Singh is Kinng ki Kahani, Sandy ki zubaani

Another weekend and another movie.. Quite an awaited one.

Well, How are you? Hope you are smiling... If not then I can suggest something. If you already are then I can suggest something to make you laugh..... 'Singh is Kinng'.. :)

After the stupendous success of 'No Entry' and 'Welcome' Vipul Shah and Anees Bazmee give us another film to make us smile or rather, make us laugh... 'Singh is Kinng'..

So how is 'Singh is Kinng'?
It’s always believed that if you get the casting right, half the battle is won. 'Singh is King' follows the right path .. a good cast.

Let me start with the subjects rather than the king.. We have the henchmen or rather the generals as Sudanshu Pandey, Manoj Pahwa who are good in their part..Sonu Sood (Remember Sujamal Bhai-sa from Jodha Akbar? ) is good as well.. then we have the brilliant Om Puri.. who is just great. We have the the most lovable Javed Jaffery.. who is as usual fantastic. Katrina Kaif , is well suited for the part.. She does a good job too. Speaks a bit of Arabic in the film which required her to do so.. So quite impressive. Her character is of a Punjabi girl who has always lived outside India, so her accented hindi actually works for her.. We also have Kiron Kher who is in her elements and as usual brilliant. Neha Dupia actually does not have much to do, so she is OK....and last but certainly not the least the man himself..

'Singh is Kinng' had to have a person who can shoulder the film and stand tall. Not that the other characters are unimportant and do not do their part well, but it has that Amitabh's 'Namak Halal' characteristic.. Remember Arjun Singh, vald Bhim singh vald Dhasharat singh.. Even though all the characters in Namak Halal played their parts well, still it was Amitabh who shone brightest and without him, Namak Halal is not the film it would be.. Similarly this film needed a star or an actor who is good with comedy and also could genuinely deliver the message without any over-acting.. and finally we have someone like that.. In the long list of Kings, right from Balraj Sahni, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, and even Anil Kapoor; the Sultanate of Bollywood, has a new King..

Akshay Kumar.. Long live the new King........... kon ahe re tikde...may I say, SHANKH BAAJAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..................

So about the film... The story is also OK, for a comedy film.. but historically, its seen that in a comedy film, the way it is made, the cast and the performances can make the difference and put life even into an ordinary storyline.. Thats the reason David Dhawan had such an impressive track record. Even with his mediocre scripts, just with Govinda's comic timing, his sense of extracting humour from ordinary situtions and knowledge of how to tickle the janta's funny bone, he is one of the most successful comedy makers.

Ok back to Singh is kinng, do not try to spot flaws in the film. There would be many. The film is not a epic film or a suspense thriller.. So just relax, go with the flow and enjoy.. Its not a total mindless film, so its ok even if you take your brains along when you see the film.. but do not care to use it to spot flaws and be very rational. Life is not always very rational. ;)

Akshay will entertain you with his comic timing and also with glimpses of his action stunts. His stunts still remain as smooth as ever.. ekdum maska...

Om Puri provides him able company, well not in the actions scene.. I meant in providing him comic support.. Om Puri proves why he is considered one of the finest and versatile actors in India.

The film is a comedy, so do not look for any detailing.. Locations are good.. You will see Punjab, Egypt and Australia.

The story is about Akshay kumar, his mission to bring home his friend and his interesting journey.

Akshay is Happy Singh. A village bumpkin who causes havoc wherever he goes but a person with a golden heart. I will not into any details of the story.. I intend to provide only the trailer, rather than the full film.

Only two people could have brought life to this character, Govinda and Akshay... But still Akshay is by far the best choice because of his versatility.. Comedy, action and now that he can deliver the emotional lines too with so much ease. yes there are emotional moments in this film, not many but a couple.. but good ones... and let me warn you 'Singh is Kinng' can make you emotional.. So in all, the film has laughter, emotions, action and good music.. I would say most of the songs are good if not all. Pritam has done a good job again.

The film does not have slapstick comedy.. The dialogues are clever. The characters deliver their lines naturally and because of the situation and dialogue timing, you are sure to enjoy..A lot of the dialogues are in Punjabi, but do not worry you would understand them.. Sit back relax and enjoy.......

All in all a good entertainer.. Its breaking box-office records.. so if you feel like relaxing, watching a new film, Singh is Kinng would be a good one... and it would be worth your time..:)

Until next time.....

