Silent Waters
Topic: Movies

Silent Waters. Very nice movie. More information at - http://www.netflix.com/WatchNowMovie?movieid=70011223&trkid=203073.

Many movies have been made based on India - Pakistan partition and its effects on the people of Indian sub-continent. No movie has touched the subject in such a unique way that this movie touches.

If we know even little about the brutality and genocide that took place around that time, it is not difficult to see that this story is strongly influenced by some real life incident.

The movie is about a woman who is left behind when her family escapes to India. She continues to live in the village which becomes part of Pakistan. She lives like any other Muslim of the village.

Things get hot when one Sikh among the Sikh delegation starts meeting her. Even today, Pakistan allows Sikhs to visit their sacred places which are now in Pakistan. So, Sikhs do get to visit their sacred places once in a while.

This Sikh gentleman is sure that this Muslim woman is his sister who was left behind when rest of the family fled to India. Encounters between the Sikh and this woman opens up a Pandora's box in that little village. How it affects her son, rest of the village and how the woman reacts to the proposition that she was Sikh's sister make up rest of the movie.

Kiron Kher, as the Muslim woman, fantastic. I think it is her best performance to date.

It is more than 50 years now since that vicious incident happened. The genocide was unimaginable. The whole trains full of dead people traveled from this side of the border to the other side. Trains coming from Pakistan were to be full of Hindus massacred by Pakistanis. Violence only breed violence. Some trains were sent across the border with Muslims slaughtered. Imagine whole trains full of dead people. If there was woman, she was raped before murdered in most of the cases.

This train incident is well documented in many movies and books.But there are many such little known heart wrenching incidents such as men folk killing their own women folk because they felt it was better for their womenfolk to die in honor by their own husbands and fathers than die a violent death after getting raped by mobs. In some cases women were coaxed to commit suicide and in some cases men folk closed their eyes and simply shot their wives and daughters. This movie does not show any of this gore much but all along the movie it becomes clear that this woman was one left to die but somehow refuses to commit suicide by jumping into a well, rescued by some good Muslim man, gets married to him, becomes Muslim and lives like that this Sikh gentleman relentless pursues here and digs into her past.

This movie is going to haunt you for a long time.

Cheers!

Powered by Qumana

Bheja Fry
Topic: Movies

Bheja Fry - funny movie. Movie based on awkward comedy. Vinay Pathak is way too good. He carries the entire movie. Rajat Kapoor, Milind Soman chip in with great performances. Short and sweet movie. 1.30 hrs. Director Sagar Ballary dserves serious kudos.

Available for download from Desi Torrents. (www.desitorrents.com)

Cheers!

Powered by Qumana

The pursuit of happiness
Topic: Movies

A very nice movie starring Will Smith and his kid.

This movie is based on the real life story of legendary investment professional Chris Gardener. It is a movie to watch when you feel you are getting into self pity mode. The hardships the hero of this movie goes thru should put all your sufferings and miseries to shame. The determination and committment the hero of the movie shows to his goal should be an exmaple when our determination wavers.

Netflix review of the movie is at - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness/70044605?trkid=203957

More about real life Chris Gardner at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gardner

The movie strieks philosophical notes at time. In the declaration of independence, it is written "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness". When life and liberty are written as such, why happiness is mentioned in transient sense? Is it only the pursuit and no happiness is really achievable? Or the pursuit itself is the happiness. As Indian mystics say "pleasure and happiness are temporary. Joy is permanent once obtained."

Cheers!

Powered by Qumana

Blood Diamond
Topic: Movies

Blood Diamond - movie starring Leonardo Dicaprio and others.

Nice movie. Very touching especially if you have followed in any detail about the blood civil war in Sierra Leone and other west African countries over diamonds. Everyone wants them - rebels to fight government and government to fight rebel. No ideology or no good intentions. All for money and this has led to a lot of blood shed and unimaginable suffering to people in the region.

