Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag - Ek Ganda Mazaaq, Dimaak Kharaab !

Rating - 1/10

Desecration - Thats the only word that pops up when you talk about this appaling movie. Its single most disgusting remake in the history of remakes. The remake of Don would look like a master piece once you watch this piece of crap. I think RGVarma has played the most elaborate, heavily hyped piece of joke on Indian cinema's most loved film. I dont think RGV loves the film as he claims. I think he hates its guts. I think he had a mission of taking this classic piece by piece and shredding each piece into smaller ones and then burning them. I think he took Dharam Paaji's dialogue "Chun Chun Ke Maarungaa" to heart and then violated each and every memorable scene from Sholay.

I have also taken this dialogue of Veeru as my motto, so lets begin the pillage. Where should I start? Should I tell you about how every character is converted into a caricature? Or should I tell you about the amateurish camerawork? Or should I tell you how RGV hasnt spent any money on anything(maybe he knew that after the first day, his movie wud be spat on!) Or should I tell you about the awefully picturised songs? Or should I start with the disgusting direction? Or should I tell you about the woeful locations ?Leave these aside, less talked about these aspects, the better. Coz I have some choice words to explain my mental condition at this point!

Lets talk about Gabbar - converted to Babban. What were you thinking Amitabh. By now we have established that RGV was playing this cruel joke or maybe he has gone completely whacko, but what happened to you Amitabh? How could you play this glorified idiot called Babban, who barks more than he bites. Babban is a buffoon, who keeps running after every interaction with the 2 hero's( you wonder how there cud be 100 crores spent on catching this idiot by the police). His gang is the most useless and ugly one you would ever see. Sambha turned Tambe played by Sushant Singh is converted into a bull doggish, gun wagging doggy, who has no expression.

Then Jai and Veeru are turned into Raj and Heero! Ajay devgan plays the playboy Heero and Prashant raj plays the straight faced Raj. Both these original characters have been massacared. Raj - has practicaly no role and I now know why RGV chose this new comer who cannot act and has a horrendous voice for this role! The Ajay - what were you thinking? We thot you had turned into an intelligent actor with class, but Dharam paaji would have winced at every dialogue of your character! The real culprit is director RGV. These heros arent given any background. They turn up in Mumbai and meet their weird friend, who gives them a job. They are village idiots who do not know that they r working or gangsters but when they are working with the police, they shoot AK 57's and 67's and the works with ease. Boy oh Boy, u wud cry when u see the famous scenes where Jai goes for veeru's rishta or when you see that famous suiside scene turned into mindless crap. Utter crap. Half the people are crying because they cant bare it or are laughing their guts out at the sheer stupidity.

Then comes Thakur - turned into Narasimha. Boss tell me what is a malyali inspector doing in a maharshtrian set up? whats happening here? He talks with this deadly accent, but his whole family talks spick and span Hindi. Whats this guys background? Didnt RGV pay attanetion to anything? When you see Narasimha running around red faced weilding his gun and killing people in rage, you wonder which era are you in? Have we gone back to the 80's? RGV cudnt even show cut fingers and hence gives Narasimha a kurta that has amazingly long sleeves. they look disproportionate and you know that Mohanlal's hands end much before the sleeve ends! Even a school play director would have been more innovative. You pity Mohanlal, a great actor being converted into this constipated constable oops cop!!!

Nisha Kothari as ghungroo has her moments but again she over does it. The most restrained acting is by Sushmita and her face shows that fire burning inside a widow. The other legendary characters are murdered by RGV even more brutally. Also Urmila, is potrayed in such a vulgur fashion that you wince. Aesthetics is something RGV does not care for. RGV cudnt even show a proper village or town. He had probably decided to shoot the film in 5 to 6 locations max. The whole feel of Sholay is beaten black and blue by this film. There is no sense in any scene. Its utter garbage. By this time I have used up almost all the derogatory words I cud use, but the fire (Aag) inside me isnt pacified.

RGV you have certainly given a big jolt to all fim lovers and I think RGV has completely lost it. I dont know how would people ever forgive RGV for this, he has probably nailed his own coffin. Ramesh Sippy must be rolling in his grave with rage! If you wanna see how you butcher a classic, go ahead, make RGV's day and watch this Ganda Mazaaq...

Nehru Cup

India wins the Nehru cup for the very first time. A glorious victory in football, after five years, for India. A great performance of an Indian team, in a game other then cricket. And not a single news article in any newspaper/bulletin of any channel, that talks about this victory, miss the words “Chak de India”.

I love the bond we share movies!! :)

Wild Hogs

Starring : Tim Allen (doug-the family man), John Travolta (woody-the rich guy), Martin Lawrence (bobby-the plumber), William Macy (dudley-the geek)
well i saw this movie recently thinking that this is going to be a bikers passion movie, but this turned out to be different but there is one thing for sure it was a not a shear disappointment. one thing that concerns me; why did travolta work in this low budget movie which was ought to be an average movie....is it that he is out of work or what??? now that is upto u to figure it out....

