Surfeit

Now and then
When I think of you
I think of the now
And I think of the then

Your lush pink lips that were
Look a shade darker these days
Your dulcet voice that was
Sounds a few pitches sharper today

I wonder about the how
And I wonder about the when
When I think of the now
And when I think of the then

I cannot laugh
At your jokes anymore
Because I already have
Many times before

You look the same
You are the same her
I am sure you are
But more than you ever were

That which was victory
Is defeat today
That which was love
Is surfeit today.

Wake Up SId - * * * * *

Yes, I woke up too - from the slumber that the last few Bollywood flicks have put me to. Wake up Sid is the saving grace for all the shitty movies that Bollywood has been churning out, week after week.

So what is so different about the cliched 'rich dad's spoilt son realizes his calling in life' theme that has been already used in movies like Lakshya? Its execution. The simplicity of the movie is its biggest strength. There is no fusillade of emotions that we are so used to in such romantic flicks. There are no big gestures here. Every emotion is so underplayed and subtle that you find it unreally real.

Ranbir Kapoor brilliantly portrays the role of a rich spolit kid who has so far had everything on a platter, until a certain series of events gives him a reality check. No he doesn't wake up one day and decides to make it on his own. There is no precipitous transformation. The metamorphosis from a rich spoilt kid to a responsible one is so gradual and subtle that you only notice it when it has finally happened. Towards the end when Sid decides to move back to his house, a flustered Konkona Sen gives him another of her sermons on his immaturity and juvenility. It is only then that you question "Who is the real Kid now?"

With the expectation that Konkana Sen would steal all the stage presence, I was pleasantly shocked. Ranbir Kapoor is the real star here and Konkona has given him all his space, for once, maintaining a low profile. For the first time in recent times, a character emerges out of Indian cinema in the form of Sid. His conspicuous backpack that he carries everywhere, his laptop, his toon print t-shirts, playful banters with his friends, his aggressive outbursts - all of these elicit an uncanny familiarity with Sid, at the end of the modest 2.5hrs,something that even a 25 hrs of "What's your Raashee?" cannot engender for Harman Bawaja. Bombay is the second lead in this movie. It forms an important backdrop in this simple story.The movie covers all popular hangout places in the city. The movie is a treat for all Bombayites.

To top it all, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's brilliant soundtracks and background scores perfectly compliment the screenplay.


Disclaimer for Raj Tjackeray : This is a personal blog. I hope I will not have to apologize for calling the city Bombay, like Karan Johar had to :-).

Love Aaj Kal - * *

Love Aaj Kal is a brilliant idea implemented brilliantly wrong. Surprisingly, the better known reviewers seemed to have liked the movie a lot, what with the 4 stars that they have so generously bestowed on the movie. Now I know why ‘paid previews’ are so named.

The idea to depict how ‘Love Aaj’ is different yet so similar to ‘Love Kal’ was brilliant in itself and had endless possibilities, most of which Imtiaz didn’t exploit. What should have been a seamless screenplay of scenes between yesterday and today, was a shoddy series of events in random months with absolutely no continuity.

First blunder that Imtiaz made was casting Deepika Padukone. She is a glam doll, and literally so. She is a looker but doll-like-inexpressive at the same time. She could have potentially become an international supermodel or a successful sportsperson like her Dad, but she chose the wrong career (like so many of us). In Love Aaj Kal she could have looked credible as a fresco artist with all the sophistication that she exudes, but ONLY if she had no dialogues. She has a bad diction, bad dialogue delivery and absolutely zilch character in the movie. While Saif tries his best to elicit emotions out of her, Deepika is unmoved in her facial expressions. Even when he travels a thousand miles to Delhi to surprise her, Deepika looks at him - still point blank. Till the very end, the love between them looks ungenuine for the lack of chemistry. Saif on the other hand does a pretty good job especially as the Sardar in ‘Kal Ka Love’. He looks authentic in such unsophisticated roles (Omkara et al). The new actress is good too. I don’t know why Rahul Khanna agreed to let this movie be his comeback. His role has no scope.

The music is one of the better parts of the movie, trust Pritam with that. He can belt out hits after hits - call it remixing, outright plagiarization or any other name.

The film is a disappointment. Not expected from the maker of Jab We Met. Please give me something better than Dev D. I am still waiting.

New York or Old Yolk - * *

I patiently wait three weeks for the next Bollywood flick to release. And, unluckily for me,'New York' gets the honour to be that flick. Not that I was being unreasonably demanding, that too with the best of the non-acting lot in it, definitely not. But 'New York' was just that bare minimum level that every Bollywood film strives to reach.

