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jisingh
Reviews
My Wife's Murder (2005)
Different but predictable.
OK, it was different from the regular crap Bollywood produces so often. But the problem is, I've been seeing so many crime-based programs on television these days that this one appears pale and stale as compared to those. In fact any randomly chosen crime-file appears to be more interesting than this one.
+ Acting. Good. Especially Anil Kapoor, He has done a good job playing the role of a unhappy husband, who accidentally kills his wife, and then tries eliminating all proofs of her murder. The movie is bearable only because of him. Boman Irani is impressive, and is able to keep the interest alive in a otherwise monotonous plot. Rest of the cast is quite poor, even Suchitra Krishnamurti appeared to be putting much more effort than required playing a irritating and suspicious wife.
+ Camera-work. OK. Manages to capture the tension between the characters, and the uncomfortable environment. Also some night shots are really well taken.
+ Sound Effects. Good. But then even 'Naina' had great sound effects.
= Direction. Average. The start is good, and appears to be gripping, at least for the first half. However thereafter the director has completely lost his control over the flow, and the climax? just don't talk about it. There are numerous loopholes that you can observe. The hero runs away in a jeep someone has left on the road. Now who the hell leaves a vehicle with the ignition key keyed in. Anyways that happens very so often in bollywood (and even in Hollywood ) movies. During the chase scene, it is so evident that there is no more than 5 second time difference between the two vehicles; but when the jeep hits a rock and rolls over, the hero gets a full two minutes of escape time. What were the policemen doing for that much time? buying vegetables??
- Thrill. Little. And that mostly is the fault of the poor and monotonous second half, where the hero tries hiding the facts and the policeman is determined to uncover every single proof.
- Script. Too predictable. No dramatic elements. The moment, the guy tells his secretary about the murder, you know what way the things are going to happen. And then on, there is not even a single incident that you have not known in advance.
I know there are people who say, "ok but thats the way it happens in real life. It was close to realty." Fine; but then whats the entire point of my watching a movie? Why shouldn't I choose a 11'o clock crime-scene program on television instead of spending money on this movie? Afterall I get to see exactly the same thing there, free of cost.
Good movies are meant to be watched a thousand times and not just once; and I really can't rate a movie high, if it has nothing left for a second viewing. This one is definitely not a match for those.
If all you are going to do is, to pick a crime investigation report and make a movie out of it, then all I can say is : "sorry! you can't get a better rating from me."
Yeopgijeogin geunyeo (2001)
and I thought I cannot like a romantic comedy.
I'm not a fan of romantic movies, and I really don't understand all that hype for most of the romance classics. And so when I came across this one, I didn't have much expectations. However I decided to check out on IMDb first. Yes I was pretty surprised when I had to figure really hard for one single negative comment for the movie, and that's when I thought of giving this a try.
The first time I watched it, there were no subtitles, and being a non-Korean there was not much I was able to make out, however I must say I liked the movie even without the subtitles, at least having a little idea about the storyline and the sequences; what I had imagined and that I watched, were spot on match. And, plus the fact that you really don't need to understand dialogs in order to understand some of its brilliant scenes.
It took me two weeks to find a CD with English subtitles, and then I watched it again, and then again.
No wonder, This day I do believe that there can be good romantic movies, and this one is a prime example.
So where exactly this movie scores where most others fail? and I simply have countless answers to that one question.
The storyline is though, simple (and so believable too.), The brilliance of the movie lies in the story telling, that focus on very very little details, the interconnection of events, and more importantly, every single scene having a little unpredictability which in turn leads to a feel-good surprise element. Add to this the fact that both the lead actors are simply marvelous, and fit in perfectly. And their on-screen chemistry? Mindblowing.
While most of the movies of this genre I remember, have attempted to create hype over being romantic, attempted to create an artificial environment where you see extra-ordinary people falling in love with extra-ordinary people, have tried to look classy and rich; this one doesn't try to be all that preachy.
On the surface what you see is a series of events that mostly appear to be fun, where the guy realizes his inclination towards the girl, even though he has to go through some sort of (in a way) misbehavior by the girl. Under the hood, lie the more deeper emotions, that mostly remain untold, however you can feel them through the bonding the two characters have developed, and yes its those untold things that tell you all about the movie.
The unpredictability, the little surprises which are very fresh and novel, give this movie a must-see and must re-see value. And there are plenty of such scenes.
