At home this diwali

At home this diwali vacation, carrrying on in high spirits of movie viewing, here are some more comments on the films I saw over the vacation break...

My second of Majid Majidi's films, Baran, turned out to be yet another beautiful and touching story, narrated with the simplicity that is typical to Majidi's work. Although this is only the second of his movies that I have seen, his earlier film Children of Heaven also had the very same gentle appeal to itself. The movie does not have any deep plot as such, its just the simple narrate of a young worker in Tehran, Lateef, who falls in love with the Afghan worker, Baran, when he realises the truth of her identity. Though not professing his love for the pretty Baran, Lateef goes out of the way to ensure the comfort of the girl he has fallen in love. A simple and interesting story told in the backdrop of a pretty countryside, this movie is a good watch!

Children of Heaven, also has the same simplicity about itself. A story of a little boy and his sister, whose shoes he has lost, and the innocence with which the deal with their shoe crisis! :) It is really a very "pretty" movie. The charm of the young children and the decisions they take while trying to figure out a way to manage the lost pair of shoes, is just so touching. The story line is also impressive here, as Majidi brings out some subtle and ironical twists to the tale. Another excellent watch!


Monica Belluci is so beautiful!!!! Thats all I could think of while watching Malena. Really....! :)
Well, I quite liked this film too, and I would recommend it. Quite a sexy film, narrated by a teenage boy who is enchanted by the beauty of the talk-of-the-town Malena Scordia. In the backdrop of Mussolini announcing war, this story is of a town "attacking" the life of the beautiful and helpless woman Malena, turning her from Bride to widow to prostitute, leaving her no other means for survival. Young Renato however, a boy of 12, silently "watches" over Malena and safeguards her innocence until the return of her presumably dead husband. With the war having ended the couple returns to live in their family home and are treated with respect by the locals this time.
Some reviews I had read on this film, had drawn interesting parallels between Malena and Italy itself, in the way both are cherished, mis understood, illtreated and then respected again as they go through a period of war / struggle. Interesting!

Home again!

Had a zillion things that I wanted to blog about......tonnes of ideas and thoughts floating around in my head...but then!!!
Then, came my rescuer of all times, my companions in all moods....my phillums! :)

So, getting back to my healthy movie watching form, I made good use of my weekend break back home and watched some long pending films that I had been carrying around. The movie watching sprint this weekend turned out to be quite a revelation for me on the Chinese cinema front. I m definately looking forward to catching up on more classic/hit Chinese films.

Ba wang bei ji or better known as "Farewell, My Concubine" takes the cake for this weekend. For the fairly long movie that it is, the story telling aspect of this movie is simply remarkable. Its been two days since I watched it and I am still awe struck by bits and pieces of the movie falling into place in my head over and over again. This is one amazing movie that you ought to discover for yourself, but read on if you feel like...

A few things that stand out...leave an impression in my mind.... Douzi's induction into the theatre group with his mother ruthlessly "doing the needful" ... His constant recitation of the lines "I am by nature a 'boy' ", until the day he choses to recite it right ... The line "The Concubine has to die, one way or another" and what followed next ... Its beautiful (I think) how these two episodes sort of bring together the reasons for Douzi living as "the Concubine" throughout his life in the following decades ... the one moment where Juxian wraps Cheng Dieyi (Douzi) with the blankets and holds him close and says "its ok", sometime while he was trying to recover from his opium abuse ... I look at that as one brief but firm moment where even Juxian feels for Cheng Dieyi ... the betrayal felt by Deiyi when Xiao Si replaces him for the concubine ... wow this scene really hurt!, so subtle and so strong ... the constant political turmoil and how it dictates the peoples' emotions and appreciation for the opera / actors ... the scene where all the three (Xiaoluo, Deiyi and Juxian) are publicly questioned about their lives in the "old society"... this was such a dramatic scene, each one slinging out the dirt on each other to save themselves? save the other? and with the consequences of that episode writing their fate for the remainder of their lives...

still pondering over a thing or two, will probably watch the film again after a while....oh! what a beautiful film.... my heart goes out for it....

