texant

I was one of the lucky persons to catch this movie in sept 09, well in advance of its release, in International Film Festval Nagpur, and even more delighted when it was selected for the Academy awards. Once again Marathi cinema has one more feather on its cap for this extraordinary piece of art. Its more of a tribute to Late Dadasaheb Phalke and a token of appreciation for initiating a movement that went on to create the second largest movie industry in the world. The movie begins with a simple scenario of a unemployed man who gets inspired from a British motion picture theater( in a tent). The movie showcases very truly how people used to look up to cinema in earlier days, paying ticket to watch blurry b&w moving images without audio. Not only it was difficult to think of making something like a motion picture but rather impossible as there were no sources to explore the possibility of such a thing. The approach of Dadasaheb Phalke towards making a motion picture and that too beginning from less than a scratch has been beautifully shown to the finest detail. What the catchy part of the movie is that you are taken into a pleasant trance mood right from the initial scene, maybe because of the humor tinge given to the film in almost every scene. Every scene, even the emotional ones does have a funny element of character attached to it to keep you laughing all the way. It must be the first drama film to have a tinge of humor attached to go for Oscars. Or maybe its selected at the first place as the film is based on the life of Father of Indian Cinema. But it doesn't take away any credit by the makers of this film for creating a masterpiece. Hope its in the top five at the academy awards and hope it wins it too.

Ever thought of going to a 'remake' Hindi movie and getting apprehensive whether it will turn out to be better or as good as the previous, in this case, Devdas? well, here it is. And its not a remake, its much better. The most striking feature of this movie is the part played by Abhay Deol,(guy s got talent) which is simply very subtle and practical. No overacting (unlike any other Hindi hero), no songs around mountains and valleys, no getting emotional over your love (yes, believe me). Just chronological events that takes place with three characters around. Thats it. With a gist of recent events which include the DPS girl blow-job MMS, and the famous Drink n drive BMW mauling case in New Delhi, Anurag Kashyap has proved its possible to relate recent events in Indian cinema, which it lacks today. Never once in the movie you need a toilet break even if u need to pee really bad. Even the boldness in using the words like f*** (which i guess is the first time in commercial Hindi movie)is so well mixed, it never strikes out of the ordinary or routine. Must appreciate- Screenplay, direction, Abahay Deol. Music sucks mostly,( not a very good experiment) except a few times. Overall a very good experience, will be the most appreciated movie of 2009, unless anything else comes up.

Just when you think the Indian cinema is repeating its non-sense routine crap all the time, a very refreshing movie pops up to highlight the excellence in bollywood. UTV this time left no stone unturned to deliver isolated brilliance. Actually reminded me of Hollywood's Phone-Booth. Edge of your seat guessing one mans fate. The plot here deals with much broader religious aspect of our society. Apart from being a nostalgic delight for people in mumbai its a lesson of awareness to people all over the world. The choice of lead role was perfect as he didn't try to take any superiority to himself, giving the audience a mixed bag of cinema art. Music, this time, reminds me of certain hand picked movies whose music would ring in your ears even after the movie is over. It really captures and nurtures the essence of the pace of the movie. 'Haara' nd 'Ek Lau' is my best pick. As far as the issue of terrorism mentioned, nothing new about it. In my opinion the movie is a point of view of a single outsider into the dark corners of network in a community, which otherwise seem very routine.

Overall, a must have DVD.