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The Spirit of Team-work!
Helping each other climb the hill!
Quite an adventure it was. Read the never-ending blog post below to get the full story!
He he!
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The Road Trip!
One for the road.
I just love this pic I clicked from the moving bus.
I just love the road.
Grampians!
Livin’ on the edge!
Oz-zum Time!
Everybody must take a holiday. Once a year.
It sooo rejuvenates.
I’m at the end of one. The last ten days have been a blast. Except for getting laid and watching naked women dance around, I did everything else. 🙂 But damn, I missed a trip to the Crown Casino!
Anyway, that was about what I didn’t do. And about what I did, there’s so much to write and I dunno where to begin. I’m in the Bangkok airport now with another hour to kill before my flight back to Madras.
And I got to get to work today. So, I doubt if I would ever have time to blog about the trip, if I miss the chance now. So here goes.
Landed in Sydney late on the September 6th evening. We checked into Star City hotel and I got the first taste of how expensive the city was when I used the internet cafe at the convenience store (because the net at the hotel would be much more expensive). Had an interview lined up with Nagesh Kukunoor and it did feel strange to do it sitting far away in Sydney when he was sitting there in Sathyam theatre. So 12 dollars poorer, I sent off the story after the chat and crashed by 1 a.m. only to wake up all by myself by 5.45 a.m!
And till day ten of the trip, I’ve always woken up before 6.30 a.m. That’s like a new record of sorts for me, considering I never ever wake up before ten or eleven. Sometimes, around noon or even later.
On the 7th: We visited Foxtel’s headoffice located at a wharf in Pyrmont (an area around Darling Hourbour). Who would’ve imagined a wharf for an office… it rocked! You got the best view of Sydney skyline from there and the compact office packed with cabins and edit suites seemed to be a cozy place to work. Soon, we learnt that the wharf was gonna give way to million dollar apartments and Foxtel was shifting to a newer base at one of the industrial areas. Apparently, none of the staff were happy about it.
It was also the day when we were introduced to the real potential of digital television.
Split screens with different channels, text updates that could give newspaper business stiff competition, facility to rewind, fast-forward or pause live television (Yes!) and a remote that truly kept you in control of what you want to see. There will be more of this on the stories I will be writing for the paper, so I’ll just move on.
In the evening, we had some free time and I joined a coupla new friends V and H to go around Sydney. V was one of the best and most informed business journalists in the country and H was from the PR firm that was co-ordinating our trip. So, in the company of these ladies and my video camera, we set out for a quick tour of Sydney.
First, we walked to Darling Harbour, then took the monorail (a sort of a toy train that goes around the heart of Sydney… it goes around in circles, as the promotional tag line goes) from one random station and then got off at another random station that said City Centre and the map in hand showed that it was the nearest point to get off to head towards The Rocks village that overlooks the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a stone’s throw away from the Opera House.
At the city centre, we did a quick round of shopping for souvenirs and believe it or not, as I later found out, souvenirs cost more or less the same in Sydney or Melbourne. So putting off buying souvenirs for the Melbourne part of the tour turned out to be a mistake cuz there was so much to do around Melbourne.
You get small boomerangs from 5 dollars but if you look around Melbourne, you will get even bigger ones starting at 3 dollars!
We then walked all the way to the Rocks village and around the Opera House. It was the most romantic place with street-side musicians strumming up their guitars as young groups of women did a little jig. And, soon, it was a dance floor. People chucked money into the guitar case and apparently that’s how the musicians made their money.
It was a little dark, so we didn’t quite get great pics of the Opera House. I hope H and V, who had better cameras than the one I had, got decent snapshots.
We took a cab back to Darling harbour which reminded me of the Quay around Singapore river. Very similar. We found an interesting eat out called Blue Fish and H and V then gorged on sea food which looked extremely exotic… With names like Fisherman’s Basket and Marinara Boat, these huge plates shaped like a basket and a boat, had a quite a huge quantity of squids, oysters, octopuses and all sort of other sea food.
