Some Cute Confessions...

I feeling real bad as I missed "Firaaq". Though I plan to watch it this weekend. Wait Nandita, just for 2 more days. 

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Like shopping? So much? Hmm... then you gotta watch this one. It's a movie that you watch, enjoy your popcorn (yes, u need it) and come out thinking what you gonna buy tomorrow. I don't know what to say or how to analyse as there not much apart from a sweet movie. The theme depicts how a lady who is a hardcore shopaholic goes on to understand how shopping is not just the end of the world. And the sweet and romantic moments that takes her through. I mean apart from the leading lady who plays the central character nobody else is there whom you can notice for their performance. If you liked "Little Manhattan", "A Good Year" etc then go watch it. But please do not opt for gold class, it may not worth it.

Verdict: 2 out of 5

Anurag Does It, One More Time!!!

Guys, I have seen 13 B last week but the movie was so horrible that prevented me to  write even one line on it. Still I would give it 1 out of 5, and the 1 is only coz of Madhavan's honest act.

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Welcome to the world of Anurag Kashyap. I liked Black Friday, though in bits & pieces, for it's sheer honest approach. After that everybody forgot No Smoking (including John). Then Kashyap came with a bang giving Dev D. Now, his latest offering Gulal is a movie par excellence. I have expected him to deliver something in line with Dev D, but he has raised his own standards, thus by proving why he is a director who deserves the accolades.

The movie's theme is the college politics that we see in every part of our country. But where Anurag excels is the uncanny reality that he has shown while depicting the same. He has outdone all earlier attempts made on the similar subjects (Haasil, Dil Dosti Etc). The ensemble cast is finely chosen, but two characters who are a cut above: Kay Kay as Duki Bana and the real surprise Abhimanyu Singh as Ranasa. The power Abhimanyu exudes through his eyes and his voice makes it a treat to watch. The other central character played by Raja Singh Chaudhry who is the protagonist, plays his character with simplicity till the end. He comes to pursue a degree in Law where he gets dragged into politics where Kay Kay and his competitor's tussle turns into a blood war. Another revelation in this is movie is Piyush Mishra (also movie's lyricst and music composer) who plays Kay Kay's elder brother and keeps on giving pucnhes through his deep & thoughtful liners every now & then. The music is fairly good; but if you like poetry, the lyrics are outstanding.

Gulal, for me, is a movie that I would say, represents today's cinematic style and displays our age-old tradition. The script is so power packed, the lines are so real and scenes are shot in such real atmosphere. Man, if you want to see real cinema, this is it. The movie is slow in some parts and the climax lacks the punch it required but I give a damn to these few shortcomings as this movie is a pure treat. I just wish the production houses now understand what Anurag is capable of and come forward for talent & ideas like this from many new but immensely talented film makers.

The movie ends with these fitting lines in the background: 

Ye karwat le soyi haqueeqat ki duniya,

Khwahish mein lipti zaroorat ki duniya,

Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai...

Cheers to Gulal & Anurag!!!

Verdict: 4 / 5

Yeh Hai Box Office Mere Jaan

Who is the best in terms of the number of hits; the first superstar of our film industry Mr. Rajesh Khanna or the once angry young man who is considered as the biggest ever star of our industry Mr. AB. In simple terms kitna paisa wasool actor hai. It does not matter whether the movie is good or bad or carried a message ; if the parameter is the number of hits in their career who actually is the real king or badshah, who actually is the perfectionist! Well my dear friends get ready to hear and digest facts that give us a different picture altogether from just what we perceive today.

