Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

I can't say how good the movie is. It is simply superb.

I had goosebumps listening to this song.



The movie is so corny, so bathetic, so fluffy, in fact, so un-macho (you will get the drift if you have watched the movie). But still it seems the movie has seeped into each part of my body.

Such is the magic.

The real Ghajini

The first Theatrical Trailer of Ghajini is out.

Ghajini Trailer

I was so enceinte with expectancy that for a few moments, I had forgotten what Ghajini was all about. Perhaps I had made a mistake. No sooner had the trailer rolled out than the reality was revealed to me.

I was again reminded or reaffirmed that Ghajini is a copy of Memento. A few scenes, most of the dialogues, cinematography, bloody even photography, seem to have been taken directly out of Memento. Aamir Khan, sorry about being captious. But this is not on. If it would have been anyone else, I would have taken a different view. But it is you, damn it. I hope your movie is not a blatant pilferage, because I won't be able to watch it then.

Your question, ‘Why am I so fretful about this plagiarism, when every 'Wood' in this world copies another?’ I am uneasy, because it assaults Memento-one of the most wonderful movies ever made. First, you may defile its sanctity by hijacking its originality and second, in the process, you may lose out to Guy Pearce, and I consider you the best in the world. Hope you prove me wrong on both the counts.

What am I writing? I myself don't know. I always knew it is a copy, advertised as a sincere Indian avatar of Memento. But after watching the trailer, I feel so ...... ( I am not getting the right word).

Distant Clones

Comparisons are inevitable, if the protagonists are so strikingly similar. Bollywood and Hollywood might be poor and distant cousins, but their thespians aren’t. Haven’t you wondered about Amitabh while watching Al Pacino perform, or seen Aamir’s fineness in each and every Tom Hanks’ sculpted movie. While these are the most obvious ones, some have been keenly observed ones too, like that between Akshay Khanna and Ben Cussack, Akshay Kumar and John Trovolta. I couldn’t help adding one of my own, even though the actors concerned aren’t very high-profile ones. I am talking about Abhay Deol and Mark Ruffalo. I don’t know why but I like them so much. Perhaps I am endeared because of their non-performance, exhibited in their innocence and sinlessness on the screen.

I watched Abhay Deol first in ‘Socha Na Tha’. Paired with Ayesha Takia, another cherubic faced cutie, he had delivered an instantly disarming performance. His ‘Ek Chalis Ki Last Local’ was another very goody performance. But his real knock-out punch was in ‘Manorma-Six Feet Under’ where he exhibited the perplexed character in many tones with aplomb. These movies never made to the permanence of the audience, but I think he was superb in all of them. Hopefully his new movie ‘Oye Lucky ! Lucky Oye’-already having earned promising reviews- will win him some deserved admirers.

Mark Ruffalo has adopted more ruggedness in his roles now-a-days, but my first view of his was in a very sweet fluffy movie-’13 Going on 30’. It remains one of my favourites, mostly due to the sheer undertoned chemistry bewteen Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner. The way he portrayed his distanced but honest love towards his lady was so real. His other movies, ‘In the Cut’, ‘Zodiac’, and ‘The Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind’ throw him in graver roles, but his inner character retains the same softness.

They themselves might not believe that they are similar in any way, but they would indeed agree that they are what now are by their common simple appeal only. No wonder, if anyone else too feels vicarious about them.

Miss in the remix

We were watching the movie 'Naseeb' on Zee Arabia. The dazzling Hema Malini stepped on the floor, and started crooning the memorable 'Mere Naseeb Mein Tu Hai Ki Nahin ....'. My friend immediately gushed, 'Yeh Is Film Ka Gaana Hai' (This song is from this movie?). The sense of bewilderment was very much palpable on his face. And it would have been on most of ours, because in an age of Remixed Songs, we have somewhere missed their origins.

It is not a crime not to be aware of the original songs, but it is definitely less musically-sousing if we can't compare the new-age Remixes with the old-charmed master copies. I can tell you this because I felt that completeness only when I watched the original of one of my favourite songs.

