Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

There is such a significant change in the movies from about 5 years ago to now! I get to notice it and appreciate it a lot partly because I take pictures!!!

Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag was a flop, a ridiculous movie, however it was a movie with one of the best photography examples! Take any shot from the movie, and it could be used as a reference to how pictures should be taken! I loved it from that perspective... Could have watched it without sound too!

A lot of firang movies are extremely good examples of well managed lights, nice subtle colors or loads of them when you need'em, brilliant depths of field and what not!

Zindagi Na Milegi dobara scores a lot of points from me on the photography front! I am sure there is a name to it in cinema language (Cinematography to be exact), but I would call it photography for it to register well in my mind!

Absolutely delightful light, brilliantly shot under the sun, happily exposed scenes (both indoor and outdoor) and not to forget lovely editing!

Add to this

1. a nice light combination of multiple stories running in parallel

2. interesting dose of humor and right proportions of emotion

3. SPAIN and a filmy version of what to do when in Spain documentry

4. moments that you would have wanted to live and would have lived too! I have had the doordarshan scene in my life a few times already

5. affection and love and honesty and trust and lack of it stiched almost perfectly well

6. sequences that would make you ask yourself about when you are going to do them (because most of it is definitely doable)

7. a nicely fast paced, still slowing down movie which would make you breathe in the moments you would want to... the deep sea diving or the long drive in a vintage, or the breathtaking skydive...

8. comedy where it should be, and beautiful poetry where it should be. I thought it was Farhan Akhtar who had written the poetry in addition to the movie, however it turns out that it was Javed Akhtar who did! not surprised!

9. an honest real to life friendship and moments

And what you get it is a movie that you should watch again... because Zindagi mile na mile dobara, is movie ka show dubara ho sakta hai :)

What I did not really like about the movie though..

1. it missed a bit of name calling.. there are moments where good ol' friends do not resist the macho pencho language... this movie was too clean to be true

2. part of the skydive was clearly fabricated... though it did seem that these guys had jumped, I would have loved to see the first tandem jump or atleast a mention of it before they make a solo jump... It is IMPOSSIBLE to have your first jump as a SOLO jump! that kind of was messy!

3. Hritik Roshan gets to kiss Kat! not fair! :P

A lot of us could compare the roles of the three, and say Farhan got a better role than Hritik or Abhay did a better job than Farhan or similar things... I however feel that the three were so good in what they were supposed to do that I would not really want a change if given a choice!

Here is a little about the two festivals that you can see in the movie too..

1. Tomatina Festival : An annual festival (last wednesday of August) held in Valencian Town of Bunyol! Approximately 40000 kilograms of Tomatoes sees the end of day on that last wednesday. The great Spanish tomato fight starts around midday for an hour or so in Valencian... The small town with a population of about 9000 is a host to over 30000 people during the annual Tomatina festival, so its best to stay in nearby towns and take a train to the festival!

2. Pamplone Bull Run : Again annual in nature, this is held every year mid-July in the city of Pamplone, Spain. It is a part of the San Fermin festival, held in honor of Saint Fermin. The bull run starts every day at 0800 hrs and continues from 7th of July through the 14th of July. Participants have to be 18+ years of age and can run a total of 826 meters from start to finish, unless they are finished early by the raging bulls! :)

Back to the movie! Myself and Pooja really enjoyed it! and I would love to watch it Dobara!

Oh, and did I mention that Farhan Akhtar, more often than not, sounds like he is about to cry!

Long break!

This has been the longest that I have stayed away from Chai ki Dukaan... Unbelievable actually... there is so much that I want to get out of my system, but am not really finding the time or energy to do it that it has started killing me inside!

But that would continue happening, there would be something or the other that is going to be an issue, something that would be a challenge, something that would not go the way I want, or something that I would not be able to resolve or even think of a resolution! that happens! will happen!

What is important, and extremely, is that I continue to remind myself that are better days ahead! There is something nicer about everything that is happening! there is!

I need to repeat this to myself a number of times these days!

On a brighter note...

