AMAR KAHANIYAAN

THE DARK KNIGHT FALLING

2012-07-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

First of all, Please all you fellow Batman fans and enthusiasts, Please don't get me wrong from the title. I'm equally hungry for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES coming into theatres as you are. And it's in no way to demean this awesome superhero creation, but this title has been kept for its literal meaning - that's 'FALLING'.

Whether it's Iron Man or Batman, one thing is common between both of them which has differentiated them from the other lot of superheroes, that's their human-ness, this thing bring them more closer to a common man who's without any superpowers. Both of the fictional characters has utilized their education, their intellect in order to justify what amaze the people around them, and make their enemy terrified. Tony Stark utilized his engineer skills for his aerodynamics powered exoskeleton of Iron Man. Bruce Wayne also used his intellect, detective skills, science and technology to make his Batman avatar possible. This preparation and vision of them makes them more identifiable & likable characters over the years.

Now let's just discuss about our Dark Knight. Even though this Caped Crusader fights the crime with great passion and zeal, but his methods and techniques of justifying his daredevil acts has come under the scrutiny of physicists. Don't mind, but only Batman in the western world could have afford the study on its characteristics, otherwise other extra-magical & superfluous heroes don't have the balls to compete with science. Four physicist of University of Leicester has conduct a study over the Dark knight and shared some doubts over the capability of the Batman suit and techniques to perform what he conveniently does in comics and movies. For example, If Batman has to jump from the building, he has to keep one parachute for safe landing. On screen, Batman is able to jump from buildings with his cape spread out like wings, quite similar to the base jumpers who use the wing-suits to jump from buildings, bridges & cliffs. But they do carry parachute with them for landing. However Batman don't have this life-support with him as of now.

Given his current cape designs, Batman could glide to the distance of 350 meters, if he jumps from the building of 150 meters height. That's okay, but when he'll reach the ground level, his falling velocity will rises to around 110 kilometers per hour. At this speed, his landing will prove quite fatal until and unless he has parachute to slow down the speed, or he has some cushion-type base to land upon. Like the super-stuntman Gary Connery has recently made history by jumping from two thousand feet without any parachute but using the wing-suit and card boards as base. So there has to be some changes in Batman cape which needs to be done if we have to enable Dark Knight to perform in the most heroic fashion. So the scientist concludes that, Crusader require a large wings, parachute in backpack, and some propulsion jet to make his landing clean and safe. But let's take the scientist study forward and scrutinize it further. Well, Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory would have liked that.

Even though scientists are mocking our Dark Knight for keeping parachute backpack and propulsion jet, I would say our super-intelligent Bruce Wayne might not have missed this scientific safety in the design. The Cape might be internally equipped with some fluids or gases such as helium to make the composite mass of Batman little lighter. Also the same Cape could have the modified feature of becoming a parachute in worse velocity scenarios. But if the stunts visuals of the movies is to be taken as a case, it lacks the method and approach for the same. But in the able hands of Director like Christopher Nolan, this could have been done in the more proper fashion. In order to keep our crusader afloat, we need to tackle the downward force of gravity which pulls us down to the ground level. The help in this case can be the upward buoyant force of air particles which balances the gravity. This balancing pressure decreased as we ascend up the air, and the corresponding gravitational force increases. So the Cape of the Batman has to imbibe the upward pressure thrust in its design to maintain the balance with the gravitational force pulling him down to the ground. I'm sure Bruce Wayne will find the way to do that in his laboratory.

Pictures credits (Kevin Nowlan, Neal Adams, Giordano/Layton )

SIR 'TOM HANKS' TURNED 56

2012-07-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks completed his 56 years yesterday, I thought I should dedicate an article for his birthday as this man has given me some precious celluloid moments. I have grown up watching his impeccable movies. So at least this much I could do for the legendary artist who is working since 1980 with the same passion and caliber virtually unstoppable.

He is an inspiration to many, his selection of movies have always shown basic emotions like struggle and survival with a niche of himself. Who can forget his Academy award nominated-or-winning movies like Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Terminal, Green Mile, Apollo 13, Big, Da Vinci Code, Charlie Wilson's War etc, You can easily gauge the scope of the movies I have mentioned here. All are timeless classic, and the way Tom Hanks have enacted different roles time to time is so commendable. My personal favorite is Saving Private Ryan, I have seen many war movies, but no movie comes closer to this one. And who else other than Spielberg could have make it. I have a deep respect for Saving Private Ryan. My father has retired from army recently. Whenever we watch any war movie with him, he has a habit of finding mistakes in the scenes execution, mostly saying," It doesn't happen like that in real". But when I make him saw Saving Private Ryan. He said it was quite closer to the reality he faced in Military. I was very happy.

In recent times, Tom Hanks has been seen wearing the hats of symbologist Robert Langdon (character) in Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. He has essayed the role quite well. I personally feel very touched with his one more classic CAST AWAY. Especially the scene where his attachment to that non-living football becomes more emotional than anything else. Sheer class, great acting and execution.

Although his career didn't started that well, he gave series of flops and his acting in those movies were also not upto the mark as cited by him. His first success came with movie BIG (1988), then again he gave few flops and find success in A League of their Own (1992). He was not so good in his earlier films but he constantly improved movie after movie. Once he quoted to Vanity fair, that in this modern era, because enough self-discovery has gone one, his work has become less pretentiously fake and over the top. And he proved this with the success of Sleepless in Seattle & Philadelphia in 1993. Former was a great box-office success, and latter awarded him his first Academy Award. The very next year he won the Academy Award for Forrest Gump consecutively, only the second in Hollywood to achieved this feat.

Post 1996, he ventured into Writing, Producing and Direction part also, with From Earth to the Moon (1998), American Experience (2000) - a documentary. He also Produced Cast Away (2000). In 2011, he produced, written and Directed Larry Crowne which was not received well both critically and at the box office. Nevertheless, Tom Hanks is geared up for his upcoming flicks Cloud Altas( Post-production), and Captain Philips (Filming). Lets prepared for this cinematic treat this year. Happy Birthday Tom hanks once again !!

THE CLOSEST SUCCESSOR OF GURU DUTT - AAMIR KHAN

2012-07-10T10:24:00.001-07:00

I was just reading newspaper and wondered how the media is now constantly using 'Mr Perfectionist' nickname for Aamir Khan. Though the adjective is quite heavy in itself, and should not be use for just anyone. But then I tried to study Aamir, and then started comparing the traits of his with Guru Dutt.

I personally belong to this modern era and somehow lacks total character study of Guru Dutt, I know Guru from his movies, and through various written material we have courtesy his friends & colleagues, Like Dev Anand, Abrar Alvi & VK Murthy to name the few. Though still that info can not be compared to today's twitter-friendly & FaceBook-Driven actors and superstars.

I always wanted to have the more detailed study of Guru's thought process, his ideologies and his point of view about the world around him. That has played an important part in his cinematic outburst like Kaagaz ke Phool & Pyaasa. Clearly, he was the original Mr Perfectionist of Indian cinema without doubt. His way of treating Film-making as an absolute is quite well-known. His issues and rifts over the minute subtle artworks of his cinema has often led many legendary artists to avoid Guru Dutt. He had that heat of Iron, that uncompromising attitude which made him produce and direct many classic stories. Now let's connect the dots of Aamir & Guru.

Aamir favorite life-changing movie is Guru Dutt-starrer and Directed movie PYAASA (1957), he has often quoted him to be great inspiration in his career. Aamir Khan, though has directed only one film till now and that's Taare Zameen Par, but it was worth an effort. Even Aamir has given several co-actors and directors a hard time while filming of his movies due to his extra-specific scene demands and retakes-till-perfect behaviours. Also, many times he has been criticized by his Directors and producers that he always change his mindset and demands re-shooting of any sequence he thinks was not up-to-the-mark as per his vision. Recent feud between Reema Kagti & Aamir over his upcoming flick Talaash is also one example. Guru was also very specific about his sequences and treatment, that also gave his cameraman VK Murthy a hard time working over and over again for the perfect scene. It happened in KAAGAZ KE PHOOL trademark light-beam shot, which has became world-famous, and Pyaasa's last auditorium scene for which Guru Dutt took over 100 retakes. He always was unsatisfied with his final product, his intent always remains EK AUR SHOT, EK AUR....but this unsatisfaction was not just with his actors and actresses, but with himself too, his scene was never up-to-the-mark according to him.

He was so involved in the technical aspects of the movie that he used to guide his team how he has imagined the shot. At first his too many retakes thing was misjudged by the industry people who termed him as a novice Director who don't know the craft. But later everybody started respecting Guru. Thankfully, he was blessed with cinematographer like VK Murthy. Even Dada Saheb Phalke-winner VK Murthy thinks, that Aamir is best suited for the autobiographical movie on Guru Dutt which Anurag Kashyap & Rakeysh OmPrakash Mehra were planning. According to Arun Dutt, Guru Dutt's son, Aamir has been approached for the role and he has asked for the script. Infact Aamir also did one photoshoot posing as Guru Dutt with Katreena posing as Waheeda in a trademark poster-picture of Pyaasa.

So if the film on Guru Dutt's Life actually becomes a reality, It will be interesting to watch Aamir preparation for the role. Though these characteristics traits and similarities are enough to state that Aamir Khan is more closest Film personality to Guru Dutt, Infact one newspaper even quoted him to be the incarnation of Guru Dutt. That's a bit too far. I think Aamir has a lot to prove in order to justify that phenomenon. But still he is lucky to be compared with the timeless genius Guru Dutt.

ANURAG KASHYAP'S BLOOD-SAGA: GANGS OF WASSEYPUR- Part I

2012-06-25T13:59:00.001-07:00

So I have to plunge back to one of my dearest place for erupting cinematic emotions. Long time since my last post on Ghost Writer. I tried writing on various movies but stopped midway not satisfied enough. But then I saw something cinematic-excellence and classy yet equally commercially viable and that too with international appeal.

This last weekend I managed to watch Anurag Kashyap's Gangs Of Wasseypur in theatre with my friend and got the motivation to write a post on that. I will not just focus on the film but Anurag's impact on its making too. After a long thought on banking upon a bucket of new generation Directors to trust for quality cinema, finally I have found my pick of all - Anurag Kashyap. I was impressed by works of Vishal Bharadwaj, Imtiaz Ali, Dibakar Banerjee, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sriram Raghavan, Vikramaditya Motwane apart from Anurag. But they all are good friends and compliments each other in their respective art fields. In fact in Anurag kashyap's own words he use to send his first-cut to last-cut draft of film to all these filmmakers for their take on the finished product, and then he readily accepts their views and opinions also, if he likes. I must say, After reading about this man, watching his interviews, seeing his past works, I can't stop myself from being his admirer, not just admirer but a follower also. This lad has given us films like Dev D, Gulaal, Black Friday & Udaan. All of them has Anurag Kashyap-trademark on them. In his career, he wrote movies like Satya, Shool, Kaun and Academy Award-nominated Water.

Whether it's Vishal Bharadwaj or Anurag Kashyap, both industry-friends has broken traditional norms of Bollywood and create a niche for themselves. Their choice of subjects and dealing the subjects with pure honesty has won them the hearts of millions. They're creating a great portfolio of films in their kitty year-after year. Initially I used to be confused between Anurag & Vishal to choose as my personal favorite in modern times, but after his new release Gangs of Wasseypur, Anurag has put an end to all my queries. GOW is doing well in India, has got critically acclaimed well, getting a rating of 9.1/10 in prestigious IMDB. It has been chosen to screened in Cannes as well and was well-appreciated inspite of his lengthy duration of 5 hours 20 minutes.

Talking about Gangs Of Wasseypur, It's a great saga of revenge, blood-bath and animosity. The story is inspired from true events of Wasseypur region of Dhanbad in Bihar, it deals with the coal & scrap trade mafia. It's filled with gory sequences and a mix of slang-wit bihari style. So there are dark violent scenes but still you'll be given a situation to laugh and giggle upon.