The movie does a good job of sensitizing diamond consumers all over the world about the horrors and crimes behind acquiring those so called 'precious' stones, how they may be contributing to blood shed by being indiscriminate about not caring where and how the diamonds come from.

Good mix of contemporary theme, action and great acting by everyone. Some scenes are ghastly but shown with due care. No unnecessary blood spilling. But, only to the extent to show how cruel and horrible people can be to their fellow human beings. One thing is true - the kind of violence that is common in Africa is hard to believe but it can be sometimes worse that what we get to know thru news media. It seems to be part of the land there to be violent. Dog eats dog world - literally.

Powered by Qumana

Dor
Topic: Movies

Dor - hindi movie starring Gul Panag, Ayesha Takia, Shreyas Talpade, Girish Karnad. Directed by Nagesh Kuknoor.

After a long time, a good movie. Kuknoor who has created a genre of his own with his creative movies delivers a simple yet one with deep emotions. Refreshing to see actresses such as Ayesh Takia, written off as glamour dolls, delivering some good performance. Also good to see is people like Girish Karnad coming back although in a very small role.

Movie is about two women. Husband of one is allegedly killed by the husband of the other when they are working together in Saudi Arabia. The accused is going to be executed. Only way to save him is if the widow forgives the killer and explicitly instructs the court to release him. So, the determined wife of the accused resolves to get what she desperately needs from the wife of the dead. Does she succeed? How does she manage to do what she does when she does not even know where the wife of the dead lives? Answers to these questions forms the heart of the movie.

Gul Panag as the wife of the accused and Ayesha Takia as the wife of the dead are excellent. The chemistry is unmistakable and perfect for two women who go thru emotional roller coaster. Shreyas Talpade's performance is good too. Nagesh Kuknoor and Girish Karnand take small roles and do justice.

Very well picturized in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Beautiful folk music for background is a nice one. No unnecessary songs or boring dialogs. After a long time one nice movie.

Cheers!

Powered by Qumana

Corporate
Topic: Movies

Powered by Qumana

Mixed Doubles
Topic: Movies

After a long time, one nice film. A very low profile, independent film from talented Rajat Kapoor.

Swinging (between couples) is one subject that has been talked in hushed tones for time immemorial even in India. If it found mention in novels (even in Kannada) way back in 80s, it was going on at least on small scale.

Now with new wave of liberalism sweeping the country with increased buying power and rise consumerism, it makes sense for some one like Rajat Kapoor to visit the subject again.

Good film. Ranvir Sheroy (Pooja Bhatt's husband) and Konkona Sen Sharma (veteran actress Aparna Sen's daughter) are really good. Their day-to-day life of commoners is so well depicted. You would want to watch it just for that.

Husband (Sheory) middle aged man is bored or thinks he is bored with daily hum drum of life. He somehow thinks change of partner may help reduce that. A 'phenko' (bullshitting) friend from America comes and tells him about his experiences with swinging and how common and enjoyable it is for both couples. Of course, friend was bullshitting but that does not matter. A new bug has entered into the head of the husband and he goes extraordinary length to explore swinging opportunities and to convince his wife. She vehemently rejects first and later she gives in when he emotionally blackmails her.

They find another couple interested in swinging. Rajat Kapoor and his wife (Koel Purie). They set up the date for the experience. The experience they undergo is interesting and marks the end of the film. Positive is our age old principles and values seem to strong enough to steer us clear of obnoxious practices such as swinging to a large degree. Negative is such things are increasingly happening. Collapse of one's values is the beginning of the end of a society. Hope we wake up before it's too late

Rajat Kapoor and Koel Purie as other copule are also good. Boy, that Koel Purie has that eerie feeling of 'chudail' in her whole personality. Scary to the bones. Her mannerisms, dopey eyes, she is one hell of an actress for such roles.