Since I was veggie, I had to eat Garlic bread and raw tomato finely cut and passed off as some exotic salad.
We then walked back to the hotel and crashed early.
On the 8th: We were taken to Foxtel’s new facility at North Ryde and met an engineering expert called Smart who gave us quite an in-depth presentation on the technical side of packaging channels for TV, interactivity and even showed us new gizmos… hand held TV that makes dinosaurs out of palm tops and even the state-of-the-art PDAs.
That evening, we joined the Australians cheer their team on the opening day of the final Ashes test at the dinner hosted by Fox Sports. And for a bonus, we bumped into Allan Border who more than obliged for photographs. I’m just hoping that N, our friend from Dainik Jagran sends us those pictures because he was the only one to have a camera ready.
On the 9th: We left for Melbourne and were taken to the call centres of Foxtel, where we were given a presentation on how they use these call-centres to keep even most irritant subscribers happy. We checked into the Melbourne Mariott that evening and did a quick tour of Melbourne with a free tram ride that runs around the City Loop. City Circle is a special tram service operated for tourists to go around the heart of Melbourne.
Melbourne as hyped, is definitely among the most livable cities in the world. It is so easy to get around the farthest distances, thanks to their train and tram network that connects even the remotest suburbs with the City Loop. The City Loop is a rectangular area neatly sliced into streets and the grid of clearly marked intersections makes sure you don’t lose your way around.
Me and V from Space TV, hopped into Myer and David Jones (?) and shopped from this music store in Bourke street where we got some neat deals on 10-movies in a pack for 10 AUDollars. I also finally got my Jerry Maguire soundtrack in Melbourne after a major hunt for it in Madras!
We had a wonderful dinner hosted by the CEO of Space TV, the DTH venture of STAR and Tatas in India which will be starting operations in India early next year.
10th: The next day, was the sight-seeing part of the official tour where our hosts took us to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and to an exotic-looking vinery in Yarra Valley. With huge halls, warm couches and a fire-place, with the French windows overlooking the valley, it was one of the most beautiful sights.
We had the most divine lunch there. Yes, they did have some rocking stuff for veggies too. Never knew pumpkin tastes this good. And wine of course. Since, I am not too much of a wine drinker, the CEO recommended dessert wine and yes, that was truly d-wine too!
Yarra Valley has to be among the most romantic getaways and the place for wine tasting. I picked up a coupla interesting jam mixes for Mom and we then headed back to the city as our chauffer Nick told us about Kangaroos and how dumb they were to get run over all the time.
The team of journalists and organisers left the same day, without getting a glimpse of a single Roo. It was Saturday night alright but I was soo dead tired that I just went back into my room and crashed. I saw a busful of extremely hawt babes and more revellers board the pub-crawler that takes you from one nightclub to another. But it didn’t make sense to do that by yourself in a city where you don’t know anyone.
P, my friend’s brother stayed in Melbourne and he was sweet enough to host me for the rest of my trip.
On the 11th:
P came and picked me up with his friend K and took me to their place in Carnegie, a suburb half an hour away from the City Loop. They took me to Chadstone, supposed to the biggest shopping mall in that part of the world. Was quite amazed at the spirit of togetherness that binds Indians in places far off from home. These guys were living so far away from home, missing home so much that the Internet was their only window to peep into what’s happening back home. There was Tamil music playing, and of course the sweet localness of the Tamil language that made me feel at home instantly. They made enquiries for me to tour the Great Ocean Road and we found that there was a bus leaving next morning: A three day round-trip from Melbourne to the Grampians (mountain ranges) and the Great Ocean Road for 175 AUD (exclusive of accomodation priced at about 20 dollars a night!)
12th:
K dropped me at the station and I got off at Flinder’s Street, the last station at the heart of the city and the hub for trains to any suburb of Melbourne. Walked to the Immigration Museum, the pick-up point for backpackers who had booked for the tour by Autopia Tours.