Four middle-aged men, three stuck in dysfunctional relationships and one unable to even talk to a woman (but gets the hottest one in the end), get their motors running and head out on their Harleys in wild hogs, buddies who feel the need to escape from their 9-to-5 lives and decide the best way to recapture some of their lost youth is to take off on their Harleys.
Off they go and, of course, absolutely nothing turns out as they planned. Their tents burn down and they encounter a motorcycle cop who believes the men are lovers and wants to join in on the fun. Things get really hairy when they run afoul of a group of real bikers who don't like couch potato posers who think black leather jackets and a cool logo patch are all it takes to be bikers n the story goes on like this with some patches of comedy which makes doesn't make u feel bore for all the while....there is a town where they go n how they saved the ppl there from the terror of the bad boys gang....story depicts the color of true friendship n how they stood for each other at the time they needed unity (the creditable thing is their age at which one lives for oneself)...

in all the movie is just a timepass n there is nothing so great, if u have to kill some time n have nothin else to do, go for it....on a scale of 5 i would rate it as 2

Music and Lyrics

The film stars Hugh Grant as Alex Fletcher, a washed-up 1980s pop star and Drew Barrymore as Sophie Fisher, a former English literature major. It tells the story of their efforts to write a song for singer Cora Corman (Haley Bennett), and their subsequent romance. Director : Marc Lawrence)
Music and Lyrics kicks off with an 80s-style Wham-like video of a band called as 'PoP'. Firmly tongue in retro-chic, Hugh Grant is Alex Fletcher, the washed-up has-been now playing the nostalgia circuit for middle-aged housewives. He meets bubbly Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) who waters the plants in his apartment but has a knack for writing lyrics. This saves his day when current pop-diva princess Cora (a so called pop diva, clone of may be Britney or Shakira or alike) who is interested in Buddhism n Thong philosophy based songs showing some of her erotic dance moves....but the time Hugh has is couple of days n he insists that Drew can write for her n make her realize that she has the born poetic abilities which she needs to explore now or its never....
Hugh and Drew propel the movie with energy, wit and a warm, lovable enthusiasm (offcourse not to mention drew's dimples and her sweet smile). the movie definately gives u a feel good experience n one wishes that the love story conrtinues off screne too....i mean that is the impact movie has on its viewers, i dont think there is nyhting lawrence could have expected...

Along came Polly

Cast: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, Philip Hoffman, Alec Baldwin

Rating: 3.5/5

I saw this movie only beacuse it featured Jennifer and it was a small movie of 1 hour 20 minutes. Anyway the movie starts with Ben marrying Debra. Ben features as a Risk Assement guy for an Insurance company and Debra is property agent. Just when the two went on Honeymoon, Debra fell in love with a local guy and slept with her, she leaves Ben and Ben comes back to his town and spends time with his best friend Philip who had once acted in a movie long ago and still thinks himself as the great actor.

Ben is given a charge to do risk analysis for Alec a guy who loves adventure sports. Heartbroken Ben went to a club with Philip and found his old classmate there as waiteress (Jennifer). Now, Ben thinks of an idea to date with Jennifer so as to heal his wounds. The movie revolves around how a man who does not like spicy food eat spicy food for a girl, does Salsa for her and so on. This are some very hilarious moments here.

Now Debra comes back and wants to go along with Ben again, just when Ben was happy with Jennifer (they even had sex). Ben does an risk analysis of the two only to find Jennifer better than Debra, Jennifer came to know about this and leaves Ben and the city, but Ben caught hold of her. Philip who gave some very light moments in the movie was given a task to give a speech on Alec's insurance in place of Ben who has to stop Jennifer from leaving the city.

All in all the movie is entertaining and short. A nice one to watch.

Chak De India

Also available at: http://mohitontherocks.wordpress.com/

(After putting in this post, I realized that I was a little (too) late in publishing this but since I felt strongly and so good about this movie, I wanted to share it with movie enthusiasts like you, esp the links to the real life drama that inspired this movie at the end of this post)

A lot of political jingoism and patriotism marked this 15th August week, more so because it was our 60th anniversary of independence. Everyone and their daddy came out with some stuff which could be used to loosen the common man's pockets by pulling on his patriotic strings. I, for one, don't mind parting with a few green bills but at least give me some bang for my buck. My search for the bang took me to Chak De India last Friday which released in that happening week.



Now what can one expect from a movie which stars Shah Rukh Khan as the coach of the Indian Hockey team full of never-seen-before girls, and even has him rapping away in one of the songs. SRK being the coach, would call the shots obviously and lead the team single-handedly to victory because of his hard-hitting mmeh mmmeh dialogues of course. The girls would just happen to be there under the shadow of the mighty SRK. It would be SRK all the way leading the country of a billion people to their 60th year of mindless celebrations over an extremely important event in the history of India which is probably more fondly remembered by the common man as the day we got the freedom to urinate on the walls of any government building without being reprimanded by the British.

But boy, was I glad that I was wrong (about the movie, that is!)! This movie was not anything I mentioned above and turned out to be pretty much the bang I was looking for!

For starters, it's probably the first sports movie about India that takes up real issues and attempts to capture the struggle of sportsmen (actually sports-women) in a team sport. Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander was another exciting movie of this genre that I can recall but even that was about cycling, an individual sport, and individual excellence is not really something to write about in this country with probably the largest number of individual superstars.

Chak de India strives to showcase the struggle of a man from the point he was disgraced by the people of his country to his well deserved moment of joy and pride when he helps bring the Women's World Cup home. And it's the journey between these two points in his life that is more exciting than the final result that makes the movie such a treat to watch. While the fact that a movie from the Yash Chopra bandwagon looked at real problems in hockey hit me as a pleasant surprise, what made the deal a whole lot sweeter was the little nuances that the film brings out about the typical Indian mindset not just towards the game but also towards each other and ofcourse towards public figures who are made demi-gods in moments, crushed to the ground equally sooner and then returned back to their seats among the stars of the celebrity sky with as much as just one flash of brilliance.

