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Part 3:

# Saw these movies: Great Escape, Where Eagles Dare, Green Mile, No man’s land, Saving Private Ryan, Silence of the Lambs.

Silence of Lambs was very gripping and good story telling. Though I did not clearly understand the climax - was the person she searching happened to be main criminal - was it a just co-incidence ?

What an acting. Just less than 15 minutes of acting got Anthony Hopkins an Oscar.

# Went to Ooty, Coonor. Travelled in the Chayya Chayya train. Had great fun. Clicked lot of pics.

# Had been to Wide Angle Photography exhibition.

# Sholay details on flixter was mixed up and screwed up. I mailed and they corrected

# Enjoying facebook. Nice to see orkut changes too, but trying not to use orkut. FB is like all you want to know about me - twitter is there, flixter is there, songs i like is there, goodreads is linked there, pics uploaded would be notified there plus for playing games.

# It took few seconds before I realized it was DURGAMBA which I read as DURGA MBA !

# too many spam is coming into inbox these days in gmail contrary to good old days of gmail which combated spam well..what changed ?!

# Migrated my pics to flickr from yahoo photos. Flickr looks so vast..took time to learn the terminologies. They are offering 3 months pro - unlimited upload..thought of taking backup of all my pics. They said only 3 albums will be visible if I dont upgrade. But they also said my photos submitted to group pool will remain - I created pools, will submit photos to that and they will be seen after not upgrading ! Rangoli kelage nusulodu antaralla…

# Enjoyed the trashing reviews of Aag

# What I want: “Note this” in Google reader.Other way round-sharing the notebook items in reader has 1 drawback-doesn’t readily show source.

# Attended a very interesting and thought provoking talk by Prof Sadagopan who had come to our office. He mixed humour, real life examples, facts, knowledge and it was a refreshing experience. I still remember some of his points in good detail, feel bad that I didn’t put down most of the talk on the same day.

# Wrote lot of private post-like mails. ( But feel bad for not managing to write about Coonor trip & team outing in detail )

# No more long posts. Might even convert my twitter updates into posts.

# Watched “Heyy Babyy”. What a waste of money - Rex has increased its price overnight. I noted that the comedy scenes were all shown in the promotional videos. Rest is all emotional crap. This is the first movie where I feel, trailer is the only best part in the entire movie. What a cheating. Grrrr….

There is one totally entertaining scene in which I almost died laughing - the scene of slow-driving the car.

Also observed those who apparently hadn’t watched trailers were enjoying movie to the core. Especially two girls in front of us. Even in the scenes I barely managed to smile, they rolled on the floor (laughing). Only reason to forgive someone who actually believed he could extend the toilet jokes that he cracks on a TV hosted show to a movie and can call that movie a comedy, Sajid Khan, but you are forgiven - you managed to make some people laugh.

I so wished SRK married Balan. They should give choices of which climax I would want to see and I should be able to select them.

To console myself, I say that there was one single compensation for going to theater - 2 scenes of Vidya Balan. One throwing flowers in the introductory song sequence and entire song sequence is watchable just because of her (or that I did not see anything else). And another in red saree, I for a second felt I was seeing Kajol. Go Balan go, just for this one reason, I am ready to forgive small things about you which I don’t enjoy - oversmiling for one.

Given the box office earnings for this movie, we are in for films like this in the future.

What an experience it was to watch “Chak De”. I have always loved a sports theme based movie - Iqbal, Lagaan, Million Dollar Baby, so it was almost a given that I would like this movie and add to that there were positive reviews. However the experience was something even better - the crowd, the shouts, the whistles. When I had been to watch Rajini I could not get so involved and wondered what was it. Or rather when was the last time for me - involvment and celebration together ? Was it Lagaan ? Was it a laugh riot like Hungama ? Was it Swades ? When was the last time ?

Now I can say, Chak De. I admit, it was surprising for me at few points, but overall it was cliched and predictable, yet it was totally entertaining. For which half the credit might go to the highest paid screen writer in Bollywood.  

It could have got a little more detailed, at least a cursory look, into what went into those 7 years. And why “7″.

I wouldn’t rate SRK’s performance higher than his in Swades.

Most importantly, the movie was more dearer for it was based on a real story of Mir Ranjan Negi. Got to know more details like he took active part in the movie and coached the movie’s hockey team. 

I knew few dialogues ( from reviews ) but my favorite is the one where SRK says, “Kisi gore ko pehli baar tiranga lehrate hue dekh ke maza aa raha hai”. Priceless ! I enjoyed many other moments.

There were few other points I wanted to make, not recollecting now. What a loss !

# Yes, somewhat old movie, but watched it recently only.

# Directed by Zoya Akthar, Farhan’s sisReema Kagti. (Corrected after C’s mail

# She also heads to Goa like her brother. Goa does not tire you.

# 6 (right?) couples go to honeymoon in a bus.

# Each of their story is told, not at once, but as it moves on. The advertising plug of Radio Mirchi was unintrusive and sounded natural.

# Whoa, that superman bit was one thing I felt was out of place. Frankly, I did not get a hint until it was disclosed and was very surprised. The lorry repair, the girl catching coconut made sense was what I could connect only later ! There are very few occasions where I am so clueless, and perhaps none with so many obvious hints.

# However on second thoughts, this movie was like a fairy tale, but is not careless and includes some serious reflections of life. I am surprised how the director/script-writer pulled it through, though, with such contrasts. At one corner you have an old couple, who probably both wanted to end their life, but have been on honeymoon and the sadness is just not completely forgotten, yet they smile in front of each other and get away to reach out to their inner feelings, separately, hiding from the other. Boman’s daughter’s tale was executed amazingly well - with so little screen time but with lot of impact. Except for the sermon by Shabana Azmi, which perhaps was required, but I felt it got a little preachy and a littler long, but could have been done in a different manner - just a slap, if you ask me.

# On the other corner, forget it, I would not want to discuss each tale.

# Had a hint at the different interest of Mridula’s husband. But did not understand, how the end was closed. What was that bathroom coughing scene ? What next for Mridula ? However the pair was mature from the beginning.

# Re-entrance of Diya’s tale was unexpected !

# Amisha looked like over-acted. But, actually, the character was thus.

# Reema Sen’s karate kick and probably her entire character is likeable. The parasailing bit was beautifully executed.

# Ah, I think I forgot something.

# Enjoyed the movie. Am sure there are stuff to make a sequel and how I wish Zoya does that as well !

# Oh, not to forget totally lovely groovy track.

Having heard that it is a free-flow like the director’s previous attempt - Bunty aur Bubli, I was all the more keen to watch it. I had a very good time watching BaurB, only grouse was the money spent watching in a multiplex. This time, I was wise. Watched on computer screen. Am surprised by thrashing reviews - this movie did not take it seriously, nor did expect you to. Also it did not pretend to be something other than what it set out to be - a light heart fun and free-flow movie, that rests mostly on the shoulders of the lead artists more than anything else - and the lead pair does not disappoint.

All - Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Priety Zinta, Lara Dutta - are perfect at their roles. I wish Zinta and Abi do more movies like this. Zinta is lovely to watch - scenes like  - the happiness and content that suddenly erupts of her face ( when she is running down the stairs and the lady asks what happened to the proposal, Zinta had rejected it)  are a treat to watch, wonder if anyone else would have done it so well ! (Oh yeah, lets leave aside Kajol and Madhuri Dixit). Abi’s flow is so effortless that, till that one bit of sad song, you will forget to notice that this guy is acting. Nail biting Bobby cracked me up with his innocent looks and nail biting. Lara, actually in two different roles is surprising.

There are various tributes/references to movies - from the number 786 (number plate on a car) - AB’s badge number in a famous movie, to the one I loved - Bobby and Abi going in the similar vehicle as Dharam and Big B singing song - Yeh Dosti hum nahin chodenge.

Finally loved the song. Yes did not mind the never ending song in between in what was a competition. The song just goes on and on but no complaints ! I loved the song so much that I thought that there was only one song in the entire movie (other than the sad song). At the end of the movie, when the song is again played I was practically swaying myself in the chair - at 2 AM in the night

What an apt title ! When you feel something is less, that means you want more of it. That is what the characters feel here - they want more in life. Thats what everyone wants but here is a difference - the characters are counting days. Totally loved the small kid - though some feel this is an un-necessary sub-plot I liked it. The kid was somewhat very similar to AB, both are counting the days and but want to enjoy life just before that, there is a hurry and they want to break the societal restrictions - kid wanting to watch movies he is not allowed to and AB wanting to marry a girl whose father is younger than him. Kid’s comradeship/rapport with Amitabh is the best thing. Next only to Tabu-Amitabh interactions. If there was one lady who could not only hold her head - as the character does - but also shine - even more than AB, then it is Tabu. Totally loved her. I had always felt, if there was a better actress who would effortlessly fit in both - art and commercial genre and if there was a better contemporary actress almost as good as Kajol, it was Tabu. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been ‘contemporary’ for last few years.

AB is fine, perhaps quite good considering other weekly fare he churns out. Paresh Rawal’s bit extended more than required and instead of AB’s speech, I’d wished his mother came and delivered a punch.

And this Cheeni Kum has succeeded in removing the bitterness of “Nishabd”. And it is interesting to note the contrasts and the treatment in both - in Nishabd it was all about lust, but it was masked behind some insanity or the intent was justified partly as seeking a joyful companionship. And audience saw through it. Here it is quite opposite - the actual love grows, the need for companionship and compatibility is clearly shown. But, without shying away from the subject, sex is explicitly hinted at. And audience sees through it.

Quite enjoyed - despite on monitor.

Sometimes you never know what hits you. Himesh Reshamiya (HR), yesterday in Saregamapa show, when asked what he feels about the feedback for his movie Aap Ka Suroor (AKS) which has got the biggest opening collection of this year, he said he is thankful for the audience and God for encouraging him. He also said, as usual the 1% of critics is unhappy about my product and has trashed it and ridiculed it heavily - but I will work harder and win them over next time. It could convey many things - is it his honesty or a doubt if this is just a masked sentence in the place of actual anger and arrogance, or is it just a sincere self-feedback that he has to work hard and he is ready to work hard, or is it a plain treat that the sequel is in the making ? But it hits - the honesty and hard work part hits.

It hits even further when the movie is watched because he makes fun at himself - the nasal singing becomes a part of the joke, the cap thing is a part of another. It is known that he has accepted that he is a nasal singer but to make it a part of joke and throw at himself takes some courage.

This movie was expected to open a can of worms, to answer few curious questions one has ever since the day we have seen him on TV - why does he not laugh, why is he in pain in all songs, why are his most songs about lost-love or something like that, why does he wear that bloody cap all the time, where was he before he started coming out of every channel and every speaker in the autos, what was he before and so on and so forth. The promos and speculations touted that the movie would answer everything.

Unfortunately the movie begins with him in the cap and instead of being a semi-biographical is instantly in a commercial story telling framework. That he is an already established singer - India’s rockstar at that - and the best performer in the world (whatever that means). That he is a very good man at heart. For the first time in his life he falls for a girl who also falls for him. Her father opposes their marriage strictly, as he is from a different lifestyle. HR is determined to win over him. Throw in between a denial of a singing contract , a third-angle Mallika who wants to seduce HR. And throw in a murder accusation and classic proving oneself innocent.

Performance wise, it would not have hurt if HR had shed his weepy image and looked somewhat cheerful. Giving any point to his acting would be major insult to him - he is acting himself ie he is HR in the movie and there is no way he should be any different than he is in his actual life - a painful face which he has mistaken to be the face filled with emotions. The teenager Hansika Motwani is not bad - her previous experience in movies makes it easy for her. But she does not have much to do in this HR worshipping movie, sorry movieee. Mallika chips in and does her part. The much publicized Mehbooba song is not a part of the movie, but it is just shown at the end, totally out of context, for which my explanation is this - producer had signed on Mallika for an amount for the movie but they also wanted a video song done by her. By making it a part of the movie, they saved on the extra expense on her! And I feel equal pity for the person who takes 3.5 pheres with Hansika but his face is not even shown!

It moves at Ok pace and sometimes it picks up more than enough - like one second he is bashing up villian, second his herione started her marriage third he gets the confession from villian, fourth the saath-pehre is stopped after 4 pehre in between after the heroine sees the live telecast of the confession. Wah, thanks to technology!

When one is not seeing Hansika Motwani or Mallika Sherawat but does not want to see HR, there is enough scenery to look at in the background which has beautiful locales of Germany.

There are no dearth for some cheesy dialogues. Like the one where his friend suggests “if i cut your nose …. how can you sing”, or Mallika suggests “if you want something, feel free to call me..any time in the day ….or night”

Given that it is a music artist’s film, there had to be enough number of songs, yet it just saved itself from being a story hastily thrown in between the video songs. It does better than that, for there is, however cliched and not-done, a story unlike many others that succeed despite the absence of any logic.

But I really wouldn’t have minded if the movie contained his old hit songs. They keep humming in the background music though.

Not sure what happened to the girl with heart problem. It was the most bizzare stuff that looks like a scene fallen from some other movie on to the editing table of this one. Don’t know what happened to Rajbabbar.