Movie starts with Present-day prologue where Smriti Irani scene of Kyunki Saas..(KSBKBT) opening title-song on TV was airing, which after few minutes get blasted by a bullet, Sultan Qureshi with his gunmen wage a war upon the house of Sardar Khan where aged Farhan ( Piyush Mishra) with the family was inside. They had covered the house from all side and were shooting ferociously to kill each and every living creature inside the house. Finally Sultan called to confirm if anybody's picking the call. When there is no response form inside, they fleed. And story went back to the days of Sultana Daaku in 1941.

Sultana Daaku was Qureshi, Shahid Khan a non-Qureshi muslim of the village impersonates Sultana Daku and started looting grains from trains passing by Wasseypur. And then he used to sell the same in cheaper price than Qureshis. Soon Sultana got to know about the same and he killed all the Shahid-men, and Shahid on insistence of his pregnant wife fled to city where he started working as labour in coal mine. He started working in Ramadhir Singh's mines. One day when a guard stopped him from reaching to his wife in pain of blocked child, he warned the guard that he will dig his grave if his wife or child will be in danger. Ramadhir Singh, an influential owner of the mines let him go to his wife ordering the guard to open the gates. But it was too late as his wife passed away giving birth to his son Sardar Khan. He went back and thrashed that guard till death in a gruesome one-on-one fight. There Ramadhir again saw the courage of Shahid Khan and he made him his henchman for handling the mine-workers. But Ramadhir Singh ordered his killing when one day he heard Shahid Khan's ambition of killing Ramadhir Singh to become the undisputed king of coal mines.

Child Sardar Khan got to know from his uncle Farhan that his father was killed by Ramadhir's men as they got Umbrella of Ramadhir Singh out side their house on the day of Shahid's death. He vows to be bald till he thrash the ego of Ramadhir Singh in a trademark words - Keh Ke Lunga, (I'll tell him, and then snatch his dignity). He started as a driver working for MLA-turned Ramadhir Singh grown-empire of coal and scrap trade business. He started hitting nails to Ramadhir's every wound, first fuel, then forced ownership on his land. In a memorable scene, he slapped and insult both Ramadhir & his son in front of the ACP in police station, asking the commissioner how much he will be sentenced for slapping Minister's son in police station.

He marked his ambition in Jail as an undisputed kingpin of the area, quoting " Sardar Khan naam hai mera, bata dijiyega sabko". He led a carnage of killings for not just Ramadhir's men but even Qureshis of Wasseypur. In the meantime he also took time for his lusty activities in brothels where he get caught red-handed by his wife Nagma, played beautifully by Richa Chaddha. Soon he also feed his lust with a bengali girl Durga whom he married soon. His family was breaking, his sons, specifically Faizal (Nawajuddin Siddiqui) had traumatic childhood seeing his mother wailing and getting closer to his uncle Farhan. He soon divulge into Drugs and smoking, but also imitates Amitabh bachchan due to the fact that his crush Mohsina (Huma Qureshi) was a huge fan of Bachchan.

Time to time, Sardar Khan establish the fact keh-ke-lunga to Ramadhir Singh in various occasions. Once he carried a band outside his home and insulted him publicly on account of a girl of his area got kidnapped by four guys of his pace. The Band played 80s popular Kasam-paida-karne-wale-ki along with some-real hilarious dancing. Once when his son got injured by Ramadhir's men. He again looted Ramadhir's dignity by breaking every part of Ramadhir's car in fron of him. Ramadhir was disturbed by the repeated attacks on his dignity while Sardar Khan also destroyed the rule of Qureshis in Wasseypur waging a war of bombs and desi-kattas on butcher Qureshis who were not accustomed to modern weapons. He killed many Qureshis, burnt many houses, Sultan Qureshi turned thirsty of Sardar khan's blood. And Ramadhir used this venomous bonding of the duo to great advantage. Now he'd employed Sultan to take on Sardar Khan. The characters are so well-written by Anurag, it feels like an epic drama.

The Film ended with Sardar Khan attacked by Sultan and his men gunning down his car to the pieces. Sardar Khan was showed rising up again soaked in blood and gun in his hand to justify the background song, Jiyo hi Bihari ke lala, ....Film first part ended here turning viewers thirsty for more. This film as critics said demand complete attention and can be seen multiple times to explore the nuances of characterizations and plotting of Director. A great effort from Kashyap and his crew especially Manoj Bajpai and Tigmanshu Dhulia donning their roles perfectly. Eagerly waiting for release of second part when as people are saying Nawazuddin Siddiqui would take the front like Michael Corleone in Godfather.

The scenes in the movie are made so real, that it gives you the feeling of watching reality of Bihari terrain through window pane. Infact, Anurag kashyap didn't gave the scripts to many actors involved in the movie till the very last moment in order to generate their natural emotions. I will discuss two scenes in particular, one where Sardar Khan(Manoj Bajpai) is trying to kill one of the Qureshis with knife, that scene has been shown so real where Manoj Bajpai actually got tired of Stabbing him, mowing down him with his jeep to ensure that he's dead or still alive. Another scene where Sultan visits Ramadhir Singh's home and Ramadhir tries to be courteous by offering him to sit with him, and not on floor, which was strange for a MLA from Bihar. But when he asked his mother to arrange lunch for Sultan also, She asked whether to use those Bone china utensil for him, and Ramadhir rotate his head in a shrugging approval. So real, I mean no director can came that close to face the reality. I hope you all have understood the point.

Music score of the movie is equally innovative courtesy the current youth sensation Sneha Khanvilkar globetrotting ways of creating music like her MTV show Sound Tripping. This girl has talent, infact She & Amit Trivedi(Dev D & Udaan fame) together holds the potential of carrying A.R Rehman innovative compositions legacy forward. My favorite tracks from the movie were Keh Ke Lunga & Womaniya.

Anurag Kashyap has did it again, he has silenced his critics again. I'm also eager for his upcoming co-production with Danny Boyle - Bombay Velvet & his dream project Raj-comics character DOGA.

THE GHOST WRITER

2012-02-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

THE GHOST WRITER, This is one of the best modern political thriller I've came across in very long time. I mean it's one of those movies which leaves a lasting impression on you, as it has done with me. And though I was bit distracted by a phone call at the climax time, I so wanted to get back to finish it in one gulp, like a period wine, or just like those thick pacy thriller-spy novels which finds their place in the dusty dark corners of the library racks, away from the limelight of popular ones. Even the nature of story fits into this theme, a story about a writer who has to write as somebody else for money under deep surveillance & confidentiality.

Roman Polanski- The Director is a noted celebrity Director who has made movies like The Pianist, Oliver Twist, The Ninth Gate. I personally feel that he is not just obsessive about cinema, but he seems to be an avid reader also, it shows in his choice of subjects and movies. This Polanski's thriller is a must-watch for thriller-hungry seekers. I can easily compare the background score, screenplay and narration's intensity to the likes of 1965 Michael Caine-starrer, The Ipcress File or Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan espionage adventures. The movie have some allusions, starting from Adam Lang character inspired from Tony Blair, and other charachters inspired namely from the late Mr Robin Cook, former foreign Secretary to Tony Blair and Condoleeza Rice, United States Secretary of State. It faced criticism over these linkages, but how true the presentation of known facts is, you can't deny a bit. Yes, it tries to interpret the dark valleys of American-British alliance in their foreign policies.

It's a story about an unnamed ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) who gets hired on a new job of ghostwriting a memoir of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). The job was to complete the half-done job left by his predecessor Mike McAra, a ghost-writer & great loyal of Adam Lang. Initially he was a bit reluctant to do it, after he gone through a rough mugging incident the day he gets a manuscript copy from the Publishing house. But then his agent-cum-friend Rick Ricardelli, who aligned him for this job, convinced him to go for the job on account of fat earnings from this. The Publishing company advanced Adam Lang about $10 million for his memoirs, and the ghost writer was set to make $2,50,000 for the job. So he willingly grasp the job even though he states to publisher that no body reads the Political memoirs including him.

Now he is flied to an oceanfront island estate in fictional American village Old Haven, where former Prime Minister Adam Lang was staying with his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams), his personal assistant-cum-mistress Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), along with the staff of servants and security personnel. Well, Pierce Brosnan looks as stunning as he always looks in his Bond movies. His charisma was matching his charachter & persona as Lang too. Now, here the film starts getting interesting with all the ingredients of suspense & obscurity. Initially the ghost writer has to stay at the deserted hotel in the island where he could not take down the original manuscript of the memoir. But he do conduct some sessions with Mr Lang to gauge into his earlier Cambridge life and his motivations to enter into the politics. Then he also meet some strange person in hotel bar who try to find his link with Mr Lang. But he maintained the distance with such distractions and tried to focus on the writing of a mammoth memoir he has to do in such a short notice. The timeline to finish the memoir also got curtailed to two weeks by the publisher office as they had some deadlines to met. On the other side of the world, Mr Richard Rycart, the former British foreign Secretary raised some serious allegations upon Mr Adam Lang for orchestrating illegal seizure of some suspected terrorists and handing them over to CIA for deadly torture, a possible war crime. Lang faced a threat of getting prosecuted by International Criminal Court, unless he stays in USA or goes to the country which doesn't follow this jurisdiction.

The Lang controversy brought herds of media people to the island along with protesting public all over the place. In the wake of the media storm, the ghost writer was shifted to the Lang residence for further stay to avoid media interventions. In a planned PR move, Lang with his assistant flew to Washington to meet top US official to show everything is normal. Back in the island, ghost writer had been shifted to Mike McAra's room, where he found an envelope, inside which the secretly hidden belongings of McAra was placed. There was a clear trail of Adam Lang's Cambridge linkages with some Paul Emmett in form of some old pictures and newspaper cuttings. The ghost writer became suspicious of Lang as he told him during his one of the briefings that a clueless young Lang was motivated to enter into the politics due to Ruth, his wife. But, a newspaper cutting showed that he joined the party 2 years before he met Ruth. Ghost writer thought that his predecessor might have stumbled into a dark secret related to Lang. He also find one strange phone number written behind one of the photograph, the call connected to Richard Rycart. He disconnected, and didn't picked the phone when Rycart called him back numerous times.

He took one bicycle from the residence and ventured into the other part of island to find the truth about McAra's death. He found out from one old man that there was something very mischievous about McAra's death. His knowledge of sea currents propelled him to doubt the place, a beach where the McAra's body was found after disappearing from the ferry, and he said that his neighbor has saw some flashlights in sea that day. After that she went into coma afterwards, falling from her stairs. On his ride back, he was intercepted by Ruth & her security guard who were in a look out to find him. Inside the car, Ruth acted strangely towards the ghost writer, clutching his hands in the car, he didn't protested thinking that she is feeling down after being neglected & abandon by Lang. He shared the findings from the island with Ruth on dinner. She said that McAra had a row with Lang before he left in a ferry and died. Then while weeping she uttered, " In what problem my husband has thrown himself ". She left to clear his head in the raining weather. Then she came back in midnight all wet, waking the ghost writer from his sleep. Then she slept with the writer that night.

In the morning, writer felt that he's becoming too involved with his subject and he left for the hotel. he picked a guest car from outside whose GPS was programmed by McAra on his last ride probably. He tried to follow the route to the hotel, but end up obeying the programmed car to the different route altogether, in far away Belmont estate off the island. It was the home of Mr Paul Emmett. Initially reluctant Emmett allowed him to enter after he insisted that he has some photographs of Emmett with Lang. In their brief encounter, Emmett maintained his stance that he had a brief acquaintance with Adam Lang during some stage performances. And that the wall photograph of him with Lang was a kind gesture by Lang to bless the Arcadia committee formed by Emmett. During their whole conversation, Emmett's wife was constantly talking to a third person on phone, describing about the ghost writer.

