Vidya BalanActually I was very apprehensive about watching 'Kahaani' before its release. I thought that it would be an emotional drama about a pregnant woman coming in search of her missing husband. Also I thought that "Dirty Picture" is a fluke hit of Vidya which got its initial through the titilating factor, so banking on 'Kahaani' is a sureshot flop. I thought that after "Dirty Picture", Vidya Balan had gone over confident that she can sell a movie on her name. I invented a new theory that there could have been a powerful lobby to get National Award for Vidya Balan so that it can give a boost to 'Kahaani' which will find a few takers. But.. but... whenever I had apprehensions about Vidya Balan, she always proved me wrong. I watched 'Kahaani' only for Vidya Balan but the movie had hit me like a thunder bolt.

IndiPOPஇன்னைக்கு காலையிலே யதேச்சையா யாருடைய blog-ஐ படிச்சப்போ அதிலே அவங்க அம்மாவை நினைச்சு பயங்கர sentiment-ஆ எழுதி, அதிலே பாப் சாகரிகா பாடிய “மா..” என்ற பாடலின் வீடியோவையும் இணைத்திருந்தார்கள். எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்த பாடல் அது. வழக்கமாக சாகரிகா ”டிஸ்கோ தீவானே” போன்ற beat songs-ஆக தான் பாடிக்கொண்டிருந்தார். அவர் வழக்கமாக அவருடைய சகோதரர் ஷானுடன் இணைந்து டூயட்கள் பாடிக்கொண்டிருந்தார். ஆனால் ஒரு jolt வைத்தது போல இன்ப பேரதிர்ச்சியாக ஒரு melody-ஐ பாடியிருந்தார். பயங்கர soulful பாடல் அது. அந்த Blogger-ன் பதிவில் இந்த பாடலை பார்த்ததும் ‘Open in YouTube' வழியாக திறந்தபோது அந்த காலக்கட்டத்தில் வந்த நிறைய பாடல்கள் இருந்தது. அவற்றை பார்த்ததும் எனக்கு காலச்சக்கரம் பின்னோக்கி சுழல ஆரம்பித்தது.


The Dirty Pictureபொதுவாக iconic-ஆக விளங்கும் கனவு கன்னிகளுக்கு அவர்கள் வாழும்போது அவர்களுக்கு உரிய அங்கீகாரம் கிடைப்பதில்லை. மாறாக அவர்கள் இறந்த பிறகே அவர்களை உலகம் உச்சத்தில் தூக்கிவைத்து பாராட்டு மழை பொழியும். ஹாலிவுட்டில் ஒரு ”மர்லின் மன்றோ” என்றால் நம் தென்னிந்தியாவுக்கு ஒரு ”சில்க்” ஸ்மிதா. இருவரும் வாழ்ந்த காலத்தில் பரபரப்புகளுக்கு பஞ்சமில்லாமல் வாழ்ந்து, தனிமையில் இறந்து போனவர்கள். ஏனோ... ஆண்களின் தூக்கத்தை கெடுத்த இவர்கள் தங்கள் வாழ்க்கையிலும் நிம்மதியாக தூங்கமுடியாமல் தனிமையில் தவித்து கடைசியில் வாழ்வதை விட சாவதே மேல் என்று தங்கள் கதையை முடித்துக்கொண்டார்கள். அவர்களின் கதையை படமாக எடுக்கும்போது அவர்களின் அந்தரங்கங்களை சொல்லவேண்டியதால் அது ஒருவித titilating factor-ஆக மாறிவிடுகிறது. இந்த நடிகைகளின் துயரங்களை காசாக்க (மட்டுமே) முயற்சிக்காமல் வெகு சிலர் தான் அவர்களது வாழ்க்கையை மனதில் பதியும்படி சொல்கிறார்கள். ”சில்க்” ஸ்மிதாவின் வாழ்க்கையை அடிப்படையாக கொண்டு சமீபத்தில் ஹிந்தியில் வந்து பட்டையை கிளப்பிக்கொண்டிருக்கும் “The Dirty Picture" ஒரு வகையில் புதிய முயற்சி என்றே சொல்லவேண்டும்.

