Aaja Nachley

Mads is back! And with a Big Bang! More... after I watch the movie :)

Now that I have seen the movie...

If you are a Madhuri fan, and love dance, then it's a must watch movie! There's no point talking a lot about the story line since there is nothing much to it. Yet this does deserves a brief outline at least. It's a very ordinary story of an NRI coming down to her home-town when she hears that her guru- who taught her how to dance, how to live, how to 'fly' -is dying and the theatre where they learnt dance is on the verge of destruction. She launches her battle against the land hungry politicians and businessmen who wish to replace the theatre with a swanky mall. Her challenge lies in getting the town folks to come up and participate in a dance drama 'Laila-Majnu' with the selection and preparation time being 2 months. No points for guessing that she does succeed in convincing them against several odds and emerges with an enthralling performance on the D Day and gets the demolition orders revoked.

So what's worth watching about the movie? Madhuri and her graceful movements :) She proves it once again with her comeback film that there is no match yet in Bollywood against her beauty and dancing skills. She beats any heroine half her age when it comes to expressions and her graceful 'latka-jhatkas'. You hardly notice her age in this movie where she mesmerizes you her acting skills and amazingly flexible and flowing movements. All in all it's an all Madhuri movie which enchants all her admirers leaving one wishing for more of her song and dance sequences.

Saawariya

An aesthetically made movie and a treat for the eyes. A true blue SLB style film which springs a certain element of surprise; very tastefully made to be appreciated only by really classy audience. The youthful charm and innocence of first love has been captured and brought forth to the viewers artistically.

Ranbir and Sonam have given praise-worthy performances despite the fact that they both are debutantes. Set in a dream city where a starry eyed boy comes and becomes the leader singer in RK club, which is in a way a tribute paid to the legendary Raj Kapoor and the umbrella only adds to it. Rani plays a prostitute, and as always she does her act with a lot of panache and conviction. The young man played by Ranbir sees a beautiful, lonely girl standing on a bridge played by Sonam, and instantly falls in love. What follows is a depiction of the myriad emotions experienced by him as he tries to absorb the fact that he has fallen in love and how he could go about expressing it to her. But to his disappointment he learns that she is love with a man whom she met a year ago and was waiting for him to return as he had promised. The subsequent change in his emotions and the flashes of jealousy that appears are only too realistic. A momentary flicker of hope lights up in his heart as her lover does not turn up at the promised hour and as she also begins to accept his love. Then there is the beautiful portrayal of the last moment of torture as she has to leave him for her lover who finally has arrived. This is a classic end.

A very easy way to dismiss the movie would be to call it boring, slow, dull, lifeless etc. But one does need to go beyond the outer facade and try and look deeper into the emotions and the artististic play of colours and design that has been successfully brought out. In my opinion this is a very different movie to be appreciated for it uniqueness and style and not for its 'entertainment quotient'.

Om Shanti Om

Om Shanti Om did not live up to its hype. The kind of interest generated by the promotions and aggressive marketing of the film only added to the disappointed. This films traces the film stars of Bollywood from the 1970s to the current date in 2007 through re-incarnation. Shahrukh Khan has been a big let down especially after a terrific performance delivery in Chak De! India.

Shahrukh plays Om-a junior artist of the 70s -who is in love with the lead lady of those times 'Shantipriya' played by Deepika. The twist comes when he gets to know that his lady love is secretly married to a film producer (Arjun Rampal) and is carrying his child too. The first half of the movie ends with the producer killing Shantipriya and Om also dying in an attempt to save her. Om is reborn as Om Kapoor, in short OK who is the super star of the millenium. He remembers his 'pichhla janm' through some twists of fate and vows to avenge the murder or his last birth's love. Now comes more 'masala' with Sandy- a Shantipriya lookalike- who helps him and it would do injustice not to mention the Shantipriya ghost who finally aids OK to kill the villain.