Though I drew for myself some parallel between Sivaji and AKS ( small things like both the stories start with the hero in jail and in the flashback and they escape after an attempt to kill them inside jail, so on and so forth, small things) I do not compare between the two. But let me just say, if you liked Sivaji and dislike AKS - there is some bias&difference in taste in your viewing, for both follow the traditional film making to the core.

And how can the talk about HR be complete without a mention of his caps. He wore around 13 different caps, yes I counted - but lost the count because even though he changed cap for every next scene, but he repeated his caps.

Since this is more of a personal interview than a movieee, there were few answers provided like why does he always keep a weeping face “why do you never laugh, HR?” - his dearest elder brother isn’t been around (I heard that right, no?) and he lost all interest towards life. ( But he sings even romantic songs with a weepy face which was why I always thought he was a singing Devdas ). Even in the movie he keeps his face as sorrowful and drunk as possible during all the times without any reason.

All said and done, this movieee is more about HR and his caps than anything else. Probably in the history of movies or history of anything for that matter, nothing has given as much importance to the cap as this does.

But the biggest question remains unanswered - why does he wear cap. And to know that, wait for the sequel.

Ps: As for myself, had ample amount of fun and laughter in the theater, no regrets at all ! We were more often laughing at it and not because of it. Low stakes and good company helps too !

First this:

‘The all-India cycle, scooter and car parking collections at theatres screening Sivaji have exceeded the box office collections of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’.

Then this:

Himesh Reshammiya’s Aap Kaa Surroor has got the biggest opening of the year at the box office.

The critics had panned the film and wrote it off, but the moviegoers had something else in mind. AKS beat down Awarapan and Apne at the box office by getting a bumper opening in the first 3 days.

Earth shattering opening. Box office will sing glorious tune in the final tally. Distributors will laugh all the way to the bank. Critics be damned. This one’s for the masses

The opening response is mindblowing. It has surpassed Dhoom-2 & Krrish! It is like the response to Rajnikant starrer Sivaji-The Boss, with the big difference that Rajnikant is the superstar of the South & Himesh is only a debutant actor
Vikas Mohan, Supercinema

And from a very insightful article that I liked instantly: Why we should pray for Himesh’s movieeeeeeeeeeeee, the article wants AKS to succeed, for the reasons to which I completely agree.

YR Films believe packaging is what our educated metropolitan youth and Indian Diaspora demand. So they shove the repetitive silliness down our throats, packing enough first-weekend shows to ensure some sort of profit

Dig dig dig!!

Because…

Because it’s been a mad year, awful for the box office. Two high-profile Yash Raj Films have bombed. Amitabh Bachchan’s [Images] had three of his career’s best performances — Eklavya, Nishabd and Cheeni Kum — and only one of the three (CK) has managed to salvage its budget. The biggest hit of the year so far is Bheja Fry, a film costing Rs 55 lakhs going on to make about 7 crores.

Imagine then, a film coming out from a new banner, starring a new actor — and trumping the industry.

There will be complete chaos. The star-system will be rattled, the producers will be shaken, distributors won’t know what hit them and there will be complete unpredictability in the industry, giving independent cinema a tremendous boost — for if no one knows what’ll work, anything could!

Himesh has the opportunity to upset the Bollywood apple-cart. And that’s a delicious thought.

And finally why Himesh has it to become Bollywood’s Rajini ( I know I am exaggerating to Mars ) :

It’s a film aiming at the auto-rickshawwallahs — with a whole promo going blissfully over the top declaring that intention — and at the janta theatres that burst into mad applause the minute the nasal voice screeches over the speakers. If you’ve never been there, it’s a riot. Forget the Amitabhs and Akshays and those ubiquitous Khans, the crowds respond insanely as soon as a Himesh promo comes on.

Its rare that I find myself agreeing to each and every point of a review by others. The review of Life in a Metro by B Rangan had me nod in agreement for almost everything (excluding perhaps Dharmendra part, which I did not think much about).
Excerpts to which I strongly agree:

[...] Go Bollywood!

There’s a lot about Metro that makes you want to get up and cheer. The story is a loose lattice of crisscrossing episodes about finding (and also losing) love – the film really should have been called Love in a Metro.

As with Shivani, there’s a refreshingly physical component to the love stories.

Shikha (Shilpa Shetty; [...] this is at least as good a performance, if not better – plus, she looks fantastic)

Kangana Ranaut, once again portraying a damaged-goods soul; she may be hitting the same notes in all her movies, but she does hit those notes extremely well

So you have adultery and betrayal and a lot of admittedly banal (in the sense that there’s not much you can’t predict) relationship drama, and it’s inevitable that Metro ends up resembling nothing more than a rather sophisticated soap – but no soap you’ve seen has had this kind of cast, these kinds of performances.

This is high-end ensemble acting, and I’d hate to single anyone out – but with a gun to my head, I’d probably admit to liking the story arc with Konkona Sen Sharma and Irrfan Khan the most. By now, it goes without saying that these two actors are terrific in whatever they do, but here they play that most heartwarming of rom-com staples: opposites who end up discovering that they may be destined for one another – and they’re just so good together. They’re funny and sad and confused and philosophical and they almost make you wish for an entire movie about their characters alone.

(There’s lot of rain in Metro, an indicator, perhaps, of the bad weather the relationships keep running into.)

Her umbrella is ruined in a gust of wind, and Akash uses a safety pin to fix it temporarily. And that’s the point, really. It – the fix with the safety pin, and the subsequent relationship with Akash – is only a temporary solution. The real issues still need to be tackled head-on. They won’t go away because you put a band-aid on them, and that’s as true of life in a metro as anywhere else.

Some my additional points :
1.The sad ending of Shika’s story is sad. Infact, I was disagreeing when she apologises itself. If in KANK, the adultery is justified by any weird logic, for Shilpa’s character it should have been a “right”, not even justification ! It was so easy to change the end, just make Kaykay enter the house after she has left (along with the child), because his return is the only “event” shown as a reason for her to stay back – apart from perhaps the child hugging her father – and not any other moral reasoning, which is why I feel that event could have been avoided. Even logistically, that climax would have made 2 people happy vs 1. But it looks like “compromise” is the theme – even Konkana’s character, Sharman Joshi’s character compromise.
2.The songs were finely blended in the movie and the lyrics too complimented so well that, dialogues and lyrics felt like extensions of each other. And with musicians appearing in the same frame as actors and through out the movie, songs were never this well a part of the movie !
3.Sharman Joshi looked/acted quite mature.
4.Dialogues sounded new. I was taken by surprise and clueless when Shiney Ahuja, on asking whether he left her or she left him, quite normally quips “Love left us”.

