Bajirao Mastani

Ranveer plays the current day Peshwa -prime minister (Bajirao), Deepika the loving Nizami (Mastani), Priyanka the grieving first consort of the great Peshwa minister.

Priyanka is pictured when she's jealous and vanishes when Bajirao and Mastani love. Ranveer exudes a mature poise of a warrior in parts, but can't contain his innate flirtatious body language which doesn't suit the gait of a Peshwa warrior in most parts. He's more used as a lover boy of Sanjay Leela Bansali, who has been flown back in time machine to flaunt his ancient Manyavar kurtas and worked out body, in scenes not involving the battlefield. But his energy levels are uncontainable in scenes involving battles.

In the song Malhari, He would bowl over any human being with his obliterating bundles of energy. The guy can act and it's a fact. While Deepika uses her eyes to force a dagger into our hearts, Ranveer helps her delve with all his energies focused on finishing the move. Such is the fantabulous chemistry between the lead couple.

Inspired by Dewani Mastani, i'm helping myself to a layman's literary piece;

Here goes nothing -
While she strikes a chord with her mandolin, her eyes pierce his heart with the precision of a Olympian Javelin throw, he is sat there not knowing he has lost his heart in the vicinity of his legally wedded wife (Priyanka), to this dancing damsel, who demanded his heart and conquered it, amidst traditions. While her reflections are mirrored onto his heart, his soul is awakened with the enlightenment of love, unconquerable by the hatred of religion, un-swerved by his devotion to country, unfettered his soul roams around her and into her heart, waiting to be the humble abode of his chivalrous love.

My bit ends.

Coming back to the point-

It's just unapologetic love, knowing not the colour of religion nor the bloodshed of battle or the cruel fate scripted by the director :) This couple is an embodiment of love that Bhansali's dreams could conquer and fund:)

Fun Fact - As per wiki, he died of heart attack while inspecting his jagirs. Now Mr. Bhansali likes to taint history for his own story, he likes to kill, buzzkill love and make a memorial Taj out it. Why not, maybe history books would go for his version after all :) I'm using smileys so that you could laugh like in English sitcoms, they presume Indians don't know when to smile :)

Red alert, for Bajirao commands and conquers, fights and honours, loves and hampers,  dies then we go bonkers. We have blinkers and there's poetry thrown around hither and thither, while love and fight get-together. Bansali is so obsessed with failed love that he pens a tragic poetry dedicated to the moment of casualty.

Nothing new in it, it's text book love tragedy served to you with a Mughlai flavour on a Maratha highway eatery that names itself "Peshaworry rest or rent".

I'd still go watch it for rambunctious Ranveer's unfathomable energy and indomitable acting, Deepikas eyes and her subdued predicament owing to love. But then how many would get a chance to stage their love like this lavishly. Guess Eros will be eroded shortly, but Deewani Mastani is still worth it. Hope Bhansali becomes the director of songs for SS Rajamouli's movies

Pic Courtesy: http://ste.india.com/sites/default/files/styles/zm_700x400/public/2015/11/22/434357-bajirao-trailer.jpg?itok=TgT9Biei
Fact Courtesy: Wikipedia 
My Courtesy: Thanks for patiently reading through till the last bit.

Urumeen

Cluttered past, a worn out book that travels ages with a glitter that distracts, overreacted vengeance in the present and a story lost in translation in the engineering debacle of the time

Machine( story lone through ages ):)

The movie starts off with a motion capturesque prelude number one ( flash back 1) on revenge. What we do get from the prelude is a book that's skewed towards soothsaying, favouring the hero who's snitched on by his friend cum snitch in the historic prelude. 

Post this we have an unemployed engineer, his love interest being a junior from college, he gets a job, meets his junior and the senior strikes a chord of love, she's troubled by her infatuated financier. The financier is immolated by one of his prior loanee's, whose sister was seduced and dispatched by the financier. 

The financier has a hip gangster bro, who's the main antagonist to our hero. The villain was also a nemesis to our hero in the past Janma story 1, remember, the man had snitched :)

As the story proceeds towards its logical conclusion, The book keeps surfacing over and again, aiding our Hero's future. 

Then in the past janma version 2, there's nation at his heart and patriotism in his deeds when he's confronted by a foreigner with strip chess. The foreigner loses the games, strips. But in reality he strips Indians like our man, by paying for a snitch, the villain. 

The hero is reminded over and again about the grudge he's been carrying at his heart for ages immemorial. 

