The Casting Ouch

this time, involving Khosla ka Ghosla and Love, Sex or Dhokha director and adman Dibakar Bannerjee.

My Review - Tanu Weds Manu

I don't like Kangana Ranaut. I don't think she has a great dressing sense. And I totally hate that voice. Then the question is why? 

Well the trailer was promising. 

Okay the trailer seemed rocking. 

And I got swayed by 'Sanskar saare U.P waale hain hamari gudiya main' and Kanpur and Lucknow and so on.

TWM starts on a promising note. Dr Manu(Madhavan) arrives from London to India and is whisked away by his family and Pappi(Deepak Dobriyal of Omkaara, Gulaal and Dilli 6 fame)to meet a prospective bride aka Tanu(Kangana). Our innocent Dr Saab falls in love with this girl who rejects him in her own words and says - Abe kitni aag hai. Soyi hui ladki ko pasand kar liya. Tumse milne ke liye maine char neend ki goliyan or teen quarter vodka lagaye they. Fate, in this case the script, makes them meet again at a common friend's marriage.

Clearly suffering from a severe Jab We Met hangover, TWM has an engaging and interesting first half with the highlight being the chemistry between Manu and Pappi and the dialogues. The film looses steam in the second half with the script heading nowhere and in the words of Rajeev Masand, the lead characters turning into caricatures. A special mention for Eijaz Khan, who plays Manu's friend Jassi and new comer Swara Bhaskar, who plays Jassi's wife Payal. Both of them do their bits perfectly and are among the better things in this film along with Deepak Dobriyal. Madhavan carries one expression throughout and Kangana's character Tanu comes off as selfish and cunning instead of looking gullible and naive. 

Dissappointing! Catch it on DVD!

My Review - The Kids are All Right

The Kids Are All Right is essentially a story of a family involving a lesbian couple, Nic(Annette Bening) and Jules(Julianne Moore) and their children - 16 year-old son Laser and 18 year-old daughter Joni. Nic is the stricter of the two and the 'father' of the family in a way while Jules is more open, the 'mother' who stays at home and owns a landscape design(read gardening) business. Both Nic and Jules are called Mom by their children (:-P) and have become mothers using the same sperm donor, Paul(Mark Ruffalo). 

It so happens that Laser wants to meet his biological Dad so he takes the help of his sister as he is a minor. This gives Mark an opportunity to meet both his children and 'enter' the family as such. The story takes a twist when Mark and Jules start having a secret affair. Also, as the kids start start spending more time with Mark, Nic becomes increasingly insecure of Mark being a control freak that she is. What happens next forms the crux of the story. 

Annette Bening is brilliant as the insecure and cynical Nic and Ruffalo is fantastic as the laid back and unassuming Mark. Julianne Moore does a great job as Jules swinging between her frustration in her 'marriage' with Nic and her fling with Mark. The kids are cute and they play their roles well. One of the best scenes of the film are when Mark comes to their home for the first time for lunch and when Jules addresses the family admitting her mistake.

A very 'real' film with real characters committing real mistakes. Don't miss it!

P.S. - At the end, I was left wondering when will Annette Bening win an Oscar. This was her fourth nomination. Sigh :-(

P.S. - The tagline for this film is absolutely SPOT ON!!! 

My Review - The King's Speech

A film that has to be seen from start to finish in one go. An underdog story in a way. Yeah, I know. Hollywood obsession!!! But the underdog here is a King, George VI, played brilliantly by Colin Firth, with all the right qualities except that he stammers and a King can't do that. Not certainly in an age where 'Kings have to invade the homes of their countrymen' via the radio and 'not just look respectable in a uniform and not fall of a horse'. And this is just the early 1900s, mind you :-P. 

Enter Lionel Logue(Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist, with methods that are unorthodox and controversial. There are twists and turns subsequently and a final speech which King George VI has to deliver to the nation, needless to say, with Lionel's help.

Your heart goes out to the King as he stumbles, stutters and stammers throughout the film, feeling helpless and humiliated, to his wife who patiently supports him come what may and to his countrymen who are looking for hope and direction. Our very own Bhansali could take some pointers as to how to portray suffering in a dignified manner.

