Movie Review: Wake Up Sid

Irrespective of the title not really a review, reflections 🙂

There are some movies, that by looking at its stills you can tell with certainty that you are going to watch it.  It is distinctly a whimsy feeling considering you watch all other movies after carefully vetting the reviews. 🙂 Wake Up Sid was one such movie for me. I knew I had to watch it.

God knows how many times I have given in to such feelings and been mortified at my own judgment. I still have a stark memory of buying advance tickets of a Hrithik Movie Yaadein. (After the first hit, Hrithik’s this second movie had so many takers in advance bookings.) I stood for more than two hours (there was a lunch break in between) in an agonizingly long queue for the tickets at Delhi’s Chanakya theater (It has been closed down now) with my friends. Needless to say, once inside in the theater during the screening of Yaadein, my friends cursed me for that excruciating effort we made to buy the tickets for them.

My reviews aren’t meant to be professional, I mean to ramble and reflect. The experience. And Wake Up Sid gave me a wonderful experience.

This is the first time I am going to rave about a movie that has hardly a plot to talk about. Plot is always important to me when it concerns a book or a movie. And Wake Up Sid has none.

Link Diary: March’ 09

This centrestage link is from my friend, Hypermom, who wrote about women driving in Bangalore.

Manofroma has written a very informative post about a beautiful young woman whose body was found in the coffin in Appian Way. Nothing new about perhaps finding a body in coffin, only her body was as fresh as it must be 15 centuries earlier. Manofroma invites an ‘Indian perspective’ on the same.

March 23 was death anniversary of our martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Jai Hind: Proud to be an Indian reminded us on their blog. This is their last year’s detailed post.

For humor, here is a clip called ‘If Three Stooges were Makers‘ from Daily Cup of Tech. Go on visit his post to laugh.

Meanwhile, Vikas has started another blog on river rafting in Rishikesh, hop over his blog to read his adventures in detail. It was a nostalgic experience for me. 🙂

Finally, polling for MovieManiax Awards is still on. Vote now.

Results for MovieManiax Awards will be announced on 7th April.

P.S: This is the shortest link dairy post I have ever done.

The MovieManiax Awards’ 08

I, hereby, publicly announce the advent of  MovieManiax Awards’ 08.

The MovieManiax Awards is an initiative to honor the best of Hindi Cinema. The categories are limited and we have not ventured into the technical awards. The nominations under each category have been discussed, scrutinized and finally arrived on conclusion by a team of Bloggers. The rationale behind the nominations was to bring in the best before you irrespective of Box-Office status.

You, my reader,  are the Judge.

A to Z of My Few Favorite Movies

Lallopallo tagged me to write A-Z of my favorite movies. I could not come up with worthwhile movies for these letters: Q, X, Y and Z. I might update them later.

I had several favorites, but I have wrote what came to my mind first. That is determined by 2 things:

a) Irrespective of the time I watched the movie, it left an indelible impression on my mind due to story/character/actor

b) I have watched this wonder recently 🙂  So, forgive me, guys for being partial for I have many, many favorites 🙂

Movie Review: Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Na

Well, let’s start with good news, I had good time watching this movie. I was not at all bored. I cried a little, laughed a little. It was a sweet affair. Now the bad news. There is no story, if you were looking for something unique. It is usual boy meets girl story where both of them are not aware that they are in love.

Pros: College kids finally look like college kids. Performances by Imran and Genelia are sweet, well, script anyway did not demand performance of a lifetime from them. 🙂 Supporting cast was fabulous. Be it husband-wife duo of Ratna Pathak Shah and Naseeruddin Shah as Imran’s parents. I laughed with every Naseruddin Shah jig. All other kids (one of them Smita Patil-Raj Babbar’s son Prateek) are good too. Though villains are few, there is one who acts his part well, as a mean, insensitive guy. Music is distinctly A. R. Rehman-ish. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi…Music is foot tapping. Dialogues by Abbas Tyrewala (also the director) are crisp. oh, and do not miss Khan brothers (Arbaaz and Sohail) dressed as whacko cowboys. 🙂

If you did not like Jab We Met, chances are you will not like this movie too.

Cons: Predictable story (though it does not hurt much) and narrative style. If you cut out those narrations, story is smoother.

What’s that? A positive review (You will need to watch the movie to understand this sentence.) 😉

Rating: 4/5

Movie Review: Thoda Pyaar, Thoda Magic

Nothing better to watch, I went to watch Thoda Pyar, Thoda Magic (TPTM). The show was houseful, and so were all the other shows for this movie. I resigned myself to watch the movie from front lines. It was foolish. 🙂 No, not watching from front seats, you get used to it after 15-20 minutes. But movie was not worth it.

