OMG, What a Movie !!!

Rating: 4 out of 5

To describe in one word – Amazing

To describe in two words – Simply Outstanding

OMG is an outstanding movie, delivering a strong message. Movies are usually not for me, as I seem to hardly like any movies. However, OMG has an amazing concept, something which one can relate to. It would touch that very part of your belief in God and make you think whether your belief about what is God is actually true.

The director gives interesting insight and perspective about what is God. Not denying the fact that the movie does preach about what is God and what is not. But the best part is, the director has managed to mix entertainment and a strong message in a smooth way and there is not even a single moment in which you would feel like taking a loo break or fidgeting with your Android.

The story begins with Kanji Mehta (Paresh Rawal), a typical Gujrathi, who knows how to do business. Atheist to the core, Kanji does not believe in God. His business is to sell the idols at super expensive prices by making up stories. He even manages to go to Haridwar in a trip sponsored by a son in memory of his mother an all he does is buy more stuff.

Then one day Kanji’s son takes part in a dahi handi. In order to dissuade him, he spreads rumours and the whole dahi handi thing goes for a toss. And as one would guess, God punishes him for his act. An earthquake completely destroys his shop. But hold on, everything else is unmoved. Thus, God plays the cruel role of destroying his source of income. Even the insurance company rejects his claim saying that the damage is due to act of God. That is when, he decides to sue the God and your movie begins.

The movie has amazing dialogues and arguments put forth are nicely scripted. Each and every character is flawless and plays his role to perfection. Paresh Rawal, Mithun Chakraborty, Mahesh Manjrekar, Akshay Kumar and Om Puri are wonderful and keep you engaged. The real life resemblance of Mithun Chakraborty, Govind Namdeo as Siddheshwar Maharaj and Poonam Jhawer as Gopi Maiyya makes them all the more fun (That is if, you can guess that they actually portray real life sadhus).

After ages, there seems to be a Hindi movie which has balanced the fun and the message part nicely. I would even dare to say that this movie is better than Barfi. Must watch movie, do not miss it. It’s something you will never regret.

Barfi ! - Unadulterated Innocence...

Unadulterated Innocence! That is how you describe the ‘Barfi’ experience in two words. The movie which travels from the hustle bustle of Kolkata to the quaint, mist-laden environs of Darjeeling is much a treat for all age groups alike. It captures the yet-uncorrupted parts of your brain well and does manage to enthuse the hidden child or maybe just the die-hard romantic in you.

The script revolves around the life of Barfi, a young guy who cannot speak or hear. And what is Bollywood if not for a love triangle? But this triangle is as beautiful as it is different. The story is a beautiful rendition of how differently abled people can and are like any other human being. It speaks volumes how much one can communicate even sans words. How emotions and love can be conveyed without speaking. That is where the movie’s USP lies. It’s simple yet elegant and it does manage to leave you teary-eyed.

Barfi or Ranbir Kapoor, happy go lucky as he is, falls in love with Shruti, played nicely by the newcomer Ileana D’cruz. But as luck would have it she is already engaged. Love still blossoms in the hills and there comes a time where she needs to make a choice. And choose she does! In some other part of town, Jhilmil or Priyanka Chopra, who suffers from Autism is living her own story. Barfi who has grown up with Jhilmil decides to kidnap her when he needs money for his father’s operation. And there begins the comedy of hits and misses. From Darjeeling to Kolkata and back - it’s all seeped in raw emotions and love!

Travelling back and forth in time, the movie narrates itself as a story with constant flashbacks to different periods in time. One may get a tad confused but if one engrosses oneself in the movie enough then I am pretty sure it will be a relish. The cinematography and direction are spell binding and keep you entertained throughout. And the acting is simply marvellous – be it Ranbir or Priyanka or even Inspector Dutta (played by Saurabh Shukla). Although the first part is a bit slow and may make you take your eyes away from the movie, the second part more than makes up for the slip. The plus point of the second part being better than the first is that it leaves a lasting and lingering good-wala feeling on you. Overall it is a good watch and I would rate it 3.5/5 !!

Catch the official trailer here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZxrao3zou4

Bol Bachchan - The worst that you can get!!

                There are good films, there are bad films. And then there is Bol Bachchan. I generally am very choosy about what I watch and what I don't. And Bol Bachchan definitely came in the NEVER EVER kind of films. But I think it was just one of those days when my choices derailed. Bol Bachchan, in one word, was pathetic. In two words, absolutely horrendous. And this was in spite of the fact that, as advised, I kept my brains at the door step of the cinema hall. Frankly, it was unbearable to sit through the film. Both my brother and I were in a state of utter disgust.  We were at a stage where we were repulsed (and almost hyper- ventilating) that some people around us were actually laughing on the lame attempts at slapstick comedy!      

