Om Shanti Om

Well a "long" over due review at last... Though I wanted to watch this film ever since its release(being a fan of Shah Rukh) my actual procurement of the ticket was an accident. I had gone to book tickets for a tamil movie but could not get continuous seats, so got OSO tickets instead....
I have to admit, Farah and Shah Rukh are both thinking individuals who make a lot of sense. SRK's relentless marketing is a big reason for the movie's success.The way Farah has inserted various nuggets of sarcasm and satire is a treat to the intellectual.....
From the very opening of the movie to the time when the credits roll its one big roller coaster ride through the life and times in tinsel town and Farah manages to keep you guessing and gushing till the very end...
The aspirations and dreams of Junior artiste, Om Prakash Makhija are very easy to relate to and the scene where he meets his supposed GF the superstar, Shantipriya is simply touching. The innocence and freshness of the character is portrayed with flawless ease by SRK. The love,meeting,saving,meeting between the two leads is all very beautiful and nice. Shanti's unhappiness and apathy is understandable. ( "the best part in shooting is pack-up", she says).The film at this point moves ahead without faltering and on Om's advice, Shanti claims her happiness from her hubby Mukesh, a producer. He of course is the villain and not wanting to put an end to his blossoming career and wanting to marry another producer's daughter, very cleverly deceives Shanti and kills both her and the loving yet helpless witness to the murder, Om. The second half is pretty much vindication by the re-incarnated Om with the help of a look alike Shanti- Sandy. Its a bits and pieces story from various sources moulded into one complete effective screen play.....
In this movie the highlight is the way Farah takes a dig at every thing and everybody that is Bollywood. She spares no one eventually turning the gun on herself and SRK himself. The irony behind the name "Kapoor" is cruel as SRK himself is a self made man.The elaborate sets and the make up is a visual treat though SRK does look a little old. Coming to Deepika... where can i start?? WOW!! She is one hell of a babe and a Heroine. She looks the part of a superstar diva of the 70s. (the make up does help..) The Dhoom Tana song is one technologically proficient song which is kewl to see. The transition and the insertion of Deepika into the songs of yester years along with the sound track is fantastic. Hmmm.. One can go on..
So anyways coming back to the movie.. All the actors involved put in a clean and efficient if not great portrayal. Arjun Rampal as the villain nearly steals the show. He is very very good or is it bad (being a villain :) :))....
One more revelation. I always thought that underplaying a role is the best way to bring it out on screen, but Farah proves me completely wrong as far OSO is concerned. Here every character plays the ham, literally hogging the lime light. Over acting seems to be the key word. But of course everybody is a caricature so it works. ( and how!!) The line by SRK that its a family trait says it all.....
All together the film for the most part is a laugh riot (satirically dry/witty humor combined with some side-splitting spontaneity) touching in some parts, and pretty unbelievable and tacky in a very few places. Bottomline- a super duper hit!!!
Some Things To Look Out For : DEEPIKA, DEEPIKA, SRK's Abs in Dard-E-Disco and the song itself, The scene when SRK plays the Tamil star (Rajini I assume- totally hilarious), The Filmfare awards, MOHABAT MAN and some beautiful songs.
Things You Should Not Even Think About, Let Alone Look Out For : Logic, Underplaying, Story, Dialogues that are not corny, anything that is not 70's.
P.S.: I really appreciate Farah for the credits. She finds a way to bring everybody in and make it unique and lovable too.. And kudos to Deepika to become a real reel super star (could not resist).
So thats all folks. Ill leave you with a " Enna da rascala ?? MIND IT!!!"