During his way back to island, he was followed by stranger car, but he escaped, and reached the ferry. But he found the same car persons in look out for him in ferry, he jumped back from the ferry misguiding them and then stayed at the motel near the docks. There in fear, he dialed the Rycart's number, and he asked him to stay where he was. Meanwhile, the writer did Google search for Lang & Paul Emmett connection, and found out that Emmett had been working for CIA as late as 1971 when he graduated from Yale University, the very same period when Lang decided to join the politics. Also he found out that apart from being Pulitzer-prize winning author & geopolitical affairs expert, Professor Emmett was connected to the military contractor Hatherton group through the Arcadia think tank. Rycart visited the motel with his men, and took him to his place, where ghost writer told everything he found about the Adam Lang. Rycart inferred that now the dots are connected, and he understood that Lang was acting as a pawn of CIA, and that's why Britain every decision were taken in favor of the United States. There writer also got to know that McAra gave him the information about Lang for his torture allegations. He told him that McAra didn't shared too much on phone, and he hinted that everything is there in the beginning of the manuscript. And finally he was murdered on his way back in ferry. Ghost writer received the call from Amelia Bly, the assistant of lang, finding his whereabouts. He was not willing to go back to the Wolf's den.

But Rycart asked him to go back in order to avoid any suspicion from lang's office. Lang came with his private jet to take him back to the island to complete the memoir work which was disturbed during the chaos. In the flight back, ghost writer told him everything he found about him on his insistence. Adam Lang was surprised & at the same time shocked to hear about McAra involvement and the negative claims of writer about himself. He shouted that he had always followed his mind, and in no way connected to CIA or terror thing. Infact, he would like to have two queues on airports. One with all the check and security, an one without all that, he pose a question to Rycarts of the world, which queue they'd like to sent their kids into. Writer felt convinced by his remarks and his intent, but it was too late, as when they landed, Lang was assassinated by British anti-war protester who lost his son in Iraq war. In return, Lang's men shot him down. Writer was taken as a prime witness by US authorities, and his passport was taken so that he'd to stay and can provide information.

Back in London, during the book launch party, Amelia tells him by accident that the order of manuscript not accessed by all people came from Americans, as the beginnings contained a threat to national security. There in the party he also saw Ruth with Paul Emmett. He asked Amelia about his presence in the party and she replied that he was Ruth's tutor when she was Fulbright scholar. He then realizes that the truth was laid in the beginning of each chapter of manuscript. And he connected the first word of every chapter, It comes out as a stark ling fact to him: "Lang's wife Ruth was recruited as a CIA Agent by Paul Emmett of Harvard University. " Ruth has shaped every Lang's decision to favor United States, as per the guidelines from CIA.

The writer pass on a note to Ruth in the gathering about the same, and then raise a toast like gesturing her that he knows the truth now. He then left from the party as she started chasing him. In the end, when he was crossing the road off-camera holding original manuscript in his hands, a car accelerates towards his direction. And then papers of the manuscripts came back flying as the sound of car-hitting him is heard by the passerby who gathered and ran in that direction.

And the mysterious soundtrack continues, with the manuscript papers flying all over the place.

I SHOT MY WIFE. PROVE IT !

2012-02-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

This is a sensational thriller packed with all the chills Sir Anthony Hopkins-flick can guarantees. If you have saw the famous Dr Hannibal Lecter series of movies, you can identify with me on that. His charismatic expressions and gestures can haunt if he want, even the dead in the grave. The story starts with an aeronautical engineer Theodore Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) finding her wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) cheating on him. He was constantly following her with her secret lover. She was having an Affair with Detective Robert Nunally (Billy Burke). He shared the revelation with his wife before killing her point blank seriously hurting her head. After that he fired three more bullets on the window to warn the passerby near the house. When they contacted police, detective Nunally came to the scene of crime with his men. Crawford asked him to come alone inside. And then they put their respective gun down. Crawford was in a state of eerie calmness while he was describing what he has done. Detective Nunally went numbed to see his darling covered in blood. He lingered over her body to revive the deathly stillness of her. Then he took Crawford into custody while transporting breathing Jennifer to hospital. She went into coma.

Ted Crawford has already confessed his crime to police. Four bullets were fired, One pistol was captured with convict on the scene of crime. All these facts made this an open-and-shut case for the rising star deputy district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling). He was busy these days in the transition from criminal law to corporate attorney in Wooton & Sims, a well-known high-paying firm. Initially he was reluctant to take this case, but after seeing the nature of the same he agreed. He was sure, the case will be fast and easy, he'll gonna win, his conviction rate was 97%, and this case would be another feather in his cap before he leave for the Wooton & Simms. Meanwhile, He also developed a romantic relationship with his future boss, Nikki Gardener ( Rosamund Pike). Gosh ! How lucky he was to have Rosamund Pike as her boss.

In the trial, Crawford requested to be his own attorney, even after constant effort by Judge & District attorney Beachum to take the help of professional. But Crawford remained adamant on being his own attorney and why not ? His nasty legal wits inside the courtroom were the soul of the plot. The first blow to district attorney Beachum came in form of supposedly Layman terminology used by Crawford to nullify the confession as an evidence for the case. He smartly uttered to Judge " What do you say....in legal terminologies..fucking the victim.." So as per the Crawford, as Detective Nunally was having a affair with her wife, and assaulted him during the arrest, and was present with his officer friends during the confession. So Crawford's confession ruled out as an evidence as it bear the fruit of poisonous tree a/c to Judge. The second blow to attorney Beachum came in form of the another supposedly crucial evidence of the case- the murder weapon. Police found out that Crawford's gun has never been fired and is not been used in the murder at all, as the shell casings wasn't matching to the crime scene. Beachum repeatedly sent cops to look out for the handgun in every corner of the house. As per the reports, during and after the murder, people have surrounded the house and nobody saw anybody coming out of the house, so gun should have to be in Crawford's home. But to the amazement of everyone, even after tearing everything apart they didn't find any gun in the house, like Beachum rightly joked about gun having grown legs and ran away itself.

Detective Nunally tempted Beachum to plant a false evidence (gun) as they knew Crawford has done it. But Beachum refused, Infact when Crawford put forward the motion of acquittal on account of no evidence against him, Beachum got tempted to use the false evidence but he decided to forbid that at the very last minute, and Crawford was acquitted. The disgraced Nunally shot himself right outside the courtroom with his own gun. Beachum lost the case for which he destroyed his chances in the prestigious firm along with his relationship with Nikki Gardener. Plus, his own firm boss has already told him that after all this, he can't take chances taking him back, as that would raise many eyebrows. But Beachum was not at all worried about any of these things, he was obsessively searching out for the unconnected dots of the case. He wanted an answer, an explanation, and he repeatedly visited comatose Jennifer in hope of seeing her wake up and answering him. But sooner on Crawford's plea, a restraining order is issued forbidding Beachum to visit the patient. But when Crawford shared his thoughts about unplugging the electronic device to end the life of the only eyewitness of the crime, Jennifer. Beachum goes on a great length to take a court order to put Jennifer on life support, but to fail, as Crawford succeeded in whitewashing the last evidence.

So Crawford was having an upper hand till now. But two things happened which helped Beachum in nailing down him. First, when he was leaving the city, his old Boss consoled him that technically, he didn't let him get away with the murder of his wife, But he let him get away with an attempt to murder. Second thing, when Beachum was reading the case related files in police station, his phone get switched with the cop, and that's it. Whole story unfolds, he noticed, even though quite late that, Crawford has switched his gun in hotel with Nunally's gun when Nunally met Jennifer secretly. He shot Jennifer with Nunally's gun. And then he reloaded the gun and exchange it again when Nunally visited the crime scene, particularly when Nunally was lingering over her body. Detective put the murder weapon in his holster unknowingly. In his own words, Crawford described the plan as simply BEAUTIFUL, as Nunally sat with the murder weapon in the court room all trial long, and finally ended his life also with the same weapon without noticing that he already had what he's searching all over the world. He didn't care to notice the facts.

Crawford use to brag about his eye to detail, to see fractures in every egg, his stand that if you'll focus you can find fracture or weak point in everybody like he found that Winning is the weak point of district attorney Beachum. But his eye to detail seriously hampered in judging the nitty-gritties of the Double Jeopardy clause. Yes, his only mistake in the whole game-plan. He confessed everything to Beachum thinking he was applicable to Double Jeopardy clause, a procedural defence that forbids the defendant from being tried again on the same charges for which he's acquitted. But Beachum pointed out that last trial was for attempt-to-murder, but now after the death of Jennifer, he can be prosecuted with fresh murder charges. He flaunted that after her death, police can retrieved the bullet inside her head, and he'll be behind the bars. Before taking exit from Crawford's door, where several cops were waiting for them. Beachum said to him, if he had not taken Jennifer out of life support, he could have been protected by Double Jeopardy clause.

Beachum sarcastically quoted.

"Why you need to pull that plug huh, According to Doctors, she would have outlived us !"

In the end, the fresh trial started against Crawford, where he was shown surrounded by defence attorneys of Wooton & Sims.

'All Rise!' Beachum pointed towards Crawford to adjust his tie as the proceedings initiated.

DEEWAAR - I'LL DIE FOR MY MAMA !

2012-02-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

Deewaar, a movie who was an inspiration behind popularly known Slumdog Millionaire, Two brothers story. One running behind wealth, other honest and truthful. Infact Danny Boyle, the director of Slumdog, said that Deewaar is the absolutely key to Indian Cinema. And a movie with the same old formula of rags-to-riches though triumphed in the recession-prone western globe. But this Yash Copra-directed movie was a bigger and more deeper movie than the Slumdog any day.

Deewaar is lesser the duel between two brothers, but it's more about the mother-son relationship and the clash of the practicality & idealism. And when it was released in overseas, it bear the title 'I'll Die for My Mama', which clearly justified the intent of this artwork, though a bit far-fetched and obscure for western audience. It was a phenomenal ground-breaking movie. It was way ahead of its time with superb and intense acting by one & all. And apart from script, the screenplay & dialogue were impeccable. No doubt Salim-Javed raised the value of script-writer at that period. Infact they were paid as high as the film heroes in their coming ventures.

Movie starts in a flashback. Two brothers, Vijay(Amitabh Bachchan) & Ravi Verma(Shashi Kapoor) had a tough and testing childhood. Their father who was a trade unionist got betrayed by the management of firm, and had to runaway from the infamous workers deal he was compelled to sign due to the blackmailing of corrupt businessman, who threatens to kill his family. He left his home due to shame after saving his family. But his acts became a deep wound in the heart of little Vijay when some angry workers who branded Vijay arms with words "My Father is a Thief". The family had to struggle on the streets of Mumbai afterwards. His wife has to do labor work under the lusty and exploited eyes of skyscrapers. Vijay use to counter not just every abuse against her mother, but he toiled hard to make his brother Ravi schooling done. He started as shoe-polishing young boy with a great self-pride. Who can forget the popular scene "Mai Phenke Hue Paise nahi uthata"(I don't pick thrown money). As they grew up, Vijay started working on ship dockyard and Ravi became a jobless well-qualified young man. Both of the brother faced different realities, they read different books of life. While Ravi school books taught him truth & idealism, Vijay's life-book was about the mad race to survive, it was about survival of fittest. And he gain power & rose to become the smuggler king-pin Dhabar Seth right-hand. Infact, he gain full hold of gang with his clever trickster-ship with Samant gang. He escaped death several times due to his dockyard days badge 786.

Two epic scenes in his rising days were, one when he accept the offer of Dhabar Seth imagining his mother hardships, and the other when Dhabar Seth introduced childhood polisher truth to Jaichand. But then Ravi became Police inspector and Vijay forehead got more tenser lines. And finally the brother duel of truth-false, ethical-unethical started. The power of raising weapon against his own brother seems inspired from Geeta, Ravi felt helpless like Arjuna who has to fight his brothers. But he got the wisdom in form of a poor school teacher whose child got hurt from his bullet. He decided to take the case of Vijay Verma & Dhabar Seth. The popular signature scene still holds large eye-attention in different stage & stand up acts till date. Ravi left the Vijay's home with his mother. Vijay became alone and find solace in arms of Anita (Parveen Babi), a dancer he met in a bar. Ravi Verma became an intelligent and arduous police officer, and once he caught hold of 7-8 men of Dhabar with all consignment. And then Vijay's gang member demanded Ravi Verma's death, unknowingly pinching Vijay's brotherly heart. Vijay tried to convince Ravi to take transfer from the city with yet another iconic scene " Mere Paas Maa Hai", probably one of the most classy scene in history of Indian cinema. Vijay was misunderstood by every dear & near one except Anita. As Anita rightly described, Vijay was feeling down. First his brother left him, his mother got angry on him, his father found dead, and then his mother also get hospitalised which made him enter into his No-Go zone -Temple. He was about to abandon underworld & marry the pregnant Anita, when she got killed by Samant. Vijay took revenge from Samant and his people.