What's new about the movie? Nothing other than SRK's six-pack abs and Deepika Padukone and in my opinion both fail to create any charm! The only 'worth-watching' aspect of the movie were the two song sequences 'Dard-E-Disco' and 'Om Shanti Om' which has 31 stars featured. A dismal movie as compared to the high expectations that it had set.

Stardust

A nice and cute movie. I am not much into Hollywood so it would be really unfair on my part to try to critique it. I would say that Stardust is a really well made movie, complemented with great acting and good flow of the script. With mystical lands, magical powers, falling stars, kings, heirs and kingdoms, witches it is indeed a wholesome fairy tale style entertainer. If you like the fanatasy world then you must go for it.

Office office...

Office office 'khelna' is not a fun game. Especially when you presume that you will enjoy all the comforts of working in an IT organization but land up in quite the opposite situation! People say it's a goverment company like atmostphere and you can chill out.. cool it. But here you are all heated up. Ugh...

People 'busy' with all sorts of activities from certifications to 'increasing'one's knowledge online; that's a life one (read I) would love to live. But fortune... oh my fortune that had a ugly role to play. Destiny had other plans in store. Life became running around and trying to catch buses which never seem to arrive. Trying to get to office and back home which consumes more effort than the job in itself... well well.. that's an example of bad utilization of resources. And what more to add to this pitiable situation than the fact that all that glitters is not gold; physical appearances aren't the truest manifestation of health conditions!!

To add to this crowning glory is all the paperwork and formalities, which seem to be going in circles- a vicious one too. No one will do anything until a request is raised! And no one will accept a request from another's account. So how does one log into his own account without a password to retrieve which a request needs to be raised... Catch-22; what say?

Closing comment: Yeh hai life meri jaan...

Jab We Met

My first comment would be: a movie completely worth your time and money. Although the story presented is nothing unique, the script, the acting and the direction is really amazing resulting in one of the greatest entertainers of recent times. Shahid and Kareena are of shown to be of diametrically opposite characters with the former being serious and reserved and the latter a complete chatter-box and fun-loving person with evident streaks of immaturity. When Kareena misses her train, she forces Shahid to leave her till her home-town Bhatinda. What happens during the journey will leave you in splits. The later half of the movie loses its momentum for a while but somehow the audience will not lose interest since there is enough comedy interspersed even during seemingly serious situations. The end is quite predictable with the hero finally getting the heroine but their performance is truly commendable. This romantic comedy is a must watch - will really help you de-stress amidst a hectic schedule :)

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

Forewarning: Don't start forming ideas on my taste and choice of movies :)

Well now since I eventually ended up watching this movie, I guess I should give an honest opinion on it.

A very predictable sob-story - a cash strained family which forces the eldest child to choose a not so respectable means of earning-which has left very little to the actual event of the movie-watching. The only worth-watching aspect is Rani's and Konkona's acting. Being a predominantly woman-oriented movie there's hardly any role of the men and they are nothing more than show-pieces or rather support factors to complement the women's presence on-screen.

A different treatment of this oft-used theme was conspicuous when unlike in the olden days they harped on the 'laachari' and 'majboori' of the 'bechari' woman for choosing this profession, Rani doesn't offer any excuses, rather says that it was purely by chioce and a consciuos decision that she has opted to become an escort to earn money for her family. Another rather amusing scene was when she actually gets advice from a friend saying that she was not to be an ordinary call-girl but would be a sophisticated and expensive escort. Well well.. whatta training did she receive to get converted from a simple girl to a sophisticated and much sought after escort :)

Jokes apart the film hasn't received a mature handling which shows streaks of 'purana zamana' style tear-jerker movies which can get rather irritating for the present day multiplex audience. A very pertinent issue but presented in a rather amateurish manner which can hardly evoke any interest. After Parineeta most people certainly had high expectations from Pradeep Sarkar; but what a disappointment we had to suffer! Absolutely no excuses to watch this movie unless you are a die-hard Rani Mukherji fan.