I was actually planning to go to a play performed by my friend and was catching up with Sidharth, Pramod and Anant at a coffee shop. About 10 min before I had planned to leave, a couple of girls at the coffee shop offered us tickets to the movie. The movie was starting about an hour later and I had just been informed that the tickets of the play was all sold out. So we decided to go watch the movie.

I am a sucker for musicals so I was pretty sure I would enjoy it. The movie was based around the songs of ABBA and were very well put in. I had only heard of “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen” before watching the movie and found the songs were pretty good. I will be adding more ABBA songs to my playlist thanks to the movie.

Meryl Steep’s performance in the movie is nothing short of brilliant, I spent most of the movie simply admiring her acting. The other actors did their job very well and I never felt anything much lacking in the acting department. The singing was mostly good but I have to mention that the emotional song that Pierce Brosnan sings simply left me laughing… It was then when I remembered that this guy was James Bond, and that only fueled the laughter

All in all the movie is fun but ok. If you like light hearted musicals this is probably your kind of movie.

Of course there is no compulsion that the songs of a movie must have great lyrics but this movie was one that promised to ride on its music. My initial opinion (about the lyrics) was echoed by a lot of my friends, but then I listened to Phir Dekhiye & Yeh Tumhari Meri Baatein. Those two songs made me rethink my opinion about the rest of the soundtrack.

Then I read this news article and in it the quotes by Javed Akhtar about the lyrics of the song, now I knew I had missed something. Were the other songs as deep as these two?

And then I found this:

Pichhle Saat Dino Mein Maine Khoya
A catchy number that was repeated a couple of times in the movie. This song was about frivilous things lost over the period of 7 days… He goes from bills to pieces of paper to rings to accessories… and then ends it by losing his heart. Not exactly spectacular but not shallow either.

Sindbad The Sailor
Now this song at first had me wondering “why? why? Sindbad!” But this song is really well put forward. It talks about not giving up and listening to your heart. Its all in there…

Socha Hai Socha Nahin To Socho Abhi
My favorite song of the track the first time I listened to it… This one is plain and clear, its all about ‘wondering’ and asking ‘why’(my favorite kind of question… but that is a story for another day )

Rock On
Rock On… Hai Ye Waqt Ka Ishaara
Rock On… Har Lamha Pukaara
Rock On….Yuhin Dekhta Hai Kya Tu
Rock On….Zindagi Millegi Na Dobaara…
My point exactly

Speed Racer is the latest entry to that list.

ps: Turns out it was released for IMAX too!

I first watched The Man With One Red Shoe on television years ago when I first started watching Hollywood movies. All I remembered from the movie was the basic plot(which was brilliant) and that I did not stop laughing right thru the movie. I decided to watch it again and see if the movie was actually that much fun!

The story is of a man randomly picked and made a target of CIA surveillance. The paranoia that this seemingly odd individual is an undercover agent and tracking his every single move leads to some of the most rib tickling fun I have ever seen on screen. This comedy of errors, more errors, insanity and situational comedy just does not let up.

This was Tom Hanks’ third movie and he looks very young. A must watch for Tom Hanks’ fans just to see how odd he looked Acting wise no complaints, the characters are fun and well executed.

The winner in everything has to be the screenplay. The movie literally builds right thru and it keep on getting more and more fun.

If you love comedies you have got to watch this movie!

- Finishing Lines… American Beauty

When I first watched American Beauty it was on a television movie channel. I had heard so much about it and wanted to know what it was about. What impressed me then the most was the ending of the film… that line(above quote) struck a chord with me… Far away from understanding the movie, back then I thought it was an above average movie. Blame it mostly on the overly censored movie channels (it was the clipping of what was considered ‘bad language’ that bothered me more than the nudity) and the ad breaks that just ruined the flow of the movie.

What significantly drove me to rediscover the movie almost a decade after i first watched it was a realization of sorts. A close friend had loved the movie back when we were in college. This is not a very significant thing… usually. The thing is this friend went on to pursue a career in film making. He had made a bunch of short films and last I spoke to him was working on a bigger film. The idea that a movie could drive someone to choose his career was quiet fascinating… Of course I had to watch the movie again… this time with my total undivided attention.