The Case of The Alter Ego

I have been thinking. You know all those comic books we've read. Those with the super heroes... You know- Superman, Batman, Spiderman, He-man... Ya they were thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable no doubt. The heroes were our heroes and basked in the lime light (well deserved undoubtedly). But what of the alter egos... what of Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, Prince Adam..??? Poor guys...
Clark Kent can never marry his love for the minute he marries her the cat will be out of the bag. And what more he is forever identified as the stammering, mild mannered irritatingly normal guy.
Bruce Wayne. Worse. Has to portray himself as a money laundering play boy. Has to hide his intelligence. Has to hear people say that he is good for nothing and a disgrace to his family name....
Peter Parker can never have time for his life. Love?? He doesnt have time to even deliver a pizza..
Prince Adam. Hmph a teenager like me and I for one dont know how he takes it. Forever being tainted as a spoilt brat, lazy and cowardly and that too by a girl and that too by such a beautiful one as Teela.. Gad!! If it was me I would have spoken out long long back.
Maybe this is the price they have to pay. A costly price surely.
No good deed goes unpunished eh??
Well there are ppl like me whose heart is with you oh alter egos.. So people kindly co-operate and the next time you read a comic or see a cartoon commiserate and appreciate for at least a fleeting moment the sacrifice that these alter-egos the real heroes make...
Thank you.

ah.. life

Well its been a long time since i was last here and to anybody who cares i promise to return more often. Atleast with shorter versions of my usual versatile self...
So as per the subject i feel justified in talking about life.. not that i have seen enough of it but because i have not..
i just want everybody to know that sadness is a feeling totally out of the ordinary and not necessary at all..
But the question i often get asked is " what do I feel happy about? or Why should i feel happy?" and to all those people I just say- be happy that you are.. that you live. that you can breathe..
so people keep celebrating your breath and hence life itself..
Untill next time!

INDIA DENUDED

The talk of the day i guess is nudity. I have a couple of points to make and what better outlet than a blog?? I saw this news channel yesterday having a debate on the matter at hand.. To bring those of u who are bewildered up to date.... An arts student called Chandramohan painted a couple of nude renderings of hindu gods and jesus christ. These were exhibited in a private examination hall of his institute as the paintings were part of an examination process. Anyway a mob of activists supposedly belonging to some political group entered the hall without permission and destroyed the paintings. Chandramohan was arrested following this on grounds of hurtin the religious sentiments of the general public. Later the dean of the institute who protested against this arrest was suspended by the vice chancellor and he mysteriously disappeared. Anyway in the news channel NDTV to be precise the matter on debate was not Chandramohan but on nudity. The tv channel seemed to take the view that we the people must be more broad minded and take nudity in our stride. Well i ask the anchor this: How will she feel if the painting is of her and not the gods...
will she continue to vociferously support artistic freedom?? Yes Chandramohan was treated shabbily by the Govt. The activists had no right to step into the premises of the institute without prior notice and permission. But that does not justify the student's mistake. Is this what you want your children to grow thinking?? That it is allowed to defile the sentiments of others??
The question is not of religious belief. The question is of respecting the sentiments of your neighbours. And another very funny thing happening was the list of celibrity guests who were brought to the debate who were saying "much ado about nothing" then why were they on the show?? Really.... now... Is that the level of intelligence of the average news watcher??? What do they take us for?? I think it is time the news channels realised that their job is to present the NEWS and not their take on it.....

hitler and humour...

All politicians are humorists. They cut a lot of jokes. Usually the jokes concern them, withemselves as the main protagonists. The jokes are in extremely good taste, contrary to what one would expect.. The jokes usually go something like this.. " I am your saviour", or " Your future is secure in my hands" or " I will abolish poverty in this country" or even a simple" Trust me." But the greatest thing is that politicians are not just humorists, they have a profound sense of humour and that infinitely rare capability of laughing at ones own jokes... It is sad though, that most people cannot appreciate these jokes. They never laugh. What is sadder that , some even go to the extent of believing these jokes. So while our politicians have laughing fits while giving speeches, people give them these sincere faces filled with pride and worse.. faith.... Of course these things are harmless.. Only when the politicians themselves start believing their jokes that things begin to look dangerous..Then a metamorphosis happens. Out goes the politician and incomes... you guessed right.. the dictator... Take Hitler, for instance. I believe that Hitler and i have a lot in common.. I,like him,am trapped in a monotonous and mundane proffesion (engineering) while not being able to let loose my creative genius. Hitler you might be knowing was an artist, but had to take up several mundane jobs for survival. But not achieving financial success in any of them he was not able to give his full to art.I personally think that he had a lot of promise and that his paintings were good if not great.Thus he became disillusioned with the world, went to jail, and there as a humour outlet was born the Mein Kampf, a joke book, to laugh at during hard times. One of his first and probably the funniest. But he found that no one was laughing and when he spoke, he saw the same faces that todays politicians see. Here is where he leaves my path. For instead of laughing and being happy, he foolishly believed those around him, meaning he started believing his own jokes.. So out went the humorist and incame the dictator.. So people, learn to laugh.. at your own jokes and others'. Of course, please dont believe them, for that is how a monster is born....

