This blog is about movies and books. One watches a movie frame by frame and reads books page by page. Since landing in the US around 18 months ago I have been watching loads of movies... of primarily three languages: Kannada, Hindi and English. I have been an avid reader since many many years. In this blog I hope to share my opinions about movies and books.
I appreciate your comments and feedback.
Thanks for visiting!
Haqeekat, starring Ajay Devgan, and Tabbu in the lead role with Amrish Puri, Johnny Lever and a group of villain actors is one of those typical bollywood potboilers. Shiva (Ajay Devgan) is an orphan who owes his gratitude to the local underworld don for having raised him. The Don is assigned the task of eliminating the Chief minister of the state by his competitor and quite expectedly Shiva is asked to execute it. Things go wrong and the Chief Minister survives and police start searching for Shiva.
Fearing for his life his boss sends him off to Mumbai and tells him that he will be known as Ajay in future. The actual story begins here. Ajay starts living in Mrs. David's home as a paying guest. Tabbu lives in the same apartment and one day some local hooligans attempt to rape her. Ajay saves her from them and love blossoms between the two. Later it is revealed that Tabbu is a widow and her sister-in-law prevents her from meeting Ajay. Amrish Puri the assistant commissioner of police intervenes and marries the love birds.
Ajay decides to go straight and give up the life of crime and opens up a car garage. Just when things seem to be settling down his past catches up with him. His former boss comes looking for him and asks him to return to the underworld. Ajay refuses and says he is now turned a new leaf and doesn't want a life of crime. His boss reveals that Ajay is the one responsible for the death of Tabbu's first husband and this leads to marital discord.
The next turn of events make the bulk of the story and it involves another attempt to assassinate the chief minister. How Ajay successfully eliminates his enemies and regains his love is interesting to watch. There are many loopholes in the story but that is quite expected I guess, it is after all movie showbiz.
It is worth watching once if you are an Ajay Devgan fan... I love the scene when Amrish Puri refuses to accept a bribe from the local politician. That is by far one of the best scenes in the movie.
This movie is the story of what would happen to an idealistic person in India - he would be oppressed, dominated and cheated by everyone he comes across. Govinda plays the role of the youngest son of Om Puri who is a retired school headmaster. Om Puri owns a beautiful bungalow in the heart of Mumbai which is sought after by several builders and real estate developers. Being idealistic young man Govinda is emotionally attached to the home where he believes the memories of his late mother are present. Govinda has two sisters who live with him with their families in the same family bungalow. Though well settled his brothers-in-law want to sell the house and get the cash. They don't attach any emotional significance to the home.
Om Puri is fighting a legal battle with the school he was employed at for his pension and retirement benefits. The opposition lawyer is none other than his own son-in-law who is bent to save the school the money. Finally the court orders the school to give Om Puri some property to the value of his retirement benefits and they end up with a broken down bus which Govinda decides to restore and deploy on the road to earn livelihood. His bus conductor flees with the collection of a whole month and not wanting to trouble the conductor's parents Govinda decides not to lodge a police complaint. This leads to further complications.
There is a namesake heroine in the movie who doesn't have much role. The part could well have been eliminated but I guess Indian movie makers are still obsessed with the idea that without a heroine it is impossible to make a movie work. The rest of the story focuses on the tussle between the driver, conductor and owner of the bus and how the union gets involved. At each juncture Govinda displays an amazing humanity and continues to pardon those who cheat him. Finally he decides enough is enough when members of the workers union decide to vandalize the bus. There is one final fight and a court drama before the end of the movie.
This movie reinforces the message that if one is an idealist, he/ she has no place in the corrupt dog-eat-dog Indian society.
What would someone do when he/ she is diagnosed with terminal cancer? Most of us would crib, complain, grieve, and become recluses either at home or at the hospital. In Dasvidaniya the hero is in the same situation but he handles it in a totally different way.
Meet Amar Koul (Vinay Pathak), the protagonist of the movie. A typical nice guy living in Mumbai, India. He has never smoked, gotten drunk, or been with a woman. He is a very organized person and makes a to-do list every morning, things like shopping for grocery, toiletries, battery for his mother's hearing aid, etc. He works hard as accounts manager at a pharmaceutical company in Mumbai and lives with his mother. One fine day he goes to a doctor's appointment where is informed of the disease that afflicts him.