He finally succeeds at revenge in the present. 

Bobby is under-utilised and over emoted needlessly. Aggression in facial reaction is over emphasised. Kaliarasan could've been helped by a better script. But this movie is one he will never be remembered for. Sometimes one should remember to forget the Madras Kalai.

The cinematography is good for most parts. The background score is decent.  

Tea is the snitch as water dilutes it :) 

people having watched it will understand I hope . 

Pic Courtesy: http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies/urumeen/images/urumeen-top-ten-songs-1800-nov-26.jpg

Masala Padam

Producer produces for the mass people, critics criticise the mass -masala movies When a producer confronts the ridicule of a critic with a challenge,

Can a rational person :(self proclaimed critic): create ruckus and write a screenplay for a mass masala flick? 

A supposed blogger and a critic takes up the challenge.

There's a journalist with a travel blog supposedly beautiful who's hand picked by the bunch of critics to explore real life situations, to write a script that has all the masala elements of a hit movie .

She's chosen for the pivotal role of the triangular love story, just that there are three guys who are enticed by her . She's just playing them to get a real

Life story for a script. When she realises her mistake,the end, happens to the script.

What are the elements of a masala movie at play in real life with three different men with love for an eye candy? 

The a la carte menu;

Humour (shiva), Romance( newcomer) and Criminality/Action (Bobby Simha)

Now add to that the ajinomoto of love and you're served an exquisite meal of masala Padam. 

Bobby Simha, the criminal,sizzles even when he swerves the dagger with flair in unnerving moments. His prolonged cameo has a lot of depth. Just as he is about to confess his love, he's shot, he goes down when his life's looking up, while heart craves to live and love, 

One last glance at her, as she's rectified of her act, confronted with a fact. 

She was about to bail on him, he graciously leaves, silenced by fate. 

Shiva's presence offers hilarious perfectly timed one liners

Criminality achieves salvation as death helps, for he leaves having loved.

Pragmatism sinks into the middle class humour (shiva) as he settles for mediocrity on the realisation that he's punching above his weight.

Achievement vitiates the heart with the romance of a flirt (newbie)

All the three have gained but she's lost. 

The critics bail out on the challenge as they explain to the producer what sorrow had befallen them. The producer ties the elements of humour, criminality and romance from the critics story with the knot of love and makes a masala potboiler that becomes a super hit.

Watch Masala Padam that derives logic to the stereotypical producers mantra of commercial masala and substantiates it to the common man. 

Pic courtesy - YouTube.com

Ennu ninte moideen (Malayalam)

The love of Moideen and Kanchana Mala revisited - 

The cues of Cupid-  

The rear view mirror, The following, Solving riddles in romance, gorgeous Parvathy's eyes, Prithviraj vintage handsomeness, Rain drops of joy and 

Love unfolds, 

As long as the rivers join hands to submit themselves to the ever engulfing ocean, Kanchana shall belong to moideen says moideen as he writes his way to her heart and closes that pathway forever ( few words translated ). While the eye lashes don the mascara, Nature always plans for rain so that shelters could offer refuge to the two hearts that come together exploring the language of love.

Sometimes it's as though the camera lenses have found their love in the Keralite waters. The night shots in the back waters whet your appetite for nature beauty.

They just love from the first sight at home to the stalking eye at the ladies hostel, while travel, through letters 

The tragedy sinks in- 

This matter of hearts is marred by caste, the Hindu Muslim melodrama, 

Preference to family o'er love,

Moideen's dad takes the brave step of sacrificing his son for the caste, for the two families, Pulls out the dagger to take the life given by him. But the son miraculously survived as his fate was -  to be sucked into water while breathing his last while saving everyone else but himself.

This classic elevates you at times and then you hear a thud as Kanchana's hopes are dashed, as he drowns and is sucked out of life by water. Kanchana Mala waits her turn for twenty years for a union of bliss, greys graciously, loves beautifully but tears up horribly as she's fated to hell. 

A tragedy with heavy sparks of romance that fires up the love crackers that fail to explode owing to the Ill laden droplets of fate that engulf you with sadness.

Pic courtesy: IndiaTV.ru

The Martian

The most optimistic film till date by Ridley Scott. 

Mark Watney - Matt damon, is deserted on a NASA mission by co-astronauts on MARS. How he survives against all odds, with science and without it, is what the story is all about. The movie is Positive, inspiring, friendly, socializing in remote locality, never loose hope'ing, feel good film, thatll make you feel youve spent 2.5 hrs without having observed the longevity of it. 