Saw a few good movies in the last few weeks!

Delhi Belly! How come I did not know that it was partly an english movie dubbed in Hindi? I ended up being confused for the first few 10 minutes of Delhi Belly trying to understand why the lips were not in sync with what was being said!

Also there is a certain music and flow in in how Delhi junta swears, and it was totally lacking in this movies irrespective this movie being capable of killing someone with an OD of onscreen swearing! Vijay Raaz is the only guy who is delivering the hindi Pencho Maacho words the way they sound like more often than not! Infact he did that brilliantly in "Pran Jaye per Shaan na Jaye". If you have not seen that one yet, you should!

Delhi Belly made everyone laugh! and hard! Mostly the situational comedy part, and at times the swearing part! but it did make everyone laugh! It was a through and through fun movie to watch, almost at the same pace right from start to finish! and post this movie, we were wondering as to where did the time go!

A plot that has been repeated a number of times in one way or the other, and still was as entertaining as it could be!

I also saw X-men First class! For people who have not seen the first 4, this might not make a lot of sense, however it was a movie which is full of action, and is not loud at all either! Very fine crafted action is what I like about all the X-men series and this one was no different! Needless to say, a must watch if you are following the series so far!

Also saw a total waste of time, Double Dhamaal, and its not really worth talking about here!

More later....

Movie Weekend!

You would know that you have just seen Golmal 3 if

1. You have experience an overdose of primary colors for about 140 minutes

2. You managed to keep your sanity through a similar duration of nonsensical slapstick (made to look like situational) comedy

3. You went inside the cinema hall expecting nothing but senseless comedy, but see a lot of senseless action and melodrama instead

4. You did not expect anything or get anything from the dialogues or the script anyway

5. You feel that Golmal 1 was a different league altogether

6. You feel that Tushar Kapoor spoke a little too much for being a dumb. (Can't forget how hilarious it was to see him do his act in Golmal 1, Rohit Shetty things that overdose of that would make for a funnier movie; He is just simple a simpleplain dumb or what???)

7. You have not managed to laugh for more than 30 minutes during the entire movie! Half of which could have been because you were laughing at yourself!

Anyway!!! I also managed to watch Twilight, sunday evening, and liked it! not amazing, but it got me thinking about how selfless people could get when it comes to love! or can they?

Once Upon a Time in NOIDA

Last minute plans for a late evening Sunday movie helped us watch "Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai" My choice of a cinema hall in NOIDA is going to very obvious now. Its going to be Big Cinemas in TGIP... reason? I bought an year of parking for Rs. 1000... This gives me unlimited parking at the Mall for an year, and some discounts on a lot of stores! most exciting being Rajdhani and Subway! a few more, but Pooja is more interested in them than me!

Let's get back to the title of the post now! Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai! The movie starts with a failed suicide attempt, and runs mostly in the flashback! Sultan Mirza's story and how he is dethroned by both the thought process of a new generation and a man which belongs to it, all of this when he invested his trusted in him! I like the parts of the movie when Ajay Devgan is on the screen, and I almost hated the parts when Imran Hashmi was doing his so called acting! Absolute nonsense! I find it tough to identify Kangna Ranaut on the screen! ALWAYS! she looks different all the time! makes her likeable in my opinion though!

Overall, I think the movie was ok, but slower than what I would like such a movie to be! The dialogues are good, the attention to detail in the backdrops are good too, and the entire look of the movie is carefully thought after! The soundtrack is nice, however there is not much to be heard during the movie except a couple of songs! If you ask me, I would say go watch it if you like watching Ajay Devgan's onscreen presence, and do not mind getting bored for about 30% of the entire duration!

awwww...hmmmm...

My problem with Romantic movies is that they more often than not end up being all dreamy and the "awwwww...." types... I don't like it... but then they are movies, right!

My other problem with romantic movies is that they remind me of some part of my personality and character that I have been through and it did not turn out the way it turns out for the people in the movie! I don't like that either! but then they are movies, right!

