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Aziz Mirza is back. Okay, Chalte Chalte was a damp squib- but that shouldn’t stop us from looking forward to his next release after quite some time. The first look of Kismat Konnection is out, and hey, it doesn’t look bad at all.

Thankfully, neither does its lead actress, the gorgeous but sartorially-challenged Vidya Balan, who after much flak for her wardrobe on and off-screen, manages to look quite pretty here. There’s no drastic ‘makeover’ as such, but Shabina Khan’s (who replaced Aki Narula after he had differences with Vidya) styling seems to have worked well, even if it isn’t absolutely stunning. One can safely say that you can finally get over the shock of seeing her dressed as a 70’s vamp at a jewellery store launch and as a Christmas tree at the Filmfare Awards.

Okay, enough about Vidya Balan- forgive my exaggerated concern about her costumes, but I think her …

Truth be told, nothing can match the joy I get from watching bad films. No, I don’t mean the likes of One Two Three, Lovesongs and the other one dozen terrible films I have been subject to in theatres owing to my work as a film reviewer. I am talking specifically of those bad films which represent some of the few guilty, vicarious pleasures life offers us. They seduce us, they entice us, they excite us in a way boring good cinema never can, shining with that God-awful brilliance only a few filmmakers manage to bring on screen.

Just the day before yesterday, while I was busy watching the wonderful Little Miss Sunshine at night after another busy Friday of college followed by film reviewing, I couldn’t help but be tempted to catch snatches of Aap Ka Suroor: The Moviee: The Real Luv Story in between- a surreal film experience I …

Jodhaa Akbar is the flavour of the month- some love it, some love to hate it- as for me, I fall somewhere in between, I guess. Maybe the reason why I am not so drastically dejected by the film is that I wasn’t really expecting a Lagaan or Swades out of it, and also that the leads actually did way better that I expected them to- admittedly, if anyone’s faltered here, it’s Gowariker- without doubt. (My review, which I cannot publish at PFC, owing to website policy is dying to be read here at my blog.)

I doubt if Gowariker is ‘the new K Asif’, as someone on PFC recently proclaimed him to be- I frankly find the comparison rather absurd- but he definitely is one of the best filmmakers we have in India- and I don’t really mind if if his film gets a little more than it deserves, …

A PLEA TO THE MAKERS OF JODHAA-AKBAR

I feel like pulling my hair out. UTV Motion pictures and Ashutosh Gowariker- what is wrong with you guys?

It’s less than a week for the release of what is the biggest magnum opus this year and what should be the most awaited film to hit the screen in a long time, and yet, strangely- though not very surprisingly- there barely seems to be any buzz at all. Other than, of course the usual yawn-inducing controversies that almost always seem to hound historical films made in India, any real excitement over the film really escapes even a hardcore Gowariker fan like me.

Can’t the producers see the writing on the bloody wall? Just making a good film simply doesn’t suffice- you have to first get bums on seats- period. And I don’t see the makers …

In what is otherwise perhaps the very definition of a thankless role, Vidya Balan in Halla Bol gets the unique distinction of being the first Hindi film heroine to refer to a man’s genitals. As nasty reporters an journalists aggresively swarm around with their super-sleazy questions, the traditional-yet-modern and empowered pativrata naari defends her spouse with equal force- “I am proud of my husband- because…he’s got balls!”

It’s only such part-startlingly crude, part-positively howlarious scenes- also like the one in which Ajay Devgan unzips and pees on the corrupt Chief Minister’s prized carpet (”From Persia!”- he proclaims with uncontrollable glee) right in front of him (as if to provide conclusive evidence that he DOES, in fact have…well, never mind)- that remain with you after you walk out of the theatre.

That’s just about as er, ballsy that this Halla Bore gets, as Rajkumar Santoshi dishes out this surprisingly shoddy film after …

Prejudice is opinion without judgement.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Voltaire; French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)

I take this opportunity to begin this super-frivolous post on a somewhat more serious note. I am truly appalled to see the horrible backlash on reviews that are in any way critical of Taare Zameen Par, including the ones by Kavita and Kartik Krishnan on PFC. While it is a fine film and a brave effort, is being critical of TZP a crime? If I did not totally freak out on it, should I be hanged?

I admit I am often quite …

AARGH!- The Worst of the Year (Photo by yours, truly)

Friends, PFCites, cinefanatics. Happy New Year. And congratulations for being the Indian blog of the year…the passion continues to run strong.

And so comes the time when I can’t resist pretending to be important and unleashing on everyone my own (and YET another…yawn) list of the films and performances that rocked the year that was.

Let the drums roll…(a little pomposity never hurts!)

MY TOP 7 FILMS OF 2007:

(And YES, Taare Zameen Par is not included- read my review for more…it’s amazing how much I agree with you Kartik; you took the words right out of my mouth)

7.Ek Chalis Ki Last Local
Okay, it may have lacked finesse, but when you have real, hardboiled pulp, who cares? Sanjay Khanduri’s film has enough originality, eccentricity and wackiness to make us excuse the occasional tackiness. (Excuse the bad poetry- …

Exams, projects, laziness…have been too lazy and mindf***ed to write for the past one and a half months…but the fear of being docked again (from PFC, that is- hem, hem) has finally made this lazy bugger lift a finger and write another post. Just jotting down some of my thoughts at the moment, please excuse me if blog is more disjointed and uninvolving than Khoya Khoya Chand or if tone is as uninteresting and boring as that of Dus Kahaaniyan.

Reached Dus minute late for the show of DK at Inox, which means I missed most of Matrimony- directed by Sanjay Gupta and starring Mandira Bedi and Arbaaz Khan- only to catch the ‘twist end.’ What followed were nine barely-films- with just one being fairly satisfying, and the others ranging from mediocre to terrible.

