Movie Reading : DilWale

First things first, this will be short. After all, you can’t say anything about the movie which has no sensible beginning and no sensible end. Rohit Shetty’s movies have never been about giving a message, they have bit of comedy, bit of romance, too much of cars, but at least light hearted entertainers to some extent. But ‘DilWale’ stooped down to such a level which I never expected. Perhaps he should work more with Ajay Devgn instead of King Khan, and save us from movies like Chennai Express and Dilwale.

How hard you try, you would not be able to figure out a story in this movie. Varun Dhawan kills with his overacting. (Perhaps they should audition those actors as well who have godfathers in the industry). Sanjay Mishra as Oscar Bhai ends every sentence with a rhyme which becomes too much after a point of time. Why does Boman Irani exist in the movie is incomprehensible. In fact many of the supporting cast have no connection with the story (oops! There is no story), they don’t have any connection with what’s going on in the movie.

And then there are cars, cars and cars, everywhere. They are present in each of Rohit’s movies but you will notice them much more in DilWale. You know why? Coz there is nothing else worth noticing in it. SRK chases Kajol in a car, romances with her in a car, gets cheated in a car, and what not. Even the car’s colour in a scene matches with actor’s costumes on many occasions.

Songs are at random positions, just for the sake of having them, perhaps they have been shot to keep you awake. Gerua is a visual treat, and Janam Janam is a musical one. The only thing that does save the movie is SRK & Kajol’s Jodi. The Dhun of Janam Janam keeps playing whenever SRK & Kajol are on screen. If you are not a big fan of them, the movie is an utter waste of time and money. Even otherwise, the couple does not recreate the magic of DDLJ couple.

The only dialogue you can remember;

“Hum sharif kya huye, puri duniya hi Badmaash ho gayi”

Movie Reading : Tamasha

Each director has his own way of telling a story, and you can find some common threads in all of their films. But only a few provide you an entirely new experience on watching their movie. Imtiaz Ali belongs to that category. The dual personality that Ranvir had in Rockstar, the confused mannerisms that Saif showed in Love Aaj Kal, the separation theme, Tamasha has all in it. But still, it’s new and refreshing.

Not many people know that its’s earlier title was “Window seat” and the idea behind that name was what do u think when you are in a train and see a station pass by? What will you become if you get down there, where no one knows you, and where you know noone. Will you become your true self, or will you continue behaving in same way as you always have.

Each film has a message and how easily it conveys that message to the viewers, determine whether people really like it or not. Tamasha’s message is an 8-minute storytelling by Ranvir. It forces you to think, about what you are doing. Moreover, it tells the importance of “Why?” in people’s lives. Social conventions drive how people behave, what people do.

A line in his story aptly puts it

"Tum nahi jaante kaunsi race hain, toh bhaag kyo rahe ho? Kyoki sab bhaag rahe he, isliye main bhi bhaag raha hu. ”

And what one should really be doing, 

"Tum khud choose karo na apni race, saari duniya pehchanegi "


The separation theme of Love Aaj Kal follows here as well. There Saif realizes the importance of Deepika when they get far from each other. And in Tamasha, it is Deepika again, who causes Ranvir to realize what he is looking for truly.

There is also a scene where Ranvir resists what he is faced with and tells Deepika 

“Mere ghar wale, mere dost, main khud nahi jaanta main kaun hu. Par Tu 7 din Corsica me reh k jaan gayi ki main kaun hu”.

Surely, it’s not about how much time you spend with someone, but about the quality of time that help people know each other really.
The movie has plenty of memorable scenes. Humorous scenes between Ranvir-Deepika in exotic location of Corsica, childhood scenes of Ranvir, the storytelling, and what not. You will also remember the old storyteller, small time auto-wala, and the sardarjis of Heer song.

Overall, Tamasha is a fun movie to watch, while at the same time it has all elements that help you connect with it. And wait a minute, how can you forget the music for which A.R. Rehman has composed. Mix of all kind of songs, each one you can hum around while leaving the theatres.

