Age should be respected, or...?

Just watched this deleted scene from Dear Zindagi. I can totally see why it was deleted. In a land where age is an automatic sign for wisdom and a demand draft for respect, this kind of scene with such hard-hitting dialogue will never be tolerated. 

Watch this scene and answer one simple question - Would you side with Alia in this scenario or would you shake your head with a disappointing look and mutter "Aaj kal ke bachche"? 

Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkoxn6Nyijk

Today India Lost Her Voice - Lata Di is Gone

This is a useless post, nobody is waiting to see my reaction to the momentous event in Indian history, nothing will change, no awareness is needed, no conversations need to be started. She who is gone will not be affected by it, those who remain already know what there was to know about her. Still, I am writing because this blog is my public diary and I want to express what's inside me even if not a single person reads it. As I said, it won't change any lives. 

Lata Mangeshkar, lovingly called Lata di or Lata didi (Sister Lata) by all Indians was, on paper, an Indian playback singer but those who know her or even know of her, know that she was much more than that. She was a wonderful human being, so kind-hearted, gracious and sweet, such a beautiful soul that I cannot find anyone to compare her with. If you ask an Indian who their favourite male singer is there can be a few different possibilities but there is no other choice except Lata Di if you talk about female playback singers. The reason is not just her talent, she was extremely talented, there is no denying that but the person she was matters more. 

Indians are obsessed with their celebrities and love to read anything and everything about them. In a country where there are lots of star tantrums, scandals and unseemly episodes, Lata Di was one who was always an example to uphold. 

When she started her career she was rejected by All India Radio because of her voice. At that time, playback singers with heavy voices like Noorjahan were ruling the film industry. But soon there came a time when Lata di rose to the heights of playback singing and became such a shining star that she used to get all the awards for singing every year. After a couple of years, she withdrew her name from the running so that other people could get a chance. I don't know a single artist alive today who would have that kind of superlative talent or a big heart like that. 

The list of the titles and awards that received is too long to put in this blog. She was awarded Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India. 

For me, Lata Di the singer is always admirable in her supreme talent and the success she had in her career but the person she was goes beyond that. 

A couple of years ago she put one short video post on social media which was just her speaking to the camera for a couple of minutes. Her voice was sweet because her heart was full of love. Every word she spoke was so full of gratitude and humility that it brought tears to my eyes to just watch her say that she was going to try and connect with her fans on social media. 

When comedian Kapil Sharma had an incident where his studio burnt down and he suffered heavy losses, Lata Di called him and asked what she could to do help. I adore Kapil Sharma, he is a very talented artist and a genuine person but compared to Lata Di...if she were the Queen of the country, he would be a poor farmer. But she called him and offered her help. Just a word of support from a person like that can give someone inspiration and motivation to carry on in the face of the most dire circumstances. 

Another Indian comedian Sugandha Mishra plays the character of Lata di in comedy sketches and she is very talented herself. As far as I have seen she does not do anything disparaging towards Lata Di when she mimics her but some people took offence at it and Sugandha was mercilessly trolled for it because every Indian loves Lata di. The matter was put to rest when Lata di herself saw it and said she didn't mind. 

The loss that Indian film and music Industry has suffered today as Lata di passed away at age 92 is irreparable but she was also such a shining star, such a celestial presence in Indian history that she will always inspire everybody who knew her, knew of her or will come to know about her. 

While there will never be another Lata Mangeshkar, Lata di will never be gone from our hearts! 

Movie Review: Hum Do Hamare Do - Rehne Do

*** Some spoilers in this review ***

While this is not a toxic movie or one which I would need to warn you against, it's not really a great movie either. It's bland like last night's pizza that you didn't bother to heat up. 

The story is extremely predictable which is not bad because you know this going in so there's no disappointment there. Performances are good by all actors.

From my point of view, there are two big issues which make this movie a bland snoozefest rather than a feel-good formula movie. 

One, the screenplay is bad. The story itself while predictable, is quite promising. It's the story of Dhruv who is an orphan and meets a girl who wants a family to marry into. He arranges a pair of fake parents to get her to marry him. From there, even a child of five years can tell you every single twist the story takes. 

As I said, I did not mind that, but I feel that the screenplay misses out a lot of good spots where nice moments could have been created. You might have heard the expression "It's not the destination but the journey." The filmmakers here have been in such a hurry to get to the destination that they missed out a chance to take the audience on an interesting journey. 