Damon is solely counting sols(the name for days or whatever, in Mars), hoping to be rescued, happy to see a path finder, nervous to communicate to survive, happy to joke about death, growing potatoes for a living on Mars, "finding the shit out of science" to survive and flew away from Mars like Iron man. 

Matt does it all while his fellow Astronerds come back to get him. 

Experience it! It's pure joy watching him go about Mars, colonising it and confronting Armstrong with what he's done :) 

Pic Courtesy: DNA India 

Talvar

Sharp enough to break open Pandora's box ?

A compromised crime scene, a cooked up story that suits the judiciary, irresponsible police officers, expressionless parents on death -  venting out post death, Our man Irfan investigating and finding the truth, working for  CDI( central department of Investigation), his accomplices working against him. It has laughter in it to suit commerciality and reality in it to suit our thought. 

Should the parents pay the bait for the servant communion's perverted fantasy or is there a scandal involving their ward forcing them to honour kill?

We are given the reality of made up stories - 

One believed to be the reality as researched by the director, the other shown to be the most creative concoction authored, wherein the CDI and the police join hands to scandalise the event. 

Without incriminating evidence, the judge sentences the parents to imprisonment, while we ruminate as to whose version is the most believable recreation of reality/myth. In all of this there's a distastefully flagrant mockery of our police department, the CBI ( aka CDI), the judiciary. 

While the script reaches its finality there's a round table conference in CDI discussing the for and against QnAs of their own judgement wherein there's an infighting amongst two teams within CDI

Team irfan - proficient in acquiring evidence illegally coercing with narco tests 

Team two "irfan down down" - legally concocting stories.

In the end .........legality in reality wins 😛

The viewers have been explained all the interpretations to reserve their judgement, with the verdict being positively skewed towards the directors version.

Just wanted to add a jhinkchack line to it, moderation may be required 

"Nail biting stuff rendered to people along with nail polish 👌"

Watch it before Government departments decide they've had enough with the jokes on them  and try banning it like pornography.  

Pic courtesy: Jungled Pictures and VB pictures, Wikipedia 

The intern

What happens when a seasoned diplomat and a romantic oldie comes out of retirement to go work as a senior intern at a start up? Everything falls in place. 

Robert de niro(the snr intern) uncomplicates the life of the founder of a startup(Anne Hathaway) by lending his wisdom and experience to enlighten her.  Over the two hours, he finds an in house masseuse who's greyed like him, who shares space in his heart, a bestie in Anne, admirers in the form of a co-intern. 

While on his way to our hearts, he makes you smile, learn the good old ways of romance, uncomplicates life and simplifies emotions to make them understandable to the working class. 

The intern steals your heart and leaves you asking for more. 

Watch it for De Niro, Anne, the little girl with an infectious smile, excellent supporting cast and a simple script:)

Pic courtesy- http://t2.gstatic.com/

Yatchan

Two guys involuntarily exchange taxis, one supposed to kill goes on a holiday to act and other one supposed to act goes on a killing spree and kills two for free. The target for the killer is a lady who has premonitions of others death. Seems like this below average script was written by the director and this movie has made history with RJs balajis worst comedy till date. Directors brother tries to take up acting but the script is so bad that he comes out of this trial miserable for having tried. And then comes Arya who normally doesnt know to act and the script doesnt help. The North Indian villian has been given lines and been give a lot of time to deliver those lines. His dialogue delivery is like a failed rehersal of the script over and again. He neither kills nor thrills smile emoticon. Seems like this was the killer from Director of Pattiyal and Arindhum Aryamalum.

Pic Courtesy:http://www.cinepunch.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Yatchan-11.jpg.

Bale Bale Magadhivoy

This Nani starrer is a hilarious take on how a person with forgetfulness tackles the problems his memory poses with his golden heart and spot thinking mind. He has the nerve to love and live for his love while being forgetful on the way about it. A roller coaster ride to an unlikely happy ending as always. 

Nanis natural ability to act is spellbinding and the interwoven humour is timed to perfection. His enticing love interest has done well in her debut I guess. Watch this for Nani, the simple unadulterated humour and uncomplicated script. 

Pic Courtesy: cinema.eeroju.in

Thani Oruvan -

A masterclass from the guy who's been type casted a Xerox machine for his Telugu remakes. Just when you thought this year doesn't have much to offer except Kakka Muttai, Raja comes up with this one... 