It was freezing cold and I got myself a hot cappucinno before the bus screeched to a halt there at 7.45 on the dot. Our driver James was just gonna drive us and those who had booked a daylong tour of the Grampians around till 3 p.m. after which we had to shift to another bus at Halls Gap, which lies at the heart of the Grampians. That bus was coming from Adelaide with a driver called Phil who would be our guide for the 3-day trip.
It took a long time for the backpackers to break ice and that didn’t happen till the end of Day One, after James left. Though we did walk together as a group, everyone was virtually doing their own thing. Bushwalking through Halls Gap, we came across streams, interesting rock formations, waterfalls and the most interesting terrain through the woods. For a brief part of the walk, I used the discman to give me a background score.
It was the most beautiful experience. It was freezing, it was drizzling, we were all trekking up and down the mountains, as a group waiting for the slowest to catch up. Our group had an old couple and I couldn’t help but admire their zest for adventure.
McKenzie’s Falls was so steep but the most breathtaking sight. Nothing like watching a rush of water gush down in full speed. It was during that walk that finally the group began making conversation.
From the moment Phil took over and everyone introduced themselves, we finally knew each other, at least by name.
There were nine of us for the 3-day tour. Nine strangers, all from a different country. Almost, for there were two Japanese girls Yoko and Maya and one South Korean Yong Hi (who called herself Eddie) who had joined us from Adelaide. There was this friendly American guy with a paunch: John, the only other guy in the gang apart from me and Phil, of course.
And there was a Danish girl called Sidsir, who seemed to be some sort of an athlete, she was always the one leading the pack and never ever getting tired. UK-based Zoe was the kid of the gang, or at least seemed it, with her enthusiasm for spotting koalas and also the slowest of the lot. There was Emily from Perth and Anna from Germany to complete the gang.
Phil took us to this place near a mountain called the Asses. And it was right in the middle of the far, run by a chap called Steve, who looked like a healthier version of Glen MacGrath. But for that eggplant veggie thing he brought me for dinner, it was truly the most enchanting stay. We had wooden cabins with six beds in it. But since John and me were the only guys in the gang, we had the cabin to ourselves. The common room was the hub of activity as the Japanese girls played an interesting game of blocks, some of the others played pool and Phil and me watched the beginning of the last day’s play of the Ashes for a while, before I went off to sleep.
13th:
We did more walks of the Grampians. And Phil put us into quite an adventure when he made us climb a mushroom-shaped rock formation where one wrong step would lead to a free-fall. We took some really cool pictures (I haven’t seen them and just hope my camera hasn’t failed me. Will know when I head back home and download them to the machine. Watch out for the pics.)
We walked down the Grand Canyon and there was this narrow little gap between the two walls of mountains called the Silent Street. We then headed to the Jaws of Death for more pictures before Phil took us to the Great Ocean road on the afternoon for a coupla lookouts.
I had read quite a bit about the Great Ocean Road being among the top ten best road trips in the world. And inspite of the hype, the sheer beauty of the locales exceeded my expectations. The best part of the trip apart from the marvellous sea-side lookouts are the charming small towns. We stayed at this little town called Port Campbell in a YHA hostel that provided backpackers acco for 18 dollars a night.
Phil’s idea of having a barbeque was a nice little idea that saw each of us contributing to the cooking process. I cut veggies for the salad! A bunch of us cooked and the rest washed the dishes. Being a part of a backpacking group is so much fun.
Then we had a nice meal together before we all got together as a group and watched the video footage of what I had shot during the day and had quite a laugh recalling the rock climbing adventure at the mushroom-shaped rock formation when I apparently made the easiest climb look so tough.
Signed John’s travel book that night and we crashed at the dorm.
14th: The last day of the trip, Phil gave us the option of taking a chopper ride to get an aerial view of the 12 Apostles (only 11 are left since one fell off in July). A chopper ride is the only way you get to see all the apostles in a row. From one lookout, you can see seven together and from another, you get to see four. And apart from these 11, there are two more rock formations called the Rocksters (?).