No One Killed Jessica"Unfortunately law is not for justice, but merely a mechanism to settle disputes" - when I came across these lines in Michael Christon's "Disclosure", which I am reading now, I found them apt for the movie "No One Killed Jessica". It really takes so much of guts for a film maker to do a film of the subject that the public knew it to details and even for the film goers to watch the incidents that they know already. Rajkumar Gupta had put his best efforts to recreate the decade long emotional travails of Sabrina Lal who goes through the hell to see the murderers of her slain sister behind bars.

Click the image to read furtherரக்தசரித்ரா - ராம் கோபால் வர்மாவின் படம் என்பதால் மட்டுமல்ல, ஆந்திராவின் பிரபல மந்திரி / ரவுடிகளின் உண்மைக்கதை என்பதாலும் பார்த்தேன். ஆனால் எனக்கு அதில் ஒன்றும் புதிதாக இருப்பது போல தெரியவில்லை. வழக்கமான 'B-Grade' மசாலா படம் போல தான் இருந்தது. நிஜ வாழ்க்கையில் இவ்வளவு வன்முறை இருந்ததா என்பது ஆச்சரியமே. எனது ஆந்திர நண்பர்களிடம் கேட்ட போது 'ராயலசீமா' பகுதிகளில் இத்தகைய வன்முறைகள் இருந்தன என்றார்கள். திரையில் வன்முறைக்கு புது இலக்கணம் வகுத்திருக்கிறார் ராம்கோபால் வர்மா. மெல்லிய இதயம் படைத்தவர்களுக்கு இந்தப்படம் ஒத்துவராது என்று முன்னமே அவர் எச்சரித்திருந்தது உண்மையே.

வம்சம்Hai Guys, It had been a long time I had blogged. The London trip turns lonely and hectic than anticipated. In the weekends I go on sight seeing like a maniac and on the workdays returning to the hotel room by late. Still only way I keep entertained is by watching the stack of movies from my HDD. It was more like a linked process that one movie kindled the intrest on another for some remotely connected reasons. That's what made this movie watching a nice experience. After the count crossed five, I decided to make it as 'ten' a round figure. These are the short (4-5 lines) review of mine for these movies. For few movies, it can go still more longer.. but they deserve it. Leave your reviews in the comments.

Click the image to read furtherIn my case always one case leads to another - like I said in the "Kerala Cafe Review" that I want to see "Dus Kahaniyan" after watching "KC", similiarly when I watched "Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam", it tempted me to watch another long due - Quick Gun Murugan. Why IKMS? As somebody who grew on a staple diet of Rani Comics at my young age, I was looking forward for IKMS. Also the novelty factor - Cow Boy movie in Tamil Cinema after a gap of 38 years, played a role in luring me towards IKMS. (Tidbit: A few years back Telugu cinema stepped into that terrain unsuccesfully with Jayanth C Paranjpaye's "Takkiri Donga" starring Mahesh Babu, Lisa Ray and Bipasha Basu). So watching two cowboy movies at short intervals was a fun. Many people won't agree with me considering the not so good performance at the box office by these movies, but I just want to say - the movie might have failed but cow boy genre doesn't. Even though IKMS & QGM fall in same genre, they are poles apart by their approach. However the best aspect is that both are not the "Leave your brains behind" type.

Vidya BalanThis weekend I watched all these movies back to back on a Saturday night, which had been overdue for a long time - Dostana, Love Aaj Kal and Achamundu Achamundu. Why I wanted to watch these movies now, that too after an year? Each had its own reasons - while 'Dostana' had the very strong Johan Abraham factor, 'Love Aaj Kal' was mainly for Imtiaz Ali's sensitive and refreshing script, "Achamundu Achamundu" was for its offbeat theme - paedeophiles. These movies reinforced the faith that still there are people who are there to attempt different kind of movies within the commercial format. Among the last batch of movies seen, Ishqiya appealed better to me. So rather than wasting four individual posts, I just thought I can pile up everything in one post.