Sarkar Raj ki kahani, Sandy ki zubaani

Its been a long time since the last time I wrote. Just the reason that its been a long time that any movie has come up, which I would not like my friends to miss. The time has come.. and I sit down to make a effort to make up your mind to go and see and film, which could be well on its way to be a cult film.

ADLABS and K Sera Sera come together to give us a masterpiece... a cornerstone in the new age intelligent film making... Sarkar Raj.

For all those who had lost hope in Ram Gopal Verma for his last few disastrous films, he has come out with an absolute blinder.. A person who has given us such great film like Shiva, Satya and Company...he give us a film which could well be his finest.. Sarkar Raj has a RGV stamp all along and we are glad that the genius has finally come to form. As usual I would not tell you the story but would like to point out some points which I picked up and would hopefully make your viewing interesting.

So what is so great about Sarkar Raj...Let’s start with the casting.. It’s a golden rule that if the casting is right, half the battle is won. RGV has got it spot on. This film does include some of the biggest names in the industry.. but what’s special about these people are that, they are bigger actors than they are stars and that’s what makes them great. Sarkar Raj boasts of a great cast. Amitabh enters the role of Sarkar yet again... and this time he has his son , Abhishek alongside as the Sarkar in the making and we have a new entrant.. Aishwarya...a welcome one that too.:) Then we have the as usual impressive Govind Namdeo and Sayaji Shinde
.. Supriya Pathak and we also have Tanisha and Victor Banerjee.. and last but not the least the immensely talented Dilip Prabhawalkar (or better remembered as Chimanrao).

All the three leading actors, Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya are like 3 Aces of the movie.. As usual they are spot on and into the character.
Supriya Pathak has a very tiny role to play... But still she plays her role with such conviction that it comes out so good. Actually each and every actor has done his/her job very well.

The story takes us through a range to emotions with all kinds of situations thrown at us, like deceit, betrayal, joy, tension, relationship bonding, respect and some dark dirty politics...Sarkar Raj is all about the "evil" and dark world of the underworld and politics...No one is safe... As Sarkar say in one of his dialogues - "Jaan lena jurm hai.. sahi samay par jaan lena, Rajniti".

The dialogues of this film are very intelligent and hard hitting.. Well, but do not worry if you could not get some of the dialogues from Govind Namdeo.. Its ok.. ignore it..Do not lose sleep over it.. :)

Allan amin is the stunt director but he has limited opportunity to show his genius.. and as usual is good. The most let-down factor of this great film is what I thought was the background score. Amar Mohile has given the "Govinda Govinda" chant which is great.. but has not delivered much.. Maybe RGV should have gone for the master of background score - Sandeep Chowta, instead. When you are making the best, its easier to do it with the best... but anyway the "Govinda" chant is used quite effectively in this film. The treatment is overall quite dark.. Typical RGV and that’s truly how the world of politics and underworld is.

Editing is crisp and pace of the movie is quite fast. A RGV film no unnecessary songs. but again.. Sandeep Chowta is sorely missed..

The attention to detail is also good. Chandar the second in command to the Sarkars is a typical Marathi manoos and we can hear Hindi fused with Marathi from him.. in one of the dialogues we hear "Arre woh gawti ko kaun samjhayega".. 'Gawti' is a typical Marathi word meaning simple peasant or a novice. But with Bombaites some Marathi words are so fused with their hindi that Bombaites seldom realise that they are not speaking correct hindi.. but where life revolves around catching the 8:17am local and the 5:13 pm local back, who has time to check if they are speaking the correct hindi.. tereko samjha na..theek hai.. nahi samjha kya... chal watle phir. ;)

Ok back to the review.. Aishwarya plays the daugther of a NRI businessman (Victor Banerjee). So her look is quite British.. Hairstyle, Formal clothes... quite what we can see in case of a British born desis.. One thing which could have made it more effective would have been her accent. She does speak a few lines of English in the movie, so if she could have spoken with a British accent that would have been great. But actually British accent is a bit difficult to pick up than the normal American accent. So as this movie is for the masses, American accent is easier to pick up .. so this point can be ignored.

Aishwarya in one of the scenes, eats bhajiya on the road side, if you pay close attention to the expressions you may pick up the detailing.. She picks up the bhajiya offered by Abhishek as something "suspiciously maybe unhygenical" food... holds carefully with two fingers says thank you and eats it.. this is the typical mindset and attitude of a British born desi when they would eat in one of our road side dhabas.. Wonderful detail incorporated. and wonderfully done as well.