For example, Kriti Sanon and Rajkumar Rao's romance has been done at Shatabdi Express speed. They go from first meeting to falling in love to marriage proposal so fast that there is no opportunity to create some heartwarming romantic moments. You see, marriage and the hassles of marriage, the Indian people have that in their own lives. They go to the cinema to see the romance and to feel not just entertained but inspired. Nothing for them here. 

When Kriti comes to live with Rajkumar's family before the wedding, that situation while highly implausible, is ripe for many opportunities to create comedy, romance and drama. It has been completely wasted. Remember Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and the sweet moments between Madhuri and Salman? That's the kind of thing they could have created here but missed it entirely. 

Many occasions like the big reveal which could have been dramatic dyanmite proves to be Diwali's cracker because of the way they have been written and directed. 

The second issue the film has is its extremely weak dialogue. This is already a predicable, formula story but good dialogue could still make it entertaining and watchable. But the dialogues here are so boring and mundane that you feel like they were written by someone who writes phone directories. 

The scenes that could have been explosive drama are simply yesterday's kadhi-chawal because of the boring dialogue. Rajkumar Rao has tried very hard to bring some drama to such scenes and Kriti has supported him well but if the drama is not written in the screenplay you can't create it out of thin air even with great acting. 

Just like the rest of the movie, the climax is also rushed and does not feel realistic at all. The end is unrealistic and quite unjustified. 

My recommendation is that this is not a movie worth watching in the cinema at all. You can watch it on streaming while you are making dinner or ironing clothes. You would not watch it again that I can already guarantee you. 

The Time That Spends Us

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin

I have this movie I watch once every month. It's a Hindi movie called "Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani", translation "The craziness of youth" Youth as in the period of youth in life, not a young person. 

Yes, you did read it right, I watch it once every month. I have seen it more times than I can count. Why? No, it's not like one of those "It's a wonderful life" kind of movie that's a ritual for the world to watch. It's a purely commercial movie about a boy and a girl (aren't they all?). The basic premise is extremely simple - he wants to travel the world and do everything in one life, she wants a simple life. Of course, they fall in love, but at different times. 

Spoilers below if you haven't seen the movie but it came out in 2013 so you have had 8 years. 

There are many reasons to watch this movie so many times but one of the important ones is that every time I watch it, I see different things in it. Now spoilers. In the end, the hero decides to stay in India in order to marry the girl. I never agreed with that decision. I even have my favourite shot where I would end the movie if I were the director. No, I don't turn it off there, I still watch it fully every time. But I always think he's wrong. Ambition over marriage? Ha! Until now. Five seconds before starting this post I was thinking about this dialogue that he says to her when he's proposing. 

"Beet_ta waqt hai lekin kharch hum hote hain. Aur isse pehle ki main poora kharch ho jaoun, tere saath thoda waqt bitana chahta hoon."

[Translation: We don't spend the time, the time spends us. And before my balance runs out I want to spend some of that time with you. ]

Suddenly today it made sense to me. Spending time with a loved one can take precedence over travelling, job and even a lifelong dream. I still don't know if I agree with him but at least now I can see his viewpoint. 

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." The movie is always the same, every scene, every shot, every camera angle. That doesn't change. The reason I see different things in it every time is because I change. 

Do you have a loop movie that you watch as many times as possible? I can't be the only crazy person in this world. 

Award Shows and The Divine Plan

 Film award shows strengthen my faith in the divine plan and the universe having a purpose. 

Think about it: 

• The person winning the award is always the very favourite of the person announcing the name. 
• The project they are winning the award for is the one that just happens to be the closest to their heart. 
• Noone ever wins an award for an un-special project. 
• The person who inspired our awardee the most in their life, just happens to be sitting in the first row in the audience. 

You can't explain these things without admitting that there is a god and there is a plan for all of us. 

Coolie No. 1 - Could Not Handle the Baggage

David Dhawan has not done any favours for his son by starring him in the remake of Coolie No. 1 which was already a successful movie. Now the movie itself is okay. It's as mindless as David Dhawan's movies usually are and there's an even a little bit of entertainment in it. But the biggest problem is that when you star in a role that another actor has already done before, you will be compared to him. 

