Category Archives: Movies

Tuesday Talkies – Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania

Image July 22, 2014 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

This weekend, I attended a wedding…. and what a wedding it was. 🙂

Cutting short the drama – I watched “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”, movie starring Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana and newbie Siddharth Shukla. Produced by Karan Johar and directed by Shashank Khaitan, this should be titled “A Tribute to DDLJ”. When you watch the movie, from start till the very end, this movie has every scene reminding you of the Bollywood classic – “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”.

Story revolves around Kavya aka Alia Bhatt, who is getting married to Siddharth Shukla, a NRI doctor, who is chosen by her father as the perfect groom(btw, he is Perfect…. Just too good to be true). She is all happy and content about the marriage, except that she wants to wear a designer Lehnga, just like Kareena’s, in her marriage. Chirpy girl from Ambala, heads out to Delhi, to buy the Lehnga of her dream. Poor girl didn’t knew that she may or may not get the lehnga of her dreams, but she will fall in Love for sure.

Kavya meets Humpty; Alia meets Varun; and sparks fly. They do some naach gaana, and then the bride to be, returns back to her reality, her home. But, love knows no boundaries. So, our Humpty Sharma aka Varun too runs to Ambala along with his two best friends; to woo not only Kavya but also her parents, specially her Father, Ashutosh Rana.

I am not going to spoil the suspense more for you, but if you know Bollywood movies, and have watched DDLJ, then you know there is n suspense here. 😛

I really liked the movie. Even though it has the same tried and tested, boy meets girl, they fall in love, someone in family opposes, they try to convince…. kind of repeated theme, but the treatment given to this story is very refreshing and modern.

It is a tribute to DDLJ, but if you put this movie in today’s context, then “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”, is a better version of DDLJ, atleast more practical.

What works for the movie?

Chemistry…….. Alia and Varun being the super catalyst of this Awesome Chemistry. They look so perfect, fresh and electrifying together, that you can not take your eyes off them. Both of them are just a few movies old, but still they don’t look novice when it comes to their acting capabilities.

Alia specially in that Gurudwara scene has enacted the whole scene with such emotions even though when she is not speaking a single word; and Varun in the scene at Railway Station, where he confronts Ashutosh Rana; Marvelous. Both of them have a very good screen presence and they complement each other.

I am seeing Ashutosh Rana after such along time in a good movie, with a well defined role, and he has used this opportunity to the best of his caliber. His role is such, that every girl would want him to be her father, and every boyfriend would have nightmares of having him as his father in law.

Varun’s friends Shonty and Poplu are fun to watch. Every scene they are in, they have made me laugh. Witty dialogues delivered by them effortlessly, just like a pro. There is one eye candy too…. no, I am not talking about Alia. It’s Siddharth Shukla, television actor, debuting first time on big screen. More of his six pack debut, as he do not have much dialogues. Not that I am complaining. I am pretty content with just a towel scene. 😛

overall it’s a fun movie which you should watch if you want to relive that love and romance long gone, since the time of DDLJ.

Go enjoy wedding of Humpty along with “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”.

Movies

Tuesday Talkies – ‘Black’ is No ‘The Miracle Worker’

Image July 8, 2014 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

Black is No Miracle Worker — A Scene From Black

I am reading Hellen Keller‘s autobiography “The Story Of My Life”, and midway my reading I realized that I have actually seen a movie based on this book.

Themovie was ‘Black‘ by ‘Sanjay Leela Bhansali, released in 2005. This movie was based on the life of a deaf and blind girl Michelle, played by Rani Mukherji and in adult and child roles respectively. Amitabh Bachchan Played the role of Teacher, who helped the little girl understand the language and introduce her to a dignified and meaningful life. This movie was very well received by the critics at the time of it’s release.

When I watched it first, I didn’t enjoyed it much. It was too much over dramatic for me. Now after realizing that this movie is indeed based on a real person, I watched it again. Alas, again it was too much over dramatic. I decided to watch some other movie which is based on Hellen Keller, and I stumbled on “The Miracle Worker”.

After watching The miracle Worker, I realized just how much drama, we Indians love. 🙂

Firstly, the teacher is male, just so that they can introduce a love angle to the whole story. We do need romance, right? Remember that kiss between, Rani as Michelle, and double aged teacher, Amitabh Bachchan? Now, how could this kiss would have been possible if Teacher, would have been a female. Point to note, in reality, and in The Miracle Worker too, Teacher is the famous Anne Sullivan, who is still recognized for her teaching work done on Hellen.

