Vermicelli

Hagneepath 2012

2012-01-29T16:06:00.000Z

Agneepath (2012)

*ing: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra

The movie is about Vijay (Hrithik) who, as a child, witnesses the murder of his father in his native town - Mandwa. Kancha bhau (Sanjay Dutt), a heroin businessman, is the schemer and the main stakeholder for the murder. Vijay and his mother abandon Mandwa and settle in Mumbai. He grows up being part of the Mumbai underworld (?). His aim is to become as powerful as Kancha in order to avenge his father's murder.

Director: Karan Malhotra

Music: Ajay-Atul (the beauty of the marathi version of Chikni Chameli was the rustic male voice which is sorely missed)

Pros:
- The title and some names (character + location) resemble a cult movie
- Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala makes a super-kameena character
- Sanjay Dutt as Kancha bhau looks menacing with his no-hair-no-eyebrows look
- Katrina Kaif's Chikni Chameli provides the refresher in the otherwise tense environment

Cons:

- Comparisons with the namesake is inevitable from the pre-release

- The characters of Vijay's dad, mom and sister seem half-baked almost like the director assumes that people are already aware of them

Things I remember:

- The appearance and disappearance of greenish shade on the scalp of Sanjay Dutt almost breaks the continuity of some scenes.

- Vijay stabs his childhood enemy at the beach during Ganesh visarjan and whispers to him "Naam Vijay Chauhan... Vijay Dinanath Chauhan... poora naam... baap ka naam master Dinanath". The scene gets help from the Nashik dhol background music and gulaal. For me, this is the only scene where Vijay appeared angry.

- Vijay and his mom travel from Mandwa by boat and land at Dockyard and then settle in a chawl Dongri.

- People in the theatre yawning :P

Trivia:

This is not the first time that the Chikni Chameli tune has appeared in a hindi movie. I had blogged about it earlier in the trivia section of another phillum post here.

KBC for the filmy keedas

2011-09-18T15:34:00.001+01:00

While watching an Amitabh movie on Sony Set Max channel, my mom reminded me that I have watched this movie a million times already. She was, of course, exaggerating. The actual number might be in 2-digits, though. So, when there is an ad break, she rushes to switch to her daily soap on some other channel. This is where I need to be quick and agile in putting my hand between the remote and the sensor on the TV.

"Mom, this is the most interesting part."

"What? The ads?!"

"No, maa, the Extra Shots."

And then a nugget of trivia related to the movie unfolds on the screen.

How else would I have known that Alisha Chinoy debuted as a playback singer in Tarzan at the insistence of B Subhash who heard her sing in Dalip Tahil's play named Evita?

Or that the role played by Zeenat Aman in Yaadon Ki Baaraat was first offered to Asha Parekh, who turned it down because she was scheduled for dance shows in a world tour.

Or that Amitabh Bachan had the switch to the lights in his hands for the "Saaraa Zamana" song in Yaarana.

All of this came back to me because today I am looking forward to the first episode of the quiz show based on all such trivia... Extra Shots Challenge.

[This post was inspired by Dipta Kirti's awesome blog promoting the show with 18 filmy questions.]

Deewana banaa de.

Gaudy-Bard

2011-09-04T16:51:00.000+01:00

Bodyguard

Starring:
Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Asrani, Aditya Pancholi, Mahesh Manjrekar

Lovely Singh (Salman) is a professional bodyguard assigned with the job of protecting Divya (Kareena). She is a MBA student under threat of being killed by the villains. However, her college life seems to be disturbed because of the bodyguard that trails her all the way to her classroom. In an attempt to keep him busy elsewhere, she keeps calling him (as Chhaya) from an undisclosed private mobile number and serenades him to fall in love with Chhaya. He is not aware that Divya and Chhaya are actually the same girl till the very end of the movie. He performs his duty of protecting her from the villains.

Pros:
- Salman and Kareena put in decent performances
- A typical bollywood pot boiler masala film - action hai, masti hai, dance hai, music hai, drama hai, suspense hai

Cons:
- The comic track featuring Sunami Singh is too loud and most times unbearable

Music:
Himesh (yes, he is back!) and Pritam

You will like this if (and only if):
- You are a Salman fan
- You do not mind a mindless time pass popcorn movie

Trivia:
- Check the spellings of the names in the titles and the poster above (numerology seems to have caught with everyone)
- Salman's real life bodyguard - Shera - appears dancing in the entry song; along with Katrina Kaif
- Himesh ended his if-I-give-music-I-act-too condition for Salman Khan
- Eventually, there is a going to be an article which lists the different ways that Salman has unbottoned his shirt. In this movie, his shirt tears open by a blast of water from a broken pipe.

Hawa Hawai

2011-06-08T03:40:00.000+01:00

Imagine
Laaka chik laaka chik
Chiki laaka chiki choom.

Imagine that in reggae.

Now replace Kavita Krishnamurthy with the unmelodious scratchy voice of Suman Shridhar without any of the sound engineer's polishings.

Doesn't seem good, no?

But then listen to the remastered version of Hawa Hawai from the OST Shaitan. I am not sure if it is available on the music CD. I first heard the song playing in a promo for the movie and got an mp3 from Cooltoad and have been stuck with the song since then. The scratchiness of the voice adds to the fun. How it makes the song feel like anyone can sing it!

The vocal twang in the lines -
Soorat hi maine aisi paayee
Kehte hai mujhkooooo
- is fun.