Amitabh goes to Thakarwadi and remembers old times.. Chandar who belongs to Thakarwadi proudly shows Shankar (Abhishek) his land and fields.. A typical sense of joy and pride when one visits home with a friend or close and known person. A child (shepherd) climbs up to the hillock to see the vehicles escorting Sarkar to the village and filled with excitement and waves to them.. something which brings a smile...:)

In one of the scene we see what would fill one with awe. The Mega Star Amitabh Bachchan, the Man of the Millenium according some magazines and the Shehanshah of Indian Film Industry bows down and touches Dilip Prabhawalkar's feet... and he does it with such humbleness and in the character that you know what makes such a talented person truly great.. He could have easily said no to such a scene. In a world where actors constantly say no to scene which would harm their image or even go ahead and cut other peoples roles so that the other person does not look better than him/her, here is a man who stuck to the role and showed us why he is truly the Shehanshah of Indian film industry,. The scene is important scene and Amitabh touching Dilip's feet is not highlighted and everything goes on as normal. but that’s what make the scene such a powerful one.

So I would say this film has quite many incidents where detailed attention is given..and such detailing makes the movie even better.

Overall a very good film. So if you liked Sarkar 3 years ago, you will love Sarkar Raj. A few films beat its prequel and Sarkar Raj is one of them.

So go ahead and enjoy...

Have a nice day.

'Taare Zameen Par' ki kahani, Sandy ki zubaani

I am back.. :) After a long time ....
As always, this review is meant to speak about the film which I think is a good view.. and hope to give an extra push to my friends who want to see a good film. This film has been released long time and most people would have seen it... This review is for those people who are still skeptical of the film and wonder if 'Taare Zameen Par' is a good film or not.... Well, indeed 'Taare Zameen Par' is not a good film. I would not call it a good film. No ..Not at all.. Its just one of those amazingly, outstandingly delicately made heart-touching masterpiece. So you see, sometimes 'Good' is just not good enough.

Aamir Khan has proved why he is considered a perfectionist.. aur perfection ko improve karna muskhil hota hai..Taare Zameen Par is easily the finest film of 2007..

So what makes this film great. Lets start with the casting... This film, just like 'Life in a Metro', the script is the king. Aamir has chosen actors who can act. Even if they are not so well-known.. these people played their part.. and played their part brilliantly.. Be it the bus-conductor who picks up our central character 'Ishaan' from school or the children who are the school-mates of our central character.

Our central character, Ishaan is played by Darsheel Safary... and he is amazing. Aamir Khan has gone so far as quoting, that Darsheel is one of the finest actors he has worked with.. One might think Aamir would say this for the publicity of his film and so that people come and see the film. But when you would see the film, you would realize how right Aamir is.

Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra play Ishaan's parents. Tisca chopra as usual does a great job. This good-looking lady is as natural as always. Might even remind you of the great Nutan...and then we have the master himself..Aamir is at his natural best.. The casting is great. Its said that once you get the casting right, you are set to make a good film.

The story's main character is a boy who is a bit different from other kids. When I say, different.. he is not mentally or physically challenged in anyway.. He is different in the way he thinks.. he is different in the pace he lives his life.. He is not the normal 'you are to be amongst the best - free seat getter in engineering/medical - I am cool' type of Bombay kid. This story is how his different way of seeing and living life is seen to be irritating to the 'normal', 'disciplined', robotic, the runners of the rat-race, of our society.. How scared his parents are, seeing their 'different' child and worrying how would he cope with the other kids and the competitive world. Ishaan has problem coping with his studies and when the parents see matter going from bad to worse and Ishaan fails to come on track with the normal world, they send him to boarding school.... Here ishaan has the same difficulties... but from somewhere help arrives and our kid blossoms.. The rich colors of life which were hidden inside, shows itself... The hidden lava of talent which was dormant was so long erupts out of that suppressed volcano..Thus showing and delivering the message that 'Every child is special'.

Each one may not necessarily do the all the things everyone else can do.. but he/she can certainly do one thing which is special. Some learn fast.. some slow.. It require our patience, time and energy to bring out the speciality in our kids.. Each and every child has something which distinguishes from others... Sachin Tendulkar never went to college.. but at the age of 9 he could bat as no one his age could..