Now Varun Dhawan is an ok actor, not great but ok. He did alright in both the Dulhania movies and even in Main Tera Hero which had much less of a story. But he is no Govinda. Govinda and David Dhawan invented this genre of comedy which was mindless and entertaining with not even an iota of common sense anywhere. Does David think that he can make anybody Govinda? 

The movie itself is ok, not mind-numbing crap but not as good as the original. I watched the 1995 version with Govinda right after watching the new one and the old one is much better. The biggest reason for that is the cast. The new cast is good, David has smartly surrounded Varun with good comedy actors like Javed Jaffrey, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav etc. but the old cast was even better with actors the calibre of Kader Khan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Tiku Talsania. And yes, Karishma Kapoor was great in her role, Sara Ali Khan, poor girl. 

Even though a majority of the new film is copy-pasted from the old one including exact copy of scenes and line-by-line copy of dialogues, there is still a lot missing. The characters in the old one were much better fleshed out even with the same scenes. The biggest victims of that are two main characters - the father of the girl where Kader Khan was replaced by Paresh Rawal and the other is the heroine herself - Sara Ali Khan. 

If you take her out of the songs, poor Sara might even be called a guest appearance in this film. I am not talking about screen time, I am talking about character development. Sara has not been given much to do. She almost looks like a young girl wearing her mother's saree and playing "house". 

My verdict is 2.5 stars out of 5. I would not go so far as to say don't watch it, but I won't recommend it to anyone and I won't watch it again myself. 

Still, the film might do well on the box office for various reasons. I don't care. My review is never influenced by the money a film makes or what others think about it. 

The biggest reason for me for watching this film was the promotion episode on The Kapil Sharma Show. Day 2 of the promotions included some of the comedy actors and it was hilarious. If I had to set a percentage I would say the movie is about 20% entertaining compared to the TKSS episode. 

One of the things that struck me as funny was Varun Dhawan having a pity party for himself on the show that his father and brother don't listen to his ideas on the set. That's like crying that you have to go to school in the blue Mercedes when your favourite colour is white. Firstly, he is getting these movies because he is the son of a director. And second, you are an actor, your job is to shut up, dress up and do what the director tells you. When you become so smart that you know better than the director, dare to direct. 

Two examples for these things. 

I like Ranbir Kapoor's attitude on the nepotism issue. He accepts that he is getting these opportunities only because he is a star son. He acknowledges that this opportunity could have gone to someone else. Then he says he tries to do the best job he is capable of to do justice to the role and try to do it better than someone else could have done. 

Prabhudeva, who is a very successful actor as well as director, when he is working as an actor in a film being directed by someone else, he doesn't give suggestions, he just does what the director tells him to do. 

Well, that's all for now and if I don't talk to you before, Happy New Year 2021. 

Baaghi 3 Movie Review: Brawn Conquers all

 If you have 8-pack abs and big biceps you can pretty much do anything you want - that's the message that Baaghi 3 gives you. 

Let me do this review quickly checklist style so I don't have to waste any more time on this movie, oops spoiler alert. 

Music - Nothing memorable or enjoyable. I am really irritated when people "recreate" songs, yes, nobody does remix these days, it's all recreated. If the songs are from new movies it's even more irritating. Some people would like the item song by Disha, I didn't like it. I like Disha, she's supercute, but the song was directed awfully. In a film being directed by a choreographer you expect a better dance number. And the lyrics...wait, there were lyrics? 

Action - The stunts by Tiger are truly impressive, there's no denying that. But stunts are a spice in the dish, you can't make a dish with just red chilli and garam masala. I don't know what gave Ahmed Khan the conceit to think he could direct action but I wish he hadn't. 

This is a general grievance I have with Indian filmmakers. When it comes to directing action they have all graduated from the 120fps school of filmmaking. I agree with Peter Mckinnon that everything looks sexier in slow motion but these directors have taken this to the level where it's not cinematic, it's tedious. I love watching fight sequences but these just annoy the hell out of me. Before this Rohit Shetty did the same thing in Golmaal 3 (or was it 4? Who knows? Who cares?) where the hero would hit 10 punches then 10 goons would fall from the sky and take about 65 seconds doing that. Trés irritable! 

Performances: Some of them are good, Riteish Deshmukh, Jackie Shroff a few other characters. Tiger, not so much. He had acted better in Heropanti. In this one, no acting only stunting. But I don't blame him, I blame the director. Shraddha has done ok, but there wasn't much for her to do. Ankita Lokhande, ha, don't make me laugh. 