Surprisingly and coincidently this was my next film "Da hong deng long gao gao gua". I had no idea it was a Chinese film , 'cos the name on the label of my CD was "Raise the Red Lantern". Anyway, not just is the Chinese film part a coincidence, but the opening scene in this movie has just the face of "Li Gong" (Juxian from Farewell, my Concubine :) above) (which I recognised, as against my usual inability to recognises their look-alike faces) and her opening lines delivered were "...marry a rich man... and be his concubine..... I will accept my fate..."

An interesting watch, this film has a nice narrativeness about it, telling you the story of a bunch of wives (mistresses) living in an old and traditional Chinese household. The movie, in accordance with its story line depicts a lot of old fashioned customs, ways of addressing people that would be typical to the plot ("Fouth mistress, pease come and pay a visit to Third Mistress", "Third Mistress had the lanterns lit, so she has chosen the menu today", the house keeper reading out the menu for the meal when the 'fourth mistress' announces that she does not eat meat...etc). Maybe its the influence of the previous watch, but I quite liked the acting performances of the people overall. Each character (of the wives) having a shade of their own, defining the progress of the story therefore. The "ancient-First-mistress', "Buddha-faced-scorpion-hearted-Second-Mistress", "The opera-singer-Third-mistress" and the "university-attending-Fourth-mistress". Finally the movie has a not so great, but quite typical tragic ending. Probably what kept the pace for me was the potrayal of the household's customs and the wives' characters, and moderately the story line.

Coming Next: :)
"Sins"
"Malena"
and...oh! "Baran" (will probably add a few lines on "Children of Heaven" ) :)

Wait up!

About connecting....

Saw the new Nagesh Kukunoor film "Dor" over the weekend...

First of all, for my non hyderabadi friends (read all friends), watching movies at PVR Hyderabad is a totally different experience altogether....so u know what i am hinting at! :)

Anyway.....I dont even know where to begin from.....probably the thing that captivated me first was the g r a n d b e a u t y of Himachal and Rajasthan........I could not stop sighing at some of the really magnificiant shots.....barren deserts to green valleys, kashmiri kurtas to rajashthani wall paintings....Man! there is so much for me to see in this small life!

Talking of visual appeal, the no make up approach on the characters was a good move (except for one thing that did bother me a bit.....Ayesha Takia could have done away with her streaks).....so back to the no make up, some really appealing expressions and looks on not just Ayesha and Gul Panag, but several of the remainder of the cast as well......

I didnt quite think of the movie as a story of "how far would you go to save the one you love".....to me its not Zeenat's love for her husband thats the core emotion that drives the film (which is what i imagine this tag line suggests), rather its the connection that the people establish while they go about seeking what zeenat desires........whats probably the most beautiful thing is the fact that end did not quite matter......there was a sense of stability (or completion) to the characters' emotions even before the plot comes to its formal end.........

While the bonding between Meera and Zeenat brings out the essence of the charatcters of these two women, what I liked about it was also how nicely it contributes to the characters themselves understanding and facing the truth of their lives' choices. The movie also has some good humor thown in with the charater of the behrupiya and his association with Zeenat. Its a good thing that Nagesh Kukunoor kept himself in a small dark corner of the movie screen, while mostly sticking to what he does better....

Well suited soundtracks, consisting of beautiful folk tracks and of course the few "filmy desert songs". The movies is a must watch.......and again for those in doubt, yes...PVR in Hyderabad does show Hindi films when they get released.

Always meant to do it...........

Its been like this for like ever since I can remember..... I have these brilliant (I mean brilliant) plans to execute "once I get to this point in time" and its amazing how when i actually get to that point in time......all my brilliant plans fade into nothingness!!

Ever since I can remember, I had plans chalked out...for study hols before exams, summer hols after exams, after school, after college, after that first review, the new calendar year, the new fiscal year, after the office location change, after the house location change..................and even after the relocation!!! but man! here I am after all that and I can feel my brilliant plans once again fade away!

This is procastination...........that too in a manner that you cant control......or so I d like to tell myself.