The plot is loosely based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi, the Indian goalkeeper in the 1982 Asiad Games Final where India lost to arch rival Pakistan by a whopping 7-1. Negi was made the scapegoat for that defeat and the humiliation made him vanish from the hockey scene for years only to return as the coach of the Indian Women's Hockey team and lead them to victory in the Commonwealth games in 2002.

The movie does add some twists of its own for adding drama. Negi becomes Kabir Khan so that there can be that extra sting in the humiliation. 20 years is reduced to 7 so that Shah Rukh does not have to get the "Anupam Kher hair style" to match the real coach! But it is the girls that represent the teething issues facing Indian Hockey today and in doing that, carry the movie not only on their athletic shoulders but their hockey sticks, whims and fancies, bitching and most of all their enthsiasm for the sport. Representing different states and teams, the girls intuitively refuse to break away from their regional identities, causing rival groups to be formed - an issue that has always haunted the Indian teams. They have always been accused of not playing as a team. The film portrays the differences with a generous sprinkle of humour. The coach is aware of all that and works on the team building aspect. The girls learn the importance of team work painfully. But as they learn the all important art of team building, they also learn about their own weaknesses and strengths. It is the beauty of the girls' journey from them being the best player in their states to them being the best players for the Indian team. The other ills plaguing all sports in this country viz. politics in associations, sports bodies being lead by people with no interest in the betterment of facilities and the charm of the foreign trip is also subtly shown.

While sports movies are the best teachers for lessons in life, they don't help much if the sports is not good enough. Chak de India has elegantly and realistically portrayed hockey matches and players.



But the most surprising part of the movie was that SRK serves as the lowest common denominator and, for a change, doesn't mind lying low when the scene demands so. His greatest contribution to the movie has been his restraint in his acting which makes him affable yet again to a fan-following he lost somewhere in his quest to become bigger than Big B. Also, to be fair to Shah Rukh and his dream of doing something for the sport he wanted to play at the highest level, his presence itself means a lot in terms of the widespread media attention that the movie is getting. It would be difficult to get the audience to the theatres without the attraction of SRK!

If I see something missing from this movie, it would surely be the fact that it misses out on a major reason for the poor showing of the Indian Hockey team in tournaments around the globe - the Astro Turf. Players in India have always played on grass and most do so till they reach the national level. It is only beyond this phase that the players get to play on the surface which players around the world take all their life to get used to but the Indian players probably get only a fraction of that time to get their act together. Indian hockey was world champion in the days of yore because they played on the same surface all through but Astro Turf takes the game to a totally different level in terms of the stamina of players and the pace of the game.

Iqbaal and Lagaan were outstanding movies about sports too but this one is in a different league. This is a coming-of-age Bollywood movie which showcases recent history that most of us were not even aware of; and it does so in a pleasant yet realistic way coming as a breath of fresh air. The movie sure revived my interest in hockey. I am sure it would have done this for a lot of others as well.

Indian Hockey players of the past were so good that there is actually a skill named after them - the Indian Dribble. Let's hope this movie can inspire some young blood to bring some of that glory back to India.

Chak de India!
Here is the news item related to the actual Commonwealth Games that the Indian Hockey Women's team won under Mir Ranjan Negi. The actual win was a bit controversial. Read on!
India Deny England Gold

A few news articles highlighting the problems in the Indian Hockey camp:
1) Egos drag hockey team into sticky mess
2) Killer Instinct: Do we really lack it?
3) Dhanraj has attitude problem, says coach

Last, but not the least, the man himself, Mir Ranjan Negi
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070814/cth3.htm#2

Sexy n Stylish

The movie was promised to be a frill free love story. It is more than that. It boasts of very stylish, sexy and next door characters as leading pair; supported by adorable supporting cast especially wise sexy and sweet Zohra Sehgal. As some one who do not think that a sixty something falling in love with thirty something is not a big deal, you will still love the movie.
Paresh Rawal’s character, takes this truly ‘different’ love story to the routine beaten track towards the end. But you forgive the director for giving you the refreshing new age romanticism for most of the movie.
The real show stealer are the dialogues. They are absolute crackers at times.
Honestly, it one bollywood romantic story, you will love to be a part of.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Heyy Babyy

Overall Rating 5/10

Hi friends

I went to see this movie with great hope. And the star attraction at least for me was voluptous Vidya Balan.


But, the movie was not that good. It was full of senti stuff. And I kept on wondering it would have been better, if Akshay Kumar was replaced by senti king Shahrukh Khan. And to my surprise he did appeared, though for few moments only.


The movie wanted to give some message to the audience, but due to overacting and overdramatization, the message was diluted. But, it had some good things like, in between the musical movie, we did get a chance to hear some dialogues. Then hot Australian babes. Then above all the last song 'Dil Da Mamla' was mind blowing. I was just missing the dance floor.


I think the movie was adapted by 'Three men and a baby' , but as inevitable as per Bollywood style, it got flavor of Mrs Doubtfire too.



At last I would say, it is the only good movie except Chak De India on the recent Bollywood Box Office.