Amar is completely devastated and does not know what to do. He comes to terms with the disease and realizes that he has less than few months to live. Here comes his other form - a vision of what he would like to be - and then he makes one list of things that he would like to do before he dies. That is what he sets out to do, starting with buying a brand new car, going abroad, meeting with the love of his life to whom he could never express it, etc.
Life takes him through several peaks and troughs and finally he achieves all the ten things in his list. In my opinion this should have been a super hit movie but I guess Indian audiences are not mature enough to watch a serious drama flick such as Dasvidaniya. The performances by Vinay Pathak, and Rajat Kapoor, are stellar. Neha Dhupia plays Neha Banot the childhood love of Amar.
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone and everyone who like a serious emotional drama about how to lead life while suffering from Cancer. It is an inspirational movie. Watch it, it is free on youtube and you will not regret it.
I watched this movie when I was in India recently. The movie is for the young and young-at-heart viewers who like the feel-good themes that bollywood throws up sometimes. The movie centers around three heroes Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), Imran (Farhan Akthar), and Kabir (Abhay Deol). Of course there are three heroines too, otherwise it wouldn't be a Indian flick. Anyway the story is all about Kabir's impending marriage and a road trip that the three friends take as part of their bachelor party.
The three friends of course atrociously rich - most middle-class Indian kids would not be able to afford a trip like this - meet up in Spain and start of their adventure sports. Deep sea diving, sky diving and being part of a traditional bull chase festival is what the three intend to do. The movie also exposes the baggage that the friends carry and help resolve issues between the friends and also in their lives.
Imran reconciles to the fact that his biological father is just that, Arjun finds a new girl friend and Kabir understands that marriage is not for him right now.
Summing up I'd say it is definitely worth watching and one of those movies without too much drama and few songs and can be watched with the family.
I had watched the Tamil version of this movie while I was in the US and knew the plot pretty much. Then the much promoted Hindi movie released when I landed in Bangalore and I thought I should take a look and see what Ajay Devgan has done. Whether the Hindi version was better or the Tamil one was more entertaining. Well after watching the movie I must say I enjoyed the Hindi version better, simply because I understood what was being said and the superior technical details. Performance wise the stars in both languages have delivered equally well.
The story is a typical Good cop versus corrupt police department and their political and rowdy henchmen. A honest inspector has a tangle with a politically well connected underworld don and that starts off an ego issue between them. The cop gets transferred to the big bad city where every one in the police department is corrupt and hand-in-glove with the thugs and politicians. The rest of the story is about how the cop combats his frustrations and eliminates the rowdy elements of the big city.
There was no need for a heroine in this movie and I don't know why good film makers see the need to include a pretty face even though the script doesn't demand one. If only Indian film makers were to see the potential of movies without song and dance routines, and heroines showing off their curves and skin I am pretty sure the industry would be able to attain new heights. But I guess right now the industry is still not mature enough... maybe the audience isn't also...
This is one of the movies based on real incidents that took place in India. The name of the movie Apaharan meaning "Kidnap" itself indicates the theme of the film. The movie is about the rampant kidnapping that used to take place in one of the most lawless regions of India.
Three main themes dominate the storyline of Apaharan: the controversial and ubiquitous nexus between politicians and mafia; greed for position and power inherent in political leaders who will stoop to any levels to retain them; and finally how innocent youth caught in this anarchic could easily get disillusioned and resort to crime.
The movie centers around two main characters: Ajay Shastri (Ajay Devgan) and his father Prof. Raghuvansh Shastri (Mohan Agashe). The other main character in the movie is Tabrez Alam played by Nana Patekar. The heroine played by Bipasha Basu is more like a guest appearance than a heroine, she pretty much doesn't have any role in the film.
Ajay Shastri and his father share a tumultuous relationship. While his father is fighting against corruption, Ajay is running from pillar to post trying to land a job in the police department. In between Tabrez Alam, sitting MLA is running his own kidnapping mafia on the sly. Ajay gets drawn into the kidnapping mafia when he borrows money to bribe the bureaucrats for a police job. This involvement makes him the right hand man of Tabrez Alam and the leader of the mafia.
