Shutter Island - Disturbing, Yet Gripping

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lahane. It is a psychological thriller, directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead. Shutter Island is a place where dangerous criminals are sent for treatment which are led by Dr Cawley, played by Ben Kingsley. Two U.S. Marshall (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) are sent here to search for a missing patient, Rachel Solando. While investigating, DiCaprio gets flashbacks of World War II in Dachau, where he was posted, and he starts relating those scenes to some of the incidents which are happening in Shutter Island. Some scenes are disturbing, like the pile of dead bodies, lying frozen during the World War II and a girl waking up from them, and telling DiCaprio that he could have saved them. The films locations are beautifully shot, especially the light house scene. Scorsese has brilliantly crafted the film, and the editing is awesome. DeCaprio delivers an awe-inspiring permormance; Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo perform equally good. It deserves a multiple viewing, not just to know the plot, but how the build-up takes place. I'd give it a 4/5.

Well Done Abba - A 'Well' Made Satire on Indian Politics

Shyam Benegal is known for his feel-good films. After Sajjanpur, he comes up with another rural India story, but a satire this time on the Indian Politics and corruption. This time its based in a small AP village of Chikatpally. Boman Irani plays Armaan Ali and Rahman Ali, who are twin brothers, but are totally unlike each other. Armaan Ali is a God-fearing honest chauffeur who works in Mumbai, whereas Rahman Ali keeps stealing and doing other unsocial things in the village, along with his wife Salma, played by Ila Arun. They both take care of the daughter of Armaan Ali - Muskaan (Minisha Lamba). Armaan returns to village to find a suitable groom for Muskaan, only to find that the water situation in village is really bad. So, he decides to make a 'Bawdi' (a well), so that it would help him suffice the needs of water and also irrigate his fields. But, only later does he come to know that it is not as simple as he had thought it to be. The corrupt government officials, the pending works - all sum up his agitation and he finally decides to give up. But, Muskaan, being educated, shows him a way to mend the government officials. The performances by each and every cast member is really good. Boman Irani in his Hyderabadi accent brought back some old memories of Mehmood, he was outstanding in both of his roles. Minishha Lamba was a surprise - after Yahaan and Shaurya, she comes up with an equally good performance in this one. Ila Arun, Sameer Dattani, Ravi Kishen and Sonali Kulkarni live up to their roles. If only the script was well paced and some of the scenes were not repetitive, it would have been more entertaining. That is the only difference between Sajjanpur and this one, the former was far more entertaining and had some really interesting characters, unlike few selected characters here. I'd still give it a 3.5/5 for the feel-good factor.

LSD - Dibakar Continues His Awesome Form

Dibakar Banerjee is known for making movies which are unconventional and yet, have pretty good content. But, with LSD, apart from being unconventional, he goes for something which has been rarely experimented in Bollywood. India's premiere digital film, which means its been shot completely in security cameras, hand-held cameras and hidden cams. The film has 3 stories, and as the title indicates - the first story deals with love, second with sex and last with dhokha. All the 3 stories are different in their own storyline, but the part which I loved was their connection with each other. Most of the cast is new, but the director has chosen them well. All the three stories were brilliantly handled, thanks to the cinematography. Among all the 3 stories, I loved the first one, which is titled 'Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna'. I loved the female lead of this story, she is really pretty, and suited the role perfectly. The last story was pretty common, like the casting couch thing which generally goes on film industries. The second one dealt with MMS scandal and porn industry. Some scenes are disturbing, but the originality of the story and brilliant performances make up to it. Plus, these are some things which actually happen, so hats off to Dibakar for showing the truth behind the scandals. I'd give it a 3.5 stars.