You can see why The King's Speech swept the Oscars. What worked for me was a great cast, fine performances, great setting, some brilliant camerawork and finally the uber snobbish British Accent. Colin Firth is brilliant(Did I say that already?) and Geoffrey Rush is a revelation as the speech therapist. I don't recall having seen any of his films(not a fan of the Pirates Series) but he is simply wonderful in this film as Lionel Logue. I thought he was better than Firth. The conversations between George II and Lionel are the highlight of the film. Helena Bonham Carter also chips in with a fine performance.

Highly recommended! 

Bollywood needs mega blockbusters

to go global. An excellent article in last Saturday's Economic times. Among other things, it also tells me that Dev D made 25 crores on a budget of 5.5 crores. Suppa!!!

My Review - Yeh Saali Zindagi

This is going to be short and simple. 

Went to see as it was highly recommended by a friend. Plus wifey has a thing for Chitrangda. Too many subplots, too many characters(half of which get killed off), uneven screenplay, improper dubbing(Yeah!) and amateur acting too(at least by Arunoday Singh). A lot is there to put you off.

What works here however is the story which is gripping in parts and makes you wonder what the f#$@ will happen eventually, earthy dialogues(some of them are real gems) and fiiinally Irfan Khan, Irfan Khan and Irfan Khan. Some of his lines are the real high points of the film wich could easily have been edited by 15-20 minutes to make for a thrilling ride. Sushant Singh is perfect as the corrupt inspector and some of the supporting cast is also near perfect. Chitrangda is all dusky and sexy but has a problem emoting in hindi. She would do great in Hinglish films I guess while Aditi Rao hasn't much to do than other than kiss Arunoday Singh. No. There are no 22 kisses. Arunoday Singh is passe while Saurabh Shukla is awesome as the haryanvi real estate guy.

I am giving it a little more than 3 stars. Don't expect much and you will have fun for sure.

Dell Adamo

Rest in peace!

'The' Indian equivalent of the Oscars

So what was new at the Indian equivalent of the Oscars? Ranbir and Imran are better hosts, Rekha(Jee) has a great voice and Gulzar Saab has the ability to keep things simple. Apart from this, everything was pretty much the same. How? You might ask.....here's how!

SRK looked stressed out. Dietary restrictions for Ra.One are taking a toll. Plus a realization that he is widely disliked in Kolkata and might not be number one ever again.

Aishwarya looked plastic, spoke in English(surprise surprise) and turned even more plasticky while presenting an award to Madhuri.

Yash Chopra said something which no one understood.

Priyanka Chopra did a Madhuri medley and spoke without an accent.

Madhuri spoke with an accent. Which surprisingly, is nowhere in sight when she appears on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa.

Arbaaz was found sitting with a smile throughout the show wondering - What the hell did I do right that Dabangg became such a blockbuster? I will tell you Arbaaz. The one thing you did right in life is dating Malaika. Hold on to her!

Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha were sitting in the front row trying hard to hide their Oh-I-am-so-proud-of-my-daughter-bit. It's become kind of a ritual. Every year some filmy family, some new debut and some tears for their child's 'hard work'.

A jury consisting of eminent people from the industry could not decide which one is better? Munni or Sheila. So they gave it to both. In order to please both Farah and Salman!

Best Actor Critics award went to no one from Peepli or Udaan but Rishi Kapoor for Do Dooni Chaar. It's just a coincidence that his son was hosting the awards. I have not seen Do Dooni Chaar; I am sure it's a nice, cute film but I don't think they match up to Peepli, Udaan or LSD(Love, Sex or Dhokha).

Best debutant director went to neither Udaan or Peepli but to Band Baaja Baarat. A 30% discount to Filmfare for hosting the awards in Yash Raj's studio is in the offing.

There were no Indians in the Best Playback Singer category - 3 nominations for Rahat Fateh and 2 for Shafqat Amanat nominations. I don't blame them. The kind of things Sonu Nigam is doing to his hair, they might just invent a Most West Indian style singer award soon.

Best Supporting Actor went to Ronit Roy for Udaan who went crazy for 20 seconds when his name was announced. You almost thought Shilpa Shetty had bought him for Rajastan Royals. Udaan is a brilliant film no doubt. But in no way was Ronit Roy better than Manoj Bajpai in Rajneeti. 

