Buy One (I Am Kalam) Get One (BBudhha..) Free!

Watched both movies in succession and Boy, what a diff! Whereas I Am Kalam should be nominated for Oscars, Bbuddha should be hidden from Oscar Judges just in case it casts an opposite image of picture quality coming from India. I am going to write what was simply superb about I Am Kalam and please use a negative multiplier (words like No, Not, Missing et al.) to get a review of Bbuddha.

Transformation: As I wrote in earlier reviews that transformation has to be gradual throughout the movie and the movie should leave characters at the beginning of a new life than actually showing the complete effect of transformation. Both kids trasformed very well, both realizing their potential, in their special own way. Other characters did their bit and some characters were not transformed, which is a reality. Laptan would still be a guy who would like to be in hs dream world waiting for another kid to bully upon.

Subject: Just one kid's wish to follow what President of his country told the nation to do and then thank him (President) for what those words did to his life. Little bit remind me of "My Name is Khan" (talking to President) but the resemblance ends there. For I Am Kalam's subject is well chosen, theme is maintained throughout the movie and editing is very tight. All that missing in "My Name..".

Acting: Superb acting! That Kid really outdid kids from Taare Zameen Par and Stanley Ka Dabba purely because he looked in the moment and enjoying every bit of it :) All other actors did a great job as well, including the best act thus far by Gulshan Grover (Not So "Bad Man" :)

Direction: This is what happens when your heart is set on a subject. It happened to Farhan when he made Dil Chahta Hai, to Raju when he made Munna Bhai and it happened to Nila and if you read Nila's facebook page you would understand what I am saying.

So, three cheers for I AM KALAM and hope it really wins Oscar.

Last line on Bbudhha: Think there is a stream of such movies coming out of Bollywood after release of "Dabbangg" and there is an audience that likes those movies. I respect that but at the same time I request you to go watch movies like I Am Kalam so Indian Cinema can progress intelectually and provide more thought leadership to the world.

Singham..Skipped

One should not make an impression of a movie without watching it. Well, I broke my own rule and skipped 'Singham' completely. Maybe there are million fans out there who want Dabangg to go more over the top and enjoy the treatment. Count me out!

Maybe intelligent cinema caters to 10% of bollywood audience but please keep giving it to this minority for keeping our interests alive. Waiting for the next one.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; Best Ad of "Spain" till date; rest is ok.

Question: Who was the lead in ZNMD? Your choices: a) Hrithik b) Farhan c) Abhay d) Spain. If you chose 'd' then you are thinking like me. Well, 90% of people will disagree with this review on ZNMD and they are the ones eagerly waiting for a sequel. So, let's start on what I did like:

1. Location: Beautiful Spain and very well captured. 2. Some good jokes like "Moshi Moshi" 3. Some good chemistry between the 'Bwoys' 4. Good theme: Three guys re-discover themselves on a roadtrip.

Have a longer list for what could have been better:

1. Character Transformation: A guy who is a financial broker transforms seeing fishes or the 'mermaid' within 1/2 hr. Really? 20 yrs gone in 1/2 hr? My take is transformation should happen gradually and a good movie would not show transformation getting completed at all unless the story spans years. A story should show beginning of that transformation at the end. A recent movie that reminds me of that is "Udaan".

2. Chemistry: Missing, Missing, Missing especially between Hrithik and Katrina.

3. There was no lead in the movie. I understand that all three characters were strong and shared equal space but how many ever characters are there in the film there should always be a lead character, a protogonist, that carries the movie.

4. Stale jokes: How many movies have used Hinglish to make fun: Salaam Namaste, Phans Gaye re Obama..

5. Unwanted scenes/ bad editing. Doordarshan tune? Gimme a break. 3/4 of that scene could have been easily removed and parts of so many other "Spain views", scuba diving scenes..

Can go on but don't want to be too picky.

Overall rating: 6/10.

Do Dooni Chaar..Fir se hua Pyaar!

What do you get if you mix brilliant acting with a basic story? You get Do Dooni Chaar. It has been done multiple times in the past especially by Amol Palekar. Take a girl, take a boy, capture the shyness of the boy and how he overcomes that and you got a movie at hand that touches people of all ages. Of course, you need to handle it well else it has potential to become a flop.

Do dooni chaar is such a story where the basic emotions are captured very well. Be it a girl's dream of being different than her 'nutsy' family or a boy's ventures of living his own life and all this when Father is trying to fight between lures of wrongdoings and conviction of morals.

