch :D
PS: its not a comedy...please don't have awfully wrong expectations
Maharathi (2008)
World class theater
Seldom are movies made from a play... & this one goes the right way! The last theater i can remember off hand was AANKHEN... A Bachan & Paresh Rawal.. The movie wasn't quite catchy, but one could imagine the kind of theatrical performances it must have delivered..
Today, i saw an actual performance, only difference being, I saw it on the screen.. The way the movie was done, one felt the characters were alive on a stage in front of me!!!
The plot of the movie is very good. But the performances are mind blowing! One couldn't have set a better cast, & while the ladies need to do much better, the quartet of Boman, Paresh, Naseer & Om Puri swept me off my feet!
While Paresh Raval dominates the movie completely, it is Boman's sharp performance that draws the curtain! I couldn't have spent my Friday night better.
It is a movie worth treasuring... Please have a look!
Ghajini (2008)
Ho Hum...
I tried to avoid writing a review for Ghajini because: 1. i love Aamir Khan's work, in general & in the movie 2. i hated the movie because i was expecting a remake of Memento
However, i got a chance to watch it again. The first time i watched it, i was bored to death, waiting for the love story to move on & the real movie to keep continuing. I was really expecting a remake of Memento & desperately wanted the movie to proceed in the same manner, for whatever reasons.
We were a large group of friends who went to see the movie. After the movie, we were divided into 2 parts: those who had seen Memento were bored & disappointed, those who hadn't had enjoyed the movie thoroughly.
But, this time when i saw the movie, I actually liked it! & not because its an Amir Khan starer, but because the movie does form a good plot / script, with acceptable performances & great photography!
The movie was well (re) written, addressing the Indian viewers. The story begins at a point towards the end (& not AT the end), and a flashback is smoothly inserted halfway into the movie!
Although a large part of actors suffer from bad acting, especially the irritating & downright stupid Jiah Khan (i wanted to kick her at times!) and also the police inspector who seems to have an agenda of his own, coupled with tasteless & immature acting.
The roles played by Asin, Amir & the villain ( i don't know his name) were quite passable (though not great), but it wove together a story that was very radical & quite watchable for general viewers. I remember we went for a paid preview & the cinema was half empty. But the next day onwards, the tickets were selling in black (i heard that word after quite a few years!)!!!
Although this movie is nowhere near RDB or TZP, its a choice work from a dedicated actor. I wouldn't know if the director was capable enough to handle such a movie, or whether the scriptwriter got confused while translating the Tamil version to the Bollywood one, but a lot of the movie still played to South Indian movie style tunes, something that doesn't work at all in Bollywood.
Some action sequences were stupid & some actors equally dead-faced!
I think the only thing that holds the movie is : THE STORY!