Blue Umbrella

This Movie is a b'ful screenplay of Ruskin Bond story by the same name. Like a typical Ruskin Bond story, it is a story for the kids equally palatable for the adults!

Set in an idyllic north indian hill station village,it is a story of a small girl , Biniya, played by Shreya Sharma, with much elan. Biniya trades off her lucky charm with a group of Japanese tourists, for a blue umbrella
Biniya's object of fantasy becomes an object of envy and desire for the kids and adults alike.
Nandkishore Khatri,played by seasoned actor and threatre artist Pankaj Kapoor, the tea stall owner tries to allure Biniya to sell off her Blue Umbrella for anything that a kid could desire and Masterji's wife is spending restless days trying to get a similar one.

And one day the umbrella vanishes, while the girl is out grazing her stock. The ebulient Biniya looses her sleep and laughter. While villagers try to convince her that umbrella is lost to the hills, the girl thinks otherwise.

Biniya's search for the missing umbrella is an essay on a child's resolve and simplicity of heart

Gulzar lyrics blend into the backdrop, his inimmitable style.

Must watch if you believe life could be black and white and not all shades of grey!
Like childhood and adulthood!

For all those who believe in good cinema!

Transformers

Rating: 2.5/5

This movie is about good aliens coming to earth to save it from the bad aliens. The movie boasts of some awesome visuals (sadly it is more to do with American choppers and aircrafts rather then the robots), some great comedy with Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) and a very good looking Capt. William Lennox (Josh Duhamel).
But it fall slow in pace, with not very many things happening and the scene of cars morphing into robots and back becomes boring very soon as you wonder that the car only if beaten into one dimensional plate will make such a huge robot.
Even with Steven Spielberg being one of the executive producers the movie somewhere lacks in execution.
P.S. As they provide characterization/emotions to the robots, you think about movie ‘Cash’ where even the human actors was denied the same :)

Chak De India

Previous Reviews [1][2][3].

A marathi playing the role of a Chandigarh'ite, a Garhwali that of a Haryanvi, a Kerlaite that of a Bengali; isn't that the best example of National Integration? But even more, it is testimony to the script and direction of the movie - Chak De India!.

Chak De India, indeed excels in both the screenplay and direction. The story of Mir Ranjan Negi, rehashed as Kabir Khan's tale is inspiring - but the way each character in the movie is etched, is what makes it even more interesting. Whether it is the brash Komal Chautala (played by Chitrashi Rawat), the bright striker Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) or the no-nonsense Nethra Reddy (Sandia Furtado) - each character is believable yet far from being stereotypical.

The story is based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi - but the writer (Jaideep Sahni) has also successfully integrated issues like regionalism, groupism, and arrogance of seniors into it.

Shilpa Shukla gets full points for her portrayal of the arrogant senior Bindiya Naik. Similarly, the silent rivalry between bright players (Komal and Preeti) is well presented. I am sure each one of us have been through situations in school, college or workplace in which we have faced or witnessed all the above issues.

The screenplay should get 200/100 - for adding enough wit, humour into the seeming serious storyline. Komal Chautala's dialogues are outright witty, so are sequences illustrating the ignorance of Indians about each other's regions. Balbir Kaur is another funny character, and the sequence where the attendant asks Netra Reddy's about the difference between Tamil and Telugu is so typical of Delhi that one cannot but smile.

Coming to Shahrukh, Chak De once again proves that Shahrukh is a great actor - and it is more because of certain directors which he gets stereotyped. This is undoubtedly one of his best and most natural performances after Swades!!

Budha Mar Gaya- Is Budha the Movie Itself?

Overall Rating 1/10

I went to see this movie, after completion of exams with the expectations of being entertained by the hillarious comedy.

I was for sure, that the movie will be good as star comedians like Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher and Om Puri are present.

But to my surprise, it was movie that died not the Budha.

Well the story reminds me of cheap vulgar comedies like Kya Cool Hai Hum. But this movie was height. I can't even imagine how the guys like Prem Chopra & Om Puri has accepted the cheap role of lechers in this movie, especially when there is no message attatched to it.

Though the team tried to make it hillarious, but due to bad direction and abrupt story line the movie looses its charm, leaving the audience thinking should I leave in the interval or now?

I am unable to get the analogy how come in such a short span movies like CASH & the reviewed one be made in Bollywood. There is definitely something wrong with directors and Bollywood. These guys have to understand that Indian audience doesnt want it.

And on behalf of Indian audience, I will like to say to such movies only one thing ' Get Lost'

I want to give negative rating, but as per the protocol of the blog I am giving it 1/10.

Kafila- The Final Survivors

Overall Rating 4/10

Kafila is the movie based on real life story of Malta Boat Tragedy, few years back.

In between the exams i went to see it , as i wanted the break. I knew the movie is not that good, but still went for it with least expectations. I went for it, cause I am Punjabi and for a punjabi its very tough to resist Sunny Deol's movie.

The movie had all the larger than life figure of Sunny. But there were some good things I didn't expect from it. The good things were actual shooting in Afganisthan and erstwhile USSR. Then there was realistic portrayal of giant sea wave. And above all the over portrayal of skin of hot Russian babes.

The story line is good till second last phase of movie, with the theme in this world of greed ' Expect Unexpected!!'.

Also it shows national integeration spirit and also that Pakistani's and Bangaldeshi's also share emotions like us.