the world around me..

In this world, I am surrounded by filth, scum and dirt.. Corruption surrounds me, stifling me, poisoning my mind.. Every person i see is corrupt. If not in action, atleast in thought...
But what hurts most is hipocrisy. Hypocrites are the worst kind of scum. They are obnoxious, giving off a nauseating, horrible smell. With their patsy smiles and do gooder attitudes they drive one crazy. None is genuine. Everything they do a farce. Love, hate, affection, generosity, pity, anger.. everything a lie. Even normal day to day politeness an act..
There goes one.. oh! the smell! How i wish i could smash that act, kill the hypocrite,kill him!! kill him!! There goes another one.. Oh! no! he is turning. Look! He is coming towards me. The smell gets worse. He is nearing me. There can be no mistake now.. He wants ME!..Quick!Quick! Put on that mask. Come on! quick! adapt that smile. He is in front of me.. ah! just in time!! saved by a whisker.. The stench is unbearable..
" Hi machi! How are you??"
Now i know where the stench came from...

GURU

I was thinking that maybe this film does not deserve my criticism.. but all said and done, it is "Maniratnam"....
Well getting a ticket in itself was a big challenge.. but lucky me, I got an elite seat, that too a center one. But all that hard work was not justified.... at least not completely. Starting with the disclaimer, things did not ring true. It claimed that "all characters were fictitious and any resemblance to existing persons was pure coincidence." Pure irony.Maybe the director meant it that way.....
The initial portrayal of guru as a sales boy was as "Mani" as it gets... and Abhishek Bhachan has to be commended for the seam-less transformation....
Aha! Now here comes the next false note. It has to be noticed that Aishwarya Rai is a wee bit too old to continue to dance in the rain with abandon... and none of her reactions in this part of the film are natural...Though she does get better with time...
As said before, the disclaimer is a mockery, the story,if it can be called a story,is about Dhirubai Ambani.
Abhishek gives us a good,if not the best portrayal of the character. The Shakti corporations idea,his struggle to get there,the strifes,the roadblocks,the helping hand,etc.. is believable(barely). But the film drags...around here,losing its initial pace,uncharacteristic of Maniratnam.
Then theres another infusion of pace as Madhavan is introduced. The actor deserves credit as he produces another of his superb,underplayed cameos..
Chakraborthy is a revelation. I cant imagine why the actor was in for such a long hiatus.
Vidya Balan pulls the pace down further, as her character in itself only bogs down the pace,but she is natural and honest in the portrayal of a chirpy but handicapped girl...

So these are the films plusses: Abhishek to a certain extent,Mithun Chakraborthy, Madhavan,great background score and really powerful dialogue.
and these are the minusses: Aishwarya Rai,A needless Vidya Balan(though no fault of her own), less usage of Madhavan,needless song and dance sequences,a meandering screenplay and ofcourse lack of the "Mani" stamp.

But the director does redeem himself with the last dialogue sequence,followed by the hero's address to his share holders. These two scenes coupled with Abhishek's screen presence manage to bring the movie back to a semblance of being a MANIRATNAM product.....