An IPS topper takes an oath to topple the mastermind of all criminals.  He hand picks a genius, A master who weaves with his own bare hands a unscrupulous organised crime racket camouflaging himself behind his namesakes/Benamis. The Welfare of society Quotient is high in the heart and mind of the IPS officer, who has spent his life time deciphering the crimes behind the minor misgivings of the society and finally picks his target . It's a battle of wits between the good and the bad unleashed at full throttle. Who comes out of it alive is the question answered with mystery, bugs and romantic intelligence.

When a honest, scrupulous police officer takes an oath and fills his mind with none other than his nemesis  He bleeds loyalty to the society.  With high ideals at play and indomitable will at heart, he plots and ploys every second to command and conquer and comes out of it alive and victorious. 

Brilliant screenplay, sizzling Arvindswamy as the nemesis of humanity, underplayed Jayam Ravi as the saviour, the replayed version of Nayan from Raja Rani- desperate for attention, Thambhi Ramiah plays a dumb head father of a Criminal offering intermittent laughs-  All of them acted to perfection. Decent background score, tolerable music. There's not much more a Tamil movie can offer.

Special mention - Arvind swamy captures the imagination of a classy figurehead of crimes with his body language conquering the attributes of negativity to perfection. He just plays it as though it were his everyday musing. He just ain't a handsome hunk from Roja. He's gonna steal your heart either ways.

"Would you be the guy that puts up with the stench of crime around you or the one who makes an effort dirtying ones hand to clean the society of its misgivings" . Might be the wrongly Translated moral of the movie. With some nice thoughts along the way. 

Watch it as it is one of the best movies out of Kollywood this lacklustre year. 

Pic Courtesy: http://mix.looktamil.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TO6.jpg

Manjhi the mountain man

If you were ever intimidated by the sight of a mountain, here's an ode to the man who conquered it .........

On the blindside Of a mountain lies this hopeless village deserted from amenities, governed by a disgraceful feudal lord and his lusting son. The mountain stands between this impoverished village and equality, development. The path through the mountains to the other side of the world are difficult to traverse . On one such expedition the soulmate of the protagonist breathes her last . 

And thus .....   

A single man ventures out to carve  a Path through the mountain to the secluded village  making it more traversable . He works night and day, pounds the hammer on the stones of the mountain till his muscles give in, not losing sight of his goal ever. His sheer will, Indomitable spirit and his promise to his unfathomable love for his lost one and his aggrieved determination for the betterment of society leads him to lumber through all obstacles and achieve the improbable . Stones give in to his mental strength and give up their grit and bow to the man of steel making way for the conquerer. Without too much emphasis on revenge, bloodshed,  this Herculean task  of laying a path through the mountains is accomplished by  an overburdened superman without an Achilles heel. 

He conquers all the questions that fate had to pose with answers of possibility. 

Thus ends the story with the man being celebrated along the path he laid for future generations. 

Along the way there's some rib tickling humour, one line romances, intimacy of love sculpted to believability, all of which is packed with the all conquering smile and expressive eyes of Radhika Apte,loved and  acted upon to near perfection by Nawazi Sahib. This one is a brave attempt at reality. This movie may even be Bollywood's Shawshank redemption but with noticeable flaws in the commercial script backed by flawless performances from the cast. 

Watch it for Nawaz, Apte.  

Please watch it as it instills at-least an aorta of hope within yourself to move ahead in life.

Pic Courtesy: www.odisha360.com

Bhajarangi Bhaijaan

A topic on national integration showcased without bloodshed is such a rarity these days. It's lovely movie of Pakistani speech impaired girl who's stranded in India owing to her curiosity and is reunited with her parents aided by an Indian evoking sentiments beyond religion owing to a YouTube video uploaded by a reporter.

A speech impaired six year olds' journey from Pakistan to India to be unmuted by divinity ends with her being stranded in India's Unchartered territory beyond the border of Pak.