The movie tried to portray that the good relations are possible between India & Pakistan, only thing required is true will.

Above all it gave a beautiful message, that ' Home is ultimately Home' and its landing oneselves into cruel and brutal circumstances by embracing illegal means of immigration.

I am just wondering, why it took so many years for such a movie to come out. Had it come out earlier, it might have saved many Indians from undergoing the grind of illegal immigration.

At last, seeing the movies like Kabul Express, Krish and Kafila, I feel happy that Bollywood is at least trying to come out with better graphics and true depiction of real life stories.

All style, no content!

Style is a way of narration. But funny how many movies are made with only style and no content? This movie kills you as you get confused between so many actors with none of them having a characterization, all of them come to the screen only to look cool, confident and chic; but floundering at reasonability.

For example Sunil Shetty (after tying a blindfold over his glares), Shamita Shetty (to have breakfast), Esha Deol (at the drop of a hat), Ritesh (to run away from cops), and Zayed khan(for roof(car)top shooting) all seem to be running amok on the roads, behind the wheels. Most of the situations do not signify anything in the movie except that the action director had a fetish for cars and that director solemnly believed that you can’t be cool without cars.

Many parallel threads run through the movie, scenes of these threads alternate with the purpose to intrigue you and keep you glued to the seat. But they end up irritating you as the sequence of the scenes gives a feeling of discontinuity.

The animation and reality superimposition is a beautiful concept even though it is not original. But it is used too often in the movie and when used between the action sequences, it makes the already chalky action sequences, a little more unfathomable.

This movie should be included in the curriculum of film institute as to how a good director, bunch of reasonably good actors, big budget, foreign location, cool cars can all go wrong, if you miss that little something called a story. :)

--Priti Sankhla

Chak De India

Most reviewed: Read on for Afzal's view
Also reviewed earlier by : Rajat - http://moviereviewsanddiscussions.blogspot.com/2007/08/chak-de-india.html
and Virinder urf Fundamentor
http://moviereviewsanddiscussions.blogspot.com/2007/08/chak-dey-for-petes-sake-its-my-take.html




Rating : 7/10 (Must Watch Once)

Chak De India is a Bollywood film,directed by Shimit Amin starring Shahrukh Khan and Vidya Malvade in lead roles. The movie revolves around the story a ex Indian Hockey Captain who later coaches girl's Hockey team for World Championship.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Chak De India revolves around the story of a Hockey coach for a girl's team, Meer Ranjan Negi , a player, who was charged with match fixing allegation in 1982 when India lost to Pakistan in the Asian Games in Delhi. Negi, later went on to coach the Women’s Hockey team that made India proud at the Manchester Common Wealth Games in 2002 by winning the Gold.

Story: Kabir Khan(Shahrukh Khan) Captain of Indian Mens Hockey team misses the last minute Penalty stroke in the final of the World Cup to give Pakistan a win. The team loses the world cup and the blame goes on the captain i.e. Kabir Khan. As usual the Indian Media made him a Traitor from a national Hero with their assumptions. The public also went against him and now he needs to get his honor back and prove that he is not a traitor.

My Review:
For a change Sharukh movie was concentrated more on the theme than on him. After being isolated for 7 years 3 months and hmmmmm 14 days suddenly he comes back to try and get position of Coach of Indian Womens Hockey team which as per the association cannot beat even a school team from European Countries.
Now, several years later, he gets a chance for proving all those minority bashers wrong. His task is to coach the women's hockey team; his dream is to make it win the World Cup, an impossible feat. Because, in the first place, there is no team, just a bunch of 16 girls who have come together with a baggage of class, region and interpersonal rivalries. The small town girls hate the uber snobs; the city-slickers think Jharkand is a jungle, the seniors can't handle the juniors stealing the limelight and petty camps create a virtual gang-war which even builds into a mutiny against the disciplinarian coach. The only thing that brings them together is gender bias — something they all have faced at some point of their life — desh-bhakti and coach bhakti...
After the tussles between coach and senior players, senior players and juniors suddenly the team comes becomes united and gets ready to play as per the coach.
When the ray of hope comes in favour of the coach the association closes doors on the team and refuse to send them for the championship, the coach challenges the mens side for a ticket to the championship. As in typical bollywood movie the team takes thrashes from all side only when the member of association challenges their gender every1 wakes up and tries to read IMPOSSIBLE as I M POSSIBLE, unfortunately the tiffs between juniors and seniors is seen on the field and they lose the game but manages to get the ticket to Australia.
The rest is a dream come true for all 16 gurls and the coach. The route from 1st game's humiliation to the finals is worth a watch.

Whats On : Passion for the game and the country where the states , clubs and regions are kept behind the country is good to watch.

Whats Not: More focus on the game like it was in Lagaan a bit more enthu would have made the movie more exciting.

Overall it is good movie and worth a watch.

Chak dey - for pete's sake, its my take...

I am late - but I had to give my views on the movie of this month.

Chak Dey India.