Before that, Phil set us on another adventure as we went down a beach into a cave from one of the lookouts on Great Ocean Road. It was near Loc Ard’s Arch if I remember right. The rocks leading to the cave were slippery and I had my video camera on me in one hand as i tried to get a grip with the other. And the waves only made it a little more difficult. It was great fun as the Japanese girls screamed every time a wave came and hit their feet as they jumped from one rock to the other.
The chopper ride at the 12 apostles was on out of the world experience. I kept the video on the whole while. It’s something I will cherish for a long while to come.
The Great Ocean Road is divided into three stretches… The Shipwreck coast that boasts of some amazing rock formations including the twelve apostles, the London bridge, Loc Ard’s Arch etc and then a stretch along the Otway ranges where the road is not along the coast but through the mountains. It’s a great place to catch Koala bears and Kangaroos and Kookaburras and Cockatoos… I got them on camera too. And Emus too. And we did a walk into the rainforests to catch the biggest trees in the world, second only to the Sequoia. We all took a group snap in the gap at the base of one huge tree.
And the last stretch of the Great Ocean Road is the classic stretch, the original stretch that runs right next to the sea. It runs through Apollo Bay and Lorne, quaint towns where tourists stop to buy souvenirs and postcards. We stopped by Kenneth River for some more Koalas and finally headed back to Geelong and Melbourne after exchanging email addresses.
It was a rather weird experience to watch all of them get off the bus one by one and disappear forever, from each others lives. We had been together for the last three days, not got to know each other that well, thankfully… So, it was good to have known these bunch of people as companions for while. We signed Phil’s book. Only glad to, he made such a great travel guide.
That night I got back to P’s place in Carnegie and the next morning, i woke up at 11. Finally, on the last day of the trip, I get back to normalcy.
I caught up with a friend’s friend for pizza at Pizza Hut in Melbourne city and she helped me with a little souvenir shopping.
Came back by eight and helpful K dropped me at the stations. Both of P’s friends are called Karthik. And the two Karthiks dropped me at Caulfield station from where I got off at Spencer Street to take the connecting airport shuttle bus. Pulling the 30 kilo suitcase up and down the stairs and 300 feet turned out to be quite an adventure. When I finally got on the skybus to the airport, it finally struck me that I will miss the place. But I had had my fill.
I’m only too glad to be returning home now. I had a sound sleep on the plane and now I’m awake, all rejuvenated to resume work again.
It’s time for my flight and I’m happy to head back to Madras. Home is just three hours away! Here I come!
Unedited Yahoo chat with Nagesh Kukunoor!
The folks from Sathyam Cinemas were pretty sweet to arrange an interview with Nagesh Kukunoor for me sitting in Sydney. Here’s the entire unedited transcript of the chat… The edited version will appear in the next few days.
sudhishkamath: hi nagesh… i loved ur film… im sure that’s pretty obvious with the review… just curious… did u conceive iqbal or did mukta arts ask u to direct an idea they had…how did it all begin?
Nagesh Kukunoor : i had been pitching this idea about a deaf and dumb kid who excels at the sport of malkhamb – a rural sport. No producer showed interest till I changed the sport to cricket.
sudhishkamath: oh… the cricket idea was from mukta?
sudhishkamath: im asking this cuz i read a subhash ghai interview where he said iqbal was conceived before black… he was just looking for a director
Nagesh Kukunoor : No, no. I wrote the script with cricket and then approached mukta.
sudhishkamath: oh… cool… wat did u not want to do with Iqbal, especially keeping in mind the inevitable comparisons with lagaan and black? u seen them? 🙂
Nagesh Kukunoor : What he meant was I had pitched the idea to him way back when. He also said it beacuse comparisons were being drawn to black but we were already shooting shen black opened
sudhishkamath: so u made a list of things that u will not do while treeating disability??
Nagesh Kukunoor : I wanted to write a film about an underdog and a film which treated disability with dignity and this was as far back as 2003
sudhishkamath: ok… thats wonderful… it was high time disability was treated wtih this attitude… the theme of ability foundation’s film festival this year was on Inclusive society
sudhishkamath: ur film wud ve been the most perfect film for the occasion… wat prompted the desire to do something on disability? personal motivation or purely potential for a moving film?