Salaam-e-ishq:
Whole lot of parallel plots..was quite interesting as an experiment. I did not like the Priyanka-Salman story which was done in an artificial manner. John-Vidya story was on an extreme of senti-scale. The small comedy plot was also not very worth mentioning. I seemed to like the rest three. Perhaps a little more attention could have been given to that of AnilKapoor-Juhi. It was good to see Govinda after a long time! The way the different characters criss-cross reminded me of Crash.
Overall, this movie got lot of +ve and extremely –ve reviews. Those who identify with the emotion seemed to like it and those who didn’t, didn’t. But from a cinematic point of view, with stricter editing and more attention would have made it better.

Black Friday: Had heard about this film years ago. Finally got a chance to watch it. Its bold, to the point.

In pursuit of Happyness: Was very satisfied about this one. The fact that its based on a real person (Chris Gardner) motivates all the more. The real-life details were displayed on the screen after the show. Will Smith breathes life into character – notable scenes are – when he attends interview in soiled/painted clothes, father and son (Smith’s son – cute n firm) hallucinate in railway station and many more.
I returned with only one thought in my mind – just keep doing it. Persistence is sometimes more important than the hard work. And I give up too easily.

Ekalavya I liked this. The settings, the colour, a play like plot - poetry on screen.

Nishabd: It was too long. I disliked it for many reasons. Had a rant in draft, if I feel like editing it, it would be posted here.

I have always enjoyed watching movies alone. Does not mean that I do not enjoy in groups, of course I enjoy in groups too. But when I say I went to watch it alone, people look at me as

• I am a big loser,
• I am a big anti-social guy
• I am a maniac/crazy about movies
• I have too much spare time on my hand.

I feel only one of the above is marginally true. I watch because I want to watch. Period.

Here is a post that thinks on the same lines as I do

Everytime I tell a friend that I watched a movie the previous day in one of the 21,000 malls beside my house in Gurgaon, the first question eventually is, “with whom?” If I manage to utter the unmentionable, that I watched it by myself, he looks at me like I watched the a rakhi sawant anchored “great indian laugher show” in loop six times.

I have always failed to understand our obsession with the society. The society must approve. The society must accompany. The society must not think you are crazy. I think this spirit has made us miss one of the greatest joys of the 21st century: watching a movie by yourself

He then analyses both the situations.

You want to watch a movie. You walk down to the nearest mall. You catch the movie. You appreciate it thoroughly, because the movie is now an experience between you and the movie-maker. You can connect with the soul of the movie, without popcorn or coke to ruin the experience. You finish in time for dinner. You get back home, eat and sleep peacefully. Its work the next day. 3 hours. Thats all it took.

You must try it sometime: A lot of fun

Classic ! Vinay Pathak gives a lifetime performance in the role of –Bharat Bushan. He is a budding singer- who loves himself and his talents . Thadani(Rajat kapoor) is a music industry guy whose Friday night dinners are like Indian idol first round – making fun of people – but in this he along with his friends have fun without letting know the victim – that much decency they have. His wife one day walks out of him the day he had called Vinay Pathak for dinner. The same day, he has got his back terribly hurt. With his good intentions and superb body language, Vinay steals the show. He has right intentions but what ever he does or says results in more damage for Nandani. He turns the table around and the whole world laughs (the audience) at the nandani. Vinay, though very irritating is very amicable – one enjoys his actions. Even his wife has walked out on him. But how he has handled is different from how nandani is handling the issues. Meanwhile Milind soman, who was ex-friend of Nandani’s wife enters the scene. Another IT officer (Ranvir) also enters the scene. Together they manage to create a laugh riot.

This movie could have been set up as a play and I think that could have been better for it could have continued to reach people much after – not like these movies which get pulled out of theaters once the big ones arrive. Secondly the movie entirely relies on the dialogues and body language so much that, anything else is of little importance.

If tried it is possible to point out minor things which could have been corrected (like the pun on Bappi Da was unnecessary) but there is quite a lot to be enjoyed – even small actions from Vinay like closing the briefcase, or folding the cover in which he carries his “kahani suron ki zubani” or “its ringing” are quite fun to watch – that other things could be forgotten.

There is one important reason why this movie is terrific – all the characters around us have been made into characters in movies but the Bharat Bushans that roam around us were never shown on screen. A small attempt was made in DCH in the character of Timetable but this is the first one where complete attention is given. These Bheja-fry-bharat-bhushan characters are absolute fun in their absence and total headache in their presence. I have had many such acquaintances. The movie ends when the audience is still thinking there is more to it, that’s the best way to end rather than elongate

And guess what ..I could come away with a quote too -

Paap se door raho lekin paapiyon se nahin - Bharat Bhushan

“Kelo rasika” is a non-profit team of volunteers interested in making good art reach the people. They have several programmes like “poetry reading”, “screening movies” etc. Suchitra Film Academy is partnering with them for some events. One such event of screening of Alfred Hitchcock movies, I attended to see ‘Vertigo’. I have heard about the director but have not seen any of his movies.
The programme started with Sridhar Murthy (editor of Mallige) giving a small speech about “Tradition of Suspence-thrillers in Kannada Movie industry” (”kannadadalli pattedari cinemagala parampare”). He begun with the meanings of words like “pattedari” “parampare” and how they fit the Kannada cinema context. He explained the difference between what we consider as “suspence” or rather “bond films” and that of the idea of Hollywood cinemakers. He narrated the advent of such movies in Kannada and chronologically took us through what he called 3 stages/generations of such movies. I dont even remember the names of first generation movies but second generation movies had those bond movies by Rajkumar/Kalyankumar and third by SunilKumarDesai. He aslo put an analysis of suspence novels/novelists in Kannada and how some of them were made into movies. He explained the reasons why some suspence movies failed and how SunilKDesai tried to emulate/give tribute to Hitchcock. There were lot of details (and many names of movies that I have totally forgotten) in the interesting speech and what I liked about it was how he “stuck” to the topic (except for a small deviation when he talked about the suspense novelists whose novels were “not” made into movies).