One of the other iconic scene of the movie was beautifully shot temple scene. "Aaj Khush to bahut hoge tum" is remembered by one & all. After the final clash between the brothers, Vijay breath his last in his mother lap asking for forgiveness, while Ravi get awarded for pursuing justice. But the mere essence of the movie is the intense love for mother. Vijay did everything for his mother. He chose the wrong path but to make his mother and family happy. And he finally died for his mother. One scene in particular, which gives me goose-bumps every time I watch it, when Vijay bought the building as a gift for her mother, where she had once lifted bricks. Mother played an integral part in Salim-Javed written scripts. And Amitabh Bachchan established himself as the angry-young man of bollywood after this 70s blockbuster. The movie sweeps Six Filmfare awards except just one, Best Actor in Leading Role for which Amitabh was nominated. Surprisingly, his critically acclaimed role was left un-awarded while everybody attached with this film won numerous awards.

This movie can really move anyone who is as attached to his mother as Vijay, I felt his pain, his struggles, his fight for- not right or wrong, but just one thing- MAA !

SPIRITUAL ADIEU TO FAME & STARDOM- VINOD KHANNA

2012-02-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Recently we've been surrounded by the several creative works imbibed with the cults of 70s & 80s, trend started from Om Shanti Om, Action Replay till Dirty Picture, to name the few. We've also witnessed the avalanche of remakes one after another, some inspiration, dedication and some tribulations (Like Aag) as well. But there has been a common unsaid creative pact made within the film making fraternity, to inject a feel of retro, whether in the scripts, locations, actors, styles of yesteryears art of celluloid. Its a common phenomenon these days.

Within these Cult-books of 70s era, Vinod Khanna was a chapter which is one of the most popular & the most incomplete chapter. His some of the popular recent mention in the cinema being- Abhay Deol character in 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye' who use to flaunt himself in Vinod Khanna style, even the film starts with Vinod Khanna song, 'Chahiye Thoda Pyaar..Thoda Pyar Chahiye' (Movie: Lahu Ke Do Rang). Apart from that, I like the recent trailer of much-awaited Saif thriller, Agent Vinod, in which to hide his identity he call himself as Vinod....Vinod Khanna.

This is a well-known fact that he was the most stylish superstar of that era, and probably the only one to give neck-to-neck competition to the Ruler of 70s, Amitabh Bachchan. Some even says that he had literally overtook Amitabh in every sense when he suddenly took the retirement from the films and bollywood at the peak of his career. He became a strict follower of spiritual leader Rajaneesh (OSHO) and left the industry in form of self-imposed exile to live in Rajaneeshpuram city in Antelope, Oregon area of America. And thus, after Rajesh Khanna's end of stardom, the only threat for the numero uno status to Amitabh lost forever in the garb of spiritual inclinations.

And Vinod Khanna not just gambled his career, but even his family & friends on his way to experience the spiritual transformation and quest of inner peace. Infact, nobody knew what he did in his 8 years of time spent in Rajaneeshpuram City. Then he returned after a decade to join the bollywood again, and started his second inning, while his marriage was on the rocks until his divorce. Then he got married again 1990 & then further became an MP in late 90s. But his charisma, charm & tough exterior always won the hearts of the audience. Even though he had many self-imposed exiles on himself, but he maintained his royal-ness and turned more spiritual & intellectual personally, as shown by him in various interviews. He's now serving as MP of Gurdaspur constituency. He was always called as an elusive star with a rebel attitude, he always followed what he believed in, once he made up his mind it was hard to refrain him from doing it.

I can relate with his inclinations of exile as even I had once made my mind to have this experience of peace and self-introduction, though I was comparitively young and not even a successful superstar. And I got counseled by my annoyed friends & colleagues about the futility of that action on my own life and my family. I myself gave it a thought and found it quite amateurish in nature. I found that inner salvation can be experienced by doing one's Karma in the most genuine way and by following one's duties towards Self, family & society. Though I'm still in this diverged pathways, analyzing my path between the two. I found my father remarks so useful, that First show that you can gain, then express your desire to renounce. When there is nothing what you have attained in life, nothing you've enjoyed, How you can feel the pain or joy of losing it for spiritual or delusion sake. I liked the idea, and it helped me a lot. Even in my doing MBA & later job, as I at least proved my family, my father in particular, that I have some capability.

But coming back to Vinod Khanna, I would have wished he must have continued his career, the heights of oneness and peace can be attained in your chosen trade too, like A.R Rehman, I think he always connect to the one while composing or producing music. Same way I feel for Tendulkar in cricket. So achieving the oneness in Karma can be a better notion then exile. But god knows what was best for him. As post-emergency quality of cinema hindered seriously when films sole motive became gaining money whether by vulgarity, plagriasm or some household daily-soaps type movies for VCR generation. And later after his exile he too joined that third class cinema bandwagon saying NO to his guru Rajaneesh for handling Pune Ashram of OSHO.

But anyways Salute to his courage & conviction of sacrificing his all for his purpose & vision. That was surely not for publicity sake like many others. He had paid a great price for that decision both personally & professionally. He might have actually became the Superstar of the millennium instead of Mr Big B, But who knows if that would have mattered to him or his inner peace eventually. He would always be remembered as a great actor & star of bollywood despite all the drama underlying his life story.

AGNEEPATH ! AGNEEPATH ! AGNEEPATH !

2012-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

Say Hello to my little friend ! Tony Montana !

No, I don't mean that Agneepath was a copy of Al Pacino's Scarface at all. But yes, one do tend to compare the style and mannerism of both iconic stars Al Pacino & Amitabh. In fact Scarface is one hell of gangsta movie which started a trend which continues since its release to the launch of GTA Vice City game. No Scarface, No Agneepath, No GTA Vice City. But hey, you must be thinking, why I'm talking about Old Agneepath, when new remake has broken all record in collections whether domestic or Overseas. But unfortunately I didn't felt connected with new one, It was a nice effort, nice tribute. That's it !

No I'm not discarding the new one completely, I liked the picturization of Harivansh Rai Bachchan poem in movie both times, when Vijay father is reciting it to him, and when Vijay is reciting the same to Kancha Cheena while killing him.

So, in short, I just Like the poem in the new one, nothing else!

The new one didn't enticed me enough to grab the retention plot of my memory even though I watched it recently. The old one even with some imperfections, were able enough to grab the mind space of mine.

Like thousands other people, even I still remember the old movie Vijay Deenanath Chauhan Introduction in police station, and many other scenes. The new one was flooded with fresh faces and fresh make-up, but no soul. Still I would say It was better than some of the other crappy remakes.

But why they do not think logically while scripting remakes or presenting old wine in new bottle.

In the old one Vijay character was larger than life, this time antagonist Kancha & newly-included Rauf Lala were portrayed in larger than life manner.

Name Kancha Cheena & character suited Danny more than Sanjay Dutt, no guesses on that.

Apart from get-up & look, Sanjay had little to experiment with Kancha, but he did a decent job in spite of some exaggeration here and there. His toying with Gita shlokas and demonly wisdom was good though.But that was the character fault, he was no more human like old movie Kancha Cheena, now he was demon.

A/c to me, Background score plays a vital role in fueling the scenes, and old Agneepath background score was just AWESOME. Even though it was lifted from Jean Michel Jarre - Second Rendez-Vous (Part II), Type the same in YouTube and see for yourself. But I dont care from where it came from, but was suiting Amitabh sequences & style so well.

The Old one was tribute to Harivansh Rai Bachchan poem, the new one was tribute to old Agneepath, but no Agneepath can be dreamt without the iconic poem itself. I've fallen in love with the poem so precise, so short and so deep in meaning. Hats off to Mr Harivansh Rai, he was my second best Hindi poet after Ram Dhari Singh Dinkar. This post cannot end without the mere essence of the movie - Path of Fire, the poem:-

Vriksh ho bhale khade

Ho Ghane Ho badhe

Ek Patra Chhao bhi

Mang Mat Mang Mat Mang Mat !

Agneepath ! Agneepath ! Agneepath !

Tu Naa Thakega kabhi

Tu Naa Thamega kabhi

Tu Naa Mudega kabhi

Kar Shapath Kar Shapath Kar Shapath

Agneepath ! Agneepath ! Agneepath !

Yeh Mahaan Drishya Hai

Chal Raha Manushya hai

Ashru Sved Rakt se

Lath Path Lath Path Lath Path

Agneepath ! Agneepath ! Agneepath !

So, A/c to me, this poem will always be classier than both the Agneepath movies.

PYAASA - Story by Shadows, Silhouettes & Serene Shayari !!!

2012-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

Since 1957, Lot's has been said and analyzed about Pyaasa. It is world renowned classic which has found space in the most classically-learned, elites and reputed shelves. And there are many views and ways through which we can see inside the veins of Pyaasa. Today I'm just focusing on its art of camerawork, screenplay and lyricism.

Talking about Camerawork, its the most unique form of camerawork I've ever seen in my life. Guru Dutt had the ability to build the ordinary sequences into completely larger-then-life molds of picturesque scene. Who can forget the epic climax scene of Jesus-like posture in auditorium. It will always be remembered as the God of all shots in the history of Indian cinema. No wonders it took numerous retakes for Guru Dutt to make it right. He'd a great eye for detail, and his colleagues like V.K Murthy, working with 75 mm lens always gave him the shots he wanted, no matter how difficult the implementation occurs.

Whether it's Guru famous extreme close-up scenes, or the beautiful use of Lighting all around the sets, through which he can create the web of shadows & silhouettes, a silent talking cinema in itself, literally no dialogue were required at that moment. But still the equation gets completed when the scene gets the throttle of immensely deep & inquisitive poetry by Sahir Ludhianvi. Its the epitome of lyricism. And what you get in front of you is the real Film-making manual by Guru Dutt. Ya Buddy, that's how you should make the movies. Learn it from here !

I remember one very interesting, stimulating and goose-bumpy scene where Vijay, the protagnist is deeply sad to hear the demise of her mother, and find himself insulted by brothers in the alms of his friends at brothel nudging him to gulp the alcohol, which he reluctantly drank in one go, justifying it with Sahir Poetry,

Gham Is Qadar Badhe ke Mai ghabra ke pee gaya...

Is Dil ki bebasi pe taras kha ke pee gaya

Thukra raha tha mujhko badi der se jahan...

Lo aaj is jahan ko thukra ke pee gaya

And then he confront a brutal reality in front of him. A tired helpless mother ignoring her wailing baby, a prostitute dancing to the tunes of his friends and other lusty guests. Gosh, I've never saw tears falling on the camera lens so beautifully, actually it never happened before or after Pyaasa according to my knowledge. Tears are not just falling on camera lens showing Vijay pain, but were also falling on his glass of alcohol. And after suffering from the guilt of being witness to this cruelty, he finally left from the place and walked open in dimly-lit brothel street with his yet another critiqued notion about Hind, the capitalistic independent India of 1957 where love is on sale. These are my favorite verse of all,

Yeh Kuche Yeh Nilaam ghar dilkashi ke..

Yeh lut te hue karvaan zindagi ke..

Kahaan hai Kahaan hai muhafiz khudi ke..

Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan hai..

This song has such a scary impact on you, it really shows the mirror to the hypocrite society in its own way. The lighting, windows and street corners are so beautifully captured to describe the lyrics in visuals. Its a remarkable job done by V.K Murthy, the Cameraman. In his own words, he marked that even though technically KAAGAZ KE PHOOL is his greatest work, But PYAASA as a film was more complete and varied experience. It had so much to express under the purview of Art.

These close-up shots, blurred visions, teary camera lens, shadows & silhouettes & lyrics together formed such a marvelous and epic combination which this world will never forget, At least the art fraternity will never forget that cinematic magic. Kudos to V.K Murthy, Kudos to Sahir Ludhianvi, Kudos to Sir Guru Dutt !!

