Ram Gopal Varma's (favouritely Ramu) marketing acumen accrued from his video library days is evident in his campaigns. The caption of Phoonk (whiff of wind / breath) reads "It's superstition until it happens to you". A clever way of arousing the curiousity towards the product. In 'Phoonk' Ramu charters into the least treaded territory of Black Magic. He admitted in his blog that he is clearly inspired by Endamoori Virendranath's "Thulasidhalam (Tamil) / Kashmora (Telugu)", but the screen version is credited to Milind Gadagkar. The movie is clearly a case of inspiration - you are reminded of the original but couldn't lay hands on similarities". The real hero of the movie is the DOP - Savita Singh. Just through the soft toys the spooky ambience is set in the first half, but sometimes going overboard. Among the cast Ahsaas Channa as the possessed kid steals the show and Sudeep's subtle expressions in agony loaded eyes make an impact. Ashwini Kalsekar as eccentric black magician woman goes over the top towards the climax. Phoonk can't match the standards set by Ramu himself with 'Bhoot', but that's the problem with Ramu he sets his benchmarks higher in each genre that he himself fails to match up with later projects. Shiva, Kshana Kshanam, Deyyam, Ghayam, Rangeela, Satya, Bhoot, Company just says the same. On the whole a worthy entertainer.

{oshits} hits for this article

கோவை வந்தாலே காரணம் தேவைப்படாமல் மனது குதூகலிப்பது எனக்கு வாடிக்கை தான். இம்முறையும் அதற்கு விதிவிலக்கு அல்ல. கோயம்புத்தூரில் படம் பார்த்தே 5+ வருடங்கள் ஆகிவிட்டது. இந்த முறை கர்னாடிக் தியேட்டரில் படம் பார்க்க முடிவு செய்தேன். முதன் முறையாக மீரா ஜாஸ்மினை பெரிய திரையில் பார்த்ததும் இங்கே தான் (படம் - மலையாள கஸ்தூரிமான்). அது போல முதன் முறையாக வித்யா பாலனை இதே தியேட்டரில் வெள்ளித்திரையில் பார்க்க முடிவு செய்தேன். படம் - கிஸ்மத் கனெக்‌ஷன். வித்யா பாலனுக்காக மட்டுமல்லாமல் இயக்குநர் அஜீஸ் மிர்ஸா, கூட நடிக்கும் ஷாகித் கபூர் என பல துணை காரணங்கள். அஜீஸ் மிர்ஸாவின் படங்கள் எப்போதும் மிக இயல்பாக இருக்கும். மேலும் பல வருடங்களுக்கு பிறகு அவர் படம் இயக்க வந்திருக்கிறார். நல்ல வேலையாக அஜீஸ், வித்யா, ஷாகித் என யாருமே ஏமாற்றவில்லை. இந்த படம் தான் என்ன?

Khamosh (1985) - the movie that kept intriguing me for a long time ever since I learnt that it was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's debut movie. After seeing the movie, you can understand why Vidhu Vinod Chopra is one of the most reverred & hated film maker in Bollywood. I always loved his passion towards the good cinema, eccentricity that sometimes snubbs film folks and a dare to break steroetypes. "Khamosh" is an edge of the seat thriller, straight from Aghata Christie type of novels, with no commercial distractions or thrusted item numbers even though the movie offers plenty of scope for such elements. The not so great technical finesse gives the film a raw texture that enhances the stark performances of all talented powerhouses - Naseeruddin Shah, Amol Palelkar, Shabana Azmi, Pankaj Kapoor, Ajit Vachcani and others. I could suggest that "Khamosh" is a must watch if you are a stickler for quality thriller. What keeps "Khamosh" ahead of other murder mysteries?