As the movie progressed, I was reminded of several other movies. The underlying theme of racial prejudice was heavily influenced by the critically acclaimed Khuda Kay Liye and the 'cop frisking Katrina' scene, a rip off from Crash. The first half is how Kuch Kuch Hota Hai would look if it had been shot in a foreign locale. In KKHH however, Shahrukh looked credible as the college stud. John playing chess under a tree, and a dozen firangs watching in awe, was as unconvincing as it can get.

However, even with such a weak script, the screenplay is what keeps the movie going. You are almost always glued, just hoping that something else would happen, apart from the expressionless faces of the talented trio. But no surprises till the very end. Although it was tough competition, the award for the keeping a straight face for maximum screen time goes to John. Katrina, as always, does a pretty good job of looking pretty. Neil Nitin Mukesh shows streaks of brilliance in a couple of scenes, especially in the FBI interrogation, minus the conspicuous pink lip glossed lips. I am sure John was secretly hoping that he would be nominated for the National awards for his prison cell antiques. But the director very cleverly kept his face covered for the entire sequence. I would still give John credit for the vigorous movements of his body.

Bollywood cinematography is coming of age. Although a little late, our cinematographers are trying their hands at psychedelic effects. In New York, the cinematographer has done a brilliant job in the prison scene and the swimming pool scene.

The music was the best part of the movie. Apart from the catchy tunes and amazing lyrics, the songs were strategically placed and helped to take the movie forward. The first song - "the friendship song", the second song - "oh she doesn't love me" song, and the third - "shit they raped me, and I am going to get back at them" song, all helped to not take more time to complete the excruciatingly long movie. Watch New York only for the simple reason that there are no other Bollywood movies to watch this week.

Delhi 6 - Disappointing - * * *

To all those going for Delhi 6, expecting to witness the chemistry between “Massakali” –Sonam Kapoor and “Burger Chaap” – Junior Bacchhan, the trailers pretty much show all that there is. Delhi 6 is not a sweet romantic movie that the trailers mislead us into believing. It is satirical, symbolic, metaphoric but NOT romantic. Another bit of information – Sonam and Abhishek are only the second leads. The lead role is played by ‘Kala Bandar’.

The movie has a striking resemblance to Swades - When Roshan (AB) comes to drop his ailing grandmother, he realizes that there is more to India than he ever thought. As he starts to assimilate the Indian culture, he becomes a part of it. He also encounters the dark side - differences because of caste and religion, stone-age superstitions, undue pressure on girls to get married etc. He tries to be a part of the solution but faces resistance from every quarter. He is confused about his identity, and about whether to go back or stay on. Falling in love with Bittu(Sonam K) makes the decision even harder. But everything falls into place in the end. But unlike Swades, Delhi 6 hardly shows any scenes between Sonam and AB, that it almost seems a little forced when Roshan(AB) confesses that he is madly in love with(Bittu). Mehra uses most of the screen time in ‘Ram Lila’ and ‘Kala Bandar’. As the movie progresses, it metaphorically draws a parallel between incidents in the movie and Ram Lila. Similarly, Kala Bandar is used as a metaphor to showcase the dark side in all of us. One of the characters, supposedly demented, uses a mirror to symbolically show that there is God in all of us. There is a song that shows a mixed US and Chandni Chowk setting to metaphorically depict the identity crisis that Abhishek is going through. These metaphors and symbols are cleverly thought of. However, by constantly using them throughout the movie and with so many of them, Rakesh loses touch with reality. Only metaphors remain.

Rakesh uses a lot of screen time to meticulously delineate all the characters in the movie, all except that of Sonam and AB. There is a funny inspector Ranvijay, a demented Gobar, two brothers who are not in talking terms, their respective families, a certain untouchable Jalebi, Suresh the charlatan and several others. Although these characters take the movie forward, they do not leave any screen time for the characters of Abhishek and Sonam.

Rahman’s unreal music and Prasoon Joshi’s fancy lyrics enliven the first half. But having exhausted almost all songs, the second half stretches and drags for the lack of periodic Rahman interventions. It’s amazing what a Rahman can do to a movie. The movie probably has the best cinematography in recent times. The camera moves with as much ease as “Massakali” (Bittu) does in the streets of Chandni Chowk , or Abhishek jumps from one building to another. The interior shots of the galis and nukkads of Chandni Chowk bring a life into the whole setting so much so that it becomes an integral character in the movie.

The ending is probably the worst part of the movie. With a momentary heaven scene with Amitabh, and then Junior AB waking from the dead, Rakesh cannot get any worse.
And thus the viewer leaves the theatre with the shoddy ending imprinted fresh in the top layers of his mind, probably not even remembering the few good parts in the movie.

If you had a crazy week,and wanted to go for a light romantic movie with your better half, Delhi 6 is not for you. However if you are ready to rack your brain trying to link metaphors and symbols and then derive satisfaction out of doing so, Delhi 6 is watchable, at least once.

