Of smart quips, demanding wives and battered husbands

A bustling crowd greets Farhan and Vidya with whistles and cheers in a scenario more reminiscent of the single screen audience reactions than a pretentiously sophisticated crowd that usually muffles its giggles in multiplexes. It makes me wonder if it is the remnant magic of  Bhaag Milka Bhaag and Ooh Lala playing up here or simply the effect of the clever acting of Farhan in ZNMD and Vidya in Kahaani.  Whatever the answer that will never be known the phenomenon speaks of the popularity of the actors reflecting reactions that once were reserved for Mr.Bachchan. And the reaction even before a single dialogue has been spoken. The crowd was clear in its cheers. It was here to enjoy and have a blast.

Saket Chaudhary does not disappoint them as he put together an extremely witty funny roller coaster of a ride of a young couple that executes personal sexual fantasies more found commonly in the advisory columns of tabloids on “ How to spice up your sex life”. In hilarious opening scenes the director sets the context on what to expect going forward and the lead couple stamps their authoritative execution of their well-designed roles.

The couple leading a carefree life is thrust into the midst of serious parenthood accidentally. However the plot there also gives free rein to the writers to let loose all their stowed away jokes on happiness and boredom in marriages, the clichéd developments of parenthood and subsequent misunderstandings. There is a hilarious ride till the intermission reminding one of a fast paced Hrishikesh or Basu Chatterjee film. People actually howl with laughter at some of the jokes and it makes one happy to see people so happy and gurgling with naughty laughter.

The young and middle aged audience identifies well with the travails of the young couple and that to a certain extent explains the thigh slapping and cheers at every punch line which is plenty in the first half.

And then the famous curse of Indian Films strikes the film. There is no story left to propel the film forward and the director and his writer are left with no plot machinations to drive the story or to keep interest from flagging down. Watching this movie late night post intermission can then be actually challenging and if you keep your interest wide awake it is thanks to the outstanding efforts by Vidya and a simple seamless in role definition and cool characterization by Farhan. They seem cut out for the part.

Vidya does not seem to have any qualms about the need to look like a zero size actress or anywhere close to that. While that is brave and refreshing it almost borders on the ‘do not care’ attitude. Farhan is effortless in the first half and then strain shows in his depiction post interval as he picks up the burden of keeping the movie going despite lack of a dramatic plot or twist. You start wondering about the purpose of the movie at this stage.

The music is practically nonexistent and where it does exist seems to represent a musical sutradhar. Totally forgettable.

So the script and screen play reign supreme in the initial stages and you feel like giving a four star for the first half and a 2 for the second half finally ending up with a weak average overall. Do not wish to reveal any of the punch lines as it just kills the film. Watch it and laugh out loud!

Vidya does seem to exhibit a streak of overconfidence in her acting in this movie and one hopes it was more of an aberration and or a demand of the script not fully utilized. No complaints with tongue-in-cheek master Farhan. Clearly the actor is already sitting in the top bracket of great actors without making a noise.

So do accidental babies create strife in marriage or do they help renew and strengthen the sinews of bond in the couple.
Do watch and laugh. However keep snacks handy for the second half to keep you occupied.

One of those rare movies you recommend despite wanting to give it only 2 ½ stars

**1/2

You are now on the highway. Please Applaud !

I have a  soft corner for Imtiaz Ali. Dating back to an interaction two decades back. I almost stood up when I first saw Jab We Met. The surprises at every corner of the road travelled by Shahid and Kareena were absolute delights. He evoked a classy sense of humor in Love Aaj Kal and then I watched with disconcert not sure if I had liked RockStar. Having been drunk on the heavenly music of the movie by Maestro A R Rahman and after practically selling Pataka Guddi to everyone who wanted to hear, the wait for the movie was finally worth it.