Dialogue: There are a couple of funny ones in the beginning, but then they go from mundane to pathetic. 

Direction: Very, very weak. Absolutely clichéd from start to finish. In the future if I saw a movie was directed by Ahmed Khan, will it make me want to see it? Big fat no!

I don't know how many people caught it but they stole a couple of scenes straight from "Taken" and one shot from "Wonder Woman". There was a good chance to grab a "I am Spartacus!" scene later in the film but probably Ahmed Khan didn't have that DVD. 

In terms of realism, the movie has stretched suspension of disbelief like chewing gum and taken it past the limits of elasticity. 

Did you notice I didn't talk about the story? That's because you already know the story if you have seen the trailer. If you haven't let me tell you the story now. 

"Action hero goes to Syria to rescue kidnapped brother." Done. 

Full disclaimer: My bias. I have seen Ahmed Khan only on TV in Kapil Sharma's shows. He choreographed Kapil in Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karoon. Every time he comes on his show he makes fun of Kapil's dance skills. We all know Kapil is not a great dancer but there is such a thing as grace. Ahmed Khan doesn't know it. It irritates me.  

Recommendation: Watch it on the TV screen when it comes to streaming while you have dinner. The 120fps action will fit perfect there. 

Bharat - Made For Stupid Audience - Movie Review

"If you cast popular stars and put some masala scenes, helped by some clever editing, then even if the film has no story it will be a great film." That's the thought behind this film.

I really like Salman Khan, he has a great screen presence. But if he stars in a formula crap I can't say that it's a good film. This is a pathetic execution of a lame idea and you can see that in everything. There are a couple of formula scenes which are ok, but on the whole it's a stupid film made while thinking that the public is stupid.

Salman's acting is very good, but weak in the old avatar. The director, and the actors, have no idea how an old person talks, walks and behaves. It's like they have never observed an old person of the human species.

The make up artists of this film should be expelled out of the industry! The main characters who are supposed to be old are actually made to look like cosplay characters.

I had said after "Tiger Zinda Hai" that I have finally seen Katrina act. Unfortunately, that streak stopped there. Nobody can blame her of "acting" in this film. She's a beautiful girl and directors usually use her for her glamorous presence. In this film even that's not there. Her dialog delivery is her weakest part and they have given her way too many lines in this film.

"The promise of a man to his father." that's the catch line of the synposis. What stupid rot! If he had not promised he would not take care of his family? WTH, man!

It was not so boring that I could not finish it but there were 7 places where it pissed me off and I wanted to turn it off because it offended my sensibilities. Still, I somehow finished it.

I am so glad I didn't go to the cinema for it. Thank god for Amazon Prime Video.

Bollywood Moon Magic

Yes, I know nit-picking but I notice such things, can't help it.

This is a Karwa Chauth scene from the movie "Thank You". Have you ever wondered what Bollywood do without this great festival?

Here's the shot of the "Moon" on "Karwa Chauth".

The "Chauth" in the name means it's the 4th night. Karwa Chauth is celebrated on the 4th night of the Dark Lunar "Krishna Paksha". But see the Moon in the shot? Full moon. Poornmasi.

May that's what they had lying around in the studio?

For those who care (not many), see below for how the 4th night waning moon would actually look. 

The magic of Bollywood. The suspension of disbelief. Along with a fake suspended Moon over a fake city skyline? 

Zero - What an aptly titled movie

They have named it perfectly - Zero!

It gets zero stars from me on a scale of 10.  I tried to watch it properly, couldn't, so skimmed through it slowly hoping to some good scenes that might give me the traction to carry on watching. No such luck. It still seemed way too long and dragging.

The main star cast is also perfectly matched - Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma. None of the three have ever tried to act and they match perfectly in this steaming pile of ....cringe-worthy scenes.

My one serious issue with it is that they have made Kat look ugly and repulsive in most of the scenes - on purpose. They have tried to show her as an alcoholic. Why would you take a beautiful girl and treat her like that? If you wanted acting you should have taken someone else. Katrina's beauty is her one plus point and they have subverted that. I take issue with that.

The scene shown on the poster (with Katrina in the slinky red gown) is not in the movie. Awful! In one or two scenes where she is not shown as a  lush she does look pretty.

It's no secret that I am not a big fan of SRK. But when the movie is good I would watch it and appreciate it despite him being in the lead role. Like KHNH or Dilwale, both entertaining movies.