This was followed by the movie. Since this is an old movie, I don’t mind talking about the entire story. Its about a famous detective who is adviced retirement as he gets scared of heights following an incident that happens during the job. While relaxing himself, he meets up with his old friend who had just come to the town. His friend’s wife, he explains, is acting very strange these days and he thinks, some dead person’s soul has possessed her. He explains things like she staring into something, going somewhere etc and asks his friend just to follow her and find out what it is after which he could take her to the hospital.
At first detective dismisses the idea of soul etc, but decides to give it a try. He follows her. She visits a museum and stares at a painting, goes to a hotel whose owner was once the lady in the painting, goes near a tree, goes to a cemetery and stares at the same lady’s tomb, goes to a forest and stares at a tree. This happens for few days and the detective collects enough details for him to confirm that that dead lady has possessed this girl. He meets his friend and explains him these findings and his friend tells - he had a doubt. Because that lady is none other than great grand mother of his wife, but he says they both had not communicated and also that his wife has started using her jewels - further proof to the wandering spirit. Next day the lady visits some water spot and jumps into it, our detective saves her and after that they become quite good friends. Detective tries to know things from her but she claims she does not remember anything. Over the time, the detective starts liking her and promises to cure her. Once suddenly she explains a dream and the details of the spot resembles to an actual location.They both go there and she starts running towards the top of the church where the bell is hung. He due to fear of heights fails to follow her and in between sees her body falling along with her scream. She falls down and dies.
After investigation, police/judge decide that she had tendencies of suicide and due to the valid fear of heights, even the detective could not save her. Judges do not believe about the spirit story but does not punish anyone and the case is closed. Detective is very distrubed again and he sees that girl in every other girl he encounters. He visits the places, hotels etc they had visited together. He can not come out of her memories. One day he finds a girl almost similar looking one and follows her. She gives all proof that she is a newcomer to the town. He convinces/forces her to spend more time with him. At this point the audience is told the truth that both the ladies are same. When she climbs up, the culprit - detective’s friend - was ready with his wife’s dead body and he throws that instead of the actual girl. The fact that they looked remotely similar was made use to fool everyone and the fact that detective was afraid of heights was exploited by his friend and he wanted respected detective to be the witness to the suicide scam to be safe.
Now our detective tries to change everything the lady does - from her dresses to the hair coulr and style - and it gets little dragged. He finally wants to take her to the same spot so that he can get over the fear and to confirm that he has lost her, so he asks her to get ready - at which point he sees her necklace - this is the same necklace he had earlier seen on the statue in the museum! Now he is clear of everything and now forces her to go to the same spot almost in anger that she is now afraid that he might kill her and she confesses the truth while climbing up. But she also tells him that she loves him and thats why she did not run away when he has found her the second time. However she is at the same spot from where she had supposedly fallen down and suddenly a sister comes from nowhere and says something. In the fear, shock and confusion the girl slips, falls and dies.

Once the screening was over, people were asked to talk about it. Many people shied away from talking and those who did (except for one - a prajavani cine-journalist) didn’t articulate their thoughts well - they spent most of the time thanking the organisers for giving us a chance to see the movie or they talked how great Hitchcock was - not why - and about Hitchcock making an appearance in his movies. Those were all right, but inconsequential. Only one interesting trivia was mentioned that “zoom” was first introduced in this movie.

There were two important points that got discussed after the movie but I am sure not many had understood it. First, everyone thought the ship-builder pushed down the doll of his wife, while I think it was “the wife” herself was pushed. Since the investigators went and saw the body soon after, throwing a doll would have got ship-builder under the scanner immediately. Second, not all were clear why the lady jumps off(it wasnt clear whether she jumped off herself or if she was pushed) - actually she does not jump off - she falls by accident. Why ? Because she saw a lady coming from the dark and speaking which was unexpected. In sudden shock she lost the balance and falls. Another way of explaining this (this was told by another person in the audience) is that sinners need to be punished so in the story she is made to fall off.
Also, if only the audience were not told the secret so early in the story it would have been even more better. After knowing the suspense, it kind of got slower and we just waited for the inevitable to happen - that of detective finding out the truth. Another point is if the detective did not know that girl is the same one till he sees her necklace, why does he forces her to do everything - to dress etc. Also, there is no detective intelligence - he does not try to find out some leads, does not put effort to find out if something went wrong, just forces her to look like earlier again, it just so accidentally happens that he sees her necklace. I felt these two points could have been improved upon.

However it was a good watch, the audience’s interest is kept till the end, audience is kept guessing what would happen next. There is another Hitchcock show on May 27th, planning to go for that.

Yes, its more than 100 days since the release and almost everything that had to be said about the movie must have been said. But should that be a reason to stop me from writing on my blog ? ( After all its my blog and there are few regular readers, who too will skip through this, so why bother ? ).

First of all the movie is near to me for it invoked DDLJ feelings. I can not clearly mention what it was, but that DDLJ magic was the prime reason that I kept going back to the movie. (Even though the movie was already a hit by the time I had watched it, for me it did not matter - one I was far away in Chennai not being aware of various talks about the movie second I kept myself from reading anything related to it, so it was still fine. Also I am very clear of not taking any prejudices with me to watch a movie). By DDLJ, I do not remark about the striking similarity - almost a love at first sight, girl being wary of the boy initially, girl starting liking the boy, boy showing his good-boy image to girl’s parents while preparations for girl’s wedding is going on, boy re-affirming girl that he would carry her away, entry of the bride-groom and that scene where hero takes heroine’s father on a walk - I could almost see a SRK-Amrish Puri in white dhotis trying to feed nuts to kabootars. The similarities might not be striking for others but it was for me. And due to all this, I had thought I know how this is going to end. At one point I thought the rabbit was there to do some sort of magic like the dog in HAHK. Hero’s father is left out after first few scenes (I had expected him to return like Anupam Kher in DDLJ). ¹ I kept waiting for the hero to impress the girl’s parents and to take her away. And at first I was disappointed it did not happen. I do not know whether it was a conscious deviation and I do not see anything against that climax too (I mean I believe even that would have worked out in the box office but since now people have seen this version they claim this is the biggest factor for the success). On the second thoughts, I like this climax too though the cine-freak in me was expecting yet another climax - that of him jumping off the cliff. One is a decisive happy ending, other a decisive sad ending and one more indecisive one where people are free to attach their own philosophical meaning - and that is the one which has worked !

Before I get into my commentary² let me say movie works for me.

Flow:
At the first look, nothing (nothing dramatic, actually) actually happens in the movie for the most part. Just like DDLJ. We see them romancing but nothing looks like progressing on that front. No other event like the “turning point in cricket” happens so that we can expect this is how it is going to proceed. There is no drama. Contrast this with eg Nenapirali and you probably get what I mean. Yet, this movie works. Just like DDLJ did. Only one reason can be attributed to it is the consistent flow and the narration.