Nagesh Kukunoor : A moving film but the approach was to do something unique…almost experiment with the audience i.e. condition them to treat disability with normalcy. Make the audience forget within the first 5 mins that the lead character is disabled. i.e. a film with a disability not about the disability.
sudhishkamath: ok… have u seen black? did u like it?
Nagesh Kukunoor : did see black but can’t relate to those sensibilities…i wanted a happier space where my characters existed.
sudhishkamath: perfect… it was the most feel good film!
Nagesh Kukunoor : glad you enjoyed it.
sudhishkamath: u seem like u disappove of Hindi films… do u have anything against bollywood or just that u cannot relate to it… bollywood calling clearly showed that u understand and sympathise with the film industy… then how come u still don’t relate to the sensibility?
Nagesh Kukunoor : it is different format of story telling. when you looked at the past works of filmmakers like Hrishikesh Mukherjee – they very much existed in the bollywood space but had different sensibilities. I relate to that – to Shyam Benegal, to Basu Chatterjee, Gulzar, early Yash Chopra, B.R. Chopra lots of such amazing filmmakers
Nagesh Kukunoor : foragot ijay Anand
Nagesh Kukunoor : V was missing from Vijay
sudhishkamath: u havent named any contemporaries?
sudhishkamath: any of ur contemporaries
sudhishkamath: do u see that much of a difference is sensibility between directors of yesterday and today?
Nagesh Kukunoor : I like some of Ramu’s work. Raju Hirani.
sudhishkamath: actually, we can skip that if u want to be diplomatic… 🙂 tell me how different was the script… if it was malkhamb and not cricket?
Nagesh Kukunoor : I think so. We seem to hae a hyper bollywood these days. Forgot Sudhir Mishra
Nagesh Kukunoor : I think it would have reached out to a smaller audience
sudhishkamath: wat is malkhamb… and how did that inspire u?
Nagesh Kukunoor : It is a desi version of gymnastics and a isually incredible sport
sudhishkamath: oh…ok… give me a sneak peak into the mind of a filmmaker… im sure that starts with scripting… how do u write? u have a systematic way of coming up with the plot points first and then flesh out what helps the character arrive there or do u just go with the flow and write from beginning to end?
sudhishkamath: u look at it scientifically or is it a very arty thing?
Nagesh Kukunoor : I give myself a time period – 30 days and then I write. I write everything together, story screenplay dialogs all in one flow. That is the only way I know how. Probably with this sytem is if I get stuck at one point, I have to get unstuck to move forward.
Nagesh Kukunoor : I have to rush to the airport
sudhishkamath: i had a debate on my blog once about Filmmakers: Wankers versus Prostitutes… Wankers bneing the types who do it for their own pleasure irrespective of whether there is an audience of not… 🙂
sudhishkamath: prostitutes being the types who sell themselves to the market
sudhishkamath: what are u?
sudhishkamath: let that be the last question
sudhishkamath: 🙂
Nagesh Kukunoor : How about a wanking prostitute?
sudhishkamath: oops…guess i asked an unprintable question… how can we reword that?
Nagesh Kukunoor : Hey you’re the writer
sudhishkamath: ha ha!
sudhishkamath: thanks nagesh!!
Nagesh Kukunoor : You’re welcome. Take care.
In Malaysia: From the Terminal!
In Malaysia.
In transit for five and a half hours between 4.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m.
Can’t get outta airport.
So i’m in good care of the business class lounge here. That reduces possibility of finding hawt chicks in malaysia to zero cuz only male business execs seem to be around at this hour. ha ha!
Thank you guys for the votes.
Wow! Nine for the bike. And just four for the iBook?
