I'd really liked Ranbir in Wake Up Sid - and he brings his same boyish charms to Rocket Singh. I saw the television premier yesterday and notwithstanding the annoying breaks, I actually enjoyed something on the idiot box after a long long time. I know the movie hadn't created any major stir when it released. But I thought it had a decent storyline and a strong message - based on honesty and integrity that's gone so missing from around us these days. Perhaps it appealed to me a bit more because of the peculiar point at which my life stands right now - disappointed by corporate life and on the brink of entrepreneurship.
The characters are a bit over the edge - I had the same feeling about the director's previous film Chak De. The story has a slow but steady pace, but the plot is so unpredictable that it keeps you guessing all the time. You can see every emotion in Ranbir's eyes and your heart goes out to him on several occasions. Especially when the whole office is making fun of him and he finds himself alone, yet determined to continue. Most of us have had a difficult time or two in our careers, especially at the outset, and the reminiscence strikes hard.
All in all, I enjoyed the innocence and the 'people-orientation', far removed from emo-dramas and surrealism that I've never fallen for in Indian cinema. No song-and-dance sequences, no garish fashion, no side-kicks; just plain engrossing cinema.
My verdict: 4 out of 5... A really nice watch!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Night Train to Lisbon - And money down the drain
Gosh! I can't believe I actually went to a bookstore and purchased this book. I've recently become a member of an online reading club and I blame them for getting me to blow a few hundreds on this miserable piece of writing.
Usually I hate to put down books - though I have started to do that more often recently. In this case I started with a determination to read through to the end - I SIMPLY could NOT manage this.
The German translation is pathetic - the translator seems to have put words in an online German-English dictionary and blindly used them in places. The grammar is poor, there are hundreds of typos - something very unusual for a Western publication. But more importantly - there is NO STORY. I'll tell you what this is - a so called philosophical-cum-trying to be modernist-cum-melodramatic-cum-loserly tale of a professor who has lived a certain routine most of his life, and almost borders on being a psycho. He then sees a Portuguese book, gets intrigued by the author and sets out to trace this author's apparently contrasting life. Every few lines you are reminded of how totally surprised he is by the sudden turn of intentions in his head. Enter some more weird, totally impratical characters, painfully long descriptions that leave you no more enlightened, tears, fears, in short... verbal diarrheoa - Ugghh!
I used this book for several days as an antidote to my insomnia - 3 pages at a stretch and I would dose off into peaceful slumber, relieved that my world is what it is and stands where it is!
As for the good reviews of this book - I have one thing to say. You don't have to like all 'philosophy' - it's not like the Emperor's new clothes - you can turn down some of it without the risk of being labeled a pseudo-intellectual!
Mr. Pascal Mercier, I feel like sueing you for causing readers such acute mental trauma and then get away with it and into the bestseller's list!
Usually I hate to put down books - though I have started to do that more often recently. In this case I started with a determination to read through to the end - I SIMPLY could NOT manage this.
The German translation is pathetic - the translator seems to have put words in an online German-English dictionary and blindly used them in places. The grammar is poor, there are hundreds of typos - something very unusual for a Western publication. But more importantly - there is NO STORY. I'll tell you what this is - a so called philosophical-cum-trying to be modernist-cum-melodramatic-cum-loserly tale of a professor who has lived a certain routine most of his life, and almost borders on being a psycho. He then sees a Portuguese book, gets intrigued by the author and sets out to trace this author's apparently contrasting life. Every few lines you are reminded of how totally surprised he is by the sudden turn of intentions in his head. Enter some more weird, totally impratical characters, painfully long descriptions that leave you no more enlightened, tears, fears, in short... verbal diarrheoa - Ugghh!
I used this book for several days as an antidote to my insomnia - 3 pages at a stretch and I would dose off into peaceful slumber, relieved that my world is what it is and stands where it is!
As for the good reviews of this book - I have one thing to say. You don't have to like all 'philosophy' - it's not like the Emperor's new clothes - you can turn down some of it without the risk of being labeled a pseudo-intellectual!
Mr. Pascal Mercier, I feel like sueing you for causing readers such acute mental trauma and then get away with it and into the bestseller's list!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Paathshala - Horribly misses the target
Writing a movie review of Paathshala is also in fact a painful task. There is not one thing that stands out, apart from may be a few hummable tunes. The movie attempts to highlight an issue that is in the thick of things these days - the commercialization of education, but director Milind Ukey fails miserably to tackle it properly.
Characterizations are totally missing, melodrama prevails throughout the second half, too many sub-plots jostle for space without any of them being taken to a logical conclusion. Shahid and Ayesha are unbelievably wasted, other actors have virtually no role apart from the sports teacher Sushant Singh may be. Saurabh Shukla is so annoying, you'd want to kill him not for his bad acting but for accepting an utterly illogical role. Nana Patekar could have been impressive, but the scriptwriter has not done any justice to his capability.
I have come to think that every such disaster sets back the pace of Bollywood cinema by a few notches. A similar theme revolving around education and its treatment of children was so well-tackled in the focused and just-adequately emotional Taare Zameen Par. The trick lay in the empathy with the main character, I think, rather than the temptation to please everybody. The beauty of TZP was that no one was intentionally bad, everyone had their reasons for the way they were behaving. That is totally lacking in Paathshala. Gone are the days when Hindi cinema had clear-cut 'heros' and 'villians'. Good modern Hindi cinema is more situational, practical, human.
My verdict: All in all, Paathshala makes for a pathetic watch. A must-miss for all age-groups.
Characterizations are totally missing, melodrama prevails throughout the second half, too many sub-plots jostle for space without any of them being taken to a logical conclusion. Shahid and Ayesha are unbelievably wasted, other actors have virtually no role apart from the sports teacher Sushant Singh may be. Saurabh Shukla is so annoying, you'd want to kill him not for his bad acting but for accepting an utterly illogical role. Nana Patekar could have been impressive, but the scriptwriter has not done any justice to his capability.
I have come to think that every such disaster sets back the pace of Bollywood cinema by a few notches. A similar theme revolving around education and its treatment of children was so well-tackled in the focused and just-adequately emotional Taare Zameen Par. The trick lay in the empathy with the main character, I think, rather than the temptation to please everybody. The beauty of TZP was that no one was intentionally bad, everyone had their reasons for the way they were behaving. That is totally lacking in Paathshala. Gone are the days when Hindi cinema had clear-cut 'heros' and 'villians'. Good modern Hindi cinema is more situational, practical, human.
My verdict: All in all, Paathshala makes for a pathetic watch. A must-miss for all age-groups.
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