Movie Review: Ombathane Dikku

It has been a long time since I watched a Kannada movie completely. Ombathane Dikku, a crime thriller starts off with Yogesh acting as Channa, a struggling to start a business in Bangalore while his parents and sister live in Shimoga. While going home for the weekend Channa bumps into Saroja Devi played by Ambuja and there is love at first sight. He goes home and proceeds to Saroja's home with a marriage proposal. When Saroja's father comes to know that Channa's father works for Varadappa a local sawmill owner and rowdy sheeter he rejects the alliance and disrespects the family. Channa gets enraged and slaps the former and tells Saroja that he likes her and is still willing to marry her.

The rest of the movie is focused on Channa's father going missing while on a mission for Varadappa and how Yogi's search for him across Bangalore. There are numerous comedy scenes interspersed which provide no relief to the otherwise fast-paced plot.

Unfortunately the ending is pathetic and makes the whole movie a waste of time to watch. 

Movie Review: Fist Fight

This movie depicts one of the greatest realities of today's America in a highly comical way. Written by Van Robichaux and directed by Richie Keen, Fist Fight (2017) is easily one of the most funny movies in recent times.  I had the opportunity to watch this movie when I got stuck in a long haul flight from California to Florida. Starring Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell and Christina Hendricks, this movie is a laughter riot all the way from the beginning to the end.


It is the last day of school and students are not in any mood to study, in fact they are all set and prepared to play pranks on the teachers. On the management side the school board is looking to fire a bunch of teachers in a cost cutting move. In this chaotic scenario, the English teacher Andy Campbell, married father of one and expecting another child soon, inadvertently causes the dismissal of another teacher Strickland. An enraged Strickland challenges Campbell for a fistfight after school in the parking lot.


The rest of the movie is all about Campbell's efforts to get out of the fight and also be there for his daughter during her talent show, and his wife when she gives birth to their second child. The movie is presented in a hilarious way which makes anyone laugh through the movie.


I would definitely recommend watching with family and having a great time at it.

Movie Review: The Man Who Knew Infinity

Image Source: Web

Based on the life story of ace mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan The Man Who Knew Infinity is a decently entertaining movie for audiences that like history, biographies, academics, mathematics, and Indians. I have always respected Indians who worked hard and gained notoriety despite being under the tyranny of the British rule. Ramanujan was one such individual who won over the British using his mathematical ability. Starting off with the portrayal of a young man working on math calculation using chalk on the floor of a temple the fast-paced film moves on to show his abject living conditions, and the desperation to find a job so he can support his family. But since he doesn't have a formal degree, landing a job proves difficult till he meets his boss how is equally interested in mathematics. Armed with a job Ramanujan rents a modest home and brings his wife and mother from the village to Chennai/ Madras.

As the story unfolds we see Ramanujan's boss insisting that he has to show his work to someone who can enable him to make a name and present his skills to the world. Ramanujan writes to Professor Hardy at Trinity College, Cambridge, England and lands a scholarship to go and publish papers on Mathematics. Of course being skeptical and condescending about brown skinned Indians, Hardy's colleagues try and place as many roadblocks in Ramanujan's progress as possible. Like most Indians he toils through these hardships and works diligently on his Mathematics theorems and emerges a winner ultimately. His life in England is not easy, for instance he is a pure vegetarian and there is nothing in the college mess that he can eat. Even potatoes are cooked in lard, so Ramanujan has to depend on self-cooking using the fireplace in his room as the stove. The freezing cold of England is not friendly to the Tamilian who is used to hot and humid weather back home. Being separated from family and wife is hard on the young Indian genius. Winning despite all odds seems to be the message one gets out of this story.

On the downside this movie seems like a half-hearted attempt to tell the life story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the ace Mathematician from Tamil Nadu, India who was able to overcome the racism and prejudice of the British. The number expert proved to the British rulers that Indians were indeed brilliant in science and were a force to reckon. I call this movie a half-hearted attempt because of several lapses in screenplay starting with the lead character, played by Dev Patel. Ramanujan is a South Indian and Patel looks nothing like a South Indian. The British-born son of Kenyan immigrants has very remote - if any - ties to India and none whatsoever to South Indian Tamil tradition, culture or heritage. Like all other Westerners he doesn't know how to pronounce his own name "Ramanujan", he constantly pronounces it like Westerners as "Ramanoojan". The next fallacy is the portrayal of him wearing slippers inside his living quarters, few Brahmins would do that in this day and age, let alone in 1913. His portrayal as a dirt poor Indian citizen wearing tattered rags looking for a job is interesting, but how can he afford leather sandals? His wife and mother sport gold jewelry and wear only silk sarees which even in those times were pretty pricey to come by. How can someone who wears tattered clothes afford to buy his wife silk sarees, if indeed he had an inheritance that enabled these luxuries, why couldn't he himself wear proper clothes?

