New Sense

2009 was another good year of film watching for me. I watched exactly the same number of movies as I did in 2008. A number like 119 is hard but a total pleasure to repeat.
Instead of throwing up stats I will list out a bunch of movies that I thought were really good. I will skip the obvious suspects(Avatar gets enough publicity as it is ) and point out movies(that I watched in 2009) that werent that popular but were great in their own regard.
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2010 has so far been a year of major change for me. It started quietly and serenly in the plateau of Hampi, it was so calm that the onset of the new year was only known by the colorful rangoli that the local residents had put in front of their doors.

The next few days went partially in rediscovering the lost love for the stage and waking up to the beauty of the video camera. In the last 10 days I have written 2 short films and worked extensively on one. My initial purpose for being a part of the exercise was to warm up to concepts of movie making. Next thing I know I am cast into the movie(albeit a small role but thats based on screen time only ) and told to re-perform a comedy play (which I was a part of back in 2008).

Adding to that I have been around for about three birthdays (my friends will say I was barely there) and traveled from one end to the other end of bangalore more than a few times…

I guess that is one way to start a year

There is a famous anecdote about a wise master and a tea cup. This story is one of my favourite zen stories. The short version goes something like this:

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

Like this cup, Nan-in said, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?

- taken from this post

Its a simple and beautiful story that hits home. What is amazing is that Hollywood has been dishing out different versions of this story way too many times.

There were mentions of parts or the entire anecdote in both 2012 and Avatar (and possibly many others I havent watched). To be honest either movie is not symbolic of great writing but seriously people shouldn’t you be trying to come up with something a little different than the original story.

Ps: And guys dont waste too much Tea while getting the message thru

I dont like Multiplexes. I like the ability to get tickets without standing in long queues and to know that I can manage to get tickets for a movie even on its very first day, without taking a day off from office. I thank the multiplexes for that.

But multiplexes have slowly killed off the movie experience that I love and cherish so much. The feeling of being in a theater with 350 other people, the screams and the whistles, the hooting and the jeering… You know the whole feeling of “going to a movie”.

Thats why I cherish the few theaters that still have that magic. Rex, Urvashi and (to some extent) Fame Shankarnag (all in Bangalore) still have that feeling in them. All the other beautiful theaters are now malls with Multiplexes in them. I understand the competition is hard to keep up with and the population exploding movie going is a very popular thing… In a way, I am still happy that despite the rat race there are still a few real theaters out there.

Last evening when I went to watch Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, that feeling came back and boy did it come back with a revenge. The crowd was the most awesome crowd I have watched a movie with. They were screaming for every joke and actually singing along with a few songs. The cheering when a guest star came was amazing and the laughter was addictive. Forget the movie, the crowd made my day

All that brought back memories of a long time back, before all the black tie multiplexes took over. I know its futile to live in the past but for one evening it felt nice to be back there

Rating:

What can you expect from a movie that within the first 10 seconds of starting has a statue telling a story. The word you are searching for is “silliness”.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is director Rajkumar Santoshi’s attempt to bring back the Andaz Apna Apna experience and boy is it hilarious(the lame but still good kind). The movie is packed with slapstick, physical and sometimes the humor of the highest quality. In all the silliness and clichéd storyline involving very funny characters, the movie is a true entertainer but only if you enjoy this sort of entertainment
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