Meanwhile a journalist Akash Ranjan (Anup Soni) threatens to expose all the corruption to public. Ajay is given the assignment to eliminate Akash Ranjan by Tabrez Alam but at the last moment he finds out that it is none other than his father Prof. Raghuvansh Shastri who is behind the corruption expose. This makes Ajay realize his fault and he decides to turn himself in and with the help of an honest police officer he makes a statement against all involved including Tabrez Alam. Corruption wins and instead of getting punished Tabrez Alam becomes a minister.
The movie shows how legislative, executive and judiciary branches of the government are manipulated by self serving politicians in India.
Whenever I get some free time I try and watch some Indian movies on Youtube. There are couple of reasons why I watch Youtube, first and foremost they are free, and except for the pesky advertisements they are pretty good quality. I particularly like action movies starring Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, etc. I also enjoy the previous generation of heroes Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.
This movie was one of those multi-starrer films with many action heroes and gorgeous heroines. The main theme of the movie is how love overcomes hatred passed down for generations. The story could have been told in a much better way without the unnecessary drama, over acting and by reducing the number of illogical twists to the plot.
The story centers around a famous temple of Kali Mata in Rajasthan where the ruling clans of two kingdoms Surjangarh and Mirtagarh fight for the right to sacrifice a buffalo in order to propitiate the goddess and get rain for their respective kingdoms. In between there is the corrupt Minister of Mirtagarh who along with his son wants to take control of the treasury and enjoy the wealth. The villainous minister and his son plot to kill the crown prince of Surjangarh during one of the sacrificial events but is unsuccessful.
The rulers of both the nations played by Dharmendra and Sunil Dutt don't see eye to eye and are always at war. Now comes a twist, the nephew of Dharmendra, crown price of Surjangarh falls in love with Sunil Dutt's daughter, the princess of Mirtagarh. Despite families ordering them not to meet each other they get together clandestinely and are caught by the elders of Mirtagarh. When the prince tries to escape he is murdered by the conniving minister and his son. In retaliation, Dharmendra Kills Sunil Dutt. This leads to a bloody battle between families and Sunil Dutt's brother Vinod Khanna kills several members of Dharmendra's family.
The result is quite predictable the family members hate each other. In order to keep their children away from all the politics both families send their children to London to study. There the children played by Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, and Raveena Tandon oblivious of their family rivalry become very close friends. Raveena and Sunny even fall in love with each other.
They return to India only to face the wrath of their respective parents, who are bent on separating the lovers. There are numerous dramatic outbursts, twists, conspiracy, sub-plots to the movie which sometimes is quite confusing. All in all it is three hours of entertainment, Indian style.
I am not surprised that the movie didn't do all that well in the box office when it was released. I am sure the sales of DVDs are not bursting any charts either. If you have time and the movie is free go ahead and watch, otherwise it is completely passable.
Last week while snow and ice were wrecking havoc on the roadways, causing accidents, I was cooped up at home reading my textbooks. To take a break I watched this totally nonsensical Bollywood comedy Chor Mandli. Surprisingly the movie had few songs and was over in less than two hrs. This is surprising because Hindi movies are usually 2-3 hrs in length and have the standard formula, five songs, one rape scene, 3-4 fight scenes and a climax. I am glad Bollywood directors are finally moving away from the used, reused and abused formula concept. The director has moved away from the standard formula and woven a story around five common and petty thieves.
Set in Mumbai, India, the movie features Honda the car thief, Nandu the mobile thief, Marco the gambler, a struggling actor, Buta Singh, Chindi someone who watches while others steal. Honda gets caught and goes behind the bars where he meets another entirely crazy character who gives him a tip about a safe that contains lots of cash.
Honda tries to enlist his friend's help to get bailed out and steal the cash, instead the twist of events make him stay in jail for 3 years. His friends how meanwhile have come to know of the details of the loot plan and execute the job. The ending is completely different and quite illogical and stupid in my opinion.
The movie is available free on Youtube, watch it if you have lots of time on hand.