In Black, almost every important scene is picked as it is from The Miracle Worker, including that famous, dinner table scene or introduction to first word, water, scene. Only difference being, the size and scale of emotions and drama is so high in Black, that it looks unrealistic. Teacher, is shown more like some crazy, brainy old fellow, rather then as a strict but compassionate Anne Sullivan.

To induce more drama, Alzheimer disease is also roped in, so that they can stretch the plot some more. But, to be on a fair side, it was not a documentary but rather a Bollywood movie. This does make it exceptional, as there are no songs and dance routine in the movie, but it’s not entirely a true story.

Still, better than the rest. Go enjoy it once again. Don’t forget to watch The Miracle Worker too, for a dose of realism.

Movies

Tuesday Talkies – From ‘I Saw The Devil’ To ‘Ek Villain’

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I don’t generally like a movie which is inspired from another movie. By inspired, I actually meant, lifted scene by scene, and then adjusted as per the native audience. But, with the catchy promos of “Ek Villain”, I just wished that this time maybe I will be wrong, and movie will actually turn out good. Alas!!!

From 'I Saw The Devil' To 'Ek Villain' — ‘Ek Villain’

“Ek Villain” is an Indian/Hindi/Bollywood movie, just released, which is actually (not officially) inspired by South Korean movie “I Saw The Devil”.

As I told you, that I was eager to watch “Ek Villain”, so when I came to know of it’s adaptation version, I decided to first watch the original one and then the copy/inspiration. Glad I did that!!!

Before I go about comparing both the movies first let me draw you the basic plot of “I Saw The Devil”. In this movie, a girl is murdered and cut into pieces gruesomely, by a Psychotic Killer. Fiance of the girl, who is a secret service agent, was left devastated, and in his quest for vengeance, he decides to find out the Killer. When he finds the killer, it was more than revenge that he wanted to take. He wanted the killer to suffer the way her fiancee has suffered, the way all the other girls who were victim of that killer have suffered. So, he beat him up (insanely), broke his hand, and leave him, along with the money to take treatment for his wounds. As soon as Killer tries to lay hand on his next victim, our Hero, again beat him up to almost death, broke his leg and again set him free. I don’t want to reveal the plot more, but this one was one hell of a revenge drama.

Coming to “Ek Villain”, it is totally based on the above plot, just the Indianized version of it, with less gory details, no bloody stuff here. Infact a love story is woven around, which eats up half of the story time. This is where “Ek Villain” suffers. It is more of an emotional drama, with a pregnant wife, who has just beaten cancer, with the prayers of his loving husband, innocent love birds deeply in love with each other, singing songs and holding hands, committed to make each others dream come true. The time that this movie has spent on evolving this love dramas, should have spent on explaining the mind of killer and feelings of a revengeful lover.

“I Saw The Devil” scored mainly on two points, first because of the chase game and it’s treatment of the whole story of vengeance which is dealt with real emotions. Secondly, the acting of two lead pairs, revengeful Lover and psychotic Killer. Both have acted so well that despite the gory blood work all over, you can not move your eyes away from them. Specially the scene, where hero breaks down crying after killing the villain, is marvelous.

Where “Ek Villain” has scored is, it’s songs, and less gory details, no sexual violence shown. Actors are good too. But on the whole, it could have been a better thriller, if the focus should have been kept on making it a thriller and to not ruin it by making it into a love story.

Here is to copying something and ruining it’s soul.

Movies

You are The Queen Kangana

Image March 28, 2014 jcisnowjs 1 Comment

Spoilers Alert : “Queen” Movie Review

When I watch a strong Female lead based movie, I expect a lot of drama, emotion, tears, bad men, lots of lecture and a depressing but at the end suddenly gone inspiring movie. Holds true for most of such films.

“Queen” was different. Firstly all the crying and tears that were shed in the movie was done while female lead was at her drunkest best and the way whole scene was conceptualized, it just made my day. A Punjabi girl gotten drunk for the first time, in a foreign land, with a friend that she just made friends with, and pouring out her heart first time, after her fiance dumped her, just before the wedding day. It was revolting and funny and so casual at the same time.

