Once Upon A Time in Mumbai (2010)

Ajay Devgn was a don in his previous birth. I know he was.

Undoubtedly, Devgn is living his past life on 70mm these days. There is no one more convincing in Bollywood when it comes to portraying the life of the mafia. Devgn carries out the role of Sultan with élan. The film is allegedly based on the life of Haaji Mastan, the man who is credited to have mentored the likes of Dawood Ibrahim. Ajay plays his Robin Hood role to perfection. He is the Don Quixote. I particularly loved the scenes that portrays him as some God-like figure among the masses, especially when he enters his locality with a Union Minister who is more popular.

Emran Haashmi has indeed come of age…

What a great transformation from those crazy, infidelity championing, serial-kisser kinda roles to something that is more real. This film is bound to open new doors for Haashmi, the actor. Rumour has it that Ekta Kapoor, the producer of the film, has Haashmi locked in for a sequel or more perhaps. The film is also a great continuation to Prachi Desai’s emerging career in Bollywood. This lady definitely has what it takes and proves she also has an eye for good scripts. In short, she lives up to her expectations after Rock On!

Hats off to the editor of the film for telling a complex story in just about the right time span. Milan Luthra, the director of the film requires a special mention for showing the core of Mumbai mafia without much bloodshed and dishum dishum!

I’ll say it again…Ajay Devgn was a don in his previous birth! I am sure he was…!

Curtain Raiser on Expendables

Here’s what I posted on Yahoo! India Blogs about my most awaited movie in August
http://in.yfittopostblog.com/2010/07/29/stallones-casting-coup/

Raavanan (Tamil-2010)

Here’s the latest I wrote on Yahoo! Blogs about Raavanan (Tamil) starring Vikram

Rajneeti (2010)

Manoj Bajpai, where were you all this while? Bajpai returns to Bollywood with a vengeance and boy, he is convincing to say the least. The film is all about power, the unending hunger for power and how power must be gained at all cost. There is a bit of Mahabharata weaved in as well. Nana plays the calculative and super effective role of Krishna, guiding young Ranbir who plays Arjuna. Ajay Devgn is our Karna while Manoj Bajpai plays Duryodhana. Among all other Prakash Jha films, I’d put this on par (if not better) with Gangaajal. The only sad part of this film is Why Katrina? I mean, it is a great break for her but she is a misfit.

My favourite scenes in the film were those with Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar and Manoj Bajpai. There is a scene where Devgn barges into a party meet and demands a ticket to contest the election from his constituency. Nana doesn’t utter a word, yet managing to say so much. Bajpai uses his position to instantly grant Karna (Devgn) a position in the party. All three actors wow you with their expressions. Similarly,  Nana’s encounter with Devgn at the slums is a brilliantly cooked up scene. Sadly, Devgn is severely under-utilized in my opinion. Arun Rampal perhaps will increase his fee after this film coz he has got a role that’ll put him in a completely different light. Given a choice, I would want keep Rampal for those stud-like roles with all the glamour, accompanied by Katrina of course.

Rajneeti is contemporary Indian politics for you. Make a lot of money, do good to your circle of friends, who in turn contribute to your party funds. And in all this, put up a good public face. The film, in certain phases, makes you angry with yourself for even voting these individuals into power. But hey, no complains. We are only trying to vote in the least corrupt individual. Getting a clean guy is never going to happen. Will it?

Enemy At The Gates (2001)

A film that that beautifully captures Hitler’s attack on Russia in Stalingrad. Never knew so much about the Battle of Stalingrad until I watched this film. Stalingrad stood tall before Hitler’s big push to invade Russia and boy-o-boy, you can expect a great thriller. I believe the rifle used by the protagonist (Vassili Zaitsev played by Jude Law) is kept as one of the treasures at the Moscow museum, till date. This rifle has acquired the status of our very own Bapuji’s charkha in India. And why not? The man was the best ever sharp shooter in business. How to quietly sneak in and take the enemy out, one by one, well, one has to see it to believe it. The part I loved most was all scenes involving Major Konig (played by Ed Harris) sent specially by the Furher to eliminate Vassili. The director beautifully captures their attempts to out-do each other, without any drama or music at the background.

My biggest pain point was Rachel Weisz. Why weave in a love story when it isnt necessary? I mean, even if this were to be true, I’d say keep all the crap out. There is enough meat to relish within the script. We are not looking for embellishments. A must watch. I clapped more and came no where close to snoring for almost the entire film.