Udaan won a lot of awards in spite of being an independent film(and a great film, I may add) and a commercial failure. Desi award functions are generally not kind to small films and here is why I think Udaan made it. Salman Khan ->; Dabangg -> Abhinav Kashyap -> Anurag Kashyap -> Udaan. Geddit???!!!

The 'Popular award for Best Director' went to Karan Johar for My Name is Khan. Read 'Most Popular film in Germany/Pakistan'. See once Yash Raj, Salman, Farah et all are satisfied, you just have to satisfy Karan Johar. KJo was himself surprised on getting this one. Proof? He just said two lines in his acceptance speech and left!!! :-)

Amongst all this drama, one individual rose above all. He came in a crumpled kurta-pajama, accepted his award for Best Lyricist for Ishqiya and said, in chaste urdu - ek shaqs ka shukriya ada karna chahunga - Vishal. Unki wajah se mere gaane jawaan rehte hain. 

Thank you Gulzar saab for saving the day!

Inception - My thoughts

My friends and few readers of this blog would note I had refused to see Inception at the time of its release. There was too much Inception baazi going on everywhere and I was sick of it. I did manage catch Inception some days back. And that too on a uncensored, uncut, extended Blu Ray version. And here are my thoughts. 

Inception IS a brilliant film. The dream within a dream within a dream concept! How do these Hollywood guys think of stuff like this? 

Chris Nolan has scored back to back centuries in the form of Dark Knight and Inception. Leonardo Di Caprio was in fine form as well. One could see the pain of loosing a loved one right from the start. Come to think of it, Caprio has had a dream run too. Aviator, Blood Diamond, Departed, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, and now Inception. I don't think any other actor has shown such consistency of scripts and growth as an actor. By the end of it, I was too drained(mentally) to think whether the last scene was a dream or a reality.

Having said all that in praise of Inception, I have to say that the film does not have any repeat value. It has if you are a Fight Club fan(pun intended) and you wish to absolutely find out whether it was a dream or a reality at the end, you would watch reruns of the movie or like a friend told me(I have seen it 10 times, at the time of release!). But for lesser mortals like us, with limited time and intelligence, one watch is all it takes. In no ways is it a Little Miss Sunshine or a Sideways. Or even a Cinderella Man. 

But one thing I just don't understand is why(TF) was Nolan not nominated for Best Director in the Oscars???!!!! 

My Review - Sideways

Wonderful, a Hollywood comedy not set in New York. I finally managed to catch this 2004 comedy-drama a couple of days back. It's been there on my to-do list for a long long time.

So here it goes. Miles, played by Paul Giamati(Russell's Crowe's manager in Cinderella Man), and Jack(Thomas Haden Church, the guy who played the baddie in Spiderman 3) decide to spend a week in wine country before Jack's impending marriage. Miles, an English teacher, is an extremely frustrated middle-aged man, unable to come to terms with his unsuccessful marriage and career. He hopes to spend the one week tasting wines, playing golf and enjoying the countryside. Jack, on the other hand, is an actor and voiceover artist who wants to spend the week having a 'nice time'. For the last time! Once they arrive at the countryside, they happen to meet these women, Maya and Stephanie, to whom both of them take a liking to.

Based on a book, Sideways is lazy yet funny, untouched yet intelligent screenplay of a fun trip with its own twists and turns of emotions and what not. Although one is not desperately waiting for the next twist, you get attached to both the characters who are lovable losers in their own sort of a unique way. While watching this, I could get the Rainman/My Cousin Vinny feel. A perfect film for a lazy Saturday or Sunday.

Highly recommended with four stars!

Trailer - Sideways
Rotten Tomatoes - 97%
Roger Ebert's Review

P.S. - This $16 million film made $110 million at the BO. And Giamati was not nominated for an Oscar.

It's been a long time

It has been, indeed!!! Almost nine months. A lot has happened. So much that I can't even recall. A new year has begun. And there are new resolutions. Like every year. Will try to keep up with my thoughts as fast as they come. And as fast as they go! :-P. Below are some of them...

• Will complete my second play by the end of the year,
• Will write at least six posts/reviews every month,
  
• Will read more books(have already started reading The Ascent of Money BTW),
  
• Will (try to) control my temper,
• Will travel to either of Ladakh, Goa or Kerela this year,
  
• and lastly, will open a PPF account(it's been six years....WTF!)