Click the image to read furtherWhy the f**k the movie had been called as 'Paa' while 'Maa' or even 'Auro' would have been a better title. R. Balki needs just one scene to establish the warm relationship between the son and the mother. AB Corp's latest production 'Paa (2009)' which predominantly has South Indian contribution - 'Adman' R. Balki, 'Lens guru' PC Sriram, 'Maestro' Illayaraja, Vidya Balan, Kannada theatre artiste Arundhathi Nag, Malayalam Child Star Baby Taruni, is warm and endearing, taking us through the world of innocence and the complications of a 13 year old. One of the (rare) recent worthy releases in the Bollywood, 'Paa' is compelling in more than one way.

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It was one of the movies in my wishlist and a long overdue. I knew it was about the kid born out of wedlock and may be because of the Indian cinema's penchant for tearjerkers kept me away from this story. But after hearing wonderful reviews about this movie, when I came across it in veoh.com, I initiated the download. Man... a wonderful movie I had missed all these years. This is a movie I can't keep my attention off while watching. I was even surprised that there was a malayalam version of this movie called 'Olangal' directed by Balu Mahendra, which has this evergreen hit - Thumbi Vaa. However both the movies had drawn their inspiration from Eric Segal's classic novel - Man, Woman and Child. Ananya informed me that it was made in Telugu as "Illalu Priyaralu" and my wife shared her knowledge that Tamil version of this movie had Sivaji Ganesan & Sujatha in lead.

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When I initiated the download of the movie 'Ijaazat' from veoh, I did it for only one name - Gulzar, its director. Later, just before the viewing, I looked for its details in Wikipedia and found that it was based on a bengali novel 'Jatugriha' by Subhodh Ghosh, which was earlier made as movie in Bengali. Also this movie's "Mera Kuch Saaman" had won Asha Bhonsle's second National Award for her and also that 'Ijaazat' was the debut of beautiful Anuradha Patel. I could say that the movie is a poetry - in every frame, every shot. When I started watching it finally, I was just blown away by its sheer poetry. Ijaazat scans the concept of love after the marriage, whether the past can eclipse the future and when I masticated what I saw, I realised the complexity of the movie. Sudha and Mahinder accidentally meet in a railway station on a rainy night and sharing what had happened after they had seperated from their marriage. In a series of flashbacks, their 'marriage' life was discussed on. Gulzar takes us through the journey of Mahinder, Sudha and Maya with the scenes that revolved around these just 3 characters ONLY but still gripping and irresisting to sit through. The movie had best written female characters. Towards the end of the movie only you'll realise what Mahinder was upto and with the sweet cameo by Shashi Kapoor you come to know where Mahinder & Sudha went wrong. The more I talk about the movie, it may turn out to be a spoiler, so let me stop here. 'Ijaazat's even though reverred by the discerning Bollywood audiences, didn't get its due when it was released. Apart from the National Award for Asha Bhonsle, the movie was sidelined in the popular awards for the 'blockbusters'. Anil Kapoor & Madhuri Dixit were honoured the "Best Actors" over Naseeruddin Shah & Rekha, Sonu Walia, the vamp from 'Khoon Bhari Mang' was preferred over poetic Anuradha Patel in the supporting actress category, Anand Milind & Alka Yagnik were thought to be superior with "QSQT" & "Tezaab". That's the pathetic story between every awards these days. - {oshits} reads

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It was one of the movies that eluded me for a long time until I stumbled upon it on veoh.com. I wasted no time in initiating the download of the available copy online. This movie was one of the underrated movies that I literally had no idea about what it was all about. But I knew that it was a revenge story by the Urmila and Saif had a negative role in that. Those times Urmila was the muse of all Ram Gopal Varma's productions (ironically her last outing with Ram Gopal Varma's Factory) and Saif was in RGV's camp before he hit a big time with the Yashraj films. This happened to be the debut of Sriram Raghavan, a well known scriptwriter in Bollywood, who later had received much critical acclaim through "Johnny Gaddar". Despite all the credentials, "Ek Hasina Thi" didn't hit the bull's eye. But having seen its dark trailers, knowing that it was the debut of Sriram Raghavan, I wanted to see "Ek Hasina Thi" desperately but I didn't come across not even a single DVD in all the stores I had visited in past few years.