Oscars ho!

It was interesting how India and the UK both claimed ‘Slumdog’ for their own.

BBC went on and on about how it was a wonderful evening at the Oscars for Britain. ARR barely got a mention here. Gulzar got none. Resul was mentioned in passing.

And the Indian media was full of ARR and Resul and the Slumdog crew.

The bottomline is 3 Indian Oscars. Jai ho.

I managed to make time to watch Singh is Kinng on the weekend.

I wish I hadn’t. Singh isn’t the king or even a yuvraj or a manthri, but rather, a complete two-dimensional moron, who ends up getting the gorgeous girl only because it is a badly-made Bollywood movie. *snore*

Can somebody, anybody tell me how that movie became such a hit - I do have a very fertile imagination, but this one is beyond me!

Saw Mamma Mia last night. Strongly recommended (by me) as feel-good chick flick with stunning visuals (shot in Greece), gorgeous colour, plenty of eye candy (Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and lots of other young laddies), charged acting (Meryl Streep, Amanda whoever) and lots of old ABBA hits (it is a musical, after all). Only, Brosnan can't really sing but gets to do quite a lot of it. Firth can sing, but doesn't get to do a lot of it.

To read a complete review, click here.

Also recommended: Kung fu Panda. Yes, for adults too. Jack Black rox.

That'll be the day

Abhi dancing like Ash? With his two left feet?

This I've gotta see.

But on second thoughts, considering how much it costs,it probably isn't worth it;-)Sour grapes?

My take on Om Shanti Om

Yes, I did go and see the movie! In the cinemas, no less.

In spite of the annoyingly in-your-face marketing!
In spite of the overkill of SRK’s 6-pack abs!

And I have no excuse for seeing it except that I really wanted to - see the movie, that is, not really SRK's abs - I'd seen them enough during the promos!

New girl Deepika Padukone - did someone/anyone say she’s the next Ash? Please! The girl is definitely not that. She can actually act – and well! The only similarities with Ash are that they are both from Karnatka, tall, models and look stunning.

Deepika looks even better in the movie than she did in the promos. Killer smile! She’s a winner all the way and the best thing about the movie.

The first half of the movie was hilarious and a laugh-a-minute. Although if you go to the theatre expecting OSO to be a homage to the ‘70s style-Bollywood, you’ll be in for a rude shock. It is more a satire, and there’s nothing even remotely respectful about the way the industry is portrayed – be it the ‘70s Bollywood or Kollywood. If it all wasn’t so funny, it would be downright rude.

SRK’s performance can be summed up in one word: overkill. Whether it be in either of his roles or baring his 6-pack abs (what was all the fuss about?) or doing his usual monkey antics...but you put up with it all simply because it is SRK and he does a great job of it, as usual. It's the only item number I've seen in recent movies where the 'item' is male;-)

As for the story, I found it easier to believe in the re-birth/bhooth bit than the lamebrain second half, which was so weak and so unbelievable. And there’s nothing sizzling at all between the second Deepika (Sandy) and the re-born SRK (Om Kapoor) – maybe they decided to do it that way coz Om is scared of fire so no sizzling please. Their love (for lack of a better word) appears so platonic, she could be his (much) younger sister for all it shows.

But SRK’s scenes as an egoistic superstar were really good. Although he hams, some parts are really funny. Comedy is still his forte, although he sheds bucketfuls of tears at the drop of a hat to bring out the ‘mother sentiments’ in the movie. Thank goodness he didn’t have a sister too, else we’d have been drowned in the flood.

You have all these other talented actors like Shreyas Talpade, Kiron Kher, etc in the movie. Arjun Rampal was good as the bad guy, esply in the first half. But then, pretty much every thing was good in the first half anyways. The highlight of the second half is the OSO title song that features the who’s who of Bollywood.

Bottomline is: it’s a riot of colours and music and a feast for the eyes. It’s complete and total timepass and paisa vasool. Don’t question, just sit back and enjoy the technically high-quality ride.

And, as for the story, don’t ask me – just go and watch the movie.

More than 100 hits in two days and not one comment!! So what does that tell me? It tells me that I've successfully managed to do something to vanish the comments section ...have to work on this...

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Saw HP and the Order of the Phoenix last night. And actually, I found it well-made and quite crisp. Enjoyed it. It was as good a movie can be when you take out the 1000 extra details that can figure only in a book.

Can hardly wait for Book #7.

Sivaji – the Boss in Windy Wlg – my review

Probably the zillionth review of the movie online, but who cares, it’s what I think that counts and my two cents are important to me.