She wails and cries and then finds Hanumans' devotee Sallu and is somehow amused by his affinity to Hanuman and follows him to his abode. He realises she's orphaned by situation and pledges her return to her parents to Bhajarang Bhali. He has to use unconventional methods to bye pass the border as the girl doesn't have a visa . The guy goes about the border crossing being honest to the Paki army, who allow him to enter Pakistan owing to his star power. Pakistan suspects the Indian in their sight and post return of the girl to her parents, jails him. They're almost as slow to react to things as Indian Movie police. The word "Jasoos" is almost as common as Lemon Juice. But when the cute little girls goes about munching the food she likes, smiling, tearing up, cuddling up to your heart. You'd almost believe anything blinded by her presence. Like when Sallubhai takes a bullet from Pak Army one would think Bhajarangi bhaijaan nikalgaya tera jaan. But then Sallu's need to be himself overshadows the requirement of believability and then he comes back alive walking past the border, pardoned by the Pak army, who refuse the orders of their higher up on the grounds of humanity, in response to a YouTube video filmed by the reporter.


Nawazuddin Siddique's spontaneity, his role of a reporter is short and sweet delivered with a heart wrenching dash of emotion.

Salman Khans' role as a innocent gentleman with Lord Ram at his heart and the will of Hanuman as his aide is very believable for a change. For the concept of once forgotten thing called earning a box office hit is rekindled by Sallu Bhai.

But as Sallu Bhai bids Khudafis as a Hindu and the cute little Paki girl chants "Jai Sri Ram" unmuted by her innocent love for her Mama Sallu, even the most rational heart can feel the emotion.

Watch it for the adorable little girl, reporter Nawaz with a heart and believable underplayed Sallu Bhai.

Pic courtesy: indiatoday.in

Papanasam

A realistic, simple and beautiful movie shot at heart-warming locales with a flawless script and capable actors. When there is eternal sunshine on a spotless script, Papanasam happens. (Name of the movie reproduced). Without comparison to the original. This Tamil movie scores on its own right.

It is the story of how a simple man’s family is affected by the entry of an unwanted stranger into the fold. The stranger has an influential and loving family that is at odds with the simpletons. It’s an edge of your seat thriller that excels with its sophisticated simplicity and marvellous storytelling. Kamal plays a cable operator with a Tirunelveli Tamil accent (aided by Subtitles). He gains all his wisdom from hours of movie watching and television away from his loving home. On one fine day when he returns home all his wisdom would come to his help to dispose the unwanted stranger to never ever land. How the story ensues after the stranger is done away with holds the key to the plot. How the Cable guy uses his acquired wisdom to wriggle out of the net cast by the policemen is depicted with reality, believability and meticulous script work. For once Kamal is not highly intellectual in his work nor is his ability to bring sophistication to simplicity showcased. Yet he doesn’t lose the chance of trying out Tirunelveli Tamil and the complicating scenes of finger fracturing ill-treatment.This kind of a simple role should’ve been what his fans would’ve cried out for after the metaphysical experience they would’ve had in Anbe Shivam.

Kamal as a Cable Guy and the marvelous escape artiste is appreciable.

Gauthami Tadimalla as the wife cant lose her accent but has underplayed the role to an extant.

The Newbie daughter on whom an evil eye has been cast plays the role well.

Kalabhavan Mani sizzles in his role as a corrupt police officer.

The Lady Inspector General with Mallu accent has slight niggles in dubbing but has done well.  

 Though the original with Mohanlal and his natural gift was superior solely because of seamless performances and flawless casting. Papanasam turns out to be a good cinematic experience . Blessed are those who haven’t had the Drishyam of Drishyam.  For they can originally appreciate this movie and the performances without the curse of having seen the marvel of Lal.   In my inability lies my answer to the deserved appreciation of this remake of Drishyam.

Watch it for it "may" turn out to be the best Tamil movie of  Year. 

Pic Courtesy: http://photos.filmibeat.com/ph-big/2014/12/papanasam-movie-poster_141957088500.jpg

Inside Out

Profoundly intellectual at a kiddish level. Inside out makes you turn yourself inside out with joy . It's literally a trip down the memory lane whereby you end up thanking the geniuses behind this mammoth piece of art. A young girl is born into a loving family, her mental journey from having been a baby to being a kid along with her travel from her hometown to a new place and the way she feels alone in an all new world and tackles her want to escape into her past is brought out in this movie . The way her memories are captured by her mind and the depiction of joy, sadness, disgust, fear and anger as characters inside of your brain controlling ones action outside in reality in different contexts was a touch of masterclass. While Joy tries to claw its way back into the life of the host, its sorrow that brings back memories of togetherness with family.  This was a lesson on the functions of the brain so beautifully yet intelligently put across. You get a glimpse of the thought train, the long term memory, vanishing memories, the dream factory, an imaginary friend. All of which are bundled into a interesting dissection of how ones thought process is initiated and put into fruition by the reactionary mind to the external world. Watch this masterpiece that’ll educate you with loads of joy as you may tear up on learning what beautiful animation and intellectual freedom can do to movie making at its pinnacle.

