A Shudh Review of Shudh Desi Romance

The latest Bollywood flick by Maneesh Sharma portrays the image of changing India or rather already changed India. Movie is about our young Generation who doesn't believe in the concept of Marriage. Marriage as they say in India is a Social Obligation. And who wants it today ? I don't think many.  Very few in India marry because of their own free will. Rest is family or social pressure.

The same Issue is reflected in the Movie. You want to Enjoy life , have fun, keep your self away from all the relationships which bind you in some way but at the same time you want someone to be there so that you don't feel lonely. You are always attracted to someone , but you don't want to give name to the relationship.

Liv in Relationships these days are becoming common thing in India but still its hard for some people to accept it and that too when people hide their original relationship to save their image. But as the saying goes : "No one Knows But Everybody knows". So no matter how much you are trying to save your image everything going to be out loud and clear. This is the message of the movie.

So if you are an orthodox person who doesn't believe in such relationships, the movie is not for you. Watch it if you want to enjoy the small funny games of couples in small towns, their concept of being free and open, away from all obligations.

Movie is good in terms Acting. All three actors : Sushant Singh Rajput ,  Parineeti Chopra and newcomer Vaani Kapoor have done a great job. But apart from all Rishi Kapoor as usual is best. Apart from that some of different side actors has delivered well in their role to give you a decent laugh.

Music is not exceptional but still good to enjoy. Overall a very nice watch and have handled the topic very well and Indeed this is how the Romance in small towns of India is. Only Romance. Pure Desi Romance.. !!..

Burfi Out of Oscars Race

So finally, the Oscars final list is out and as expected, India's official nomination in Foreign Film Category: Barfi is out of the race. To be frank I loved the Movie but always doubted its way to Oscars. Everyone is saying that Barfi shouldn't have been sent as a nomination at first place.

They believe that many of the scenes were copied from different Movies and hence Barfi has been rejected. For those people I would suggest to watch Departed(2006) which was the remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and won 4 Oscars.

Coming back to Barfi, which may not be the best but its nothing less than a good Oscar nomination either. Acting was perfect, picturization was good,story was nice and even the Music was also very good. What else do we look in a good Movie? 

Some also believe that either Pan Singh Tomar or Kahaani should have been sent as official nomination, but come on guys , don't you understand how our Indian authorities work. Pan Singh Tomar was based on real story which shows how bad our sport ministry is , which can't take care of its national level players properly and and because of which they are turning to dacoits or their life is getting ruined. We still need open minded people to face the bitter reality but sorry for now. They will keep eating the country like termite but they don't want the whole world to see the reality.

Kahaani could have been a great option but I don't know what made Indian Jury think about it as not an apt choice. Kahaani is wonderful combination of Mystery, politics,revenge. Anyway its over now.

Our Indian Directors are making great Movies these days and some of the low budget out of the box movies are also wonderful pieces. So I hope that before deciding anything Jury will consider them at least once in the list.

And finally here is the list of nine films in the race for Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language film which I would love to watch to know what make them best and different:

• “Amour” by Michael Haneke (Austria)
• “War Witch” by Kim Nguyen (Canada)
• “No” by Pablo Larraín (Chile)
• “A Royal Affair” by Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark)
• “The Intouchables” by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano (France)
• “The Deep” by  Baltasar Kormákur (Iceland)
• “Kon-Tiki” by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Norway)
• “Beyond the Hills” by Cristian Mungiu (Romania)
• “Sister” by Ursula Meier (Switzerland)

Immortals Of Meluha: Must Read Book

Amish Tripathi's Immortals of Meluha is a wonderful read and it is indeed a page turner. It has become one of the best-sellers in India and the book is the 1 part of the series released in the name of "The Shiva Trilogy". The 3rd part is yet to be released, but you buy the first 2 parts from any online store. 
The 2 parts which are already in book stores are:

1. The Immortals of Meluha 
2. The Secret of the Nagas


About Shiva

Shiva a.k.a Mahadev is a Hindu deity, and is the Destroyer or Transformer among the Trimurti ( Brahma, Vishnu,Shiva) who are believed to be the balancing the entire universe. Shiva is regarded as the most powerful god as he is believed to have the power to destruct this whole universe. He is often depicted as immersed in deep meditation and In fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons.