In the end, some dialogues

“Aao vaada kare hum jo kahege jhuth kahege, aur jhuth ke sive kuch nahi kahege”

“Wahi kahani fir ek baar, majnu ne liye kapde faad, aur tamasha beech bazaar”

Movie Reading : Shamitabh

There aren’t many movies which run entirely on the superlative performances of the actors in it. When the name of movie itself contains name of its cast, it is bound to become such a movie. Shamitabh (Dhanush and Amitabh), along with Akshara, give a spellbound performance and make the movie surely worth watching. After doing Cheeni Kam and Paa with the same director, Amitabh is as best as ever is this very different kind of role. Mr R Balki deserves credit as well, for a great storyline as well as continuing to envision such roles for the superstar.

Shamitabh is a story of having a passion to achieve something, to become something. And being ready to do everything to get or become what one wants. Not being stopped with what circumstances provide us and not getting bogged down by what others tell us. That’s the story of Dhanush, a “dumb superstar” (looks like oxymoron, isn’t it?). One who doesn’t have a good face which women will fall for, neither a good body which make villain afraid (forget 6 packs, he doesn’t have 1 pack). And being born as a dumb is like final nail in the coffin. Still, his persistent efforts make him achieve what he wants.

The other message that comes out is "talent is nothing without passion”. No matter how much talented we are, if we don’t like to do a certain thing, success will be elusive. At the same time, someone who may not be as talented as us, but does the work with all his energy and passion, will achieve much more. In one scene, Dhanush says this aptly,

“Mujhe talent se jyada apni chaahat pe bharosa tha. Jab aap kisi chiz ko bahut, bahut, bahut chaahte hain, to wo mil hi jati hain.”

Shamitabh is also a story of ego clashes between 2 people who are in a relationship. In any relationship, when one has more importance than the other, issues arise. In the movie, Amitabh plays the role of a drunkard loser, who even lives in a graveyard. But in Dhanush and Amitabh’s relationship, Amitabh thinks of himself as whiskey and Dhanush as water. He considers himself much more important when he says,

"Hai koi pani joh chadti hai whiskey ke bina ... pani needs whiskey ... whiskey ko zaroorat nahi kiski."

And

"Jis din meri awaaz finished, us din tu finished."

In many instances, Amitabh shows his pain of not getting recognition as he works only behind the scene and audience sees only Dhanush. Perhaps, that shows our inherent need of getting approval by people, of getting recognized and not just be an unsung hero.

What the movie tries to put across is that in any relationship, differences are bound to happen. However, bringing one’s ego in between to solve those differences does only harm.

Akshara plays more of a counsellor role in the relationship between Dhanush and Amitabh, asking both other stars to make up whenever they fight and make them understand the importance of each other. The best scene is when she teaches both of them ABCD of life and that pretty much sums up the problems and solutions for a relationship.

For a debutante, Akshara performs really well as per her role. She is helpful, understanding and instead of writing Dhanush off at first instance, she gives him time and uncover the talent hidden in him. Perhaps we also need someone in our life who identifies the talent in us and then help us in achieving our goals.

Overall, it’s a movie worth watching. A compelling storyline, the music of Ilaayaraja, superb performance of Dhanush, Amitabh, & Akshara, and an ending worth waiting for. These are enough to give value of your money.

Finally, some nice dialogues,

“Ego ki bible likhne se pehle bottle ka label toh pad liya hota”

“Jab audio ki vajah se video chalta hai, usko picture kaise bula sakte hai, it is not picture, it is mixture”

“Har partnership mein hamesha ek partner ka talent doosre partner se thoda zyada hota hai”

Movie Reading : Happy Ending

Somehow Saif has made his image of a playboy and Casanova kind of guy through movies like LAK, Cocktail (both from his home production Illuminati films) and he continues with that image in Happy Ending also. I think that’s what make you like him, a happy go lucky, disbelieving in love, instant make up instant break up type of person. But in the end, like in every other movie, his heart changes and he feels true love and everything ‘ends’ well. With a name like ‘Happy Ending’, what else you could expect by the way?