The rest of the album itself is a DJs playground. It has a variety of places for those who can play with the tempo and can get the dance floor moving. I liked the Nasha number a lot. It reminds me of Naach from Karthik Calling Karthik.

Repeat view-worthy: Khakee

2010-09-12T13:04:00.006+01:00

Toofaan ab karegaa roshni ka faislaa,

Diyaa woh jalegaa jis mein dam ho.

Only Amitabh could say these lines with the charisma with which he does.

Rajkumar Santoshi directs this fast paced thriller with his usual touch of comedy and songs. His intention was to bring together all actors with names starting from the latter 'A'. However, Akshaye Khanna turned down the role which eventually went to Tushar Kapoor.

The movie caught my attention when I first saw the poster at New Excelsior theatre in South Bombay. During those days Amitabh was sporting a french beard and it was a refreshing change to see him in this avatar. Check out the similarities with the Deewar poster... signifying the arrival of a Big B movie. (wasn't Amitabh supposed to be in blue shirt, instead of red?)

The film revolves around a group of 5 police officers assigned with the task of moving a suspected terrorist, Dr Iqbal Ansari (Atul Kulkarni) from the jail to the court. The story unfolds to reveal the darker motives of the politician and the corrupt police in falsely implicating Dr Ansari.

Amitabh stands out tall as the leader of the police group, DCP Anand Srivastav. Ajay Devgan as Angre puts in a villainous performance (perhaps bettering the one in 'Deewangi'). Aishwarya Rai's work as Mahalaxmi in the movie is not just restricted to songs-dance or being the glam quotient. Akshay Kumar provides the comedy relief with his role of the corrupt cop who is moved by Amitabh's speech towards the middle of the movie. Tushar Kapoor plays the role of a newly joined officer who aces at shooting.

The film gets its repeat value from scenes where

- Angre makes the hawaldaars slap their DCP (Amitabh) and says 'tumne mujhe maaraa toh chamdi pe lagaa, maine maaraa toh yahaan (pointing to the DCP's heart) lagaa. isko bolte hai badlaa; jimein maar khaane waalaa bhi roye aur maarne waalaa bhi.'

- Tushar Kapoor breaks out the sad news of hawaaldaar Sawant to Ahswini Khalsekar (Mrs Sawant).

- Tanuja (Dr Ansari's mother) slaps Amitabh on learning that her son was killed. I do not remember any other movie where Amitabh has been slapped these many times.

- Akshay Kumar throws the total filmi dialogue when he is going to be killed 'kisiko bataana mat ki mujhe kaise maaraa gaya nahi toh duniya ka pyaar aur mohobbat se bharosa uth jaayega'

Ram Sampath (of Peepli Live fame) provided a decent soundtrack. I especially like the haunting melody of 'Mere maula' and the catchy rendition of 'Uparwaale' by the trio of Sonu, Kunal and Sukhwinder.

Ikes

2010-05-23T16:12:00.004+01:00

Kites

Starring: Hrithik, Barbara, Kangana
Director: Anurag Basu
Music: Rajesh Roshan

Plot:
This is a love story of Linda and J. Linda speaks only Spanish and the 2 do not understand each other's languages. They manage to win the wrath of a powerful and rich casino owner. Guns and chases follow.

Pros:

Stunning cinematography
Hrithik Roshan
Unseen locales
A truly international look due to the expansive processing and re-processing

Cons:

Jarring background music
Too many scenes seem to have been edited out (e.g. Robin warning J that some day he would fall in love and face the consequences)
Minor continuity jerks (e.g. Linda throwing away her shoes in the rain and is seen wearing them again in the next scene)

Things I remember:

Nothing really happens through out the film. There is not a genuine wow-moment. Not even where one normally expects it; i.e. during Hrithik's dance. Perhaps, there was this one visually stunning bit of choreography for Fire, where Kangana jumps up in the air in a perfect arc from behind Hrithik... together with audio track, this was as close as it get to the wow-moment for me.
Hrithik crooning the title track of the movie; the track sounded very similar to Enrique's Hero.
Unlike the hindi films, the hero heroine do not break into an abrupt song-dance routines, rather, the songs are played in the background.

Trivia:
The song 'Tum bhi ho wahi' and 'Humko aajkal hai intezaar' (Sailaab) have one thing in common that the main singer repeats the few lines while the chorus get to sing rest of the song. Really, check them out.

Conversations

2010-05-01T09:46:00.002+01:00

There was an unnatural calm in the cubicle as RK, KB and me were punching through the keyboard. And like little red riding hood, a girl jaunted past us in red track-suit-like garb. Needless to mention here that the big bad wolves in the cubicle got distracted from their work.

Me: lagtaa hai gym se aayi hai seedha.
KB: Gym, hmm. (sigh!)
Me: Hey RK, tu gym gaya tha aaj?
RK: Nahi. 1 week se nahi gaya.
Me: Gym join karke 10 din hi toh huay hai!
RK: (with an unconvincing smirk) Kal jaaunga.
Me: and you, KB?
KB: (amidst roaring laughter) méré toh chaar hazaar hee barbaad huay hai, iské toh gyaarah hazaar doob gayé.

The process

2010-04-25T14:07:00.003+01:00

I have been a couch potato today. My TV remote has been praying for a break from the constant punching and the plastic crunching. (Yes, like a true Indian, my remote has not come out of the plastic bag it was packed in.) I watched cartoons, reality shows, movies, news, music videos, cricket highlights and lots of advertisements.