Review from the netflix is below:

Sunil (Ranvir Shorey) and Malti (Konkona Sen Sharma) have been happily married for a decade, but their life has become dull, especially in the bedroom. In an effort to add some spice to their relationship, Sunil suggests they try wife swapping. At first, Malti refuses, but eventually she's won over. However, the sexually daring husband gets more than he expected when the couple has to deal with the aftermath of their amorous adventures.

Powered by Qumana

Fana
Topic: Movies

Fana- Hindi movie- starring Amir Khan, Kajol etc.

Does not deserve the hype that has been generated around this. May that's how it got to the top of list. Anyway, there was some similar movie with Sunny Deol and Tabu in which Tabu a Paki terrorist seduces Sunny Deol and puts him into all sorts of problem and at the end Sunny demolishes the terrorist ring. Ok, now replace Sunny with Kajol and Tabu with Amir, you get Fana. Terrorist in the facade of a tourist guide, a blind girl falls for him, then he vanishes. After many years, he lands right at her house. Their tumult and what not makes the movie.

Kajol acts better as a blind person than one who has got the eyes. Amir does not have the punch that he normally packs into other movies. Tabu's role kinda hurried.

2 stars.



Powered by Qumana

Gaza Strip
Topic: Movies

From www.netflix.com:

The embattled Gaza Strip is the setting for this stirring documentary from American filmmaker James Longley. Initially intending his film to be a straightforward look at the Palestinian intifada, Longley headed there in January 2001 for what he thought would be two short weeks. Instead, he stayed for three months, logging over 75 hours of film that tracked a number of momentous occasions, including the election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Nice documentary movie capturing the details about 'Intifada' movement that was a grassroots movement started by Palestinians living in occupied territories after they became disenchanted with their leaders living away in Tunis and ignoring their plight. Their action plan was to pelt rocks and stones at every possible moment at Israelis. It was difficult for Israelis to use heavy force on people using such crude and comparatively less harmful arms. Moreover, children were so actively involved that any violence on children worked against Israel.

A newspaper boy is the central character in the documentary. His day-to-day life has been captured very well.

3 stars.

Powered by Qumana

Darna Zaroori Hai
Topic: Movies

Darna Zaroori Hai - Hindi movie from Ram Gopal Varma camp. RGV and his disciples make a sequel to 'Darna Mana Hai'.

Decent movie. 6 stories. Spooky ones. Some nice ones and some not so good. The ones involving Rajpal Yadav and Randip Hooda are really gripping . Others so so.

Photography and editing which have become the highlight of RGV productions are good in this too. They know how to capture in right angles. In one of the last scenes when the last kid is desperately trying to get out of the spooky house, camera alternates between frightened kid and a haunting balcony at the top floor with a single light. That is simply mastery.

Time pass. 3 stars.

Cheers!

Powered by Qumana

36 China Town
Topic: Movies

36 China Town - Hindi movie with big star cast - Shahid Kapur, Kareena Kapoor, Payal Rohatgi, Paresh Rawal, Akshay Khanna, Upen Patel (debuting).

Abbas-Mastan, directors, disappoint. They try to create a mystery where there is none. They nail some totally impossible people as perpetrators of some crime which nobody can understand how it happened.

So, what is left in this? Nothing much. Upen Patel, of course. Looks like he is building a nice golden bridge from modeling to movies. Smart thing to do as dudes do not last long in modeling. In movies, they last little longer.

Music - first song is good. Otherwise, do not know what Himesh Reshimiya these days itna-bhav-kha-raha-hai.

Waste.

2 stars!

Powered by Qumana

Gangster
Topic: Movies

Gangster - Hindi movie starring Shiney Ahuja, Kangna Ranaut, Irfan Hashmi etc.

What a nice story line? But, they have botched it up thoroughly. Entire cast is immature to make a great movie on such a great story line. Characters played by Shiney and Kangna are loaded. They need someone who can really act. But, these two people simply can not do justice to their respective roles.

