everything "ok"

I am in kinda trance, having watched Om Shanti Om(OSO) on first day. It's sheer magic. Die-hard critics might not be impressed, but who cares. This movie is for people who are enthu about bollywood, people who can enjoy the fun, people who love SRK, people who love drama. In short, it's for people like me and Farah Khan.

This is the biggest movie I've ever seen. It's way too big! It celebrates bollywood, be it 70s, or 2007. Having set the reincarnation theme in backdrop of bollywood, Farah gets every right to pay tribute to, and make fun of bollywood. The beauty of the movie is she does both the things in very very agreeable way. It's star-studded; literally all stars of bollywood are shown on screen, from Manoj Kumar to Vidya Balan. It's a joy-ride, only way to sit thru it is to enjoy it.

I liked the way today's stars made their appearances in the film. The award ceremony sequence in the movie is a definitely a laugh-riot, thanks to Akshay Kumar and Abhishek Bachchan. Akshay's 'Return of the Khiladi' is the most enjoyable part of the movie. Farah doesn’t even spare SRK in her leg-pulling session, his movies are mocked too, watch out for 'Phir bhi dil hai NRI', and 'Main bhi hoon naa'.

The much hyped title song is worth all its hype. 31 stars together in a song, it's feast for a bollywood buff! I wanted to count the number of actors in the song, but lost count half-way thru, entire crowd in the cinema hall was cheering and whistling thru the whole song. I specially liked Shilpa Shetty, Tabu, Sanjay Dutt, Mithun, and Rani Mukerji. Most of the girls are clad in sarees, look stunning.

Coming to performances, Deepika Padukone is one of the great things in OSO. You can’t stop yourself from letting out a 'WOW!!' each time she comes on screen in a new costume. She is gorgeous. But the good news is she acts well too. As a yesteryear superstar, she's all elegance and grace. She doesn’t have much of screen time in the second half of the movie.

Shreyas Talpade is neat. Arjun Rampal is too good-looking to play bad man. Kiron Kher is over-the-top and filmy, but that's intended. 'Maa ka dil kehta hai' sequences between SRK and Kher are way too funny.

Rather than saying that SRK was great, I would say he was super-funny. He's good in both the parts of the movie, playing a junior artist in first half, and playing a superstar in the second. Dard-e-disco is eye-candy, the scene just before the number starts is real fun but! The way today's directors and actors are made fun of, and 'dard bhara item number' are too impressive.

One of the flaws of OSO might be that you take it too lightly, but that’s one of its strengths too. You might not feel much for SRK's pain, and Deeplika's death. But it's done in such a way that Farah doesn’t want you to feel for the story of the film, she just wants you to enjoy it rather.

Real best thing in OSO is Farah. She's too creative about everything in the movie. Her 'main hoon na' was like a masaledaar, rich meal. I was wondering if she'd any juice left in her after such a blockbuster, but she proves me wrong. Her passion for bollywood is clearly seen in the movie, and her audiences love it.

You'll get the pun in the title of this post if you've seen the movie, but anyways I mean it in its plain meaning too. Deewangi of Om Shanti Om is here to stay.

chak de khan!

After long wait, I finally got to watch 'Chak De India' this weekend. While it was irritating that I couldn't lay my hands on movie tickets for 'chak de India' for quite sometime, I was happy that the movie is doing well in box-office. It really deserves to be a hit movie!

I was totally lost in the adrenalin rush 'chak de..' gave me, I expected it in a well-made sports movie. But.. when the rush calmed down, and while thinking about the movie, my satisfied mind thought about Shahrukh 'Kabir' Khan's awesome performance. When I come to think of it now, it was totally his movie.

'Chak de..' isn't a typical hero-oriented movie, it's a team-work just like the effort the hockey team in the movie puts in. Actresses who played hockey players also did a good job. I only know them by the characters they played - Preeti Sabarwal, Komal, Vidya Sharma, et al. It seems it was very difficult task to cast the actors for this movie, as they wanted hockey players who can act.

Coming back to SRK, he truly rocks the show. It was typical SRK style, yet very different. This stubb-bearing, strong-looking, yet vulnerable look of Khan really really made him look believable as hockey team coach.

At the end of the movie, there is a moment where SRK does 'meri taraf dekho Vidya' act, while the goalee Vidya is about to face the penalty corner stroke of the opposite team. Somehow it reminded me of 'palatke dekh Simran' act of DDLJ.

I just got glimpses of 'dard-e-disco' six-pack Khan! lllove it.. all the way SRK! Waiting for Om Shanti Om.