1> Koi Sehari Babu

I like this song, more so because of the saucy and raunchy 'Reshma Bombaywala'. But when I watched 'Mumtaz' performing altogether differently on this song, I was reminded of the song's vivacity. Really, an exquisite dance by the incomparable 'Mumtaz'. Watch it ....

Remix:-




Original:-



2> Sajna Hai Mujhe

Another instance, where the Remix version outscores the original one on the glamour front, but the pure love is exhibited in the original one only.

Remix:-



Original:-

Sajna Hai Mujhe

3> Ek Pardesi Mera Dil Le Gaya

Sophie was very famous amongst us when the Remix Song had come out in the market. Not hard to guess why, just watch her intoxicating sexy moves. But also watch the original Black and White version.

Remix:-



Original:-



4> Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon

Who doesn't know this song? Unique for its nasal vocal rendering, it is a class in itself. Both the Remix and Original versions are equally enchanting.

Remix:-



Original:-



5> Mere Naseeb Mein

Finally the song from which it all started. The original song fitted the story line of the movie perfectly, but the Remix version too has a likable set-up built.

Remix:-



Original:-



There are lots of other remixed songs too, and the new ones keep coming incessantly. It is not good to outlaw them as crass, just to look puritan. But as said above, it makes a hell lot of difference if we are able to symphonize the purpose in both.

Choreography to beat

The song is revving, but not peerless. But buoy, the choreography is non-pareil. It has been 10 years now, but it still give me goosebumps which no other dance routine, except Thriller's, can give.

Shooting into the top

If it is so good, then it has to be seen. After watching Spiderman-III last year, I had developed an instant anathema for these super hero movies. Much to my chagrin though, these sorts of movies continue to jingle coins at the box-office. The prime examples are IronMan, and the recently released Hancock. So, when Dark Knight was mentioned and introduced to me as another Batman movie by one of my friends, I greeted it with another shrug-of-shoulders thing.

But it somehow kept appearing everywhere-print, media, discussions. And when I saw its profile in imdb, I was gob smacked. Number 3 in all-time movie rankings ! You are kidding. Oh my God, it has actually reached Number 1.Either people must be dumb or Dark Knight must be truly outlandish. For me, no movie can match the magic of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. So, if it is so good, it must be more magical. My rankings fixation aside, the movie has actually received some beyond-this-world reviews. Ah!

So, I am gonna watch it now. But the problem is I haven’t watched previous Batman movies. When I searched, I found that there is a serious backlog to be completed. So, Mr Knight, you will have to wait for some more nights; and if you are so good, moon must be blue that night.

A song has haunted me

I have been listening to this song continually since yesterday. And really I had no intention of doing it, but somehow got hooked to it. I was just youtubing some songs by Rihanna, when I stumbled across a song ‘Take a Bow’ re-sung by some ‘Sheena Melwani’. I didn’t know her; probably you too wouldn’t have.

But curious to watch the song as it was on the top of the list, I buffered it in a new tab: the girl was beautiful, the song lilting, and the voice musically melodious. I searched more, and wow-I had just heard the voice of the Internet. Follow this URL:-

http://sheenamelwani.com/

An Indian-American singer, another first among the ubiquitous engineers and doctors, she had taken to Internet to reach out to the people worldwide. And indeed, she has succeeded to a great extent. In just first 7-8 months, her songs have received many million views on different sites, but more importantly, lots of rave reviews, appreciation and offers. Now, that is something to start on a career one loves dearly. And I did ‘take a bow’.

And searched more about her... I then reached the song, ‘Bad Grammar’ on her MySpace profile. Though not originally song by her, she has lent an incredible voice to it. Her two original songs, ‘Crazy Place’ and ‘Wonderful Life’ too are mellifluous. Since then I have been listening to them, more devotedly to ‘Bad Grammar’. Oh, I gotta leave now; the song needs a re-hit on the ‘Play’ button.