Without such artistic perfection, YEH DUNIYA AGAR MIL BHI JAAYE TO KYA HAI !! CLASS !

TALAASH or AGENT VINOD ? WHICH ONE WILL ROCK 2012 !!

2012-01-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

Coming out of the warm blanket of 50s & 60s Era for a while in this winter, I wanna inhale some fresh chilled air of bollywood. As they say, this is the most experimentation-oriented phase of bollywood, where different people are trying new things, whether they're successful or not in that is secondary & immaterial thing. The vanguards of this change are people like Vishal Bharadwaj, Ashutosh Gowariker, Anurag Kashyap, Sanjay Bhansali, Jaideep Sahni, Dipankar banerjee, Imtiaz Ali & many more.

Let me tell you straightforwardly, As a whole, till now Industry has done lot of goof-ups while dealing with such experiments in past decade, but still some of them really got successful, rest were copy-kats, So're not entitled to my scrutiny for class at all. Yeah, the motive is still finding the ones who're near the classicism. So rather going retro, I'm going forward this time, dealing with two most awaited movies of 2012- Talaash & Agent Vinod ! So this is my analysis of which one can garner more attention & rake moolah on box-office.

I'll share all the factoids & perceptive qualities of both the ventures in order to project which one can win the heart of critics & public in this grand cinematic duel.

First let me talk about Talaash first, Well movie has Aamir Khan as its cast, what more it can ask for ? But mere actor presence cannot make it a great product to sell off. Otherwise Mangal Pandey-The Rising would be a hit. But then Aamir investment & creative interest also lies within the Film, So we can expect his greater interventions in the filming of the same. The movie is a psychological thriller where Aamir, the cop is suffering from multiple personality disorder. The teaser has revealed more than what it should have, but the execution of this interesting plot can play to the advantage of movie. Aamir & crew have worked really hard for the same, starting from mustache look to filming in red-light area for making it look real. That's really appreciable of him, to again trying hard to do justice with the character. But according to me, the real hero of the movie is the one behind the screen, i.e Director!

I've not seen Reema Kagti's first directed movie Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd. But she is talented girl, worked as an assistant to the likes of Ashutosh Gowariker (Lagaan), Farhan Akhtar (Dil Chahta Hai), etc. Also she is been attached to Excel Entertainment since its inception working with Farhan & Zoya (her close friend) in nearly all their productions. But she is still fresh and has to prove her mettle before I can count on his direction abilities. But her experience in industry looks enriching & promising.

Now coming to Agent Vinod, Saif is not as popular star as Aamir for sure, so first-day-watch hunger of public would be lesser than Talaash. But Saif is a producer of this movie and this is his dream project. He's been so crazy & addicted to the filming of this flick, that his dedication not just felt by shooting-site injury & bruises news coming from locations like Morocco or Amsterdam since June 2010, but it shows in the trailer also. Well, to be honest, it's one of the most promising trailer in terms of thriller in quite long time. But then even Don 2 can have a good locations and trailer, but did the story intelligent enough to stimulate emotions, surprise & appreciation in the mind-space of viewer. Well this movie is not a remake of 80s forgotten-foolish Agent Vinod. But it's an original story by Sriram Raghavan, the director himself. Movie is a spy-thriller with lot of chills & thrills in it. And atleast that you can expect from Sriram Raghavan movie, Why?

Because he was the Director who has made two movies till now. First one was Ek Haseena Thi, other one was Johnny Gaddar. Both highly-acclaimed thrillers. So thriller is his best jounre, and he's playing in his love-field. Sriram Raghavan, has worked in Stardust before joining the prestigious Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune. I know art doesn't require any qualification. But if we do consider it, He has the advantage over Reema in that respect. And experience-wise, his own creative efforts have been impressive enough to raise the expectation bar. If you happen to see the camera angles & screenplay of Sriram Raghavan, you'll see that camera itself play a character, which create tense & thrilling sequences. That art he might have learned from Mr Ram Gopal Verma.

So, if we compare the two movies on the first-perception basis, the analysis concludes Agent Vinod to fare better than Talaash. But box-office is tricky game altogether, nobody can judge it accurately before the theatre release. But still we can compare the two movies. There are some similarities like new Directors, both Director are two movies old, both Directors are the writers too.

Both movies have a star to bank upon, and both leading actors belong to choosy breed of artists. They nowadays do one movie at a time. Yeah, Aamir has been more impressive than Saif, but Saif has recently entered into the self-production sincerity mode where Aamir ventured way back at Lagaan time. If we go by their career performances, Aamir memorable one in similar theme was Ajay Rathod (Sarfarosh) & Saif performance in Ek Haseena Thi was commendable. If we go by their adaptability loaded roles- Aamir is an uncrowned king of adaptability by range and varieties of roles he has done in last decade or so. But Saif's Langda Tyagi was phenomenal too, performed with all honesty he possessed.

And if we go by their last movie responses. Aamir did a little cameo in Delhi belly & Saif's Aarakshan lacked the finesse in it. So collectively, Both stars are engaging enough to attract audience, the only thing which will matter now is STORY. And even after a good story in hand, the perfect execution with all sweat and blood immersed in it, will probably decide this duel. Well Agent Vinod will come early in March end, while Talaash will come in June. So you can see, marketing-wise Aamir is using both Social media & other avenues intelligently.

My Verdict, Agent Vinod will be the Winner, It's 60% due to the Director, 20% to story, 20% on my movie-worms instincts. I liked the whole branding of Agent Vinod starting from their choice of Title Font & poster of movie to the locations & execution of sequences shown in trailers. While Talaash has a huge burden of expectation over its shoulder, and in contrast to that, it looks little dull in its teaser. You must be surprised, but its a courageous verdict, because people is waiting for Talaash so much that in two days its teaser videos has got 1 million views on Youtube till date, way faster than any other movie I've ever seen. Still I feel Agent Vinod is a dark-horse, and will come out with flying colours.

Lets see how the assumptions work out in real ! Stay Tuned !

(After Release of Agent Vinod)

O my dear God, I haven't seen Agent Vinod yet. But All critics has unanimously bombed the movie, even cinema goers aren't much impressed. All are saying the movie seems lengthy. So, It seems my prediction proved wrong. Everybody is saying that this is not Agent Vinod, But Travel Agent Vinod with all worldwide locations mixed up in the movie. C'mon I'd so much expectation from this movie ! Alas !

That prove the point, Sometimes, even having a good Director, Actor, Approach, you can land up in a messy affair. And promo can't be the judgment criteria. Let's wait for Talaash then !

GURU-R-BRAHMA !

2012-01-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

It's a very basic prayer in India for the teachers, Guru (Teacher) is Brahma (God of Creation).

But I'm symbolically using the same to describe Sir Guru Dutt. Yes I'm a fan, I'm a devotee, of not just this man great films and productions, as the similar feat can be replicated and has been tried by many, so what if not been accomplished in such grandeur & kingly way. I'm devotee of something even bigger than that, something deeper, I'm devotee of his ideals, his thinking, his approach in life. Even though cynic might say all of him was extreme, a wild race towards perfection, a completeness which can never be attained. Game which cannot be won.

And he never won ! Did he ? He mastered film-making, productions and arts. But he was the representative & one of the niche-sponsor of great failures, whether professionally or personally. His marriage was a disaster, his greatest creations not aligned with people frequency of understanding. So what if he made movies 30-40 years ahead of its time. Whats the point when nobody is there in theatres to have a taste of the art.

But then, I damn-sure know, succumbing to commercialism, profitability, and money is so easy and ordinary in this society. What he craved for was reaching the ultimate he visualize, the zenith he foreseen. A jump to grasp the sky of creation. And a medium to let the fountain of emotions, anguish, sadness & frustration to flow unsteadily. He was insatiable but for creation, not for the benefit out of that. And thus he was always dissatisfied by his work, the end-result. And this quality which look so appealing, is equally dangerous & lethal. It can drove you to farthest sea-zones of mental traumas & high tides of emotions from where returning is not the option. His close friends & colleagues were annoyed by the same too. They wanted the work done and move on, he wanted the work to move on till it gets the right textures & proper canvas. An undying quest for perfectionism.

So when I symbolize Guru Dutt to be Brahma, a god of creativity. Don't take it as an exaggeration, or false fan-hood, Infact it's an extension of Guru's path or, the destination of his journey, i.e towards attainment of Bhrama. Yes, whether it's a much-talked about ones like Pyaasa or Kaagaz Ke Phool or, the lesser talked one like Mr & Mrs. 55, he displayed his craftsmanship in accurate manner with some minute flaws, for which he remained guilty to himself till he died. Yes, in various occasions he had expressed his anguish & guilt for some rare surrender to commercialism, the popular masala he put on his flicks for garnering public attention, monetory success. And he never liked those impurities in his creations. A/c to me, Even legendary Pyaasa was not the purest creation of him, nor the Kaagaz ke Phool. His purest was not meant for the world at that time. That’s why you see ‘Sar jo tera chakraye’ have to be placed in sadistic Pyaasa, and “Hum Tum Jise Kehta Hai” kinda crappy number have to be gelled in the otherwise, purest creation of his whole life, Kaagaz ke Phool.

But I would not complain about that! Who is not adulterated or impure in this society? How could one man attain the eternal bliss of mastery, the completeness? And if he would have attained that, do you really think he would be satisfied, Nah! Then there would be another level to reach. That’s the story of Ideality. My teacher was once explaining an Ideal Engine to the class. He said, “Ideal Engine never exists! It’s like Shri Rama, and Ideal man, who is so flawless, that doesn’t look real, A man who can go for painful 14 years exile for happiness of his step mom. So Ideal Engine efficiency is 100%”

In Similar manner, and Ideal Creator, or Brahma, if ever existed in some impure form in Hindi Film Industry, was undoubtedly Mr Guru Dutt.

If anyone has any confusion on that, or any challenging claim against it, Please share your contender for this Tag, I’ll be enriched to know another genius like him.

GURU-R-BHRAMA !!

KISHORE, CRAZINESS & ME !

2012-01-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

"Acting is false, Singing is truth..."

Great Lines by Kishore Da Vinci Kumar, when asked about his favorite interests- Acting or Singing.

Taking the characters study forward, today I would like to study one of my favorite all rounder artist, legendary Kishore Kumar. Well you must be wondering who doesn't know about this interesting & jack-of-all trades creative man. But I'm talking about the influences of this man in my upbringing & my family roots.

From the very beginning I've been surrounded by people totally crazy and mad about his histrionics. My Father used to have a lot of respect for this man multi-dimensional creativity, and he use to tell me stories about how Ashok Kumar use to demotivate Kishore about his acting and singing skillset. And how Kishore proved him wrong by his sheer talent and determination. I was impressed from this guy from that very moment. As I found a personality to represent my anguish. How? As Kishore was also the youngest brother of three- Elder ones being Ashok & Anoop. And his capabilities were also doubted by his brothers also like me. Even my elder brothers use to make fun of me when I was small. And therefore, Now he was my Icon !

But to be honest, my attachment with him grew leaps and bounds due to my Uncle Rajiv & brother Vishal overwhelming appreciation for Kishore. They were crazy about him, probably more than me. They were a kind of Kishore Data Collectors, have all the details about him, had procured all the songs and movies of him. And through their craze I got to know him further. Yes, he was a legend. Most of my friends only knew the singing side of Kishore as he was the singer of YOUTH, and will always be. But for me, he was more than a singer. He was a comedian, a sensitive actor, a music director, a lyricist and a great human being. One more thing about him, which was equally nostalgic, notorious & lovable was his madness. He was so damn unpredictable. I can narrate his strange behavior stories all day, and the space would be less for that.

But I would like to quote some of the incident. Like Kishore had a board hanging outside his flat- BEWARE OF KISHORE ! Wow, what an attitude. Once a director paid his half remuneration, and to protest about that he wore the half makeup and clothes for film shoot. The list of his craziness is so long- Like he made G.P Sippy chase him to Madh island fort from his home just for fun, Short hair look surprise to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Stand-on-the-table in nicker demand for SD Burman and many more. I'm also a bit crazy like him, my brother use to reinforce this fact over & over again. Also my close friend sometime doubt my senses whenever I tries to inject some serious dose of philosophy into their tired veins. So I can relate with this annoying trait of Kishore also. And yes even I'm unpredictable at times. Whether it's Lata Mangeshkar first impression of eve-teaser chaser, or 6-7 months long prank of Manas-putra (imaginary child) incident with Asha Bhonsle, he was always equally adorable in terms of his real-life comic timing.