You would expect a better written story from a movie which starts with Ye dooriyan song in background, bringing emotions immediately if you would have liked LAK. But the whole movie could actually be summed up in a 1-minute scene between Ranvir Shourie and Saif where Ranvir says,

"Tu jis se pyar nahi karta, us ladki se shadi kar raha hain. Tu jis se pyar karta tha wo jab chahe apne bacho ke sath tere ghar par rehti he. Aur tu jis se pyar karta hain, wo tere sath wahi kar rahi hain jo tune ab tak apni sari girlfriends ke saath kiya hain."

In short, Karma comes back and Ileana does exactly the same things with Saif which he keeps doing with her girlfriends.

It also puts across the point strongly that sustainable love happens between similar people. ‘Opposite attracts’ happens only in magnets. Being opposite as humans results in mere fights. It is not about being right or wrong. No matter how ‘Kamina’ type of person Saif is, he doesn’t fall in love because he never found a girl with a similar type of thinking until he met Ileana.

On many levels, the movie also justifies why movies and novels of ‘happy ending’ type actually work and become successful. Ultimately, this movie falls into the same trap and becomes exactly one of them. Ordinary people don’t come to watch how you want to change the world and some serious kind of stuff. In one dialogue Govinda says to Saif,

"300 rupay me logo ko jeena mat sikha."

And when Ileana answers it beautifully when asked why she writes conventional and idealistic type of love stories,

"Humari zindagi me itni bhid hoti hain, ki do logo ke bich ka pyar usme kho jata hain. Pyar bachane ka ek hi tarika hain, use kitabo ke panno ke bich likhke bech do."

There is also a scene between Saif and Preity where Saif tries to justify his behaviour and his reasons of running away from commitment. Too much focus on commitment just spoils the relationship.

"Commitment ke lalach me jitna hain usko bhi barbaad kar dete hain."

Many people would disagree with such thinking and perhaps therefore in the climax scene, Saif puts it in a more balanced way,

"Kise chahiye life long ka commitment, bas ek ek din karke jiyege, na baad ka sochege, na pehle ka yaad rakhege, bas aaj ko sambhalege."

Simply saying, stop being depressed about the past and anxious about the future. Just live in the present and enjoy every day. Find that thoughtful?

Finally, it is really just another rom-com movie. Just expect some light moments and do not look for a well-knit story. I wish Govinda would have got more screen time (as in Kill Dil) to make the movie more tolerable.

Dialogue of the movie:

"Kehte he opposites attract. Jhuth hain. Hum har jagah apne aap ko dhundhte he aur agar wo mil jaye toh use hamesha sambhal ke rakhna chahiye."

Movie Reading : Happy New Year

Happy New Year, by far the most awaited film of 2014, breaking all earnings records, and continuing to do well across the world.

Sometimes I wonder what makes a movie successful. No matter how much we criticize the over-the-top performances and scenes which require no application of any senses, Farah Khan is always able to mix all other ingredients well enough to make her movies phenomenal successes, be it Main Hoon Na, Om Shanti Om or Tees Maar Khaan. The common theme across these 3 movies and Happy New Year is that all of them are no brainer and require zero application of IQ. The ending is pretty much known and the only motivation to see the movie remains how the characters reach that ending. But still they are successful.

So basically, get a superstar, make some ridiculous story having badla (revenge) as main theme, get some stupid jokes and spoofs on old movies, garnish all these with patriotism, and bingo!!! You gonna cross 200 crs in no time. In 2 lines, that’s what HNY is.

Let's talk a bit more about it. First of all, IT IS definitely a long movie. The time when theatre  shows used to be “12 se 3, 3 se 6, 6 se 9 and 9 se 12” is over and no one wants to see a predictable movie with some cheesy and cheap kind of performances for 180 minutes. Still, it is a light hearted movie (if not laugh, you would smile at least). It contains lot of spoofs on SRK’s own movies and many slow motion scenes. Showing the scenes normally would surely have reduced the movie’s long duration by 10-15 minutes.  

OK. Enough criticizing. The movie is not as bad as you might be feeling after reading till now. The refreshing thing about this movie of Farah Khan is lesser screen time for SRK and entry of female lead (though she is not a lead in strictest sense) after an hour of the start. I mean, in which movie you make someone like Deepika make her entry after one hour? HNY is not a one-man show. All actors (all of them losers) make a good amount of contribution and you do remember a thing or two, good or bad, about each of them in the end. Abhishek Bachchan could not have fallen lower than this, but he makes you puke and smile at the same time. Boman Irani is flawless as ever. Don’t know who taught acting to Sonu Sood. And Deepika, well, good performance as a side actor. One second, there is Vivaan Shah too, who doesn’t do anything other than hacking.

