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Wow,
Just read this news Taare Zameen Par has been officially selected as India’s enetry in the foreign language category for 2009 Oscars. Congratulations to Amol Gupte, Aamir Khan and most importantly Darsheel Safary. There has been every kind of praise bestowed on this film. Hopefully it will make it to the final 5. I have been seeing Oscar winners in the foreign language categor and this one seems a good fit. One thing for sure that this one is better than Deepa Mehta’s Water. Though I am not sure about other contenders who lost to TZP, who were they?

Good Luck!

Raymond Chandler’s ‘Lakhot’

Written and Directed by: Navdeep Singh.
Starring: Abhay Deol, Gul Panag, Raima Sen and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.

Manorama (Sarika) in her 40’s (or 30’s?) walks in to Satyaveer Randhwa’s (Abhay Deol) house in Lakhot, Rajasthan. Styaveer has recently debuted his first mystery novel, titled Manorama, which Manorama has read and curiously asks him to do a job for her. For a budding novelist, who doesn’t keep a copy of his own novel since it reminds him of his failure, 10,000 Rs is quite a temptation. But the job turns out to be a list of scandals and illusions mysteriously unfolding into a grand finale.

Manorama Six Feet Under is THE noir cinema. Navdeep Singh, along with Devika Bhagat, has written a marvelous screenplay. Right from the need for a detective protagonist, to femme fatales, a cop who helps protagonist solve mystery, flashbacks, high contrast images, silhouettes, habitual liars, corrupt villain …

Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, for one of their project on helping humanity, have united with 4 directors Mira Nair, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan and Vishal Bharadwaj to co-produce 4 short films on issues regarding AIDS education and awareness. These short films are taking the AIDS awareness on more personal level with some beautiful and some incredible journeys involving blood relations, lovers and strangers with urges either sexual or just plain human.

1. Migration (2007).
Directed by: Mira Nair.
Written by: Zoya Akhtar.
Starring: Shiney Ahuja, Sameera Reddy, Irfan Khan and Raima Sen.
URL: MIGRATION

Migration is a set of parallel stories between a husband and his lover, husband’s wife, a mason worker his wife and infants. This short is very well directed, right from the drought death visuals to marine drive tides. The cinematography is eye catching. Thanks to Shiney Ahuja’s speaking eyes and Irfan Khan’s emotions for his lover, one way …

He is a Dark Knight!

Written by: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Aron Eckhart.

As Gordon (Gary Oldman) says, “He is not a superhero. He is a guard. A dark knight” and credits roll it shouldn’t be hard to realise that this is the best explanation there is to this great saga called as ‘The Dark Knight’. Just like the last line in The Prestige (2006), ‘You just want to be fooled’, or Memento (2000), ’so where am I?’ this movie does say the ultimate saying and leave you thinking for your drive home.

At a private meeting of Gotham city’s thugs and mafias where they talk about a common solution to the problem, which to them is money laundering, Joker (Heath Ledger) interrupts pointing to the right direction. ‘Kill the Batman’. If not this eye opener for mafias to kill the …

My rating: 6/10.

CLOSURE!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/

“It’s like yesterday, today and tomorrow all in one movie”.

Directed by: Todd Haynes.
Written by : Todd Haynes (story/screenplay) Oren Moverman (screenplay).
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin.

The title of this review is all I can understand about the story of the iconic singer, song-writer and Pulitzer prize winning Bob Dylan’s semi-autobiographical art known now as ‘I’m not there’. It depicts his life starting as a kid (Marcus Carl Franklin) running away from his folks on a train with a guitar inside a box that says ‘kills fascists’, to a young boy (Ben Whishaw), to a young man (Christian Bale, Heath Ledger), to the grown Dylan I have seen over media (Cate Blanchett) and finally the old man (Richard Gere) who runs from his hometown in Riddle, MO on a train to find a guitar with a box that says ‘kills fascists’. Well that is the exact movie …

Christopher Nolan’s brilliant MAGIC act.

Starring: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine.
Written and Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
“Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called “The Pledge”; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course… it probably isn’t. The second act is called “The Turn”; The magician makes his ordinary some thing do something extraordinary. Now if you’re looking for the secret… you won’t find it, that’s why there’s a third act called, “The Prestige”; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you’ve never seen before.” - Christopher Nolan.

The above quote is yet another example of a case of delicate and extraordinary screen writing. Guess what, this movie stands to its expectations raised in first few minutes. This is not just about magic but the life behind the acts. As Cutter (Michael Caine) …

An “Indian Pie” with a social message.

