old partner

Old partner, no surprises here it is a movie/ i shall say a docu drama. Most of you not have heard about it, coz it is a Korean movie and in Korean title it sound as “ the sound of my cow’s bell”.
Why I am writing about this movie coz it is one of the most amazing real life story ever captured on celluloid. It is a story of an old farmer and his old cow, in a distant land. The devotion of farmer is unparallel, who refuses to trade his cow for a tractor. Story has one more character the farmers nagging wife.
The director of old partner wanted to capture a real life story of friendship between man and beast. There are instances in the movie, where you end up felling sympathy and somewhere you get your eyes numb. A farmer and his 40 year old cow, as partners. The scene in the movie where he went to sold his cow is the most touchy one. The farmer quotes to high for beloved that no one end up buying her. It seems he never wanted to sell her.
There is one of the scene in the movie when the cow fails to pull the cart full of logs, farmer took a part of logs and load on his back and start moving slowly along with his cow.There is no script no imagination bit, all that is captured here is truth.
The farmer wife keep on nagging him for his love for the cow, but the farmer never budge, but even a small sound from his cow, he give her all attention.
The movie is a cult classic at least for me, for its reality stuff and an honest attempt to portray an amazing relation.
People you can try some torrent search, if that's too hard for you, sear ch for this amazing story on net.

Gran Torino

8/10

Gran Torino, a classic car from Ford. The movie is not about the car but about it's owner Client Eastwood. He is old, widowed, lonely, retired from army, sick and worse he has un-familiar korean neighbours.

Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) doesn't like his neighbours at all and infact hates them. To make matters worse, a member of the neighbouring family tries to steal Walt's car 'Gran Torino'.
He also hates his son and son's family. Basically, a grumpy old man who just drinks beer, washes his car and stays with a dog at home.

Things change when Walt saves the neighbour's daughter from some hooligans. The girl instantly strikes a chord with Eastwood. The neighbour family floods Eastwood's doorstep with flowers, gifts, food, etc. The kid who tried to steal Eastwood's car 'Gran Torino' also becomes a friend of Eastwood as the movie progresses and Eastwood becomes soft hear ted towards his neighbours. The end is quite touching and infact brought a tear in my eye.

I loved all the characters in the movie. Clint at his best in casting and taking out great performances from his team.

A must watch for Clint Eastwood fans. For others too, this film is worth a watch. Clint Eastwood entertains with his 'don't mess with me' attitude and blunt style of talking. Infact it's very humorous at times.

Don't mess it! Oops. Don't miss it!

Movie Review : 13B - A Logical Thriller

My Say : A decent watch

My friend said " It's a spine-chilling horror. A must see" Then another told me Maddy - urf Madhavan had himself pleaded him to watch this movie. Maddy said " its awesome" So we went. It turned out to be a decent suspense thriller. Horror, it wasnt !Atleast for me...

The movie is a small budget film with a lead good actor and a strong / logical second half. The build up in the first half is comical and at times irritating. But if you stay put, you would be treated to some decent stuff in the second half. Infact, what makes its a good watch is that everything makes sense, nothing is illogical. The screenplay is good and the cinematography is excellent. The background score is adequately chilling , but the songs are pathetic!(Shankar, Ehsaan Loy seemed to have given them a bunch of rejects !! )

Off the actors, Madhavan hogs the limelight, but is the only actor to glue you onto the screen. He suits the role perfectly. He was excited when my friend gave him a positive feedback. It shows how desperate this acclaimed actor of the Tamil industry is to make it big in Bollywood !! Anyways,, if he works on his body a bit and sheds those extra kilos, I am sure he would do pretty well here.

One hillarious concept given in this film is THE DEAD are also upgrading themselves and finding various new channels to contact the Living !!! hahahaha... Like the TV in this case.. I assure you the final final scene will leave u in splits!!!absolutely absurd.

This one is surely worth a watch (on the CD preferably - where u can forward the unwanted bits), surely for putting all the pieces in the right place in the end. A logical thriller.

Rating : 5.5 / 10 ( 0.5 less for an irritating first half)

Movie Review : Gulaal - Gritty and Witty ....

My Say : A gritty and witty film.

Maybe Mr.Mehra should pick up the fone and call up Mr.Kashyup and take some tips on abstract, on making statements that do not feel like listening to a lecture!

