I disagree.

I am not sure, whether I should write the post as a review, because I could not even understand many parts of the film. Had I not watched the previous or original Devdas movie, I would not have understood what they were showing at all. There were so many scenes where I raised my eyebrows (not that you can easily identify that raising!). Also there were so many unresolved questions too.

Where do we see or realize or sense that Dev D actually loved or cared for Paro?

What is Paro’s stand in the whole movie? Is she crazy? Being amateur in teenage years is agreeable. But sending nude photos to London?!

And our Dev D seeing “that” realizes that he needs to come back!!! What yaar!! Doesn’t they see more of that in England or London? I didn’t find anything in that photo she sent!!

And then after sometime into the marriage, when called upon, Paro comes and does all the chores for “our” Dev D!! Was she a servant? If atleast she loved, she could have respected her “love” na?

Wait.. Respecting love? Guess I am talking like Anurag Kashyap now!

And the f word. Why was it not “bleep”ed? I guess that was the first Hindi film I saw which had that without bleeping…

Truly, the director had been seeing so many English movies. The innumerous background songs with increasing sound in between made my job harder. Most of the time I had to sit near the pc so as to adjust the volume!! Phew!

Only part I understood is Chanda’s character. Thank God. Or else the two hours we took for watching the movie would have gone to waste!!

Poor RK. He never gets to watch good movies!

Any movie recommendations, guys?

I don’t remember whether I have mentioned it, and I am too lazy to search in my archives, but nevertheless, I do love Julia Roberts. Her smile and her beauty just mesmerizes me. I was not much aware of Susan Sarandon, though I had watched her in Shall We Dance. But the film and the characters had such a real shade, I wondered whom to praise. I am not that experienced in English films to comment on the script and photography and etc, but what I liked in most of these films, is the depth of characters. Some of them just make you think, while they shine under different colors, as if gem stones under the moonlight. It could be unpolished diamond or a just a smooth stone, and we never could understand. Stepmom, which portrays the emotions and fears  of a real and a step mother over the children they care about. It shows the two extreme mother personalities of love and affection, but both on the good side.

Cool Runnings reminded me of Chak De India, in a way. Long back, I had tweeted, about the presence of more black people in Bangalore owing to their studies. Other than in films, I had never seen them in real before. Long back, Indians were given racist remarks in outside countries. Imagine the amount of criticism they had to face in the land of whites. Cool Runnings is the struggle of the bobsled team from Jamaica trying to make it to the Olympics for the first time. It reminds us that a national spirit can do wonders.

And yes, I also watched the comedy thriller, or rather thriller with comedy, I love trouble and of course, it had Julia again in it! And ya, I did love the trouble too.. “White lies” indeed.

The recent power cuts in Bangalore have left me watch several unfinished movies, and that too foreign films. Most of the movies, have no sound at times, which gives more seriousness to the film. Expressions are clear and convey much more than the words. The actors seems too brilliant too. Lets hope I am lucky enough to finish them off during re-telecasts…

..::.. Shashi Deshpande’s “The Dark holds no terrors” is supposed to be her first book. I don’t remember why I did buy this book that time. Normally, I have never disliked a book I have bought. Every book which I feel was not interesting enough to hit the top list, was atleast worth a library read. But this one surprised me in exceeding the limits. The writing was good, expressive and had bit of depth in details. Still it failed me to impress me. It indeed shows the struggle of a married woman who ran away for love and then from the love, to fight with herself and her fears, and guilt. But the story was not that strong to support the beautiful screenplay. Simply put, I couldn’t digest the ending.

..::.. After watching the film, “The Namesake“, I had the belief that the original book would be full of tragedy, and would leave me emotional just like the film, but thankfully it did not. I realized that the film was just a trailer of the book by Jhumpa Lahiri, and that the words portrayed more diverse emotions than the film, and with a depth so beautiful and descriptive but simple, that would keep us immersed in the book till the end.

..::.. It was the latest addition to my Paulo Coelho’s books. “By the river Peidra, I sat and wept” is just a simple love story. But the conflicts, and fears and struggle to attain the love is vividly described as deeper meanings to the writing which we feel is too philosophical. Its the same questions we ask ourselves, when you enter the same shoes. Of life, of love, of future, clinging to the past, and the cultures, afraid of being different, and the raging battle between mind and the heart, is beautifully described in the story of the Other.

