Harishchandrachi Factory

HF is a marathi movie at its best. It is based on the real life events of DadaSaheb Phalke - the first Indian to make a motion picture in India. His first movie was Raja Harishchandra and it was released in 1913. Marathi movies usually use comedy as a medium to tell their stories and this movie is no different. HF makes you smile and appreciate even the saddest events of Phalke's life. Along its way HF also teaches the audience about all the struggles that Phalke went through to make a first motion picture. Few take-home tidbits for me were:

1) When Phalke has a hard time finding a female to play the role of an actress in his movie. His friends try to convince him to hire a male for a female role.

2) When prostitutes consider acting as a demotion to their social status

3) When an actor finds it difficult to find a wife for himself. Phalke advises him and other actors to tell their friends that they work at a "factory", that way people will respect them more.

As you can see, this is a must movie for everyone, and its possible with sub-titles.

Rating: 4 / 5

Sarkar Raj

[Warning: It’s a spoiler, so don’t read this blog if you are going to watch the movie]

Being a big fan of crime movies that are directed by RGV, I was a bit disappointed with Sarkar Raj. It seems that RGV, in a desperate attempt to break his series of flops, decided to overuse his strengths. The background music that was known for its best timing found itself all over the places in this movie. The storyline, which has been one of the main strengths of RGV’s crime movies, was a bit disturbing to my taste. My biggest complaint to RGV for this movie is ‘Why do you have to kill Abhishek? If you were that desperate to surprise the audience then you would have killed AB. People would have loved that, I know I would”. If there is another Sarkar movie in subsequent years starring AB, then I guess I would have to pass. The way Sarkar Raj ended it seems like RGV is planning to bring a new face as AB’s grandson who will take over the family business. But for now, Sarkar Raj is an above average movie which got a good opening (thanks to huge starcast) but will fall short of ‘word of mouth’ publicity.

Sarkar Raj: 3 / 5

Alfred Hitchcock

“You cannot call yourself a movie buff without watching Hitchcock’s work”, this is what I realised in last 40 days. Hitchcock movie festival in Stanford theatre was an enriching experience especially since I watched movies in a theatre that had 70’s style interior. I ended up watching Rebecca, The foreign correspondent, North by Northwest, The Birds and Pyscho. I was bowled over by Rebecca and Psycho. The part that amazed me was the screenplay. You will notice Hitchock slowing down pace of the movie by showing his characters doing some useless chores like Rebacca cleaning up the house, Norman bates cleaning up the dead body. There are lots of mundane details which you would think that they can be skipped, and then suddenly you will see a twist in the movie that will leave you short of breath. Keeping in mind that these movies were made in 60’s and 70’s, I completely agree with critics that Alfred had set a standard which very few moviemakers can match.

Movie scripts

Currently got into an unusual habit of reading movie scripts. After reading significant number of fictional novels and short stories, I realized that I am interested only in story-telling part of the whole writing. So I shifted to reading movie scripts and so far it has been a pleasing experience. The movie scripts that I have read so far are Meet Joe Black, Matrix, Amadeus, Annie Hall, Hannah. All of these scripts have won accolades in different film festivals. Movie script reading is interesting because there is no background explanation for either a place or a character. One has to define a character by his behavior and interactions; one has to give a quick overview of how location is by its effect on the characters residing there. The whole writing is usually precise and very direct.

I strongly believe that films should always be well-scripted. Once you read a script and watch the movie based on it, you realize how worthy was the director of that movie. Film making is all about doing right justice to the given script. If you are interested in trying out new things in your life then you should give a try to reading movie scripts. And if you happen to know some really good scripts then please list them in comments section, Thanks.

Omkara !!!

With a quite few weblinks pointing to this blogsite, you have to be an avid reader to reach here. And if you are an avid reader you might have read lots of good reviews of Omkara by now. Let's take a different angle on the movie in this blog i.e. a negative one. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie a lot and I can go on and on about it. But pointing mistakes is such a satisfying experience :-). Here are the points where I think movie needed improvement.

1) The movie didn't show how saif convinced his wife to steal Omkara's family necklace. The woman, who gets enraged to the extent that she kills her husband for treachery, should have a strong reason to steal the necklace at the first place. I am sure Shakespeare might have explained about her character in detail in Othello but I believe that was not projected properly in the movie.

2) Viveik's roles should have been much stronger instead of being just a casanova.

3) The history of Omkara's association with bhaisaab and saif's (Langda Tyagi) association with Omkara needed more spotlight. Such character and relation development should be given higher priority over songs. Time has come for good directors to get rid of unnecessary songs from their movies. 'Company' scores higher in this aspect of film making.