Road To Sangam - A must-watch, at least for every Muslim

Finally, got time to catch up with this movie, had kept delaying it a lot. The movie basically deals with the last kept ashes of Gandhiji, which were forgotten and stored in a locker in Allahabad, and have to be thrown in the Sangam of River Ganga and Yamuna. Paresh Rawal plays the role of Hashmath, a mechanic, who has been assigned to repair a vintage Ford, in which the ashes are meant to be taken. The movie focuses on the internal issues amongst the Muslims, and it raises questions on their beliefs and faith. It portrays how Muslims, to some extent, even now support Pakistan in Cricket, Jinnah and many other similar matters. Paresh Rawal has done full justification to the character, he is been in great form this year, with powerful roles in Rann and Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?, apart from this. Om Puri plays the role of chief in the committee of Mosque. He just has few dialogues, otherwise there is nothing much in his role. Pavan Malhotra as the Maulana is also good and Jawed Shaikh as the doctor is also decent. There are some really good scenes in the film. I liked this one especially when Paresh Rawal goes to invite Om Puri for the visarjan, and points out the flaws of Jinnah, and why partition was made! Tushhar Gandhi, grandson of Gandhiji comes in a cameo in this at the darshan and visarjan scenes.If you get time, do catch up with this movie, although its a bit long, but its worth a watch. I'd give it 3.5/5.

My Name is Khan - Beautifully Crafted, SRK at his best!

The one mistake that I did, for this movie, was that I went with high expectations. Well, I don't say it was bad, but if I had gone blank, I'd have been more satisfied. The movie kicks off with SRK being detained in the airport, for chanting and acting weird by Security officials. After being released, SRK looks back at his life, and writes his whole journey in a diary, addressing Mandira (Kajol), his wife. He then begins his journey to meet the President of US, to say that he is a Muslim and, he is not a terrorist. Since, he suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, he finds difficulty in interacting with people, can't tolerate noisy environment and is scared of yellow color. In the first half, when Khan works for his brother Zakir, in selling beauty products, he was so sweet and honest, that I came up with the tagline - Rizwan Khan - Salesman of the Year. Well, I won't go much into the whole story in here. But, it basically deals with the condition of Muslims pre-9/11 and post-9/11, as is mentioned in the movie, just like how B.C. and A.D. were made. The subject is dealt with maturity, and is really heart-touching at many places. Karan Johar finally gets out of the lovey-dovey cinema into sensible one. And, what a way to begin. He has kept in mind with many finer details, considering the verses from Holy Qura'an, even Hadith, for that matter. I do wonder, if non-Muslims will understand them, but they've been dealt keeping everyone in mind. One friend of mine asked me, as to why SRK carries stones all the time with him, which I replied him, was for chanting verses from Quran, called Tazbih. The second half gets a bit draggy, but its not boring at any instance, though.

The thing which I really liked was the casting - Zarina Wahab, Sonya Jehan, Jimmy Shergill, Tanay Chedda - all perfectly suited in their roles. Kajol is always so natural, she delivers it with so much ease. Its such a pleasure watching her after so many days. Shah Rukh delivers one of the best performances of his career, the one with the likes of his Chak De and Swades performance. No one else would've been able to do this, other than him. With the collections rising everywhere throughout the world, this movie is gonna go real big, and very far. FOX Pictures, Karan Johar and Red Chillies have definitely got it right this time. I'd give it a rating of 3.75/5. I hope no one minds .25 denominations. :)

Rann - Eye-opener, with powerful performances.

There's always one thing with RGV's movies, they either fail miserably, or go on becoming huge hits. There are few of his movies, which are just average. Well, Rann can be classified under the latter category. Everything works for him in Rann. The script is powerful, portraying the media business, and the politics involved in it. I really wanna give credit for the casting, everyone fits perfectly in their role. Amitabh Bachchan is brilliant in the movie, especially in that last speech of his, which supposedly was shot at a stretch for 13 minutes, without any retakes. Hats off to him for that, only an actor of his caliber can do that. Sudeep, who plays Amitabh's son, Jai, is equally good. His voice is as powerful as Amitabh, but he still needs to work on his Hindi accent (guess what! He hails from Shimoga, my hometown, proud of that!). The first half of the movie revolves around him. Riteish Deshmukh is just getting better with every film, he's matured here and gives stiff competition to other actors, especially in the second half of the film. Paresh Rawal, playing the role of opposition leader is brilliant, I am seeing him playing a serious role, after long time. Mohnish Behl plays the head of rival news channel, he carries it off with ease. Rajat Kapoor playing industrialist, and son-in-law of Amitabh Bachchan also does his role well. Female actors like Gul Panag, Neetu Chandra, Suchitra Krishnamurthy and Simone Singh, also do a good job, although they don't have much to do in here. Even though its a huge cast, the script holds up all the characters together, and thats what works for this movie. The one thing, which I was disappointed with was the music of the film, there was no need of putting songs in the background. Take for example, the lyrics of this song "mera channel dekhna, aur uski TRP badhana". I mean, why the world, would you make a song like that. But since its an RGV movie, you can't expect much from the music scene, the music is most of the time, disastrous. I'd still recommend the movie. I'd give it a 3.5/5.