Let’s start from Dilip sahab. He started his career in mid-40s and carried on his legacy till late 60s. He made a come back in 80s before retiring in early 90s. He gave many hits (I wont write the names of the movies of any actor, as it would be too long an exercise) and the first person to receive the Filmfare award for best actor. Now success factor at the box office: 54%. Hmm…sounds quite less for such a big star. We will soon find out. Then comes the evergreen Dav Anand. He was more known for his peculiar style and dialogue delivery and his movies were always been attached to his own style. His success rate: 31%. No analysis. Let’s move on to the legendary Raj Kapoor saab, he has contributed to our cinema in more than just acting. He wore many hats of creativity and given opportunities to many newcomers as well besides giving his family the top priority into filmdom. He made sure the industry will always have some or the Kapoor in it. His hit rate: 34%. Oye, only 34%!!! Then came one man who has later termed as the first superstar of our industry, Rajesh Khanna. He gave us many memorable movies with his signature style. But when it comes to success at box office, he is rate is: 33%. Now the superman of hindi film industry, our Dharamji. He made some beautiful movies before slipping onto make some B-grade movies exposing his masculine body. His fate at box office: 27%. Now I understand why he always wanted to drink the blood of so many dogs. Then in early 70s came a guy who made an humble beginning and got recommended by stars like Rajesh Khanna and went on dethrone other stars to become the biggest superstar. Mr. Bachchan had given us many hits and his box office report gives us the figure: 39%. Surprised!!! So am I. But dear these are facts. This percentage includes his movies till date.

The year 1988 saw one man start his career as a chocolate boy and is now called as a perfectionist. Let’s talk numbers now of Amir Khan. He has acted in 38 movies so far. 20 hits. Success rate: 52%. A Delhi boy also started his acting career in 1988 as well, but in a television series.  He made his movie debut in 1992 went on to become the King Khan/Badshah of hindi film industry. Now a producer Shahrukh Khan has done 54 movies with 26 hits to his kitty. So the success rate is: 48%. Then comes the 3^rd Khan, Salman Khan. He has done the maximum number of movies, 66 of them out of which 26 were declared hit. Thus the percentage is: 39%. Now let’s talk about the khiladi, Akshay Kumar who seem to have understood the meaning of paisa vasool more than anybody else in last 3-4 years after working here more for close to two decades. He has 80 movies to his credit out of which 24 are hits. His rate stands at: 30%. And finally the only star of 2000s who is running strong and so far is the only credible actor to be placed in the same league as the above stars is Hrithik Roshan. He started his career in 2000 with a bang and so far has been a part of 15 movies out of which 7 have been given the tag of hit by the box office. So his success rate goes to: 46%.

So, it’s quite clear, as far as the money factor is concerned, who stands where. Cutting the crap, let’s face it. Here goes the final 5, including the so called Numero Uno. It is neither SRK nor Amir, it is Dilip Kumar.

1.     1.  Dilip Kumar (54%)

2.   2.  Amir Khan (52%)

3.      3.Shahrukh Khan (48%)

4.   4. Hrithik Roshan (45%)

5.      5.  Amitabh Bachchan (39%)

What we can see from above is all are great actors, but they have not always made the box office swing to the hype/stardom/stature that they have attached to them. U may or may not accept the ranking above, but dear oh dear they are pure facts.

(P.S. : All the facts are acquired from NDTV India, with inputs from Anupama Chopra & Taran Adarsh)

A Real Curious Case

First of all I am feeling bad as I was not able to post my reviews for some time now as I was busy in my main blog. So posting all the 3 movies I saw late last month.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button comes from Director David Fincher who earlier gave technically brilliant movies like Se7en and Fight Club. This time he comes with his best ever offering, but only in designing & technical department. The art direction, make-up and visual effects are outstanding. The direction is well intended at making an epic and the length of the movie suggests so. You can guess that this movie is nice contender for awards just for it's wide appeal. 

The story is quite a fictional one and it is about a child who is born as an old man of eighty years and as he grows up he becomes younger. Tough to believe, but the narrative is nice and the flow is equally supporting to the screenplay. Cate Blanchette who plays the roll of Daisy, the love interest of Benjamin, does a very good job though she has got limited scope in the script. But again the movie belongs to one man, Benjamin Button played by the immensely talented Brad Pitt. I would rank this roll of his more than Troy. After Babel these two are seen together again. The rest of the cast suits into their own respective roll with ease.