Songs and lyrics : I had listened to songs many times before I saw the movie. The lyrics as everyone knows by now are just excellent. I was in awe after listening to the words but once I knew it was from a poet - Kaykini - my surprise ceased. He has affirmed one of my beliefs that “rhyme” is not “the most” or “the only” thing that makes songs good. I have seen some go out to create rhyme but somehow trading the simplicity of the meaning in the process. In this case, the meaning and simplicity was given the most importance and how! Set to brilliant music by Mano Murthy, the songs of this movie have been the propulsion for the success. I say, propulsion, because however good they were, they only got the people into theaters and later made them relive the movie by listening to songs but that should not take away any credit from what happened in between. Some observations - in one of the songs, there is “saavinallu naguvuda balla” which made me assume that hero would die andit would turn to be a tragedy. I was prepared to see the hero die and in part this spoiled a little of my experience - the actual tragedy is on a different level to his death, second since I was expecting that to happen every other time and anytime. The lyrics should have actually read “novinallu naguvuda balla”. And “anisutide yeko indu neenene nannavalendu..mayada lokadinda nanagage bandavalendu” immediately reminded me of “kabhie kabhie mere dil mein khayal aata hai ..ki aise tujhko banaya gaya hai mere liye..sitaron mein bas rahi thi kahi..zamein pe aye ho mere liye”. I am not saying its copied or even inspired but I strongly feel this might be an intentional tribute to that song which is anyone’s favourite ! Two more ingredients to songs that get a kudos are picturisation and choreography. Talking of choreography I didn’t quite expect “punjabi” set-up for “suvvi suvvali” song.

Picturisation:
When it comes to picturisation, there is no two ways about it. Its just as excellent as it could get. With the backdrop of rain, scenic beauty looks almost competing with the colourful costumes people have worn.
Performances and dialogues :
‘Comedy time Ganesh’, the household name it is by now, is one single element without whom it is difficult to think about the movie. True, all departments have shown results but its on Ganesh’s shoulders the screen magic had lied entirely. And how he manages ! With his next-door-boy looks, with his honest acting, that ever present smile which alone must have won him all female fans and most importantly, for me - dialogue delivery skills with good timing. He has the qualities that make a good hero though it would be interesting to see him in a real sorrow role. Heroine Sanjana Gandhi was effective in few scenes and complimented well in others. Though, an extra-ordinary performance was not expected by that role anyways. The supporting cast were not bad too -Anant Nag donning an important role - gave a natural performance. The dialogues were quite refreshing - they were bereft of cliches or used analogies. In fact that drunken dialogue -”tale na kerdu, gaya aagi cancer etc” was very unexpected!!³ But some jokes - like the one he uses to lighten her mood - did not work for me.

And for the sake of completion

Preetham is a kiddo with no near future goal. He falls in love with Nandini at the first sight. He decides to search for her. Accidentally they keep coming across each other. When he finds her he shares his feelings for her. But she refuses. He warns her if he finds her next time then he will marry her. He feels disturbed when he comes to know she is getting married. He decides to go away from her. If that was the case the movie would have said to end, but it doesn’t! Must watch movie.

That was an extract from my bro - who has been too happy for the number of comments and hits his posts on this movie are attracting.

This post is already so long and I haven’t even started to talk about how the climax does make sense and how I realized it even better after I saw almost a replica of these events unfold in front of my eyes. I haven’t even talked about the romance/love part of the story – after all it was “hani hani prem kahani” - how their “falling in love” , expressions were different and different feelings/attitudes of hero, the villain, the girl and I haven’t also commented how sudden & illogical for the girl to get carried away at the end – she should have tried to know the truth and how better it would have been if she was made a conscious partner in the decision rather than making her a scapegoat and making her take the result not understanding the whole picture/point. I just made a mention to say that I do see “the movie” not just the “its ingredients, making and execution”.

And finally kudos to the director who has managed to put together good pieces of work into one great piece of work.

1. You need not tell me I am too much into DDLJ, I know it [back]
2. yes thats what I would call my reviews from now on, as “commentary” makes more sense than “reviews”. [back]
3. Though this talking matters of heart only after getting drunk has been used quite a lot of times in movies like HDDCS, DTPH. I can’t help thinking - Help of liquor is taken even to start telling and when one doesn’t get the girl, he again drinks - Whats with lovers and drinks ?! [back]

Image from WarnerBros
Immediately after watching United93, went into Happy feet. It was quite some time that I watched back2back ! Happy feat is, well, a cute movie about Penguins. The hero, Mambo or Mamble, is born with a bad throat and can not sing.This is unusual among his species, who sing for almost every other reason. And thus he finds himself odd-manpenguin-out. But our Mambo is gifted with dancing. He is also a person penguin who is brave enough to go after his difficult mission and he has a bigger mission than to cry over his shortcoming. He considers his mission to be even more than the love of his life. Thus he goes out to find why there are no fishes, who is taking them and to ask them not to do it. He manages to find that aliens (humans) were taking away the fish ! During his quest and during other times, there are many sequences with adventure, fear, sorrow, happiness. It is serious movie you see, and unlike the cartoon series which put me to sleep !
I liked many scenes, in no particular order:
1. Mambo fights for the fish, for Gloria. And then later says “Eat the damn fish”.
2. The big sharks play volleyball with penguins.
3. Mambo finds itself in zoo/acquarium and tries to talk to his parents who were not there and whose impression melts out.
4. The dialogue - You have done everything penguinly possible (Now I keep saying to console myself “I have done everything ravikiranly possible” ).
5. The dialogue “Size may be daunting, but I love you”. I am sure I will use this sometime
6. The scene when Mambo fights Gloria and sends her back, the fight is so cute (like hum-tum fight). I did not expect Gloria to return! Then the next scene with the lillyputs trying to defend Mambo’s actions (Forgot the dialogues).
7. There were many other dialogues that were so good that I want to watch it again and note them down! Some of them are found here and here.
8. The dance choreography was first class !
9. The scene where mambo asks “why are you taking our fish”.
Happy ending was not foreseen but anything but that would have been a tragedy. A hurried climax shows that fishing is stopped by humans,thus helping penguins. Comedy, adventure, music-n-dance and all other ingredients, its a complete entertainment package. Wholly recommended.
The film is dedicated to Steve Irwin.
If there is a choice, which there was always, I always avoided to see the animated movies, for some reason, and used to go for real movies. But with this, I have changed and I watched Iceage1(for second time) and Cars yesterday. Other normal people graduate from seeing cartoon series to natural movies, I am graduating in the reverse direction I guess
Link to Official site, trivia,2

I watched United 93, because I had somewhere read that it is based on WTC related hijack. The movie was very gripping and very realistic. The sense of horror and unbelievability was evident on faces of many in the interval (or may be it was my state of mind). Was feeling sorry on one hand and was wondering how real this movie was. Later found out from net that it is based on real data except for may be few cinematic additions.

The movie is about that hijacked plane on the 9/11 which did not hit its target. Other 3 planes did. This plane was saved by the brave passengers on the board. The tensions/ confusions on the board, in the cock-pit, among those who were tracking the flights etc was filmed effectively. Without the interval, when I sighed, it could have been even worse.