Pathos of worst kind

It has been a very bad movie-watching phase for me in the last few days. I have watched a few movies more than I normally do, but unfortunately they all have been trash-kinds.

The first one was ‘Dan in Real Life’ which I watched during my flight from Munich to Chicago. A Steve Carell movie, the first of his that I probably watched, it was another a-lonely-man’s romantic life perspective. There has been a surfeit of these kinds of movies in Hollywood, but still if put in a refreshing way, ala Sleepless in Seattle, can be really worth watching. ‘Dan in Real Life’ was painfully slow, its only saving grace being the suaveness of Steve Carell.


The next week, I watched ‘The Strangers’ in a theater. Touted as a very chilling horror movie by my accompanying friend, it was another let-down of massive kind. It did have its striking moments, drawing gasps and screams from the viewers including me. But in the end, you felt unconnected to the whole set-up. Three psychos lurking around a house and brutally killing a couple: the story deserved more than this. Where have the genuine unobtrusive scary movies gone?


To continue on the scary genre, I watched ‘The Happening’ of M Night Shyamalan fame the next day. Being a reputed director of Indian origin, he is naturally held in high regards by all of us. He started off very well, with his ‘The Sixth Sense’ undoubtedly moving in the pantheon of unforgettable cinema. But he has tapered off since then, and with ‘The Happening’, it seems, he has hit the nadir. The story revolving around trees emitting toxic gases leading humans to kill themselves, had ample novel scope to make the movie a classic. But I don’t know what he made of it. Sometimes, the movie felt like a comedy. And I am not alone; just go around the movie-forums for the proof.


How much things can go bad? Not worse. To challenge it, I watched a low-profile movie, the 13th Alley, which was simply a non-descript even on the list of movies being shown in the theater. We two along with another idiot, i.e. three in total, watched the movie, and needless to say, it broke all the records for squalor. I don’t want to talk more about it.


So, that is the story till now. After taking a break, I will start afresh and watch the classics only now, at least for a few days. They have forgotten to make movies now-a-days. Anybody listening?

Nobody can beat Lataji

It is true; Lata Mangheshkar is the best singer India has produced. Now-a-days she doesn't sing that often, so her poor pretenders to the throne rule the roost. But still if competed with them, she will win hands down. In fact, one of her fellow compatriots had commented on her voice, "Saali kabhi besuri hi nahin hoti"

I have a strong liking for melodies, and in fact, it is the only genre that holds me now. There is such a wide array of such beautiful songs sung by her that it is almost hard to pick the best. But I like the song embedded below the most. It is a wonderful lyrical song picturised on the ever-gracious and beautiful Vidya Sinha. Simply outstanding!

The Narnian Wonder World

The Chronicles of Narnia-I is an amazing film. I watched it now only because I wanted to watch the sequel-Prince Caspian, which has received rave reviews worldwide. It is by no means a children’s film only, and even if it is, why this long-held distanced opinion about movies catering to children’s delight? They are far better than movies replete with sex and violence.

The movie is really a fantasy world story where a witch has ruled over the land of Narnia for many years. The totalitarian rule unleashed by the self-appointed queen has turned the once-beautiful land into a veritable icy zone. There is a great lion, Azlan, who the people look up to help them overturn the queen’s oppressive rule. But according to a prophecy, the victory can not be achieved without the help of four humans; and these four humans are four children protagonists in the movie.

The children are lovely too, the cutest – Lucy. They all are different emotive beings so reminiscent of our own characters. There is one solicitous but domineering character; another one wanting to establish his own against him; a girlish morally-bossy one; and a refined pure kiddy soul. They experience a very similar nature of their original world–the fight of evil against good- in the land of Narnia, and despite their initial reluctance, join forces with Azlan to fight and defeat the witch. A lovely sleep-time story, but told in a visually spectacular way. The scenic beauty rendered on the screen is instantly captivating.