The amount of detailing done in this film is great.. The mannerism of the child, the pattern of thought.. how he reacts to situations..
for eg..
- when Ishaan returns from school... the building gates; one is open the other closed. Ishaan playfully rides on the closed door and swings it open... a small thing but thats the way a 9 year old would chose to do. He would play with anything he sees and make anything into his toy.
- Entering the building, he sees the dogs and immediately calls them and plays with them for some time before going up to his house.. Now is he tired and returning from school.. But the mindset of the child is always.. "Oh Today's school is over' so he is going to have fun as much as possible before going to school again tomorrow..
- When he is asked about the report card by his mom, he ignore her. :) because he has not go good marks in his exams.. typical kid attitude. :).
- Ishaan goes down to play, here you would hear the boys speak when they are playing.. now as this film is based in Mumbai you would not hear the shudh-hindi.. you would hear boys say.. "Aye jana ball leke aa.. samazta nahi kya?" instead of "tujhe samjh main nahi ata hai kya?" .. A typical Bombay kid speak a different dialect of hindi as you would find in the northern part and the same has been considered here...and it was certainly a refresh of old memories.. :) I hope it would be for you too.
- The language has mixture of English and Hindi as we would use in everyday usage..but in one instance, when Aamir talks with the Principal of his school. He says "Gyan to gyan hai.. chahe likhit ho ya padhith".. Now thats not everyday usage..but this is a well-known phrase and easily caught on by a person who already has heard and recited the phrase a no. of times.i.e a fellow teacher. So when Aamir says the sentence to the principal he is more likely to catch to that sentence and understand.. Now that is detailing.. Using "knowledge is knowledge" to substitute that sentence would not have been that effective..
- Ishaan fights with a kids and come back home with bruises. The fellow he had a fight with has complained to Ishaan's parents.. Ishaan's father is angry and starts to scold Ishaan and leaves in disgust.. Ishaan's mom however is busy searching for the number of bruises Ishaan has on his body… A typical Indian family.. The father who has always an eye on the pride, behaviour and conduct of his family and the mother who only concerned with the well-being of her family. The reaction of the two parents are in complete contrast and well depicted.
Well, :) I am not saying that father's are not concerned about the well-being of the family as such.. but the scene shows a typical reaction of the two parents.
- When in the last scene, Ishaan is leaving for home.. Aamir, a teacher, who always speaks the correct Hindi with his students, say to him "jaldi aneka ha? holidays ke baad".. Now thats Bombaiya hindi... "aneka ha".. By speaking thus, he is trying to communicate with Ishaan as any Bombaite would. We know that kids love when communicated with them as their friends or equals...Thats great detailing...easily to just slip by..but just shows how well Aamir understands the mood, tone and the characters in his film.

In some of the instances, Aamir shows the life of the people on the lower end of the society, in Bombay.. How ishaan on his day out sees all this and observes..

The film also takes a look at the children who has mentally challenged but still do stuff which bring smile, laughter and joy to the hearts and faces of their parents and guardians. These challenged kids are helped by kind souls who dedicate their time, energy, effort and patience to make them capable enough to enter the mainstream. Here you realise how important these challeged kids are to their parents.. Just in one scene of the film Aamir is able to show you the feelings between these kids and their parents.... The effort of the kids to show their parents how worthy they are... and the proud tears and smiles on the faces of their parents which says aloud - "I am so proud of you, my beautiful child"............ Just amazing stuff....All of this done in a very touching way..

The story narration, direction is excellent.. The songs are great... Not that the songs will be played in the discos or even in the ganapati visargans.. but the lyrics of the songs are so very meaningful and touching.. you will have to feel the songs, instead of just listening.. Prashoon joshi has done a great job with the words and Shankar Eshaan Loy has provided able support for the tunes..particularly the song "Tujhe sab hai pata... meri maa" is heart-piercing...

A movie which has kids as the important characters, is always difficult to make.. He heard that from Mani ratnam who made Anjali, we heard it from Shekhar Kapur who made Mr. India... and Taare Zameen Par should be no different... Aamir Khan has done a very difficult job of acting, producing and directing a movie ... which has kids .. at the same time extracting great performance from all involved and .............at the same time doing NOTHING to glorify himself in his movie. Now this is what makes the Amitabhs, the Aamirs and the Hritiks, a class apart....Because they place their work above their personal glorification..

Indeed a heart-touching masterpiece from a person who understands people, who understands cinema, who makes film because it is his passion rather that for glorifying himself.if you have not seen it already, I would certainly recommend it.. Its not the tear-jerker film which you would want to miss..

It is a tear-jerking film which will touch you and make you think differently...