The concept is entirely picked from Oscar award winning Mary Poppins, it is Indianised on the lines of Mr. India (as director Kunal Kohli proclaimed in an interview). The only common thing it has with Mr. India is this is a movie for kids with a “sensous” underwater dance by adults, Ameesha and Saif. This movie can never be Mr. India as latter had an iconic villain, a message and awesome imagination and cinematography. Moreover, adults loved Mr. India, most adults won’t like TPTM.

Just as in Mary Poppins, in TPTM, God sends an angel on earth to unite the family of Saif and four kids. There goes the story in one line.

Casting and characterization are biggest flaws of this movie.

Julie Andrews as angel in Mary Poppins

Rani Mukherjee as angel in Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic

Compare petite Julie Andrews of Mary Poppins’s angel with overweight and visibly aged Rani Mukherjee. Plus angel does not look refined, angel speaks mixture of Punjabi and Hindi! After reading, watching so many fairy tales, this fairy was a one big let down. I almost coughed at the sight of BIG Rani cycling on a rainbow (read kiddie’s cycle) with her legs in air! Even though Manish Malhotra has designed her Nanny’s dress that she wore throughout the movie to make her an iconic character, it was hard to remember she is an angel. She looks silly at times. Now before you “Black” me, I have not said a single bad word about Rani’s acting prowess.

Ameesha Patel, as Saif‘s girlfriend is projected as pure bimbette (I hate this word though), dressed in tight, short dresses. She even rambles about bags and pink/blue interior designs. This was another silly, immature characterization on director’s part. I also cringed every time they called a Rishi Kapoor (dressed in all-white) “Bhagwaan”. And you know what, angels were also bitching in heaven. 😛

Mary Poppins was a musical that made Walt Disney pictures. TPTM has a song that traces Indian history while angel teaches kids about history of Indian struggle. Another song that you must have a lot about being for adults. But that song too had chaotic and confusing moments. I was wondering why would an angel resort to childish, destructive route? I was just confused what director was thinking, not that I care.

My friend who accompanied me to movie predicted that there would be cartoons, well, there were. Not as good as those in Hum Tum. I have like Kunal Kohli’s earlier work like Hum Tum (so- so) and Fanaa, but now I think he is one of overrated directors.

For lack of anything better than yawning, I ogled at Saif’s wardobe. He looked dashing in few scenes. To clarify, I am not a big Saif fan, but I recognize that he is a good actor, gets into the skin of the character.

I don’t know if kids liked it. But a good kid movie can entertain adults too. Harry Potter is watched and read enthusiastically by adults too. There is Baby’s Day Out, Ice Age, Simpsons, Spiderman, Superman and thousands more. If we adults stop enjoying kid movies, I think its time Film Censor board rolled out a “K” certificate, meaning “for kids only”.

Rating: 2/5

Movie Quirks: Meme

Nita has tagged me to write 10 movie quirks about me.

1. I first went inside a movie theater when I was 16. Too late, wasn’t it? My first movie was Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya. I was mesmerised with sheer experience of watching a movie in theater. 🙂 Since then Kajol has been my favorite actress. No matter what she did, I have liked her.

2. When I was younger, I used to like SRK because he could emote so well with eyes. It was also a time when I could not decide whom I liked better: George Clooney or Brad Pitt. I am no longer a ardent admirer of any actor (if you discount my wee bit soft corner for Kajol). With every performance, my opinion about the actors changes. But I must admit, have liked most of the male actors at one point or the other.

3. The movie-watching activity is completely captivating experience for me. I prefer to watch with rapt attention, without any interruptions. I don’t even need a popcorn. I do not even pay attention to a crying baby or a talking couple unless they are too loud.

Top 10 Movies of 2007: Part II

This post is in continuation of the my list of best movies of 2007 . The first part of the post listing my top 5 movies can be read here.

6. Bheja Fry: A tickling movie made on a shoestring budget of 50 lakhs. (50 lakhs is, by no means, shoestring to me though). I watched this movie in my most overworked, stressed period at work. It was the only free day I had, and I had laughed away my mounting hill of stress by simply watching this movie. 🙂 Full marks to Vinay Pathak for playing such an endearing, funny fool.

7. Gandhi, My Father: A story about Father of Nation’s personal life that most Indians must be unaware of. Story is from the point of view of Harilal, who has to live up to the expectations of a great man, Gandhi.

Top 10 Movies of 2007: Part I

Here is long-pending personal list of my favorite movies of the year. This list strictly comprises of the movies I had the opportunity to watch.

1. Chak De India: Country spirit goes first. This movie made a hero out of an unheard man whose story it told: Mir Ranjan Negi. To think of, this actually happens in modern India. We badly belittle players when they lose. We easily brand them as traitors, uncaring of truth. This movie questioned our idea of patriotism, gender biases we have and our fixation of cricket.