..::.. I am liking nowadays more English movie channels day by day. There is no nonsense, new scripts, and unimaginable stories captured by the brilliant actors. I don’t remember many of them now. One of the few touched films was “The Mighty“. The beautiful friendship between the two boys leaves you feel good, though the film is actually a tragic film. It also makes me think the influence people have or can create on each other. Love really does have different forms, and one of the most beautiful portrayal is that of truly inspiring friendships. This was the quote I loved from that film: “Every word is part of a picture. Every sentence is a picture. All you do, is let your imagination connect them together. If you have an imagination that is. “

..::.. It is considered lucky if you are able to attend the Attukal Pongala festival. Even the unknown and ignorant gets lured into the faith by the extreme emotions and the huge crowd, even if its for a short while. It seems like just another cultural local festival, but the experienced discloses the imaginary force within them attracting towards the temple and the faith and towards the Goddess. As mentioned earlier, I find women more powerful from their faith and this festival boosts their spirit and the strength so much that even the passive onlookers experience the positive energy coming out of the atmosphere.I am happy that I was present at the festival this time.

..::.. The elections are coming near. But all the more, I find more reason now to discard the newspaper. They are fully filled with promises, analysis and history of politicians. The Jaago Re and other election aware campaigns are also in the news. This all reminds me the time, I got my voter card, and the only vote I did till now. But every time, the criminal cases against them, and with the fewer, or rather too many unwanted options and combinations of parties to choose among the politicians locally, we are left with not much choice. I sometimes wonder at the recent US elections, where in just two parties are present. How easy it was.

Smile Pinki got the award for the Best Documentary short film. I haven’t seen the documentary, but I am happy for her that she too was mentioned at the Oscars. How many are lucky like that?

A.R.Rahman and Rasul Pookutty did deserved the awards for Slumdog Millionaire. I won’t say “Jai ho” was the Best original song and all, but the original background score was brilliant and the sound mixing, editing,  or whatever term it is called, was brilliant. The story was simple and nothing much to talk about. But the photography, sound, music, film editing etc was brilliant.The speeches made by those Indians, made every Indian proud. Rasul indeed made history. I liked his speech more than Rahman’s, who was more professional, though he spoke Hindi, English and Tamil on the stage. It was indeed a drama to speak of the country and making it proud and all, but its indeed a priceless moment, which would rewrite history and would be boasted of much, in coming years.

Back home, India is celebrating like nothing else for the Oscar victory. They even claim Slumdog Millionaire is their film. Indian film! If they were so proud, why were there protests of portraying India and its poverty? The story and theme was used in Bollywood and other Indian films, in many ways and from many years. Yet, to produce, to write, to cast and to direct, we needed Danny Boyle. Isn’t it his film then? He has made us realize the potential hidden in the country, not the poverty, but the ability to shoot and create a good film on any topic, even on the common topic of poverty. Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par and some other films long back was supposed to be at the Oscars, but didn’t make it. Doesn’t this show that there are talents in this country, which are not at all being used by us? Or rather misused by us? And now, we are celebrating, as we did the film!

Though I had liked Slumdog Millionaire (read my review here), I was not willing to see it as the Best Motion Picture. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was indeed curious. I had never seen or could have imagined a story or visualised a theme in which people grow backwards. The other huge hit, The Dark knight, had not got mixed reviews like the Slumdog Millionaire(SDM), but a great response and the best reviews. Compared to the other nominated movies, I found that SDM was odd one out. Like in Bollywood and Hindi Cinema, there should have been a category for the Best popular film or something like that and in which it could have been contested with Dark Knight. Thank God, the actors Dev Patel and Freida Pinto was not nominated for lead roles. This could have been easily done in India. But thankfully, Oscars spoke of seriously atleast most of the time.The awards for Best Actor and Actresses were well-deserved. On the whole, only the Best film award was not liked by many, though the rest were good.

The mere visual appeal of the execution of the Oscar event, and its elegant and grand style reminds of how the world considers Movies as an mixture of art, creativity and talent, and makes it a must-watch event. Did you watch the Oscars?

The film had started off with a superfast speed, with love at first sight and all that. I hate those kinda movies flatly, but then I realized it was necessary for the story, as the characters were supposed to be in the teenage years where such things may do happen. I had read about the plot long ago while downloading the movie, and had even thought that it had a Bollywood touch! You know, the rich girl, poor boy kinda stories. But then, it was much more.