Rating : 7 /10 - (Super Cool)

This genre has been milked DRY by Hollywood. From The Mighty Ducks to Miracle - which is also about a player-turned-coach leading a rag-tag group to a Winter Olympics. Sports is not only passion - its a big money maker in the western world and sports like hockey, football, baseball are revered there. The backing that these sports get is mind boggling. Not just in terms of money - but also public support. Alas, in India only sport backed by sponsors and public is cricket and that also, only the mainstream international team. Only Crows watch the domestic matches. Its time People wake up and look beyond cricket, because sports like Hockey, Soccer are fast paced and exciting. And Chak Dey is definitely the step towards that direction. It makes Hockey look cool. ( Its sad to see that national sport needs such a kiss of revival)

Here the plot is very much like those done and dusted Hollywood flicks. A failed player comes back as coach to prove a point. Novelty is that he comes back on his own and is not forced to lead the bunch of 16 girls (which I must say is a wild lot). Kabir Khan(Shahrukh) the player labelled as traitor comes back after 7 years of his disgrace to teach this wild lot a lesson in patriotrism and team spirit. And the way he goes about it is worth a watch. The girls fight, swear, tumble, grumble while he goes about wielding his stick. Nation before state, team before self, honour before money is what he wants them to learn. He teaches them to believe in themselves and then leads them to the world championship. Where they obviously win :)

Whats really good to see is that SPORT is kept at the forefront and nothing else. Not even Shahrukh. The girls - especially The chandigrah Bomb - with her beauty, The Haryana Small Dynamo - with her dialogue delivery and The Experienced Player Naik - with her wonderful performance steal the show. Shahrukh like his performace in Swades - proves that he's not just a romantic genre over-actor, but an actor with depth. Hope he continues doing such restrained roles. Though I still think the movie would have been complete - had the director delved a bit into Kabir Khan's psyche - his angst, his suffering, his will power. The character is so Incompletely potrayed that its alarming. You are never told what he is thinking. Its like Shahrukh almost bites his lips when the director tells him to shut up! Also, he could have added much more thrill into the matches.

The director gets a round of applause from my side for breathing life into this genre. His treatment of the sport is worth 4 thumbs up. Also, his revolt against the male dominated sport and social setup in India is worth a mention. And finally for not putting in worthless stuff like Love angles and loads of songs I salute him. The Title Song has such an amazing power- that its packs a brutal punch and sends ripples of patriotrism through your veins. The passion and patriotic sentiment that sport brings out is tremendous and I wish Indian directors start milking this cash cow more often. The examples are there to follow : Jo Jheeta Wohi Sikander and Lagaan to name a few, and now Chak DE. The plot is simple - Make an underdog, Make a transformational leader, Make an Unbeatable opponent, Make the win impossible and then Make the win possible! Thats a sport classic for you!

Stardust

Cross posted from : http://aashraya.blogspot.com/

Stardust is another patriarchal fairytale that has not strayed from the standard recipe of a Hollywood magic fantasy drama. Although the movie is based on a book, the plot is rather sloppy. I am afraid J.K.R.’s stories have made movie goers like me expect a little more from the world of magic in general. So even though the special effects were great and the movie had some fun laughs I found the movie underwhelming. There is no complexity to the characters or the plot. Things happen just so that the plot moves along and most of the times it doesn’t make any sense, even in the magical kingdom where the writer is only limited by his imagination. The only saving grace for the movie is the humor which is very reminiscent of the Pirates movies.

The main plot is about lovers and finding love (ugh!). So you should be prepared for a fair amount of lovey dovey stuff piled onto more mush. When I say that the mush quotient is pretty high, I kid you not. There are lines like, “For you my love I would do anything. I would go to the end of the earth and pluck out some stars for you.”

The plot (that never thickens):
Once upon a time there lived a horny young man who wasn’t getting any action in the human world and so decided to try his luck in the magical kingdom which happened to be in the forbidden area across a wall. The man manages to sneak into the magical kingdom and starts checking out the streets of the magic kingdom for prospective mates. As luck would have it, he meets a super horny princess who is chained to a trailer which is in the middle of the busy market. What is a horny princess doing in the middle of a market soliciting strange men? A witch has enslaved the princess with her magic powers and so the princess is bound to the witch's trailer. (Cue: gasp!). But that still does not explain the horniness. Is she under a horny spell? Nope. Hey, women have needs too you know.

Anyhow, since the princess is bound to the trailer, the first order of business would be to rescue her. Nyoooo! There is no time. Well a quick quickie if you insist. Into the trailer they go and nobody comes a knocking when the trailer is rocking. It is wham bam thank you ma'm. The man returns to the human world and forgets about the whole thing. Alas, nine months later he finds a baby at the doorstep. The new daddy takes the news of his fatherhood pretty well by the commitment-phobic-movie-dad standards. He does not even get a paternity test. But that is not as strange as the fact that he does not ever try to get in touch with the woman who bore his son. Maybe they didn't have much in common, other than the son. At this point it is best you lay your questioning mind to rest if you want to enjoy the movie.

The rest that follows is the same old rehash of fairytales. There are two types of women, the smart hence ugly witches. Okay, Michelle Pfeiffer plays a witch, so they aren't all ugly. But all the independent women are evil witches. The other women fall in the category of damsels in distress. The men are busy killing each other when they are not romancing the women...except Robert De Niro who is a closet cross-dresser. Then there is the matter of saving the life of a fallen star (who morphs into Claire Danes on earth) before the witches or power hungry men get to her.

In the end, good conquers evil and the good guys live happily ever after...oops gave away the ending. But you knew that since the story began with once upon a time.