4 reasons why Love, Sex or Dhokha is a cult film!

It is. A cult film. In case you have not seen it yet. Go check it out. Now to the hows and the whys.

Reason number 1 – The “characterless” Characters

Remember the last time you saw a Bollywood film, and you said – Arre yaar, aisa kahan hota hai? Or Shit yaar, Aise thodi hota hai!!! Whatever happens in LSD, actually aisa hi hota hai. Right from Shruti’s father(hypocrite and horny), to the girls in the dept store(one the silent types and the other the loudspeaker), from the item girl(willing to be exploited) to the pop star Lukki Local(waiting to exploit), from the TV producer(will do anything for TRPs) to the journalist(trying hard not to compromise on his ethics).

Reason number 2 – The Analogies

If you did not get the analogies here they are in the following order

‘Love ‘ Story – Nitish Katara Case
‘Sex’ Story – N number of MMS videos on youtube.
‘Dhokha’ Story – Replace Lukki Local with our very own Mika and the item girl with Rakhi Sawant. Put in a 24 hour Hindi news Channel and the picture completes.

Reason number 3 – The Acting

Need less to say, the nameless actors play their parts with great conviction and earthiness, right from Meter Down(guard), the actress’ father, both the girls in the dept store, the journalist, his boss, the item girl and the king of Pop – Lukki Local. Lukki Local takes the cake with his Punjabi accented English and his mannerisms. An actor to watch out for!

Reason number 4 – The Connection(s)

Dibakar Bannerjee does treat his audience with respect. All three stories are connected and only when the end credits roll the viewer realizes what happened when and where. In a space of 90 minutes, Dibakar Bannerjee weaves a tale of Love, Hypocrisy, Greed, Voyeurism, Jealousy and exploitation, all as seen through the invention we know as the camera.

A smashing film that gets the DESIBLAB 5 stars.

P.S. - I have not mentioned the sex scene coz it's not a sex scene. just like any MMS, it's shot as a private moment between two people.

My Review - Ishqiya

Finally I saw Ishqiya. And I liked it. And I swear I won't listen to other people's reviews and NOT watch a movie. Simplistic, crude, earthy and very very enjoyable, Ishqiya talks of Gorakhpur and Faizabad, locations which the Johars, Chopras and even RGVs can neither reach nor understand. All three main actors give top notch performances with Naseer taking the cake. His expressions in the song "Dil to baccha hai jee" are alone enough for an award.

I give it somewhere between three and four stars.

Of US and Controls

Sometimes I wonder if the US sub-prime mortgage industry was the only part of America's economy that was unregulated. I was talking to a friend today and suddenly it struck me that the US is ruled by cartels. Look at telecom - AT & T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile...you are stuck with either one of these. Locked phones, bound contracts, shoddy customer service(some of which is maybe outsourced to our country) etc etc.

Now look at Hollywood. Who rules? Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony, Universal, Paramount, Disney, DreamWorks(Maybe). The big six or seven. They are supreme. So much so that someone like Woody Allen,who now makes his movies only for European audiences, said - "In the United States things have changed a lot, and it's hard to make good small films now. They only want these $100 million pictures that make $500 million."

Some people would say the same about American automakers. They(Ford, GM, Chrysler) created and stopped innovating. And then the Japanese swooped in with their Toyota Production Systems and Kaizens and what not. But that is a story for another day!

Cricket in the USA

Yay! The IPL gets a mention in the New York Times.

While we are still on the NYT, this bit about the big four competing and overlapping markets is interesting.

Iron Man 2 - Yoohoooooooooooo!

Stylish. Very very stylish.

Life is not a movie

...But its close to a movie.

Similar situations, no background score.

Fights, no dhishum dhishum.

Characterless people, no characters.

Me : A sucker for taglines!

I am a sucker for taglines. Taglines. One liners. Punch lines. Whatever you might want to call them. And I have always been. Since I was a teen (I am a senior citizen now, IMHO) I was amazed by one liners and their inherent awesomeness. My first tryst with the greatest one liner was an ad for Bajaj Eliminator. It went like this.