More than once, SRK says,

“Duniya me sirf do tarah ke log hote hain, winners and losers, aur zindagi har loser ko winner ban ne ka ek chance jarur deti hain”

Each character is shown as a loser, a good for nothing person. But every one of them is best at doing one specific thing and SRK identifies that one thing, makes a formidable team and make all of them a winner in the end. Not only that, as captain of the team, he finds out what motivates each team member and ties his larger goal to others' smaller goals. Now this is called managerial acumen. 

HNY is a simple movie and the sole message comes through the movie is importance of team work, coordination, making people agree, handling conflicts and taking spontaneous decisions when things do not go according to the plans. Are there better movies than this depicting all these things? Of course yes. But they are more serious type of movies, they are for people who like to find logic in most things, for people looking for intellectual gratification, and they do not have SRK. So, if you are one of those people and you are not really a fan of SRK, HNY is not your cup of tea, therefore staying away from it will be beneficial for you.

BUT, if you ARE a die-hard fan of SRK, or you just want some light entertainment, which doesn’t require application of your left/right brain and you are ready to give 3 hours of your time (without forwarding some useless scenes), you will not really feel so bad after watching HNY.

In the end, dialogue of the movie:

“Kismat badi kutti cheez hoti hain, saali kabhi bhi palat jaati hain”.

Towards the end, which transforms into a more meaningful one:

“Kismat bahut sahi chiz hoti hain, agar iraado me dum ho toh saali palat hi jaati hain”.

Movie Reading : Dil Chahta Hain

A very popular movie indeed, liked by most of the people. I watched it for the first time recently and perhaps the reason why people liked the movie was their ability to connect with its characters. They could understand and justify reasons behind the decisions taken by the protagonists. Dil Chahta Hain kind of movies can only be relevant for a specific generation and I doubt if such 3 hours-long kind of movie would have been equally popular and relevant to current generation in case it was released in today’s times. The sole point that can work in its favour today is depiction of friendship.

So, primarily, it is a story of true friendship and on multiple occasions it emphasizes the importance of this support system. Remember when Shalini (Preity) leaves for marriage the 1st call Aakash (Aamir) gives is to Sameer (Saif). Or when Sameer decides to tell Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni) that he loves her. He tells to Sid (Akshaye):

"Tu wapas aa gaya hain, and I feel stronger ki tu mere saath hain"

Apart from the friendship angle, each guy’s love story is also shown and the common thing in all 3 love stories is that each of them loves a girl who is either married or going to be married with someone else. That becomes one of the reasons for hiding feelings for their love. The movie gives a simple message: tell the other person what we feel. But we do not do so, why? Two reasons: first, we are not able to understand ourselves, we are not sure about what we feel for the other person. And second, when we get sure, we are afraid of letting out feelings known to the other person. Afraid of losing that person. At that point of time, we need someone to push us, and tell us to not keep the things inside and let the other person know. That someone, who promises to be still there if we fail. That someone, can be a friend, can be parents or any one close to us.

In case of Aakash, when his father says

"Duniya me bahut si aisi chize he jo hamari samajh ke bahar hain. Insaan jab koi faisla karta hain to us faisle ke piche koi wajah hoti hain."

The problem with majority of us is that we assume about the other person. We satisfy/torture ourselves by coming up with some reason for their actions. That makes an already complicated life more complicated. How easy would life have been if people could simply let their feelings known to other people.

The role of Aakash was first given to Akshaye Khanna, but I do not think anyone other than Aamir could have portrayed that role perfectly. The character changes from “a-girlfriend-for-2-weeks” kind of person to “kill-someone-for-his-love”. I am sure you would know some people who are extreme in their behaviours. They are intense in what they do, be it love or hate. Aakash is one of such character.