"Short in stature but big on love, a bachelor meets two very different women who broaden his horizons and help him find purpose in life."

Whoever wrote this description of the movie should get all the creative prizes. He/she has made it sound a 1000% more amazing than it is.

If the Indian audience like this film, I'd say they deserve it and more crap like this that would follow!

Noor: So be_noor - The Lacklustre Blockbuster

Some movies are made for entertaining audiences, some are made to make them think, and then some are made to torture the viewers.

Noor tries to be in the second category but falls in the third.

Having already wasted 2 hours of my life on it I don't want to waste more by writing a long review so here's a quick and dirty review.

The movie sucks. It sucks from beginning to end. It sucks with a passion. It sucks like it was its full time job to suck.

It's based on a book called Karachi: You Are Killing Me but I doubt that the book sucked even half that much. (I do plan to check out the book just to verify this.)

The writing is the weakest part of the film. It just...well, sucks. Lame scene followed by lame scene full of embarrassingly lame dialogue. But the lameness is not just in the dialogue, it's lame all over, the camera angles, the set-up, everything sucks consistently.

In one shot you can even see the cameraman in the mirror. Here is the shot for you.

Actually, even though it tries to be fast-moving film the movie doesn't even get going until well after the interval. Then 2 scenes later it finishes. The scene during the credits is the final torture and is accentuated by the weak casting and poor performances.

Sonakashi is not a terrible actress only a weak one, but this would be her weakest film. Given the ridiculously lame dialogue given her she does a great job of delivering them equally lamely throughout the film. And she looks fat and ugly in the whole film but I think that's what they were going for as it's commented on several times in the whole movie.

If you escaped watching it when it was in the cinemas count your blessings and don't watch it now on the streaming services either.

Movie Review - Shandaar - Salvage Operation

This was a flop, it was a train wreck. It has already been ridiculed in news stories and award functions so let's take that as granted.

You know this word - salvage? From a wreck, from the scene of a total loss what can be gathered or saved, that's salvage.

Considering that Shandaar is already a spectacular wreck let's see what we can salvage from it. It does have some pretty long animation sequences which are like its cardinal sins and some actor choices that I am sure the director regretted pretty quickly. But what does it do right?

The story. It does actually have basic story with some sub-plots. Most Hindi films only have basic story (lots of Hollywood ones too),  so that's at part with the industry. Two families coming together for a destination wedding that's also a business deal. The bride is fat, the groom is an asshole who doesn't appreciate her and the family is oppressive. This is the backdrop against which the love story of Shahid and Alia is played out. Shahid is the wedding planner and Alia is the bride's adopted orphan sister.

Characters. The cast of characters is good and varied, many of them are caricaturish but chalk that up to its mistakes. There are 4 main characters though that I really liked - 1. Vipin or Beeps (Pankaj Kapoor), Jagjinder Joginder or Tent House (Shahid Kapoor), Alia (Alia Bhatt), Isha (Sanah Kapoor).

That leads us to the actors. The performances by these 4 are excellent and watchable. The director has tried to leverage the Pankaj Kapoor-Shahid Kapoor real life relationship for comedy, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but they both perform well.

Alia looks lovely, I do like her as an actress but Sanah Kapoor as the chubby bride-to-be Isha is what took my heart and the reason I decided to write this review. She's a sweet, warm-hearted person and has an adorable smile. Her genuine love for her adopted sister Alia, actually I should say the love shared between the two step-sisters, leads to a few nice, sweet scenes in the film.

I maintain that even a terrible film usually has a few scenes, or at least one that can be salvaged from it. Or maybe a quote, or a message, or a visual. Like Justice League. The movie was so bad I called it a bitter disappointment and was really angry with Zack Snyder for this crap. But it had many Wonder Woman scenes that were worth watching. Shandaar has many nice, worth-watching scenes.

There is some comedy in Shandaar which makes you smile and maybe a few moments which make laugh out loud.

Music is okay. Not great, but the Gulaabo song became popular when the movie first came out.

One of my tests for a film is - does it make you care about the characters and what happens to them? Shandaar does. The situation in the story is like - an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Something's gotta give. You want to know how it gets resolved. On that topic, the climax was also alright, entertaining and open-ended enough to make it a good ending.

Conclusion: Watch it with low expectations and you may be pleasantly surprised. 

Movie Review - Firangi - Excellent Entertainer

"My movie is coming near year - Firangi".