ಶಿವ ಶಿವಾ

ಇಷ್ಟು ದಿನ ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆಯ ಹನಿಗಳ ಲೀಲೆಗೆ ಮರುಳಾಗಿ, ಅನಿಸುತಿದೆ ಯಾಕೋ ಇಂದು ಅಂತ ಗುನುಗಿಕೊಂಡು, ಜಯಂತ್‌ಗೆ ದಿನಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಸಲ ಮನಸ್ಸಲ್ಲೇ ಥ್ಯಾಂಕ್ಸ್ ಹೇಳ್ಕೊಂಡು ಇದ್ದೆ. ಇವತ್ತು ಈ ಹಾಡು ಕಿವಿಗೆ ಬಿತ್ತು:

"heart ಅನ್ನೋ ಅಡ್ಡಾದಲ್ಲಿ love ಅನ್ನೊ longಉ ಹಿಡಿದು
ನನ್ನ attack ಮಾಡೋ ಶಿವಾ ಶಿವಾ..

longಉ bangಉ wrongಉ ನೀ ಬಿಡೋ ಶಿವಾ
songಉ singಉ ... ಬಾ ಶುರು ಶಿವಾ
...

heart ಅನ್ನೋ ಜೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ love ಅನ್ನೋ ಬೇಡಿ ಹಾಕಿ
ನನ್ನನ್ನು trapಉ ಮಾಡೊ ಶಿವ ಶಿವಾ"

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ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ.. ಶಿವ ಶಿವಾ!!

the boss

Only Rajni could do that! Look at the kind of hype and excitement the movie created all over India (or should I say ‘all over world’?). All the leading news channels ran main stories about Rajni and the movie on the day it got released.

You know what to expect from Sivaji, if you know Rajni brand. All Sivaji has got is Rajni, Rajni, and more Rajni. Be it his ever-famous one-liners, or his style.. he makes sure his audience is kept entertained thru the movie. He uses chewing gum though this time, replacing his signature style with cigarettes.

Add Shankar’s against-corrupt-system theme, Shriya’s beauty and notable screen presence, Vivek’s outstanding comedy, Rahman’s catchy tunes, and quite a lot of special effects - all this with Rajni brand, and that’s Sivaji for you.

It’s a let-your-hair-down-n-enjoy kind of movie. Expect lots of whistles and shouting in the theater, and be part of it to have more fun. To quote the actor himself, the movie is “cooooool”!


* * * * *
One of my rather-ignorant colleagues asked me over lunch, “ what’s it in Rajni which makes the crowd go mad?” What could I tell him?

sugar free.. yet, very tasty!

Refreshing Romance - that's what the trailer of the movie 'Cheeni kum' had said. And it is true. If you think that it's one of those movies because Tabu is in it, trash that thought!

The whole thing is very high on freshness. It's neither hot (like Nishabd), nor intense.. it's just fresh and crispy - chatpata and hatke!

AB playing a chef is good as usual, Tabu is as if she has a label on her forehead which reads 'brand new'. Zohra Saigal as AB's mother and the small kid (Sexy) who plays his neighbor are awesome, just loved them!

But for me, hero of this movie is the dialogue writer. It has got such good, witty dialogues that you will never stop laughing. Zohra Saigal trying to send AB to gym, Sexy's sayings about 'A' rated movie DVDs, Paresh Rawal and AB's meetings, etc etc..

It's a total entertainer; no mush, no candy-floss.. much to your relief.

k.a.n.k., and related thoughts

I watched KANK in TV recently, having missed it when got released. Many people had told me that it was a bad movie. But it was not all that bad, it’s an okay movie if u ask me. It should have been edited better; it got dragging at times.

Well, I am not doing a review of the movie. What held my interest is the subject of the movie. I thought it was interesting subject.

Relationships are most important part of life (I am talking generally, not the kind of relationship Dev & Maya had ;-)). Because we like being with people; we don’t like being alone; we are social animals; we love to be loved.

Basically relationships make us happier, or we think so. But many times we end up being in relationships just for the sake of it. Why? Every time we enter into any sort of relationship we hope that it’s going to be a great one. We may not think the same way after sometime though. Because we all keep changing; our requirements, and our specifications change by time too. I feel we need to do periodical reviews of relationships we have. I have this habit of going thru my phonebook once-in-a-while, and I delete the numbers I don’t require. I know it’s a bad example, but I feel we need to do something similar when it comes to our relationships. It might not be easy & simple if the relationship is something like marriage. But we can always do it in boy-girl relationships, and in friendships. You don’t get to choose your family, your enemies, and your boss. But you get to choose all other relationships you are going to have; and you get to keep them or throw them as you like. What’s the point in keeping an uncomfortable relationship, when the basic purpose of relationship is to make u happier?

On a same-yet-different viewpoint, relationships are not one-time process. We need to work on them every day to keep them alive. If your relationship fails, it’s 50% fault of yours. It’s your failure if you decide to throw a relationship off the window. We always tend to blame the ‘other person’; but remember, the ‘other person’ is going to blame you just the same.

* * * *

Coming back to KANK, they have portrayed that the couples were different from each other, their interests didn’t match; and that’s the reason their marriages didn’t work. I don't agree with that. People can have good relationship in spite of being ‘different’. It’s just that you need to give enough space for the other person to breathe his/her own air.

I also thought that Preity Zinta’s character was painted a bit of gray, which was not required. Being career-oriented is not bad, specially when your husband is unemployed.