I do need the iBook for writing my scripts but I’m not gonna write a new script in the next few months cuz
a. That Four Letter Word will still take at least a coupla more months to finish.
b. The near-final draft for my second film Watcha Gonna Do is ready and it would be a long while before I start shoot on this.
c. Why would I write a script when I can go cross-country on my cruiser? 😀
Yes, I feel good now.
I booked that snazzy red (colour) Avenger on Monday morning, finished all paperwork. So the first thing Im gonna do when I come back is ride away into the sunset on East Coast Road…
I did take the bike for a test ride in the morning. And it’s super smooth (though I did keep goofing up on the gears used to Last Samurai’s all down gears… this one has one down and four up).
Like the line goes, it does make you… Feel Like God…
Im super excited abt my cruiser… 🙂
And as for the ibook… I guess it can wait for a few months… will surely pick one up in six months… Gonna start saving for that now that Ive blown away everything i saved up on the ibook as downpayment for the bike…
What simple needs we have huh? 😀
What will you buy?
Or
I have already taken the call. But I just wanna know if it was the right thing. Start voting. Meanwhile, I’m off to Australia tonight. Going via Malaysia and returning via Bangkok. No Singapore as planned earlier. So I’ll blog from down under if I get easy internet access.
Tata!
And yes, do tell me what you would choose! 🙂
Review: Iqbal
Iqbal bowls you over
Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Prasad, Girish Karnad.
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor.
Genre: Feel-good drama
Storyline: An 18-year old speech and hearing impaired finds an unlikely coach in an alcoholic ex-cricketer to chase his dream of finding a seat in the Indian dressing room.
Bottomline: They don’t make films like this these days.
A movie must move. And this one not just moves you, it transports you right into the canvas.
You can’t help but admire Nagesh Kukunoor.
Like all his other films, ‘Iqbal’ is all heart. But this one packs enough spirit to set the world on fire.
There’s a certain honesty about Kukunoor’s films that makes them instantly likeable.
‘Iqbal’ has to be Kukunoor’s best work till date and one of the best films of all times, and in some departments of storytelling, even superior than ‘Lagaan’ or ‘Black.’
Every frame oozes inspiration, every scene comes alive with candid ingenuity and every character seems to breathe the same air as we do.
‘Iqbal’ is the story of an 18-year old boy who dreams of making it to the Indian cricket team. The fact that he cannot speak or hear is just a matter of academic interest. It’s that attitude with which Kukunoor handles disability without ever making you feel sorry for Iqbal, is where the director goes beyond all set boundaries of filmmaking.
It’s probably the first film that sets an example for an inclusive society, a world where there is no distinction made between the disabled and the abled. It’s with that no-special-treatment sensitivity where Kukunoor scores over Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
And, it’s in the plausibility of the tale about the triumph of human spirit where he scores over Ashutosh Gowarikar.
Right from the very first frame, ‘Iqbal’ is an authentic film about the true-blue son of the soil who never says die.
Shreyas Talpade as ‘Iqbal’ is the find of the year. The young man epitomises innocence, his face speaks volumes, even when he’s not talking at all — from enthusiasm to learn the game to the grit to not give up and the determination to keep going, Shreyas portrays it all with conviction and credibility, with the ease of a veteran.
Shweta Prasad as his bespectacled sister Khadija is super-endearing, as she holds her own against first-rate performers such as Shreyas and Naseeruddin Shah. When she hugs her mother and cries after Iqbal is thrown out of the cricket academy, you have a lump in your heart.
Naseer comes up with yet another brilliant portrayal as Mohit, a disillusioned alcoholic, who transforms into a spirited coach, hesitantly. He provides the laughs with his wry sense of humour as he brings to life a promising bowler now living in anonymity, victimised by the politics of the sport.
It is simply impossible to say which of these is better than the other and their interactions together create magic. Even the supporting cast of Iqbal’s adorable mother (Prateeksha Lonkar) and disapproving, struggling farmer father Anwar (Yatin Karyekar) come up with incredibly credible performances. Only Girish Karnad as Guruji seems a little rigid and unfit for a cricket coach, and the character too remains a little ambiguous as you are left wondering if he’s Mohit’s coach or team-mate or both (given that Mohit and Kapil Dev too calls him Guruji but Iqbal finds both of them in a team photograph).