A film sans logic but a great entertainer Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Javed Jaffrey, Ranvir Shorey, Sonu Sood, Om Puri, Neha Dhupia; Director: Anees Bazmee
The wait for this highly entertaining comedy masala flick is finally over. And does the film live up to the hype and expectations it created? You bet, it does; Singh Is Kinng has all the ingredients which make it a great entertainer: generous dose of laughter; drama; emotions and of course two hot heroines. All these will surely keep you glued to the silver screen.
The medium paced film starts off the usual way. Our hero, Happy Singh (Akshay Kumar) is a simpleton who wants to help people but somehow ends up creating problems than helping. His attempts to help which turn into disasters are portrayed in a sublime manner which will leave you laughing out of your seat. The people of the village get frustrated with his antics and ask him to leave. Left with no alternative Happy and his best friend Rangeela (Om Puri) set out on an aimless sojourn.
Now the scene shifts and the spotlight is on Lakhan Singh aka Lucky (Sonu Sood), the King of the Australian underworld. Like all underworld dons Lucky also has a sidekick, Neha Dhupia and few henchmen: Javed Jaffrey, Yashpal Sharma, Kamal Chopra and Sudhanshu Pandey. Quite expectedly Happy’s journey leads him to Egypt and then to Australia where he becomes the king of underworld. During the journey he meets his lady love Sonia (Katrina Kaif) and finds warmth and affection in an elderly lady (Kirron Kher).
The action sequences of the movie are excellent and in typical Akshay style and once again he has proved that he can excel in comedy too. The timing of his funny dialogs and actions in the movie is just fine. Akshay Kumar is really the king of situational comedy and witty dialogue delivery. And of course Om Puri has also delivered a stellar performance which seamlessly blends with that of Akshay Kumar’s.
Sonu Sood too done a good job and Neha Dhupia looks sizzling and it seems like that is all there is to her. Javed Jaffrey adds some more laughter to the movie. And of course Kiron Kher in the role of an elderly lady has done a wonderful job.
As a director Aneez Bazmee has extracted great performances by everybody. Singh is Kinng will go down as another successful comedy flick in his portfolio. Ben Nott and Sanjay Gupta’s cinematography is excellent. Lilting music in the movie became a hit much before the the film was released. Pritam has done a great job in delivering numbers like Bootni Ke, Jee Karda and Teri Ore and the title track ‘Singh is King’ is catchy too.
Taking a bird’s eye view of the movie, I would say this is a must watch for all the fans of Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif. Akshay Kumar is definitely getting better at comedy, I had watched his movie Heyy Babyy and it was a great entertainer. And with Singh is Kinng Akshay Kumar has successfully created a niche for himself in the genre of comedy film heroes too. And coupled with his penchant for delivering stunning action shots, Akshay Kumar is definitely set to go places.
On the downside the movie has a pretty lame climax, I wish the director had added a punch to make the climax memorable. And then once the intermission is over the movie becomes painfully slow and boring when compared to the first part. Either ways it is a movie worth watching.
This is the only movie that I have seen "First Day First Show" and that too in the US of A. Well, basically I got free tickets to watch this movie at Everest Movies on October 1, 2008. I had heard about Imran Khan, nephew of Amir Khan and his supposedly great looks, acting talent, et al... so I was pretty curious when I went in and sat down in the stadium-style seats at the Hollywood Theater in Irving.
Being a Hindi Movie I kinda expected the standard theme, five songs, 2-3 item numbers, probably a few fight sequences and some tearful emotional dramas and finally everything ending well. And Kidnap pretty much offers the same fare. But right in the beginning I would like to make few things very clear: Imran Khan has been over rated, his looks are average and acting so so. The story line of the movie is different but has not been handled well enough. Minisha Lamba just knows how to gyrate her hips with utmost vulgarity and display ample skin and flesh and that is where her talent ends. Sanjay Dutt is quite good but his age is catching up, he must look for some roles which suit his age from now on.
Well now let me talk about the story and screenplay of the movie. Sonia (Minisha Lamba) is the spoilt and stubborn daughter of Sanjay Dutt and ____ (again I don't know who the actress is). But the couple is divorced because Sanjay Dutt's wife doesn't like him taking her for granted. Sonia gets kidnapped by an unknown person who doesn't want money but her father. The kidnapper, Kabir (Imran Khan) doesn't say what he wants but says he has kidnapped Sonia for revenge.