Until next time...

ChakDe India di kahani, Sandy nal zubani

Another movie and dil kahe, logo ko yeh movie dekhni chahiye… and I sit down to write the review to give you that extra push to go and watch it.. The movie is "ChakDe India". "Is it Good?" you may ask.. And the answer is NO.. Its not just Good, Its great. Its fantastic…There was not a well-made patriotic film for a long time now.. And "Chakde" is like that breath of fresh air...

The casting is just right.. Shah Rukh assume centre-stage yet again and this time does not cry and bore us.. He gives a good performance.. He has lots of girls for company.. 16 of them.. and I believe not all are actresses, but the way the director has extracted performance from them is really awesome.. That’s the greatest of this director.. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the bollywood like Ram Gopal Varma….. He had given us "Ab Tak chappan" and now Shimit Amin, gives us "ChakDe India"……

The film is patriotic but not in the sense that it is based on any war .. But actually the storyline's main element is a game. Our National game. Hockey..

The film is fast.. Story is to the point.. Editing is crisp and like any other RGV film, RGV's student has not inserted any songs. The songs run in the background..but is essential.. And it brings out the patriotic spirit in the viewer....The film tries to bring out the reality..No glamour here.. Even the girls do not wear any makeup.. Rightly so, they are players, not beauty pageant contestants…

The movies brings out the bitter truth as to how Cricket is glamorized and our national game, Hockey lies uncared for.. It goes deeper to show how a sport having a women's team is considered not so important by the sports officials, to invest time and money.. The film takes potshots at the sports officials who care less for the sport and more about themselves..The film also takes potshots at cricket too.

The 16 ladies of the Indian National Hockey team have lots of things going against them.. Trust of sports officials, help from sponsors, internal team clashes, support from family and close ones..These 16 ladies have to beat all odds and bring home the Hockey World Cup… and there is one man who takes up the challenge to help them do this.. Kabir Khan.. India's once-most-famous centre forward and captain of Indian National Hockey team. A person who is passionate about his sport and willing to give his everything to it…ShahRukh does well..

The film is sprinkled with humour and you will enjoy it. Watch out for the pocket-sized Haryanvi gal.. You will enjoy watching her..

The film brings out the reality that how media, sometimes just for the sake of creating news, distorts truth and corrupts mind of the people. How the media, in one instance lifts a person to the cloud 9 and in another instance dumps the person into the depths of hell…how much can we trust and believe today's media.. Something to ponder about…

The film shows the living condition of an Indian sportsman.. He/she could be associated with any sport, apart from cricket.. Kabir Khan is India's famous centre-forward.. He is the captain of the Indian National Hockey Team, but he still lives in a simple house in normal lower-middle class colony… The captain of the national team does not own any car.. He drives a scooter..the facilities which the women's hockey team gets is not great either.. Their refreshment rooms resemble ill maintained government sulabhs…and their rooms - prison cells.. With all these hardships when our team enters any competitions and loses, then are the players the only people responsible for the loss.. Maybe we will care of think of it, next time…

Learnings: Well there would be lots.. I found a few.. The more observant will find more..
The main thing which the film puts across is that, anything done with passion, interest, dedication and sincerity, reaps rewards.. And when we do any job with these feelings there is nothing that is impossible..

During the match the junior girls refer to the seniors as "Didi", when they call for a pass..The cries of "Didi.. Didi" fill the ground and this leads the confused opposition coach to exclaim "Who exactly is this Didi!!!!".. Is there any other country in this world where team mates refer to each other as brothers or sisters?? I doubt it.. Here we can proudly say.. This happens only in India.. Now that’s the culture we can be proud of.. The Indian culture which was brought to the world by the great Vivekanand in the Chicago Conference.. And we still have it in us…

Another scene which would make you sit up and smile is when the Indian team is invited to the Tournament Dinner.. The ladies enter one by one, with folded hands, greeting namaste, dressed in the tricolour sari, and a smile on their face.. Hey Bharatiya Nari.. Now you rock!!!!

One other scene has the team unite against the eve-teasers.. The girls bash up the boys.. This just goes to show, unity is strength.. And if the "RIGHT" is on your side you have "EVERYTHING" on your side..

On the whole "ChakDe India" is a wonderful film.. Go ahead, make your day more pleasant…

Rush Hour 3 kahani, Sandy ki zubani

Hello!!