But even after all these so-called flaws, he was a great human being, fact which his many collegues put forward all the time, whether Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh bachchan or Pran whom he worked for very long time. Everyone was influenced by him. So who he was ? An Artist, Yoodler, Joker, Playboy, Paranoid or a great philospher. He was also known for his romantic connection with heroines. It was so easy for Kishore to impress girls, and he do have beautiful wives like Madhubala, Leena Chandarvarkar & Yogita Bali. I would say I've been a loser in this case, I've been unlucky in case of girls. But yes, I'm a good human being like him, as people believe of me. He died in 1987 when I was born, I know this is quite a faulty way to connect with a legend. I've the same voice quality like Kishore, now that I can bet, I can match to his tone easily, but yes, melody & yodeling like him is a faraway game to me.

He was impressive yes, But who were the Icon of this icon. Two names which I would like to point out are the foremost K.L Saigal, his god of music & the foreign connection, Jimmy Rodgers. Yeah from where he picked up his yodeling trickery. He use to yodle the same way as Rodgers in his bathroom to the amazement of family members. However, the similar way he impressed the film industry people coming to his home due to Ashok Kumar's Filmy connection those days, by his classic imitations & interpretations of K.L Saigal voice.

Once, he quoted so well about his popular madness by saying, " If they strongly believe that I'm mad, why not have a fun out of this"

I would request everybody to watch his Half-Ticket, New Delhi and other movies to gauge his crazy acting talent. All comedians and artists of that period has similar belief that Kishore was different from one & all. Infact, comic artist Mukri once said, " We all are creating situational comedy, but this man require no situation, as his FACE works so well. " And he goes on to vouch that after Charlie Chaplin, Kishore was the greatest comedian artists of the world with his impeccable expressions & perfect comic timing.

HAIL MADNESS ! HAIL KISHORE !

Movie Half-Ticket in 15 Minutes...

GURU-DEV ARTISTIC BOND !

2012-01-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks! It’s been months since I reviewed any classic movie, but then I had little time for watching cinema, and If I got succeeded in plucking some crafty flowers of art from celluloid, I didn't got motivated enough to resonate the aroma in words for the dissection or presentation of that classic piece.

So I decided that I should not form boundary within this blog, it should become wide & free from that. And I decided that I would also write about the famous classy characters. Now I'm thinking to open the last door of freedom of my expression in such a way that I can write anything and everything which I seems worth writing under the belief that "It's a Classic"

So today on the eve of me buying Romancing with Life, an autobiography of Dev Anand felt compelled to enhance my purview of this man a little bit more. He was not just a great artist and a charming man, but a serious writer too. His way of expressing his true life event in gripping manner was a nice experience till now. I've just started his book and many untold chapters are left to be unfolding in front of me. But then I encountered an article by Mr Murali Gopy about the friendship of Mr Dev Anand & Sir Guru Dutt.

Although, I know about great bonding of these two icons of golden era of bollywood for a long time, but I like to stumble back upon these nostalgic years of Indian cinema with zooming from different binoculars & different perspectives.

Why I titled this post like this, because I seriously wish that the two friends would have imbibed a little bit of each other into their self. They were totally opposite to each other, In my words, possibly North Pole & South Pole. But more interesting thing was that they were still inseparable, and Dev Anand even before breathing his last reinforced many a times that Guru Dutt was his only true friend in Indian Film Industry. This friendship proves that how unlike poles attract each other. Their friendship blossomed even after the striking difference in their ideologies & notions about life. A friendship blossomed wherein Dev Anand promised him that if ever he produced a film, Guru Dutt would direct and should Guru direct, Dev would play the leading man! Let’s have a close look on both personalities.

Guru Dutt-Ever Thirsty, an activist, an extreme one, the Intensified, a cynic, a perfectionist, the most gratifying & unsatisfying craftsman of Indian cinema. Dev Anand on the other hand, a synonym for constant Karma, Infinite energy source, God of Optimism, a Charmer, Smiling Enthusiast, Pioneer of Style in India. I would not like to dwell into the much talked about popular incident of their Shirt-exchanging first encounter which made them life & art buddies.

Guru believed in extreme, Success or Failure, Perfection or Pack-up, but no mediocrity at all. Dev believed in optimism, enjoying the process and pathways rather than the destination. So if Guru Dutt song of life is Absolute, Incompleteness in completeness “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai”, Dev song is completeness in incompleteness “ Mai Zindagi Ka Sath Nibhata Chala Gaya”.

Both have suffered the failure in love. Dev Anand Suraiya was snatched away from him, and Guru’s dream Waheeda was broken half-way. But both have a different way of treating their respective tragedies. Guru has to say, “Jane woh kaise log the jinke pyar ko pyar mila”, And Dev says unapologetically, “ Jo bhi pyar se mila, hum usi ke ho liye”. Guru philosophy was ONE or NONE! Dev philosophy was ONE by ONE!

Believe it or not, but their life account resemble to their choice of art in their films & songs. Guru mostly took personal experience to 70mm screen at will, Dev took the same to screen in conscious or unconscious manner. Guru was ever ‘PYAASA’ for completeness and disembarked the fake & hypocrite society which he calls ‘KAAGAZ KE PHOOL’, Dev was his own ‘GUIDE’ for his journey to become an eternal romantic ‘PREM PUJARI’.

So their choice of films and stories beautifully resonate their personalities. But sadly, Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam ! Guru passed away so young at age of 39. And that too in Guru-style, again on his own terms, finishing the chapter by himself. Dev died 47 years later at the age of 88. Their death also explains their self further.

If & only if, Dev would have gave him some of his optimism. And if, Guru had injected some of his perfection inside Dev, What beautiful and artistic blend both of them might have proved. Nonetheless, We are fortunate that both friends had a stint rubbing shoulder to shoulder, which we can store and learn from, whether it’s JAAL or BAAJI to start with. Or, the later productions like CID etc. Both helped each other in whichever way they could as they promised in their early heydays. Dev Anand in 1951 gave directorial break to Guru Dutt in BAAJI, and Guru Dutt casted Dev Anand as promised in various ventures as director and producer. They made a good pair together.

Dev Anand, often quoted as the great narcissist, was actually right in loving himself. Guru didn’t loved himself the way Dev did. Otherwise we might have saw the rise of Indian celluloid on his able shoulder even after one-or-two failures, which in that case he would be agreeing to fathom. But Alas, he wasn’t like Dev. He was not even appreciable for the classics he made, which are shelved in the most prestigious libraries of the world. Infact Abrar Alvi, his close writer-friend recollects,

" Frankly none of his films satisfied him as a director. He always felt that something was missing from his films."

Guru died young but was too mature for his age. Dev died aged but will be considered as forever young. I’m a firm believer in souls & jeev-aatma, So both Dev & Guru might have met now after the escape of latter one from his aged body after a long gap of 47 years since former demise. And if it doesn’t happen like that, Guru will again cry,

“Dekhi zamane ki yaari, Bichde sabhi bari bari….”

CID : Dev Anand & Guru Dutt Successful venture !

CHARACHTERS STUDY- COMING SOON !!

2012-01-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

Till Now I've reviewed the classic movies, This time I want to make a shift to classic charachters of celluloid.
I would try to explain the know-hows and detailing about some of the great roles, who have taken the mindspace of audience for decades. My research list will include both real-life, Artist-specific & reel-life charachters like Sherlock Holmes, Dev Anand, Raju Guide, Kishore Kumar, Guru Dutt, Don, James Bond, Tom Hanks, Leonardo De Caprio, Mother India, Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, Indiana Jones, Ethan Hunt, Tin Tin, Captain Jack Sparrow, Dr Hannibal Lecter, Joker, V etc. So Stay Tuned !!!!

A GULZARY INTRODUCTION ( PARICHAY )

2011-09-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

This movie remind me of Hollywood oldies,"To Sir, With Love" in the lines of teacher eventful struggles to counter beastly students. However I saw Parichay long before than TSWL. Like every other movie from the bouquet of Sampooran Singh Kalra i.e Gulzar Saheb, this movie is also soothing & refreshing just like melodious narration of a nicely-written poem. When you're sitting under the tree watching the clouds having pen in hand and winds of ideas inside your head, you create movies like these. I mean he always leave that Gulzary-impact in all his movies.

Parichay is inspired from Hollywood movie Sound of the music, but not an exact copy of original. And still you can easily feel the Gulzary-soul inside every frame of Parichay. His movies has a simplicity like Hrishikesh Mukherjee & Literary-colors like Basu Chatterjee's creations. But apart from that, they have their whole new universe of beautiful moments captured within the vicinity of 70 mm screen celluloid. He'd been choosy in selecting the canvas for portraying his cinema, and created gems like Angoor, Aandhi, Khooshboo, Ijaazat etc.

Well, my favorite one is undoubtedly Angoor. Though it was also an adaptation of Shakespeare play Comedy of Errors. And one more important thing about his movies, that he was not making movies but always tried to tell the stories. And thats the mark of a good storyteller, you dont crib for making hotch-potch hero-heroine dramas. His stories has always been the real hero of his movies. But if you'll like to chose the actor, the common player was ofcourse legendary Sanjeev Kumar. I've never seen Sanjeev Kumar so engrossed in the charachters as in Gulzar movies. In Parichay, he did a guest apperance role, but what a lasting impression his unmatched expressions and refined dialogue delivery has left. Truly, a genius of cinema.

Well, Talking about Parichay, the movie is about the Parichay(introduction) of a strict Old Man Rai Saheb (Pran) to his ultra-naughty grand childrens. Rai Saheb was a retired military person, an aristocratic man of principles. Pran really played this charachter with Panache. And the classy introducer who led this inroduction was none other than Jumping-jack Jeetendra. Well, in this movie he has not been involved in his dancing histrionics. And interestingly, he used to have his "Second Track" always switched on for humour. In that second track he use to have parallel thoughts running inside his head in contrast to the situation faced by him. In this movie, he played a Tutor to the army of these pranksters students. The Army consists of Jaya Bhaduri as Rama, the eldest one among the devils. Rest, there were two teenage kids Ajay & Vijay, with two cute little ones, Meeta & Sanju.

I think the youngest one Sanju played by Master Raju was the best treat among the rest. I still remember that I first watched this movie with my family on Doordarshan way back in early nineties, and even then it was a similar treat for me. Especially the histrionics of Rai Saheb's servant Asrani, who use to tell Ravi about the strict rules of Rai Saheb's mansion. That nobody should sing songs, laugh aloud, or even avoiding noise of shoes, hilarious. His funny one-liners like "Hasna ho to Jungle ki taraf nikal liyo" was really a pot-boiler & even today pings waves of laughter in my belly.

So the attitude of kids was the major problem for ageing Rai Saheb, as they had decided to drive away every teacher who tried to make them learn something. Underneath this arrogance and indisciplinary behavior of kids, was buried an indigestible truth about Rai Saheb's son Nilesh's death. Children thought Rai Saheb to be the prime reason for their father's untimely death under the petty circumstances of poverty.Nilesh (Sanjeev Kumar) was a talented musician, who always got criticism from his father for his chosen profession. And ultimately this led to his making distance from his strict father. And he left the home for studying in the city and pursuing his dream for music.

Nilesh returned from city marrying his Guru's daughter due to the demise of his Guru. But he didn't received a good reception from his father and was asked to make life on his own, with his own money. Rai Saheb clearly states, that in his house, he has to live according to his rules. And heart-broken Nilesh left the home for making life of his own. After that, Father & son only met once that also through a letter, 17 years later. Nilesh died of cancer, and children were sent to their paternal grandfather Rai Saheb. But Rama always had that vengeance against Rai Saheb for not taking care of his ailing son in his last moments.