I watched Amar Akbar Anthony and Taken for the I-don't-know-how-many-th time. I have always known what their ends would be. I mean, a family who separates at the beginning of the film has to re-unite before the film ends. The point to be noted my lord is that it is more about the process of reaching the end. In the same vein, I don't care if cricket matches are fixed or not. I am going to still keep watching the game and enjoy the process.

So, COME ONNN SAACHINNNN ... COME ON DHONIiiiii... lights, camera, roll sound, ACTION.

Vaanar sena

2009-12-19T13:23:00.004Z

... and then there is a group of jokers who add on to the proofs that they have nothing better to do than go on causing destruction because some movie calls their city Bombay instead of Mumbai. Where were they and where was their love for the city when it was attacked by terrorists or when it was flooded with water. The hooliganism shows even in their annual Ganesh festival mandaps where they block roads in the evenings for putting up a stage where crowd assemble waiting for the speech to finish and the cacophonous musical orchestra to start. I have not heard of even one constructive activity that the Shiv Sena has done in the past 5 years.

The obsessive compusive disorder of this political gang to meddle in unrelated incidents and cause problems has given us the phrase:
Lenaa na denaa, Shiv Sena

e.g.: For a delivery, Ram had to stay back late finishing Shyam's task because Shyam went home early. Ram said - 'Mera toh Shiv Sena hogaya aaj.'

Mumbai calling

2009-11-26T10:13:00.005Z

Ahh Mumbai. My place. My people.

The people in Mumbai are an emotional lot. Bollywood and TV ads plays a vital role in everyone's life in Mumbai. There has not been one day when I have not heard someone quote a Bollywood hero/ heroine or an advert slogan.

An uncle pulling out a chocolate from his pocket for a kid would inadvertently back it up with a dhan-ta-dhan (a la Kameeney) while handing it over.

Occassionally at a lunch table in the office, someone would come up with 'tere paas burger hai, tere paas lunch thaali hai. Mere paas kya hai? Mere paas maa hai.' and then opens his home made lunch box.

Every group, community and organisation has been impacted by hindi movies. Some of the departments in the government services seem to have taken hindi songs too seriously, no? For example, there is the department which is searching for that evading golden bird mentioned in the song:
jahaan daal daal par sone ki chidiyaan karti hai baseraa...
Or the roads work department, who are always digging for the hidden gold on the streets of the city based on the message from Manoj Kumar:
Meri desh ki dharti sonaa ugalay

This is what makes Mumbai, "Mumbai". The sights and sounds of the city.

Of birthdays

2009-08-30T03:32:00.006+01:00

It is was the sister's birthday. Every year, I tell her that she shares birthday with Michael Jackson and Dhyanchand. The latter being the great hockey player and captain of the Indian team, who brought gold medal and pride to the nation. While even Google paid homage to the pop star today, I wonder there was any mention of the hockey player on the 24 hour news channels in India. But that is a different debate left to the purists.

For me, all the 3 mentioned above are greats. MJ was probably my introduction to the American popular music. Dhyanchand was the prodigal genius that he was. My sis joins their ranks of greatness for me for having jhello-fied me all along.

Happy birthday

Radio (2009)

2009-08-30T03:15:00.002+01:00

Himesh music is back after a long time.

His new movie Radio does not appear on imdb.com! The music has just released at Lalbagcha Ganpati pandaal. The album is very unlike the usual Himesh... maybe because it misses the nasal twangs. Rumour is that Himesh has undergone a surgery of the vocal chords. The result is that all the tracks are softer and very light... and on a couple of occassions - uncomfortable. 'Shaam ho chali hai' even has a very audible amateurish jump in the voice. There are glimpses and traces of the old Himesh in the remix version of 'Zindagi jaise ek Radio'.

All tracks, except Kailash Kher's 'Damadji' are catchy tunes. But, the Mumbai rickshaws are going to be disappointed as this is definitely not a 'Tere Naam' or 'Aksar'. Perhaps, the usual T-series ploy of hammering the songs on all music channels might help this one get on the humming-of-the-day lists.

Comin' Age

2009-08-26T18:47:00.003+01:00

Kaminey

The critics had been all ga-ga over this new movie from the maker of Maqbool, Makdi, Omkara - Vishal Bhardwaj - the one man movie machine. He features in all the major departments for this film (strictly in order of recollection only) - music, direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, singing.

Starring:
Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopora, Amole Gupte

This is a gangster movie highlighting a day in the life of twin brothers (Shahid Kapoor) - Charlie and Guddu. The former is a gangster who wants to earn money to become a horse race bookie and the latter is a student working for an NGO. Sweety (Priyanka) is Guddu's love interest and the sister of a crook, Bhau Bhope (Amol Gupte) aspiring to be politician. Charlie stumbles upon drugs worth 10 crore. Expectedly, there is a case of mistaken identity and more gang fights. Everything culminates into a happy ending.

Pros:
- Filmed in Mumbai (and Gujarat, probably)
- A fresh style of story telling. Reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie.
- A fair importance given to all the characters. Strong characterisations.
- This film has dialogues in bengali, marathi, english, african and yet, no subtitles. No time is spent in romance between the Guddu and Sweety. The audience is not expected to be dumb.

Cons:
- Cannot think of any!
- Did not understand the NGO angle to the Guddu character. Did I miss something?