There are a few movies that I wished I had discovered earlier in my life, American Beauty tops the list. There is so many little amazing things in the movie that could so easily be lost within the main plot, it speaks volumes of the quality of the screenplay and the director that these are so well brought out. The acting is top class and the casting brilliant.

American Beauty swept most of the awards for the year of its release(1999). Kevin Spacey won the Best Actor Oscar for his flawless portrayal of Lester Burnham.

Honestly there is just too much to take home with you after the movie and its that ability of the movie that truly won hearts. There is so much magic in the subtlety of this movie and its profound thoughts that it just takes your breath away. If you haven’t already watched this movie… Please do.

That was the piece of trivia a friend of mine shared with me about a year ago. His enthusiasm was obvious and we both knew that this kind performance would be once in a lifetime.

Heath Ledger’s performance was beyond words. After a long time I was actually watching a movie expecting it to be great, kept telling myself that it would ruin the movie for me but frankly the movie was so engaging that it proved me wrong.

The biggest critics of the movie have asked ‘The Same could have been achieved with 10 different actors, why ten roles?’ People have described it as really high quality and costly narcissism.

The best defense I can give is think of, is that of a sprinter… the difference is the same as a sprinter trying to ‘win a race’ and trying to ‘break the world record’. Its truly the great that know that the race is never against someone else, its always against yourself. Honestly, Kamal Hassan in this race against himself has left the best of the best behind.

The story is the strong point of the movie, the base is very good and that directly translates to one half the work well done. The characters(10 roles) were well thought out, their mutual interaction was written so well into the script and so well executed that at times you wonder if its possible that it was the same actor.

Enough cant be said about Kamal Hassan’s acting. He is simply immaculate with his work and it shows in the end product. This movie can be just watched to admire a champion at work.

Asin’s role is a bit irritating at times but it fits well in the scheme of things, despite the dual role she never was taxed to portray two characters in a scene. Mallika Sherawat’s performance is actually worth a mention, for a change she impressed with her cameo.

The ending for me made the movie, it comes unexpected and in a flood (sorry for the pun) of excitement gives closure to the characters and the story.

The concept of the movie was a breath of fresh air and I really appreciate this type of film making and story telling. This movie is ahead of its time, I am actually quiet surprised this movie was a hit!

ps: Almost 60% of the movie is in telugu and english, something that went well with me coz I understand quiet limited tamil

When I first saw the promos of “Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na” with the short version of ‘Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’, I thought here is one movie that is trying the “Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi” formula. For people who have never heard of PMKK, it was this young adult movie that came out about half a decade ago, launching a bunch of young actors and filling the radio waves with some amazing music(’Woh Pehli Baar’ and ‘Musu Musu’ are still my favorites). Guess what I was right… The question (after a week or so of the release) though is why did PMKK flop while Jaane Tu was a big hit?

My next contact point to Jaane Tu came with the music… I simply loved the soundtrack! AR Rehman was again brilliant but what really was amazing was the lyrics. So I decided to do some background work and find out about the lyricist… It turns out Abbas Tyrewala was also the director and writer of the movie!!! Now I really wanted to watch the movie! I had told a friend a while back that if the movie and the lyrics were written by the same person and the lyrics was good, almost always the story and writing would be good too.

Now to the actual review…

The Good things about this movie:
* Writing/Music - 10 min into the movie I knew that this movie was good. The writing is so good in this movie that I feel this can be easily used as the benchmark for writing an entertaining movie. The opening was perfect, the characters very well thought out(at least the ones that mattered). The comedy was really good, not the usual amalgamation of slapstick and one liners fitted into the script. The dialogs were smart and young, thats what holds you. Even in situations were we knew what would happen, like the scenes towards the end where the lead is jailed and the airport climax… Basically that meant there wasn’t a point in the movie you could let your guard down and say nothing interesting is happening.

That my friends is a sign of really good writing

* Genelia D’Souza - Eyes, thats all I could think of when I saw her. Genelia is seasoned south indian actor who knows she is good. Her amazingly expressive eyes are brilliantly used in the movie and she easily out shines every other actor she shared the screen with.

* Comedy - Very well placed, some of the characters are so well woven into the movie that their very presence is funny. The inspector and the horse riding bad/good guys for example.

