Sunday, January 27, 2013

KIT KAT BREAK BANTA HAIN..!! :)


They giggle at the doctor, laugh hysterically at him, the hero says a 'hi' with a toothless grin, time to groove, so one starts beating onto his drum (tiny one for his tiny little hands!), mumbling words, they make faces, time for some steps... the heroes opt for gangam style, one tiny golu molu shows her frog style 'sit and dance', shake the leg, move the bum,swirl the hands.... and overnight they become the nation's favorite dancing stars!...
from the love struck squirrel to the love birds to these dancing kids,KIT KAT does it again...and it can't get better, cuter and charmer than this!!

Race to box office success sans any logic!


And the director duo does it again,what they have been doing, and are
best in doing over the years..formula for quick success and magnanimous
grossing at the box office!

So what's the formula? A thriller that zips,zaps and zooms through
picturesque landscape, bikini/botox babes, well sculpted greek gods..out
for some revenge, settling few old scores, hatch some conspiracies,lust
for money, lay few murderous traps, ear throbbing jarring music, well
sequenced (some funny as well!) actions scenes camouflaged within layers
of style but bereft any logic or substance...garnish it with some added
flavour in the form of swindling casinos,fast cars and card games...
and what u get is a fast paced stylized action thriller !
Saif ali khan thankfully saves the show sans any eye concealer (unlike
his other 40+ 'Khan' contemporaries), Deepika and Jacqueline..the two
perfectly curved sexy sirens sportingly flaunting their gorgeous
cleavage and legs ( the latter's surgical pout adds up to the charm) and
John Abraham proves yet again that he's all brawns and no brains!

But am i complaining with the formula? Nope..coz i had my paisa as well as my pop corn fully vasool on this one!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The bold, the bitch and the beautiful!!


Exposing her personality in a hot steamy bathroom ,she listens to Madame Butterfly, staring blankly into space and flicking the lamp on and off..’I will not be ignored’.. she is born to play the bitch! she personifies as ‘the other woman’...’the mistress’... u can’t really think of her as a monster or a Michael Myers.

Hollywood by far has been fabulous in portraying such diverse characters, radiating sexuality dangerously! she wont let u treat her like some random slut you can bang a couple of times and throw in the garbage or a stinky load in a bus terminal toilet, obsessively stalking her erstwhile lover as chilling as a predatory female..
mostly decked up in blacks, reds and maroons, sexual fury personified, add to that a huge cleaver in hand (mata hari???), suicidal tendency creeping up on her mind quite often,frequent emotional blackmailing on the phone to her man uttering every word in such a freezing way laughing and breaking down hysterically that's ends shivers down your spine.

Urvashi Dholakia, Big Boss season 6 winner,stunned me with her komolika act in Balaji telefilm's hugely popular daily soap 'kasauti Zindagi Kay' many years before with her oomph (specially the initial episodes), the bitchiness with the slight twink of an eye, twitch of her eyebrows or the half twitched smile along with the signature score that played everytime she appeared on screen!! i always feel she has an untapped potential to portray a la Alex Forrest ( Fatal Attraction) kinda role with panache!! just love her!!

Mandola and his 'Gulabi Bhains' steals the show!


Vishal Bhardwaj churns out a comic desi narrative political satire with his trademark structured Shakespearean elements of drama and epic,but sans the tragedy this time, accentuating the fact why he still remains one of the best in the business,though with his fair share of flaws!

At one point a friend tells Matru 'You are a corny bastard',to which Matru replies quite mockingly 'And you a bourgeois bitch!' which actually sums up the basic premise of the film in a nutshell..the nexus between those in power with those in deep needs,wherein the innocent oppressed rural villagers are often stuck in between.Even with its hitches,the film shines through,thanks to its layered script, rustic,quirky characters (a brilliant ensemble of theater actors) and few symbolic colors (the pink buffalo,desi daru called gulabo sold in pink bottles,red rag in which the rebellious Mao write his edicts) merged within the real and the surreal.
Pankaj Kapur as the split personality Mandola is the pivot of the film,Bhardwaj yet again brings out the best from him post Maqbool and Blue Umbrella,high point being the drunken camaraderie between him and Matru (Imran Khan) and the twice repetition of the slang 'B@#$%D' in a slurred tone.Though the film suffers from few unconvincing facts,like Imran & Anushka, playing villagers who have been educated in the west,consistently in sync with the Haryanvi patois and accent and Shabana Azmi playing the corrupt minister too evil to be true!Though its a delight to watch Azmi walkaway with panache even with a half baked 'walk-on' character while Arya Babbar excels as her buffoon like son.
Its not in the same league as Omkara, Maqbool, or Makdee but definitely better than 7 Khoon maaf or Kaminey and definitely worth a watch!