Ishqiya - It makes you fall in love with it!

There are some movies, which you know are going to be good. Right from the time, when I first saw its trailer, I'd a feeling its gonna be good. And, it did live up to my expectations. Vishal Bhardwaj never disappoints, whether as a director or a producer, like in this one. He has even written the script, along with the director, Abhishek Chaubey. The movie is set in a village around Gorakhpur town of UP. So, all the language employed in the movie is basically the bhaiyya type Hindi and Urdu. If you're not so familiar with it, then you won't be able to understand half of the dialogues, which is the best thing in the film. It is similar to the language used in Omkara, but with addition of Urdu, since the characters portrayed are Muslims. Babban (Arshad Warsi) and Khalu Jan (Naseeruddin Shah) are petty thieves, who are caught by Mushtaq for fleeing with money. To evade him, they end up coming to their friends house, who supposedly died in a bomb blast. So, they meet his wife Krishna, played by Vidya Balan. They both fall for her, but she double traps them in kidnapping an industrialist to get money and discover the truth about her husband's death.

The casting is superb. Vidya Balan, with a never done before kind of role, is just awesome. She is very natural in her character. Arshad Warsi is what I loved in the film. His one-liners were hilarious, like "Sheikh, khud ka dekh", "Tumhara pyaar pyaar, aur mera pyaar sex" and many others throughout the movie which were catchy. Naseeruddin Shah carries off his role with ease, he does most of the talking through his expressions, thats what I love about him. He's this one guy who can convey so many things, without even saying anything. The songs were very situational and were picturised perfectly. I especially liked the video of Dil to bachcha hai. Go for it, at any cost. I'd rate it 4/5.

The Other Side of the Bed (Spanish - 2002)

I pretty randomly came across this movie, but the moment I heard that Paz Vega is acting in this one, I was like, I got to watch this one. Well, the movie is basically a sex-musical-comedy. It is just an okay-okay watch, the songs keep coming in between, just like a Hindi movie, with dancers in the background and all. They get irritating sometimes though. I forwarded through most of them, to be frank. The acting is pretty good by everyone. I especially liked Pedro's role, which was played by Guillermo Toledo, he was very natural, and his curly hair (which was mentioned a lot, even in the movie) also brought out that. I specially liked that one scene in which both Pedro and Javier (played by Ernesto Alterio) come to know who their girlfriends slept with, and when they go to play tennis, they both start hitting the ball and throwing rackets on each other. There were few other scenes which did make laugh, otherwise it was just pretty average. Watch it if you've had fantasies with Paz Vega, she is hot, hot as hell. Even the other female, Natalie Verbeke is pretty good. By the way, there is one other thing which I feel like telling, there is this other guy in the movie who plays the role of Rafa, he looks just like Saif Ali Khan. I'd give the movie 2.5/5.

A Millionaire's First Love (Korean - 2006)

Today, I decided to catch up on some of the movies, which I'd stored on my hard drive long back. I wanted to watch something light, like romantic comedy or something. So, I came across this Korean movie A Millionaire's First Love (2006). I didn't expect it to be so good and all, but I just thought I'd give it a watch. But, it turned out to be a pretty decent one, although I've seen some like this one before too (Love Phobia, again a 2006 Korean film). I specially liked the way the characters were treated, and the narrative of the film. I absolutely loved the female lead in the film (I am bad at remembering Korean names, so please pardon me for that). She was absolutely lovely and she carried her role with an equal ease. The male lead was also good, he carried off well, playing the rich spoiled brat, and his transformation to a more sensible one. The outline of the movie is basically this - the boy inherits his Grandpa's property after he'd turn 18, but there is one condition - that he'll have to complete his graduation (I forgot the name of the place, where he has to do it), without dropping out. This is the place where he meets this girl, who is actually his long lost childhood friend (whom he doesn't recognize), when he stayed with his parents. As time progresses, they come close and he falls for her, but he comes to know that she has a heart problem and won't be able to live for long. They try to do everything in this short period, for each other, which is the best part of the movie, the way they care for each other and all those little things which they share. Watch it if you don't mind light hearted romantic movies. I'd give it a 3/5.