Watch out the scene where the guy comes out of the class and asks the girl about what did she say to the professor. That's simply hilarious. You can watch it a thousand times. or check out the scene in the train: the little fun game "hitting each other" ; or the "lets exchange shoes" scene.
The attention on details is something that make the story very credible and interesting. And here you'll find lots and lots of very small things scattered over here and there, all somehow connected to the main plot.
Remember the first time the girl calls the guy on his cellphone, pay attention to how she might have got his number? Now remember the scene when the guy is checking into the motel, and the old man shoulder-reading every single thing he is filling in. And once you try to figure out who that old man is, you'll find another interesting detail about the quintuplets that keep showing up throughout the movie.
Remember the scene in the bar where the girl blasts on the two guys trying a prostitution deal. As they walk out of the bar, moments later if you watch closely, another couple moves out. Now does that relate to the previous incident? You never know.
or check out the scene where the guy as a kid, is being punished for getting low grades, and his parents are lecturing him about how to get better grades. Three years later. He is still getting the same punishment; This time however, the dialogs are reversed, and so is the seating positions of his parents.
---
Yes, of course there are a few sequences that appeared totally unnecessary, a bit draggy, or over the top; The whole runaway soldier story, the "boy/girl from future" talk, or the "ball hitting the head" scene. But as they say, "Those who fail are the ones who try." and so I don't think, that a couple of failed tries can make this movie out of my must-watch list.
Salaam Namaste (2005)
Making of a typical Indian romantic comedy.
How they came up with this movie:
Aditya: ...But you know it gotta be new.
Siddharth: Lets see what we can do? How about a new location?
A: Oh yes! In the past movies, We've been to London, new york, LA.. how about Melbourne this time?
S: Fantastic! and we can have a couple of beach songs there, you know thats the latest trend these days.
A: OK Lets talk about the story. I've an idea, lets do a different kind of romantic movie.
S: What different?
A: How about if we make a modern day love story, girl and boy both living outside India. That way we can also capture those NRI sentiments you know?
S: Whoa whoa. But that we have already seen in so many other movies lately. Need to add something more to it.
A: How about if the boy and the girl live together?
S: Live-in relationships? Indian audience will never accept that.
A: Ha! They are going' to jump on it, it will be a fresh story, wholly new idea, you know. Boy and girl stay together, fall in love, have sex, and then the girl becomes pregnant.
S: You are talking about "nine-months"?
A: whatever! how many in India have watched nine months? forget it. people are just going to love the idea.
S: OK so the story is finalized. What about the music?
A: Yeh, we need one or two dance item numbers, one wedding song?
S: why a wedding song?
A: You don't understand! its that superstition thing!
S: OK OK! But how are we going to have dance numbers when the heroine is pregnant?
A: Don't worry! Audience won't care. They come only to see the dance and songs. Nobody gives a damn even if she dances while giving birth to her baby.
A: I've got this gut feeling, in last movie remember, people loved the comedy. We have to have that in this movie too.
S: But its a serious movie. How can it have comedy?
A: Then arrange some part time TV actor. You know those anchors, they can speak so much on the spot you don't even need to worry about writing dialogs for them.
S: Thats fine. How about the cast?
A: Lets see, Preity is hot these day. See if we get dates from Preity, else go for Rani. Male actor, I don't think Shahrukh is that good after Swades. and Aamir, just don't approach him, he'll demand the god-damn script first.
S: Then how about Saif.
A: He'll do. Anything else?
S: We'll see that on the sets. Lets start working on it.
Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005)
The "worstest" movie, if only such a word exists.
What was the last time harry baweja made a movie worth watching? I don't remember, and I guess no one does. Right from the first shot it was clear to me that I'm watching a straight rip-off of some Hollywood flick; how else could I justify some otherwise empty-minded director to come up with a movie based on the life of a autistic person.
Not so long ago, sanjay leela bhansali made "Black", and was appreciated by critics as well as the audience; so it definitely makes sense for some crap-assed director like harry baweja to join the league and cache on the sentiments. I really doubt he would have made "main aisa..", had "Black" been a box-office failure.
Anyways, come to the storyline. Well, there is nothing really to say except that its a plain remake^Wrip-off of "I am SAM". So if you have seen "I am SAM", don't waste your time on this movie. If you have not, better watch it now, but for god sake, don't look at "main aisa..."; its nowhere close to the original.
Ajay has been a good actor otherwise, but here he's been in the wrong hands. Leave aside any of the emotional attachment with the character, due to his overacting, I found him one of the most annoying characters of the movie (of course you are blessed with two more equally annoying characters who know nothing, except to ask everyone's birthday, and say you are the best or bestest or whatever the f***.)