More details about the movie here

As you might have observed, this blog has a soft corner towards Kads. So, here is a quick update about her that is in the news :
1. By now the every serious movie watcher might have come to know about the “second season” of Koffee with Karan starting off with SRK, Kajol and Rani. The fuss about a TV show has gone to dizzying heights already now (what with big brother, big boss, kbc2) and “the news” channels have become official advertisers of the TV shows of their respective entertainment channels. Yet, “you haven’t seen them together” for 9 years is so crazy. On the other hand, of late, I can’t like Kad’s interviews..the last one I saw with Aamir Khan during Fanaa was so irritatingly artificial and fabricated (but I saw it again with mute).
Yet I will watch,if possible, the Koffee with Karan to see it for myself about the “uncomfortability” between the cousins and of course to get more details between the comfortable relationship of “SRK -Karan Johar”, the most famous Indian celebrity couple ! (As if his mush towards SRK expressed in three romantic movies is not sufficient, he is rumoured to name his next movie ‘Khan’. So much fun will be coming.
2. Prakash Rai (its Rai as in Aishwarya Rai originally when he acted in Kannada TV serials…) is going to play Ravana in RajKumar Santoshi’s Ramayana.

Rajinikanth turned down the offer to play the powerful character of Ravana in the epic film Ramayan, director Raj Kumar Santhoshi has cast actor Prakash Raj in the role. While Ajay Devgan and Kajol have been selected for the role of Rama and Sita, Rekha will play the key role of Kaikeyi. A visibly thrilled Prakash says that Santhoshi has offered him the role of a lifetime. It is reported that the director will be taking the key members of the cast, which includes Prakash to Australia next month for a special training programme

I so much wished, Santoshi took some of our suggestions. Sigh.
3. And in another news regarding Kajol, Ajay is planning to direct a movie with themselves in the lead cast.

Ajay Devgan is ready to make his directorial debut. According to sources, a film titled Main Tum Aur Hum, that will be Ajay’s home production is coming up. This film will be a moving story of a man-woman relationship that moves from infatuation to love and finally develops into a lifelong bond. Quite aptly, Ajay and wife Kajol will play the lead roles in the movie. The story of Main Tum Aur Hum has reportedly been written by Ajay himself. The actor also seems confident that he will be able to handle direction and acting simultaneously. He plans to begin shooting the movie in April 2007

Hope at least this is “fun” !

Update : Video of Koffee (First one (Kajol SRK))

And the latest one Koffee with Karan(Kajol SRK Rani)

My scattered views as expressed over a chat (with cousin) is here :
Did I like it??
Not entirely…felt something is missing… but an excellent movie overall.
There was no punch in climax…there was no punch in anything he did…the intensity is there in terms of the dialogues than acts… there are only hints..not the exact actions.
What happened to “saala”
What happened to his another friend
What happened to madhavan/mithun
Why is guru “great” ?
Why is guru “bad” ?
Does the end justify means ?
The dialogue baazi in courtroom was not strong enough….ppl expected to see Ambani story etc
And the songs…were hindering the flow
once again the same feel….”it could have been better”
Madhavan had told he never has or never will kiss onscreen…was shocked to see that scene,
it was not definitely needed..
Vidya just accepted for the sake of Mani Ratnam I guess…and Ash probably to spend time with Abhi (and bcoz of Mani factor) but has done well and looks good.
**
Yeah, thats pretty much my views. I liked the making of the movie (even dont mind a second watching), the impressive acting, picturisation, songs etc (Especially after realizing how much effort goes into the art, after reading this informative interview of Rajiv Menon). But somehow the story did not hit me. Only one point I would like to take away is, just keep working at it. Do not get distracted, keep working, keep dreaming.
Also, here is Arun’s review of Guru.
Here is another interesting review of Mani’s movies.

I attended Chennai International Film Fest, mainly to watch TFLW and I saw few others too. It is very late to review but few sentences about them :
1) Sringaram : This is a movie based on Devadasi practice. With that and revolt against it as backdrop, this movie is actually about dancing and beauty - beauty of dialogues, of leading lady, of picturisation, of the colours. Coming from a first timer director, the making certainly is very good. The choreography apparently has won National Award.
2) Time for women : This is a funny movie. It keeps hinting through out but ends in an expected anti-climax.
3) Familia: Good picturisation and the way the complexities are shown/woven into the plot give a good outlook about the movie. The story may be very bollywoodish, but the presentation is different.

4) CRAZY Frankly did not understand about the intention of this movie until I read about it later. However some catchy dialogues and humour.
5) TFLW : The movie, as many have noted, sheds its movie feel very soon and audience becomes a part of the happenings on the screen. The humour, the drama, the events, the dialogues, the emotions are very real and is obvious given the fact that this is a leaf out of real life. More than the movie itself, the praise is for the effort that went into its making. Third attempt, for 7 years never-say-die attitude, finance probs, cast probs, few of the things are known thru his blog, tell us much about it. Before the show, it is told that, its based on real people, but how real is told at the end after which the admiration goes a notch higher ! The screen is dark at many places and it is getting corrected it seems. My favorite scenes - the beach scene with 4 guys, another beach -lets dance - scene and the proposal scene. The Evam guy lights up the scene and without him the screen would have been less brighter. But the rest of the casting is also very perfect for the characters. If this had happened before DCH, (it was conceptualized 7 yrs before, meaning before DCH), it would have lead the pack of come-of-age feel-good and identify-ourself classics containing DCH, Hyderabad Blues etc.
6) Milarepa - Good with intentions but put me to sleep. Short on building-up and detailing and stricter editing. Incidentally it seems this is based on actual story, and the work is in progress for 2nd part.

Something I wrote some time ago to the yahoo group to which I used to write my rants and reviews before I learned/started about blogging. The pat I received there was the only reason to fuel my continuation of writing the rants!

Today I would like to share a little happiness with you all. Because in a way, remotely, this group has a connection with it. Read on to know more.

Back in the days, in my early days at Mumbai, not only my Hindi was as bad as it could be but my knowledge about movies was also zero. I had heard of Hum Aapke Hain Koun but did not know what HAHK meant. Nor did I know the cast of it. And it was already running for 2 years or more in Liberty talkies in Mumbai. As an additional note, I did not even know the spelling of Kajol (who later became my one-n-only craze - in movies) and did not know the cast of DDLJ - which too I watched after 1 year of release !!

In the college, as usual with my life - the first friend I get at a new place will become good friend and will remain one at least till I remain there, I got acquainted with a Mallu guy -Arun Ganesh- who was a movie freak. Sometime later I realized that he was very close to being a walking encyclopedia of movies. Being a Mallu if you expected him to know less Hindi, you are wrong there. He came from Ahmedabad and knew better Hindi than the mixed Hindi some people speak in Mumbai. To me, speaking Hindi was not difficult but did not want to utter foolish stuff, he was my guru for my Hindi. Being in the Bollywood capital Mumbai, it is too rare to see someone not talking about movies or music. I clearly remember asking him what was the meaing of “pahad” and when he asked for context I quoted the song from Raja Hindustani “aaye ho zindagi mein tum pahad banke”. :))

Slowly I too started to watching movies more frequently. Bunked classes and watched movie. Skipped eating out and watched movies. Watched movies for the sake of watching. Sometimes with a group from college, sometimes with another group, sometimes with some other, sometimes alone. Good, bad, hit, flop I saw it all.