A page on the right hand side of India Today magazine displayed a diamond and said

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

Turn over the page and you would see the following specs listed under each other

150 CC
12 Bhp
0 – 60 kmph in 5 secs

Turn over another page again and it said

The new Bajaj Eliminator. WHY WOULD A MAN NEED JEWELERY?

I was never into bikes then but at that moment, I thought there was nothing better on this planet that could be said more stylishly. I came across more and more. There was an IBM Thinkpad one which went like this

For those who have arrived, but still like to travel. Awesome, Isn’t it?

Then 2 things happened which deeply affected my association with taglines. I started following Hollywood closely and I got introduced to Chandler Bing. Yes Chandler Bing of Friends fame. The relationship-phobic sarcastic guy who hates his job and in his own words ‘uses humour as a defence mechanism’. Chandler was brilliant with his one liners, a fact that made the character most popular after Joey and Rachel. He was sarcastic, witty and funny at the same(kinda like me). Sample some

1. (When Rachel asks him for advice)I'm not really good at giving advices. Do you want a sarcastic comment?
2. All right, look if you absolutely have to tell her the truth, at least wait until the timing's right. And that's what deathbeds are for.
3. (On being asked if Joey looks nineteen)Yes, on a scale from one to ten, ten being the dumbest a person can look, you are definitely nineteen.
4. Someone to Chandler: Wow, you have really gorgeous hair.
Chandler: Thanks, I grow it myself.

Some of them are pretty normal but it’s the way Chandler says it makes them better than they are.

Hollywood is more about style AND content and sometimes more style and less content. More often than not, every Hollywood film comes with a tagline. One of the initial ones I stumbled upon was for Money Train

Get on or get out of the way!

But some of the most favorite ones have been

• Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.(Shawshank Redemption) What a line!
• Leave no man behind.(This one is all about teamwork from Black hawk down – very powerful, hits you once you watch this one)
• When the country was on its feet, he brought America to its feet(Individual glory - Cinderella Man)
• A hero will be revealed. (What if you have to choose between love and duty - Spiderman 2 – Only if you are a spidey fan)
• It ain’t over till it’s over (Rocky Balboa)

And finally to some of my own

• One day my dad remarked while having lunch – Aaj sabjee main lehsun zyada ho gaya. My mom said yes I will let the cook know. To which I remarked – Hope she learns the lehson(lesson).
• A friend of mine said – Man you are a racist. I replied – No I am not a racist. I don’t discriminate. I hate everybody equally.
• This one too went to my facebook status - I will smoke, I might drink, I will do drugs, I will rape, I will molest, I will throw wrappers on the streets, I will abuse, I will overtake from the left...but I won’t have non-veg cause Navratra chal rahe hain....!
• It seems the IPL is fixed. KKR is doing well.
• One line Michael Jackson would have trouble saying - I am not kidding!!!

Smooth talker, ain't he?

He might be corrupt, we don't know yet. But what we do know that our Minister of State of External Affairs is a smooth smooth smooooth talker. Sample this

My Review - Up in the Air

After a long time, comes a comedy which is as serious as it is funny; as painful as it is insightful. It has some of the best one liners, some wittiest on screen conversations and some of the smartest women characters you wud have seen on screen in a long time.

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a high flying executive whose job is to travel all over the US to fire people. For Ryan, firing is not about company policy or financial restructuring. Its an art. And art he turns it into, advising 50 yr olds on how to restart their careers all over again and how to do something they really really wanted to do(a Hollywood obsession). He does all this while pursuing his ultimate goal - frequent flyer miles. In between all of this, he gets into a casual relationship with Alex(played by the very sexy Vera Farmiga) and has to coach Natalie(Anna Kendrick). The movie mainly is about how these two relationships affect his attitude and thinking.

George Clooney fits the role to a T and does a remarkable job while charming you with his usual 'sexiest man alive' smile. Kendrick is lovable as the confused Natalie and Vera Farmiga is perfecto as the sexy Alex. The writing and dialogues are absolutely mindblowing. Sample this

" I am not racist. I just stereotype."

"There has never been a worse time for America. This is our moment."

"I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You're a break from our normal lives. You're a parenthesis. "

I loved the ending where some laid off employees remark to the camera that if you have your family with you, you can battle almost everything and anything!

An intelligent and emotionally stimulating film. Must watch for our recessionary times! Highly recommended!