Kapil has been talking about it for so long that you can't even remember how long.

Firangi is his second film. His first one was a pure comedy whereas Firangi, his home production, is more of a romance-drama-social-comedy kind of film.

It's a period film, set in the 1920's, the pre-independence India. It would be hard to believe now that the movie has come out but I have thought about this topic many times before. Here's my angle.

There are some topics, or themes, which have...let's call it consensus after the fact. It's kind of a universal hindsight. In hindsight easy to see that what the correct choice was. Similarly this is something that everybody agrees on after it has happened. Like everybody knows now that Gandhi was a shrewd politician, but not at the time!

Another case in point is Brexit. There's a great majority against it now but not when it happened. There are many thing like that.

This whole thing about Indian independence is like that. Right now after 6 decades of the independence everybody agrees that it was a good thing that we fought for it and got it. There's no doubt about it now. But often I have wondered if I had lived in that age would I have struggled for the independence? Right now it's easy, everybody thinks that they would have been in Bhagat Singh's party if they had lived in that time.

Being honest with myself I question it. Would I have been a freedom fighter. Or would I have chosen the path of the least resistance and found some logical, rational, common-sense argument to convince myself that my first duty lay with taking care of my family? There's enough evidence of that sort of thinking with me. I have worked on my career, my job, taking care of my family. How many revolutions have I taken part in? None. Not even a single march on the parliament. So I have wondered about that many times.

This story is also about a person who is not joining the movement for the struggle for independence. His first and foremost consideration is to find a job. And since the better paying, more available jobs are things that you can do in the British government he tries to find a job in the police. That's the beginning of the story. From there it goes on with showing how he finds a job with the top British officer as an orderly. And how he makes peace with the fact by thinking that the Brits are also not such bad people.

From there on the story goes on to include a king, a corrupt, frivolous type of king, a corrupt British governer and the struggle over the land of a village.

The beginning of the film is a simple family life and romance kind of story. But it soon picks up speed and includes that whole tug of war over the land. Throughout the story the role of our hero - Mange - changes as well. He grows up through the story and becomes a better man.

Speaking of performances, Kapil Sharma has done a great job. I sometimes feel that he suffers from overexposure in TV. We have seen him in so many different characters in his Comedy Circus days and later in his own shows that it might seem that he has exhausted the possibilities. Fortunately, he has a lot of acting talent and carries off a new role very convincingly. It it still a delight to watch him on screen, in the funny scenes and also in the dramatic scenes.

Ishita Dutta is beautiful and believable in her role as Sergi - a village girl that Mange falls in love with. Monica Gill has done justice to her role as a princess. But then pretty much all the actors have done well in the film.

Music is a strong point of this movie. There are about 5 songs in it, all are ok, but 2 of them are really lovely, melodic pieces that take your heart. First one is "Sajna sone jaya" and the sad song, which is my most favourite and my current loop song "Sahiba russ gaiya" sung by Rahet Fateh Ali Khan saab. The lyrics and music are so beautiful that it's nice to hear it in any good voice but the original, of course, is the best. The picturisation of both the songs is also very nicely done.

And that brings to mind the cinematography. I noticed even as I was watching how wonderfully the scenes had been captured. A true visual treat that was worth watching on the big screen. Of course the editing also deserves the credit here.

Finally, the feel of the movie. It is phenomenal! Because the first part of it is about the family life and the start of Mange's love life, it's very identifiable. Having been born in the pre-whatsapp, pre-Facebook era I can vouch for the problems that he faces. In that age it was like a thousand miles from seeing the girl you immediately fell in love with and producing a love story out of thin air. That's what you see here and the situations are directly lifted from Indian village life. They feel believable and realistic but also entertaining at the same time. Kudos to the writers and the director for that.

[Spoiler Alert: Stop here if you haven't seen the movie yet. ]
[Spoiler Alert: Stop here if you haven't seen the movie yet. ]
[Spoiler Alert: Stop here if you haven't seen the movie yet. ]
[Spoiler Alert: Stop here if you haven't seen the movie yet. ]
[Spoiler Alert: Stop here if you haven't seen the movie yet. ]


Okay, you didn't stop. So, here goes.

My only gripe about the movie is that I wish they hadn't brought Gandhi in towards the climax but then, they had their own reasons.