The previous paragraph was to vent out my frustrations but now let me talk about the merits of the movie. It definitely presents Indians under British in a positive light and the statement of Ramanjuan about how his god and religion (Hinduism) gives him the inspiration, insight, and the ability to do almost inconceivable calculations in Mathematics is definitely a fantastic narrative.

Movie Review : A Walk in the Woods

Image Source: Wikipedia

The great outdoors have been my passion since childhood and hence when this movie was released I naturally wanted to see it. This movie is about two senior citizens (men) attempting to hike the 2,000 mile plus long Appalachian Trail. The story starts with famous travel writer Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) being interviewed on TV once again.

He comes home and is informed of a funeral of one of his peers. He is a successful published writer with a great wife Cathy (Emma Thompson) and grandchildren who have come of age. He feels this void in life... something like a senior life crises. It makes him decide to embark on a one-in-a-lifetime hiking trip across the Appalachian. He shares the idea with his wife and children and is met with shock and surprise. They all try to dissuade him but he is persistent. Bill asks his son to help him shop for gear and of course they go to America's best outdoor store REI, where he outfits himself for the hike. As he continues preparations his wife realizing the futility of her attempts to dissuade him agrees to let him go only if he is accompanied by someone. He asks every one of his friends and contacts, most of them tell him that he is crazy to even think about such an adventure. Either his friends are not healthy enough or willing to join him on his odyssey.

Unexpectedly Bill gets a call from a long-lost friend Katz (Nick Nolte) who wants to accompany him on the trail. Even though he has his reservations about going with Katz, Bill is forced to agree simply because nobody else has expressed interest in the journey. Katz on the other hand is going on this trip to escape prison, and experience another adventure before he dies. Unlike Bill, Katz does not have any savings, career, retirement or family. As they progress on their sojourn they discover more about each other and learn to accept their flaws and idiosyncrasies.

The rest of the movie showcases the spectacular natural beauty of the Appalachian Trail and demonstrates to the world that despite all the modern advancement and development, there are parts of America that still host pristine natural beauty. There are few places in this world that offer such natural beauty. This movie is definitely worth watching at least once and for the fans of the Appalachian Trail, Nick Nolte or Robert Redford, it may be worth watching several times.

Movie Review: The Martian

Image Courtesy: Dankslate

America and China dominate Mars Exploration and Colonization

There are three predominant messages the producers seem to disseminate to the movie watchers:
1. America has colonized Mars and the red planet is their territory now!
2. American astronauts are not only brilliant space engineers but also agriculture experts and can grow potatoes in Martian soil with human feces.
3. China has better space technology than NASA

The movie starts off with an American Mars mission collecting specimens on the red planet. A mega storm hits them and in the process of evacuation they leave one of the astronauts (played by Matt Damon) behind thinking he is dead. But of course American heroes are immortal and nothing can kill them, be it a storm in Mars or a breached suit in outer space!

The protagonist of the movie goes through a variety of emotions, despair, anger, pain, and finally arrives at a resolve to live. Conveniently the man left behind in Mars is a botanist, so he decides to grow his own food and converts the space station into a green house, uses his own feces as manure with Martian soil and voila has a crop of potatoes.

He persists in his efforts to get in touch with earth and finally NASA decides to launch a mission to rescue him. But it takes 4 years for anyone to reach Mars from earth and our man doesn't have enough supplies to last him those many days. Meanwhile NASA attempts a mission to restock him with food which of course fails and that is when Chinese step in. They offer to give America their technology which will speed up the rockets and enable them to rescue the hero.

The rest of the story is how it is accomplished and how Matt Damon finally arrives back to earth and continues teaching budding astronauts. It is a novel concept and a good movie, but I wouldn't watch it twice.

Movie Review: The Internship

Everything possible in this modern day era of glitz and glamour. With large corporations controlling pretty much everything it is not impossible to make people actually pay to watch a long winded advertisement. That is exactly what Google has achieved in this movie starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. This movie follows the familiar track of the duo in other movies. The glutton Vaughn and romantic Wilson both team up and conquer.