The verdict straight away. I wanted to stand up again. Just microscopically short of being a marvelous and a great movie. The opening kidnapping scene takes you back to Roja, when another master Mani had led you to the hills and captured them with the camera caressing nature careful not to pollute it with attention too much. I bit my lips praying that the wonderful songs by ARR were not tucked into the screenplay to pop up jarringly to justify themselves.


The film is not about a story. It is about treatment. It is about loving your country well enough to make it appear more alluring than a dozen other over rated countries. It is the ability to see beauty as much in a  whole row of dilapidated trucks lost in time as in a snow laden country racing by, or taking the road less traveled alongside a river with virgin gurgling waters.


The protagonist Alia lands up, in a sequence of events, on a road journey with her apparently malicious perpetrator. Being on the run is not used as an excuse to showcase scenery but knowingly used as a tool to allow the individuals who are hurting from deep within to  unravel themselves. If you do not allow yourself to be sucked into their lives you may find the plot-line dreary because you cannot connect with the alternating misery and happiness of the main leads.


The girl is from a wealthy and powerful family and appears gung-ho about life. Till the road journey scratches her surface provoking her to abandon efforts to get back to her cozy life and instead tease out the wound which appeared to have healed externally but is hurting deep within. The experience mirrors in the male lead Randeep's evolution in the journey. Brilliantly interweaving personal stories within the main matrix of a kidnapping used as a tool to lay out the emotional wares, Imtiaz is simply outstanding out doing himself in the process and marching into uncharted territory without sacrificing the entertainment index.


Talking too much particulars and specifics of the movie will actually destroy the experience of watching it and the hard work put in creating the various moments an accumulation of which actually completes the experience, will be lost. Softly nudging the story along is AR Rahman with his soulful numbers never ever appearing out of place and taking care never to intrude into the narrative and when it does with Pataka Guddi,  Alia simply traces out the music with her fingers in the air. She even sings a lullaby with not a note lost.

There are many winners in this movie. Randeep Hooda, a wonderful actor who has been floundering for some time now trying to make a niche for himself has found his cut with this role. He performs it with the right amount of restraint never once going overboard or hamming to overwhelm his own character.

Director Imtiaz Ali brings a lot of serenity with his very clear presence behind the camera. The editing is seamless aided by great photography except when camera shots on top of a truck giving the front and the back views are totally disconnected, the rear camera showing a well tarred road and the front one showing  a narrow rough road. Obviously very bad editing at that point. Perhaps they thought no one would notice it but it jars!

There are wonderful real people all along the screen play and they live up to their individual roles with natural vigour creating memorable characters. Imtiaz merits each character in the story with a unique ness that allows them to stand out on their own and make a mark in the few moments that they are on screen. Last seen only in Lagaan or Swades.

And as for the main female lead. Dare I say that this is the performance of the year? Perhaps in the last few years only Vidya Balan has come this close with her natural flair in Kahaani. Here we see a full throated performance from Alia who gives herself up to the director and his vision. This is one of the most spirited natural performances in recent times. Be ready to get choked in a final long gut wrenching climax carried on shoulders fully by the young girl. The signs of a star certainly.

Want to be surprised?  Want to flush the bad experiences of some bad movies recently? Enter this Zen like audio visual experience. And you will not regret. So why not a full five star rating. Because the film is allowed to intentionally flag at some places making the narrative appear to be taking a pause. But this is highly debatable in terms of the impact they could have on the final output.It is the total sum of all the effects that complete the experience for the audience. It is difficult to believe that the movie has not been shot chronologically. So perfect is the transition from scene to scene. This is a craft difficult to create and easy to comment on. For today I will just applaud! Well done Imtiaz!

Pataka on the Highway !

Ok so how am I accomplished to be reviewing music from the upcoming movie Highway or from any movie for that matter. Do I know my Sa  from my Ga from my Pa. But then the movies and its songs are for consumers like me so I guess I can dare to make a comment on what appealed to the ears and what did not, maybe without any grandiose references to ragas to exhibit literary knowledge of music.