I had earlier read somewhere that the story has been borrowed from a short story based in Kenyan slums. That story was by Cajetan Boy, who has been given due credit at the start of the movie. The Rs.44 crore spent on the movie includes his 2 lakhs fee. Vishal Bhardwaj met him at the Mira Nair's workshop (MAISHA) and so, the movie starts with credit to the workshop, as well. Additionally, the Kenyan diamond/ drug smuggler has been named 'Cajetan', too.

Amol Gupte was last time associated with the screenplay for 'Taare Zameen Par'. He debuts as an actor this time. Coincidentally, the lead characters in both these hits have had a medical condition.

I found a scene very funny. 'Tashi' enters Bhope Bhau's ilaaka with all the style of a king. He has a hat on his head and walks chest high, chin high along with his 3 side kicks. Suddenly, they hear a bullet shot and all of them meekly disperse away.

'Do lafzon ki' (The Great Gambler) and 'Duniya mein logon ko' (Apna Desh) are 2 old songs that play in the background. The latter is only for an exhibition of Shahid's oiled physique. Check the 'Making of...' for details on that one. But this should be enough to revive the songs in the remix club houses. Bhau Bhope's mobile ring tone is a hit a marathi film song - Kombdi. Watch out for a remixed video.

Dawn

2009-03-29T18:24:00.002+01:00

The credit/ blame for my tryst with movies goes to my dad and my uncle. They introduced me to the magic, masti, manoranjan and escapist world of movies. After the introductions, however, it was Amitabh who made me want to revisit the realm. When I was still about 3 years old, I brought the whole house down because my uncle watched 'Don' without me. I was only quitened by saying that he had actually gone to see 'Dawn' baniyaan (vests)!

Don was one of the wholesome entertainers. This was possibly Big B's first attempt at comedy. It was just that Amar Akbar Anthony was released earlier than Don because the latter almost got shelved after its producer, Nariman Irani (NI), died on the sets during the shooting. It is a pity that Mr NI never got to see the success achieved by his product. It did enough business to take care of the loan of 12 lakhs that had stressed him out and even kept his production house alive. NI was a photographer and cameraman by profession, who was under huge debt following the debacle of Zindagi zindagi, was pursuaded by the big B, Zeenat Aman and Chandra Barot to make another movie to settle the financial mess. Amitabh and Zeenat agreed to work for the film at nominal rates. Factually, Pran was paid 5 lakhs and Amitabh agreed for half of it. Salim-Javed's payment was the distribution rights of the film for the Indore and Bhopal territories.

The hit duo of Salim-Javed had approached Jeetendra, Dev Anand and Prakash Mehra with an untitled script based on 'House of secrets'. With no takers, the script was left collecting dust with Salim. When NI requested him for a script, he said- 'Humare paas ek breakfast script padi hai jo koi nahi le raha hai.' NI gleefully accepted - 'chalega'.

In Farhan Akhtar's version the 'Khaike paan banaraswala' song starts with the words:

Arre tumka ka bataai bhaiyya, hamraa haal kaa hai?

(chorus: arree bataai do, bataai do)

Nikle the halwa khaane, muh hi jal gaya hai!

Ironically, this is exactly what had happened to Amitabh because he was made to chew 40 paans to get the red-spew-effect. Anandji had suggested this, but he forgot to mention that for the red one need not apply chunaa (lime) to the paan. Amitabh suffered from burnt lips for days after the shoot. On the other hand, to grant authenticity to the song, Kishore Kumar ate paan and spat on a plastic sheet during the recording. The song was not part of the original screenplay and was added after the interval following Manoj Kumar's suggestion to bring down the pace a bit. The song, eventually, played a big hand in the popularity of the film. Another late addition to the screenplay was Pran's broken story which was a result of an accident he had met.

Inspite of the success, Hindi screen did not get any more films directed by Chandra Barot. In 1996 'Nariman Pictures' produced 'Shastra'. A remixed version of 'Don' was presented by Farhan Akhtar which scored over the original in the technical department, but, it could not make an impression as the version by late Mr. Nariman Irani.

CC2C

2009-01-17T22:46:00.002Z

Chandni chowk to China

'China Gate' and '36 China Town' are two other movies that have the name of India's neighbouring country in their titles. Inspite of the big productions for all the 3 movies,they did not hit the mark.
In the January, 2 years back, Nikhil Advani had an equally over-hyped, Salaam-e-Ishq that got criticised and panned down. It was not a bad hindi movie, either.

So, superstitiously, the following are inauspicious for the box-office success of a Hindi movie:

combination of Nikhil Advani and a January release
'China' in the title of the movie

Durr ka connections in CC2C:
Rohan Sippy (producer of CC2C) was director of Bluffmaster (2005), which was scripted by Rajat Arora, who also scripted CC2C along with Sridhar Raghavan, the brother of Sriram Raghavan who made Johhny Gaddar, whose background music is done by Daniel George. Daniel has scored for CC2C, too.

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Mithun,

Director: Nikhil Advani

Genre: Comedy, kung-fu action

This is the story of an orphan, Sidhu, who grows up to be a cook at an eatery owned by his foster brother, Dada, in the famous Chandni Chowk. His only skill is chopping and cooking vegetables. An ancient chinese prophecy and mistaken identity lands him in China to face the evil drug lord, Hojo. Dada travels to China to bring back Sidhu to Chandni Chowk, but gets killed in a fight with Hojo and Sidhu only watches helplessly. Chang, who was wronged by Hojo many years ago teaches kung fu to Sidhu and he gets his revenge.