Director Basu disappoints. Poor cinematography. No idea what's up with Bhatt camp films. But for some strange reason they process their films to look really poor. So little light. Everything seems to take place under neon lights and in dark back ground. "Kalyug" was like that too. Only if there were to shoot and process in more brightness, it would have been lot more bearable.

Supposedly based on the story of gangster Abu Salem and his girl friend actresses Monica Bedi. Even if there is any, there is very little connection.

2 stars

Shikar
Topic: Movies
Shikar - Hindi movie starring Shaheed Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Bips, Ajay Devgan etc.

Based on 'Wall street' starting Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen etc.

Story line is week. In 'Wall street', story line was really strong and it was a good movie for any wannabe investment banker, stock broker or a professional. That movie did a good job of imparting some good finance that MBA students could benefit from if not anyone else....this Hindi movie version has a very week story line and hence it is not very effective...of course they could not have made Hindi movie on stock market manipulations as it would not have appealed to masses.

movie....2 stars....

Is insider trading illegal? No. Insider trading is not illegal. Trading based on insider information is.People tend to treat to both terms as same but there is huge difference between two. If insider trading were illegal, employees could not have been able to trade the stocks of their companies.

Cheers!

Phir Hera Pheri
Topic: Movies
If you enjoyed "Hera Pheri" starring Akshay Kumar, Suneil Shetty, Tabu and PAresh Rawal that came in 2000 (I guess), you will probably enjoy this flick.

Nice comedy. Dialogues and timing by Akki, Shetty and Rawal are superb. Very well directed. Was disappointed with recent Rawal comedy "Malamaal Lottery". This is NOT directed by Priyadarshan (original was). Not a real sequel.

Great cast.

Diya Mirza is 'zakkas' in the item number.

4 stars!

Cheers!

Doomsday Gun
Topic: Movies
This is movie based on the life of Dr.Gerald Bull,an eminent Canadian scientist, whose life had to be terminated by parties interested.

Dr.Bull lead a very interesting life. No doubt! he was a very brilliant person. He helped US build HARP cannon in 1960s. He helped US, Israel and several NATO countries to meet their military objectives. After some time he started feeling that he was being juiced by all his benefactors but without helping him to achieve his life long dream. His lifelong dream was to build a huge cannon which can launch a projectile for very long distances only limited by the length of the barrel and ammunition used. He even argued that this super gun when built was going to be much cheaper to launch satellite etc. Even then people felt that Gerald Bull was only obsessed with his dream regardless of its practicality as it was fairly common knowledge that such a huge super gun which could not be moved around was a very poor choice for military purposes. Such huge gun was hard to hide and could not moved. It would be a sitting duck target for bombers. Also, it had limitation as each shot caused severe wear on the barrel.

But, even smart people become blind when life long dream gets into their head and has remained there for long time. When western powers discarded Bull, he looked at other places which could finance his super gun project. Saddam Hussein was ready with money. Saddam actually knew that Bull's super gun was really a bull. But, he proposed that he (Saddam) would fund Bull's project if he could help improvise Iraqi SCUDS for longer targets by modifying them. Bull was willing to do anything to get his pet project going. He worked to help Saddam improvise SCUDS. These modified SCUDS were rained by Saddam on Israel during first gulf war of 1991.

Many western powers and some mid east neighbors of Iraq such as Iran and Syria were becoming concerned. They warned Bull using many subtle and non-subtle means. When he did not yield, he was killed with few point blank gun shots to the back of his head at Brussels where he had relocated to pursue his projects. That's how a brilliant scientist was ruthlessly used and dumped.

Movie does a good job of giving a nice account of Bull's life. If you go by movie, US is shown is very good light where US secret service person (Kevin Spacey) does everything he could to disuade Bull but he would not listen. Same thing by Mossad and Britain's MI6.

It has not been established as who killed Bull. But needle of suspicion points towards Mossad more strongly than other intelligence agencies.

Belgian government was trying to reopen the case of his assassination after 16 years after coming across some new evidence. Search for Bull and Mossad and you will find info on the net.

