Reviews , Rains and . . . . .Aditi

Movie Review


Sarkar Raj

“K, its been quite some time now. When’s the interval ?”, said my dad during the first half of the movie.
The lights went on in another minute signaling the interval. I looked at my watch, it just had been 55 minutes since the beginning of the movie.

And, this is where the major flaw of the movie lies. It is only 2 hours, but seems oh-so-long & unbearable.

The movie is a bad follow up to the excellent Sarkar. It is long, slow & has lots of words, dialogues & precious little action.

Amitabh’s silences in Sarkar conveyed so much, much more than his long monologues do in Sarkar Raj.

The acting has been praised a lot, but the movie is so mediocre, that the acting too doesn’t stand out.

The characters of Sarkar were memorable – Rashid, Silver Money, Khan saab, Taklu guy, Kay Kay, Swami even the CM. Here, the characters are mere caricatures. They ve been given no strength & no proper role definition.

The confrontation scenes do not set the pulse racing ala the first scene between Rashid & Amitabh.

Dialogues come a cropper. Compare “Subhas Nagre ek aadmi hai, Sarkar – ek soch. Aadmi ko maarne se pehle, uski soch ko maarna zaroori hai” with “Omelette banaane ke liye anda to phodna padega na” You understand my point ??

Also, how can Abhishek’s character hold Ash’s character’s hand in a romantic gesture just some days/weeks after his pregnant wife has died a tragic death ?

All in all, it is a movie that can be watched, but fails miserably as a sequel to Sarkar. It is too much of complicated politics, complicated much more by the directors need to explain each & every thing to the audience .. some things should ve been left unsaid. And, some sequels unmade.

Aamir

Aamir is a brave effort. Laudable.

Very well directed, with excellent cinematography. Well casted & enacted.

It is a very hard hitting film &just shows how innocent Muslim’s get trapped into wrong doing by fanatics.

It is a bit slow, but must be watched for the effort put in by the debutante director & is a must buy DVD.


Book Review


3 Mistakes of my life

I loved it. Period.

The book by Chetan Bhagat is interesting, fast paced, witty & much much better than his last offering – One Night at the call centre.

The story is of 3 friends & their lives over a 5 year period in Gujarat. What is so nice about this book is the way it integrates the story of the 3 friends with the happenings in Gujarat over those tumultuous 5 years – the Bhuj earthquake, Cricket Matches, world cup, the Godhra riots. They are all a part of the book, and not just as a passing reference, but as a means to take the story forward & serve as the twists in the story.

The book is written in the same witty vein as his 1st book – 5 point Someone.

Sample – “the best maths teacher in town has just become a champi man”

This book has definite trademarks of the author.

1. The book is about struggle – to move ahead in life, to fight society & everyone’s inward struggle. Same theme was there in 5 point & in Call centre
2. The mandatory sex scene - the "progressive" Indian girl, the kind which is not afraid to show their true feelings, not afraid what society might think & certainly have a mind of their own.

Small examples are
In 5 point – the female asks for a cigarette after sex

In Call Centre – the female wants to & has sex in a car

In this book – the female wants to just escape her home town & go to Mumbai to achieve her dreams, she is not afraid to seduce the guy, has sex on her 18th birthday.

The characters of the 3 friends are very well etched & somewhere everyone can identify with some trait among the 3 friends. You feels drawn into their conflicts & struggles and live their lives.

One gets the feeling that the author has written this book with a future movie in mind. It fits exactly into Hindi movie mould, especially the ending. That’s my only complaint.

We are waiting for your 4th book, Mr, Bhagat.

Btw, any reason why you have numbers in the titles of your books – 5, 1, 3… and come to think of it, all odd numbers … all prime numbers ….


RAINS


Monsoon is the only season where the weather changes in an instant. Summer takes time to roll in, winter takes time to set in, but monsoon – one shower & the season changes. It’s not that hot any more, not too cold & the smell of the rains is in the air. That’s what I love about the monsoons.

Yes, Mumbai’s infrastructure collapses at the first instance of rains, the open manholes become dangerous, and disease spreads.. but we are not going to talk about that..

The earth becomes greener, there is that certain aroma in the air, there is romance in the air.

Imagine –

Sitting on your window sill at 2 in the night & just listening to music while sipping hot coffee

Caught in a coffee shop with someone special at 11 in the night with no car, no umbrella…. But lots to talk about

Jogging on the beach in the morning & suddenly it starts pouring & you r completely drenched before you can run for cover … and then you don’t want to run for cover & continue running in the rain.

You eating hot pakodas with mom oiling you hair.

Lonavala, bhushi dam, 15 friends, vada pavs & steaming corn cobs

A dance party on the road with friends & street kids…

Heavy rains, marine lines, sea face, one umbrella, 2 people….

Many such moments & more make up the monsoons …

My current favourite song is “kabhi kabhi aditi…” from the movie Jaane tu ya jaane na … it’s an extremely catch tune with nice lyrics .. I just cant stop singing it ..

I've dedicated the song to someone very special.

Also, there is a friend of mine, let’s call her…. Aditi, that had mailed me saying, “you blog reader is waiting.” Well, she is not going through some tough times… well, I can’t dedicate the song to anyone else now, but I ll sing these 2 lines for her …

“Aditi, maana kabhi kabhi saare jahaan mein andhera hota hai . . . . .lekin raat ke baad hi to savera hota hai…..Aditi has-de, has-de, has-de tu zaraa . . . . .”