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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 school students in the film- with its over-shaky and oft amateurish camerawork trying to pass off as a natural extension to the generally trippy feel of the film. A simple story told in a sorta non-linear fashion, it is, at the most watchable.

Strangers in the Night had what I found to be the most interesting twist in the tale, so much so that the barely occupied theatre broke into an enthusiastic smattering of applause at the end. The premise which almost seems to be an extension of a brilliant sequence in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut where Nicole Kidman confesses her infidelity to Tom Cruise, is however undone with some very uninspiring direction and wooden acting from Mahesh Manjrekar and Neha Dhupia(though she did an admirable job of licking clean a very ugly hand, mind you).

Gubbare is a downright predictable, so-called ‘heart-warming, philosophical’ type story…nothing much to like here, save for a very affable and somewhat Forrest Gump-ian performance by Nana Patekar. In fact, if one comes to think of it, 2 of the main sequences in the film have direct parallels in Forrest Gump. Is it just a coincidence- for all those who have seen Gubbare, let me know what you think.

Lovedale is the worst of the lot- one of the worst films of the year, Rise and Fall is a tedious tale of two pricks (very bad pun intended) with Sanjay Gupta’s typically ostentatious and irritating wide angle lensing, Zahir is a ridiculous story of look before you leap reap rape, and Sex on the Beach is about, well- sex on the beach with a female walrus dressed in a gold bikini and WOW- it even features a deadly cameo by it’s hot-shot visionary director- Mr. Apoorva Lakhia.

Rice Plate, though shamelessly plagiarized from the celebrated short film Lunch Plate and poorly directed by Rohit Roy, is made watchable by a good, even if somewhat affected performance by Shabana Azmi and a nice turn by Naseeruddin Shah. Pooranmashi of course, is the best of the lot- commendably directed and shot by Meghna Gulzar and Sachin Krishn, a heartbreaking tragedy with a solid dilemma and an excellent Amrita Singh at it’s core. Wish they had looked for more such short stories by Indian writers- there’s such a treasure out there to explore- alas…

I immensely respect and admire Mr. Sudhir Mishra as a filmmaker, but can’t help but echo Kartik’s sentiments on Khoya Khoya Chand. Some brilliant craft (esp. cinematography) on display aside, the film didn’t seem to know whether it was supposed to be a document on the times or a love story set against that backdrop. The films- (gulp) Ishq aur Jung looked like spoofs and Zafar’s autobiographical film was way too pat. I couldn’t see any passion of the filmmakers of that era, out side of their bedrooms, that is. Thanks to the disjointed screenplay, the characterisations also suffered, and it didn’t help that Soha, despite an earnest performance could not go beyond the child woman phase and deliver the goods in what was a very difficult role (though I was especially impressed by Sonya Jehan, who oozed charisma). Finally, the last lines from Mr. Baradwaj Rangan’s lovely review most accurately describes my thoughts- I found it easier to applaud its ambitions than be affected by its accomplishments.