SaRoJa

Started off refreshing and progressed with a fast pace. Before I realized I was hooked completely - especially till the part where the 4 guys find themselves completely lost in the middle of nowhere on their way to Hyderabad and struggle to save their lives from the villain and team. But very soon, I found myself lost - trying to understand what is happening and who is who - coz all the time the screen was dark and it was too hard for me to understand what is going on.

One could guess right from the beginning that the kidnapped girl is in the same place where the 4 guys land - and the two threads of the story would come together very soon. When it did happen, the rest of the movie failed to me keep the momentum. The darkness bothered me throughout - in a effort to make it realistic, it somehow hinders the viewers and obstructs them from consuming the story/movie. The climax was artificial - a fabricated twist of an unexpected villain. The fights in the end were crazy.

The actors who played the role of 4 friends were good - very natural in their job. But the screenplay failed to sustain the momentum and interest which was established in the first half of the movie. The comedy guy (Premji) was funny - but his character goes overboard with the 'craziness' of his character. I thought the mixing of his comedy in a serious situation was good once or twice, but should not have been repeated over and over.

Utter waste of Jayaram. At least Prakash Raj got some emotional scenes - but Jayaram's talents have not been utilized.

Disappointed!

SlumDog Millionaire

The one Friday B and I took off, I said I have been hearing so much about this movie, I should check it out. So we went for this movie.

It was like watching any other Hindi movie to me. I had not idea about the story line - only about the awards and nominations. So I had loads of expectations about it. I appreciated the realism in portrayal of the life in an Indian slum. One can feel the pains of the two boys and live the journey of life with them. Excellent job by the director in choosing the actors to play different ages of these characters. Jamal and Salim - especially did great.

What I loved most about the movie is how each question in the show has a relevance to Jamal's life and how that is explained using flash back. It was thrilling to watch that connection, including the last question - when I loved the look of his face when he realizes he does not know the name of the Third musketeer.Ironical, but believable! Same thing with the fact that his lover cannot help him with his lifeline question. Possible, indeed!

Police capturing Jamal and torturing him did not really sound convincing me. It just feels like a means to unfold the story - Jamal has to tell it someone, so director picked this inspector.

At the end of the movie, what B and I were left thinking is - what is so great about this movie? It is just a well made movie, but could not see it being exceptional. May be the fact that the director is not from India makes it special. But even ARR's music - we have seen/heard so many of his albums better than this. The BGM was catchy and suited the moods of the scenes. I really disliked the song Jai Ho popping up - even though I liked the song, I felt it really made the movie's value go down with the girl and guy dancing. Why should the Indian movie always have a song like this? It is like reiterating to international audience that Indian movies should have this kind of a song. The movie would have fine without it.

I enjoyed the movie, but felt like we became victims to the hyped up publicity around awards. Was not super thrilled!

Vallamai Thaarayo

I always liked Parthiban - his style, his ideas and his looks - there is a unique style about him. So I fell for his face in the DVD cover. Lesson learnt!

Mouna Ragam story has been re-filmed with added melodrama. Parthiban is re-doing Mohan's character this time. Nanditha(played by Chaya Singh) is the female character who is forcibly married off to Anand (Parthiban) by her father. Right from her childhood, her family always spoke about Sekhar (actor srikanth doing a guest appearance ) and her as a couple and then her dad changes his mind due some politics.

Anyway, the movie keeps dragging on and on.
Why do Indian movies have to stick to the 3 hour time frame and so many unncecessay songs?
Why can't they come to the point?
1.5 hrs was just enough to adequately put the point across, I feel.

The story is absurd, not realistic and hard to believe. I don't think any girl in this era would do what Chaya Singh's character did in this movie. Time and again, she can see that the new husband is being really nice and reasonable to her. Yet, she is adamant that she wants a divorce.
If she is so determined to live with her old lover, we don't see her making any attempt to contact him. The reason given for not contacting him is not really believable. If she goes all the way to divorce just for the sake of her old love, I don't see why she should not contact him to find out where he is and what if, he is waiting for her.

After divorce, also, Parthiban is behind her continuously letting her know that she is still the love of his life. He sends a housemaid (I guessed it right away, even though they break this suspense later in the movie) - the only valuable character in the movie - this lady takes utmost care of Chaya and supports her in her emotionally weak times. When Chaya finds out that this lady is sent by Parthiban, she is taken by double surprise to know that servant maid has not shared any of Chaya's secrets with the person who hired her. Servant maid says - "I have ethics"!

On and on the movie goes, and Chaya sees this interview in TV. Her ex is being interviewed on the road, and he reveals that he has moved on. She is shocked. And slowly she lets Parthiban into her life. Then in the end, they unite!

I wondered what a lucky girl this character is. She must have been born with a silver ladle (karandi, instead of a spoon!!) in her mouth. She was born in the richest family of her town. She always gets a good job, is always well to-do. She could not prevent her wedding from happening (her father will kill her!), but within an year, she is able to divorce him and father knows about it only when it was all done. HA HA! And she gets the world's best maid who would cook, massage and do all the work around the house. Is life so easy? And her husband is ready to win her back even after she insults/hurts him so many times. How lucky can one be?