Moserbaer's maiden production "Shaurya (Courage)", though a blatant rip off from American movie "A Few Good Men", is engrossing at parts. It is about the court martial of Javed Khan, an young Muslim military officer, whose defense lawyer Siddhant is not so intrested about the case initially. Enter a journalist Kavya Sashtri, who ridicules Siddhant for his ignorance that Siddhant sinks into the case really to find out some intresting communal aspects and fake encounters. Shaurya can best be a movie remembered for its arresting performances by Kay Kay Menon, Amrita Rao as conscience of killed military officer and voice over by Sharukh Khan towards the end. Minisha Lambha grates your nerves, a romantic angle uncalled for and a slow pace proves fatal for Shaurya but with a breath taking cinematography, details of military etiquette, Shaurya can be a nice experience for those who hadn't watched the original. Still it is not a losing proposition costwise (Rs. 50/- in Moserbaer Home DVD). Give Shaurya a try in DVD or in a TV premier.

{moshits left} people had liked to read about and watch Shaurya.

{mosimage}Raj Kumar Santhoshi was back to a hard hitting drama with 'Halla Bol' (Raise your voice). This flick deserved to be a hit even though the box office verdict didn't go with the critical acclaim. Made on the lines of Jessica Lal's murder case, 'Halla Bol' creates an awareness about the individual's social responsibility in ensuring justice to the victims. Dubbed as a 80's styled revenge drama, "Halla Bol" didn't garner a favourable verdict with the audiences. Pankaj Kapur is terrific with an amazing screen presence, Vidya Balan makes her presence felt even with a miniscule role as conscience of lead protagonist Samir Khan, played by intensive Ajay Devgan. Raj Kumar Santhoshi strongly condemns the middle class' apathy towards society, media's hysteria in sensationalising the news rather than being truthful. My only concern is that the failure of 'Hall Bol' shouldn't demoralise Santhoshi in making such powerful movies in future. Let his next movie – a love story is just a temporary detour. 'Halla Bol' doesn't deserve your indifference, so please watch it atleast in MoserBaer DVD for Rs. 49/-

Some movies deserve a viewing but their promos fail to excite the viewers. Either they carry a shoody production value or far ahead of their times. In Hindi I would say some movies like "Aar Ya Paar, Lamhe, Tum Bin" and in Tamil certain movies like "Vidukathai", which are liked by the people who had seen it, but very few had seen them. Recently I caught up with "Aar Ya Paar (1997)" a Jackie Shroff starrer directed by Ketan Mehta, who made "Mangal Pandey" after a gap of 7 years from this movie. The reason why I watched "Aar Ya Paar" could have been a wrong one ("Hulle Hulle song is my favourite erotic song"), but I loved the movie. It was a thriller replete with infidelity, treachery, greed and sex.

தாரே ஜமீன் பர்... (தரையில் நட்சத்திரங்கள்) - காதலும், கட்டிலும், குத்தாட்டமும் தான் வாழ்வின் ஜீவாதார பிரச்சினை, அதை தவிர்த்து வேறு எதுவும் மனித வாழ்வில் இல்லை என்று 'படம்' காட்டும் தமிழ் பட இயக்குனர்களை எல்லாம் ஒன்றாக கட்டுப்போட்டு இந்த படத்தை பார்க்கவைக்க வேண்டும். - இது தான் நான் 'தாரே ஜமீன் பர்' பார்த்து முடித்தவுடன் தோன்றியது. அதுவும் நடிகர் ஆமீர் கான் முதன்முதலாக இயக்கிய படம். புதுமுக இயக்குனர் என்ற சாயலே தெரியாமல் அனுபவ இயக்குனர் போல, தேர்ந்த, sensitive-ஆன இயக்கத்தை கொடுத்து, தைரியமாக இதனை சொந்தப் படமாக எடுத்து இருக்கும் ஆமீர் கானுக்கு வாழ்த்துக்கள். நம் வாழ்வின் முக்கியமான பருவமான குழந்தை பருவத்தையும், குழந்தைகளையும் சுற்றி வருமாறு அமைந்த படங்கள் மிக மிக குறைவு. அந்த வகையில் ஆமீர் கானின் 'தாரே ஜமீன் பர்.'-ஐ முக்கியமான படமாக கருதவேண்டிய அவசியம்.