But having said that, if one is smart enough, there are amazing things that these "awwww..." movies can teach you! all you need to do less of "awww...." and more of "hmmm..." I do not know when I started doing that, but that is what I end up doing! Personally I find most always "awwww...." people kind of idiotic too!

I just saw "He's just not that into you". I wish I could say it that honestly to some women! They would not have been able to take that honesty anyway, even though one of the things that moves us is honesty, till someone is honest with us on our face!

I loved the character of Drew Barrymore and her inability to handle all the technology driven relationships! especially when she talks about getting dumped via multiple technology dependent mediums! poor girl!!!

This is a different movie (What a cliche'd line) ! bit more realistic than the others that I know of atleast till atleast 10 minutes before it finishes!!! I liked this one!

Another romantic movie that I saw and liked recently was "Love Actually"... What I liked about that movie was the story telling and knitting of multiple small stories together into one and the li'il unusualness in characters also something that was worth noticing!!!

As Good as it Gets!

Jack Nicholson surprises me!!!

• One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest
• Batman
• As Good as it Gets
• A Few Good Men
• Bucket List

Unbelievable !!!

I wanted to watch just half the movie today but ended up watching the full movie!

Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson's characters in this movie are so real that every 15 minutes I felt that I have witnessed something like this outside the screen around me too! Its not one of those dreamy, Walk in the cloud type romantic movies, but if I have to make a list of romantic movies, this probably would be in some of the top... I want to watch Bridges of Madison County again now...!!! and that is when I cannot handle romantic movies well! But I ended up loving this one...

Also if you can help, which movie is that where Meg Ryan comes to the city following her boyfriend, and ends up being with a guy who is spying on his ex-girlfriend who is now with Meg's boyfriend? This guy has some kind of lenses to watch what is happening in the apartment and is projecting on a wall in the one that he is staying!

Anyway... watch "As Good as it Gets" if you have not seen it already! its beautiful!

And I just realised that both Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson got an Academy Award for best actor/actress in a leading role for this movie! I am not surprised! and the Golden Globe awards for best actor and actress too!

A guy, some girls and two break ups

Its just the right title... Love Aaj Kal... It could also have been Movie Aaj Kal...
Why?

Because this kind of a movie has been made aaj(today) and it has been made Kal (yesterday) and will be made Kal (Tomorrow)

The love that you see in movies Aaj (today), and you must have seen it kal (yesterday) and you will see it kal (tomorrow) too

So in a nutshell, this is a movie you have seen before, with different characters, different situations, different actors, different locations, different trains, different stations, different camera angles, but trust me you have seen it all before... So there is something similar, yet different about this movie....

Some of the reasons why you would like to see Love Aaj Kal

1. Rishi Kapoor stays a fine actor... very natural, very elegant, very easy
2. Saif Ali Khan's suits... I personally think he dresses very well
3. Deepika's Gorgeous Legs...Just can't get enough of them ever!
4. The music... Pritam has done a brilliant job... Neeraj Sridhar, Mohit Chauhan, Sunidhi Chauhaan, Raahat Fateh Ali Khan, KK, all of them are worth listening to... I have been listening to the music of Love Aaj Kal all this week, and I am still not over Twist and Chor Bazaari... Chor Basaari specially...
5. It reminds of some parts of a Delhi... Don't know of many movies which have been shot in Purana Quila...
6. Giselle Monteiro has looked so convincing as a sardarni... infact adorable
7. Saif's Mustang !!! nothing major, I love a mustang so its important!
8. The movies reiterates a couple of facts... Men are mostly slow and stupid when it comes to relationships, Women are simple plain scared when it comes to relationships...and most couples get entangled into the "what if" and "what if not" modes...
9. Some good lights and photography at places...
10. Chor Bazaari is an amazing song! I love the music... Did I say that already? I think I did!


and reasons why you might not want to watch
1. 2 hours and 40 minutes.. umm...
2. Saif has produced the movie, and that means that he speaks atleast 50% of the time, maybe more during the movie... uff! someone has to ask him to shut up...
3. Under-utilization of Rahul Khanna..,he is such a fine artist... and Veer Das I wonder why this guy was in the movie.. he is a fine comic guy! and very smooth at times... what a waste...
4. Useless dance routines! such amazing music wasted... I have been imaging much better stuff in my mind in the last few days... now you know why I need a mind printer!