4) Enemies of Omakara seems to be have given no respect in the movie. The hero is stronger only if he has stronger enemies. I understand that Omkara's enemies do not need to have much scope in the movie but their history would have helped in understanding the scenario better.

Overall the movie is a must-see one this year.
Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Rang De Basanti

Well, the vedict out there is pretty good. And fortunately, I agree to the bollywood verdict after a long time. I happen to see this movie on the first day of release. I can say this comfortably that RDB is one of the most experimented projects in Indian cinema. I consider this movie in the same league of Lagaan. Its not surprising that Aamir leads in this movie. The impressive thing for me was that Aamir is one of the characters in the movie and the script is so strong that it doesn't revolve aroud him. Rahman is always likeable. The message of the movie is pretty clear. We should have such movies very often. If I were in place of Rayesh Mehra I would have changed the ending and replaced it with a happy one. The catchy name, attractive colors of the movie and ofcourse the script revolving around the current youth seems to me the recipe for success in current bollywood.

BLACK !!!

After reading a lot abt Black, finally got an opportunity to watch the movie. Well, I must say the movie lives upto its much hyped reputation. I am not surprised if AB claims that this is his best movie ever. TO begin with, the movie is different. It talks all about fighting against the odds. It highlights the sacred teacher-pupil relationship. And above all it has female lead as a protagonist. It is easy to show all the above-mentioned fighting spirit etc etc in a movie featuring any damn game, take for e.g., joh jeete...., lagaan. But to feature a dumb,blind girl / female as a lead takes lot of guts from Bhansali. It is clear in everyone's mind by now that this movie was made with OSCAR (lady) in mind, why, here's why: no songs, based on christian family, abt 70% of dialogues in English and many more. Well, we hope this gets a thumps up from OSCARs.

My fav part of film was: rani teaching AB all over again right from the start, thus proving that learning never ends and can be started at any age, and life is all about helping others.

Namesake !!!

Well, all NRIs would agree that foreigners find it difficult to say our indian names. My name is usually called as vykas. Nowadays I have stopped to correct them. Because I think 'What the hell, as long as i know they are referring me'. And it makes them happy as well as they don't have to think much about how to spell my name.

I personally feel we should follow china's steps in this case. Their names are so awful that they have an equivalent american names for the 'other-than-china' countries. I would like to have a new name, I mean who wouldn't !!! So my american name would be 'Victor'. I like thatttt !!! So currently I am looking for new americans to make friends with so that I can introduce myself as Victor.

And now about indians. You would hardly see friends calling each other by their first names. Each guy would be associated with a nickname. Sometimes even surname would do but never by first name. It is kinda insult to the friend. I have some nicknames too: vpd (my initials), stud, vykas and currenly new coined name (of MBMBBS fame) 'mamu'.

So the rule is to introduce yourself with your first name. Then it is upto the listener what he plans to call you. IF he is foreigner he will call u by american name and your natives would not miss to coin a funny nickname for you. I guess thats how world works !!! Everbody wants to run from their first names and knowingly- unknowingly ( I invented this word) they love their other coined names. Its a well accepted fact and nobody can deny it. Everybody wants to escape from the routine. Think abt it !!!

Shwaas

Finally got the opportunity to watch shwaas. The film, in literal sense, touches hearts of the audience. The most striking feature of the film is that it proves the good old truth of films : film should have a message and a film should be simple.

One do not need many characters or songs or any fiction plot to prove a thing. Shwaas followers would agree that a film is much more bigger than costume, characters, film sets and ofcourse the current trend of 'sex'. The climax of the film is very touching and simply beautiful.

Hope it gets entry into oscar final set of nominations.

Veer - Zaara

THe most anticipated film of this year has finally been released. And how is it ? Well lets say it is not one of the best creations from chopra productions. Main idea of the film of creating an another timeless classic lovestory weaved into india-pak arch rivalry seems to be genuine. But script once again follows the famous "DDLJ" tradition : protagonsits meeting by a chance, hero following heroine to her home and creating havoc, songs on fields etc.

In fact King Khan is a big flop in first half. You can literally point that this is the same stuff he is been repeating from Deewana. And that sucks big time. However his expressions in court scenes in second half is a novelty for his fans. Preity is there just for songs. I personaly feel about 75% of her screen presence is during song sequences. And one might guess why rani cries like she will never stop.

The good part of the film is the fresh tunes of Late Madan Mohan, ofcourse Lata and variety of male voices. Climax would make you feel the sacrifice made by khan as a total waste. Amitabh looks effective after much of his flop films. The best part for me was the last poem that khan recites in last court scene. It is kinda summary of what yash chopra wanted to say through his whole film but was kinda unsuccessful.