                At the outset, Bol Bachchan seemed to be a film made to fill in an otherwise dry Friday. With no story line, what the film was basically riding on was senseless comedy. But unfortunately, Rohit Shetty really went berserk with this film. Everything was wrong about this film. From casting to story line to dialogs. I mean, you cannot and I reiterate, CANNOT cast Abhishek Bachchan for a dance role. He is a miserable dancer. And it isn’t as if he has set the world on fire in the comedy genre. I think Rohit should have looked beyond the obligation and cast somebody else. A Sharman Joshi may have been good. Further, if you have Abhishek Bachchan as one of your joint leads, you cannot have Ajay Devgn as a comic lead. With all due respect to his recent successful record (read Golmaal series), he gives Kristen Stewart competition when it comes to his expressions. And he just could not fill up the void created by Abhishek. Mind you, I have not even commented about Krushna Abhishek, VIP and Archana Puran Singh. Prachi Desai and Asin Thottumkal really had no roles to speak about. A well polished table could have replaced them and we all would have been none the wiser (Actually the same can be said for Abhishek considering that a table also has two left feet!!! :P).

                Coming to the story line, what was presented on the platter was absurd. The character of Vikrant Raghuvanshi, Radhika Raghuvanshi, Sania Ali were not needed at all (I know I just took out half the characters. I also know that the film should not have been made in the first place. But this is damage control mode!) The insipid English dialogs by Ajay Devgn which were supposed to be the high points of the film were actually an eye sore. (A reference can be made to Sanjay Mishra’s character in Golmaal 3. He pulled off the broken English character to the T and was amusing to watch!) Frankly, after braving 3 traumatic hours of the film I felt that Rohit Shetty felt obliged to make something for his Comedy Circus comrades. I believe the writing credits should have been given to Krushna & VIP (the story genuinely seemed to be a rip- off from the stand- up acts that these two perform). It was senseless for sure, but contained no comedy.

                At the end of it all, I felt really disappointed with the kind of movie that was made. I know that it has been declared as a Box- Office hit. But in reality, such kind of films are an apartheid for Hindi Cinema. We, the viewers, really have to demand a better product from this industry. Eventually we are going to buy the same 100 - 150 rupees ticket. Why not spend it on some quality film? Films like Bol Bachchan are the reason why we are nowhere on the worldwide movie scene. We can get better from this industry. We deserve better from them. Let’s make this known to them. Let us not tolerate such asinine set of films. Only then shall this miserable condition abate.

Hoping that my film choices are back on track next time on.

This is the Sciolist.

Signing out!!!
     
(Pranav Vaidya, who goes under the pen name The Sciolist, is an avid reader, food enthusiast, zealous blogger, Lord of the Rings fanatic, Android addict, fervent writer and sporadic poet. To follow his other work, visit Sciolism, which is an advocacy of his perspectives.)

Gangs of Wasseypur - Gory, vulgar, violence-ridden but entertaining.

Revenge. That is the underlying sentiment of the movie. From Sultana Daaku to Ehsaan Quereshi to Sultan Singh and to Sardar Khan, all are hell-bent on avenging something or the other. And other times they would be busy serenading some girl, end up marrying her, have fun and procreate. In between, you have a liberal dose of knives, country made pistols, bullets and crude bombs and suddenly the movie becomes all explosive.  Add to this cuss words after every few sentences and voila, you have the audience in splits.

                Maybe that was being a little too strict with the movie. To be honest, the movie does entertain you. And does that to you for the better part of the almost 3 hour long run. But the kind of entertainment that the movie has to rely on is certainly too crass and obtuse for a level-headed person. Notwithstanding, the movie has certain scenes which have been played brilliantly by the actors and are adequately backed by opportune and perfectly timed songs.

                 Gangs of Wasseypur as the name suggests is a movie on gangs of Wasseypur. Wasseypur is this small town next to the coal-rich town of Dhanbad. Most of the first half of the first part of this movie is devoted to the history behind these gang wars and in building a family tree. It gets so confusing that you have no option but to only watch the movie with intense concentration. There are way too many characters. All of them get married. And they beget children. Who in turn get married and themselves have children. They pass on the legacy of their age-old revenge from generation to generation and you are forced to memorise the set of characters in one generation before the next generation turns up. The story begins in the backdrop of a feud between one gangster from the Quereshi caste, Sultana Daaku and a Pathan, Khan. The Pathan develops another enemy, Ramadhir Singh. All this has the coal mining belt of Bihar (now Jharkhand) in centre focus. From coal wars to petrol wars to fish wars, you have it all.