Now the ratings..

Theme. Almost everything sticks to the theme, right from the boy hiding money from parents to father trying to win a lottery by opening 1000's of 555 soap packets. Some elements could have been avoided 4/5.

Chemistry. Could have been better. Off late I have noticed actors in many movies have started speaking as if they are talking to a wall without any flow. This movie does a better job but someitmes you feel the same disconnect. 3/5

Story Line. As I said it's one of those Amol Palekar ones and you know how were those. 5/5

Direction: Brilliant, though choreography/picturization of songs could have been better. 4/5

Characterization. This is the best part of the movie. See Rishi Kapoor tapping his helmet after wearing it and you would surely remember a scene from real life. 5/5

Overall (Average): 4.2/5. Bottomline: Must See and Make sure your parents watch it too!

Golmaaal Three...Watch it if only Free!

So I started my review again but the first movie I watched didn't fit what I was looking for. Still, I bet there would be lot of people who would love this movie, thanks to it's predecessors. The review goes..

Theme.. Sticks to the theme but doesn't to the history. Earlier GMs were more funny and less serious. In this one they tried to add at least 25% of serious stuff. Breaks your pattern of laughter, may not sit with lot. 4/5

Chemistry.. Can't say a great lot here. Few actors did their bit well but looked disconnected at times. 3/5

Story Line: Expected craziness. Lives to GM expectations, for whoever follows. 4/5

Direction: Not great, not impressed.2/5

Characterization: Good, everyone sticks to what they are playing. Though acts were repeated, which would happen in real life too. Also, they used the same crew well. 4/5

Overall: Average of above..3.4/5..One time watch especially if you are fan of Golmaals!

Reviving this blog. Thanks to easy way of posting by email :-) or getting even with Nikhat Kazmi of TOI. Man, never understood why she gets people motivated about movies that don't deserve a visit and doesn't give even a low five to real good movies. Anyways, people have different tastes so for better or worse I think I would like to publish my ideas on movies here. Won't write a whole lot about a Movie and won't be able to write about whole lot of movies (Don't get money for watching like Nikhat gets) but would surely give you an idea of what I really felt after watching the movie. Take it or..

For starters, I would like to tell you the parameters I'm going to use for rating a movie so you can decide if I think like you or have taste buds err experience buds like you. So, here are the parameters:

First and top most: Theme! Movie and all characters should stick to theme all the time. Really not a big fan of a normal guy all of a sudden started flying or have a complete change of heart in a second. Can't believe it; won't rate it.

Second: Chemistry: In other words listening skills of actors. Would like to see if actors are really working with each other or for the camera. This parameter takes higher stage than story (next one) as sometimes you are able to watch a movie without a very decent story just based on the collaborative work of actors but not other way round. What can I say I'm a big believer of team work :-)

Third: Story line, as promised: Not thinking about a touching one or about a message. Think story line should be believable. I know the first question you have: Does it mean sci-fi movies are all out of the window. Nope. You can believe a sci-fi movie if it has some logic to it. Example, ,my favorite "Matrix".

Fourth: Direction: I know, I know: So what did I say above? I can name some movies that were made by best of the directors and were successful but I think either they were sleep walking through it or just were not in a good mood while directing. Director's first job is to connect the audience with the movie and to do so he has to make his make-believe world a reality for the audience. Didn't get it? I give you an example, Did you realize that in Lagaan all the villagers were wearing cleanest of clothes possible especially Bhuvan's just came from the next door laundromat. I didn't like it.

Fifth, last but not least element: Characterization of the actor. Now, it takes a whole lot for actor to get into skin of character but if he is still himself (actor) then he has not done justice to the character. You don't want to watch same actor you saw few days back playing a King now playing a lover boy. You go to watch a King in that movie and lover boy in the next one. Forget the actor!

So, let's get started and see what lies on the path of...whatever..let's just get started.

I recently watched American Blend! thought it would be little different from all those movies on Indian Americans, guess not. Movie tries hard to show an Indian, who gets married to a white girl, trying to survive through hardship and keeping his family together even if it meant lying to them. Though the plot was okay the execution was not. Movie was stretched at many points and guess the director was busy trying to give everyone the same space even if it meant many short & meaningless scenes. Nothing much left to write about it.

Rating :
Story: 6/10
Acting: 5/10
Screenplay & Direction: 5/10