Pros:

Comedy
Action by Dee Dee
Masala entertainer
The first 20 mins makes one expect a riot like the 'Kung Fu Hustle'

Cons:

Deepika
Music; nothing worth remembering
A predictable 2nd half

Things I remember:

The very fresh fight scenes at the Great wall of China.
Akshay Kumar says - Yeh chini sindhi kyu bol rahe hai? Dado Hojo!
The background music by Daniel B. George (Johnny Gaddaar) seems to be inspired by Nayak nahi (Khalnayak), a song from Drona and the Saw series theme.
Bhappi da singing 'India se aaya mera dost'

Rab ne banaa di kodi

2008-12-25T13:27:00.004Z

We have been treated to tickets to Rab Ne Banaa di Jodi as part of a leaving-party by a friend. The seats are quite close to the screen. We are enjoying trailers of some hindi movies before the main film starts. This helps us to get used to the closeness of the screen and the big faces in our faces.The theatre has an equal number of Indians and British.

The mandatory censor board certification is displayed. The film starts with the title in bright colours and dazzle and we are all set for the usual bollywood reds and greens and blues and yellows and the chutzpah.

Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Anoushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak
Director: Aditya Chopra
Music: Salim Suleiman

This is a story of a very simple middle class shy guy named Suri who happens to marry a simple girl named Taani. Suri loves his wife so much that he disguises himself as a hep and talkative Raj to win the love of his wife. The Raj-Taani proceedings flow with the backdrop of a dance competition. Of course, Taani does not recognise him in this disguise and she falls in love with Raj. Eventually, all ends well, Suri gets his wife to appreciate his love and they win the couple-dance competition. They call it SRK's ode to the simple Indian man.

Pros:
Shahrukh Khan. One cannot help but feel the energy.
Spot on acting
Screenplay
Cinematography and choreography

Cons:
Too sugary
Too much Shahrukh for the eyes
Music. Nothing worth remembering.

A dream song sequence is dedicated to the film oldies - Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna and Rishi Kapoor. Each actor having its own piece of action through SRK and being glamourised by the precense of Kajol, Bipasha, Lara, Preity and Rani. (4 pretty bongs!!) This is a cleverly written and choreographed song. The production has shamelessly and neatly placed brands like Pepsi, Bajaj, Santro and Hero cycles.
There are references to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dilwale dulhaniya le jaayenge. The title was a song from the Amitabh starrer - Suhaag - and SRK and Vinay do a impromptu celebration scene to that song playing in the shop.
Aditya Chopra gives a new definition to love here - 'jismein rab dikhta hai'. Funnily enough an old SRK- Sonali Bendre movie 'English Babu Desi Mem' had a more hummable song/ bhajan of the words - 'tujh mein hai rab dikhta'.

Slumdog Millionaire

2008-12-25T12:02:00.001Z

I have always liked Hollywood productions that are shot in India. They make the entire country look richer and livelier. Slumdog Millionaire was no exception. The story is nothing different than a late 80s hindi movie starring the likes of Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff. In fact, it runs a track very similar to Parinda. But, as Abbas Tyrewala said 'It is not the story itself, but how one narrates the story that is important'. And David Boyle does a great job with this production for the British production - Film 4. He does a great job of ending this neo-noir movie in a feel-good tone. The casting by Loveleen Tandan is spot on and that was half the battle won. The English production house has delivered a sincere hindi masala movie, complete with references to Amitabh Bachchan and a promotional video shot on the platform of VT station for the end credits.

I heard the soundtrack by A R Rehman before watching the movie and I wondered if he had lost his magic. But the genius of the man is appreciated with the flow of the movie and as I write this I am replaying the songs to a completely renewed effect.

Entertainment, overall.

Breaking news

2008-11-30T13:04:00.004Z

I was in Mumbai till the 25th and joined work in London on Wednesday. I had got sweets and savouries from Mumbai for my friends on London. When everyone asked me how the vacation was I glowed up recalling my days in the bright day light of Colaba causeway, Churchgate station, VT station, Bandra, Andheri and the various theatres. I was all recharged and telling everyone that Mumbai is the best city in the world. The day whizzed past as the after taste of my short vacation in Mumbai was still lingering.

Ironically, when I went back home that evening the news channels were show casing the audacity of the terrorists who had entered and ruined my favourite place. Nothing can undo or make up for what they have done. The effects of the attacks will stay in the memories of the world for a long time. Mumbai will soon be considered one of the most dangerous places in the world. There will be a constant fear attached to the name of my city.

This will all be followed by the usual politics and blame games. Pakistan will incorrigibly deny any part in the attacks. The ISI will diplomatically deny any links. The local politicians will try to gain mileage at the cost of Indian tax payers' money. An enquiry commission will be duly setup that will take months to come up with any useful conclusion. There will be a lot published in newspapers, magazines, blogs and even, movies. The news channels, who had been foolishly disclosing all the army tactics during the attacks, will continue with the 'breaking news'. Group discussions will continue highlighting the stoic spirit of the city. Soon all this will fade away and everything will be forgotten.

Sigh.

I hope that these attacks have shaken the Mumbaikars enough to make them take things in their own hands and elect the right people this time. We need leaders who can take responsibility and lead from the front. The city that provides the most income taxes deserves at least a sense of security in their homes. The financial capital that boasts of a sea of educated thinking minds is capable of calling it the shots. Like Shobha De said - Enough is enough.

Sequel Server

2008-11-03T07:28:00.007Z

Unlike its western counterpart, Bollywood has been churning them out in relatively smaller numbers. Excluding the dubbed versions (the likes of Makdi-manav), I have tried to list out the hindi sequels.