{mosimage}SShit!!! Sometimes I take much time to catch up with some good movies. Today I came early and chose to watch 'Chak De! India' much long time after gettings its DVD. Man! It is really a cult classic that opened up a genre of sports films in Bollywood. Sharukh Khan at his best non SRK performance. Nice that he stepped down letting the girls take the spotlight. Among the girls I liked Preethi Sabarwal, Komal Chautava, Balbir Kaur and Vidya Sharma (all screen names). If the girls getting a standing ovation from their opponent team had my hair raising, the scene where Komal passes the ball to Preethi in the finals match really made my day. I had tears of joy in my eyes, whistled and clapped during that scene. The team building scenes were so warming that no wonder Bal Thackrey sent all his staffs to watch Chak De! India for getting that message. Again no matter who did the SRK's role, this movie would have stayed afloat on its own merits. After seeing this, 'Goal' is definitely a cliched scrap.

{mosimage}I accidentally happened to pick up the DVD of Hindi All time classic - Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Abhimaan" (Self Respect) recently. I had seen this movie in DD-1 many years back when I was too young but couldn't remember much of it now. When I saw it recently I was just swept away by its old world charm. I fell in love with Jaya Bhadhuri, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and its timeless songs, not necessarily in that order. End of the movie I was reminded of another movie that came years later - Akele Hum Akele Tum (AHAT), which also shared few similarities like successful female protagonsits, marital conflict set and most of all deriving their plot form Hollywood. (Abhimaan = A Star is born, AHAT = Kramer vs Kramer) While Abhimaan has managed to live eternally as classic, AHAT was relegated to dark corner as an unsuccessful remake, sincere performance of Aamir Khan and another flop of Manisha Koirala.

{mosimage}For me it took many many 'starts' to sit through once the critically acclaimed 'Johnny Gaddar'. The initial reactions varied between the wide gamuts like 'Not so interesting...' to 'What is going on..?' to 'Wow..', when I completed the first viewing. This Sriram Raghavan's tribute to retro cinema through musical score and looks stands far from the assembly line Bollywood crowd. Sriram shows his dexterity in weaving a taut screenplay and extracting restrained simmering performances right from rank newcomer Neil Mukesh to seasoned Vinay Pathak to veteran Dharmendra. The title itself reveals that 'Johnny is the traitor', then what is left to the audience? As an audience we know who orchestrated the crime but how it unravels to the onscreen characters makes JG a gripping viewing. He educates the viewers the difference between a suspense and a whodunit thriller. Critics drew lot of reference right from Vijay Anand to RK Narayan to James Hardley Chase. I didn't grew up on Hindi / Hollywood movies so couldn't understand most of them, yet I had a blast watching it again... Don't give it a miss!!!

{mosimage}Well... another visit to Satyam for a Hindi movie within 5 days of previous visit happened thanks to my cousin who wanted to see 'GOAL'. Set in urban locale of London, this sports movie derives inspiration and similarities from Lagaan, Chak De India which also fall on the same genre. I would say that this is the John Abraham's best performance till date. His body language was very apt for a professional football player whereas Arshad Warsi completes the near perfect casting. Bipasha's role itself is a misfit then where does the question of her performance arise? Infact film would have been better without her. The last 30 minutes were fantastic and I enjoyed the football game on screen. Vivek Agnihotri must be applauded for keeping the masala to minimum & being loyal to the script, whereas the camera work, football choreography as well as background score are mindblowing. The movie manages to keep you glued to the seat despite you draw parallels to Lagaan, Chak De India in some scenes. A watchable attempt on screen, courtesy Bollywood.

{mosimage}Thanks a lot Prabhu, if not you I wouldn't have watched Om Shanti Om in theatre. I agree with a lot of other viewers that it is a trash, but how can a trash loom so large even though it was much hyped? OSO is unapologetically entertaining without any pretext of making it believeable. Farah Khan knows that audiences will never believe a reincarnation story even if it is tried to be authentic. So she unleashes the demon to entertain the audiences with grand visuals, lavishly mounted sets, huge orchestrated music scores, 31 stars pitching a friendly appearance. Everybody except SRK does their roles well and he hams and fumbles throughout the movie. Deepika Padukone is THE NEXT BIG THING of Bollywood and sparkles as Shanti. Young Arjun Rampal is really smashing while Shreyas is amazing as usual. I loved 'Dhom Dhana..' song cos I got to hear typical 'North Indian' sond after a long time. A pucca time pass entertainer if you leave your brains back at home. Paisa vasool..!