Prologue: Even before you get into the theatre, school your mind to employ a very high degree of willing suspension of disbelief technique.

Alright, yesterday was the day we saw this movie.

Extremely entertaining, technically brilliant – typical director Shankar trademarks – hats off to art director and cinematographer. And of course, being a thalaivaa movie, the fights were snazzily choreographed as well. A la Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style…But the huge wheel fight reminded me of Pirates 2, where there is a similar scene.

A lot of touches from Shankar's other (and older) movies are visible. And I found the movie a bit stretchy…by the time Mottaboss came on screen, I was a teeny bit restless...and the last half hour of the story was too crowded - too many things fitted into it.

Rajini is Thalaivaa, no doubts about that. And he gets away with it all here. Nevertheless, he does look tired and jaded – there is no freshness in his acting or mannerisms. And yes, in spite of the careful makeup, he does look old enough to be Shriya’s dad. And (I know that I am going to be murdered in my sleep for saying this) I think he should quit while he is ahead instead of being forced to quit due to a string of flops (that has happened to the best, eg, Rajini’s Baba is a case in point). Or he should go for more Sultan-type movies (his next, which is an animated pic being made by his daughter, where he does the voice over). His take-off of yesteryear stars like Sivaji Ganesan and MGR was hilarious. But his scenes of bathroom humour were pretty crass.

The movie was less of Shankar and more of Rajini – but full marks to Shankar for presenting a much more stylish Rajini – my pick was ‘Mottaboss’ (although his motta did look a bit artificial). And the worst of the lot was the vellai Tamizhan – blond, blue-eyed, white-skinned Rajini – gross as!

I enjoyed Vivek’s comedy thoroughly, have always found his style a lot classier than Vaigai puyal’s (Vadivelu), which is largely slapstick and mostly unsophisticated.

Heroine Shriya seems to have a lot in common with yesteryear Rajini heroines like Meena and Soundarya, including the fact that she is baby-faced (kind of) and young enough to be his daughter. She provides the oomph factor adequately in the songs. But why was her ‘dhavani’ tied so strangely? And why so many wardrobe malfunctions during the songs? In most of them, she appeared in a variety of beautifully made and absolutely stunning lingerie-type outfits. Maybe they were meant to be passed off as her costumes, but I swear I had to grab my glasses to make sure – no wonder they’re calling her the hottest thing after Simran!!! But all the clothes, be they lingerie or not, flattered her figure and she looked ravishing. As for her acting, well…..not really much to say. And Nayantara in the 'item number' Balleilakka' was so lost...

Rajini’s mannerisms: no punch lines, and no flipping ciggies into his mouth. Instead we have him first flipping chewing gum into his mouth. Later on, he goes around flipping the one Re coin that the villain (fairly good job by Suman) gives him. Of course, he flips the coin into his pocket, not into his mouth – just thought I would explain the obvious, just in case;-). Then towards the end of the movie, Mottaboss starts drumming on his motta head in every scene. The sound is actually quite hollow - an empty top storey? Or was it a false ceiling?

Music: ARR had done a great (not fantastic though) job given the constraints of composing music for a Rajini film. And song picturisation was the usual Shankar – classy!

Disappointments:
Rajini’s bathroom/toilet humour.
Too much of Rajini’s family chasing Shriya’s family – got tedious during the lunch scenes.

And the biggest disappointment of all, at least according to me, was the way Shriya attacks Rajini for being dark and says they won’t make a good pair, simply because she is so fair and he is so dark. And our Thalaivaa, instead of telling her to go jump, actually goes home and rolls around in fair and lovely and bleaching powder, soaks in a tub of multani mitti, wears an airconditioning suit to avoid getting tanned further and drinks gallons of saffron milk (another opportunity for toilet humour) in the quest to match Shriya’s fairness.

Of course, at the end of it all, Shriya says she was actually lying and she likes him because he’s dark, but I did wonder what sort of a message this sent out our junta, who are all already obsessed with Fair and Lovely! Too bad this issue was used as an opportunity to further the comedy track rather than to let our Thalaivaa tell the junta that black is really beautiful.

Of course, the thrill of watching the Boss on big screen, surrounded by a desi audience, who screamed and whistled at all the right places, was great.

And storyline: One man Boss(Bachelor of Social Service). That man Sivaji. As simple (and non-existent) as that.

And my verdict? Paisa vasool alright, but only just!

Epilogue: 8 out of 10, I think (after much thought, coz the movie was overall a really good show. For me the let-down was that it was not a 10 on 10, especially with all those credits and after all that hype.)