Hollywood movies are masters in telling stories just through their stills and music. Bollywood, for its hearty self, has never wanted to excel on storyline and technological refinement. Hope they learn these good aspects. And no offence from me, at least, in aping movies like Chronicles of Narnia, for they are refreshing treats to eyes and heart. I really wanna watch the second part now.

Dogs of War

With my wonted way of browsing the Internet intermittently during office hours, I opened the rediff site to have a look at the headlines. Below the top 5-6 news items, there was this line - ‘Shahrukh licking at my feet’, glaringly conspicuous with its content. Rediff had succeeded….

It is no news at all if a dog licks at someone’s feet. But if the dog happens to be ‘Shahrukh’ and its owner, ‘Aamir’, then it is a news of the most deviant and sensational kind, especially if it comes directly from the horse’s mouth – the mouthpiece blog of Aamir Khan. I too was taken aback by reading the news and had an immediate doubt over its veracity. I opened the blog which I am a regular reader of. But the site was down, further lending credence to the arresting and instantly abominable words written by Aamir. Anyway, I read it in the night after office hours, and the words were literatim as in the news article on the rediff website.

At that point of time, I didn’t know how to react. Aamir had just written something which he always stood against – to take media leverage to promote himself in a cheap way. It immediately struck discordant notes among his die-hard fans, me included, as was evident from the trenchant comments underneath that blog item, ‘Settlers of Panchgarhi’. The news might be exactly true that the previous owner of the house which Aamir bought in Panchgarhi had named his dog after Shahrukh in reverence. But to mention it in public with such gibing ways was an absolute low-kind affair from Aamir. I know it looked so tasteless because it came from the most unexpected person. Probably we all are reading too much into it. May be Aamir wrote all this in his usual whacky jest, but I can’t believe that he didn’t know that this would create a furore. Media are having a field day already, and here is I believe Aamir too succeeded ….

Before the release of TZP, Aamir had stirred a hornet’s nest by calling ‘Black’ an insensitive film and taking on ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ openly ( a favourite past time for all now). He did manage to get a high-falutin spotlight on his movie. Right now, his new home production movie, ‘Jaane Tu’, is getting released in a few days. Is he wielding the same tactics? I am indeed cynical, pardon me for that.

My ‘over the top’ - to use his favourite phrase to lambaste AB’s acting in Black – reaction gets more justified for me because it places him in the same loathsome zone as SRK’s. And I don’t like it, if it involves my real-life heroes. Aamir is still my favourite because he is the best. Nobody can take that spot on the pedestal. But Aamir, you should understand, there is more to it that meets the eyes, the eyes that look up to you for every act.

Bollywood becoming dead

It might not be true. But going by the recent happenings, it definitely seems true. No major Bollywood releases, no major news. It seems to be very cold out there in the tinsel town … because everyone wants to cash in the moolah. Leave aside the franchise owners, SRK and Preity-they have the genuine right to promote their team, but what about the others? They too in one way or the other have got associated with the monster, IPL.

Shahrukh Knight Riders
Preity Punjab Kings
Hrithik Mumbai Indians
Akshay Delhi Daredevils

It was really incongruous to see Akshay Kumar commentating on the Delhi v Jaipur game, with the regular commentator, Tony Cozier not sure what to ask from him. Hrithik Roshan is doing promotional ads for Mumbai team. SRK brings in his whole coterie of chums to watch and cheer his team. Then who the damn is making films. Aamir Khan ? Hhh, he does far too few films to get distracted. I am craving for a good Bollywood movie to come out, so that I can devote my hard-found precious time now-a-days to something refreshing.

PS- A knee-jerk reaction to my frustration of not having any good Hindi movie to watch right now. My Internet connection too has become very slow in the last few days, sob, sob :(

Awards of Justice

B.o.l.l.y.w.o.o.d ! Unravelled at the Filmfare Awards !

Really ?

Think again, Bollywood ravelled at the Film Unfair Awards !

This is what is being discussed in the Bollywood forums right now. People questioning the authenticity of the given awards , outnumber those actually appreciating it.