Rating: Blah with some giggles

Chak De India

Rating: Beyond Rating-Just too good

This movie is gonna take your heart out for India.What a movie? A true display of courage,spirit and patriotism




Story:
Kabir Khan(Shahrukh Khan) is an awesome hockey player playing for team India.However the team loses the world cup and the blame goes on the captain i.e. Kabir Khan.He is also blamed for fixing the match and his image is defoiled by the media.The public is also against him and now he needs to get his honour back and he needs to prove to the country that he loves India and do anything for it and that he is not a traitor.
After living 7 years in isolation finally he strikes back by becoming the coach of the Indian women hockey team and his challenge is to make them win the world cup.The best players of India are brought together and prepared for the world cup.The diversity of the team poses a greater challenge to the coach to establish a world class team.However, he is successful in doing the same and Indian Hockey team wins the world cup

My Review:
The movie convincingly covers a lot of aspects like the dispute between people of India reflected in the team.The team comprises of players from Haryana,Punjab,Andhra Pradesh,Manipur,Jharkand,etc. When asked to introduce themselves to the coach each one adds the name of the state with their name.Kabir tells them to add India and not name of states along with their names.Only once they recognise teh fact that they are playing for the country can they gather the spirit to succeed.
Another thing which comes out in the movie is the death of hockey in India and how looked upon it is.Above that what the movie shows gender bias in sports i.e. women are generally accepted as being housewives and not sports people.It also shows the most basic reason for India's failure in sports at an international sport-lak of tam spirit.The movie beautifully tackles each and every such issue.
You wont move an inch from your seat in the movie hall.You are completely captured by the film running in front of u.It seems as if you are part of the movie and watching a live performance or a live hockey match.I am not a hockey game fan but the thrill,passion and spirit in the movie mesmerizes you.You are in a different world.

About Shahruh Khan and Director:
This man has done a lifetime performance.He has exhibited such composure and passion that his work is indeed commendable.Apart from Shahrukh, the girls in teh team also stand out.Each one has a special part to play.Two catch your attenton with their punjabi and haryanvi accents,one with her awesome looks,another with her great hold on the game.
The direction is flawless.The movie just flows and you flow with it.Finally Seeing is Believing so go ahead and watch it.

The Simpsons Movie - Dough!!! its Sumptuous!

Rating : 7 Doughnuts --- outta 10... Homer ate away the other 3!!!

The blog seemed incomplete without the review of the movie I was so eagerly awaiting. And because of the tussle between the Warner Brother Hot heads and Multiplexes, my anticipation was further accentuated!!! But phynalllllllyyyyyyyyyyy I got to see the Simpsons in action today and I must say my expectation was neither unjustified nor my anticipation sullied. Homer lived up to his pitiful, idiotic, and clumsy self! For me, Homer can do no GOOD anyways J and nobody is a better LOSER…. This guy is the pits (Don’t worry he likes it there.. might even start stealing and eating worms from dogs, down there)

So, the Movie is all about HOMER screwing up again (Like hell he wont!!!) But, this time its one of the biggest screw-ups in the history of Homer screw-ups. Yes, I went through the 363 Billion screw-ups of Homer till date!!! This time he manages to pollute his SPRINGFIELD so bad that the town is literally domed out from this world by the US government. While the whole town bays for Homer’s blood, Homer is busy Hammering his eye, playing with a pig, thinking of doughnuts! What ensues is Homers escape from the bottled town and return to save it from being annihilated. :) You know Homer will goof up big time again to save the day.

What makes this movie live up to the expectations is that it stays as unconventional and controversial as it always has been. What makes it a success is that Homer – the guy with a Pea sized brain (Don’t tell him, he will eat it) - keeps you in splits with his non-stop buffoonery. What makes it so awesome is the Brattish Brat still loves exploding stuff, playing king size pranks on his Dumb-father. What makes it loveable is that Simpson’s never seem to surprise to the levels they can stoop.

A special round of applause for the creators and the outstanding ‘Dan Castellaneta’ for lending his voice to Homer. The creators show ingenuity of the highest order – to come up with the most brilliant jokes. The movie is an extension of the TV show. It always was and still remains wild and whacky. What differentiates the movie from the TV show is that it doesn’t end in 20 minutes and that we see Homer hogging and goofing up on big screen – that’s the only difference. Is’nt that just great :). If you are a Homer Fan, and if you are missing this one – then may Itchy and scratchy come and explode you into smithereens.

Gandhi-My Father

Rating 9/10

Strongly

Recommended

A Masterpiece

This movie is one of the landmark movies made so far in Bollywood.Honestly speaking I never had such expectations for this movie.But it was truly a magical experience.

Story: The movie focuses on the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi(Darshan Jariwala) and his son Harilal Gandhi(Akshaye Khanna).The movie starts by showing June 1948 where Harilal is old and devastated and is taking his last breath in a hospital where he is brought in a terrible state.He is asked his father's name and when he says Bapu..the cops say that he is the father of the nation ...what is your father's name....Nobody recognizes Harilal besides the fact that he is Mahatma Gandhi's son.He is taken to be a roadside drunkard and an orphan and this is what is entered in the police records.

Now the movie is taken into flashback to the year 1902 Rajkot where Harilal is shown.He lives in Rajkot while his parents Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi(Shefali Shah) live in Durban ,South Africa.Here Mahatma Gandhi works as a Barrister and is also concerned about the racial discrimination and uses non violence to fight against that.