The lingering moments in the film are one too many. The way the mother, son and daughter hide their passion for the game from the cricket-hating father is adorable just like the bond between Khadija and Mohit after she initially disapproves of his ways.
Technically too, ‘Iqbal’ is well-framed with a pretty neat background score. The KK number ‘Aashayien’ tugs at the heart-strings.
‘Iqbal’ is heart-warming, refreshingly spirited and endearingly inspiring.
Bowls you over.
Cinema Paradiso: From Dusk Till Dawn!
Yup, I’m in paradise.
Check out what I’ve been through this weekend. Watched some of these throughout the night and slept by daybreak.
La Femme Nikita:
Super cool cinematography (love the blue tone), Anne Parillaud is drop dead gorgeous with her assasin looks. Tight film, makes Bridget Fonda (who played the same role in Point of No Return) look like a school girl in a play.
Just a word of caution. Don’t let the DVD cover that says “Wildly Seductive and Erotic” mislead you. It’s an action slick flick with candid sensuality strewn into the plot casually… This movie is far from a erotic thriller, be warned (Just in case you decide to watch this for the wrong reasons).
The Untouchables:
Just toooo cooooool. Brian De Palma is God. Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia make this film breathe cool into every single frame of this movie!
De Niro is Al Capone, the emotional bad ass Godfather. Does the four-man team of ‘The Untouchables’ manage to touch him at all?
Gautam Menon said he was inspired by this movie to make ‘Kaakha Kaakha.’ I’m glad that he kept his tribute very original. “How many films have we seen that baby-in-the-pram-going-down-the-stairs-during-the-shootout rip-offs,” Ramya and me concurred, speaking almost at the same time discussing the film.
No one can stop with one viewing.
Motorcycle Diaries:
Not that I dont like this movie, but I would’ve preferred a tighter edit. Again, not that I don’t like slow films, but this one did get a little tiring after a while. But, on the whole, it totally captivated me with its 9000 km long canvas of imagery, the introspective moods that struck a chord and the warmth of the bond between the “two parallel lives that ran together for a while.” Personally, I would have liked ‘Che’ to get laid in the course of the trip (apart from just scoring with his girlfriend in the beginning). Since, he doesn’t, all I can say is: “Che! Paavam”
But seriously, methinks Ashutosh certainly took home some inspiration for Swades from this film. The similarity between the moment of truth scenes (when the revolutionary-in-the-making for the first time realises the economic disparities and the plight of the poverty-stricken people living in the heartland of his land), introspecting during the boat journey that follows and the final montage sequence in the end when he recollects images of people he met during the trip… all groups of people looking into the camera, picture postcard style… I definitely saw that in Swades too! Interesting, since both these films released in 2004.
From Dusk Till Dawn:
Evidence why Tarantino has to be among the best screenwriters around… It’s actually his writing which makes for 80 per cent of his style. This film is evidence that, the way Tarantino writes, anyone can direct his film and it will still wear the stamp of the writer. Halfway into the film, Tarantino pushes the gangsters on the run (Clooney and himself) to the all night long strip bar called Titty Twister to give them a glimpse of the hawtest strip tease (Salma Hayek… drool drool) before unleashing some sphagetti violence and blood-curdling horror with loads of pop corn entertainment. If this does not entertain you, shoot me. Or let vampires feed on me! All I pray for is a Salma Hayek strip tease before my death.
Cinema Paradiso:
Man, is this a movie or a movie???
By far, THE best movie I’ve seen till date.
It had me smiling. It had me in tears. It got me goose bumps. It brought a lump in my throat. It made me feel good. It made me nostalgic. It made me feel totally home at a part of a world so distant from us, geographically and temporally (distant in terms of space and time that is).
It’s a coming of age film that makes us wish we never came of age.