Nigahen - Sridevi is back as the human daughter of the naagin-Sridevi from the hugely successful first part. Sunny Deol plays the naag held in captivity by the evil tantrik Anupam Kher. The fight of good vs evil is for a magical diamond called naag-mani. Harmesh Malhotra directed both the parts that have had a major contribution in fueling many of the myths related to snakes. This was an average success.

Return of the Jewel Thief - One of the masterpieces of Indian cinema, Jewel Thief, was sequel-ed after nearly 30 years. It brought back Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar from the original and the Kohinoor diamond from the UK. This one was not blessed with the S D Burman's evergreen music or Vijay Anand's slick direction. Ashok Tyagi roped in a string of actors for this multi-starrer thriller. The title had the Kohinoor diamond and the famous jewel-thief cap.

Hathyaar - Sanjay Dutt is back as the son of the underworld don (Raghu, played by Dutt) from Vaastav. Vaastav was a huge hit, but there were no attempt to publicise Hathyaar as its sequel. This was a gritty movie that went un-noticed. ("Yeh picture aa-gaya?" "Haan, aaya bhi aur gaya bhi.") The son of the don struggles to fit into the society because of his infamous middle name. Mahesh Manjrekar does a talented job of maintaining the tempo of this drama. At a couple of occassions, whenever the tension is high well placed gangster jokes provide relief ('Boxer bhai song' and 'the hospital scene were dedh-footya's mom yells at a goon - daal doo kya?').

Phir Hera Pheri - The trio of Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty are back; this time without Priyadarshan. The look and feel seems quite different to the hugely enjoyed, Hera Pheri. This time the comedy of errors leads them to a load of drugs and a hidden diamond. The climax is a mad-cap chase at a circus. The comedy fails to work mainly because of the lack of its closeness to the homely feel of the original.

Sarkar Raj - Ram Gopal Verma got Amitabh to do what he does the best - act. Amitabh's character was considered to be a depiction of the Shiv Sena chief - Bal Thakerey - whereas, this was actually RGV's version of the Godfather. No less. Sarkar was not a huge hit, but it certainly got noticed by everyone. Sarkar Raj brought back together the Bachchan father-son duo and the to-be-bride of the family. Aishwarya plays a foreign-based businesswomen who needs help from Sarkar to establish a power project in India. The story evolves into an intriguing thriller-drama of mind games between Sarkar and a rural leader played intently by Dilip Prabhavalkar. The end builds up enough to create another part.

Lage Raho Munna bhai - The feel-good team of the local goons Munna bhai and Circuit are back. Munnabhai MBBS did a great deal to improve Sanju baba's image. Raj Kumar Hirani creates another breezy feel-good movie on the backdrop of Gandhi-giri. It is fun to watch a feared goon taking up the non-violent path of Gandhiji (played by the talented Dilip Prabhavalkar) as he tries to win his love (Vidya Balan). Munna is fighting non violently against a scheming Sikh builder, played by Boman Irani. A loveable show of Munna and his chum, Circuit. I have seen trailors of the 3 part - Munnabhai chale America.

Hyderabad Blues 2 - Nagesh Kukunoor debuted with his Hyderbad Blues, an auto-biographical account of adventures of an NRI coming back to India and finding an Indian bride. The entire ensemble is back with the post marriage comedy of the normal middle class couple with the backdrop of a conservative South-Indian culture. The multiplexes lapped it up.

Krrish - Rakesh Roshan dares to create an Indian superhero as a follow up to the ET-inspired Koi mil gaya. Hrithik plays Krrish who gets his superpowers from the alien, Jadoo. He goes on to save the world and rescue a secret towards the end. This was a thoroughly enjoyed hindi-masala adventure, Bollywood got a new superhero and Priyanka got a major hit.

Dhoom 2 - Sanjay Gadhvi and Yashraj films brought together the top actors of the year to create screen magic and rake in a lot of overseas moolah. Abhishek and Uday are carried forward from Dhoom, this time to chase an elusive and stylish thief named 'A', Hrithik Roshan. Bipasha (in double role) and Aishwarya (more important role) provide the oomph and promote size-zero. The thief does some daring stunts and the cops nab the thief in the end. The Diwali opening for this pacy thriller was a huge hit.

Golmaal Returns - Rohit Shetty brings the loony team of Ajay Devgan, Tushar Kapoor, Arshad Warsi and Shreyas Talpade together for a mindless comedy of lying men. Sharmaan Joshi from Golmaal was left out for this one. Kareena plays a shrieking doubting wife and dances to a couple of item songs. Tushar is probably seen in the best act of his life as a dumb hair-stylist act. This was a Diwali hit, a surprise one.

Jodha Akbar - This one is not a sequel, but rather, a prequel to one of the biggest films from the B&W era of Hindi cinema. Ashutosh Gowarikar asked what can one do after 'Lagaan' and 'Swades'? His writer replied that it would be only fitting to create something that would outdo the greatest in Indian cinema - Mughal-e-Azam. It was a classic love story of Akbar's son, Salim, and a dancing slave, Anarkali. Jodha Akbar is the lavish story of the love between two proud royalties, the Mughal (Shahenshah Akbar) and the Rajput (Rani Jodhabai). Hrithik and Aishwarya get together for this period drama and Ashutosh creates magic with help from A R Rehman. It might not have worked at the box-office, but it represented India to the world and got appreciated.