The movie starts off with the protagonists, two technology shy older watch salesmen losing their jobs because their employer decides to wrap up the business in face of increaseing digitilization. While Wilson goes to work for his brother-in-law selling mattresses, Vaughn gets the bright idea that they should try to break into the digital world by getting an internship in Google.

They land the internship with a narrow margin and move to Silicon Valley to start the internship. From here onwards the movie is nothing but a big advertisement about how awesome a workplace Google is, the facilities they provide, play rooms, free food, quiet areas, naptime, etc. etc.

A little bit of romance, frustration, and team work is thrown in to make the movie somewhat watchable. Bottomline is that Google suckered the audiences into parting with their hard earned money to watch an advertisement.

Movie Review: Dirty Teacher

Pic: The Eyes of Charles Christopher

This movie examines two themes that are so commonly discussed in the popular media: 1) Childhood psychological trauma and its effects on an individual and 2) Sexual relationships between students and teachers. Dirty Teacher directed by Doug Campbell features two young teenaged lovers Jamie and Danny who come from very different backgrounds. Jamie's father has lost his job after serving at an organization for 18 years and her mom is working two jobs to keep the family going. In the process they have had to dig into Jamie's college account which makes the teenager unhappy. On the other hand, Danny's parents are well off business owners who want their son to go to Stanford.

Enter Molly a new teacher at the school who takes a particular liking to Danny and starts seducing him. Danny falls for her charms and starts a clandestine affair much to the chagrin and disappointment of Jamie. Unknown to any of the students or staff of the high school, Molly has her own childhood trauma which has left deep scars on her. She was raised by a foster parent who perpetually made her feel worthless and miserable. Outwardly pleasant and considerate Molly has a tendency to inflict pain on her unsuspecting students. 

Molly begins to make life miserable for Jamie. After a few tearful confrontations Danny decides that he had had enough with the teacher and wants to break off. Of course Molly does not want to hear anything about it. Things go really wrong and Danny is killed in a hit and run accident. All the evidence points to Jamie as the perpetrator of the crime.

Is Jamie guilty? If not is she able to prove her innocence? Are the cops able to find the real murderer? For all these answers watch the movie. It is available free on Youtube.

Movie Review: The Waterboy

Cover of The Waterboy [Blu-ray]

Most of Adam Sandler movies I have watched have a different storyline and depict some excellent acting by the leading star. The movie is also centered around one or two characters. This is no exception. Sandler plays the role of a mama's boy, Bobby working as a waterboy for a college football team. He has a bad stammer and is constantly bullied and made fun of by everyone.
At age 31 he still lives with his mother, has never been to a restaurant or dated a girl. He has no interest in college or studying. Once during a practice one of the hunky players spits into the water which makes Sandler angry but he suppresses it. The coach sees this and tells him to stand up for himself. Sandler moves with such force that it surprises everyone on the field and makes the coach plead and beg him to play football.
Of course mama is not happy about Sandler going to college or playing football. Because deep within her mind she is afraid that he is going to abandon her like his father did years ago. She has a tight grip on him which is the reason for his suppression and lack of social skills.
Coach encourages Bobby to give up his role as waterboy and start playing without his mother's knowledge. Bobby concurs and starts playing which turns the fortunes of MudDogs and earns fame and notoriety to Bobby. Meanwhile Bobby runs into an old friend, the girl of his dreams, and takes her home, Mama doesn't like her.
How Bobby manages to obtain his mother's approval to study, play football and marry his romance interest comprises the rest of the movie replete with laughter, gags and fun. It is available on Youtbe free so go ahead and enjoy the movie.

Movie Review: Lincoln

English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The latest movie about Abe Lincoln, former president of United States credited to have abolished slavery and emancipated people of color. I just returned from watching this movie and I would sum up this movie as a flick of Intense dialogue, serious politics, and very little action.

Set in the backdrop of the American civil war the movie is all about how Abe Lincoln and his Republican party colleagues go about securing the necessary votes to pass the 13th amendment to the constitution which mandated emancipation of all slaves and granted them freedom.

I must say after watching this movie irrespective of the time, country or people involved; politics is dirty, corrupt, and manipulative. It is only for those who possess a high level of wicked intelligence and that is what perhaps makes politicians the most hated and envied folk in this world. Hated because of their manipulative behavior and envied because everyone can't be like them and these are the people who get to enjoy all the perks of absolute power.

Coming back to the movie. If you are an action movie fan, do yourself a favor "Avoid this movie!!!" else you will be bored and probably sleep right through. Highly recommended for political science students and those interested in politics.