Not worth watching.

BluffMaster

Another DVD I got from my neighbor. I had just heard the name of the movie, am no Abhishek fan, so never bothered to hunt for it. Now that, I got it for free, I decided to give it a try.

It is the story of a conman, Roy, who is too proud of his bluffing skills. According to him, anyone in the world can be conned. I am not in a mood to explain the story, so to finish up this draft version of the review which has been sitting out here for a long time now- it was an interesting and catchy movie. It sure reminds me of a Hollywood movie, especially the climax - forget which one that is.

For the first time, I liked Abhishek in a movie. He always came across as expression-less to me. Here also, the role would want him to be uptight, but he managed to evoke some emotions in romantic scenes. Like I could believe that he and Priyanka are really mentally close. Priyanka is so beautiful. All the actors did their job well.

I loved the song - Ek Main Aur Ek Tu Hai..
I won't spoil the suspense for anyone, but would say it is definitely worth watching once.

Dhol

Grabbed the DVD from my neighbour who has an awesome collection , which has become my main hope for B's study times, so I can kill time easily with kids by my side.

When I saw in titles that it is directed by Priyadarshan, I became alert. Hmm, this could very well be one of the movies I saw in Malayalam already. And yes it was, one of the classic comedy films etched in my memory form college times. In Harihar Nagar. In this version, the villain is in search of a DHOL (drum) which is a drum loaded with currency - used to be a doll in the Malloo version.

It is very hard to enjoy a movie if you have already seen its original. Especially one which is rated in your mind as high. Anyway, I sat down and watched it, laughed a bit here and there. I laughed for the Hindi jokes - some were original, some I knew right away what the Malayalam version of the joke is. So I could not laugh..I could only review it!

I am mostly nice to everyone - not very hard to please! So I declare that the direcor did a great job with remaking the movie - it will be real fun for the folks who have never watched the original. The actors whom he cast, the selection of the faces - I would say, he did a great job with that too. The 4 guys are good. The heroine is just a fashion babe - nothing great about her. Worth watching only if you have not seen In Harihar Nagar!

Subramaniapuram

After a long time, I came across a very nice Tamil movie which captured my attention right from beginning and held on to it till the very end. So much so that, I felt compelled to watch it in one shot.

Starring: Jay, Swathy, Kanja Karuppu, Sasi Kumar, Samudhirakani. Direction: Sasi Kumar Music: James Vasanthan

It is the story of 5 (or mainly 4) friends in 1980's in Subramaniapuram, a Madurai suburb.

All these guys have beards and initially it was hard for me to tell them apart.Jay is from "Chennai 60028" movie and even though I saw that movie, I could not tell right away for sure which of the cricketer guys in that movie is this guy! I do have a guess and I think I am right.

The movie starts with the beautiful portrayal of the innocent secret love between Alagu (Jay) and Thulasi (Smitha). The scene were Alagu proves to his buddy Paraman that the girl is interested in Alagu is nice to watch. Everything seems realistic and you feel like you are living with them there in that era and at that place.

The story line reminded me of Kireedom (Lal) where to his surprise, all of a sudden, the hero finds himself a criminal and separated from the loved ones. And I was totally shaken to see what happens when the uncle convinces the girl to 'stand' for her family. I would not break the suspense now, but it is a pain to see if a woman is not strong at heart and gets manipulated by emotional blackmail, it could turn too heartbreaking for the man!

And music by James Vasanthan is great . Hard to believe it is his debut. Very refreshing!

Must see movie - if you love watching good movies!

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

"Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi
Yunhi Nahin Dil Lubhata Koi
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Maane Tu Ya Mane Na"

This is the theme song of the movie - I should say - theme song of the college gang in the movie! The song is from an old Hindi movie (aah, I googled it to remind myself of the original movie name and it is Aa Gale Lag Ja..have watched it numerous times in Chitrahaar!) .

And the motto of the movie is - However horrible one may sound singing this, what matters is the feeling beneath!

A super light movie which captivates you entirely - not using any fancy animation or visual gimmicks, but solely on the 'close-to-life' realistic acting of all the people who star in it. Kudos to the selection of artists - Imran Khan and Genelia are too cute to believe! Every actor has made a mark and it is just like watching them all in person in real life.

Songs are superb and catchy. (ARR)..especially the 'Pappu Cant Dance Saala'!

Story is not great. But the narration makes it interesting. The girl who is Jiggy's girlfriend generally does not get impressed by anything. Not at all romantic. But the gang folks narrate to her the story of Imran-Genelia pair and it is interesting to watch how quickly she gets hooked to it.And in the end, she goes to the extent of introducing herself to Imran and Genelia as Jiggy's girl friend. That was cute!

A must watch movie which will transport you to your college days for sure!