mkr-3 Reviews

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Wholesome Entertainment

[8 July 2001]

Lagaan is a refreshing movie from Bollywood.

Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker have put in real effort to make a good movie. They deserve credit for recreating the emotional trauma of being under British rule and how a bunch of people courageously won over their unfair rule. The cricket sequences are exceptionally well handled. Perhaps the only Indian film that captures cricket that well. However, I think these sequences can be improved phenomenally - that way Ashutosh and Aamir can turn totally brutal and leave the audience absolutely under their mercy - to be relieved from the ever growing suspense and excitement. Perhaps the rapid advances in Graphics can help. If Hollywood could recreate almost all of the coliseum in Gladiator [they only built a part of the coliseum, the rest was done by computer], cooking up some breath taking shots in cricket should be a piece of cake.

Regarding the performances, Gracy Singh as Gowri excelled over everyone. Aamir's performance seemed more like a supporting role. None of his expressions "hit you". Gracy's do. The other performances are all adequate to keep the movie going as intended.

Song sequences deserve a special credit. After many many movies, there is a movie where the songs come naturally. You never feel a song was put just for the heck of it. Once the song starts, the choreography takes over. This is another excpetional aspect of the movie..the choreography is smooth and not the usual "cut and paste" stuff. The camera moves from one artist to another in a seamless manner. "Radha kaise na jale" is my personal favorite.

I personally think Sarfarosh was more "cooler" than this one. But both these movies clearly stand out to be one of the best one in the past 4 years - along with ofcourse, Satya.

Thyagayya (1946)

One of the best Telugu movies ever!

[10/10 · 23 January 2001]

Tyagiah/Thyagayya is a soul stirring film about the truly extra-ordinary life of Saint Thyagaraja. The movie stands out to be in the all time best because of the deeply moving portrayal of Thyagrabrahma by Chittoori Nagayya.

The movie achieves the magic by having Nagayya sing for himself the songs composed by Thyagabrahma. The movie is a solid proof for the importance of screenplay and acting in a movie. The film is also a big credit to the skills of Nagayya - as a director, actor, singer and producer! I was amazed to see the "appropriate" usage of lighting throughout the movie..the film was made in 1946, there were barely any advanced techniques in the industry. The film was still made amazingly well.

Regarding the storyline of the film, it runs in a semi-documentary style narrating the key happenings in the life of the "Brahma" of Carnatic Music. It captures the societal norms in the late 18th century, how many of the musicians used to seek the patronage of the kings and more importantly how Thyagabrahma was seeking the patronage of only Lord Rama. It depicts Thyagabrahma as not just a devotee of Lord Rama but also as a husband, brother, student and teacher.

The most valuable part of the film is the soundtrack itself. It is totally amazing to hear Nagayya sing the Thyagaraja Krithis with the devotion and clarity that is way beyond those of the more well-known Carnatic singers. Thyagaraja's music is very famous for the blend of rAgam-thAlam-pallavi. On top of this mix is the sheer devotion for Lord Rama. Thyagaraja composed his music as a way of praising the glories of Lord Rama and as a way of seeking his patronage. This key aspect of Thyagaraja's music combined with the homogeneous mix of rAgam-thAlam-pallavi and the right pronunciation of telugu words is missing in the standard renditions by Carnatic music stalwarts like Mangalampalli Bala Murali Krishna, T.N. Seshagopalan, Maharajapuram Santhaanam or even Semangudi! This itself is a great achievement for Nagayya.

I cannot but break into tears each time I see the absolute ecstasy [a word often misused] in Thayabrahma when he is finally blessed by Lord Rama.

The movie starts with a disclaimer saying the script was written based on the information provided by people who were,in some way or the other, involved with Thyagaraja's life and thanks them for their input. This is something extra-ordinary for films made in those days.

If you are looking for a movie which will move every cell in your body through absolutely great music and devotion...this is it!!

Thyagayya (1946)

One of the best telugu films ever!

[10/10 · 23 November 2000]

Tyagiah/Thyagayya is a soul stirring film about the truly extra-ordinary life of Saint Thyagaraja. The movie stands out to be in the all time best because of the deeply moving portrayal of Thyagrabrahma by Chittoori Nagayya.

The movie achieves the magic by having Nagayya sing for himself the songs composed by Thyagabrahma. The movie is a solid proof for the importance of screenplay and acting in a movie. The film is also a big credit to the skills of Nagayya - as a director, actor, singer and producer! I was amazed to see the "appropriate" usage of lighting throughout the movie..the film was made in 1946, there were barely any advanced techniques in the industry. The film was still made amazingly well.

Regarding the storyline of the film, it runs in a semi-documentary style narrating the key happenings in the life of the "Brahma" of Carnatic Music. It captures the societal norms in the late 18th century, how many of the musicians used to seek the patronage of the kings and more importantly how Thyagabrahma was seeking the patronage of only Lord Rama. It depicts Thyagabrahma as not just a devotee of Lord Rama but also as a husband, brother, student and teacher.