Anyway, the point of all this being, I was again pondering why is it that I cant get myself to write a blog post or two......I remember telling myself that once I moved to Hyderabad I would definately, most definately start blogging......and in my head back then, had these awsome things that i thought I would write about (after having done them!)...........but.......u know the phrase that'll follow..... :) I think of the number of things I have postponed to "once I move to Hyderabad" and well......

So, here I am in Hyderabad and again pushing a few things to once I find a house (and roomamtes) and settle down......... :)

PS: If you are reading this blog and want a house / roomie let me know.... I might start blogging sooner :)

Why Praveen cant find his Sony Vaio!!

A friend of mine suggests...

Madhavan and Nisha meet in a shopping mall in Chennai. They like each other and spend a day chatting in the coffee shop. Nisha, a believer in destiny, writes down her address and telephone number on a Rs.100 note and makes the payment at the cafe declaring that if the note came back to Madhavan then it means that he was destined to meet her. He tries hard to trace the note but in vain. Nisha goes back to Kolkata. Meanwhile <> Pooja , who was rescued by Madhavan from some thugs, has a crush on him. Finally Madhavan manages to get Nisha address on the eve of her wedding and unites with her.


:)

phillums!!

i just had a great weekend watching 5 movies in one and a half days!! guess i should be a little less lazy and go get those dvds from the next door library and indulge further...

The first one was The Ususal Suspects... been wanting to watch this one for quite some time. Once the movie starts I am sure you'd recollect at least two other hindi movies which have adopted the starting scenes. Somehow, to me, movies whith smooth criminals having their win, have their own charm and attraction. The movie has a string of events that put together a bunch of top NY criminals, with Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey playing a "cripple") narrating the encounter betwween the legendary "Kyser Socae" (spelling??) and the rest of the gang. Rather interesting climax, as are the characters which include the five criminals held in the line up and of course "Mr. Kobayashi - the lawyer".

Next on line was "Waisa bhi Hota Hai"...Awsome movie.....totally enjoyed it.....you can say its a sort of dedication to the crime society in mumbai. Arshad Warsi playing a "copywrighter", Praveen, with cop-girlfriend, Agni (Sandhya Mridul) and a "khabri bhai" for a brother who was shot by gangster-and-good-friend Vishnu. Interesting chain of events with a good sense of humor and some regular bollywood masala numbers as well. Dont think the movie made it big though when it was released, but for the "Allah ke Bande" number....

Day 2 began with "The Omen". I think this is the first Gregory Peck movie I am seeing (I know..I know...To kill a mocking bird etc etc...somehow everyone told me that!!). Well its an old film (70s) and a decent enough horror film, not too gory or shrieky, having the ususal conections of '666' with a child born in Rome on 6th day of the 6th month at 6am and interestingly named 'Dameon'. Worth a watch!

Next on line was.......yaaahhh...."Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"!!! I dont believe I had the movie all along and did not watch it any earlier.....yes, yes...Snatch is next on my list.... "A disgrace to criminals everywhere" is an apt punch line for this film featuring 4 london boys finding themselves indebted to Atchet Arry.. (ok...Hatchet Harry :)) to the tune of half a million quid, with the most funniest funniest series of events to follow. The story basically involves a simple card game, a bunch of dope tarding neighbours and a pair of antique guns thrown in to get you into fits of laughter. This is a MUST watch movie....I d personally make copies for anyone who wants to watch it.....

With rather high excitement levels, sleep was far away, so the day ended with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Again...(gosh i feel like i did have a sad childhood) i finally realised what the fuss about Harrsion Ford is all about only in recent times. Han Solo and Indiana Jones. Well dont blame me 'cos its really not my fault if "Clear and Present Danger" was what I saw first!! So this movie brings our adventurous archeologist to India where he sets out to recover a magical Shankara stone confiscated by ruthless Kali worshippers in a neighbourhood palace. The Indian connection also being Amrish Puri and (chacha)Roshan Seth. One thing i do wonder is if the movie would be as popular if a Rajshri-Productions-type had made a "Jai Ma Kali" out of it.....never mind..... :)

well caught some sleep after that......but looks like a good way to avert some of that "monday morning blues" feeling.

Later on....