It was nice to be able to see a Hindi movie in a cinema in Milwaukee... liked it :)

and today I made the best DAL EVER... someone needs to give me a "you can finally cook" certificate!

Gems from Hindi Cinema!

Whenever I think of movies, there are a few characters I just cannot miss thinking about... Some of my favorites from the world of Hindi Cinema...

Prem Pratap Patiyaale Wala from Wo Saat Din


Ram Prasad Dashrath Prasad Sharma from Golmal


Soorma Bhopali from Sholey


Miss Chamko from Chashmebaddor


Jai from Sholey



Angrezon ke Zamane ka Jailer from Sholey


Sukumar from Chupke Chupke



Babu Rao from Hera Pheri


Subhodh and Sameer from Dil Chahta Hai


Daljit or DJ from Rang De Basanti


Ashok from Angoor


Som Mangal Budh Guru from Satte Pe Satta




Ashok, Vinod, Tarneja, Ahuja from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron



Crime master Gogo, and Amar Prem from Andaz Apna Apna


I am sure that is not all... if you remember any other scenes, please do share the links and I would put them up here!

getting there...

Slowly but surely I am loosing my patience for the weather here in Milwaukee... It continues to stays cold.. under 5 degrees Celsius... with rain and wind and occasional snow...


a week back thinking about the Spring was easier, and now its just getting build into a desperate cry for some warm(er) weather !!!

And this weekend was a movie weekend... well almost..

Saw

• Monsters Vs. Aliens (Beautiful animation... my favorite being the character of BOB... there is so much that you can see in the eyes when you are watching an animation movie... loved it.. )
• Straight (Vinay Pathak needs to get out of roles that focus on self pity... he is getting boring and very very predictable... Need a helping of Bheja Fry to get over this one ! I felt it was slow movie... at least the first half was very very slow)
• Alu Chat (A lot of people have not really liked this one, but I really enjoyed the movie... some dragging parts here and there, but overall a decent one time watch.. even laughed out loud at a few scenes... worth it... felt that Saurabh Shukla should have been in the movie, though Manoj Pahwa is an excellent actor, I still missed Saurabh Shukla)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Though I have seen these, but I want to see all the Harry Potter movies again... and then will watch the Pirate's of the Carribean series followed by Matrix)
• and a lot of episodes of Scrubs (Season 3... I really like JD and Elliot... there is something about them that I relate to so well.. and Dr. Cox and the Janitor are lovely characters as well)

I wanted to watch Fast and Furious, however I am not going to see it on the laptop... it needs a big screen.. for that matter almost all firangi action movies do.. and animations as well.. I am hoping to watch it next week and then Transformers-II is coming as well... need to find an iMAX for it.. not watching it on the regular cinema screen by any chance...

Husbands and Wives in HINDI

What is the hindi translation of Husbands and Wives?

It is "Dil Kabbaddi".

There are movies which are adapted, there are movies which are inspired and for the time first time ever, I saw a movie which is a translation, and with different faces and characters, but the same dialogues, the same time of doors being slammed and opened, the same timing of smiles and laughter, the same reference to places, phew !!!!

Rahul Bose , Konkona Sen and Irfan Khan are real fine actors without doubt, but I am sad to see them act in this movie because all they are doing is speaking the same dialogues which were spoken in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives" in Hindi and bits of english and trying to act the same movie out in different settings ! What were they thinking when they decided to do this? And Soha is such a misfit ! She has done a terrible delivery of the dialogues and expressions !!!

So if you were waiting to watch "Dil Kabaddi" I would say don't, rather watch the original !!! You will like it more for sure !

and while you are at it, do try to watch "Match Point"... what a smartly made movie... I liked it more coz it reminded me of London.. one of the places I love to love !