The scene where Aakash and Shalini have lunch together and Aakash talks about his philosophy of love has some subtle messages. One being, there is no need of asking any questions and giving any answers in love. And second when Aakash says,

"Maine pehle se hi faisla kar liya tha ki pyaar karke apni jindagi barbaad nahi karuga."

And Shalini replies,

"Lekin pyaar faisle se nahi kiya jaata, bas ho jaata hain."

Shalini’s character was somehow contradictory. She says Shadi karne ke liye pyaar hona jaruri hota hain but still decides to marry Rohit. If she really believed in what she said, things could have been different. No?

Sid’s (Akshaye) character is of a moderate, sensible guy, who is practical, and understands others. Sid also shows the power of art to demonstrate someone’s personality. In case of an artist, if you closely look at how he/she draws, or composes music, or writes stories, you can get a feel of what kind of a person he/she is. The scene where Dimple relates the closed eyes, closed doors in Sid’s paintings to his closed personality pretty well describes this.

There are many other good scenes which have some meaningful messages if you would try to listen the dialogues carefully and understand them. Scene at Chapra fort, the opera scene of Shalini and Aakash, the last dinner scene before Shalini leaves Australia, the scene when Dimple gets to know that Sid loves her. The scene when Sid and Deepa sits on a beach and Sid says,

"Is ret ko dekh rahi ho? Jitni jyada koshish karo ise pakadne ki, utni hi ungliyo ke bich se nikal jaati hain."

Some relations are better left uncontrolled, in fact, the more we try to control people, more the situation gets worse.

Finally, each relationship has its ups and downs. Even friendships go through them. The more mature a relationship is, better the chances of handling the challenges. When Sid slaps Aakash, Aakash gets so angry that he does not even talk to any of his closest friends before going to Australia. Just a simple sorry by any one of them could make so much of a difference to their friendship. Alas! We are so ashamed of admitting to our own mistakes, even after realizing them.

 

Some nice dialogues in the end,

"Kiski jindagi kise kaha le jati hain kya pata." - Sid

"Ajib zindagi hain, kuch rishtey hote hain, jinka koi naam nahi hota." - Dimple Kapadia

Hope you enjoyed the reading. 
Hit on share if you really liked it. Thanks :) 

Movie Reading : Love Aaj Kal

There are only a few movies which you are willing to watch anytime and anywhere. No matter how many times you have already watched it, no matter if you have remembered each scene and almost every dialogue, you get completely immersed in it and forget everything. For me, Love aaj kal is one of such 2 movies. (Other one being Jab We Met).

As the name says, the movie is supposed to show love of present (Aaj) and of past times (Kal). How love itself has evolved, how our perception of it has changed, and what is still same in both kinds of love. And it does serve that purpose beautifully, with overlapping scenes of the 2 ‘loves’, occurrence of somewhat similar situations and at some points, same places as well. Showing of Howrah Bridge of India and Golden gate bridge of US one after the other many times, tries to illustrate the influence of western culture and values on Indian love. The protagonist of Kal (Veer) drinks black tea, and of Aaj (Jay) drinks black coffee. Just another subtle way of putting across its point.

Just a few lines about the old love story. You will find lot of sweet moments in Veer and Harleen’s story, such as, following the girl secretly, travelling 1000 miles just to get a glimpse of her, falling in love without talking to each other even once. I think the impracticality and illogicalness of their story are what make it sweet. As Jay says while making fun of Veer, for deciding to marry Harleen,

"Abhi tak hello how are you nahi hua, aur aapne shaadi ka plan bana liya, aur wo bhi har janam me."

But its Jay and Meera’s story that gives pace to the movie and make it worth watching. A story of two practical, logical, mango people who take all decisions about their relationship being rational. Were those decisions absurd? May be, but that’s how we think in today’s world and their reasons seemed justified to me. Do we not give importance to our career, are we not serious about it, more than relationships. This line from Veer to Jay sums it up,

'Tum zindagii me itne serious ho ki Meera se alag ho gaye taki tum apna kaam kar sako."

Will you give up your career, your dreams, just to be with someone whom you are not even married to? I don’t think so. We move on, life changes, and things get normal again, right?