An arrogant Sanjay Dutt engages private detective Irfan (played by some actor I don't remember his name) and there starts a cat and mouse game between the kidnapper and the father of the kidnapped. Finally after a series of different types of incidents the girl is finally set right and in the process Sanjay Dutt and his wife fall in love all over again and become united. As the story unfolds it is revealed that, several years earlier Kabir would have been falsely indicted in a kidnapping case by Sanjay Dutt and sent to jail. A physically scarred and traumatized Kabir comes out of jail thirsting for revenge. What is surprising is that while in jail Kabir becomes a computer, telecom and technology whiz.
Surprisingly throughout the movie when Sonia remains kidnapped, she has a fantastic set of revealing clothes. She never covers her chubby belly throughout the movie and I wonder if she was kidnapped with a full wardrobe, though there is no indication of that. Even in the clutches of her captor, Sonia remains fully made up, wearing nice clothes and no sign of trauma or stress on her face. Perhaps because she is with a hot hunk? or I don't know why?
And last but not the least the movie doesn't end with Kabir and Sonia falling in love with each other. They just go their ways, he becomes a software engineer and she just a partying socialite, spoilt daughter of rich parents.
The best part of the movie however is the chase sequence when Kabir gives a run to Sanjay Dutt through a semi-constructed high-rise. Both the action stars go into a several sequences of dangerous-looking stunts climbing up and down high rise building.
There are totally five songs, and three are item numbers for Sonia which serve only one purpose of showcasing her body in all kinds of sensuous (often vulgar) are completely unnecessary. The other two songs which star Sanjay Dutt are ok and fit into the story quite well.
Finally my verdict of the move is a 2 out of 5 and totally passable. Don't go unless you get free tickets... it is not worth your money.
I recently watched this Hindi Movie Sur - The melody of life starring singer Lucky Ali and other non-descript actors. The movie was supposed to be a romantic musical drama but failed miserably in the box office when it was released in 2002. I had liked one song in that movie when it was released and thought about watching it but never got down to going to the theatres for this flic. Now after wasting three hours in front of the idiot box watching this boring and quite stupid movie I am glad I didn't waste money and time to go to the theatres to watch this.
Anyway the movie features Lucky Ali as renowned singer Vikramaditya Singh (note the name - Vikramaditya - one of the most honorable Hindu kings in Indian history) who brings Tina Marie from Goa to nurture her talent and make her a great musician. In the school there is a student Aqib who is always ridiculing Tina's humble beginnings.
Over a period of time Vikramaditya trains Tina and ensures her trasnformation into a brilliant vocalist and talented music composer. But deep within Vikramaditya is jealous of her talent. Hence he starts snubbing her and insulting her at every opportunity and even steals one of her compositions and produces an audiotape which outsells his own previous ones.
The people who know the truth, Aqib and Tina are totally devastated by his actions. An angry Aqib quits the school and a devastated Tina returns home and decides to give up everything and become a nun. Meanwhile a guilt-ridden Vikramaditya hits bottle. His assistant Divya makes him realize his folly and he heads out in search of Tina with a vow of making her a star. He finds her in a convent and begs and pleads with her to sing with him again. Finally she relents and a few minutes before the program, Vikramaditya disappears, leaving the entire stage for Tina, who delivers an enthralling performance and wins everybody's hearts. Vikramaditya returns to his school humbled and continues teaching and mentoring young students. Tina goes on to become a great musical phenomenon.
Performances of all artists/ actors lack maturity and professionalism. Some of the songs are good, but apart from that the movie is completely passable.
Now if the movie is so bad why am I writing about it here. I was just wondering about the nomenclature of the artists in this movie.
Vikramaditya, the jealous, under-talented teacher who steals his students composition is named after one of the most honorable kings in India's history. Vikramaditya is known for the justice and fairness with which he ruled India.
Tina Marie, a Christian, is the highly-talented youngster who is mentored by the former. In reality it is the British (Christians) who stole everything from India.
Aqib, a muslim fights for justice and getting Tina her due. Quite surprising isn't it....
I wonder if the names were chosen purposefully or if it were just an accident? Only the director can answer this question...