I cannot believe how could a movie like this be kept in the CAN for such a long time. Maybe, because it doesnt have sellable stars. Maybe, because uptil now the director was considered a Pariah... But with this film, Kashup proves that he can make and sell movies just on his name. The director has finally become the hero of his film in India !

Gulaal is a brutally raw and witty take on the infighting within a state of our country. The politics within the state, and the dirt within this politics. The game of power which doesnt discriminate between its victims.

Its about a mans pursuit to becoming the absolute power within his state and creating a separate domain of his own. Its about this mans blind belief in his ancestory. He is not willing to be a subject of the country, he wants to rule his own! He wants freedom for his people and himself. This ambition is not just his own, but of a few others too. And so begins the game of eimination. Interesting, very interesting.

Kashup's story is extremely gritty and engaging and the execution meets our high expectations. Though there is a drop in the pace in certain parts of the movie and you try to guess where is this all heading, it manages to suck you back in. The pace of the film waxes and wanes and almost reaches a towering crescendo somewhere near the end of the first half. You want to know whats next. The game of politics with the next roll of the dice, brings the fall of another pawn and another and another and the game becomes even more convoluted, yet simple. Amidst all this is stuck a guy who doesnt want to get involved , but is sucked in with dire consequences.

Again what takes the cake is the background score. The songs are extremely meaningful and create the perfect atmosphere for this ride. Concentrate on the lyrics, they send out a message. The performances by each and every character is brilliant. From the ever reliable Kay Kay to the Raj Singh Chaudhary, from Abhimanyu shekhar singh to Deepak Dobriyal. Watch out for Piyush Mishra ( KK's mental elder brother). His songs and dialogues create a lasting impact.

If Dev D was a drug to a few, this could give a high to a broader section of India. Go watch it and I am sure you will enjoy, for some reason or the other.

Rating : 7/10

Movie Review : Delhi 6 - Well intentioned but not well received!

My Say : A chaotic khichdi not entirely digestable ....

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is a little crazy, a little erratic. He looks at cinema as a way to not only tell a story , but also give a message. His crazy self forces him to be a little experimental in his cinema. He is not averse to his movie being abstract and that makes him pleasant to have around. He could give u a bummer like AKS and then a revelation like RDB ! His third movie though promised a lot , does not live up to its expectations.

Delhi-6's plot is nothing new. A guy comes back to his roots and relaises what he was missing all his life! The treatment is surely different.

Delhi-6 starts off at a very poor note. The opening sequences are poorly directed but Mehra gains his ground there after.  What leaves him in deep waters is the story which is thread bare. The only different point in the film is the KALA BANDAR . Otherwise, he packs in as many characters as possible and as many forseable problems as possible! The main and support cast in the movie delivers , though I think Waheeda Rehman ji goes a bit over the top. 

The songs are the greatest asset this movie has, but their placement is highly debatable. I thought a few songs started abruptly. Rehna Tu comes at a totally unexpected time. Mehra is an innovative soul and his juxtaposition of Ramayan with the real life is quiet decent. Also, one of the song is creatively shot, when Abhishek starts seeing New York in the middle of Chandni Chawk!

Though I so wanted to like this film, I could only see its flaws. If Mehra wanted to depict utter chaos in the locality, he surely succeeds , because there is too much chaos in the film. All possible problems added into one movie makes it a type of a khichdi. Also, I felt that Abhishek's character was poorly sketched. A guy who has never been to India before in his life speaks flawless hindi , is not troubled by the dirt or the excessive population/pollution , or the fact that he has to carry a water bucket to the loo etc etc. His only claim to being an NRI is that he speaks english in an American accent. He keeps getting beaten up and witnesses friends fighting like animals over religion. Even then he keeps saying "Iss jagah ke log bade achche hain". Absurd !!! This guy could have easily been a guy from Bombay who visits his delhi house for the first time in his life. That would have been digestable too !

Delhi-6 is overall a chaotic Khichdi with a message, but unfortunately  not entirely digestable !