I am an unabashed fan of A R Rahman, the man who introduced new sounds to the movies. After RDB if there is anyone close to that eternal creativity it is ARR. As a common man the unique specificity that I notice in ARR ‘s style is his attention to allowing all instruments take a life of their own without getting lost in orchestration and then the new voices springing forth like fresh flowers blooming in a nursery.

The first song that I heard of Highway was Maahi Ve and my spirits dropped. Not because it is a bad song but it looked like an old road travelled on. ARR goes into his “Maa tujhe salaam” pitch. Like ARR songs it grows on you but the sound is certainly not new. There is a rhythmic beat obviously reflecting a linear movement across a road with clear skies. Reminiscent of Yunhi Chala chal. My heart started to sink too prematurely and then I heard “ Phataka Guddi”

Phataka Guddi just blows you away with the first hearing. ARR picks up the wonderful Nooran Sisters outstanding exponents of Sufi music and obviously got noticed by the master at the MTV Coke studio and for their Allah HU rendition. 

The song starts with keyboard modern sounds  suddenly overwhelmed by the boisterous Sufi sounds of the young girls. There is so much energy and enthusiasm that makes you want to rewind and hear them repeatedly. The use of flute is absolutely heavenly. The lyrics are something. Phrases like “ Sajje Khabbe Dhabbe killi ho”  complementing the wonderful claps that rhythmically accompany . The ending Kukuku is a bit jarring though.

Having sensed the potential of this song ARR decides to use it in a male voice – his own though he tries sincerely to avoid his high pitch Ma tujhe salaam style.  

There is a strong Punjabi  stress to the lines though some mouthing of words like sharf khuda ka and jarf khuda ka do not seem to come out effortlessly. But Ali Ali is just beautiful. The song keeps shifting tracks into various velocities of arrangements as if ARR did not want you to remember the Nooran Sisters rendition. He succeeds. The song grows on you after 4 to 5 hearings.  The sudden rock at the end surprises but I guess it is driven by the script that demands it. One still thinks that there was scope for a full-fledged rendition by a couple of male singers of the original Phataka Guddi without altering the rhythm.

Then the album treads into a “been there heard that “ with Kahaan Hoon Main By Jonita Gandhi. It is sadly forgettable.

Wanna Mash up seems to have strayed wrongly into this album because it is actually likeable and seems like an odd song out. It has some great beats and some enthusiastic rock singing by Kash and Krissy from Singapore. Again one marvels at ARR’s ability to dig out talent and springboard them into  popular space.        

Sooha Sooha for some reason reminded me of Ahista Ahista from Swades. Alia Bhatt makes a nice attempt in  a child’s voice. Apparently it should be a lullaby.

I honestly struggled my way through the other songs like Tu Keja and Heera. But some songs take a life of their own when you watch it on the screen aided by skillful direction. And when it’s an Imtiaz and ARR combination it is something to look forward to.

Conclusion “Just for Phataka guddi versions I would give it a full 4 star” Great music ARR and Imtiaz!

Self Parody by the Drama Queen - Suchitra

This book true to its name evokes bizarre emotions! The build up to the book release, the high profile author, buzz in the media and the possible scope for sensational revelations is enough to arouse curiosity even in lazy readers like me. Suchitra Krishnamurthy is a film actor who had a sensational release with Shahrukh Khan many years back in Khabhi Haa Khabhi Naa. People sat up and took notice of a pretty petite youngster who breezed through her role with confidence coming in from her successful brush with TV in Chunaoti.  

Suchitra has also dabbled successfully in various forms of creative art like painting, singing and of course writing. It is evident that people tend to now recognize her more for once being married to director Shekhar Kapoor who made the brilliant Bandit Queen and Mr.India and then went international. It is not for us to conjecture on what went wrong between them, but her latest book Drama Queen does on many occasions touch upon a residual bitterness evoked in a comical fashion with references to her inadequate alimony.