Its a holiday and one of the best ways to enjoy for me, is to go for a movie with friends. Right now from the current set movies which have hit the theater it was easy choice. Jackie Chan is in town, so whats better than giving him a visit? and the answer is "Nothing better" :) Jackie Chan teams up with the fast talking Chris Tucker for the 3rd time to give us Rush Hour 3.

So the important question: So how is Rush Hour 3?
"Well it is a Jackie Chan film". This sentence, 90% of the times means, a 'paisa vasool movie'.
The movie is fast. Very fast. It has great action sequences, great stunts by "Shan-e-Hong Kong" Jackie Chan and lots of great comic moments from "Barbade-E-Saayuk-Rastr" Chris Tucker. :) There is loads and loads of fun. Great comedy .. you will wonder if you have come to see and action film or a comedy film. But trust me you would not be in your seat to complain.. You would be off it.... laughing..
Thoda zyada ho gaya kya?? anyways.. my point is you will enjoy.. Trust me...
Chris Tucker's comic timing is amazing.. Jackie never had a better partner than him...

Rush Hour 3 has Jackie and Chris Tucker going to Paris to uncover some sinister and secret international underworld. The plot could get a bit confusing.... But it does not matter a bit. Not to worry even if you could not understand the plot fully... Its a "Visual See plus plus" film(program).. Just "see" the "visuals" and enjoy... Seeing Jackie doing such great stunts at his age you will agree that this man is truely an amazing fellow... He was asked at one of the interviews that how does he manage to do it.."Its the love of the people which motivates me to do it", Jackie replies in his Chinese accent.. and No one can do it better than you, Jackie..I have been watching Jackie Chan movies from the time I was in primary school .. Film such as "Snake in the Eagle's shadow" and "Drunken Master".. which were Chinese films dubbed in English.. but those movies had the same flavor as you can see in Rush Hour 3. Action is beautifully interlaced with humor..This is what makes Jackie's films stand out.. This is what is Jackie's trademark which reflects his personality so perfectly..and when films like these come.. people flock to see the master in action...

One of the thing which struck me when the movie ended was NOT one person got up to leave.... Every one waited for the goof-up sequences during the making of the Rush Hour 3. This is one more of Jackie's trademark. This has continued from his early films like Armour of God, Police story or maybe earlier..

Learnings: Frankly, I was laughing so hard that I could not take home much, apart from memories of me laughing uncontrollably and lots of cool stunts.. But maybe you would notice more.. however one thing struck me and it struck me hard..
Jackie has someone close who has ended up on the wrong side of the law. The outlaw is filled with hate and repeatedly tries to kill Jackie with cunningness and deceit. But still Jackie always tries not to hurt him and always tries to save his life ... even if it means putting his own life in danger.. Such feelings for someone who tries to take your life!!!! This should be love in its purest form.... unconditional love.. how many people do we have such kind of feeling for?? Do we even have such feelings of members of our family?? Such questions are trivial but worth asking ourselves...
Funny eh? how an action-comedy film can lead to think in this direction...
But hey, its not any film... It is a Jackie Chan film...

Bottom-Line:
So if you are in mood for some entertainment.. remember "Hong Kong-da-puttar" and "Amrika-da-6-footer" are in town.. and its worth paying them a visit...

Have a nice day
Sandeep
(Keep Smiling)

Die Hard 4.0 ki kahani, Sandy ki zubani...

Another Weekend and another movie.. and what better a movie than "Die Hard 4.0". The 4th part of the cult action series Die Hard. John McLain, I believe is now one the most famous action character.. More famous than even Indiana Jones... Hmm So how is the movie? Die Hard 4.0 is SPECTACULAR... BREATHTAKING...FAST PACED EDGE OF THE SEAT ENTERTAINER.. I could go on .. Short cut main boleto.. Do not miss it.

First when I heard the title, "Die Hard 4.0", I was curious about it. This is the second movie recently released which has the numbering convention a bit "hatke". Spiderman was OK. Spiderman 3. very simple.. very clear.. The third part of Shrek is "Shrek the third" and now the 4th part of Die Hard is "Die Hard 4.0". So what is the mystery behind "4.0". The movie is shot in present time US. Everything is digital.. everything is connected.. Information about anything is available in the computers and is yours for the asking. So as the movie is related to computers and software security, why not name the new "version" of the movie, as if you are naming a new software upgrade. Die Hard 4.0 - makes absolute sense to me.