About the filmi dancers

2008-10-04T22:39:00.001+01:00

Recently, we watched an episode of the Comedy Circus that had a hilarious skit about a conversation between 2 hindi film background female dancers. The skit was presented funnily enough by a duo of males and it reminded me of the multitude of dance troupes that might have earned employment due to the background dancing. Surely, each choreographer must have had his/ her own dancers. Each had a dedicated or lucky troupe.

In the cabaret songs of the 70s, there was a repetitive face prancing around with Helen. I was watching 'Monica, my darling' on TV, one day. A guy with a curly mop of hair and a pencil-moustache started his jumping act to the music. My dad pointed out to me that his name is Michael and he is a choreographer, too. I have noticed him in more songs that I cannot recall now. But that is probably how I started noticing the background dancers, too.

In the 80s, there was the group of male dancers that was seen in 'Jahaan chaar yaar' (Sharaabi) as well 'Padosan apni murgi ko' (Jaadugar) and some more Amitabh songs.

During the 90s, in the days of 'Superhit Muqabla', there was one male dancer that used to appear in 5 out of 10 songs. He was the one who did the hip-hop rapper dance to the voice of Bali Bramhabhatt with Jackie Shroff. The song was 'Munda Dekh' from the movie Stuntman. 'Bambai ka babu' had a scene shot in Fantasy Land where Saif calls 'Mangesh' to do some task and Mangesh runs off a kid asked to get an ice cream - a wide smile on the face. One could not miss this guy dancing sincerely behind the hero and more importantly, enjoying himself even while doing the stupidest of the dancing steps. The songs were always a big hit, but the films were bigger flops. The producers must have noticed this coincidence because I have not spotted Mangesh for quite some time.

The producers should stop allowing Ganesh any screen appearances for the same reason. Every film that Ganesh appears in to dance flops. He is responsible for the dismal fate of 'Jaanam Samjha Karo', 'Money hai toh Honey hai', 'China Gate' to name a few.

In the recent times, there is a very pretty female dancer who has appeared in some popular songs of recent times. She has rolled her eyes with Abhishek in 'Say na say na' (Bluffmaster), had a better tummy than Kareena in 'Its Rocking' (Wah kya love story hai) and even fluttered her colourful long skirt behind Govinda in 'Soni de nakhre' (Partner). Go look for this square jawed girl.

By the way, I m still searching for the mp3 of Shankar Mahadevan's version of 'Hoga tumse pyara kaun'.

Like Akbar Birbal stories

2008-10-03T23:31:00.001+01:00

I have opened my 'notepad' (yeah, that is my favorite editor) about 4 times before, but gave into the temptation playing a stupid powerpoint game called - Bubbles. Blame it on bubbles for not having blogged about:

1. background dancers

2. potty snippets from school

3. a hindi movie

4. autograph from Alan 'Watchmen' Moore

Leave them aside for some other time. (Thats what I have been saying about my gym since the last 2 months). The season is changing and it is getting colder by the day. I cannot cycle without the gloves on. The sun will soon be a rare sight. The trees have already started shedding as if trying to symbolise the financial crisis of the world economy. Retailers are trying various discounts and price cuts to bring back the money flow in the market.

There are the usual BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offers. Retailers are giving out loyalty points in abundance. A well known retailer has been selling alcohol at a very low price. One of the local councils sued the retailer for selling alcohol that is cheaper than water. The council's argument was that cheap liqour encourages binge drinking. The retailer has enough money to hire the smart brains in the market. It sued the council for water being costlier than alcohol. The council withdrew the case and they all binged heavily ever after.

This location of the neigh

2008-07-06T18:20:00.004+01:00

"Throw... quick quick... oh NO"... POP! CRACK!! CRACKLE!!! THUD!!!

"Can you walk?", they asked.

"Yes." I said, clenching my teeth.

I had scored enough to save the team from the blushes, but as I ran for that last run, I could hear my right knee snap under the pad and I landed with a thud in the crease and just missed from being run-out. I straightened my leg as I sat in the mud and the cracking-popping orchestra replayed. I limped back to the pavilion with support from 2 team mates. As I sat down on the chair, I realised that I could not straighten the knee anymore. There was a lot of pain. I took off the gloves and the pads and asked for some water. Someone passed me an ice pack, too. .. thankfully.

Later that night, the pain aggravated and the knee was swollen and tender. An injury in the foreign land is always scary business. A crocin put me back to sleep. But when I woke up the pain woke up with me. I googled the symptoms and was convinced that this is a dislocated knee.

Knee dislocation is different from fracture. But people normally tend to diagonise for a fracture to begin with. The swelling is not as severe as a fracture and the pain is bearable. One can touch the tender soreness on the knee without feeling much pain. I had a swelling on the inner side of the leg on the left side of the knee cap and a bit of pain behind the knee. A knee dislocation could cause a cartilage and a ligament pull. An internal clot can cause an immediate swelling and if there is internal bleeding it has to be taken care-of immediately because there is a risk that the clot might travel to the lungs.

I ordered a cab in the morning which dropped drop me at the 'accident and emergency' department (A&E) of the local hospital. After a quick record entry, I was asked to wait for the doctor to call me. I was first sent to get an x-ray done. The x-ray can only see the bones, which turned out to be normal (no fracture) and that meant that the dislocation had reset itself.