And that fueled fire in her rebellion approach towards every rules & discipline of Rai Saheb Empire. With her, all the other ones followed blindly. They also had to suffer corporal punishments for their acts by their Aunt Sati Devi(Veena) every now & then. The ferocious kids never allowed any one to enter into their space, not even the rapid changing teachers, who were always driven away by their scary pranks. The movie started with a prank with their teacher Ceshto Mukherjee, who ran away from the mansion due to the ghost-prank using Candle-on-a-tortoise in dark, it was damn funny bathed in its own Ceshto-flavour.

Finally, Rai Saheb somehow found a solid answer to the children in form of Ravi(Jeetendra). He was in need of good job, but no good job was coming his way. Then his maternal uncle, AK Hangal wrote him about a job in Rai Saheb house to teach these kids. His friend Amit (Vinod Khanna) suggested him to take this job till he finds the right one. And thus, in order pay their bills, and to sustain their dwelling in Lodge, Ravi decided to fetch this job with both hands. Then the audience gets blessed with a eternal Kishore Kumar-gem of a song, Musafir Hoon Yaaron, composed beautifully by Gulzar Music Chief Shri RD Burman !!

So, Ravi traveled to his Uncle's town to accept this job offer. Even though his Aunt, played by funny Leela Mishra warned him to not accept this dangerous job offer, he was able to prove her wrong. He was smart enough to cope up with the kids series of painful annoying pranks, and he kept patience till he broke the ice with them through his gentle manner & intelligent approach of handling their feelings. And to do that he started with the commander of the army, Rama. They eventually fallen in love with each other. Ravi played a major role in introducing the real self of children to Rai Saheb, and real self of Rai Saheb to children. Rai Saheb finally laughed & enjoyed after so many years. Salute to a classic movie made by a classy poet.

Ratings: 8/10

Musafir Hoon Yaaron(Parichay): Great Song by Kishore !

DOUBLE DEV DRAMA- (HUM DONO 1961 )

2011-09-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

This film is undoubtedly blessed with one of the most mesmerizing songs of the century, and I've no qualms in admitting that this movie is a rare species where music overtakes every other aspect of the movie by storm. I mean who can forget the age-old classic "Mai Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya". This song is deep engraved into my soul with all its wisdom of lyrics withheld in it realms. It shows the way to live life at the fullest, and to portray this, who could be the better choice than the legendary Dev Anand himself. In a way, we can sum up the greatness of this movie by only this song, and we have no obligation to touch the other songs or aspects of this classic. The way this song was picturized on Dev Sahab, truly impeccable & flawless. And Mohd Rafi's voice, lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi & music of Jai Dev were proved to be an eternal combination. I mean no words for Sahir sahab, hats off to this God of lyricism. The Film was released in 1961, and both technically, and execution wise, ahead of its time. One thing I observed about Navketan banner, their penchant for War theme, and working with almost the same team, Like Sahir Ludhianvi & musical team, Gajanand Jagirdar who played important charachter Bhola in Guide, is totally different here as a rich Industrialist. Even Rashid khan, who was literally in every movie of Dev Anand I recall of 50s, whether it's Taxi Driver, Nau Do Gyarah, or Hum Dono. He always played small cameo in Navketan banner. Let's come back to HD- Hum Dono.

The story starts with another gem of a song, "Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar", which lovers even till date recites to stop their beloved ones. A charming bachelor Anand was a jobless Romeo of the beautiful Rich Juliet, Meeta (Sadhana). He was educated but still searching for jobs giving interviews every now & then. But his real focus was on this sweet simple girl, who was quite grounded and has no signs of rude elites. She was the only daughter of this Rich Industrialist(Gajanand Jagirdar), who has built the Empire from the scratch. And he wasn't happy with Meeta choosing jobless Anand as her life partner. So to ensure the same, he get ready to meet the young lad. Poor Anand came all prepared, neatly-dressed (he was looking awesome), even leaving his interview for the meeting with her father. Old man explained the vast difference between Meeta & Anand fortunes in typical heroine-dad style. He insulted Anand on the very account of Love for which he was bargaining, by mentioning how the love for same Meeta, inspired him to create the whole empire, and he cannot even fetch a job of 100 Rs for the same. Shocked & totally down Anand leave the mansion immediately and get drowned into deep introspection, which was shown as Dev Anand walking fast-paced with head down only to look up to the board with his new course of life written, JOIN ARMY.

     That was the period of Second World War, and hiring for Burma Campaign was going on, there might be some anachronism with the setup & treatment of Army scenes which looked more of the time of China war. But still, Belonging to an army family myself, I could relate to all the setup used by Navketan Production, quite believable and impressive as per that time.The news of Anand joining Army spreads in the town, and reached his Mother, who broke into sorrow & pain of separating from his only hope, his young son, who was going to join army, which was synonym for death in those times. She tried to stop his son, but Anand was firm on his stand. I personally liked all the scenes of Leela Chitnis, an official mother of Dev Anand in nearly all the Navketan banner movies. I mean she had that loving, caring image of archetype Indian mother on-screen, which always touches me, even if some considers all that melodramatic. Well, She was a great actress, Ashok Kumar was a huge fan of her, and often quoted as learnt art of speaking with eyes from her. She is also widely known as first endorsee of popular Lux brand. Again coming back to HD, Anand left his home for eventful Army training experiences and get transformed into more matured gentleman. Then this class masterpiece of Mohd Rafi angelic voice arrives, Mai Zindagi ka sath nibhata chala gaya, which suited well to Anand attitude of moving on with life in the movie. After the song completes, he found a purse of Major Verma, who was his mustache look-alike. He found Maj Verma in Div Head quarters having whiskey with collegues. Initially, everyone thought it's a hangover. Same faces, Same structure, and both in Army, both gelled well right from the start and struck friendship.

         Both shared their respective past to each other, Especially about how they're missing their loved ones amidst military war-life, and then yet another song appeared as a gift to the viewers, "Kabhi Khud Pe Kabhi Halat Pe Rona Aaya".. Marvellous !! Dev Anand maintained the difference between the two characters so beautifully, Infact his Maj Verma gestures & style was intense and bit funny. Their friendship grew, Maj Verma told everything about his house, wife, etc which later came handy to Anand. During Burma campaign, when Maj Verma was Missing in Action(MIA), he was believed dead, Killed in Action (KIA) during the battle. Anand was asked to convey this news to his family. But on reaching back home, he himself got the blow in form of his mother's death. He remembered his mother words that Army person's mother went mad or died waiting for their sons who never came, and if he'll go she'll never be able to see him again. Anand fall back into memory lanes of grief, and then understood how important is to convey the news of death of Maj Verma to his mother. He left for Major's home right away leaving tensed Meeta behind.

     One of the other unique features of Dev Anand movies was mental turmoil & confused state of protagnist. You take Guide, Kala Bazaar, Gambler, Bombai Ka Babu, or Hum Dono. The protagnist is fighting a psychological war with himself. The hero of Dev Anand movies behave just like normal human being committing sins & crimes himself, and finding redemption from dilemmas, confused between different path to choose, standing at road diverging into two parts. It happened quite in a gripping way in this one also. Major Verma home had already became temple of prayers, especially via Ruma(Nanda), his wife totally heart-broken due to his missing husband. She was praying everywhere for his safety & well-being. "Allah tero Naam" a solo by Asha Bhosle was iconic in all respects. Anand went to Major's house and straight away got misunderstood as Major Verma by his mother (Lalita Pawar) & wife Ruma. And after seeing the condition of both his mother & wife, he was compelled to hide his identity by the family Doctor too, due to Ruma's weak heart condition. Now Anand was trapped in the web of responsibilities & mishappenings, completely justifying the tensed nail-biting drama. And the twist in the tale comes with dramatic return of Major Verma from the jaw of death, but with a loss of a leg. Problems for Anand became more & more weirder. He was misunderstood badly by Meeta who saw him with Ruma, and now think him as an infidel boyfriend, a cheat. All those friends who were visiting Verma's house since his return, now have a serious doubt over his charachter as he was living with a married woman since past few days just like husband. Though Anand was always smart enough to avoid Ruma's physical inclination towards him, and now he had to prove his purity not just to Meeta & Society, but to Major Verma himself who had already decided to take revenge from Anand after hearing about what happened behind his back. He chased Anand and even tried to kill him, but Anand after overpowering him, described him the real picture and asked for his patience to let him prove his innocence.

Next day he called Major Verma to the temple, where he called Ruma & Meeta also. And one by one, he cleared the thick air of doubt & mistrust from everyone's mind. And at last, the same trademark melodious tune of Lighter, Meeta's gift for Anand, played. Well what an incredible gift it was, I wish I could have one lighter like that, So what if I didn't smoke ? A gift engrossed with the love of girlfriend like Meeta, is priceless. very recently the movie was screened in color print exactly after 50 years of its release. And why not ? Movies like these can be screened again & again, i have no issues, but remaking them really piss me off. But why should I get angry, Har Fikr Ko Dhue Mein Udaata chala gaya. Gum or Khushi Mein Fark Na Mehsoos Ho jahaan, Mai Dil Ko Us Mukaam Pe Lata Chala gaya. Again seem to influenced from Geeta, a proper state of Stithapragya. And not just this, whether It's Nau Do Gyarah's song -Dard bhi humein Qabool, Chain Bhi Humein Qabool ! Or, Guide, Wahaan Kaun hai tera, and Hum Dono. He have not left any chance to spill wisdom through his movie songs. We need songs like these so badly in Bollywood today. Haina?

RATINGS: 8.9/10

Song: Mai Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya !

JOURNEY TO SALVATION ( THE GUIDE 1965)

2011-09-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

This movie satisfies my inner inclination towards being recluse at times. Road to Vairagya, or ultimately to salvation, was really a bumpy ride for the protagnist Raju, a freelance guide by profession. The film as we all know was based on RK Narayan's novel by the same name. So it has the well-structured storyline contrary to some of the movie of that time, or even nowadays cinema. Guide is inimitable, just like any other classic, as these gems were created keeping no filmy-formulas in mind. So the outcome of such movies may or may not be profitable but they will always be honored with highest tributes, whenever showcased.The movie songs play an integral part in the movie storyline & screenplay, as they're not as obstacles, but they carry forward the story beautifully. Music was carved nicely by legendary SD Burman, and Shailendra lyrics were fabulous.

The story revolves around this popular, culturally well-versed charming guide, who was good in what he does. Apart from being a guide he had his small shop on railway stations where he'd placed a minor to handle the shop. He had one good friend, Gaffoor, who use to help him with the transportation for the visitors for sight-seeing in his jeep. Once an archaeologist Marco comes to the town for some cave research with his beautiful wife Rosie. He was an aged wealthy man who has married Rosie, a daughter of courtesan. He hired Raju for exploring caves, and eventually had one discovery within caves. But as always, he continued neglecting Rosie and treated her so badly at times that she decided to kill herself, and rescued many times by Raju. She had a passion for dancing, for which she often stole some time with Raju to exercise this hobby during the visit. Raju had a deep sympathy for Rosie, and he applauded her talent many a times to motivate her to choose life over suicidal behavior. In the process he fallen in love with her and shown her a dream of freedom from agonies & pain, to follow her penchant for dancing where her true potential lies.

After rescuing her from Marco, he took her to his home. And he was criticized by one & all for his move. He had to confront with each and everyone for his illicit relationship with a married woman. He had to break all the relationship to keep his love-life with Rosie alive. Away from his home, he made her a dancing sensation countrywide by building influential nexus in the high societies. But later on Raju started living lavish lifestyle on the money of Rosie. He used to convince her for signing cheques for even gambling, much to the dismay of Rosie. In the meanwhile, Marco published his book on the caves, and gifted one copy to Rosie, which Raju hid deliberately to avoid any spark in Rosie's heart for Marco and he didn't wanted to lose her to Marco's ambitions of wooing her. But Marco kept on trying to meet Rosie, always blocked by Raju. He legally granted all the jewels in his account to Rosie for which she had to sign on some papers. But Raju, in his move to avoid Rosie getting flattered by such attraction from Marco, used fake signatures of Rosie to get rid of the issue. Inspite of all these, the distance between the two started building leaps & bounds, picturized beautifully in the song Din Dhal Jaaye. Rosie had somehow built a firm wall between Raju & her. He was shocked & at the same time depressed by her rude behavior towards him, and decided to leave her house & theatre to go back home.