Rucha Vaidya, who played the role of the kid, had to play something that no-one understands. Looked like the dialog-writer didn't know much about child psychology; In one frame she asks kiddish questions about rising sun and stars, and in other she feels mature enough to decide 'not to know' more than her father. what the hell!
Anupam Kher, after veer-zaara is once again in a similar and quite under-developed role.
Esha still has to learn a lot about acting before she can give one single memorable performance. But that doesn't seem like a possibility given the rate at which this girl is accepting the skin-friendly C grade flicks.
Sushmita, was probably the only one who did some good job playing the lawyer who is struggling in both her carrier and her personal life. And yes, the two star I'm giving to this movie are just because of Sush.
Overall, Poor acting, accompanied with equally poor music and bad narration make it one hell bad of movie; Added to this that you've to sit through almost three hours.
Not recommended to anyone.
Paap (2003)
was that the greatest comedy ever made or what?
what happens when a great director turns to script writing, a seemingly successful producer takes up the task of direction, a not-so-known model thinks she has got the caliber of becoming a top actress, and a flop actor who thinks, not wearing a t-shirt will make him as popular as salman....? well... they can churn a comedy out of it!
don't believe me?? have an example: (writing only the English translation of the dialogs, watch out the movie for the actual Hindi dialogs)
scene: The climax: The villain is holding his gun and pointing it on the heroine. While everyone is watching this helplessly, the hero steps forwards.
Fire the shot. I said fire the shot. If you want to kill someone, kill me. (He comes closer, and puts his head in front of the gun)
who you're going to kill? Her ?? (points to heroine)
or him? or this kid? | (camera moves to her father, then to a small kid...)
and if you still don't get satisfied.. are you going to kill all of 'em? | (This time you see a dozen of villagers.)
how many people you're going to kill? just how many...? Its enough. Stop all that (crap).|
(The villain starts feeling sentimental, drops gun, bends down to knees, surrenders! Bravo... The power of emotions!)
So this is what you see in this terribly acted, "witness"-copied, two hour drama: paap
The characters: A kid: who is the eyewitness of a murder. The hero: who is a police inspector, and his sole task is to save that kid from any danger, and taking him from DELHI to MANALI, safely. The heroine: who does nothing but feels lonely in the silence of MANALI, & then she writes some sentimental Hindi poetry (watch out the movie for a class poetry, well I mean, a third-class one.) A gang of three villains: who have got this big task of tracking down the hero & the only eyewitness of the murder, the kid.
The storyline: The heroine comes to DELHI to take a kid (who is supposedly some avatar, according to her guru) back with her to MANALI, meanwhile the kid witnesses a murder. The hero jumps in, and finds out that the murderer was one of his senior officers. Now to save the kid and the heroine, he has to drive till MANALI (driving is a tough task you know.), meanwhile he gets hurt and then spends an entire month while getting well...
No! he doesn't come back, its the villains who track him down, and come all the way to MANALI, & get killed (2 of them , the third one surrenders, as described earlier...)
And what the guy does, while he is in MANALI?? well, one day he prepares daal (an Indian dish), the next day he milks a yak (watch out on discovery), another day he rides a donkey, & so on...
Ohhh... by this time you must have been thinking, what the heck this name PAAP (means "sin") is given for then? well... In the entire movie the heroine is told almost a dozen times (by her father) that its a 'paap' for her to think about this guy! & here goes a dialog describing the complete movie in a sentence:
heroine: "agar ye paap hai, " | If thats a sin.. | "to aaj mujhe ye paap kar lene do," | ..then lemme do it. | (and she touches hero's face and starts crying)
Oh god. Was that the greatest comedy ever made or what?
I heard this comment while walking out of the cinema hall:
what the "#$@@!, Its us, who committed the sin. Bought a ticket worth 140 bucks. Might have got two bottles of beer w/ that money.
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Like it or not, you are going to remember it.
Certainly this is not a movie an average movie-goer is going to appreciate. But then, thats the specialty of the movie that separates it from any other movie. Be it the lavish sets, magically changing costumes, slow camera movement, amazingly beautiful color effects, haunting background music, or better than average performances; or be it the vulgar language, disturbing images, rotten meat, or the passionate sexual encounters, This movie dares to venture into an arena where no movie has ever dared to go. So effective, so uncompromising, and so brilliant. It is basically one movie that you'll either not be able to tolerate, or you are going to instantly fell in love with.