Pic Courtesy: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTtZdvrahQxfjGkSBJCS-uiZKUfJNH4ddsqgCbV5oFkQiQ-tszE

Dil Dhadakne do -

If you let it beat, you'll be beaten up and then will cave in to the demands of heart maybe:)

A family melodrama on a cruise  which ends with the comic voice of Aamir Khan alais Pluto Mehra , the dog of wisdom to humanity.

A wedding anniversary of a dysfunctional couple of upper social class necessitates the journey of celebration on a cruise wherein ;

We find

1. A Dad who has had quite a few affairs, business and marriage being the worst managed of them,

2. A Mother who couldn't manage an affair of her own,

3. A Daughter looking for divorce from her current to wed her past,

4. A Son whose passion is to fly but ends up grouded loving a dancer.

How is one to connect them all into a mess of a movie - we give it up to Dil Dhadakne do ......

Wherein the dad plans to make the latest addition to the family on the grounds of his business and emotional bankruptcy.  He plots for one of his friends to bank roll him out of business woes by relating his son to his friends daughter. 

When the plan goes awry, the son gradually manages to point out the flaws to his parents, only to end up swimming in the Mediterranean Sea to get back to his loved one.

Ranvir tries to belong to the upper class but his colours gradually wore off, as he returns to his original self. Priyanka does well taking a pill to erase her memories of her current dysfunctional relationship with her husband. Kudos to Anil kapoor, who carries the movie on his age old shoulders, the best actor the movie has to offer . Though Anushka doesn't pull off the dancer, she's still worthy of love in her moments of intimacy with Ranvir. Farhan ain't really starring in the movie so no comments.

Overall worthy of a watch with no expectations, If you could appreciate the humour and laugh it off once you get out of the movie hall. Zoya Akhtar," the director of luck by chance", has turned to commerciality on failure of appreciation for her intellect. She uses a dog to impart wisdom to some of us . God bless her with many more successes for Zindagi na milegi dobara!:)

Pic Courtesy:- http://latesthindimovies.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Dil-Dhadakne-Do.jpg

Piku

An outsider Pik s u from hell, experiences it on the drive and then drops you in heaven while being constipated and hilarious at the same time. When in anticipation, constipation is solved, one with the problem passes away to a better place and the ones left behind look at future with positivity. 

It's the story of a irritable family wherein a pessimistic and selfish dad shows excessive indulgence in bowel movement out of fear of repercussions of its outcome and the daughter has to put up with the tantrums of the dad, cometh the old age. An outsider comes up with a solution for the irritability with his practicality and charm. A take on how old age might blow out of proportion certain bodily difficulties and the irritability that comes along with it and how the same is dealt with the calmness of an outsider. 

Extremely funny without being overly profane  though one should enjoy cheap thrills and I admit I did. 

Big B plays the part of the oldie to perfection. Irfan Khan sizzles with his dialogue delivery and effortless  acting. Deepika subtle acting fits her role. Seems like a perfect cast. 

Watch it as Shoojit Sircar weaves the magic of humour with accomplished actors like Amitabh and Irfan, leaves you with his touch of practicality and provides an end of simplicity that is amicable to everyone. 

Pic Courtesy: http://m.ibtimes.co.in/

Uttam Villain

Uttamamana Villana?

NO

This is the story of marvellous actor whose life is fading away with brain tumor. He has to make the most of the time he has left. He comes up with the idea of acting in a movie before he’s been ordained to pass far and away. He approaches his mentor  (“Balachander “)and the person who gave him his first chance at glory, to direct him.   They join hands to create a play named Uttama Villain – “The best of archer”.

The plot of the play goes as under and down under;

The Character Uttaman is made to be an actor who has supposedly gone through the ordeal of actually being believed to be dead more than once but has been brought back to life by fate.  He’s believed to be the person who has shook hands with the clutches of fate and is “Mruthyunjayan” – The Conqueror of Death. The one who is believed to be immortal, presumed to have drunk the secret elixir of life. On the other side of this play lies the Minister, who has pushed the ruling king into oblivion and has become the ruler,  who has been predicted a horrendous death by soothsayers. The former king has a beautiful daughter protected by a pet tiger.  The ruling king desires for this beauty while the beauty unleashes the beast in her to kill the ruler.