                But the superb acting of the cast is what impresses you apart from the ability to keep you at the edge of your seat for the better part that is. Risha Chadda, who plays Sardar Khan’s wife, plays the role of an Indian wife with a twist. She is happily married, keeps getting pregnant and repects her husband. But that does not keep her from going to the house of a prostitute with a knife and make her husband flee from there. The stunning composure and bearing that she maintains throughout the film is remarkable. So also Manoj Bajpai, aka Sardar Khan, plays a role of an orphaned-boy-turned-small-time-criminal-turned-gangster and plays it a class-apart performance. So also do most of the other actors.

                The movie though has been made with no sense of time or duration. It drags on a lot and you realise that the scenes have been added simply to stretch it to 5 hours or so. The first half of the movie could easily have been wrapped up in around 90 minutes. The songs do keep you plugged in and a few of them are made intentionally with double meanings. This seems to have become a signature recipe for making the audience laugh. It’s a movie which is bad, gross, downright indecent, but yet is entertaining, funny and certainly unavoidable.

Ratings - ***1/2

Ferrari ki Sawaari - A ride worth experiencing

Direction: Rajesh Mapuskar
Actors: Boman Irani, Sharman Joshi, Ritwik Sahore
Running time: 140 minutes
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ferrari ki Sawaari is a nice, sweet movie about a father (Rustam Deboo – Sharman Joshi) who breaks his own principles so that his son (Kayo – Ritwik Sahore) can go to Lords for cricket training. Ferrari ki Sawaari is not a movie based on cricket and certainly unlike Iqbal. But it has its own charm and is entertaining in its own way.

Rustam is an employee in a government office and is just able to meet his ends. However, he is honest to the core and even tries finding a traffic police to pay fine when he inadvertently breaks the signal (whom he eventually finds). His son, Kayo, is an exceptional cricketer and captain of his team. However, when Kayo gets selected for the training at Lords, Rustam does not have money for the same. And there begins the story of Rustam trying to steal a Ferrari (albeit for some hours after which he intends to return it).

The movie seems to be a bit slow in the first half and tends to be a drag at the end of first half. However, it picks up nicely in second half and is quite emotional towards the end. Although the movie is slow paced, it is nicely done and one feels happy-happy with a traditional, bollywood ishtyle happy ending. The movie succeeds in keeping a smile on the face with awesome punch lines at regular intervals.

The acting of all the characters in the movie is impeccable. Sharman Joshi fitted nicely into the role of a Parsi. Boman Irani is very natural and has nicely carried out the role of a frustrated grandfather. Paresh Rawal has played a nice little cameo. Also cameo roles of the Cricket coach (Satyadeep Mishra), Sachin’s servant (Aakash Dabhade) and Pakya (Nilesh Divekar) are worth a mention.

Overall, it’s a thumbs up for Ferrari ki Sawaari.

Madagascar 3 - Certainly most wanted !

What happens when a mean-looking French animal control officer decides that she wants a lion's head to adorn her already trophy-laden wall? And when that lion happens to be Alex, who with his friends Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe wants to go back to their Zoo in Central Park, New York, well it calls for an inter-continental trip of sorts. 

 The penguins fly to Monaco, leaving Alex and his friends behind and promising to return back. But they don't really have any such plan. Alex and the others meanwhile decide that they too should go to Monaco and then find the penguins so they can fly them to New York. On reaching Europe, the team creates a scene in a Casino and gets spotted by Captain Chantel DuBois. She decides that she wants Alex's head for herself. From there on it’s a complete blast. As Alex tries to escape the claws and tranquilizers of Dubois, they meet a bunch of Circus animals on a train to Rome. The journey takes them to Rome and London where a sponsor may finance their trip to New York. Where does their new circus adventure take them and whether they succeed in avoiding the clutches of DuBois, will keep you at the edge of your seat.

The movie is a treat for kids and adults alike. And it doesn’t matter if you have not seen the earlier two movies. The movie refreshes you totally and is not very lengthy (only 90 minutes) either. Although the plot slows down a bit at the end of the first half, but the second half is simply entertaining and not a dull moment to be found. Not to forget the 3D effects. They are superbly stunning and you will be left closing your eyes when Stefano the sea lion shoots in your direction from the cannon or the multitudes of other random scenes. It surely is very realistic. 

Madagascar 3 ensures that you have a smile on your face all throughout the movie. I would certainly recommend it to those you watch movies purely for relaxation and entertainment. Go catch a show and let the child within you awaken.

Rating - ***