About the Book

Amish Tripathi has used his imagination well and tried to portrayed Shiva as a man who has become Legend by his work or his karma and not because just it was written in our mythological books. And this books took you through that journey which made him that legend. 

Shiva is a tribal leader of the Guna tribe who are fighting everyday for survival from the hostile enemy who seem to surround them from all sides. Shiva is brave, smart, loves to relax by having chill-um (a pipe used for smoking cannabis.) and his fighting tactics are perfect. Then comes Meluha, the kingdom of Suryavanshis, the perfect society created by lord Ram and following his path to create a balanced society. Their citizens are well fed, contented and their kingdom is a perfect place to live. 

Shiva along with his tribe left his place and moved towards Meluha where he learns that he is destined to be the saviour of the Meluhans just because he has a blue throat ( which also gives him another name Neelkanth), and Suryavanshis were waiting eagerly for him to lead them in their battle against evil Chandravanshis. Suryavanshis believe that Chandavanshis are behind their holy liquid which is their power source and can keep them alive forever.

Now Shiva is expected to save them, but he needs to understand himself first. Is he really the one ? How can a foreigner wild tribesman can be a saviour of such a perfect society?  Is he destined for this? How the Chandravanshis are believed to be working along with Nagas who are dangerous and lethal. The book will take you to this wonderful journey which will keep unfolding new secrets as it proceeds.  

Characters

The characters and the roles are well drawn and nicely narrated and their description is well written which helps you to picture them perfectly like Nandi: Shiva's friend and his devotee, Daksha: the king of Suryavanshis, Sati: the bold and beautiful, Parvateshwar: A warrior who believes that only one's karma can make someone a legend, The Naga's who are tactful, poisonous and lethal fighters. 

Many more characters are there and you'll come to know them better once you read the book. Don't Read it only because it is a best-seller but because it is different from regular stuff and I bet you'll enjoy it. 

Barfi: Why you should watch it

There have been lot of reviews about Anurag Basu's latest piece: Barfi. To be frank there is nothing special in the movie which you will remember for long but on the other side there are many lovely small things which can make you laugh and cry at the same time. Its a movie about loving without limits and the best thing this movie teaches us is that your disability cannot stop you from loving someone.

Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are heart and soul of this movie. Although all the characters did wonderful but they both were carrying the movie so beautifully that you just feel like watching them the whole time. Its a story about a person who is deaf and mute from birth and a kind of happy go lucky person that everyone in the small city of darjeeling loves him like a darling.

Barfi(ranbir) plays, smiles, do pranks, irritates but still loved by all because that's what make others smile too. He proudly boast about himself and openly express his love to someone without making his disability as his barrier. He is not rich but he do enjoy the perfect sleep by putting his head on his dad's stomach which is the another best place to sleep in the world after your mom's lap. 

And then comes our lovely jhilmil played by Priyanka chopra who is autistic and is forced to live in away from her family in a day care just because people believe that autism is a kind of sickness. She is crazy and doesn't allow anyone to be touching her or coming near to her. She is an old childhood friend of barfi but since she also big girl now so her inner self pulls her towards being a women and that translation she plays is wonderful. Watch this movie for her beautiful face and hair and i bet you won't regret it.

Another character or i would rather say: the narrator of the story is Shruti played by Ileana D'Cruz, who fall in love with ranbir because he make her go crazy and he make her enjoy all the time. But as usual she is rich and Barfi is poor so she suppose to marry a rich and smart Boy she thought she is on love but after meeting ranbir she didn't felt so. And so even after marrying the other boy , her destiny keeps her pulling towards barfi because with him she is what she is. 

Another lovely thing about barfi is its music. Pritam has done a nice job and since the movie has not much dialogues so the music has done nicely to cover the moments for which words are not required.

Barfi is full of lovely moments with very innocent things like the ransom letter ranbir writes and spelling mistakes in the ransom letter is indeed beautiful and the last thing that barfi teaches you: "Who says love happens only once" is the moral of this movie. Go watch it for a simple laugh and brighten up your day.

Watch it for its simplicity, its acting and its Music.

We Bought a Zoo: Movie Review

Have you ever thought of buying a Home and turned up buying a Zoo? Sounds a bit weird? But its true and the true story is turned into a beautiful movie which can make you cry with tears of happiness. The simplicity of the characters portrayed in the movie is its best part and that's what makes it a good watch for all ages.