A Burrito of Thoughts...

I have loved the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", every time I have seen it, which should be about 10 times already so far!

And I so wish that I erase the memory of a few people from my brain, because anything about them just brings back the pain that I went through, with them, because of them, when they were there and whatever crap... Even the mention of their name is painful at times !!! Actually not pain, its the wrong word to use right now, but for the lack of a word, worse or better (wondering what !) then this one, I will let it be !

Anyway, the good part is, that the movie is wonderful and Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet can be seen doing something which is unusual for their typical style of acting... The movie has been directed the unusual way too, or should I say the "Pulp Fiction" or the "Memento" way... (This basically means that you have to add two more movies in addition to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in your must watch list)

Had mexican today for lunch... (wish i could rewrite it like this - had a Mexican girl for lunch today, but I guess she would fit better for dessert I guess :P) anyway....

so this Mexican Girl.. no, Mexican GRILL, yea that's right, Mexican Grill, called Panchero's serves all sorts of food (Deepu, Subbu, Bindiya, Aro, you have a lot of love here as I heard that the non-veg is great at this place) but I managed with a Veggie Burrito... which was both very tasty and filling... I am going to refrain from speaking the name of the place too much, because it sounds more the common sentence filler in Hindi ;)

वैसे हिन्दी में बोलें तो, मैदे की बड़ी सी रोटी में, राजमा, चावल, सब्जी, और चटनी भर कर खायी !!! और काफ़ी स्वादिष्ट भी थी...

First time experience of Mexican Food... and I guess, we can put this on the menu in the Chai Ki Dukaan too sometime later :)

Oh and btw, this weekend has offered me a series of first time experiences, which I am going to write about later... Till then, its for you to guess!

And the people who know it already, please do not spill the beans, I might use them in the next Burrito that I eat !

Blue Umbrella...

चाचा, छाते को लेकर कोई फायदा होगा क्या?

अबे, ये इन्द्रधानुस को देख के कोई फायदा होता है क्या?
ये पानी में सोट्टी सी कागज़ की नाउ तैराके कोई फायदा होत्ता है क्या?
वो पहाड़ी के पीसे सूरज को डूबते देखके कोई फायदा होत्ता है क्या?
और तेरे जैसे निखट्टू को काम पे रख के कोई फायदा होता है क्या?
...
आत्मा की सांति में नफा नुस्कान नहीं देखा जात्ता !!!
...
कुछ पिछले ही जनम का संबंद है !!!
छत्री और खत्री का !!!!

This is just one of the many dialogues that will keep you hooked to the Blue Umbrella... a movie which revolves around an old man's love for the blue umbrella a young girl Binya, in his village, got from the tourists, how he tries to buy her into giving the umbrella to him using all he could and more... The movie is based on a novel by Ruskin Bond and is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

I am not going to discuss the plot of the movie here because it has its own climax and how it unfolds, however I should mention that Pankaj Kapoor as Nandkishor Khatri, is at his amazing best with the simplest of scenes and dialogues that you would like to remember... The accent of Nandkishor Khatri is something to notice (well you will, without me mentioning it anyway). I am mentioning it specifically because I loved it !!! I LOVED IT...

What adds to the beauty and simplicity of the movie are the songs which have been written by Gulzar... every song is a gem in itself...

मेरा टेसू यहीं अड़ा,
खाने को मांगे दही बड़ा,
सूख गया मेरा टेसू,
एक टांग पे खड़ा खड़ा... is one of my favorite songs ever, and needless to say the movie is a favorite too :) Do I have it in MP3? yes I have :) Do you want it? You know what to do

Chai ki Dukaan highly recommends this movie !!! Go get the VCD/DVD and watch it with the entire family !!

बिल गेट, अरे नंदू, बिल गेट...

अरे पता भी है कौन है?

अरे पता है... बिल गेट एह ... इंडिया गेट के पास है... पीछे की तरफ्फ़ पड़ता है ...