John McLain, played by Bruce Willis (Can't think of anyone who can play John better.. Not not even Mel Gibson).. is a NYPD cop assigned the task of bringing in a software hacker. John goes to get him but some "supariwallas" are assigned the hacker's supari... Gun fight.. action.. you say "wow".. you hold your breath .. and you are happy you came to see Die Hard 4.0. Somebody is hacking into the US National Security network.. actually hacking into just about anything that can be hacked into..

Oh Man!!! The US security sure does not know about the Symantec products.. We should be doing better marketing... Hmm anyways...

The movie is about a person who is trying to bring down the country's system. This system includes everything.. from transportation to power.. He is stealing information and he is doing all this using a few computers.. quite something eh?? Hmm.. The thing which struck me hard was, how connected every system is in US .. Everything is well connected.. technology is used to such a great extent.. To bring down the transport system, one of the things the bad guy does is manipulates the traffic signals.. The green lights suddenly go red.. red goes green.. All lights go green.. There is havoc... accidents .. vehicles crashing.. .. chaos.... Now can this happen in India??? Maybe not... For 2 reasons.. because its difficult to manipulate the traffic signals here on such a large scale.. secondly, when the lights go green, we still see all three sides before moving on.. ;-) :-) Phase 2 of the plan, the villain goes on to shut down the power supply of the entire country....You should look at the expression of Bruce Willis's face when he sees power going off, of the entire city before him......This is a reflection of the surprise and shock of an average American who has not seen power cut on a large scale.. Its something unheard of.. unseen in the US. Come to India we will show you how to get used to it..

The movie is fast and has its comic moments.. Well I would not say 'comic relief", because you are already enjoying...Do not worry if you do not understand the Hi-fundu stuff like hacking etc.. Hacking is breaking into secure systems, networks.. accessing anything protected and something you are not authorized to access. If you know this then you are OK... This is "Die Hard".. They do not make it complicated for the audience.... John as always is put through a lot of pain and physical stress and he still goes on.. Do not think too much about this or dismiss it saying.."what bullshit.. How can someone take all that strain and still go on".... Relax... Its ok.. He is John McLain.. If he goes down the audience would be the biggest loser.. and here "Biggest Loser NAHI jeetega".. :) So sit back (because this movie will move you to the edge of the seat quite a few times) and enjoy watching what John McLain does best...... Thrill you..

Action sequences are absolutely spectacular.. The plot is good.. the cast is good.. Humour thrown in the right places.. Bruce Willis keeps you entertained with his one-liners when he is not entertaining you with the action stuff.....Not too much violence, as such, here...., but lots of action.. Entertaining action.. great presentation..

There are some key things I took home.. There would be more and maybe you can find them when you watch the movie.. John's daughter is held hostage by the villain.. The person with him.. the software hacker.. asks him.. Does he have a plan.. Bruce answers "Yes, Find them, free my daughter , kill the rest".. Well that does not seem like a plan.. More like a goal.. So what did he mean.. My interpretation - Focus on the goal.. and take action.. Things tend to fall in its place.. So Focus on the Goal.. Take action...Be persistent.. Die Hard.. :) One other thing was, the villain of the movie has his own intention of doing what he is doing.. According to him he is doing the country a favor...... Perception.. To each his/her own.. People do something because they think that is right.. So when someone does anything bad or wrong to us, instead of holding a grudge or being angry, its worth the effort to see things from the other person's perspective.. Maybe it would help in understand some things in better light.. Help in reaching a compromise, better ourselves or help us in any other way...

So with all that said, if you have a couple of hours free, go and see Die Hard 4.0.. John McLain would be pleased to see you... :)

Metro ki kahani, Sandy ki zubani

Weekend is here once again. Picture ka mood bana and off we went for a movie. and what better a film for me than a film about my city. Metro. Actually the full name of the film is "Life in a Metro.". In this, film Metro is Bombay. The film deals with lives of people living in the Metro.

Metro the film, will shock you, It will bring out a smile, It will make you sad and also bring out a burst of laughter. Moreover it will force you to think. This film does not have Govinda..
So, please remember to take your brains with you when you go to watch this film..