In parallel we started discussing movies. We had our own tastes but most of the times we shared the same opinion. In fact, I started viewing movies critically after taking first cues from him. He used to point out the mistakes (like the missing power chord from an electric guitar or the “readers dont digest” kind of stuff ). We used to analyse many scenes, how better things could have been or why something did make sense. The forthcoming movies, music (Arun is a big Rehman fan), the past hits - our discussion covered it all. To top it we had a French tuition teacher who was a film freak. She religiously read Filmfare and followed all gossips in filmdom. We used to fight for the filmfare when we used to go there for the class and we even dedicated additional 15 min for reading filmfare (not compensating for 1 hr class for which we were paying her!). She somedays used to get irritated that we read it and discuss it in the beginning itself, so she used to hide it till the end of the class!

Talking of analysis, we almost at the same time, hit upon Khalid Mohammed who used to write for Times of India. His language, his sharp merciless remarks as well as his knowledge about movie making as well as references to various other movies impressed us no end. Monday morning talking most compulsorily started with our take on his reviews that used to appear on Sunday Times. Even though initially we worshipped him and made his every opinion ours (shamelessly), slowly we started noticing our difference of opinions from him. Be it what it is, I still regard him the one to look upto.

Then I moved to Bangalore and Arun to Sangamner for studies. Occasionally when we mailed each other, it was mostly about movies. The movie watching also reduced somewhat when we were in Engg. The communication too reduced/stopped, due to various other reasons. It was DCH, the cult classic of our age, that moved me so much that I wrote about it to him and few of our close buddies. Though it was not written as a review at all but just as a salute to the times we had spent and to Farhan Akthar, I received good (unexpected) encouraging words and thus begun my experimentation with writing reviews. DCH, still one of the closest movies to my heart, had each of us (we were 3, like in the movie, in gang other than girls) in ample amount. As a tribute, I visited Mumbai and watched the movie with the group

Impressed by that feedback, I started noting down my thoughts after most of the movies I watched. I used to share with that select group of friends (and with the group I mentioned). After joining job our communication improved (thanks to always-on office email) and we started exchanging mails regularly. This was the time this group was also most important part of my life. My so called reviews got very good feedback and appreciation that I can never forget in my life. And hence review writing became a must for me after every movie.

Now reviews too became a part of mails with Arun. Partly motivated/encouraged by my acts, he too started responding by reviews. There was even few times, we fought who would review the movie. Or skip reviewing a movie so that other can do. Sometimes we decided not to read each other’s reviews but wrote one each (Lakshya, Black were such). And during somewhat that time I feel now that I had peaked (bcoz these days I am not happy with my writing). But he kept on improving.

Those were days before blogging and blogging opened a new world for us. I created a blog and soon followed it up with our combined site on movie reviews.He was so glad. In fact I started the review blog only to make sure he gets some recognition and fame, and by which I knew he would keep doing it! As far as me, I was losing the grip and as well was getting not too affected by the feedback. The hits came coming and I left no opportunity to publicize our site. The hits came, the comments came and we were feeling good. He sent his black review to filmfare and it got published in readers review section.

Things did not remain all good all the time. The work started eating our time. Weeks used to go by and the reviews did not happen. In fact we did not get time to watch movies. Sometimes I used to get busy that time he used to fill up. And sometimes otherwise. But sometimes both of us got so busy and felt bad for our pet - our site. Yet we kept hung to it. We approached few friends to fill in during our absence. Some of them agreed and filled up (fill up even now) and we are glad to be a part of creative circle. And we knew that many times, we watched movies only to write reviews, we wrote reviews only to keep our site updated!!

While about reviews let me capture another funny event. There was a guy (lets say X) in Arun’s organisation who was observing the fame Arun was getting for writing reviews. So X too started sending his reviews to a girl (Y) whom he was trying to impress. Y was in Aruns list of pals receiving movie review updates and X was a TL to Y. Y sent X’s reviews to Arun asking us to have a look and publish it on our site. X’s reviews were very difficult to understand and we withheld before posting. It so happened that, Arun investigated on the reviews and found they were all from a rottentomatoes. X had intelligently(?) clubbed many reviews and hence there was no continuity nor any sense and it was all too tough to follow. A clear copy paste. Arun exposed this and sent out a mail to all his buddies including Y. Not to mention they broke up soon and everyone was staring at him funnily after that incident!!

If you ever have a pet, you understand my feeling towards my site. Its a cute thing to own and to show to the world. But the rare updates is always a problem.

Thankfully he has moved to a different organisation where supposedly the work load is less and has moved out of city. So like me, all he has to pass time, is to watch movies.

Then recently icing on the cake happened. Much anticipated fame arrived. It started with KANK. He had his ticket booked for first day. He had read up Taran Adarsh’s review. I also had planned for a second day show. I could not do much due to work load and jotted down few thoughts on KANK but Arun, declining to read my views before he jotted down his (like the earlier days!) detailed review. Incidentally rediff announced a contest asking for reviews from readers. Arun sent his entry (and asked me to do, but I let it go. I felt my review was incomplete and was also pressed for time. Also had no belief in my effort). Now KANK is every movie reviewer’s delight and many responses must have come. Nevertheless his review was one of the best 10 reviews and he got to be a part of rediff reviewers group. What an achievement ! I hadn’t been many times as happy as this recognition. I know its his review but I shall take some claim and happiness for that fame His achievement is mine and his fame is mine :))

His organisation had an all employee movie watching event and they saw KANK. (No this has nothing to do with his review…his review appeared on rediff much later). Then he sent his reviews and its being published on rediff to his colleagues. Not to mention appreciation and wishes followed. It took few days before he got back to normal self If plagiarism is flattery, he got that too - someone even plagiarized his review!

Being in rediff critic group, Arun got to review Don for rediff. And when it appeared on rediff main page, not to mention that Arun was on cloud nine for few days :))

It is an interesting parallel we have shared with Farhan Akthar - that first movie of Farhan Akthar (DCH) had started me on writing reviews and for the second we both competed to write and each one wrote one and for the third one Arun’s review got published in a leading online news site.

And thus ends my intention of sharing my happiness with you all. Without your encouragement and feedback I would not have attempted to write and without me he would not have continued to write. So in a sense, this happiness finds its root in you, in this group (and the blog readers/commenters ). Thank you friends.

All the above talked about reviews could be found at 70mm