The movie is based on bizarrely unrealistic story which is pretty hard to believe. But the narrative, acting, screenplay and the direction blended with immaculate and astonishingly perfect make-up and visual excellence. You feel for Brad Pitt every time he comes to the screen with a new look and delivers a nice shot, one after another. They best part is there are so many emotional moments, but none of the character gets animated. It's the audience who might need a tissue paper. There so many moments in the movie that you can carry back home. The runtime of 166 minutes is slightly high considering it a Hollywood movie, but after long time (infact after Tom Hanks movies) I enjoyed the movie without complaining about the pace. This itself speaks for the brilliant direction.

Go for it and watch it for it's cinematic brilliance.

Verdict: 4 / 5

Pure Milk...No Impurity

Well, I am not a big fan of Sean Penn nor I have seen all his movies. But he surely made me & all who has seen Milk. One word that I will use for this movie is "inspiring".

When the plot of a movie is based on acceptance of homosexuals and standing tall for such kind of a cause, it takes hell out of you as a Director, Actor or even for that matter the support team. To make things more complicated for the makers of this movie, the story is based on true incidents that took place in 1977 in San Francisco. After moving to San Francisco, the middle-aged New Yorker, Harvey Milk, became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977, making him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the USA. The following year, both he and the city's mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White.

The movie is shot so beautifully that you can easily recreate the late 70s era throughout the movie. There are few intimate scenes where Sean Penn is seen with his 1st and in some with his second male-love. But the director has to be given credit for successfully able to pull of those scenes brilliantly. The screenplay is really good and the depiction of characters has been done really well. There is a poetic flow to the entire movie. There are very few flaws that one can catch. I believed that the movie could have been slightly more imaginative as that could have made an emotional attachment with the audience. The ensemble cast has done a decent job, but this actually is Sean Penn's movie. And he rightly deserved the Academy Awards for the best actor 2008.

One final comment where I would like thank the make-up artists and Sean Penn to get into the skin of the exact character of Harvey Milk whose life he was portraying. There are snapshots shown in the end where all the real characters are shown and you will astonished to see the striking similarity not just in the looks but the attitude and body language of Mr. Sean Penn. Hats off to you Sir.

Verdict: 3.5 / 5

Valkyrie...Too Big A Star for Too Small a Script

History has always fascinated me, and if it is about Hitler and a plan to assassinate him, then it becomes more interesting. Directed by Bryan Singer whose earlier notable offerings were Superman Returns & X-Men series comes with drama based on a period that saw the brutality of Hitler. 

Valkyrie opens in Africa, penning in a journal his thoughts about Col Claus von Stauffenberg (played by Tom Cruise) during World War II, and how he feels Hitler is destroying Germany. He meets a group of people who holds high ranks in Hitler's regime and they meet in clandestine meetings to discuss on their further course of action on how to dethrone Hitler. They have planned may failed attempts to assassin Hitler. When Col. Stauffenberg joins them, they again plan to assassin Hitler; this time with with new combat plan named "Operation Valkyrie". Operation Valkyrie (German: Walküre) was an emergency "Continuity-of-Government" operations plan developed for the Territorial Reserve Army of the Germany to execute and implement should; for whatever reason; there come to be a general breakdown in civil order of the nation. The key role was played by German Army  officer Col Claus von Stauffenberg, who was in charge of German Reserve Army's Walküre, a role which allowed him access to Hitler for reports, and required his presence in the coup—which ruled out another suicide attack as planned earlier by other officers. After the first attempt had to be canceled and declared an "exercise", Stauffenberg placed the bomb on July 20 and hurried back to Berlin to assume his pivotal role.

This is a movie that is rich in it's portrayal of the exact scenarios that took place on July 20th of 1944.  But there is a basic flaw that made it dull. Everybody on this earth knows that this was a failed attempt (to be precise this was the last of total 15 failed attempts to assassin Hitler), so the curiosity will not be there. Secondly, Tom Cruise has delivered a run-of-the-mill act and he simply is underutilised. Bryan Singer has failed in one department hugely, that is the lack of excitement. There are moments that may make you get to edge of your seat but only for some moments. As far as the other casts are concerned they have done more than a decent job but overall the movie slips due to lack of pace and moments that one expects out of these historical thrillers. The use of camera and sets were excellent and the best part of the movie. With a run time of 121 minutes it is slow in more than one occasion.

Verdict: 2.5 / 5