Another one is a scene where Gandhi asks if they had done any violence in trying to solve their problem, Mange says that they didn't. But in reality they did quite a bit of violence just before that.

In conclusion: It's a worth watching movie, either with family or girlfriend. I will be getting it on the streaming or DVD as soon as it comes out to watch again. And again. 

Movie Review - Badrinath Ki Dulhania - Social and Fun

I liked it!

In short, it's a social message wrapped in an entertaining package. And that's the best way to deliver a social message not in an art film that nobody will watch. By the way, all films are art.

This is not a spoiler to tell you that the social message is about the dowri issue and gender discrimination against girls in India. When I made my first (short) film in India it was on the same topic. So, you can guess that the topic is close to my heart.

BKD has done it well. A message film would inevitably have some lecture moments, but they have been separated well and kept short. The situation shown is very realistic, this is how things happen in India. It is disgraceful but it's the sad truth. I like the that makers of BKD had the guts to present it like that.

Acting-wise, Alia Bhatt delivers well, in a similar but different character from Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Varun can also act, one of my favourite star kids along with Alia. The parents for both hero and heroine are a bit weak actors, somebody well-known would have been better but they have not done badly so, alright. Liked Badri's brother and his wife. Good new actors.

Music is okay, not as great as HSKD but not bad, at par with the current Bollywood film music.

The twists are not too hard to predict but they are well-paced and with good direction the audience can forgive the lack of surprise. I did. Last twist I did not get as well, so well-done.

The climax  is a bit short but that's not a bad thing. The epilogue is a bit forced but then they wanted to end on a happy not with no loose ends and I can understand that both as a viewer and as a filmmaker. I like happy endings in my own films as well.

Go watch it! 

The best teacher award

..and..the best teacher of 2016 is....

The crowd goes wild. Applause! Cheers! Whistles!

Wait!

What year is this?

What country is this?

What UNIVERSE is this?

Because in our universe, in our world, teachers are not celebrated. It's the filmstars and sports personalities that are celebrated and applauded.

A teacher can literally change your life. Yes, literally. Our teachers have great influence on our life choices, our confidence, the skills we acquire and the way we approach the world. I can still track in my character which traits were influenced by which teachers in my childhood. And later when I learnt computers.

In contrast, actors and directors, provide you entertainment but mostly what you see is fake. Fake on the screen, fake in the press and fake on the stage. We even know this.

Mind you, I am not saying that the film celebrities don't work hard or what they do is not important to society. They do. It is. Hard work should be rewarded and recognised in every field.

But that's it. In EVERY field!

That doesn't happen. In reality, making a film makes you a star with billions of people shouting your name, and changing lives on a daily basis condemns you to a life of meagre and ignoble existence.

We live in a world where teachers and scientists live and die with hardly ever a mention and filmstars and singers are celebrated like they invented the sunshine.

In Jubal Early's style...Does that seem fair to you?

Quick movie review - Roy

I just finished watching Roy. Yes, I know it's been out for a long time. The only reason I watched it was because of the song "Sooraj dooba hai yaaro".

My expectations were quite low so it didn't disappoint me. And to be honest, it was a little better than I expected. A simple story of a filmmaker casanova falling in love for the first time. Not many plot twists but the story keeps moving on at a fair pace.

For the first time I saw Arjun Rampal actually acting. Ranbir Kapoor does well in his role. Jacqueline Fernandez looks pretty and does a decent job in her role of filmmaker.

The song I liked, I still like after watching the movie so that's a plus.

There is a slight suspense or intricacy of the story that gets revealed in the end. Not too complex but alright, worth watching.

Cinematic Disease

I have developed a new disease - don't worry it's only a cinematic disease. All through "Dear Zindagi" I was thinking how great those dialogues of Jahangir Khan would sound if they were delivered by the great Amitabh Bachchan. After that, in my mind it was always AB delivering those deep, thought-provoking lines. And now pretty early in "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" I realized what a nice character it was that Anushka was playing. Also, how great it would be if there was a good actress playing that part - like Parineeti Chopra.

After that, my mind took over and all of Anushka's parts I imagined Parineeti delivering on screen. And believe me, the Parineeti in my mind did a much better job than Anushka could ever hope to do.

This is why I had started to make films, because I was always second-guessing the directors but it seems that the problem still persists. So, it's not a new disease really, just a new strain of the old virus.

Noise, Noise, off the wall..