The father and son have very different ideologies about leading their lives.Whereas Mahatma Gandhi is an idealist , Harilal wants to succeed in life just like any youngster.However there are quabbles between the father and son very often.Mahatma Gandhi is not happy about the fact that his son has married in Rajkot without caring to ask him.Harilal is called to South Africa to support his father and also complete his law education by sending him to England.Harilal is also made part of the movement of his father against racial discrimination.However one incident makes him change his direction in life.M K Gandhi is given a scholarship to be used for the education of his children.However he finds someone else more worth of it than his own son because he thinks nothing belongs to him and it is for the society.This disturbs Harilal a lot.

Now Harilal wants to lead his own life his own way.He goes back to India to continue with his studies and be with his wife Gulab(Bhoomika Chawla) and children.However on the one end MK Gandhi is gaining immense popularity(He is back to India and active in freedom movement) and on the other end Harilal is only facing failures at each step.The son gets pressurized and complexed under the name of his own father.After sometime Gulab dies,the children are with their grand parents and Harilal becomes a wanderer and is nowhere.He starts drinking,sleeps with prostitutes,changes from Hindu to Muslim,spoils his father's name.MK Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi try their best to transform their son and bring him back but no success.Finally at the end they show the death of Harilal.

My Review:

The movie successfully takes you in that genre of the Indian Freedom Struggle .It delves into life of the great Mahatma Gandhi who is an epitome of patience,perseverance,peace and strength.He is in himself larger than life.The actor plays the role with full conviction and is excellent.Shefali Shah as Kasturba Gandhi stands out in the movie with a lifetime performance as mother of Harilal.Infact her scenes with Akshaye Khanna are commendable especially when she goes and meets his son.The lady definitely leaves a huge impact.

Akshaye Khanna is extremely good and plays his character exceedingly well.The scene where he calls himself a useless son to a great father really needs an applause.Even the scene where he shouts "Mata Kasturba ki Jai" in the station is outstanding.

The person who deserves maximum credit is the director.What good flow of events and impactful direction.The scenes are well executed with appropriate dialogue.One thing one could point out as a flaw could be the slow pace of the film but when one sees the kind of research that must have gone into the making of the film,I would say the film is remarkable.Another thing good about the movie is that it never leaves focus.The father-son dispute is reflcted upon throughout the entire movie while simultaneoulsy showing the freedom struggle.

I am extremely inspired by the persona of the Father of the Nation and I salute him.

CASH-THE ENIMATED UN!!!

Rating 2/5

The movie is having gud story line and action. But only thing missing is integration. I think that’s wat is know as direction.

In the first half, I was not able to comprehend whether its movie or MTV bakra. But to the later half it became interesting.

Today it shattered many of myths created in my mind over long period of time

• Rajnikant is God of Indian Action
• If Rajnikant shattered the Newtonian theory of mechanics, then I must say this one shattered the Einsteinian theories of Relativity
• Parliament Session is the best comedy show

Well, the director tried to put in lot of difference by using animations, but I think it became enimations.

The girls were hot, but couldn’t get enough attention to show the heat in them

In between, I saw A R Rehman in the movie in Subhash Ghai’s style. And according to me the best milage went to the new face, who acted as manager of yard in the movie.

In total movie is pure time pass, and good for the time when u don’t have any other thing left on earth to do.

Die Hard-4

the review has been written by Priti Sankhla

“Die hard 4 caters what was expected. Nothing more, nothing less. This forth movie of the Die hard series deliver exactly what the first one did viz. Simple plot, great stunts, stylized villains and somewhat contemporary plot. It also has the same short coming viz. super hero who can single handedly ruin a team of well prepared, treacherous villains, doing the world good mainly as a by-product of saving a family member.
There are times when you will raise your hand in the air and say “Kuch bhi”, but the absurdity of the scene is soon taken away from your mind as you notice the camera angles and creativity. The hero, Bruce Willis, of course knows to jump perfectly, dodge bullets, climb elevators using ropes, survive F35 attack, safely leap& jump collapsing bridges and gas inflammation.Oh and get away with scratches, just to make him look more macho….nothing hurts John Mclain as expected….
So though you may wonder after coming out of the hall, the lack of content, yet the class, in what you watched in last two and a half hour… remember that’s what was promised …Worth a watch ...”

Couple of Sad days for the FILM fraternity.

I mark 30th July as a day of gloom for the film world, because on this day, a great and revered director and writer, Mr. Ingmar Bergman passed away. May his soul R.I.P. I wasn't aware of his genius untill I chanced upon one of his classics Wild Strawberries http://moviereviewsanddiscussions.blogspot.com/2007/06/wild-strawberries-poignant.html .

Though it won't be everyones cup of tea, this is considered to be in the top bracket of ART cinema. Ingmar Bergman delved into human psyche through his work. Maybe his own understanding of psychology was profound. I urge all movie lovers to read about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman and try to get hold of some of his best works to guage for yourselves his genius.

Also, 31st July saw Sanjay Dutt being sentenced to 6 years R.I. which has had a deep impact on the film fraternity (Bollywood). As a individual its hard not to be baised, but even though I try hard not to be, I think the sentence was a bit too rough. There is no question on the part of being punished for the crime commited, but the sentence can take into consideration a few things like conduct and good work. After all LAW is not just for punishment but also rehabilitation. Again, there are a lot of repercussions for letting a man of that stature go, when other insignificant ones are being given huge sentences.