So ends the prelude,

The ministers suggest that the ruler should approach this Mruthyunjayan as he might have a chance at avoiding the prediction .  Uttaman is called for and passes the test of Conqueror of Death.  He’s believed to know a mantra which can help the ruler obtain immortality.  Owing to Uttaman’s demonstration of immortality, the king starts to believe that he has a chance to save his life.

As Uttaman extends his stay at the province, he suggests certain ways to the ruler to romance the beautiful princess and win her heart. His suggestion earns him the post of a minister in the court of the ruler.

The Princess meets Uttaman in the dungeon where she’s imprisoned for her act of insanity. She plots with Uttaman to create a play of Bhaktha Prahaladha to  assasinate  the ruler and succeeds. Kamal plays Hiraniyakashibu, The princess plays the part of Prahalada, The ruler plays the Narasimha avatar.

But here Hiraniyakashibu character (Uttaman) plots to kill  Narasihma Character(Rules) by poisoning the nails of the Narasihma Character. Uttaman makes sure that Narasimha character scratches himself by transporting a few irritable insects onto the body of the ruler. The poisoned nails aide the irritability caused by the insects, as the poison drains every bit life left in the ruler. The ruler is ruled out of his life and Prahalada survives. Uttaman turns out to be the ruler of the neighbouring land who wanted to kill the ruler himself.

Thus ends the play within the play with the hope that the audience have been played.

 Uttama Villain because Uttaman – Hiraniyakashibu turns out to be the Villain to the ruler (Narasimha Avatar) in the play (maybe). Also  because in bits and pieces manoranjan(kamal) tries to restore his image of a villain in all the erstwhile affairs of his past and that of his present in the movie. Also played well is the ensuing melodrama of his impeding flight away from humanity.  

Kamal tries to combine the art form of Villu pattu for story telling and Kathakali for enacting the story of Bhaktha Prahaladha. The colours presented to us in the art form are memorable. The historical bit enthuses and the art form enlivens the movie throughout. Except Kadhalam Kadavul munn, “bagabagabaga......”other compositions bugbugbug . Background score ain’t that good. The Screenplay could’ve been better as we walk away applauding this humongous effort of difference. Some of the tamil words used in the movie weren’t understandable to people like me who’ve migrated from Sangam/pure  tamil literature.   This is a puritan Kamal movie for Kamal Fans. But hats off to Kamal for the courage in difference.  Watch it as it ain’t mass and isn’t masala.  Not a short one .....Sorry.(Not so short as the blog name claims)

Pic Courtesy:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Uthama_Villain.jpg

Oh Kadhal Kanmani

Rarely do you lose out on your money with Mani. It's new and refreshing, but the lingo of the two actors was too apparent a struggle for a Tamilian. The message is that you either live with or without, living in and sampling a relationship doesn't hold up for too long when strong love is confronted by the institution of marriage.  Believable acting but lacking the level of portrayal of intimacy required to seduce one into marriage.  A flirtatious beginning to love that sizzles and then fizzles into an all too familiar marriage. Mani gets his lines right, with Carnatic music playing for all moods, with apt actors acting but not dubbing well enough. This might be one of those movies to be forgotten sooner rather than later  if one were to be a Mani Ratnam fan with Alzheimer's! 

Pic Courtesy: Wikipedia 

Hunterrr -re view

Hunterrr - Re view 

Hunt"her" themed hunterrr, isn't a movie portraying decency, for people claiming to be decent, who're ignorant, those of double standards and then actors :)

Orally explicit and visually implicit. Hunterrr hunts down cliches with adult rated reality. Manda might never be the perfect Ganda(partner in Kannada), it's just hormonal imbalance favouring perversion in his formative years of adulthood. When heart takes over, primal instincts are overcome by mind, citing requirement of permanence in a relationship for the welfare of the heart. Years and days start mattering more than minutes of intimacy. As maturity raises its ugly head, Adrenaline goes lower for bodily requirements temporarily, honesty sinks in, to make a life of love that concerns the part that beats rather than ........

Hunterrr is rare in its profanity and honesty. A brave attempt of combining the temporal requirements of a man and things of permanence that realisation could offer. Go watch it, if you could stomach the reality of perversion, many won't !

