So "Slumdog Millionaire" has everyone raving about it...from the critics to Golden Globe to, well, potential Oscars. Does something universally acclaimed really need to be commented upon let alone dare to be reviewed by a non entity like me? Perhaps not. But I feel almost impelled to write and beg to differ from all the rave reviews it has earned.
So does it not deserve all the praises and awards it has earned? The point I want to make is simply that one ,it is over hyped and secondly it is a typical case of India bashing that has always found favour with the west. No doubt the music is beautiful and poignant as is the rags to riches story told very innovatively. But the India it shows is one that has typically found favour with the west...a India of poverty, slums, naked children. All the staple ingredients that define “India” for the west make their appearance in the movie...the slums of Bombay, communal riots, child beggars, ruthless small time dons who mercilessly blind children and sell them, prostitution...name it and the movie gives it to you.
Where then ,one might ask, lie the originality of it all? Honestly, even I’m wondering. West has always seen India through its own tinted glasses wherein India is a poverty infested land of snake charmers, rogues and children left to the mercy of Almighty. While this is true but its only a part of the truth and not the whole truth. We are as much a land of slums as West is of bikini clad babes a la Baywatch.
It is good to bask in the glory of awards and recognitions but will the Real India please make an appearance too and get its due recognition and not simply the “Slumdog India” we are fed with time and again?

Simply Rocking!

Much before the movie hit the theatres, some critic called “Rock On” “Dil Chahta Hai” with a mid life crisis. I would however like to call it “Dil Chahta Hai” ten years down the line where the reckless bonhomie is much subdued and the three poor little rich boys replaced by their down to earth humbler versions. For life you see is not only about merry trips to Goa or taking over a business empire from your dad or pursuing one’s artistic endeavours without any care in the world. The three spoilt brats of “Dil Chahta Hai”, who are only moderately sobered by life, are replaced by four musician friends whose friendship is as strong alright but is put through much more severe tests – not only circumstantial ones but also those caused by the very fact of our being human...our own jealousies, insecurities and complexes. That they re unite after a hiatus of 10 years to recreate the “Magik” and give one last mind blowing performance is a standing ode to their friendship and all that which gives meaning to life.
What is it that gives meaning to life? Music in “Rock On” is not just music but a metaphor for that which gives meaning to life, charges one with a passion and makes you transcend the mundane existence. But that something is not very easy to find or to cling on to as our 4 heroes realise much to their cost. The band falls apart, friends part ways and life in all its horror of daily humdrum mechanical existence takes over. Aditya, the lead vocalist,played by Farhan Akhtar makes it big as an investment banker but forgets how to live.KD the drummer (Purab Kohli) joins the family jewellery business in true blue Gujju fashion. Rob (Luke Kenny) is dying, literally, churning out cheap Hindi film music for Anu Malik. But it is the lead guitarist, Joe played by Arjun Rampal who sees life in all its stark poverty ridden reality as his wife, an erstwhile aspiring designer sells fish to make ends meet. Life really isn’t fair.And just when they seem to be accepting their habitual life, they shake off the slumber and rise, almost sphinx like, to rediscover and recreate the “Magik” they had shared and created even if it is only one superlative performance that life has allowed them. But they are grateful even for that for it is not everyone who gets a second chance, a second chance to rediscover life as it were.
The tone is much more sombre from the very beginning than what we saw in “Dil Chahta Hai” at any point. The restrained acting, devoid of any histrionics is just what the movie needed and all actors have done justice to their character. After proving his mettle as a director, Farhan Akhtar shows he’s capable of delivering both behind and in front of the camera.
And what can one say about the music? Shankar,Ehsaan, Loy’s music ,specially the guitar, sends you off to an era when music truly ruled..Doors, Pink Floyd, Joe Satriani. With this album Hindi movie’s music seems to have bridged the gap between what is called high brow and low brow.... what is poetry if not music and what are lyrics if not poetry? Pink Floyd’s and Jim Morrison’s lyrics are as much poetry to the twentieth century as the Romantics’ creations are to the literati. And neither need to be far removed from our daily existence...Shakespeare’s romantic sonnet is as much of poetry as is T.S Eliots’s lament on the Wasteland. And in the same vein the lyrics of “Rock On”, from the title track to “Pichle Sat Dino Se” to the very romantic “Tum ho Toh” touch us by their very fact of being so close to our daily life.
“If music be the food of love, play on” said the great bard centuries ago. “Rock On” makes music the food of life and not only love and pushes each one of us to seek whatever it is that gives meaning to our life. Truly an amazing movie that transports you to another realm of existence even if only momentarily.