Back to where i left him!!


A quick decisive journey sprung upon suddenly, started with a bumpy, hilarious, antakshari filled joy ride via an almost empty overnight bus to mangalore, dining at an 1 hr halt, starting with non stop songs,clicks and giggles for darkened hours with a friendi humming to her 'suurila taan', sleeping woes caused by some sleeping chaos... few tumbled over in sleep, while few had more side turns than the real sleep, few couldn't escape out of the windy blows out of the window cracks and the zig zag road that followed...while myself and the moon played hide and seek all through the nite!
Reaching our destination sprawled in a beautiful canopy of hills, meadows and coconut trees..refreshed..set onto our Day 1 of the colloquium at Father Muller Medical College campus..amidst the scientific sessions of Sensory motor training, neuroplasticity and a non linear approach to persons with Stroke,enjoyed the sumptuous lunch at the buffet!

Post conference, a few tussles and a few 'wot-to-do-wot-not-to-do' scenario, few parted ways to the church..while my craziness for the sea drove 4 of us to the sea while turning a very dear friend of mine to hate me for the rest of the journey! Few completely assimilated themselves into the sea with the setting sun's mystical hue of red,orange and pink canvas providing the picture perfect background font! while i,being the ignorant myself,drove inside, tagging along with me my ID card,wallet, mobile and camera! bathing..laughter..slips.. stunts..waves..sand...clicks and chills later,returning back with sand covered from top to toe! Chinese meal at the dinner and post few fun streaked 'get outs' (later realizing the depth of it !alas!!..apologizes!)..dozing off!

Day 2 embarked upon with troubled stomach,morning sickness and tablets for few,and post Day 1 tiredness,with an unbelievably terrible wake up call for me,from home..passing on the day with topics viz: spinal cord rehab,everyday transfers on stroke,movement analysis to give us company and a wonderful presentation on Implementing Motor Behavioural Change by our Principal at the Colloquium,..

Returning back..while 4 dozed and snored to glory,the rest played mischief behind :) with an awesome finale by one of our friend tipping down from the upper berth amidst the sad colored half closed curtains,few being her saviors while few couldn't stop our laughter :D

Whodunit turns horror!


The prime strength of a perfect whodunit lies in the fact that how far a regular movie going audience can relate to its climax and how much of a complex plot it carries throughout..alas! Talaash fails in these departments.

Mumbai we have seen before,nothing like 'never before'...the dark lanes inhabited by sassy prostitutes,the tough khaki policeman, the upper class section with lower level morals, hopeless pimps aka top class informers, getting acts straight either by omission or commison,railway quarters with cotton sari decked housewives!

Its an intelligently structured and a very well crafted film (art director Sharmista Roy and Cinematographer K.U.Mohanan deserves mention) ,Reema swiftly transcends her genre from psychological thrill to edgy paranormal 'life after death' thrill, almost akin to a Manoj Night Shyamalan mould,though she tries too hard to make a cord with metaphors (Aamir’s mouthing 'talaash' frequently,a film with drowning people goes tad disappointingly in sync with lines like 'dard mein doobe huye'!), but alas, those turn out to be too obvious even for the aam janta...

Its a good film, no doubt, at least a one time watch, but the problem with the film lies in the fact that unlike some of the well made thrillers of our time (Gupt, 100 days, Kahaani) ,in Talaash,u don't care about the case, or any of the characters: neither the cop, the wife, pimp, kid or the streetwalker! the inner psyche of the characters seems too indulgent,while the basic premise of the film turning out to be a revenge drama before the reel comes to an end!
The technical department of the film deserves mention for creating a significant flair while creating an ambience going well with the theme of the film..dark, edgy, suspense! while coming out of the theater,u carry along with u just one person... Nawazuddin Siddiqui !! one hell of an actor who never cease to surprise us!