Surprisingly, I belong to the latter category, as I have been a vocal critic of the FilmFair Awards since the time I realised what awards mean in life. I appreciate the organizers and jury this time around, because they have shown an inkling of sanity in awarding the deserving candidates. Yes, I call it sanity because the past experiences have only exhibited extreme tomfoolery by them. It was like rubbing my palms in frustration, read anger, on watching the nepotism, read wrongness, going out there in the farcical opera on the stage. I was not alone ….

And so the debate continues.

While some of this debate stems from the fanaticism towards a particular individual or a cult, some is the outcome of the growing realization and discernment of the deserving candidates by the general public. Deserving candidates were there in the past too …..

Despite my new-found fondness for Shah Rukh Khan, I can not uphold the numerous awards bestowed upon him in the past. The case that still rankles me is his ‘Best Actor Award’ for Dil to Pagal Hai. How could you, my dear jury, for such a flat performance brodering on nausea; and how could you distribute the ‘Black Ladies’ as if they were the groceries for the same family. A good performance on one count in a film doesn’t guarantee the greatness of other aspects too in the film. So, the Best Film shouldn’t get Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Song.…keep on reading…. by sheer default. Sadly it happened umpteenth times in the nineties. It makes the other bigger half of Bollywood redundant and dispirited. An award is the paragon of excellence, and nobody knows its importance more than he or she holding it after years of toil. But what if it remained clinged to the same hand over the years?

That’s why I am more than happy with the distribution in the last few years, particularly this year, as they have tried to break that deplorable and detrimental monopoly. Johnny Gaddar – a movie of small budget- found a nomination and won it, while a child actor actually got the Best Actor award, even if Critics. The year’s small starrers like Bheja Fry, Gandhi My Father, Life in a Metro etc. had nominations and wins too. The top four awards were shared to almost different movies based on relevance and quality.

All was not well, but ‘all promises well, if it starts well.” I am giving the list of the winners, and try fitting a member from the biggest blockbuster of last year, ‘Om Shanti Om’, in each of the categories. If you are able to do so, you would have solved this riddle or mystery, whatever you call, of the FilmFare Awards in the nineties.

Filmfare Best Actor - Shahrukh Khan (Chak De India)

Filmfare Best Actress - Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met)

Filmfare Best Film - Taare Zameen Par

Filmfare Best Director - Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)

Filmfare Critics’ Award For Best Actor - Darsheel Safary (Taare Zameen Par)

Filmfare Critics’ Award For Best Actress - Tabu (Cheeni Kum)

Filmfare Critics’ Award For Best Film - Shimit Amin (Chak De India)

Filmfare Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) - Irrfan Khan (Life in a… Metro)

Filmfare Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) - Konkana Sen Sharma (Life in a… Metro)Filmfare Best Lyrics - Prasoon Joshi (Maa - Taare Zameen Par)

Filmfare Best Playback Singer (Male) - Shaan (Jab Se Tere Naina - Saawariya)

Filmfare Best Playback Singer (Female) - Shreya Ghosal (Barso Re - Guru)

Filmfare Best Music Director - A. R. Rahman (Guru)

Filmfare Best Story - Amol Gupte (Taare Zameen Par)

Filmfare Best Screenplay - Anurag Basu (Life in a… Metro)

Filmfare Best Dialogue - Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met)

Filmfare R. D. Burman Award - Monty Sharma (Saawariya)

Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award - Rishi Kapoor

Filmfare Power Awards - Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra

Filmfare Best Debut (Male) - Ranbir Kapoor (Saawariya)

Filmfare Best Debut (Female) - Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om)

Filmfare Best Special Effects - Red Chillies Entertainment (Om Shanti Om)

Sony Head N Shoulders Fresh Face of the Year Award - Deepika Padukone

Filmfare Best Background Score - A. R. Rahman (Guru)

Filmfare Best Editing - Amitabh Shukla (Chak De India)

Filmfare Best Choreography - Saroj Khan (Barso Re Megha Re - Guru)

Filmfare Best Action - Rob Miller (Chak De India)

Filmfare Best Art Direction - Samir Chanda (Guru)

Filmfare Best Sound - Leslie Fernandes (Johnny Gaddaar)

Filmfare Best Cinematography - Sudhip Chatterjee

Filmfare Best Costumes - Sujata Sharma (Gandhi My Father)

This Ain't Just A Moniker !