Movie Review: Anger Management

Anger Management (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 This is supposed to be a funny movie, but I found it pretty sad for the main protagonist. The story is about a mild mannered guy who gets pushed around all his life. He has a great girlfriend who is frustrated with his reservations. He is angry at himself for this and doesn't know what to do. On a flight he gets into trouble with flight attendants and is arrested. The judge sentences him to anger management classes and then everything starts going out of control in his life.

The rest of the movie is about his therapy and coming out as an assertive individual and finally proposing to his girlfriend. If one were to watch this movie without identifying with the characters then it would be a great entertainer and downright funny. When I watch movies I make my decisions early on as to whose side I am and when my side gets beaten up I don't like it. I found this movie rather sadistic, there could have been definitely better ways to show the same incidents and story without actually hurting the dignity of the protagonist.

Bottomline this is available free to watch on Youtube and I watched it. I wouldn't pay to watch this movie. It is an ok way to pass time if you have nothing else to do.

Movie Review: Sky Fall

The latest Bond movie is an action film without the usual glitz, glamor, and gadgetry that is associated with this genre of movies. Sky fall is about an attack on the espionage headquarters of England. Sky Fall starts off with the British espionage agency's computer system getting hacked and a list of under cover agents who have infiltrated terrorist organizations is lost. Bond is in search of this list and the first part of the movie is perhaps the best. The chase involves a high speed automobile pursuit and then a motorcycle chase which ends on top of a train.

The chief of M6 gives an order to shoot to Bond's associate. Expectedly the shot hits Bond instead of the actual culprit. Bond goes underground in shock and is declared dead. Three months later the list is published on the internet and the terrorist organizations start killing the spies. Meanwhile there is an attack on the intelligence headquarters also.
Bond returns to London and reports to duty. His investigations take him to Shanghai and then to a private island where he discovers who the real culprit is. The rest of the movie is about how the culprit is subdued and eliminated.

Like I said earlier the best part of the movie is the chase sequence at the beginning. Surprisingly for a Bond movie there are very few titillating and sexually charged scenes in this movie. This James Bond actor is perhaps the least handsome of all. I wonder why British film industry couldn't find a better actor. Anyway this is what it will be for the next few years I guess.

Movie Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Cover of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

This is one of the most outlandish movies I have ever seen - seriously the story and screenplay is much much more far fetched and unrealistic than any Hindi or even Kannada movie I have seen. The story features the growth of Abraham Lincoln, former president of America credited with the emancipation of slaves.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter starts off with young Abe witnessing his mother being killed by a vampire. He is constantly afraid of the dark and wants vengeance. What he doesn't know that the individual who killed his mother is a vampire. Anyway fast forward into youth, Lincoln goes after the killer and gets hurt. In the process he meets with Henry who becomes his guide, mentor and trainer in vampire hunting.

The rest of the story progresses with Lincoln's moving to Illnois and starting career as a lawyer while killing vampires for a hobby during the nights.

I think this movie has been made/ funded by some southerner who wants to redeem the image of pre-civil war plantation owners as kind, compassionate people. They want the audience to believe that those who meted out atrocities against Black people and Native Americans were not European white immigrants but the vampires. A spirited fictional effort which I sure hope doesn't become history.

In terms of entertainment value I'd give it a three stars on a five star rating.

Movie Review: Think Like A Man

I heard great reviews about this movie on National Public Radio (NPR), so I decided to go watch it. The movie is just an average entertainer which pits women against men and supposedly teaches the former how to snag the latter and make them propose marriage. I was rather disappointed that NPR promoted this movie and it was definitely not upto the praise the radio program proffered on it.

Anyway the movie is about this bunch of African-American men who are dating or living in a steady relationship. Their girlfriends want to marry and settle down but the boys are not taking the initiative. Meanwhile Steve Harvey releases a book titled Think Like a Man, Act like a lady which becomes an instant hit among women. These women who read this book will start using the strategies to play men and make them their slaves (not literally... but figuratively). Just when they are succeeding the men get hold of the book and employ the same strategies against the women and guess what happens when they come face to face. Things go wrong and the women make a big issue about the fact that the men were playing dirty and leave. This leads the men to run behind the women, seek forgiveness and get married.

What an anti-men movie directed by a Man. In terms of entertainment I would give it a 3 star rating, acting 2.5 stars, direction maybe 2.5 and overall movie 2.75.

I would say definitely not worth paying $5.50 per pop to watch this movie.