It’s brings alive the magic of movies we grew up on. The joy of movie-watching, sitting among scores of other people in that dirty little movie hall, among the rich and the poor, among the movie buffs and the “matter”-buffs (the types for whom watching a movie is the best excuse to make out), the kinds who come to sleep and the kinds who come to watch and lose themselves in the world of make believe.
The story of a little boy Salvatore who’s so fascinated by the movies and his heart-warming bond with the projector-room in-charge Alfredo. I can go on raving about this film but I just prefer to let you guys watch it and lose yourself in one of the most immersive cinema experiences ever.
The directors cut is 170 minutes long. So prepare for it mentally, cuz it is a little slow and will seem to drag on towards the end if you had not paid adequate attention. This bitter-sweet Academy award winning saga is worth every moment you invest watching it. An experience of a lifetime!
P.S: Also be warned, that this is a movie-buff’s movie!
It just takes one rotten apple to ruin it all:
Because, just to make up for that dose of what people might call Peter (elitist) fare, I ventured out to the movie hall yesterday to find myself firmly back to earth and face to face with the ugly ground realities of our cinema.
Call it “drishti” or whatever, I’m talking abt the pumpkin-faced son of producer A.M.Ratnam in ‘Ponniyin Selvan,’ which will tempt the Academy to honor director Selvaraghavan with a lifetime achievement award for his work with Ravi Krishna in 7 G Rainbow Colony.
It’s a movie which might have been watchable but for the man who cannot act to save his face. Wait a minute, nothing can save his face. Come on, even Dhanush is way too ugly to be a film star but that kid can act. This walking-talking-bumbling Frankenstien’s monster (Frankenstien in this case being A.M.Ratnam’s clout) seems miscast even when he plays himself — aesthetically challenged youth desperate to look good.
Director Radha Mohan’s commendable effort ranges writing a script that lets ugly kid Ravi to play himself, to casting even more ugly faces as his friends, to giving him a Mickey Mouse mask to hide his face just so that a body double can do the job. Or maybe it was all on the insistence of his producer dad A.M.Ratnam who was smart enough to know that even he’s a better looker than his son.
Bad acting can ruin a film, I just hope it does not end Radha Mohan’s career cuz I hear ‘Azhagiye Theeye’ was a pretty neat, decent story told with refreshing freshness. You can see traces of that in this, but only limited to every frame that leaves Ravi out. There are some interesting bunch of secondary characters and a dignified Mom played by Revathy who has ensured that the film is low on the usual “amma-sentiment” melodrama.
Verdict: Avoidable. Cuz showing up in the movie hall to promote Radha Mohan might just encourage A.M.Ratnam to make another film with his son.
And who, really likes to see that wretched face on the posters around the city??
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Maybe it’s a little late to mention but I did like Ullam Ketkume except for the annoying continuity jumps (maybe cuz the movie was in the making for a long while). It is quite a regular story of friends and campus but it’s told with a certain amount of conviction. I really dig the fact that two of the three love stories in the film did not end conventionally. Also, Shaam’s speech in the end totally took me down memory lane. Man, do I miss school or what??
My Wife’s Murder: Susan did a pretty neat review in the paper. I loved the film. One of the better products out of Ram Gopal Varma’s Factory.
I don’t like Anil Kapoor all that much these days, but he’s finally shown us he can act. This truly is his second coming. Cuz the last I liked him was in his Mr.India and Ram Lakhan days. He has underplayed the role so much that you actually wish he did quiver his lip a lil here and there just to make it more junta-savvy. Great narration of a rather weak premise. An absolutely absorbing, rollicking, riveting edge-of-the-seat psychological thriller.
Stealth: I did the review for the paper last week and please, the headline given for the review is not mine.
Update: Mangal Pandey as first of a trilogy: Heard that Ketan Mehta is indeed making the second and the third part of his trilogy on the first war of independence. The second one, will be on Jhansi Ki Rani, (he plans to get Aishwarya Rai) and the third on Bahadur Shah Zafar (with Amitabh Bachchan hopefully). Read his interview here.
MADRAS INK. 