The most valuable part of the film is the soundtrack itself. It is totally amazing to hear Nagayya sing the Thyagaraja Krithis with the devotion and clarity that is way beyond those of the more well-known Carnatic singers. Thyagaraja's music is very famous for the blend of rAgam-thAlam-pallavi. On top of this mix is the sheer devotion for Lord Rama. Thyagaraja composed his music as a way of praising the glories of Lord Rama and as a way of seeking his patronage. This key aspect of Thyagaraja's music combined with the homogeneous mix of rAgam-thAlam-pallavi and the right pronunciation of telugu words is missing in the standard renditions by Carnatic music stalwarts like Mangalampalli Bala Murali Krishna, T.N. Seshagopalan, Maharajapuram Santhaanam or even Semangudi! This itself is a great achievement for Nagayya.

I cannot but break into tears each time I see the absolute ecstasy [a word often misused] in Thayabrahma when he is finally blessed by Lord Rama.

The movie starts with a disclaimer saying the script was written based on the information provided by people who were,

in some way or the other, involved with Thyagaraja's life and thanks them for their input. This is something extra-ordinary for films made in those days.

If you are looking for a movie which will move every cell in your body through absolutely great music and devotion...this is it!!

Masoom (1983)

One of the best hindi movies ever

[27 January 2000]

The script and dialogues my Sampooran Singh Gulzar are just mind blowing. It is truly challenging to present the tensions in the family along with the innocence of the children Gulzar and Sekhar Kapoor (the director) delve deeply into the psychology of the adults and the children. Urmila excels as a child artist (she was barely 10 years old!), so did Anuradha and Jugal Hansraj.

The camera work in the movie is simple and artistic. Rahul Dev Burman's haunting score couldn't be any more apt. It is really striking, he used variations of a single tune as the background score for the entire movie! Wow! That is not the best part, you don't notice that! That's the best part.

Nasseruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, who are known for their extreme potential and they have played their roles to perfection.

I would say this is Sekhar Kapoor's best. There are several scenes in the movie where the characters convey their feeling by a simple "act" which would otherwise need 1000 words and not-needed melodrama. That is clearly his directorial genius. When the characters actually "speak" they convey their feelings equally well...Thanks to the genius and maturity of Gulzar and Sekhar Kapoor.

The movie is funny, beautiful, tense, moving, complex..... However, I have one complaint with the script.

Warning: If you plan to watch the movie do not read beyond this point!



The open question remains as to what is really the punishment to a man who made a mistake as big as adultery. We know the man is good, loves his kids and wife and his work. He did make a mistake. The situation in which he made the mistake, no matter what, cannot be justified. He made a mistake. That's it.

The kid has no fault of his and he is lonely and helpless and feels deprived of everything. Does he have to suffer because the adult made a mistake? No. So, what is doing justice to this kid? Keeping him along with your kids? If that is the case, what is the punishment to the father? If you send him away as

punishment, the kids will all be fatherless and the wife will have the burden of taking care of them alone.

So, as shown in the film...the correct punishment is the one that makes him remorseful and the correct thing to do with the kid is to bring him up along with the others. OK, so far so good but this soln. has a problem too. What happens when the kids grow little older. They know their "brother" made no mistake, they will learn that their father...about who they were so proud..has let them down. This will certainly effect them for life! Even if we assume their family friends can forgive his mistake, the kids cannot. Not at least these kids.. may be some kids who are in a family that is used to adultery!

Well, one could argue that the father indeed made a mistake and the kids would have to simply face the truth..there is no other way out, so they rather stop worrying about it..and of course they don't to need to worry about punishing his father if the objective is to make him remorseful.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Hyper advertized but highly disappointing

[16 July 1999]

Stanley Kubrick after making great movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Clockwork Orange, attempts to make an erotic-drama/ suspense movie during the last days of his career. He fails miserably at it.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman give incredibly self-conscious performances. Stanley probably wanted the tension and fear in the movie to build up naturally and hence might have decided to work with barely any background music. Added to this is the nauseatingly SLOW dialogue. The slow pace might help build tension in a lot of the cases, but in this movie it makes things WORSE..the reason very very self-conscious performances. it is very obvious that one the Hollywood's hottest couples when shown together in a supposedly-big-movie, turn into utterly self conscious and highly uncool couple.

Well so much about the presentation...The content of the film has very explicit graphic sexuality. Even these parts aren't captivating.....

The worst part of all, I was dying from the start through the end waiting for a joke that could even make me smile!!!! Some one in the movie hall more desperate than me went into an audible laughter exactly 2 times in the entire film. A movie that is supposed to be about relationships but neither funny nor engrossing...you probably know by now whether you should watch this infinitely boring erotic-drama/thriller.