High on the Highway could well be the diploma film of Jimmy Shergill and Masumeh- playing film …

If there is one filmmaker in Bollywood who I would like to request to retire, it certainly is Priyadarshan. No, friends and film buffs- not even Ram Gopal Varma can beat Priyan to this. Ramu, however warped his mind his may have become of late, at least retains some remnants of the passion he had earlier, the burning zeal that led him to create such great cinema in the past. But here is a director that has clearly lost it all- his mind and fervor- all in favor of making dumb, assembly line films for a passive audience that seems to keep lapping them up.

Priyan, is of course too lazy now to think of an original and interesting plot on his own anymore. So there he goes again, down south for another film to remake- only this time it’s not an entirely stupid film- it’s the 1993 Malayalam movie Manichithrathazhu …

Even the little droplets of hope that one had left after watching the decidedly bizarre promos of Laaga Chunari Main Daag are mercilessly dashed to the ground. The Yashraj stamp (or rather, stain) is so ostentatious and evident in Pradeep Sarkar’s second film that no amount of Surf Excel- or even Lux, which is so blatantly advertised in the film, can remove it. Barely twenty minutes into the film, and you know that this is a movie that has hopelessly and irreversibly been Yashrajed.

Laaga Chunari Main Daag begins reminiscent of Sarkar’s first film Parineeta, with some lovely, breathtaking shots of the ghats of Benares, doing well to establish the city. Then of course, we have Rani and Konkona- singing Hum To Aise Hain …

Very sorry for the weirdest and worst article title that you may have ever seen- feeling to brain dead right now to think of some coherent thoughts, leave alone a proper header. Whew…I realize that I haven’t posted on PFC for ages again…so I decided to pull up my socks before Oz paaji pulls me up again…well, well, there isn’t much going on here in Calcutta- the initial excitement of college is finally settling into a more boring existence.

Well, well- Kartik has been nagging me on the phone for weeks now to “GO OUT AND MAKE A FILM!!!” – unfortunately am really short on time and ideas- especially ones that fit into one minute…still there is this group project that we have got to do that includes making a photo narrative comprising approximately 40 stills- have been working hard on it and wracking my brains- some of the planned shots …

I am no Sholay fan.

Eyes of fellow film-buffs pop out of their sockets usually when I say this, but to be very frank- I don’t even remember when I watched Sholay, and what remains of it in my mind can hardly even be termed as a faint memory.

But irrespective of whether you have watched and loved Sholay or not, you are equally likely to be absolutely appalled by Ram Gopal Varma’s seemingly audacious remake of the legendary film. No question about it, blokes- this one’s pure Aagony.

What was Varma thinking? Was he even thinking? Is this the end of the filmmaker- the man who once gave us Satya and Company? All these questions haunt you after watching Aag- simply because more than an insult to Sholay, it is an insult to Ram Gopal Varma himself- or rather, the filmmaker he once used to be.

Varma has always reveled …

Who could have thought that an umbrella would turn out to be one of the most compelling characters seen on the Indian cinema screen in 2007? Who could have thought that a charming Blue Umbrella would gently cast its shadow over all the other movies of the year- that this ’small’ film, much delayed before its release, would stand inches tall above the best of Hindi films seen this year till now?

But then, when the filmmaker in question is a master craftsman called Vishal Bhardwaj, pretty much anything is possible. The music director turned filmmaker is a force to reckon with- one of the finest directors seen in a long time- churning out masterpieces with alarming versatility and consistency. This man simply does not cease to amaze, and The Blue Umbrella is yet another stunning film from him- and personally, my favourite Vishal Bhardwaj film so far.

Words do …

 So, Himesh Reshammiya’s eerily (and numerologically) titled debut acting vehicle Aap Kaa Surroor: The Moviee-The Real Luv Story finally released yesterday- and he, along with director Prashant Chaddha and most importantly- producer Vijay Taneja must be anxiously hoping for the moviee’s success, with umpteen crores of rupees riding precariously on the infamous nose of the composer-turned-singer-turned-actor. After all, Himeshbhai even hilariously turned up in a burqa at the Ajmer Sharif to pray for the film, much to my endless amusement- it wasn’t exactly a pretty sight, you see.  In fact, Himeshbhai even requested the Deols to kindly shift the release of their family drama Apne, to make space for his own release. They refused, and Himeshbhai had to contend only by saying graciously that he has …

WOW! The curtains are finally up from Anil Kapoor’s heavily guarded production Gandhi, My Father…and the promos just look superb! The film which stars Akshaye Khanna as Harilal Gandhi and Darshan Zariwala as the Mahatma himself, is directed by noted theatre personaliy Feroz Abbas Khan and based on the play Mahatma v/s Gandhi.

The subject matter looks to be extremely compelling and I, for one can’t wait for one of Bollywood’s most promising films in a long time, when it releases in August (in Hindi AND English- which I think is most unnecessary, but…). The film also stars Shefali Shah as Kasturba and Bhumika Chawla as Harilal’s wife.

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Take a look!

Busy with college admissions n all that shit right now…let’s see what happens, just hopin for the best. Anyway, been long since I posted anything so just thought I’d put down some random ramblings over here! First up- my first Tarantino, WKW and Scorcese flicks… Pulp Fiction, fuckin brilliant as hell…what can I say- it’s an ultimate showcase of masterful and clever writing. An instant classic, a masterpiece. T’was my first Tarantino flick, but still have a feeling it’s probably his best ever…totally in awe of the sheer genius of the movie. I mean everything is so spot on, the dialogue so compelling and crisply delivered that it amazes you totally- the characters literally talk about rubbish, get entangled in the most inane situations and …