The Motorcycle Diaries

One of the movies that tops my list of "Oh I Can see it a million times" is The Shawshank Redemption... After the first time I saw it, I must have seen it already about 20 odd times still a while to go before the million happens but anyway :)

... and lets add another to this list today....

The Motorcycle Diaries or Diarios de motocicleta... The story of two doctors, well almost, who set out on an adventure in a old Norton 500 bike, which they call "The Mighty One", "La Pederosa" to be specific in the language the movie is made... The movie is in Spanish and I saw it with the sub-titles ofcourse... During the course of their journey, these two friends go through whatever one can think of... Bike Accidents, Crashing into cattle, skidding off into water, Snow, Desert, Water, Wind, Hunger, selling off the bike and so on and so forth...

One of the best scenes for me personally was when Emesto Fuser, jumps into the Amazon to cross it in the night only to reach the other side which is the camp for leprocy patients and celebrate his 24th birthday with them....

When I finished the movie and started reading about it, I realised that this man Emesto Fuser, later went on to be called Che, the iconic Marxist Revolutionary... Incidently I was unaware of this name till a few weeks ago when Bhumika talked about a Luxar highlighter ad which had won at the Cannes festival... That is when I had about the face with Subbu and Aro and we had briefly discussed him...

So Coming back to the point... This movie is now a favorite and stays one !!!!!

One Flew...

"I don't know what freedom is about..."

I kept repeating this line to myself for atleast 5 minutes before I started writing this...

Is freedom, the freedom to speak?
or to act?
or to think?

or to think and speak?

or to think and act?

or to have the liberty to speak and act the way we want?

or to just be calm about whats happening?


Or is it about getting away from everything once in a while, spend a couple of days in silence with yourself and then get back to this noisy world where freedom is just a word...

Wondering what triggered this thought? I am wondering too !!!

Was Randle McMurphy ( Jack Nicolson as we know him) wrong in doing what he did?

Should the Chief have left him like he was after the lobotomy operations?

Or did the chief do the right thing before he escaped?

It takes guts to make a movie like "One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest" and I must admit that it did bring me closer to a lot of questions I would like to get answers for sometime in my life...

If you have not seen the movie yet, see it... Don't read about it on IMDB or Wiki... you would know what happened in the end... Get a CD or a DVD... watch this movie... its brilliant... I should use a better word, but I can't think of any right now...

If you have read this post, do make an honest attempt to watch the movie... and tell me what you think !!!

One of the nicest things that has happened to me on this UK trip is movies like Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump etc... thanks Lalit for the lovely idea... I owe you one...

A Date with Friday Evening...

~Come back home early... Ok atleast try to... 30 minutes early is good enough...

~Don't change...

~Sleep in what you were wearing...

~Wake up whenever...

~Find out what time it is... (No Idea why this is important, but I tried to find the time as soon as I woke up)

~Think of something different to eat...

~Think of a nice movie to watch... now that you have slept for a while, you can stay awake longer...

I am kinda stuck at the last step now..

I have

• The Shawshank Redemption
  
• Silence of the Lambs
• The American Gangster
• Goodfellas
• Momento
• One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
• Pulp Fiction
• Ned Kelly
  

I have never been an english movie buff, and I never cared to make an attempt to watch the classics so far. Thanks to Lalit, who helped with finding out what all I can watch, I made a move in that direction. Let me do an Inky Pinky Ponky and choose my movie for the night...

Oh, I think I have Manorama - Six Feet Under too...

So here is the plan...

Lemonade and Pineapple Juice, some noodles, Doritos and one or two of these movies... You are welcome to join in !!!

Song in the background :
धम धम धडाम धढैय्या रे , सबसे बडे लढैय्या रे ... ओमकारा ....

I love the way this song has been sung... Infact the rest of the songs in this movie also have the folk touch that I love to love like in Beedi and Namak...

Can't Forget how Saif Ali Khan did Langda Tyagi to perfection... Amazing stuff... Another movie where he impressed me a lot was Ek Haseena Thi...

anyway... I should get back to the angrezi movies and go to the kitchen to make my dinner...

Adios... May God be with us...