An interesting read by Purba.
http://www.purba-ray.com/2016/09/dj-wale-babu-zara-volume-badhaa-do.html

She is quite right though. We do love our noise. It doesn't even have to be music, but usually we need something that can masquerade as music. I have even heard truck drivers on the highway honk their horns in short bursts of their homemade "melody".

While you do run into pubs and clubs which are too noisy for conversation the same thing is not so common in restaurants. Although, there are restaurants that have very loud music playing, the more classy (read expensive) ones have only subdued, soft music that is a good backdrop to conversation without getting in the way. I know some of these, but I have also been known to ask the management to reduce the volume if I go to the other kind of restaurant. I eat quite often in mall food courts during my India visits anyway.

The thing that drives me up the wall is the incessant hoking! During my recent trip, I had the pleasure(!) of being stuck in many traffic jams (Delhi traffic is off the charts right now!) and people honk for no reason at all. They are all stuck in traffic and everybody is moving as and when they can. But these people would still honk. Seems to me like they are clutching the last dregs of sanity by venting their frustration with their horns. Or they have gone crazy and think that the horn is a video game. I can't decide which!

One thing I thankfully did not run into this trip was a "mata ka jagran" near my house. They play what seems like a fake-bhajans, i.e. songs engineered from latest movie songs with religious words pasted on them. The only "mata" they would remind you of would be Katrina Kaif or Sunny Leone! And volume would be loud enough to rouse the whole neighbourhood, which I think is the idea. It's not limited to any one religion or god though. During Ramzan you can hear the azaan and the call to "sehri" just as loudly.

But coming back to music, it can sometimes be a real nuisance. During one of my India visits I had a young boy in a shop opposite my parental house who liked the song "Main tera boyfriend, tu meri girlfriend, tu mainu kehndi na na na na" a little too much. He put it in a loop and played it at top volume morning, noon, evening, non-stop. Normally, I am a "live and let live" kind of guy but that did get my proverbial goat. Finally, I went there and told him "Dude, change the song or reduce the volume! Or else!" It worked for a while!

You would find the same 5-6 songs playing all over the place - on the radio, in weddings, parties, discos and on TV channels. But new songs have a burnout time of about a month. They get phased out by other equally meaningless, blase songs in due course. Only the most obnoxious, loud and obscene ones would be remembered past 3 months, example Sheila ki jawani and Munni ki badnami.

Musical Memories

Today I was watching this Indian movie award show #Filmfare2015 recording on my train journey home. It's old, from early 2015 and I have seen it before but I like it because one of the comperors was my favourite comedian Kapil Sharma. And then this song came on in the nominees for the Best Music...and the memories came flooding back! No, not the memories of shooting that song...lol..I wish..but the memories of my last trip to India when I took so many road trips with #mykids and I DJ'ed in most of those journeys using my tablet.

I remembered falling in love with this song during that visit. Not when I Dj'ed but on my own I did loop-played it almost all the time. I think my kids might have become sick of it that time.

Hearing it again today brought back the memories of that legendary trip and of course, I miss my kids!

So, yeah, I played it on loop on the walk back from the station, instead of my usual audiobook. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmWL-JxUGZc

Of course, the song was the winner of the Best Music category. Hehe.

The movie is called "2 States" and the music is by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. I can't do justice to the song but loosely translate the chorus of the song means "My crazy heart keeps repeating your name. Can't forget even it tried."

Yash Chopra - The King of Romance - Passed away

Yash Chopra, prominent Indian filmmaker, passed away this Sunday evening in a hospital in Bombay.

That single sentence is easy to read but it’s not easy to digest! The impact of this one fact is immense! Yash ji was not your normal run-of-the-mill film director - he was a creative genius and a bold trend-setter.

Some of his great films included Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Trishul, Veer-Zaara, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom,....the list is long. So many of these are in my all-time favourites list.

He made more than 50 Hindi films and most of them were extremely successful. I think his genius was in his style, he could portray any subject in a larger than life manner and still connect with the common man. He was a true merchant of dreams.

Yash ji sold many dreams to the Indian audience worldwide over his 50 years long career. I don’t want to type out the list of filmfare awards and the honours he won in country and internationally, the internet is full of those facts. I didn’t know they had named a railway station after him.

All I want to do is pay my tribute to the great dreammaker and tell you that he was a great inspiration, definitely to me, and probably to a huge number of filmmakers all over the world.

He will be greatly missed!