Akshay is King but the movie sucks

I am so confused..the cash registers are ringing,the reviews are praising it but the movie just does not work.Akshay Kumar is great no doubt.In fact he can easily be called the comedy king of Bollywood having firmly established himself in the genre.But with a lame script there is only a limited extent to which any actor, no matter how great, can carry the movie.
And that's exactly what happens.As the happy go lucky Happy Singh,the good at heart village bumpkin out to redeem and bring home a fellow villager gone wrong,Akshay is in his element from the very beginning.The supporting cast specially Om Puri too is in sync with him.But the lack of a good script lets them down.The movie seems to move from scene to scene without much co relation between the two and certainly no coherence with the rest of the script. Both the women,Katrina and Neha have precious little to do. In fact the leading pair seems quite wasted considering the amazing on screen chemistry they displayed in Namastey London.
The music is loud but good enough to get the crowds cheering. In any case neither the movie nor the music are going down the annals of Bollywood as path breakinng.We have definitely heard better and seen Akshay give memorable performances like Hera Pheri, Bhool Bhulaiya or Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.
One of the intrinsic risks in the genre of comedy is that it might slide in to the slapstick or a very in your face kind of an affair. The comic sense of this movie is perhaps good enough for the front benchers but that’s about it.It’s clearly not in the league of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron or the more recent Bheja Fry or Khosla Ka Ghosla.Considering Akshay’s panache for comedy I cannot help but think that it will indeed be a pleasure to watch him in a movie of that stature.
But until then everybody seems to be going ballistic over the movie so might as well catch it if for no other reason then just to be able to say....been there,seen it!!

Bachna Ae Hasino

What would the quintessential lover boy Raj, immortalised by Shahrukh Khan in Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge, be in this new milieu with its changed sensibilities and a whole new meaning of love? After all it was over a decade ago that Raj and Simran swept the entire nation off its feet with their invitation to “come fall in love”. Much water has flown since and the Raj who fell in love and kept his promise at the very first instance is replaced by the new age Raj who takes over 10years and three broken hearts, one of which is his own, to realise the meaning of true love.
Ranbir Kapur gives an impeccable performance as the “killer” Raj with his “rajgiri” and manages to sweep not only the three leading ladies off their feet but the audience as well-The prankish 18 year old who models himself on his namesake from DDLJ to win over the heart of the starry eyed Mahi(Minissha Lamba) but also unwittingly and irrevocably breaks her heart. Or the 20 something self involved techhie who is in a live-in relationship with a small town girl turned model, Radhika (Bipasha Basu), but neither mature enough for a commitment nor brave enough to acknowledge the same. Or his final avtar before redemption as the grown up Raj who falls head over heels in love with the fiercely independent Gayatri (Deepika Padukone) only to be turned down and thereafter feel the pain of a broken heart. Ranbir Kapoor does full justice to Raj and portrays the character with élan even in the second half when the tone becomes a lot more sombre.
While our new age Raj needs to be shaken out of his rakish ways to see love in its all its splendour, the romantic Simran of DDLJ finds her reflection in all the three leading ladies be it in a very overt manner with Mahi, whose only dream in life is to have a perfect romance a la DDLJ, or Radhika who might be living in with Raj alright but to whom it doesn’t even occur that he will move on to Sydney without her as his wife. With Gayatri it takes a separation for her to realise that below her feminist stance is a woman who craves for love and that there need not be any contradiction between the two. All three ladies do full justice to their characters and display a striking on screen chemistry with lover boy.
As the movie pays homage to the all time great DDLJ, good performances, toe tapping music, a taut script that does not falter, idyllic locales from Europe to Australia make this breezy romance a must watch quintessential Yash Raj film in a packed month of August, that has big names slated for release every week. After a much hyped but big letdown “Singh is Kinng” this tale of new age romance comes as breath of fresh air. “Phoonk” slated for release this week has me scared already not because of the horror movie tag attached to it but because Ram Gopal Verma has given us quite a few horror movies even without meaning to. The other big thing to watch out for “Rock On” is still some two weeks away. In the mean time it’s well worth the time to fall in love...thrice!

I am totally new to this concept of blogging.And actually I fail to understand the whole logic or mindset behind this, what shall I call it,activity? What does anyone who blogs have in his mind when he or she is writing?For that matter,what do I have in mind when I'm writing?That people across the globe will read how some tamanna,a mere bubble in the face of eternity,spends her day?Or that what I think or feel matters?

And what do the innumerable people who read and post their comments regularly
on someone's blog think?I mean this is a very popular medium. And for every person who writes,there have to be as many who read.Why would anyone bother to read what I have to say?My word is hardly an authority on anything.

But the never ending popularity of blogging makes me want to explore the hitherto unchartered territory. What I'll be writing about,I'm not clear at this point of time...my convoluted thoughts,ramblings of my mind,review books,movies or reflections on existential dilemmas...perhaps and perhaps more channels will open up as I go along.

And I do hope that someone will read it someday without my having to force them at gun point to do so...

So be ready all ye out there for here I am..

Now thtat I've created my own Illusions, I wonder how to sustain it? Who in this whole wide world is interested in me and my miniscule life, its tin pot tragedies and comedy of errors. After all I myself am not interested in it often...just become a silent spectator standing on the sides and watching my own life as if it was a movie..
Till the time i can figure that out,i send out an adios in to the universe