English Movie Review: Death Warrant

I had watched the Hindi Remake of this movie starring Bollywood action hero Suniel Shetty - Vinashak (1998), but at that time I didn't know this little detail. Anyway Death Warrant starring Jean Calude Van Damme is one heck of an action-crime movie set totally in the prison of Canada. Detective Louis Burke is a very successful undercover cop who solves all the cases he is assigned to. He is now requested by the chief of police and the judge to investigate the deaths of several inmates and guards in a prison in a different part of Canada. The modus operandi would be to get arrested as a common armed robber and infiltrate the prison gangs and find out exactly what is going on. Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb) is the liaison between him and the justice department.

Things take an ugly turn once inside the prison, Burke is targeted by the gangsters for death. He discovers some ugly truths in the prison system. A human organ smuggling gang is operating inside the prison, the doctor, warden and several of the guards are involved. The boss of the whole operation is someone else in civil life and is discovered at the end.

The Hindi movie Vinashak is pretty much a frame-by-frame remake of this movie except for the fact that there is a liberal dose of drama thrown in. Few songs featuring the otherwise role-less female co-star in skimpy clothes, gyrating to the tunes, then a rape scene where the hero's sister gets killed and so on.

In my opinion each of the movie was appropriately made for the respective audiences. I can't say one is better than the other because the specific action sequences in both movies have been well executed. As far as a straight forward plot with fast moving storyline is concerned the English movie is the winner. As far as real entertainment, drama, music and a decent pace of the movie are concerned the Hindi movie scores.

Movie Review: 21 Jump Street

One thing about Americans, they have the capability of selling anything to anyone. Just like few Bollywood film makers take bits and pieces of several English movies and make one Hindi film, Sony pictures has made a full length feature film out of a TV series. I must say they have been quite successful at that and I am pretty sure this movie will be followed up by a series of others.

I wouldn't have even heard of the movie if not for a website http://www.gofobo.com which sent me two free passes to pre-release screening of the movie. Of course every movie buff in DFW seemed to be in the line to watch the free movie but we did manage to get in and grab a decent seat.

The movie deals with the highly over rated and mythical "High School Experience" in America. An age when kids are learning to be independent, party, try out recreational drugs, learn smoking and drinking habits, and mature into presumably "responsible adults". Jona Hill is Schmidt a nerdy high school kid who is dreaming about going to the prom with the hottest chick in school. Of course the girl rejects him. On the other hand is Channing Tatum playing Jenko, an academically dumb but sporty and cool kid in the school. He barely makes a grade and results in getting barred from attending the prom.

Fast forward seven years, the duo land up in the same class of the Police Academy and graduate to become bicycle cops. They are looking to arrest someone and make a name but only end up making fools of themselves. The chief fed up with their antics transfers them to a undercover unit known as 21 Jump Street. The head of the unit is trying to recruit young underachieving officers who look like high school kids to infiltrate high school and bust a crime ring that is selling a lethal drug to teenagers.

The rest of the story is how the duo fit into the high school life and how roles get reversed. Schmidt becomes the cool guy in sports, and drama, while Jenko becomes a nerd who hacks into the school's drug dealers phone. The movie is a laughter riot, it is definitely worth watching.

21 Jump Street is releasing in theaters on March 16, 2012, try to catch it first day first show.

Movie Review: Hero Wanted

What happens when a trash truck driver falls madly in love with a beautiful bank teller? Is able to muster up the courage to go and talk to her? Or will he pull some stupid stunt and cause a whole bunch of trouble?

That is the story of this movie I watched on Youtube. Cuba Gooding plays the role of Liam Case a trash truck driver who has recently lost his pregnant wife in an accident. One day Case is on his lunch break mulling over wife's memory he witnesses an accident in which a little girl is trapped inside a burning car. He jumps in and rescues the girl and becomes an instant Hero.

Case is madly infatuated with a bank teller and he devises a complicated plan to win her affection. He requests his friend to cause some trouble in the bank and he would scare him away and become a hero in front of her. This would help him win her affection and thus get his stable life back. Things go wrong, Case is double crossed and in the scuffle few people get hurt including the love of his life. An enraged Case starts taking revenge by eliminating the four people who were involved in the robbery.

What happens is the rest of the story. Is Case successful in getting his revenge? Will he win the love of his life? Will he get his life back in control? Watch the movie to know more. It is available free on Youtube.