The doctor asked me to drop the pants (I was still wearing yesterday's underpants) and flex the knee. I showed her that I could not bend or completely straighten my knee. It was as-if the knee was locked and there was considerable pain when I tried to force the bending/ straightening. A normal knee should bend to an angle of at least 100 degrees. My knee angle was hardly 45 degrees and that too, slowly and painfully.

Tying the knee only increases the swelling, so crepe bandages are a strict no. Hot or ice massage only soothes the pain, it is not going to heal anything. Ibrufen is a recommended anti-inflammatory capsule and not really a pain killer. 400mg of capsules should work for a stretch of 12 hours. Keeping the leg in the same position for too long can worsen the swelling, I don't know why!
It has been a week and I am feeling much better. The pain only stings at night... mid-way during a deep sleep. I cannot completely straighten my leg yet. I am on a no cycling and no running order from the doctor. This means I will miss the cricket season. :(

People come and ask how it happened and I narrate the episode to them in the most gruesome way and end it by saying it is not as scary as it sounds, there is no pain. I still don't get a free lift home.

Bums on the Saddle

2008-07-05T08:57:00.003+01:00

My email to the admin at http://blog.bumsonthesaddle.com
Damn the knee!!

Hi guys,

I dropped at your site from the article on rediff.com and I was so glad to learn that there are cycle-to-work-enthusiasts in India, too. I have been cycling to work since the last 2 years in London. If I ignore the dislocated knee last week, my overall experience has been very good. I have been off the cycle for 6 days now and I am missing it already.

The cycle I use is an old mountain bike with 18 gear combinations. It saves me time and money in addition to giving me the flexibility of not relying on the bus or train timings. Most trains in London have facilities for carrying a bike in a separate compartment. There are regular camps for cycles, where they have a health check and lots of freebies. The roads here have dedicated lanes for cycles to ensure safety and to encourage cycling. At the signals and roads, cycles are definitely treated with a lot of respect.

I have managed to get a handful of colleagues to cycle to work as well. I have managed to get bikes for them too. The public transport and fuel in UK is much more expensive than that in Mumbai, so it is only wise to invest in a bike. I would have to cycle 90 mins in the sultry, dusty and dangerous Mumbai roads and that thought gives me a shudder. I think I would prefer traveling to work in Mumbai by the company bus that takes 50 mins to reach office in the mornings and 90 mins to take me home in the evenings.

Regards,
Bricks

Date Ali

2008-06-22T19:50:00.003+01:00

"Who is Ali? Why do they want to date him?", Alex kept wondering throughout the film.

De Taali
Starring: Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Ayesha Takia, Rimi Sen, Anupam Kher

Genre: Comedy, Drama

This is a light story of 3 childhood friends who are now 26 years old. Aftab (Abhishek) is a rich kid who is always falling in love with the wrong girls (cameos by Hrishita Bhatt, Neha Dhupia and a couple more). Ayesha (Amruta) is a sundar-sushil girl. Ritesh (Paresh Gurudev) is an unemployed guy and is the brain of the club who comes up with plans that fail. Aftab falls in love with a con-girl Rimi. The other 2 try to save him. As expected, Aftab and Ayesha end up together.

Scenes I remember:

Aftab ineffectively doing a Sandra Bullock from Miss Congeniality when he teases Ayesha by saying 'Amu lurrvhs me. Amu crieess for me...'
Aftab saying that for the first 6 months of their friendship, they did not know that Ayesha was a girl! (He does not mention how they finally realised it :P )
At the hair-dressers, Ayesha and Ritesh watch their hair fly using the blow dryer and when Aftab tries the same on his short crop, there are a few giggles
The eccentric behaviour of Rimi's family members... 'chai chahiye? toh jaake banaao. mere liye bhi banaao.' Who is that lady? She has acted quite well in most films that I have seen her in.
I was told that the film is like 'Saving Silverman' and the tree club house scene definitely suggests that there was an inspiration
Ritesh mimics jadoo from Koi Mil Gaya

Pros:

Ritesh provides the comic relief with support from Ayesha
A very light movie with a not-so-bollywoody story
There are some giggles through out... like the Rimi torture sequence

Cons:

The music is nothing to remember about
Aftab seems out of place and lost

Watch it for some time pass.

Wood stocked pilla

2008-06-14T16:30:00.003+01:00

Woodstock Villa

Starring: Sikandar Kher, Arbaaz Khan, Neha (?) Oberoi, Sachin Khedekar, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover

Director: Hansal Mehta

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Similar movie: Aggar, The Train

The film starts with Arbaaz Khan being phoned to pay ransom for his wife, kidnapped by Sikandar Kher. Arbaaz reports this to the cops. The wife is found dead. Sikandar then tries to flee away from the city, but realises that he might be innocent and ends up solving the mystery.

Scenes I remember:

The intentional graphic novel feel of the titles
The initial sequences that show the landmarks of Mumbai in a new light and eventually end with a heavy rain shot from above
Sanjay Dutt crooning and scratching the guitar with the Aryans!
Sachin Khedekar trying to be a comic relief - Itni acchi gaadi ka satyaanaash hua!

Pros:

Makes a good video cassette promoting Kiron Kher's son's acting, dancing, filmy fighting abilities
Sikandar Kher does well for his debut, accepting that the wooden glances were part of the script
Music might do well at the city's pubs
Shortened length of the movie

Cons:

Gulshan Grover has better screen presence than the hero :P
The twists in the story are expected

Recommended if:

Sikandar becomes a star and a fan wants to watch his debut movie
You liked 'The Train' and 'Aggar'