Rating : 4 / 10

Delhi-6 Review

Delhi -6 is so criticized for one and only one reason…as it’s a movie made by the RDB director…Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
An over-hyped, over-publicized and over-criticized movie…

If we think of it as any other movie…it’s a movie about an NRI (Abhishek Bachchan) accompanying his sick grandmother to her Delhi house. This movie is the narration of his perspective of India. During this narration many faces of India is shown… loving, sentimental, faith followers, myth believers, media frenzy dictated, authoritarian police, corruption, caste, emphasis on marriage, young dreams and communalism to count a few

The biggest strength of the movie is that there is no moral glorification of India… like a lot of other movies say that the west is culturally bankrupt and other fabricated statements to make India score over them... this movie show India as it is…with its strengths and weaknesses
The second as a movie is to create a rainbow of tangible characters… and some great performance by the actors like Om Puri, Pawan Mehlotra, Vijay Raaz, Divya Dutta, Rishi Kapoor, Cyrus, Prem Chopra, Sonam Kpoor and many more

The key weaknesses included some over dramatic scenes, the sections when the movie seems direction less and the tradition of Indian hero waking from the dead …

The music is awesome…Prason Joshi and A.R. Rehman delivers as per their competence… even though appropriate, it’s a little disappointing to see only pieces of these songs used in the movies for those who already loved them

After thought… this movie is actually like RDB… a movie that provides a tangential message on a burning issue faced by India head-on…except for one difference…though patriotism is a topic that gives you pleasure and pride …while communism is something that make us grimace …

My rating:3.5/5

Movie Review - Dev D - Stylish but Indulgent

Rating : 6 / 10

My Say : Stylish but indulgent.

Anurag Kashyap -the Yuvraj Singh of Cinema - the genius kid , who has seen loads of cinema , has learnt a lot of techniques, has loads of innovative ideas - who just cannot help but go overboard. He has to quickly learn that even if you have all the ingredients required to cook food, you require only specific ingredients in specific amounts for a particular dish. Much like No Smoking, Anurag tries a lot of tricks when only a few would suffice. Dev D is a much more sensible and effective film - with Anurag's insanity intact!

Anurag and Abhay's take on the modern day Devdas, blending it with real life controversies makes it a very engaging story. It delves into the carnal avarices of human beings and does not shy away from most things thought off as taboo. The heroins both Chanda and Paro, are sexually liberated females, who arent hypocrites ( much like the members of the Moral brigade in India!! ) and the hero is a narcissist incapable of love, but who cannot bear the feeling of a female rejecting him. He hits females without discrimination and labels himself and most girls he meets and sleeps with as sluts. Welcome to Anurag's world of eternal depravity.

Even though the interpretation of the age old classic is interesting, the lenght of the movie is a big issue. Anurag in his infinite pursuit of showing off, keeps showing a series of day-break after night-fall and day-break all over again. The story of the movie moves at snails pace, as you see Dev downing one Vodka after another, then going to sleep completely sloshed and then waking up again to start that routine all over again. Ok, so he is an addict, but he dint have to show every trick he learnt from Danny Boyle ( gives special thanks to Mr.Boyle in the opening credits). Plus, I didnt get the feeling that he truly loved any of the 2 women, neither did I get the feeling that he could not , absolutely could not live without booze. Also, Anurag seems to be a bit confused. He does not quiet know if he wants Dev to be a narcissist only in love with himself, who feels no remorse for any of his actions or who is an addict and is driven to madness. Dev is somewhere in between and I had a problem with that. Talking of problems, I had a major problem with the ending, because the movie builds up to the hero snowballing towards eternal doom but finally shows Hope! Come on man.... let the perfect recipe for a tragedy remain one!!!

What I liked though was the style with which he has shot the film. The camera jars, swirls with the character and perfectly depicts the state of trance. Also, the locations, the interiors built are exceptional and give the movie that surreal look it deserves. The dialogues are bold and engaging. The background music is good, and gives the otherwise loopy script some pace. Though some tracks just blast your eardrums and give you a headache, a few are ingenius. The movie is like a continuous string of one song after another, and I truly hope Amit Trivedi hasnt used all his life's work in this film. My pick of the track was - Paayaliya. Emotional atyaachaar is very effectively placed. The use of Music was ok, but Anurag goes overboard here too... Overuse should be the word for it.

Abhay Deol does a decent job and I feel he could have done better in the emotional sequences or the scenes where he expresses his love. Mahie Gill as Paro does a fab job and stands out, while Kalki Koechlin as Chanda is decent ( shedefinitely looks the part!!!).

In the interval they showed the preview of GULAAL , Anurag's resurrected movie which has been in the making for a long time. Bold again, it promises a lot. I sure hope Mr.Kashyap matures quickly, coz I am sure he will revolutionize indian cinema. He has got that Rebellious streak in him, which would probably break the formula within Indian cinema. But I am sure, he would remain a Niche Audience director. A request to Mr.Kashyup - grow up man.... for our sake....