Film Review - Billoo * *

Billoo is a story of how the underdog finally emerges victorious against all odds, just like Slumdog was. Only that Slumdog was far superior in all respects. Billoo on the other hand is a very shoddily made movie.

Priyadarshan uses one his favorite recipes – humor in the rural setting. This is a recipe that he has very effectively used in his previous movies –Malaamaal Weekly and Hulchul. As the movie progresses and the same characters start emerging one after the other, you almost feel a sense of Déjà vu. It’s not long before you realize that this is probably the same village and the same people that you have seen in Maalamal Weekly.Sadly the setting is the best part.

The movie is a depiction of how a village is crazily waiting to meet their superstar and how they can do anything to achieve this. It is but difficult to stretch such a weak script for three hours. Pritam’s peppy item numbers featuring Kareena, Deepika and Priyanka help the pace of the movie. They are a welcome break from the permutations and combinations of antics that the villagers adopt to appease Billoo into getting them to meet Sahil. Priyadarshan is really brave to have stretched this for three whole hours. The movie seems to have been made within a really short span. Even the lip-syncing hasn’t been done well. Unexpectedly for a Priyadarshan movie, the dialogues aren’t funny either. Rajpal Yadav who’s playing a writer and the guy who is playing the hotel manager are irritating. The part where the hotel manager meets Shahrukh for the first time and the part where he wastes an eternity saying the same dialogue, get on your nerves.

In spite of the fact that he is playing himself, Shahrukh’s acting is disappointing to say the least. He uses the movie to get the point across to Akshay that he is the real King of Bollywood. The movie shows his poster amongst that of Gods (the hardliners are rightly protesting), of the village painted with posters of all his hit movies, villagers worshipping his poster and a full song describing how he is a superstar. He flagrantly cracks jokes about Akshay. I hope Akshay watches this, or Sharukh’s effort will go a waste for the audiences will hardly come. I hope noone kills me for saying this, but the kids who’ve played Billoo’s son and daughter have done a better job than Shahrukh. Irrfan Khan is just the same - no good no bad. He does the same acting and the same stammering act in every movie, so one can hardly comment. Lara looks authentic as a village woman.

All in all, Billoo is a no-effort movie, made to earn some quick bucks. For me, not even a one time watch.

Bowled over by Dev D * * * * *

I could never agree on a youth icon, when the seasonal polls for the 'Youth icon of the year' flashed on TV channels. I've always had doubts and no answers. But I just got my answer for this year, even before the polls - Anurag Kashyap, maker of Dev D, and no doubts.

What would a film-maker who has had three bordering-on-the-art films, all of which did miserably on the box-office, do on his next film? If he has been lucky enough to have got the finances for the next film, I am sure that the last thing he would do is make a remake of a classic that has been already remade more than five (or more?) times and by some of the best considered directors, the last one having been made as less as six years back. But Mr. Kashyap does everything that has never been done, and more. In spite of the Box-Office collections of Black Friday, Paanch and No smoking, Kashyap goes on to make an even more unconventional and outrageously bold movie.

An adaptation is one’s take on someone else’s work and not a similar work. Dev D is the first true adaptation of Sarat Chandra’s Devdas. All the others have just been minor tweaks in the original story and setting. For instance Banshali’s Devdas has the same Bengali Zamindari setting as the book and similar delineations of characters, except may be Sarat Chandra didn’t conceive of a Devdas who is obnoxiously loud and speaks in poetry, and who spills more than he drinks.

Anurag’s Devdas is set in a modern setting, replete with emotions that every youth can identify with. His version has Paro obliging Dev by sending him nude photographs. It has Paro cycling through a field with a rolled-up mattress so that she can make out in broad daylight. It has no emotional drama, only Emosional Atyyachar. The music is so outrageously original that it’s probably created a new genre for itself. Coming to the cinematography, especially in the scenes where Dev is soaked with alcohol, the hazy-camera-effect is psychedelic. Playing Chandramukhi is a school going teenage girl, who embroiled in an mms scandal, turns to prostitution. How orginal is that! The story is the same and yet everything is so different about this movie.

Anurag didn’t indulge in any of the publicity stunts that have become a ritual with Indian directors. No glossy previews, no actor interviews and no fancy haircut for the ticket sellers. So sure was he about his masterpiece. Kashyap has got balls of gold and I pray that for once the Indian audience doesn't do what it did to Swades, for it may force Kashyap to leave direction just like Swades made Shahrukh leave acting forever.

This is probably one film that really deserves to go to the Oscars. Though set in a cosmopolitan setting, the movie narrates one of the greatest Indian classics in real style.It depicts today’s India and is probably a better window to our country than Slumdog Millionaire which does nothing but reinforces the Gora’s image of a poverty ridden country. If this movie doesn’t do well commercially, there is no hope for Indian cinema. It will be the end of the beginning that has come with directors like Anurag Kashyap.