6 Movies in one-and-a-half Months

Inscribed by Hariharan

Its been a long time that I posted … There have been more than one occasions that I almost started writing, but just didn’t seem to be in the right mood … So I thought that I would do it in the right frame of mind so that the post is not half-baked.

No guarantees that this one will not be a half-baked one !! Nonetheless worth a try …

I am not going to post about my loneliness in Pune in the absence of my wife. I am not going to blog about my work or my company. What I am going to blog about is a bunch of movies that I saw to kill time (I have lot of time) here in Pune.

The First one I saw was Guru within two days of my landing up in Pune. It was a pretty nice movie I thought. Story of Dhirubhai Ambani - So you don’t really go in there with expectation of drama, mystery, climax etc. It’s a story that is told so it just goes like ----------- that. No huge ups and downs in the story. But definitely great performance by everyone in the movie. Abhishek and Aishwarya were really good. Amazing performance by Mithun‘da’. Also Maddy and Vidya (as gorgeous as ever) were also good. Though Vidya had hardly a role in there. Songs are really good. One interesting song is the Cabaret number (Maiya Maiya) where they blend the best of Middle East and Gujarat together. Only ARR has the capacity and talent to do that. In all, “a great entertainer”.

After that I saw three more in a weeks time. Traffic Signal, Black Friday, Blood Diamond and Eklavya.

Traffic Signal: Madhur Bhandarkar’s third movie to complete his trilogy - Page 3, Corporate and now this. I have seen Page 3 but not Corporate. I liked page 3. I also like it. But there is this aspect of Madhur Bhandarkar that he shows reality, right – but there is a tinge of exaggeration in it. That gives you a feeling “it was good … but” feeling at the end of the movie. The same happened for Page 3 and also happened with Traffic Signal.

The movie really exposes the “Beggar’s Scandal” really well. It does that in a way that exposed aspects that one never knew about/ imagined. (Like ppl collecting Mobiles from debris of the Mumbai Bomb Blast). The first half of the movie went in introducing the number of characters in the movie, and I was wondering how the hell is he going to link them all and make a story about it. But in the end he does well to weave a story around them in the second half. And as he did in Page 3, he closes the movie at a note which tends towards the positive. Actors did a good job but I felt some of them went a bit over board and overacted. So as I said earlier, it has this “it was good … but” factor.

Black Friday: The movie was impeccable. What I like about the movie is that its true in all sense. The names are all actual. Memon … Dawood … Bal Thakarey … LK Adwani. All actual names used no masking no shielding. The truth shown is true based on extensive research. Sometimes so true that it makes you feel bad. The character ‘Dawood’ looks so real in the movie. The scene where he is shown first time is amazing. The movie overall takes a very ‘neutral’ standpoint and shows the event (93 Blasts) in different people’s perspectives. Everyone’s acting is “A-one”. Its definitely the kind of movie that would win loads and loads of awards.

Blood Diamond: A very beautiful movie on a very different subject – Conflict Diamonds. I didn’t know what it was until I saw the movie. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. The movie shows how a piece of stone can become more valuable than people’s lives, how false demand is created for diamond so that prices remain high. Performances of Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou was amazing. Truly the “Oscar winning” movie.

Eklavya: Again one very good movie. Lot of people didn’t like it, but I liked it probably because of the way I approach a movie. When I see movies, I go in with no expectation whatsoever so that I am able to see what the director wants me to see without any prejudices. Great cinematography because of which Rajasthan comes alive. Great performances by Amitabh and Saif. Vidya, as usual, looks beautiful. Small performances by Jackie, Sanjay etc but the central roles revolve around Amitabh and Saif. A simple story about a royal family is portrayed beautifully in Eklavya.

Then after a break of a week I saw the movie that was much ‘hyped’ in Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM – Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. I must tell you that it was pathetic movie. I guess the director confused too many things in one movie, rather there was nothing in the movie except the songs. I loved the song and dance sequence of “Pyar ki ye kahaani sunoo” and Sajna Divaani vaari jaaon ji”. I liked the different characters in the movie but there was no ‘story’ and to make it weird there were “Super Humans” in the movie, seeing which I just psyched out. Yes, I am a pretty open minded person when it comes to seeing movies and I go to a movie with no expectation so that I am able to see what the director wants me to see, but this one went over the top and I couldn’t handle it.

So that makes it 6 movies in 1 and a half months (ie one a week). Pretty decent for a lonely guy. And I let Ghost Rider and Salaam-e-Ishk pass – some movies I don’t get the “feel” to watch at all. So I didn’t take the trouble.
Hope to see some more in the near future. Amitabh’s Nishabd, Spiderman 3, and much more coming up soon.