Humour. That then is the intended mood of the whole book as Suchitra goes on a wild trip down recent memory lane with herself, relating in fascinating detail her various trysts in life, her ‘Bindaas’ attitude drawing shocked reactions from her mother who incidentally becomes almost the main protagonist when she starts bouncing off all her travails using her like a mirror to review her own behavior. 

She does deride herself quite a bit and she does sound pretty serious when she writes about a proposal to Ram Gopal Verma and his reaction to it. I thought it was more an effort to get it ( the incident) out of her system and end the sense of humiliation which she must have felt after what she must have later realized it as a not so desirable act. Writing and mocking herself, relating the various anecdotes is probably a sort of cathartic process for her.

The book begins very promisingly. It does hit you like having strayed into a long  catty Facebook conversation of friends. You do break into grins frequently at descriptions of some situations where she wants to get rid of some ‘nose in the air’ society’s clownish friends or marvel at her detailed description of the tryst in the director’s office, her frank confessions of her actual relationships with her friends and family though you start squirming when she enters into pet fornication territory which I thought was out of place.

The books keeps you on a attention leash till half way as you already have a clear picture image etched out of the protagonist and her parents but one starts drifting when the narration tends to get repetitive with nothing new happening. 

The book tends to lose you when you start asking yourself “ Yeah got this , what next “ and then there is no answer.

The book will appeal to all gossip hungry readers whose avarice extends to seeking bliss in voyeurism through words that describes the author’s otherwise private space.

It is brave writing exhibiting the talent of a woman uninhibited by her circumstances and may appeal to readers having  a curiosity about the afterlife of a wonderful petite actress who disappeared from the scene and has reappeared on the creative canvas once again to make a mark.

Vrooming out of Dhoom !

( Public notice :-As a good practice watch the movie and then read the review:) )

 

The stern Visa officer stared at the three people seated in front of him.

He was curious. He looked at them. One glum, the second one grinning for no apparent reason and third with Lincoln thoughtfulness all over his face.

He had been told that they were movie stars wanting to go to his great country

‘Why do you want a visa? ‘ He asked while looking piercingly at them

One of the gentlemen piped up, his index finger resting thoughtfully on his philtrum giving a very calculated answer.

‘Uh Umm we are off to make a  movie’

‘Wow movie star. Mumbai film industry. You slum dogs. That was one heck of a movie’

‘Uh Umm you see we are not slum dogs. Well not a bad idea. Maybe next time I will research for that role but now it’s for a movie about bikes”

The officer was curious ‘ Bikes?’

‘See basically the truth is (purses his lips) I am off to make a movie on myself”The actor clarified.

‘Uh..On you?” the officer asked perplexed.

The actor gives a small grin with wrinkles that travel unto his narrowed eyes and a generous dimple forming on the right side. This was not just any grin. It had been perfected over decades of calculating with precision of just how much to smile.

‘Ah ha, well I hate to be truthful, but yes. You see umm  ah.., the story is about a bank there represented by one wooden face and two sidekicks who refuse to save a Broadway type circus show. The father commits suicide. The son he leaves behind umm ah.. grows up to be me. I have in the meantime only one mission in life. To keep robbing that bank.  The person who refused loan to my father is now the President of the bank with two more wrinkles added to his face. I keep outwitting them”

“Wow interesting story line” the officer, his curiosity aroused, continues

‘So how do you rob the banks?‘

The actor smiles benignly.”Ha-ha that would be revealing. Aha. Cannot reveal that.In fact we never reveal it in the movie as well. We just show me entering and exiting the bank with a shrewd look on my face. So you will gather that I have been successful. I also exit most of the time in Matrix style. You know like walking down buildings along the walls. The stupid bank folks. Never ask me questions as I rig up expensive support gear on their terraces to travel down later. I just make sure that I put up my best grim ‘Gotcha’ look on while apparently coming down the building in Superman Style”

The officer looks piqued “Ok I hope you do not make our police look stupid”

The actor clarifies “aha no we don’t want to do that especially after you have given us permission to shoot around the most picturesque locales in your country. We outsource your failures too – That’s where these two come in“ He says pointing in the direction of the two gentlemen sitting to his left grimacing and grinning goofily.

