Rang De Basanti

Finally caught with Rang De Basanti, though on TV. I was always miserable I missed seeing it in theatre. Now even more so. It's great movie, good fun.

I am as mermerised as Aamir is after he finds out Alice knows Hindi. Too good.
The movie sets it's spunky but pleasent tone right from Alice's reply to her boss :) I was laughing throughout the ad-break that followed.

For once they don't lecture us about history (ok just a tiny bit), but they use the past story to move the present forward. Cinematically all those interlaps were neat ! Morphing Dyer to Defence Minister was scary to say the least. Only thing dissatisfying was the quick actions they take - revenge and their retribution. Fine they realise what they did wrong - when Siddarth goes on-air. But it all went too fast. I guess that's what they were trying to say - drastic actions are no good.

Am all over in love with RDB songs again. Each and every one of them.

Liked the way, the begining of the end was with Ay saala... and finally the actual end with Robaro roshni.

Happy Independence Day !

One of the things, from my last year's list have come true. And rest seem to be on the way.

For this year, I can only add more:

Better security intelligence framework to take pre-emptive actions,

No more floods or farmer suicide,

More road creation - all over India,

along with stricter RTO - for driving license and pollution certificates,

Continue the success rate and good quality in Indian cinema & music industry,

And more strength to RTI ! It's really bringing in positive results everywhere.

Golmaal

If this year did not have so many good movies, I would have declared this one The Best Movie of the year. Well atleast this is definitely the Best Comedy Movie of the year. Not to be missed. It falls in the same category as Garam Masala.

3 out of 3 of us loved it. And the whole theatre audience was with us. Laughing throughout.

It began with a tapping Golmaal song. Sleazy video definitely, but it ends. And then starts the non-stop clean Laughfest. The whole theatre was in splits. I was breathless by the end.

Then, there was another chanting Golmaal song, very infectious again. The flashback-time-travel song, Kyon aage piche, was totally unnecessary but extremely refreshing & well made.

The film hardly had a story. Ok, it did have a four-line story; but we were more concerned about the one-liners. All of them woven around innumerable pranks, along with car chase, heroine chase and finally treasure hunt.

All characters played their part well. The bully Ajay, thali-ka-baigan Arshad, dumb but smart alec Tusshar and his voice, the much bullied Sharmaan. These 4 along with the lovable and very endearing blind old couple - Paresh & Shusmita. And not to forget the Sanjay Dutt bhakt Garage owner, Mukesh Tiwari

Brilliant moments would have to be the one with Jaws track in background and the 'Black-Black khel rahen hain' scene :))

Definitely watch it.

Omkara

Omkara is a good watch. 5 out of 7 of us liked it.

Inspite of knowing what it is about and how it might end (Othello), the movie has a lot more to offer. Power dynamics, which can apply anywhere in the world. Dangers of naivety and being openly vulnerable. And when bad luck piche padtha hain, toh koi nahin bacha sakta. That happens to Ajay Devgan because of his misjudgement. And to Vivek for no reason at all.

The setting is supposed to be the Wild West of Uttar Pradesh. It definitely looked like one. The grand old lady and all wedding ritual songs were from UP. But the dialogues definitely sounded like Haryanvi. That was the only jarring note. For a violent setting, there was immense amount of menace around. And lot of seething anger. But never rage, only cold blooded stuff.

There was a lot of Humor though. For the 'way to mans heart' part, the whole theatre was in splits. Kareena even gave a pause for the audience to settle down - pretty much like it happens on a sitcom. And mobiles phones and "SM". And Rajjo, the comic-villian partner for Iago.

Music was great. Like gemstones on that cummerband. Title track 'Omkara' played to an apt scene to establish the power of Omkara/Othello. 'Beedi' was onscreen crowd-rousing. 'Namak Ishq ka' was beautiful redention, very foot-tapping. Background music was efficient – came up as and when required. And so didn’t give the mandatory headache after the show.

Exceptional perfomances by Saif Ali Khan, Konkona Sensharma and Ajay Devgan.

Ajay Devgan was menancing in a underlying way. And offside, this movie is also a chance to see him shirtless.

Thank God for Konkona Sensharma. What would we have done without her brand of humor in this movie.

Saif Ali Khan/Iago was ultimate ofcourse. All hype about him was well-deserved. Not even a bit of his refined self was in the movie. He was menancing in a very overt way. Much more from 'Ek haseena thi'. And then, the subtlety with which he bites his disappointment - that was a classic display of both his & director’s skill. Subtlety is the key in all power struggles. Inspite of all the guns & violence & freedom for lawlessness around, he cannot announce his conflict openly. Now if he were to receive National Award for this movie, that would be undisputed.

Kareena/Desdemona looked beautiful against the stark surroundings. Detailing was also perfect. She had polished long nails in left-hand and right hand ones with short nail and nail-polish bits. She carried her part well – that of a perky naïve beauty through-out, ending with clueless disillusionment at her most awaited occasion.

Vivek Oberoi, well that role could have been played by a voice-over or nobody at all, and no one would have missed anything.

All other characters were well-etched. The only odd one out would have to be Bipasha. She could barely mouth those heavy gaalis. Nahin hota hain, toh nahin bolna chahiye. Simple bolna chahiye. But she was definitely needed. For the two riveting numbers - 'Beedi' and 'Namak Ishq ka'.