Lets start with the star cast. This is more of an Actor's film rather than a Star's film. Lots of good actors in this. We have stalwarts like Kay Kay Menon, Irfan Khan, Konkana Sen, Shiny Ahuja.. Then we have Sharman Joshi, Kangana and last but not the least, our girl Shilpa Shetty. ( :-) :-)... OK stop smiling ... back to the review, please.. )
In fact the film start with Shilpa in the first frame...Everything should have a good start, eh?? ;)
The casting is good. Each one fits the role they play and they all have played it well. The film also has Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali. The film needed a beautiful 'older' woman and we do not have anyone who can fit the role apart from Nafisa and opposite her they wanted a recognized face.. a man who has an onscreen appearance of a person who can speak his mind,... can add a bit of star value and Dharmendra get the passing mark for it and fit in.. The crew is ready.. Pull up the anchor..Ahoy!! Welcome aboard.. Lets sail......


A brief introduction of the characters. Lets start with the person who will make you sit up and smile (if not laugh), each time he would appear on screen.. Irfan Khan.
Irfan (Monty) is desperately seeking bridegroom. Actively looking.. Very actively looking.. A person who speaks a nanosecond after he thinks. You would think why does he have to say all that he thinks.. He can keep some things to himself..:)).. People like him we meet often.. and its people like him that are like the little slices of raw mangoes (kairi) in the bhelpuri of our life. :-)..
If Irfan is actively looking Konkana Sen, is not far behind.. All of 28yrs and desperate to settle down. Konkana has the services of Shaadi.Com going for her.. Shaadi.com by the way is one of the sponsors for this film. Konkana undoubtedly one of the most brilliant actress of our times, shows what a brilliant actress she is by getting into the characters and giving such a natural performance. She could be called today's Smita Patil.. but she is better.. she can do comedy too...
Sharman is a call centre executive determined to move ahead in life.. Win the rat race of life and
Kangana is the girl he is in love with,.. Kangana is his colleague.. Kangana too is good in her part...
Shiny Ahuja is a budding theatre actor who tries to find love in a married woman. A lone man without a actual counterpart in this movie..:-) Shiny as usual is good..

Kay Kay is a top manager in a call centre... Married, has a cute kid and a beautiful devoted woman for a wife.. Life is perfect... But Kay Kay is still searching for happiness... and he finds that happiness in the company of a 20-something girl. In whose company he "Feels young again".. From 10000 feet bird's eye view, A wonderful, devoted wife, A great job, Cute kid - Life seems to be perfect.. So what is he searching more for??? What he had already was perfect..Perfection ko improve karna muskil hota hai.. But why the hell is he trying to improve perfection!!!!!!!!!!!! Earthlings Earthlings.. they want more and more and more and more.. Thank God I am from Mars.

Shilpa Shetty(Shikha) plays Kay Kay's wife.. A devoted wife and mother... ...and still she is kept wanting for the respect and love she deserves and seeks from her partner for life..
Shikha too at some point of time, derails, and goes to seek love elsewhere.. but comes back on track at the right time... Shikha is what we can call the modern day Indian woman, with all the values intact... boleto like having all the qualities inherited from base class CBlackAndWhiteDays_Indian_Woman and having new elements of modernity too. In real life..people like her are difficult to find these days.. Maybe that's what makes them special...:-)
Shilpa Shetty's best performance till date.. She as usual looks stunning..She look wonderfully slim in the sari... This is one more mangalorian who seems to have given up on "kori-rutti" long long back.. Kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padta hai.. And what greater sacrifice for a mangalorian, than staying away from 'Kori Rutti' ;-)
By the way all girls look splendid in sarees.. and when they have long hair.... but when you ask .. why don't they wear sarees more often.. "Oh!! Its so cumbersome to wear.. to difficult to carry on".. Why don't they keep long hair.. "Oh! its so difficult to maintain".... Excuses..Excuses…oh!! Come on girl!!!. (Can you please get back to the review please!!!!! Distracted fellow!!!!!)..
Ok back to the review...

Metro the film, will force you to think about a lot of things.. everyday issues.. It depicts the real life problem we face….like.. What do we need out of a marriage?? what do we need from life? Are we compromising our values to get what we want?? Are these needs really and truly what we need??
Serious topic but surprisingly made very light by interlacing with lots of fun... Difficult to believe? I agree.. but the truth nevertheless..One more thing which strikes when watching the film and I heard Sunil Shetty say it once.. "Previously, people were loved and things were used.. Nowadays things are loved and people are used".. So aptly describes the situation today...Well said Anna.

Bottomline: Metro is quite entertaining.. Go for it..... he is certainly in a rush... He would do all it takes to win.. and reach his dreams..Sharman would make you laugh as usual, he will shock you too.. you will pity him and also appreciate his dream.. all this when you have 7 other characters to watch.. Sharman does a great job.