Queen is a story of a Punjabi girl from Delhi’s Rajouri garden, who has fallen in love with a suitable match, after his much persuasion though, that too in full filmy style. She was about to get married in a day when her foreign returned fiance declare her not fit enough as per his new found upper standards, so, they can not marry. That was a marvelous scene. A subtle yet powerful performance by both Kangana and Raj Kumar Yadav. What happens next, no points guessing but she was devastated, still surprisingly she decides to go on her honeymoon, alone.

Honeymoon in Paris, every girl’s dream, and Kangana was living her dream, only difference it was a nightmare being alone. Journey started. She discover herself, what she actually liked and what she was told to like, what she likes to eat and having courage enough to tell an Italian chef that she can cook better than him. By the way, she had a cute little crush on him. Now, if this being any other Bollywood masala movie, he couldn’t be an Italian, and she can never ever have kissed him.

What I like most about this movie and portrayal of Kangana’s role was that the character never turned revengeful or negative. She was content, she was complete in her own. In the end, it just looked like that she is saying to her ex fiance that I don’t need you for my happiness. I am Happy.

This is what I have taken from the movie. You can choose to be happy no matter what your circumstances are.

I am happy.

Life, Movies

Lovelace on a Highway

Image March 3, 2014 jcisnowjs 5 Comments

Warning: Spoilers ahead, in case you haven’t watched the movies “Highway” and “Lovelace”.

A Sunday well spent is, a Sunday spent on a couch watching some random movies and instead of burying them somewhere in your mind, have something to write about them. This Sunday I watched Highway then Lovelace and then a show “Satyamev Jayate S2”. Surprisingly, all three of them were connected to a single theme – Abuse of Women. Here I am not writing about “Satyamev Jayate”, because I believe it would require a separately dedicated post.

So, here comes my review along with my thoughts on the two movies I watched this Sunday.

Highway:

Highway is a story of a posh and high class young girl, who somehow seems to be trapped in that high culture aristocracy of Delhi. But inside she is a child wanting to explore the world, to know what it feels like to be free for a single day. This feeling can be understood by her state of mind as she was getting married the very next day and she decides to have her last freedom drive with her fiancee That is when she got kidnapped by some haryanvi rustic kidnappers. She was taken through a bumpy ride across north India, where by the passing days of her ordeal she discovered that she is tasting freedom for the first time in her life. She is free to go but she is longing to go away further in her journey. She realized that she is actually falling for her kidnapper,(this transition is very badly represented though), a man who has a rough exterior but who respects her and treats her with realism. She is no longer living a fake life of etiquette and good manners. That’s when she breaks down and share her tormenting past of child abuse to her kidnapper. How she had to behave like nothing has ever happened just because they are living in a society where child abuse is not considered a good word to hear. How she was facing her rapist uncle everyday at her home, and still she was behaving normally in front of him, as if the whole thing was not real but some nightmare.

Lovelace:

Lovelace is based on a real life story of girl, Linda, who got famous as a porn star by doing a porn movie once. She was just a regular teenage girl who feel suffocated by her over controlling church going parents and decided to move away with her recently found love interest Chuck. Chuck, who seems to be true gentlemen, soon marries Linda. They hit a financial rough patch and that’s when Chuck decides that the most easy way to earn money would be to have Linda work in a porn movie. She was scared and felt devastated and runs back to her mother, who only sends her back saying that a woman should always obey her husband, and do whatever he desires. She obeys. But Chuck was no gentlemen, not anymore. Beatings started and soon to earn more money he sells her last dignity, her body. Not to a single man but to a group of monsters.

After watching these two movies I realized the condition of women is not different in any part of the world. They may seem progressive sometimes but still many of them are sacrificing their freedom and dignity for their loved once. Sometimes by them and sometimes for them. Only thing that makes a difference in a woman’s life is when she starts listening to herself. When she decides to live her life on her own terms. In both the movies, the protagonist finally stands for herself and that’s when she break this circle of abuse and move on to live a life of dignity and worth-fullness. In Highway, she decides to move away from her parents and live alone her life, working independently. In Lovelace, she decides to leave her abusing husband. She marries again, become a mother, and writes about her “Ordeal” so that she can help other girls who are going through marital abuse.

Reflecting point is that no matter who you are or where you belong to, until and unless you stand for yourself, no one is going to respect you for who you are.

Be yourself. Be strong.