* Veteran Actors - All the veteran actors were perfectly cast and they fit into this romantic love story perfectly.

What is worth watching out for is the timing of scenes in the movie… This movie is a perfect example of setting up the audience for a twist or a joke(almost always in a short time frame).

Finally, Imran… I am writing about him only coz of the craze that has suddenly started on him. Firstly the acting from his side was ok, he had his moments where he was really good, for example the scene in the rain where he confronts Meghana and asks her to ‘get real’ was really good. On the other hand he was very ordinary in many scenes. Fortunately for him this role suited him perfectly, doubt he had to do a lot of work to get into that specific character. Personally i will wait for at least a couple more movies before judging his capability.

All in all this is a fun movie and if you like smiling for a while you should watch this one.

Superstar - This movie actually surprised me. I think the reason I liked it so much is coz i know friends of mine who are trying to get a break into the movie industry. Despite that scenes and acting are very impressive.
Jannat - Really liked the story, felt at parts that things were speeded up but that was coz those parts were pretty insignificant to the main plot.
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score - This has probably got to do with me missing watching Futurama for so long. If you liked the series dont miss this one.

Average Movies: Movies that had something I admired about them
I am Legend: Will Smith’s acting!
National Treasure: Book of Secrets: What can I say, I like adventures
Beowulf: Special Effects but that about what was good in the movie.

Movies:
The Forbidden Kingdom
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - Really expected better than the final product

Movies Rating Archive

This movie at different moments had me shocked, disturbed, enraged, appalled, smiling, impressed and enlightened… It is simply one the best (english) movies to have come out of the subcontinent. I would rate it even higher than “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi”. Everything is close to perfect, the acting, the writing, the background score, the screenplay and the music… Oh God! The music is beyond brilliant!!!!

Watch this movie!

I love stats So when i found out that LastGraph3 can take your last.fm data and make it into a cool looking graph… I so had to do it

I have been using last.fm for about 2 years now and the data collected is enough to start creating fancy graphs One glance at the graph and I could so easily point out songs that I liked and explain the increased frequency of listening to certain artists.

For example (in the last year), Consistent artists who I listen to: Kishore Kumar, K.K. and Shaan
Spikes for certain songs:
(Time frame - Artist - Song - Album)
July 07 - Mithoon - Mausam - The Train
Sep 07 - Mustafa Zahid - Toh Phir Aao, Tera Mera Rishta - Aawarapan
Oct 07 - Shail Hada - Saawariya - Saawariya
Nov 07 - Mohit Chauhan - Tum Se Hi - Jab We Met
Mar 08 - Atif Aslam - Pehli Nazar Mein - Race
June 08 - Rashid Ali - Kabhi Kabhi Aditi - Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na

Not to mention that I can easily pick incidents and emotions in the graph but wont be putting that list up anytime soon

Kabhi Kabhi Aditi by Rashid Ali is just an amazing ear-catching and foot tapping number. Most of the promos show this song, clear signs that the producers felt it was the best song in the track (and it most probably is).

Kahin Toh by Rashid Ali & Vasundhara Das is a really sweet smooth number. The lyrics are a winner in this really soothing track,

Tu Bole Main Boloon by A.R Rehman sounded to me like “You say tomato, I say tomato” (a song I heard in the background score of When Harry Met Sally) The song is pretty catchy and the voice of Rehman adds a very nice touch to it.

Jaane Tu Meri Kya Hai by Sukhwinder Singh is hauntingly beautiful. My favorite song of the entire soundtrack. Sukhwinder Singh has been so far this year my favorite singer (Thanks to Dil Haara from Tashan).

All in all a bunch of good songs Check em out if you are into my sort of music

Ps: Pappu Cant Dance is a disco number in the soundtrack thats a bit odd, but a friend said that its has a really fun video!

Turns out they(the music company) invite Pakistani musicians(not sure if its limited to them though) to send in their tracks, they then listen to them and pick the ones they like for the movie! Judai was one such classic find, the guy in the interview as so excited telling the story of how they got the song! Makes sense the song is really beautiful!

When I first saw this movie, I thought it was pretty good… I didn’t have the ability to appreciate the brilliance of this scene back then… Not that I have it now The magic is in saying so much and not saying a word.