For Jay, the talk of soul-mates is rubbish, he doesn’t bother to know what love is, he is someone who can’t be upset for too long and moves on easily. He says he has fallen in love at least 15 times. Still, he feels insecure every time Meera talks about Vikram. I loved the scene when Jay tries to justify himself for breaking up and someone else touching his ex-gf:

"Mere paas na dil hain, na dard hain aur na mujhe chahiye. Mujhe koi pratigya nahi leni aur 1000 mil dur nhi jaana kisi ladki ki shakal dekhne ke liye. Toh main chod sakta hu, jaane de sakta hu, kyoki jindagi badalti rehti he, chalti rehti hain aur hume uske saath chalna padta hain."

But his expressions do not match the words. It clearly shows that he is making fool of himself. It’s simple, we always think we take right decisions. And we find our own reasons to justify those decisions, right, wrong, doesn’t matter. Somewhere inside, we know we have done wrong, and believe it or not, it shows when we try justifying those decisions.

Another memorable scene is in India, when they break up second time, and Meera decides to not meet Jay again, ever, because she wants him out of her life. Another practical and rational decision.

"Yeh tum wali feeling, aadat. Lets get real, iski jagah nahi he hamari life me. Mujhe wo jagah khali chahiye jisme koi dusra aa sake."

I also liked the scene, when Jay reveals his feelings, though ambiguously. Still afraid of accepting love, still afraid of accepting something like soul mates. He keeps saying he is all right, again making fool of himself. He accepts he could have even married Meera is she would have forced her. And the dialogues totally match the fight he is having within.

"Soulmates, do log jo ek dusre ke liye bane hain, aur wo sari bakwaas jo veer singh apni coffee shop me karta hain, pata chala wo sach hain toh?'

"Isme shatter hone wali koi baat hi nahi he, matlab ye nahi ki main shatter ho raha hoon."

From the 1st breakup scene, expressions of Meera suggests that she loves Jay but wants him to realize and say it to her. When Jay comes to see off her forcibly by Veer, and she says,

"Pata hain main wait kar rahi thi tumhara. Tum nahi aate toh main raaste bhar restless rehti."

And later on, when her husband (Vikram) asks her to tell Jay and she says,

"Jay ko ab tak pata nahi chala hain, wo ab tak nhi jaanta. Jab jaan jayega, agar jaan paya toh aa jayega."

You might have seen many movies where the guy waits for his love to come back (Veer in Veer Zaara, Samar in Jab tak hain jaan, Dev in Dhadkan), this is one where the girl waits, for her love to come back. But not like our male protagonists. She is not like Samar (SRK) in Jab tak hain Jaan who wants to try dying every day unless he gets his love. Not like Veer (SRK again) in Veer Zaara who suffers for years in jail for Zaara’s dignity. That does not happen in real life. Meera isn’t like them. She thinks practically, does everything to move on, breaks up with Jay not once but twice, dates someone else, and even gets married. This made the movie so real. But why she marries Vikram if she still loved Jay? Well, she is modern, rational, Vikram loved her. And she would have thought that with time, everything will be all right. You know, being practical?  

But her decision to end the marriage the next day, be alone and simply wait for Jay was contradictory to what her character was shown till then in the movie. I think it was done to make sure that movie’s ending is good and Jay & Meera meet anyhow.

Few other bits and pieces that I liked. In two of the scenes, the movie shows that you feel closer to the one you love, on doing the same thing that he/she does. Though Deepika feels like puking on seeing Jay having black coffee, later on she starts having it. Similar thing happens when Harleen takes a sip of black tea, feels like puking, but continues to drink it.

Imtiaz ali is one of the best writers that Bollywood has, and though people can find many reasons to not like the movie, it is the writing and the way two love stories are compared and told which make the movie worth liking. But once you understand it, you will love it.

In the end, my favourite dialogues:

"Aisa kyo hota hain. Chahe kitni bhi baar bye bol do, jaane ke pehle aakhri baar milna kyo jaruri hota hain."

"Romeo and Juliet, Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu, by the way tumne notice kiya hain desi love stories me hamesha ladki ka naam hamesha pehle aata hain."

"Hum log ordinary log hain, aam janta, the mango people. Hume mar ke amar nahi hona hain. Hume saath rehna he, isi janam me saath rehna hain."