Its a story of Benjamin Mee(Played by Matt Damon), a writer, father and a Husband who is trying to start his life over after his wife died in an accident leaving him with his two kids, a beautiful daughter who as per my understanding is the smartest girl in the movie and a son who is not happy with him and they don't get along well with each other.


While searching for their new Home, they came across a place which they liked and it turned out to be a zoo which was struggling to keep up. So being an adventurous guy by nature he decided to buy the place and thought of reopening it by getting it renovated with the help of few people left in the staff who are trying to keep the Zoo alive.


Its one of those inspirational movie which really teaches you to go and live your dreams. Yes you will face difficulties and hurdles but you will get through eventually because you care and you are ready to fight for it.


Matt Damon has given one of the finest performance and that too in way which makes you feel totally connected to the movie because it seems so real.Scarlett Johansson(Kelly Foster) as a Zoo-keeper has also done a commendable job though the whole movie belongs to Matt demon.


The cutest character in the movie is Maggie Elizabeth Jones. Her character, "Rosie" as a seven year old who is so excited about moving into a Zoo and the way she walks and talks can beat any cutest girl in this Universe.


There's a scene where the Real-tor tells that the house they wanted to buy is also a zoo and Benjamin stood there dumbfounded, Rosie Jumped up and down shouting "Yay!" will make you burst into laughter and tears at the same time.


There's one another scene in movie where an Old Tiger Spar is suffering from pain and Scarlet tells Benjamin that you have to let the tiger go and its time for him to be free. He can no longer take the pain. He can't talk but he can show it to you that he is in pain but Benjamin was not accepting it and like from the time his wife left him, he was never able to come out of it. He kept clinging to the past and he was not letting it go. But sometimes you have to let it go and its a good decision to take sometimes for a better future and that's what movie teaches you.


There are more wonderful quotes which kept the movie alive like one is :

Benjamin Mee: You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

And Another one:

Kelly Foster: Talking to girls is easy. All you have to do is listen.

Although Movie is not that fast or any thing unexpected is there which keeps you excited about what will happen, but the simplicity of the characters is best about the movie. Its a nice watch with kids and your spouse and I bet you will cry once..


If you ever wanted to do something out of your day to day job and you need motivation, this is one stop for you. Enjoy...

Shanghai: Movie Review

Bollywood Directors are giving new Dimensions to Indian Cinema by delivering Pieces like Shanghai. And this time Dibakar Banerjee’s has done it too. Although It’s an adaptation of 'Z' (A 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos.), but the way it has been molded into Indian Political system is really commendable. It’s a political thriller, in which assassination of Dr. Ahemadi (Prosenjit Chatterji) turns the city of Bharatnagar into a boiling cauldron.

It portrays the bitter truth of land Grabbing System by Indian and Foreign MNC, with complete government support, in the name of development. So anyone who tries to stand against that system and speaks for the people, whose lands are being taken away from them without proper compensation, is bound to be assassinated.

The movie took it pace when enquiry commission is set up to investigate the real cause of death which was portrayed as an Accident. Abhay Deol, as an IAS officer Krishnan who initially was bouncing between the government pressure and truth, finally took the right side after he found new evidences related to the assassination, taking his career into Jeopardy.

Emraan Hashmi as Jogi, who is having a small scale photography business has indeed delivered one of his best performance. He is shown as normal person who is also enjoying the political show until his boss was killed while trying to provide the evidence against the assassination.

The lyrics of each of the songs are bold enough to stay in mind for some time. The songs talk about how bad things are and how our country is infected with dirty politics but still we praise about it.

While the movie depicts the depressing reality of Indian political system it also gives us a ray of hope that there are some people at that higher hierarchy who are concerned with condition of poor people and can fight for Justice. Though it’s very rare to find such persons as they end up being assassinated too.

It’s a power–thirsty nation who has the most corrupted politicians, trying to make us believe that they can create a Shanghai out of a small place like Bharatnagar, but they won’t let us know that how many lives has to be taken to achieve that. There is a Speech by Dr. Ahemadi in the movie which says that the same people will be seen as guards of the malls whose houses or lands are taken away from them in the name of development.

Overall, it’s a worth watch and also for the Movie freaks from other parts of the world, don’t let the language bound you from watching good Movies. Well for me at least it doesn’t’. I keep watching good movies, no matter what in what language they are (subtitles rocks.J ). So I’ll be happy if you can share some good foreign language titles.