Sometimes we do feel happy more on a holiday and that too on a country road, maybe just because, we are ourselves that time. Someone who brings out the real you. And hence we do feel the love, and we are forced to discard it as a silly summer romance. The dialogues about the status differences, clearly indicates the parallel real stories happening in the world even now. There would have been a similar Noah and Allie somewhere out there in the midst of the town and we would never know. The best part was the hospital, and the talk between the weak old man and the old lady patient suffering from Dementia, which was the climax.

But the passion in which Noah hanged on, in his early years, turned me off at some times. The practical touch was lost at times. I mean, we could never find a Devdas kinda real hero in the current world; who keeps on thinking of lost love forever. Nowadays people mostly just move on. I agree, maybe this is just a film, but it has touched many points which do happen in real life. Many a times, we are left wondered and confused of the decisions we need to make. Just as the quote in the movie Fanaa, its more difficult, to choose between two right choices.  But then, it was like offering yet another right choice, to someone who may have already been right about their life.  I wonder what if the ending had not been like that. Would it have been better or worse?

I would rate the film a 7.5 out of 10. Maybe it was the best for some people, but not for me.

“Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do YOU want? What do you WANT?“

The film is based on the Indian book, Q&A. In short words, its just a love story, mixed with the life struggles which hints the answers to the lead character (Jamal Malik) to win the millionaire TV series. But the photography which tastes the slice of India, the screenplay, which fits perfect and makes us glued to the end, though we can anticipate the end and the freshness of the new actors, is what made me see through the film, before it got released in India. I had downloaded the music first, but other than great beats, I didn’t find it much interesting as a casual listener initially. The “Ring Ring Ringa” song reminds you of the famous “Choli ke peeche” track, and is pictured on the prostitution in Mumbai. But after you see the film, the song, “O Saya” keeps ringing in your mind, which enhanced the spirits of the lead characters. Like other A.R.Rahman’s songs, I guess the music catches on you, very slowly and gradually.

The bare and truth of living the hard life in the slum areas, and the struggles they need to go through, evokes a deep cry within you towards those people. I mean, its a known rumour story about the child beggars, being used for making money, by making them disabled manually through raw methods. Its pathetic too, that there may exist people who does so in real. Have we ever given a damn about the child singers who sing in the local trains or at the railway station? How many times have we hesitated before we give them money? Can we ever imagine the life in the cringed areas, the life among the rags and public dumps, without no shelter in the rain, being the most common victims for riots, starving enough for a piece of roti that we stoop down on picking food from others endangering our lives? Are we able to digest the realization of the need to earn money at any cost to maintain your life for each second, and that too at a very early stage, when we should have been playing and enjoying at school? The amount of pain to treasure in your heart for seeking your love amidst all these chaos and to keep it pure and deep is truly unimaginable.

And to give it a tinge of childish innocence, there were the comedy scenes at the Taj Mahal. I wonder, whether it was a mocking of the foreigners visiting India without any knowledge, or how the locals fools them, but it relieved us of the tension for quite some time, amidst the 2 hour long movie. . The metro trains, and the railway station of Mumbai has been an integral part of many Bollywood movies, and as an example of perfect chaotic busy life in this city, it makes its entry in this film too. And there was the perfect example of Indians being the great fans of actors and actresses. The enthusiasm of village and slum people to see Amitabh Bachan has been perfectly captured, that we really wonder, whether people go to this extent to catch a glimpse of the actors. It reminded me of the Rajni fans n the spirit of Chennai, when I lived there, during the release of his latest film, Sivaji.

The roles lived by Irrfan Khan, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, and Mahesh Manjrekar are very short, but breathes life into the characters. Dev Patel and Freida Pinto provides great on-screen chemistry and looks very fresh and young. But more than them, the child brothers Jamal and Salim, occupy the screen space more. I wonder whether it was an English film or Bollywood film (minus the songs and dance), but whatever be it, Danny Boyle has did an amazing direction. I would rate the film at 8/10, as I don’t find much discrepancies or shortcomings for the film. I won’t comment whether it was an overrated or underrated, but I think it was a good movie in overall. Click here to find an interesting interview of the director!

It can be called a worth watch film, considering the 4 awards it received at Golden Globe, and with A.R. Rahman with background score, it sure could not be missed!

There are some famous films which have not made to this list like Rang De Basanti, or Lagaan or Hum Tum etc. They are kinda good movies, but to be true at heart, I won’t mind giving them a pass, if not for the hype it created. There are some movies which can be good entertainers and huge hits in Bollywood, but the scripts or themes of such were not like extra-ordinary. So I haven’t included them also.

