Review : Movie - Agneepath

Almost every third post on my Facebook wall is talking about this movie. There is lot of nostalgia, lot of memories since the first one has such a cult status. So needless to say that there was a lot of hype and I went in with a lot of expectations and came out with a mixed bag of feelings.

Plot:
Being a remake it borrows the basic idea from the original so a lot of things are the same there is Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, Mandwa, Kancha, Baap ka badla, the poem et all. But not everything is the same, there is no Krishnan Iyer MA but there is Rauf Lala. The basic plot is the same but you cannot say so about the full storyline. It won’t matter if you’ve seen the first one or not. This reinterpretation of the movie works in its own right.

Review : Movie - Don 2

So, why is every other so called critic in the town trashing Don 2? It is a pretty decent movie albeit minor aberrations. In fact, I found it better than the first one. If the same people can’t stop raving about a nonsense MI-4, I guess, they should give Don a little due respect.

Plot:

The story starts 5 years after where it ended in the last part. Don (Shahrukh Khan) is now the biggest drug dealer in Asia and has plans now to expand to Europe. But to do that he has to take care of the reigning drug lords who themselves are wary of the rising Asian King. Don plans a bank heist to meet his goals and sets out to build his team which includes his old foe Vardhan (Boman Irani), a computer hacker Sameer (Kunal Kapoor), a mystery woman Ayesha (Lara Dutta) and a group of goons working under Jabbar (Nawab Shah). Meanwhile Malik (Om Puri) and Roma (Priyanka Chopra) are still following his trail. Does he succeed in the bank heist? Do Vardhan, Sameer and Jabbar loyally toe his line or ditch him? In all of this, how he handles Malik and Roma and the Interpol - makes up for the rest of the story. 

Review: Movie - Rockstar

Thankfully I was able to watch this movie on the large screen, today being the last day last show at the local cinema here. I am assuming most of you have already watched it but still here is what I think of it.

Plot:  

Janardan Jakhar (later Jordan), inspired by Jim Morrison, seeks pain to infuse life into his music on the advice of his friend and college canteen manager Khatanaji. In his quest of pain he seeks to woo Heer, a dil-todne-ki-machine to fall in love and get his heart broken. Heer who is getting married soon wants to live life to the fullest before settling down with a rich husband. Soon enough Heer and JJ are running around Delhi streets engaging in activities that they call ‘Gandh-Machana’.

Heer moves to Prague with her husband and JJ gets thrown out of his house and takes refuge in ‘Hazrat Nizzamuddin’. He is spotted by Ustaad Jameel Khan (Shammi Kapoor) a renowned classical artist and thus his singing career gets a start. Events unfold and Heer  Jordan’s paths cross several times.  Heer who is JJ’s elixir of creativity also becomes the poison of his destruction.  For Heer, Jordan is the spark of life and yet the very flame that consumes her.

Hota Hai Shab-O-Roz Tamasha Mere Aage

Read this excellent article on the current ruckus being created in the media about Kiran Bedi - The Anna effect is bigger than the foibles of Team Anna.
Actually as you must have noticed by now, there is a deliberate attempt to target Team Anna’s members one by one. First Shanti Bhushan, then Kejriwal and now Kiran Bedi; actually the attack is not on individuals, not even on the movement, it’s on the Indian psyche. The ‘You-Know-Whos’ of our political class who were/are/will be the worst affected by the Anna movement are making a deliberate, well thought out attempt to washout the memories of the Aam Junta. They very well understand that we are all Ghajinis (suffering from perpetual short term memory loss) and the media is nothing but paise ka piir or TRP ka piir.

In a country that demands to be constantly entertained, a new tamasha quickly and automatically erases the memory of the last one. You forget the humiliation that our cricket team suffered in England as soon as they start winning at home. Everybody was rooting for the cricketers’ blood when they were losing and now when they are winning at home again, England has been quietly and conveniently forgotten. Nobody is discussing or cares about why our current breed of players - just ‘Ghar ke Sher’?

R.I.P - Shammi Kapoor

Shammi Kapoor - one of the most flamboyant, exuberant and energetic actors of Indian cinema said good bye to this world and moved over to his heavenly abode. 

When you think of Shammi Kapoor you think of his swagger, infectious smile and rawness. He had impeccable comic timing and fun factor something so visible in his numerous songs -   ‘Tum sanahin dekha’, ‘Baar Baar dekho’, ‘Yahooo’ , ‘Tareef karun kya uski’ etc. His great partnership with Rafi sahib gave us numerous romantic melodious songs that will be etched in our memory for ever. His moves and grooves will continue to enthrall us forever. If you want to see his intensity checkout ‘Dil keJharokhe mein’, ‘Ehsaan tera hoga’ etc.  An actor who ruled in his day with his unique style and demeanor took a gracious exit from lead roles to do character roles that suited his age after ‘Andaz’ - something that is rare in the echelons of Indian film industry. 

Not may know he was also one of the pioneers of internet in India. Shammi Kapoor was the founder and chairman of Internet Users Community of India (IUCI).

Shammi ji you will stay in our hearts and fond memories for eternity - R.I.P…

Review: Movie - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

This was one of those rare movies for which I did not read any reviews, didn’t care what the response was on Facebook/Twitter, I just went ahead and bought the tickets and am glad that I did that J. I loved Zoya Akhtar’s first one ‘Luck By Chance’ which I thought was an intelligent film. So I went for ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ not only for Zoya but also for the super combo of Hrithik, Abhay and Farhan. This is yet another movie this year that breaks the traditional ‘Bollywood Hero’ mould. Each of the above actors is a character that makes up the story, so no boring hero-heroine drama. A lot of people speculated that the movie would be just another repackaged  ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ or a desi version of ‘Hangover’. Thankfully it’s none of that.