Not always a title will blend in everything to a discussion/monologue. The title above may not be suitable to other viewers. But I think Dil Dost Etc does have a social message which is targeted on an individual basis. This film portrays college days of Apurv (Imaan Shah) and Sanjay (Shreyas Talpade). Sanjay is a student from a middle class family in Bihar who is trying to run election and also win it by all the means he can. Apurv is his fellow mate who is born with a silver spoon. These two students have a totally different background but currently they face almost same situations in the college and they have almost opposite perspective on moral/ethics background. These two students bet to each other and that initiates a series of events which connect them together in the end.

I must say that this …

Two hearts amidst an epic setup.

Written and Directed by: Ashutosh Gowariker.
Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai.
Music: AR Rahman.

A young boy named Jalaluddin stands on a war front In 1555AD India to be crowned as the new Moghul Emperor after the death of his Father Humayun. The ministry wages the war and defeats the rival King. They bring him in front of the new emperor and ask him to behead the defeated King. Only to find that the young emperor recognizes that disgrace is worse than a death and denies following the orderes. This young boy grows up to become Jalaluddin Muhammad (Hrithik Roshan) Akbar (as honored by his country eventually). He marries a Hindu Rajput’s daughter Jodhaa Bai (Aishwarya Rai). How? You will find it out.

Jodhaa-Akbar is a story of love between a husband and a wife after they get married. Given some exposure to Akbar’s learning curve …

Welcome back Mr. Haggis!

Written and Directed by: Paul Haggis.
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon.

‘Everyday Goliath came down in the valley and challenged for anyone who wants to fight. One day a boy named David accepted it. Killed Goliath with a slingshot’, as Sgt Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) tells this story to Detective Sander’s (Charlize Theron) son, she later confronts him about the inaccuracy. To this Hank says, ‘Course it is true’. Hank recieved a phone call few days ago about his son’s absence from a military base who got back from Iraq few days ago and disappeared from the base later. Events that follow will be strongly connected either by human nature, or the absence there of.

After writing an Oscar winning screenplays ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Crash’, Paul Haggis comes back with a story that does surprise you and shock you at the same time. Based …

A tale of an Artist.

Starring: Darsheel Safary, Amir Khan.
Screenplay by: Amol Gupte.
Directed by: Amir Khan.

A drop of a red paint falls on a canvas. Then a finger comes and adds some yellow color to that drop. The drop shows some light turbulent mixing of smaller pigments of yellow and red, then that same finger starts mixing those colors. Then appears a creation of color on canvas as seen by Ishaan (Darsheel Safary), an 8-year old kid who just destroyed his graded exam solution of non-art subjects. Well, because he failed in those. There is something that drives Ishaan away from the books and exams to painting, to catching fishes in the gutter, to jigsaw puzzles, to almost anything that catches his eyes. He mentions his teacher that the letters in the book are dancing. That would make him dyslexic. But not dumb. Perhaps his vision is different than an average …

Well, Its about time.

Written and Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Based on the book by: Cormac McArthy.
Starring: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones.

Well its about time right here to get blown away. Please welcome Ethan and Joel Coen. They are carrying a metal cylinder filled to the top with a gas, under high pressure. They are going to aim the pressure hose on your forehead and put a hole about two inches deep. You fall on the floor and thats the story of you.

No Country for Old Men is a western set in the 1980’s. While hunting for deers Llewlyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across a case full of hard cash amongst dead bodies. As aware as he is to face a shower of bullets, hardly he is aware of facing Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Anton is someone who would kill even after getting the money …

A plastically real and hilariously warm love story.

Written by: Nancy Oliver.
Directed by: Craig Gillespie.
Starring: Ryan Gosling.

As opening credits fade, Lars (Ryan Gosling) is seen watching from a window. His neighbour, Karin (Emily Mortimer), comes in and invites him for lunch. He promises and never shows up. Gus (Paul Schneider), Karin’s husband, wins 5$ bet with her. Lars goes to the office. Doesn’t talk with anybody. Lars comes home and sits on the bed and is frozen in a stare on the empty wall. Six weeks later Lars knocks on Gus and Karin’s door and invites them to meet his girlfriend, Bianca, who is half Brazilian half danish, and bound to a wheel chair. She is religious and so Lars and Bianca decide not to sleep on the same bed. If this isn’t intriguing enough then what happens after that is hilariously shocking. Lars is in love with a …

A highly spirited thrilling ride.

“The next 70 minutes are yours. Not even God can take it away from you. Go get them”. As Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) gives the speech to its hockey team, you feel the moment with him. As if you are standing in that locker room and you are going to play that hockey match with the rest of the crew. This feeling will follow you on a fantastic ride called as Chak De-INDIA. This is not a story of champions. This is not a story of freedom. This is not a story of strength to win. This is not a story of extraordinary people who fight against out numbered enemies. But this is a story of gaining high spirits among individuals who come together and achieve something they never knew how to.