Hindi Movie Review: Karma

This movie starring Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah was released in 1986 and was a moderate hit at that time. The movie follows the theme of the legendary movie Sholay. Dilip Kumar plays the role of a compassionate jailer, Anupam Kher plays notorious terrorist commander Dr. Deng who gets arrested and placed the former's jail. In one of the interactions Dilip Kumar slaps Dr. Deng and earns his enemity. An angry Dr. Deng organizes his terrorist group and massacres the entire jail residents and Dilip Kumar's family.

In response Dilip Kumar decides to take revenge and he picks up three convicts in jail and trains them into fighting machines. Together they destroy Dr. Deng's empire and camps and eliminate him. Thus eliminating all the threats to India. This is one of the formula movies of Bollywood. Three heroes, two heroines, a villain and supporting actor. Five songs, couple of attempted rape scenes, etc. It is worth watching once and does definitely inflame passions for the country.

Kannada Movie Review: Mylari

Complete family entertainer from Shivanna!

I have said in this blog and elsewhere time and again that since the early 2000s the quality of Sandalwood movies has significantly improved. There is some real meat in the story, there are great and truly hummable songs without any double meaning. Then of course the acting and direction seems to have matured. Then of course there are a brood of imported heroines from other states who are vying for top spot in Sandalwood. All this means good entertainment for the average cine-goer in Karnataka. Hopefully now Kannadigas will start watching Kannada movies instead of patronizing other language movies.

Anyway coming to this movie, the central character Mylari (Shivrajkumar) is the older son of a rural farmer. He is not interested in studies and his father has to continuously coax, threaten, beat, plead with him to go to school. On the contrary his younger brother is a brilliant student who is doing great in school. This of course leads to discrimination from father and illtreatment of the older son. Then there is Anitha the heroine who is the village headman's daughter. She goes to the same school as Mylari and both of them are in love from childhood but neither has the courage to express it. So Mylari does the best he can, he writes his feelings in the form of poetry, and prose literature and becomes a great poet. His father of course doesn't appreciate it.

Finally one day Mylari comes to know that Anitha is getting engaged to someone else and takes the step to express his love. This leads to lot of complications and results in getting him thrown out of the house. He ends up in Bangalore and there starts the real saga. He hooks up with his old friend who has become a famous journalist in Bangalore. The latter gets him a job as a journalist/ writer and then the trouble starts. As a press reporter Mylari breaks some important stories against prominent political figures. The political leader threatens Mylari's friend and since nothing comes out of it he eliminates the entire family.

An enraged Mylari goes on a killing spree and eliminates the politician and his henchmen. Then he is arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. The entire story is said as a flash back. It is definitely worth watching and can be watched with the whole family. There are some real touching scenes in the movies, that have been excellently executed by the main actors.

Kannada Movie Review: Buddhivanta

Laughter Riot
 
Upendra starrer Buddhivanta (2008) is a movie in which Upendra has lucidly executed his role. The movie starts off with several people coming to lodge complaints with the police against one individual who has cheated their sisters off the money by entering into a fake marriage with them. When they compare the pictures of the complainant all of them have the same picture. The police are convinced that they are dealing with the same person who is masquareding as different individuals and taking the people for a ride. They are hot on pursuit for this individual. There is a bus accident and all the passengers are admitted into the hospital, when police come to investigate they find the culprit among the injured. The police arrest the accused and present him to court.
 
The rest of the movie is a courtroom drama with Upendra the hero effectively arguing his case against all the women. The judge played by Lakshmi has pretty much no role except to sit there and watch. The heroine Pooja Gandhi also doesn't have much role except for running behind Upendra like a mad woman. Towards the end of the movie it is revealed who Upendra really is and why he went into disguise and what he hoped to achieve by doing what he did.
 
I would say this is a complete family entertainer with a generous dose of comedy included. It is totally watchable once.

One month into the New Year

It has been one month since the 2012 started and I have not been able to start reading any new book. The only books I have been looking at are the voluminous college textbooks. The books while full of knowledge are tailored to specific groups of people hoping to or pursuing a career in those fields. When I look at the academic rigor of this semester I don't think I will be able to read any book outside the curriculum of my school. I hope I will be able to catch a movie or two occasionally and post a review soon. Movies don't take that much involvement and it is over in a short period of time, usually less than 2 hrs. Even when I watch bollywood movies I shorten by fast forwarding the song n dance sequences and unnecessary fight scenes. This way I can cut short a 3 hr movie to less than 2 hrs. It is kind of time when I have to work long and hard and play short and hard. Look out for more movie reviews during the first quarter of this year.