The custom officer looks at them “ Hmm…But do they not work in tandem with anyone there”

“Well you see this guy with the goofy grin actually will work with one of your best female officers who solve cases of robbery by correctly identifying that the act has indeed been done by a thief. We wanted her to be the love interest of this goofy grinning guy who incidentally is also the producer of this film. The other gentleman is a legacy that I have to carry on in this version which is actually revolving around me and me alone “

The officer looks at the other two with a worried look “But then why take these two if they are not around in the movie anyway”

The actor gets worried, narrows his eyes and clarifies “See I am part of the main movie where we try to match Hollywood sophistication in special effects, great set pieces and costumes and outstanding photography. We create computerized havoc on the streets of your city without hurting anyone. But the Indian masses also need some nonsense tapori style stuff like Chennai Express. So I reasoned with the producer here allowing him to have a small parallel track with chawls, auto rickshaws doing embarrassing things, street lingo. Now please note that it is a completely independent track totally apart in intelligence from my own track. I am just doing it to help the distributors”

The officer is not sure he understood what was being said but prefers to shift to the next query lest he look silly. “What about your heroine?”

The actor narrows his eyes, gives his special wrinkled smile “Heroine hahaha you are joking right. When I act, it’s only me the audience watches. But then I had to help my producer friend here and allowed him to allow his favorite heroine to come in between all my important scenes and perform aerobics in sponsored lingerie from famous fashion lines’

The officer is now nearing boredom “Ok I get the picture. I understand you wanting to shoot in my country. But I still do not understand how you solve the problem and why you are seeking to shoot the climax in Switzerland, Verzasca dam”

The actor quickly glances at the producer actor sitting next to him. ”Well it’s a bit embarrassing. This producer here owes his allegiance to Switzerland from a long time.  He wants to maintain his special privileges there and wants to shoot at least one scene over there.Though I intended to walk up the bank building on the wall in the end, I gave in, compromised on my superior script sense and agreed to complete the climax of this masterpiece on the wall of this arched dam”

The custom officer looks at the third hero who has been sitting glowering away. “ I understand these two. Who are you? “

The man is angered “My dad is a big actor and I am the hero of this movie “ He glowers.

The officer is quickly bored turns back to the chief actor who has been talking

“Ok, gentlemen I think I will grant you folks visas though I was told to not release any fresh ones till you put the cement barricade back on the road. But I have a feeling that the monies you expend will pump back energy into my economy. So fine. Just hope you are not planning to take any maids along with you?”

The actor turns back smiles benevolently the dimple appearing again.

‘No not this time but am planning to make a movie “TAI Zameen par”

The customs picks up his stamp and hurriedly stamps the three passports.

The blog is born

A lazy Sunday. Staring at the desktop screen. Side glance at the laptop which has had my official attention for all of the morning. I hate working Sundays. The current work scenario does not leave one with many choices. Either you  don't work and encounter dreadful face offs in the following week or work now and heave tiny sighs of relief later.

I have never blogged before. Blogged as in really blogged. I have been rambling off on many websites pouring my emotional outbursts over issues, sharing travelogues on social networking sites, and sharing pictures with selected few ( after all what are pictures for if not to be seen by others) and yet the sharing has always been disparate and not structured. 

So is Blogging a bigger responsibility?  Like an Epitaph of your thoughts that will remain in the public domain for a long long time to come ? Here lay the remains of the thoughts which are no longer relevant to today's times. It will certainly reflect on maturity of the thought processes when reviewed in a different time zone.

And how does this look to a standard reader. Why would a reader want to really read some one's blogs unless it was an actor or a famous sport star, whose minds they may want to pry into and take the vicarious pleasure of delving into their thought processes. Are these people the same as they behave in public.

So what then happens to public members like me. We write as we speak and think. Does it matter to the reader. 

So there my first blog. Let me see how this works :)