Movie Review : Shaala (Marathi)

A Good Movie doesn't Stay at its place or in between few class of people because of its Language. It will find its way to its audience and that's how Shaala Came to me. I don't Understand Marathi but that didn't stopped me from Watching this Movie. Its a wonderful movie which takes you back to your old School Days. BTW Shaala means School and its about a story of Class 9 students who are from different backgrounds studying in a remote village and have a world to Win. Well nothing sort of winning the world in the Movie though but they have dream of Winning the heart of the Girl sitting in the next row atleast. 


A group of friends sitting on the top old ruined house or a road and passing comments can take you back to your old school days if you have done such crazy stuff. Stopping the person you love in the middle of the road and still not able to express your feelings can make you laugh and a sweet chill of having the same fear at your time too. 


I feel the movie's main focus is on the Guy Joshi, who is smart , intelligent and also romantic and fearless too. His character makes you imagine a guy who has the ability to take the stand for right and wrong and who is ready to adapt to new thoughts. 


And one other nice character is his uncle who sees the world from a whole new angle as there was a scene in the movie where a girl from Joshi's class came to watch an English James bond Movie with her Boyfriend and Joshi has an image of her as a characterless girl (Here you need to think of children from a school in a village who have very small thinking domain and where girls and boys sits in a different row). And when his uncle explains him that how come he thinks that she is a characterless girl. Doesn't she have a feeling. She is going against the world to defend a person she loves and she is not afraid or shy about what she is doing and she meets you openly. Than she should be respected rather than dejected. And how Joshi or rather a class 9 Student takes this kind of thought positively and learning from it takes it to another level.


Another good parallel part of the movie goes in a sound of similar way where few rebels are trying to fight against the system or Government and how system can completely eliminate out of the picture when you even think of speaking against it. 


Somewhere you feel that how come this is included in the movie when it has nothing to do with Shaala(School) but i feel it has. School is also a System and a student can't speak against a teacher. Whatever that Teacher is saying, right or wrong, is always right and if you speak against , you'll be beaten hard enough and will be threaten about grades or scores. So you need to learn withing the limits of the System. But Movie leaves you with all these fun time you had in school time and some questions about how Joshi will take his life ahead and that's what make it a worth watch.

Movie Review: Ishaqzaade

Some one has rightly said : Movies are the Mirror of our daily lives.

Well it all depends upon whose life is being portrayed and how much we are relating it to our lives to consider it as Good or bad. No doubt story line, Direction, Acting, Music and many-many other things are related to make a good movie but we can say that movie is a hit if the audience is able to connect itself to it.

Ishaqzaade(May 11, 2012): Just came back after watching this movie and feel like writing about it. Its not a great movie to watch, but I would say watch it only if you have spare time. Made in a small town of UP ( One of the Indian State) , it portrays the life of two different political families which obviously are not in good terms with Each other and so quite common, the kids in their respective families are not friendly either. So as like most of the Indian typical Movies, girl from one Family fell in Love with the Boy of Other. 

The bad part is that, In a Country like India we still have customs where having an inter-caste or Inter-Religion Marriage is considered as a big offence and if you do so then suddenly the dearest member of your family becomes your worst enemy because he/she defies your religion by marrying the person from outer caste and they should be killed. And that's what movie is all about. 

What I feel is that writer/Director have conveyed their message by showing that they are killed in the End or rather kill each other instead of dying from their families hand(Typical Drama). And its a story of Many Young Indian Couples who marry out of their caste or Religion are killed in the Name of Honour Killing and worst thing is, our society openly supports it. 

The best part of the movie is Music and Amit Trivedi has done an excellent job in that. Its Music keeps justifies will with the pace of the movie and the background score is catchy enough to makes you feel its presence. And some Sensual Dance numbers are also there to add to the Flavor. 

From Acting Part, Parineeti Chopra has played her character well and Arjun Kapoor in his Début  has also done a very nice job. Frankly speaking I loved the character of Natasha Rastogi as Parma's Mother who is the only decent person left in the Family of Animals who doesn't care about their Political Party. And other one : Gauhar Khan as Chand Baby who and did a decent job with her dance numbers and a bit of Acting part. Rest all characters are normal and nothing much to be looked from them..

Overall One time Watch and you can really attach to it if you read the message its trying to Convey.. :):).

Well that's what i feel. You might have other opinions and my Angle may not match with yours but would like to hear your comments also.