Film folklores are very much a part of cinema, and they are what keep adding excitement and spice to the whole current story. No wonders then that we keep reciting lines from DCH or DDLJ. Hey, hold on ! What is DDLJ by the way? Ah! What a buffon! Isn’t DDLJ itself a folklore?

It is indeed, and the whole story about it rests on the shoulders of these four letters-DDLJ. ‘Dilwahe Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge’ – however charming or kitschy the name might be, it doesn’t contain the same aura or power as this acronym. Of course, ‘DDLJ’ is a result of the former, and not the other way round. But people would agree that if it would not have been for this smaller brother, the movie would not have become as indelible as it is now.

Circa 1996, and I too had got amused when I had heard this for the first time. The movie was making great waves amongst the teenagers, and this name had the same romantic feeling attached to it. It was uttered with the a Casanovic effect amongst our group. That was the time for many changes in Indian Cinema, and it also heralded the coming of these sobriquets.

Bollywood, prior to that, didn’t have long names for its movies, so this naming exercise was unheard of. Since then there has been a deluge of these long-drawn names, and hence these sweet nicknames.Even when the name doesn’t warrant that, it has become a fad to shorten it. And why not, because ‘size does matter’. DJ in RDB is not the same as ‘Daljeet Singh’ in ‘Rang De Basanti’.

So, which have been the most emphatic monikers till now? For me, DDLJ leads the pack, closely followed by DCH and K3G. Some of these appellations have been forced ones like K2H2 and KHNH, and so don’t have that star appeal. Also, I feel three lettered monikers have a better alluring effect, such as SRK,SRT, PPR (my name, of course) etc. In extension to all this happening in Bollywood, it might soon become a craze in Hollywood too. Long being derided as copycats, we might become a donor of this weird naming mania. In future, we might be watching POTC-IV, and not the Pirates of the Caribbean- IV.

The Shah Rukh Mania

It is almost surreal for me to see a Bollywood star being revered like God by the western world. But that exactly happened at the Berlinale festival where Shahrukh Khan, the king of Bollywood, was thrown a red-carpet welcome, which he would not have expected or got even in his home country.

SRK, as his famous appellation goes, has been famous from the stretches of desert in Saudi Arabia to the populous world as far as Philippines. But his mania in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and especially Europe has really grown as never before. It is still not of that proportion as that of some of the Hollywood stars. But gauge it considering the fact that he belongs to a region which doesn't speak the same language as theirs ; his culture is far different to theirs in almost every conceivable aspect; and far more than that, he is a brown man, long being held in low light by if not all, then undeniably by some myopic Westerners.

Have a look at the following craze generated upon his arrival at the festival:-

SRK at Berlinale

As per the report, the crowd was half Asian and half non-Asian. His growth of stardom in Germany has a small story behind it. It all started with the screening of his movie 'Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham' on a prime television channel there back in 2005. The Germans had never seen or experienced such emotions erupting out of every possible relation, be it father-son, husband-wife or brotherly. They were instantly moved, despite the fact that they watched it with English subtitles or dubbed in German. Since then his popularity has grown very much, almost to the extent that he is more German than Indian for them.

In return, SRK is also very much appreciative of the fans. His felicity with the words is very well-known, but he was at his suave best at the interview done to promote his film 'OSO' at the Berlinale.

All credit to Shahrukh for making the world his own, but it should also open the eyes of the persons related to Indian movies towards the uncapped Western world market. What we have provided them is a trifling of what we can. There is a plethora of untasted things ready to be lapped up by them. Only if we leave our inferiority-complex and low-attitude about our movies, and promote them there as well as we do in India. Above all, it won't harm much in promoting India as well, will it?