Pic Courtesy; www.imdb.com

Dum Laga Ke Haisha

You can pull any weight if your soulmate were to be upon your shoulders taking on every moment that comes by, with togetherness. It is about realising the potential of the heart, conquering all the imperfections along the way, beyond superficial judgement, 

Beyond preconceived notions of the mind with regard to the visual definition of beauty, beyond prejudices of the family and society. Sometimes it's beyond you whether you would ever come by this variety of perfect love rendered unconditional by the challenges posed by society. 

Dum Laga Ke Haisa is an emotional potboiler that sinks your heart in believable melodrama. It is a love of sorts that you'd dream of. It's a simple rendering of coming of age compromises in married days and of the coming to senses of an incompatible couple. 

Dum Laga Ke Haisha steals you heart dum laga Ke. Go watch it for the script, the performances, the backdrop and a sense of reality in whatever that ensues.

Pic Courtesy:www.latestnews360.com

Sh amithabh

The Shamitabh - a great tribute to most loved voice by a talented actor in Dhanush.

Balki and his love for one liners and his knack of advertising is on display in this movie. The story is about a talented mute Danish, wannabe actor, being given the strength of sound by Amithabh. 

The film portrays what could happen to talent if one were to overcome an inability through another's ability. It is about the gift of voice to the confidence of the silent. The story that What happens when success dawns on the people with combined identity, egos grow. It involves heated exchanges of words directed at one another beyond the success of combination of acting ability of Danish and the voice that worded it ( Amitabh .With imagination at its core when it comes to voicing a mute's thought, the director has scripted his thought to achieve what seems impossible. It's also reveals the admiration for the voice of a legend. 

Supremely gifted actors show off their performances to make Shamitabh a reality. Dhanush here really stands up to the Icon of an actor Amitabh. He should now have a pan India presence after that. If there was one drawback that Dhanush had for Bollywood, that was his voice, which has now been voiced over by Amitabh in this movie.

And in the climax, the renaissance caused by waning egos and late realisation succumbs to the clutch of fate and the intoxication of success is overcome by the muting silence that follows. After an accidental fate, the drunkard loses his voice, an actor loses his life, there is renewed silence this time without hope as intoxication is muted by the reality of the fate that ensues.

The kick of a whisky filled with a husky voice is subdued by the all conquering water of fate  in this supposed dramedy which ends in a tragedy.

With mainstream cinemas like this, India is heading west as Bollywood heads for a fest.

Pic Courtesy: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTQ4fLho8tJSC_X4U0U4xBl4g_18rUJGz70tcDfo9voAnekNHwN

"I" the review by me:)

It's a magnum opus, it has everything for the eye - Exotic locales, A Greek goddess in Amy, chiseled bodies with that of Vikram, Gravity defying stunts. It's an example of what bottomless coffers could do to Indian Cinema. It's Sponsored by billions and will be definitely watched my millions at the very least I hope. 

Basically it is Beauty and the beast and its supposed to be a feast. Revenge brings out the dope of evil from Shankar, who adds fuel to his fire of gore in his thought process in revenge sequences. The beauty of love lies not in what meets the eye but in that which meets your heart being the moral. The beast of appearance is conquered by the beauty of ones heart if I may reiterate to be clim axe. For Shankars fans' familiarity of Tamil movies may breed indifference, as this is an admixture of appearance from Perazhagan and punishments from Anniyan, except that one is rewarded with life sentence of gore rather than a death sentence of the ilk aforementioned. 

Vikram does his best, he gains a few pounds and sheds it when required like pound were to be a currency. His acting, with loads of makeup still is a class apart from what you would've witnessed. His effort alone warrants a rapturous applause from us. It ain't visible to the eye though sadly owing to a weak plot. He shoulders the unbearable weight of expectation and makes an attempt at punching above his weight. 

Let's come to Shankar, 

He captures the beauty in songs (would've cost the producer 75% of budget) but doesn't feed the beast( of an actor Vikram) with the script. I've always felt Shankar turns  a poet in his musical bits (songs) but then turns Rajini's scriptwriter at full throttle for most parts in the movie trying to please audience. 

Will the beast conquer the masses or will the majority rule against fairy tales is a question that remains:)  

My view is that it's a collage of costly dreams that suddenly awaken you to impending reality. This song keeps going on and on and I shall leave you at that, " Nadu kadalule kappala yerangi thalla mudiyuma . . " 

Pic courtesy: photos.filmibeat.com