The list is NOT in any rank basis or in any particular order. So here it is.

1. Anand
2. Devdas
3. Chak De India
4. Dil Chahta Hai
5. Page3
6. Corporate
7. Chandni Bar
8. Mitr – My Friend
9. Phir Milenge
10. My Brother Nikhil
11. Don – The chase begins again
12. Munnabhai MBBS
13. Satyam Shivam Sundaram
14. Amar Prem
15. Life In A Metro
16. Black
17. Karz
18. Lakshya
19. Mera Naam Joker
20. Swades

For more on the movie ratings, click here.
NB: This link shows a  huge list of top 25 bllywood movies to watch. I haven’t seen many of them, and many are classics. Enjoy watching movies!

Feel free to add in your recommendations. There maybe many, I know, but I will give a second thought for sure.

But as if I am a strange alien, I have been thinking too much over it. The hype around the film, expanded my eyes and ears for in-depth analysis of the film that came out as a review. So checkout my “Fashion” film review posted or rather guest blogged on “The Newspaper Blog” which is run by Ashwin from Chennai. No, no, its not a popular daily or weekly journal or something, but the blog is popular for its Torrents, Movies and TV show reviews. Long back, that blog contained tips and tricks for eligible people to woo girls and win hearts or ways to be romantic, but now I guess he is busy belling the CAT and smoking Apples and Mac!!

Excerpts:-

Enjoy reading!!!

Does it also points out at the dark side of the law system and the juvenile home treatment and jail which creates more criminals out of young people?

My Girl (Fan Chan in Thai) is a Thai film, which speaks of the innocent and pure love towards your childhood best friend. Jeah and Noi Nah were the best friends and neighbours when they studied in the same school. At the small age, when we loved to grow,  and grow on adventures, Jeah struggles to balance his friendship with Noi Nah, while juggling his priorities with other boys and his adventures.  Just like us, he forgets that time does not wait for him and they move apart. After few years, he hopes to meet her again at her wedding. The Thai small town landscape depicted the typical Indian villages kinda atmostphere and the sissy sassy games, the school classes, and the routine, brings back and flashes your childhood memories where in you can relate to some way or the other. The lyrics of the songs are beautifully poetic, when you understand them, with the help of the sub titles.

Growing up in the society is hard at times, so as to not lose your moral values. The maturity amongst us, if any, is capsized beneath the outer mask, which enables us to live in the society obeying some damn rules, some of which may or may not be for our good. Amar Prem is an old Indian film, but nevertheless, portrays the love of a woman. The film also shows the emotions and examples of brotherhood, lovers, motherhood, respect and companionship and that too in unrelated relations. Sharmila Tagore as Pushpa, who ends up as prostitute, and Rajesh Khanna as the Anand Babu excels in their roles, while the story amazes me and makes me wonder of the understanding of human emotions by film makers at that time, as old as 1971. More detailed review here.

There have been many other Indian films on prostitution too and of them, the Chandni Bar was a poignant film. Though Madhur Bandarkar‘s other films like Page3 and Corporate, were quite realistic event – reminders, and is quite common in today’s world, the character of Chandni, played by Tabu, throwed light on other factors as to how the society creates another society among themselves and thrwos them apart. Who can forget the Kamal Hassan in the film Mahanadi, where in he saves his daughter from this forbidden group whch also contains gold treasures in some of the courtesan’s hearts. But there are not many who can save others from the deserted ship.

There  was an English movie where in a lover convinces her boyfriend to pair up with her dying friend, who considers her as a good sister-friend. It was amazing to notice at her vast mind, and also the shrewdness in her, which leaves us baffled just like the boyfriend. We are unaware at the end, which are the real love bird couples. Some movies like these, which involves love triangles, convinces us, that love never happens once in lifetime. There are times, when we couldn’t blame the actions due to the over love and affection, which binds them to do the dark actions.

I don’t deny that there are emotions in battlefield or in the thriller action packed films and all, but those are some of the reality, but just portrayed blended with actions. There are some films which can portray emotions even in their silence. Named generally as art-films, they are mostly award-range films, and not for commercial industry. I remember some Malayalam movies like Ennu Swantham Janakikutti, Meghamalhar, Ore Kadal which bagged state awards n all, but never stayed long in theatres.

Human emotions and feelings can really be some answers to some unnamed relations that prevail in this world, and questions which we ask ourselves. Aint it?

Any movies which comes across your mind now, that touched your heart? Please share it with me! Thanks in advance