Kites: Movie review

'Kites' is Hrithik Roshan all the way. He looks amazing and does an excellent work. He gets the body language right - the way he did with Akbar in 'Jodha Akbar'. Barbara and Kangana are just there - running around with Hrithik wherever he goes.

The first half is very captivating. Many twists in the tale manage to hold a grip on the attention of the viewer. These twists are quite unheard of in a typical Hindi movie - a sister's boyfriend taapoing (a.k.a. line-maaroing/hitting on) the brother's girlfriend is new! :-p

The second half is about chase sequences and the story unfolding. I did yawn at times. Caught a nap or two too. The climax is nice.. somewhat predictable.

'Zindagi do pal ki' is good. 'Kyun yeh dil mera' looks beautiful on the screen. The movie, like many other movies of today's times, 'looks' very good.

I particularly would like to mention the subtitles during the English dialogues. It shows that Rakesh Roshan remembers the fact that he is making a Hindi movie. And I think it is a good thing to do.

Overall, the movie is surely an interesting watch. Rakesh Roshan does magic with Hrithik again. (Btw, I loved Kaho na Pyar hai and thought that Koi mil gaya was ok. Krish sucked.)

The Unspoken

Note: Not a poem. Lyrical, perhaps.

If the sky could speak, it would describe how the dry earth looks as it gets drenched in the rain... and how the rains look just like the rays of the sun. One dries up the earth, the other brings it to life.

If the sky could speak, we would know how the rains look from thousands of miles above the surface of the earth..

If the shower in your bathroom could speak, it would narrate stories.. of the funny faces, the songs and the dance that accompanies. Of the occasional tears that you wash off with the water.

If the shower could speak, I would expect it to speak the God's words. Who else are we so ourselves in front of?

If the trash that you throw every day could speak, it would describe you completely.. the falling hair, the crumbled pieces of incomplete letters, wrappers of chocolates, old bills, old papers.

If the trash could speak, your life would be left open in front of the world.

And if the unspoken words under the spoken ones could speak...

... thank God all these don't speak.

Me the criminal

Disclaimer: Imaginary in parts.

The story that the people knew made me a criminal. They pelted stones at me. Some of them thought I should be thrown out. Some others thought I should resign.

I looked at you on my side. You were stern too. One look in your eyes and I knew I had done something wrong. Your voice had the confidence that only you could have in me. You assured me that I would overcome the bad phase, that the 'stone-pelters' know only the part of the story where I certainly am the criminal. And that nothing affects your belief in me.

I accepted the portion of the accusations where I was considered guilty. The grip of your hand holding mine became tighter. Nothing else mattered. I faced the stones with a smile.

'Anandi anand' - Review

This post reviews 'Anandi Anand' a Marathi movie that released Friday. Even if you don't understand Marathi and/or your chances of watching the movie are dim, trust me, you should read this review to understand what impact a movie can have on a member of the audience.

The movie is written/directed by a director who came up with some unique and interesting experiments especially in Marathi theater. The movie has some very big names in Marathi filmdom (Suhas Joshi, Vikram Gokhale, Mohan Joshi, Vandana Gupte, to name a few.) The music director of the movie is one of the most celebrated Marathi music directors of today's times.

Having said all this, let me add that this is the FIRST movie that I just COULD NOT watch beyond the interval. The movie is not gripping for even a moment. I yawned, I giggled - it didn't affect how much I was bored.

I saw the movie half-way only - in other words, instead of 'Anandi Anand', I saw only 'Anandi'. That is, btw, the name of the heroine of the film. The latter is the hero.

And trust me, I seriously wish I had never seen 'Anand' - I mean the hero of the movie. Ya ya, Marathi films typically never had good-looking male leads except a very few. But the male lead actors are generally VERY good actors. The 'Anand' in the movie was neither. Highly ungroomed, highly plastic and completely dubbed. The actor was a disaster - especially with a beautiful Priya Bapat opposite him. ("Trust me, if my sister is proposed by a guy who's as dumb as the hero, I would do anything to drive him away!", I said. )

Beyond a point, I was literally looking at people in the theatre instead of the screen. Two of them looked back at me. One uncle even smiled - I am sure he shared my emotions of disinterest in the movie.

Except the 'Dete kon' song, no other song was something I would want to listen to a second a time. Songs popped in for no reason. The 'Bhoot' song was just not required.

I am someone who seldom wastes money. But here, the first half of the movie was such a disaster that I didn't want to stay back. The movie may be called 'run-of-the-mill' by some, I call it 'run-of-the-shutdown-mill'. Yawn!!!

The Last Lecture

Note: Melodrama at its best. Facts have been played around with.

To Prashant for the idea. He saw me in a trance after I came from my last lecture - and suggested that I write a post on it.

I looked at the clock. It was ten minutes to five. Ten minutes to the end of an age. Ten minutes to, perhaps, freedom. Ten minutes for the last lecture of MY LIFE to get over. (The 'of my life' addition makes the event look so big and spectacular right)

The professor was expressing some final thoughts about the current trends in databases. Some of us in the class were staring at the stack of mid-semester papers kept on the desk. Some of us were typing text messages on our phones. Perhaps to each other. And oh ya, many of us were listening. (Do not ask me what the total number of students in the class is. :p)

"So, all the best. The mid-semester papers are not evaluated yet. So, I will call you all to my office after that's done."

The geeks staring at the papers looked frustrated as if they had been told the Turing machine was only a myth and the computer was modeled by an entity called God. One of them broke into tears..

As the professor started to walk out, everything seemed to go on in slow motion. I could hear heavy sighs at half their actual speed but double their volume - just the way Shahrukh Khan walks in slow motion in the climax of every movie of his. But no, I was not going to start any long senti speech here - there is obviously some difference between me and him.

I saw flashes - of 'periods' back in school... the Social studies periods where the teacher sat on the desk and read out from the textbook. Hers was a very unique 'let's read the textbook together' method of teaching. The 'period' grew into a 'lecture' in college. There was a Biology teacher who cracked a joke and laughed uncontrollably herself. I am yet to understand the joke. I also saw flashes of the teachers at Somaiya - a teacher who left no opportunity to catch hold of people not paying attention and asking them if she was talking to the walls and the benches. No one ever gathered the courage to tell her the truth. And then, some lectures here at IIT when I would only stare at the board blankly without understanding a single word. In such cases, the fact that no one else understood used to be the only relief.

I saw it all - all the lectures in fast-forward. It was over. I did not have to attend any more lectures....

They say, when you are about to die, you see a recap of your life...

Stars And clouds

I fell in love with the clouds. I wanted to be on the top of one jumping around - it must be really bouncy to run around over them.

I had my eye set on a cloud. In some time, the cloud was nowhere to be seen. I realized that while I was in my thoughts about the cloud, the cloud was slowly drifting away from me.

I had failed to notice a star which had been stationary and looking at me through all of this.

******

The clouds are the momentary desires which pull you towards them. They will, one day, disappear like the clouds.

The stars are here to say...

Jump over the clouds and reach for the stars...