We were gently reminded that Hockey is our National sport. The movie not only defined team spirit for us, it gave us wonderful actors as Chitrashi Rawat (Komal), Tanya Arbol (angry Punjabi girl Balbir) and Shilpa (Bindya Nayak).

I went to watch Chak De India without any expectations. It turned out to be wonderful. Here was a movie that shunned all rules of Bollywood: no melodramatic tear-jerkers, no song-dance drama, no romance. Simply told a good story of triumph in face of failure.

8 Random Facts About Me

Ruhi tagged me to write 8 random facts about me:

1. I am a wannabe movie director. Secretly, I desire to make it big there. 🙂 My kind of movies are Kabul Express, Bheja Fry, Dil Chahta Hai, Rang De Basanti, Forrest Gump. (Feel free to criticize them) 😛

I also have a post graduate degree in mass communication and journalism. I gave up an offer of working in a leading Indian TV channel due to nightly work hours. I try to feed journalist in me by writing about issues I would have as a journalist. I love my work as an Instruction Designer. I bet most Indians do not know what it is. We primarily work for clients abroad. Google the term or write a comment, me gonna help you understand. 🙂

2. I realized, recently, that I can be very rude when it comes to it. My Dad and one of my friends are two people capable of bringing out the worst in me. 😦 One person I feel instantly guilty after being angry with is my sister. She is so lovable.

3. I love my company, I like being alone. Yet I cannot shop alone. I need someone with me to guide me through: to tell me how a dress looks or to give me more shopping ideas that I can use.

4. I am a coward on inside. I discovered this, years ago, while playing a computer game. In the game, you have to break the walls, using bombs, to navigate . At each level, there are worms you have to combat. I would always take “flight” approach instead of “fight.” Once I realized this inwardly, I went on to bomb all the worms and cleared all the levels with top scores.

In real life, I consciously push myself to do all difficult things that excite me. I jumped from a high cliff into deep Ganges, climbed rocks (rappling) and rafted across Ganges. You would say, no big deal. But it was a big deal, if you looked at my group of friends who spent at least 15 minutes on cliff top to decide if they should jump. I was scared too, but did not brood much. To the surprise of my friends, I went up and asked them to make space for me to jump. My friend looked up in surprised and asked, “you sure?” In his words, before he could turn back and see, I had jumped! 🙂 That was how cliff-jumping kick-started for others. Though one of the friends hurt herself (not very seriously) as she landed improperly in the water.

But I am still scared of childbirths, stitches, fractures, and surgeries. I have Angst-o-phobia.

5. I have never cooked before in my life-except some occasional rice or chapatis. These days, because my grandparents are away, I am staying alone. I have cooked several Indian dishes like paneer, rajma, chane. Sometimes they taste real good, and sometimes there is some mistake. Like too much oil in paneer, one time forgot that chana was still boiling. They burnt at the bottom. 😦

I am throughly enjoying my cooking experience. There is creativity involved in cooking as well. Yet I think, when I start my family, and if I cook everyday for my whole brood after work, I may have to sacrifice my other interests as reading, writing, movies. Uh, I don’t want to sacrifice these, I need to find a balance later when it comes to it.

6. I used to have photographic memory at school. I just had to see something once, I would remember it forever. Perhaps that is why I academically excelled all through school without slogging a bit. But now I have poorest working memory. I hardly remember anything. Several ideas that I think I can blog or write about get lost everyday due to my forgetfulness. I can never state my daily diary. Yet I remember some things that happened long back. I am yet to figure out for myself how my memory works currently. Sometimes, extent of my forgetfulness scares me. Could it be more?

7. I am perhaps the most choosy in the world when it comes to food. The list of what I do not eat is too long. I am a vegetarian, I do not even eat onion and garlic. That rules out any Chinese, Thai or Japanese cuisine I may want to eat.

I am not even Coke or Pepsi fan. I drink them very rarely. There are very few sweets I eat. But I love spicy junk food like Tikki, alloo chat, alloo kabli (a dish with spiced up boiled potatoes found in Bengal) or bhelpuri.

8. I feel I am the most misunderstood person on this earth. 90% of the people in my life may not have the accurate perception of me. I do not blame them. I react and deal with different people differently. For one I am very introvert, for other I am like granny, I am very bossy for other, I am quarrelsome, I am softie. I think I don’t know myself. I just react by the instinct. Some believe I am very wise, some think I am lethargic (and they are right 🙂 ).

I have to figure out for myself, which of them is essentially me.

I tag Dinsan, ManofRoma, Amit, Pradeep and Melani for this meme in case they want to. 🙂 Anyone else who wants to do this meme is welcome.