And then in his absence his fake signature issue came back rocking upon him when he was at home. His own friend, a policeman came to arrest him in his village. He requested him to see Rosie once before going to jail as he was astonished by the fact that complaint was lodged by her. When he did visit her in the theatre, he was taunted well by Rosie through a beautiful song Saiyaan be-imaan. Raju was unable to explain his intent behind his act, that he was doing all this for her only. He was again down into sorrow.

He was sentenced 2 yrs imprisonment. He was released early due to his good conduct, but he chose to forbid his family, love & city for totally unknown place. This happens just in the beginning of the movie, with a masterpiece song, Yahaan kaun hai tera musafir. And all the story continues in the flashback. This movie has one of the perfect beginning. Even after knowing the fate of Raju in the very start, we tend to enjoy and stay curious for the upcoming incidents due to nicely weaved treatment by Vijay Anand, the Director of the movie. My high regards to him, he was good as director. Even though he was not willing to direct Guide initially, he presented the best out of him.

Raju travelled a lot forgetting every attachment, every near & dear one. He reached one remote village where he was misunderstood as saint by villagers,especially Bhola. Even he liked the idea, as his words of wisdom were accepted whole heartedly by one & all. He use to tell them stories of wisdom. He told them once how one saint kept fast for 12 days for rain. Once a famine hit the village, and due to some misinterpretation by an idiot in the village he was emotionally blackmailed to do the same. He just wanted to stop villagers from fighting each other for hunger, but now his own life was in danger, So he tried to convince them that he is no different from them and is just as sinful & ordinary as them.

But villagers were not ready to lose faith on him. And he tried to ran away from the village but returned. Initially, he felt tortured by the fast and felt deep longings for food, but gradually his belief on the fast & the devotion behind the same grew dramatically. He now wanted to continue fast to answer his own spirtual queries with ultimate Godhood. He became popular worldwide, and people from far across the world started flocking on village to have glimpse of Swami Raju. Eventually all his forbidden loved ones cam running to meet him. His mother, friends & Rosie all found him in this new surprising tragic phase of life.

Often questioned by his self about the vitality of fast after his reunion & acceptance by loved ones, Raju didn't got distracted and stayed firm on his fast. And finally he found salvation after going through the crossroads of pain in form of Aatma-rahasya. He reached self-actualization stage wherein he could ruled out the mortal body for the attainment of the absolute immortal AATMA. He felt the presence of the Almighty within his reach and also felt drained by the showers even before they arrived. People were thrilled to have rains after months, but Raju was mo more in his body to share this happiness of villagers & loved ones.

But the superb lines of wisdom echoed once again, seems to be captured from Geeta, Na Sukh hai Na Dukh hai, Na Din Na raat, Na Deen Na Duniya, Na Insaan Na Bhagwaan, Bas mai hun, Mai hun, Mai hun !!!

Ratings: 9.9/10

SD Burman Gem of a song: Waha Kaun hai Tera !

O Captain My Captain !! ( DEAD POETS SOCIETY)

2011-09-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

There are very few movies which are sensitive & classic enough to make me cry. And this piece of art directed by Peter Weir is also one of them. I mean I first got exposed to the movie while going through web of Life-changing movies for different famous Artists & Directors.

I came across an interview of Boman Irani wherein he explain how he got inspired by the movie. I try to find about the movie in various blogs, websites & movie journals. And even though I had already saw the epic climax scene time & time again in different talk shows & movies countdown on YouTube. I finally grabbed the movie, and watched while I was home from office tired & lazy. But look at the aura & magic of this movie that I got nailed to where I was lying for an hour or so till the movie got finished. And when it does finished, It left a goose-bumpy lasting impression on me, WOW !! Now that's what we call a Classic !

The movie is about bunch of young boys of fictitious prep-school Welton Academy in Vermont, year of 1950s, who were admitted to the Welton with just one hope, channelizing their way to the Ivy league Colleges. The school headmaster Gale Nolan (Norman Lloyd) held some strong ethos about the Welton in form of tradition, honour, discipline & Excellence. But a new English teacher Mr John Keating (Robin Williams), with his unorthodox way of teaching poetry to the students creates a havoc in Welton. A Professor who instructs his students to call him by Walt Whitman's "O Captain my Captain" if they feel enough daring to do so. The mere essence of the movie was 'CARPE DIEM', the latin phrase with meaning "SIEZE THE DAY" which was used by Professor Keating to his Class, and later his students used the phrase in their respective lives. The power of the movie lies in its dialogues & execution.

I had to say Robin Williams acted with best of his arsenals to make some memorable scenes & dialogues. He was one of the only popular actor among bunch of newcomers. Robert Sean Leonard played a role of Neil Perry,an acting enthusiast to perfection. And the agonies & dilemmas of Neil in the movie can easily melt thousand hearts of stone. Neil played a big role in reviving the cult of Keating-led DPS (Dead Poets Society) by convincing almost his every near & dear ones to be the part of it. They use to held secret poetic sessions in the caves. Ethan Hawke played a shy Todd Anderson whose character keep on developing as the movie progress and reach its zenith at the climax scene where little Ethan managed to deliver a gem of a scene. The scene where Keating make him recite a poem on-the-spot, is quite easily one of the best executed scene. It was so innovative to put that scene in the movie. Hats off to the screenplay writer too. And who can forget those lines of Hawke, when he climbed up to the desk in the classroom to shout "O Captain My Captain" as a mark of respect to his teacher Keating. Every time I see that scene, it left the same impact, which shows how some scenes never lose their shine no matter how many seasons & years get passed.

The movie is all about rebel, the movie is about free thinking. Breaking shackles of age-old taboos & ideologies which chained down us as a thinker to the rock bottom, and diminish the new talent in the garb of standard bookish ideas. Keating is a synonym for this angst & rebellion which lies in the heart of new generation. His angst & approach which he demonstrates beautifully by asking students to tear down the page of J Evans Pritchard's methodical approach of understanding poetry. Every scene, every dialogue in the movie has a purpose. The movie itself raise a strong question which it leave unanswered to the audience. The Director & Script-writer decides not to conclude it themselves, which is an artistry also. Not many have guts to make movies like these with similar conviction. Apart from Keating & Anderson, there are bunch of talented teenagers who carried the script on their shoulder so well. Infact, apart from Neil & Todd, my favorite teenage-character was of Charlie Dalton aka Nuwanda. His histrionics were the juice of the movie. Even Knox Overstreet, played by Josh Charles, was the only lover character of the movie which allowed the script-writer to portray the romanticism of poetic journey of kids with Keating. This movie is for one & all. Especially, If I had a School some day, I would incude this movie in the curriculum. Academicians all around the world can still learn a lot from the movie even after 25 years from its release. The characters are so well written, that people can relate themselves from one or the other character in the movie. In the end, I would like to say, no words in the praise of this classic will suffice the enjoyment you'll have watching this Amar Kahaani yourself.

C'mon Say with me "CARPE DIEM"...

MY RATINGS : 9/10

It's Not A Love Story (500 DAYS OF SUMMER)

2011-09-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

Life is a puzzle ! Sometime we give value to wrong things, completely over-looking the important things & people which happen to fall in our way. It's a puzzle, and as we grow up we try to figure it out as per our acumen, upbringing & influences. Relationship are complex too, and sometime you encounters some weird & unreal experiences in life which totally freak you out. Well in the movie it's about the girl, but it can happen vice-versa too. this is a story of a boy Tom Hansen who aspires to be an architect but working in a greeting Card company in Los Angeles. The story appears as real as it's excecuted.

So when the Author describes that story is fictional & any resemblance to person living or dead, is coincidental, especially to Jenny Beckmann, Bitch. You know upfront that you're gonna see some real life incidences & things remoulded according to the author's way, and that's quite interesting to find out in the beginning of the movie. Now you're glued with eyes wide open, and yet another trick from Marc Webb, the Director's side, "This is a story of Boy meets Girl, But you should know upfront, This is not a Love Story !!" Bang ! Now, You got your audience for the whole 95 minutes of movie irrespective of the change in pace of the movie.

The best thing about the movie is its Non-linear screenplay, which can sometime backfires if executed in a wrong manner, but it worked out so well in this case. Kudos to Director for pulling it out so well. The narration of the movie is simply outstanding, how beautifully the memory-driven back-n-forth introspection of 500 days of Summer, girl friend of Tom Hansen, the protagonist. Tom Hansen was portrayed intelligently by Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Summer was surely the gorgeous puzzle in the movie played by Zooey Deschanel. You know, this movie tells you how storytelling should be made more curious & inquisitive in its style & execution.

The movie portrays the transition of Tom Hansen from Summer to Autumn in such eventful manner that it amaze the viewer about the differentiation of the Director in compiling a break-up & heartbreak movie in such a manner. I don't know but I could relate to this movie in many ways. Maybe lot others would find the same thing. Thats the beauty of great movies. You can actually picturize into one or the other character as they are well-written & performed. So, Tom Hansen, a nice handsome quiet boy had a crush on this new assistant of his Boss, Summer. He tried his every bit to grab the attention of this mysteriously gorgeous girl. But after office rumors about her arrogant attitude, he stopped giving vibes to the girl thinking she'll insult his feeling. But one lucky day when he was in office lift, Summer came rushing to the lift. But hey, Hansen is busy listening music on his headphones. So Is he gonna miss this much awaited chance of breaking the ice with Summer ? Well he could have easily done that if the song running on his headphones was of someone else other than Smiths. Yeah ! She had the similar music interest, the ice between the two got broken.

   Now anytime & anywhere he use to found Summer, he never missed chances to mingle with her, until one party night where his drunk close friend McKenzie unfolded the secret of Hansen to Summer. That he likes Summer. Well, Summer seems to like the idea, and with sheepish smile on her face. She enquires about the same from Hansen. He reluctantly agrees that he do like her a lot. But Summer clears him that she's not looking for a serious relationship, and both of them can have fun as friends. Tom slightly shocked but agreed to her condition. But Tom continued to feel genuinely for her because of his deep affinity to romantics & fairy-tales. He was sure that she's the ONE.

    Summer keep on insulting & misbehaving with him time and time again, But he was always tolerate enough to forgive and let her do the strange histrionics. So when you're struck with true love, you tend to overlook the flaws of your partner, In fact you start liking them too. The intimacy between the two grew leaps & bounds, with initiation strangely from Summer side. But Hansen didn't noticed that she's having a good time with him when she like to have or if she had a void inside her. I mean he was quite aware that he's not having any say in the relationship. Every rules were made & broken by Summer.

    The Break-up was inevitable ! But when it did arrive, strangely it was from Summer side again. Hansen was again shocked & broken. The funny scene is when she compared their relationship with Sid Vicious & Nancy. Poor Hansen asked painfully, Sid Vicious stabbed Nancy seven times, how can I relate to him. Then she clarifies, No No ! I'm Sid ! Hilarious. Hansen always looked back to his failed relationship with eyes on the positives. Thats what Hansen's witty younger sister Rachel, who was a kind of counselor to him, explained him. And then he tried to observe how futile were his attempts to made her happy. Totally heart-broken after break-up, Hansen had an outburst in his company meeting, and he quits. That was a nice interpretations by him, why these Greeting card company, who are selling emotions & putting words in mouths of people is worthless. Hansen beautifully put forward the idea of people speaking for themselves, without the crutches of silly greeting cards.

Hansen use to visit one quiet place with a bench in the grass facing old skyscrapers. When Hansen was just trying his best to forget Summer & get a job in architecture firms. He found Summer at the same place again. She was married now, that brought all the painful memories back for Hansen. He was unable to understand how the girl who don't believe in serious relationships & marriages, can decide for marriage dumping the ever -forgiving & decent boy like him. Anyways, he has to move on with his life doing normal things like giving interviews. So he went for a Job interview, and there it is, he found Autumn, and he understood the point there is no thing like fate, Nothing is meant to be ! You've to grab the opportunity whenever it arrives.

And finally the painful summer get passed giving birth to a new autumn. Oh So Beautiful !!

My Ratings: 7.5/10