This incidence also appears in many books that I read on Mossad. Again a 'kidon' job.

Cheers!

The rise and fall of Manuel Noriega / [videorecording] produced by ITN Factual ; produced, written & directed by Don Jordan.
Topic: Movies
The rise and fall of Manuel Noriega / [videorecording] produced by ITN Factual ; produced, written & directed by Don Jordan.

Summary:
Tells the story of of a poor Panamanian child who came to be a hero of sorts to his people, through his defiance of the United States. Also discusses his eventual antagonization of the United States government to the point of siege. Told by interview with historians, colleagues, and Noriega himself.

You can say Noriega was Saddam of 80s and was right in our backyard.

US groomed and when tried to act too smart, they hauled his sorry ass to Miami after toppling his regime in a US military raid and trying him some narcotics case and put him behind bars in Miami....one trouble maker quited for time being....Saddam Hussein and some other dictators who have outlived their usefulness for the powers that be can be put together with him to give him company and exchange notes....

Believe it or not, after landing in Miami, Noriega with help from some author wrote his autobiography and it sold pretty well....god bless....

Cheers!

Anantana Aavantara
Topic: Movies
Anantana Aavantara - Kannada movie starring Kashinath, Anjali etc..this movie released in 1987-88 set off a new trend in sexo-comedies....this is one hell of a hilarious movie...full of characters and their scenes...hats off Kashinath's ingenuity regardless of what one may feel about the degree of vulgarity in the movie....everyone is superb in the movie including new comer Anjali who set the Sandalwood on fire with hare dare to bare it all attitude....Dinesh is simply too good....Kashinath marvelous!!!!!

After seeing Anjali bravely baring all she could...one rascal film journalist had titled an article on this damsel back then as 'bichchalu naaneke Anjali annuva Anjali" (in Kannada it meant why should I be afraid to strip?) Anjali also means to be afraid of in Kannada.

Cheers!

Sword of Gideon
Topic: Movies
Sword of Gideon - movie similar to newer Munich. Some parts are well made. Not much of a thriller but a documentary. Not sure if events are correctly depicted.

Btw, this was probably the first movie based on the revenge mission of Mossad to kill perpetrators of Munich massacre.

Cheers!

Kannada Movies
Topic: Movies
Bought a few Kannada movies from totalkannda.com. None of them is any noteworthy movie. So, clubbing reviews all of them together.

"Hendhtigehelthini" - Anant Nag, Suhasini, Kashi.....starts off as a comedy....would have been better if it had continued that way....in between gets sentimental, mental and what not.....Kashi is the saving grace with his natural comedy.....


"Nanna hendthi chennagidale" - Kashi, Anant Nag, Ramesh etc.....has a lot of common with recent great hindi movie "mein meri patni aur woh" Rajpal Yadav etc. Same theme. but not that well done. Kashi is good. that's all.

"Yarado duddu yellammana jaatre" - Jaggesh, Devraj, Amrita etc.....typical Jaggesh movie with mandatory funny scenes (in this movie - police caning Jaggesh on his ass protruding out of an auto during the base shifting. you need to see the movie to understand it), funny dialogs and acronyms such as KF (Kittogiro Family) and topsy turvy gyrating songs....it has all the typical masala of Jaggesh films....entertains....paisa vasool.

"Parameshi Prema Prasanga" - Ramesh Bhat, Arundhati Nag, Shankar Nag, Anant Nag....first venture by Ramesh Bhat as actor, director and producer.....old movie from 1980 I guess.....simple theme of husband, wife and misunderstanding etc... Master Manjunath then a kiddo is really cute....

Cheers!

HMT
Topic: Movies
HMT - "Hegala mele Towel" quote from Jaggesh's movie "Yarado duddu yellammana jatre" movie inspired by old hindi movie "kirayedar" which starred Raj Babbar and Padmini Kolhapure.

Decent movie.