Praiseworthy Effort!! One thing about Europeans and Euro-Americans (White people in the US) that continues to leave me awed is their ability to take up even the most trivial incident and tell a hugely successful story which will subtly enhance their image in front of the world. The Last Confederate is a movie which showcases the true story of American Civil War Hero Robert Adams is a similar effort.
The movie is set in a period just before the start of the American Civil War and narrates the story of the life of Robert Adams, during the civil war years. The story portrays the passion, courage and love of the protagonist for his land, people and way of life. Robert is a southern planter who enjoys the good life, served by slaves, meandering from one party to another, supervising agriculture, riding fine horses, etc. He wants to continue leading the same life like the greater part of the southern white population. He falls in love with beautiful Eveline, a teacher from the North (Pennsylvania) and wants to marry her.
But with the federal government abolishing slavery the southern states decide to secede which leads to the Civil War. Robert Adams passionate about his land, lifestyle and people decides to enter into the fray and is recruited as captain of the Confederate forces. During the course of the war he is captured and imprisoned, but manages to escape and reunite with his love for a brief period. He reenters the battles and fights till the end of the war and emerges as the only surviving confederate soldier (at least according to the movie), thanks to the pity of a Union soldier who just fires in the air and lets him go.
If one were to watch the movie without bothering about any historical knowledge/ perspective, then this is a brilliant story and one can't help but become a great admirer of Robert Adams. But I am a big time skeptic, so when I watch any movie I examine the story, narration and characters with an array of lenses. Ideologically speaking this movie is a sham, for one thing the makers of this movie are glorifying a man who fought for slavery. What can be a bigger insult to democracy and equality than this? Then what is great about Robert Adams? He fought for Confederates to protect his land, which his fore-fathers and millions of other white people illegally, inhumanly and unethically usurped from native American tribes. He fought to protect his family and to have the freedom to continue to lead the same way of life, which is commendable, if one looks it from his side.
Summing up, I would say this movie has a lot of lessons for Indians. Here is Julian Adams the great-grandson of Robert Adams who produced, wrote and starred in the film. Look at our country, the first film about Mahatma Gandhi was produced, directed and acted out by foreigners. Till date no descendant of Prithviraj Chauhan, Maharana Prathap, Chattrapathi Shivaji or any other Indian Hero has ever bothered to sponsor/ produce any movie to tell the true story of their ancestor. Robert Adams is no historical figure in the US, but now thanks to this movie, his place in the popular perception has been created.
Indian film directors make movies showcasing the glories of people who invaded and plundered our country, killed our people and attempted to destroy our culture, traditions and religion. The most glaring example of recent times would be Jodha-Akbar starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. I wonder if our people will ever become enough patriotic and aware of our country and strive to create an honorable place for its heroes in the popular perception. Yes some movies have been made such as few about Shaheed Bhagat Singh, but this is simply not enough.
I went to this movie expecting some grand action sequences as the posters and promotions promised. I was pretty certain that Ram Gopala Verma would have done a good job producing an action movie with new and debutant hero and heroine. But was I disappointed??? No I was thoroughly shocked... apalled... aghast... taken aback.... I don’t have the right words to express my disappointment.
The storyline of the movie is pretty much the same.. boy meets girl... falls in love.. enter the villain baying for the girl’s body and then the boy intervenes and beats him up. Then follows the villain ganging up his brood together and following the hero and heroine baying for the hero’s blood and the herione’s body. There is some good music and photography in these sections....
The most sickening part of the movie is perhaps the ugly, sometimes obscene, vulger and totally irrelevant skin show of the heroine. Perhaps that is what it takes for a debutant female artiste to make it big in Bollywood..... especially when working with RGV. We can recall... how Urmila exposed in Rangeela... and made it big soon after... but here the heroine came, exposed and went away to be forgotten forever...
The move is a good time pass for those who want to while away two and a half hours doing nothing... and it is good for couples who want to get cozy in the dark corners of a theatre as the halls will be hardly full.... To put the movie in one perspective it is good for those who like to watch raunchy item songs with the heroine shaking a leg and more and gyrating to some vague tune while the gals can enjoy a good show of James’ rippling muscles.