Dasvidaniya (2008)

Vinay Pathak is perhaps the most gifted off-beat actor (apart from Rahul Bose) in India. Yes, he has seen commercial success. Even there, it is precisely for his realistic take on a character that has “wow”-ed audiences. The man’s popularity stems from his earthly depiction of common constituents in this society. Be it a cop or a barber, the chances are you would have come across such peculiar characters if you are born and bought up in India. And this is where Pathak strikes a chord. Strangely, in Dasvidaniya he chooses to be a character whom you may have never come across. And guess what, he strikes gold this time too.

Dasvidaniya (“Goodbye” in Russian) will remain my top Vinay Pathak movie in a long time to come. Pathak takes you on a journey of a man who knows that his time on earth is about to end, thanks to stomach cancer. This is dark humour at its best. Every single moment from the time of discovering his problem, Pathak spends cherishing life and ticking off all those important things that he always wanted to do. And mind you, the to-do list even gets edited as he continues to tick them, one by one. Be it confessing his love for his childhood girlfriend (who is now happily married), buying a car and taking his mom for a drive, learning to play the guitar or even taking his first trip abroad, Pathak has never been more convincing to me. Knowing death is on the horizon, there is never a dull moment and this is exactly where I had mixed emotions. Pathak not only leaves this world fulfilling all his dreams, but also manages to be of some use to all those important people in his life even after he’s gone.

Someone once told me, “Time is a factor of one’s interest”. Dasvidaniya helped me realize this more than ever. I know for sure now that I wish to be of some use to people even after I am gone, let alone when I am alive.

Oscar in USA Today

Happen to read through a good one in USA Today, where the author has hedged her bets on this years Academy … here’s my latest on Oscars

http://in.news.yahoo.com/242/20100306/1353/ten-will-the-oscar-winner-take-it-all.html

Oscar 2010 – Best Film Nominees

Here’s what I wrote just a while ago on Yahoo! about Oscars nominees for Best Film this year. It was posted on Yahoo! by a dear friend

http://bit.ly/a5lZUn

No Country For Old Men (2007)

If any one of you want a nail-biting, cold, spine-chilling, edge of the seat thriller, then this is easily the right one to pick from recent times. I am not at all surprised with the way the Academy treated this film that year. It bagged Best Film, Best Writing and Screenplay, Best Supporting Role (Javier Bardem) and Best Direction.

There are so many chilling moments in the film that the directors (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen) bring out in a rather cold manner. Rarely have I seen a film that brings out the brutality of the hot, merciless deserts of Texas and Mexico (all the Clint Eastwood flicks apart). One look at the weather and you know you don’t want to be there, let alone get caught with a psychotic killer, a killer upon whom there is a immense calm and peace as he goes about murdering people, only to get his loot. This was also my first tryst with Javier Bardem. What an actor! I really began to like his films only after this one (I managed to watch Vicky Christie Barcelona and The Sea Inside). There is this one scene in the film that caught my attention big time. As the man goes about his plan to spot the loot and kills everyone in his way, he is passing a small bridge in the middle of a night. As he whistles his way towards the bridge, he notices a crow (or some bird) sitting by the side. When he passes it, he takes aim from his car and tries to bring it down, only to miss. This scene beautifully depicts the merciless nature of Anton Chigurh (Bardem). He is highly methodical in his killings as well. Using a cylinder, he develops this cool weapon, which when triggered (almost always on the forehead), enters the body, but never bursts open from the other end. Sorta air guns I must say. Before a man knows what just happened, he is dead.

The thriller is worth following than discussing the plot in great detail. Well, every dog has its day… and this one’s definitely worth a watch.

My Name is Khan (2010)

Bollywood better get this straight. Some of us are really bored of post-9/11 scripts. I mean, really bored. And don’t even think about that “identity of Muslims post 9/11″ thing. Far too many directors have done a fabulous job around this subject. But here is the most important part of their work. They were all well-timed. I mean, 26/11 itself is an old subject now.  MNIK, minus the marketing machines (read KJo & SRK), would have been a big bore to movie buffs. These guys know what it takes to get the commercial aspects of a film ticking. They have got this spot on. A bit of a song and dance, high drama around relationships, all laced with SRK-histrionics has weaved its magic on SRK’s global fan base. That answers the “superhit” aspect.

Well, the one thing that i really liked in the film are the timing for songs, the songs (quite non-commercial sounding for a KJo film I must say) as well as the Kajol-SRK pair. Man!..these two indeed light up the screen. They don’t ever come across as a make-believe couple on a 70mm screen. I am sure they never will. The chemistry is there for all to see. Personally, Chak De India will always remain my best SRK film ever in recent times, apart from the good-ol DDLJ. In Chak de, the king of romance finally acted his age. But then, purely in terms of his acting abilities, this one is a daring move, a big deviation from the usual. The choice of an autistic protagonist is a master stroke by KJo. Just does enough to further push the message across.

For now, please spare me from any more post-9/11 scripts. My name is Raghu…Amen!!