Kabir Khan is a newly appointed coach of Indian women’s hockey team who …

2+3=5::Chaos.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen.
Directed by: Joel Schumacher.
Written by: Fernley Phillips.

The explanation of the events in this movie is pretty much summarized in the title of this review. CHAOS. I got that synonym for No. 5 from the DVD extras of this movie. It does actually suit to the events, but do not confuse with the feeling that so chaotic that it is difficult to comprehend.

The number 23 is the title of the book William (Jim Carrey) gets as a present on his birthday by Agatha (Virginia Madsen), his wife. As he reads through it, he first gets fascinated by the creativity by the author and then starts to think that the events in the books are very similar to his life. So he starts obsessing and is on a mental journey to figure out what happens next.

BRAVO Fernley Phillips for this unique and stylized thriller. This is his …

Same old same old from a new writer.

The title of this movies gives an idea of the setup of the movie. City of Mumbai with local trains, clubs, shopping malls, cell phones, rain and good looking people on the street are the basic assumptions behind the title. What the story brings is an interwoven but not complicated lifestyle of about a dozen characters. Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) is married to Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon) who is having a no strings attached romance with Neha (Kangana Ranawat) who is sharing her apartment with Shruti (Konkona Sen-Sharma) who is not just Shikha’s sister but is also having a buddy Monty (Irfan Khan) who previously got acquainted with Shruti as an arranged marriage proposals while Neha is stalked by Rahul (Sharman Joshi) who works at a call center under the supervision of Ranjeet. Is that all? Actually no. Shikha, after the dissappointment from her …

German expessionism that gave rise to Film Noir, Horror and Detective genre.

About a month ago I checked out a movie from my university’s library collection. This was a German movie that was released in 1931. It’s protagonist was a male serial killer and a “hinted” pedophile. Hinted for obvious reasons of the taboo of discussing Pedophilia that still exist today. The name of the movie was “M” directed by Fritz Lang, one of the pioneers of the German expressionist cinema that emerged and lasted through 1920s and 1930s. Right from the subject of the movie to its execution and production stunned me enough to check out all the silent and Noir genre movies that my library held. I must say that though Wikipedia gave me a better introduction and a lot more information about the Expressionist movement in cinema but my shocking experience of watching stories similar to what I …

An extraordinary visual ride.

Theo (Clive Owen) walks into a coffee shop flooded by people watching a breaking news of accidental death of a youngest human alive, 18 yr old ‘Baby Diego’. The year is 2027. Theo walks out of the coffee shop and waits outside a little far from the entrance to light his cigarette when suddenly there is a loud bang and we see the coffee shop blown apart. Though I saw this scene during Children of Men’s Best Cinematography nomination during 2006 Academy Awards, I still was shocked at second viewing and wanted to applaude for the directorial skill .

Children of Men is a dystopian story set in 2027 UK. While Government is on a ‘Holocaust’ like mission to hunt down illegal immigrants and deport them, a group of people called ‘Fishes’ is showing resistance. But above all the greatest problem the humanity is facing is …

Attempt of Experience Through a Mastermind.

Written and Directed by: David Lynch.

Starring: Laura Dern and Justin Theroux.

4 Years ago I watched a movie. In that movie when Naomi Watts wakes up and her neighbor calls her name as Diane, which previously was Betty and Diane is living in a filthy barren house wearing a dirty stinky bathrobe instead of a fancy silkish red bathrobe worn by Betty while living in a fabulous LA apartment during first half of the movie. It is important to mention that both Diane and Betty were played by Naomi Watts and all these changes in the story were without any warning, and that is when I realised I have to watch this movie again. So I watched it immediately after it was over, then again and again and again trying to figure out what is the basic plot. It played in my mind for months and …

Greatest homage to dead exploitation genre.

From Wikipedia:
Grindhouses were the cinema halls known for non-stop programs of B movies, usually consisting of a double feature where two films were shown back to back.

About 10 years ago I remember going to a B-grade movie theatre in India with my cousin and my brother in law to watch a sexploitation flick. I remember looking away from the screen for some shocking scenes. Today I sat through Grindhouse and yes I did look away because of some ugly and disgusting scenes. I guess Tarantino and Rodriguez pretty much brought everything back in Grindhouse, a two-movies-back-to-back feature film.

Planet Terror.

Written and Directed by: Robert Rodriguez.
Starring: Naveen Andrews, Rose McGowan.

This is the first offering of the “Grindhouse” directed by Robert Rodriguez. This is a Zombie movie. They always have a doctor whose experiment goes wrong and people walk who were assumed dead. They either have slashed …