Paa - Movie Review

Note: Has a read-along clip like all the blogposts. Original, like all of them.

I liked many things about the movie - I disliked some. The many things that I liked have already been mentioned in the newspaper reviews. So, even if this review sounds very negative, I haven't disliked the movie as much as I make it sound in this review.

Cutting a long story short, Amitabh Bachhan has delivered a memorable performance in Paa. He is very endearing. Jaya Bachhan at the beginning is a good surprise. Though I really didn't understand why she was sharmaoing with the lihaaz of a naveli dulhan ('newly-wed' for my English medium reader friends) when she was taking names of the team members of the film. Vidya Balan also stands out as the mother. She is amazing in some scenes. The actor who plays the grandmother is very good too.

When I heard the songs for the first time, I thought the "mudi-udi-judi-kudi" series of songs were quite irritating. After watching the movie, the songs sound quite good and they are the kind of songs which you start liking after you have seen them in the context of the film. Paresh Rawal, I really did not quite notice him at all.

The first fifteen minutes are gripping - extremely entertaining. The speed drops towards the end and the climax is very predictable because it comes directly from Kal ho naa ho/Anand or many Ekta Kapoor serials. Overall, the movie is entertaining in parts.

Some dialogues that one will remember come from Auro - the ones like 'kisi ke personal emails nahi padhte...' or the dialogues between Auro and his friend Vishnu. Quite endearing. Some dialogues are outrageously funny. Btw, I thought people needed to be above 18 years of age to have an email address. Auro chats and shares his webcam on the internet - parental discretion ko pack karke maale pe rakh diya kya?

I have one question regarding the movie. Would the 'performance' and the film receive the attention it has had Auro not been a person battling progeria? Because according to me, the movie and its story would not have been any different if Auro had been a patient of some 'conventional' life threatening disease. So, do the story-makers bring in the progeria angle just to gain sympathy/attract attention because of the uniqueness? If it is either, I think it is not a very good thing to have done.

And it would not be a very good thing to happen if filmmakers keep unearthing newer/rarer physical/mental ailments just to repeat the (Bhansali's) Black-like charm.

Apart from this, I don't have any concerns about the movie. It may make a one-time good watch.

Dilli 6 - Movie Review

To Swati. She encouraged me to watch the movie.


Before the Movie:

I knew that ‘Dilli 6’ would be hard-hitting for sure. Hard-hitting either in the sense of ‘RDB’ which achieved a never-before status among the youth or in the sense of ‘Ramgopal Verma ki Aag’. Just that the latter hit me hard in the brain. The Mumbaiya term for such a ‘hit hard in the brain’ is.. ‘dimag ko shot’ by the way. :)

After the Movie:
‘RDB’ compared a historical story with a story of today. ‘D-6’ compares a mythological story with a story of today. The general premise is, hence, identical. The path taken this time is different.

In one line, however, the movie is AMAZING!!

What’s bad:

• Abhishek Bachhan jumps from a terrace and lands perfectly on the terrace of the adjacent, closely-located building! I could almost hear AB saying, “I had taken this training for Drona. You didn’t watch Drona, hai na! Ab bhugto!!” and he jumps again.
• Abhishek Bachhan fakes the ‘Amarikhen’ accent. Boo!
• Why on earth does Amitabh Bachhan appear at the end? Though must say that the NDE (Near-death experience) is a first in a Hindi movie.
• The dream song, though cutely picturised, looks utterly out of place and needless. Dream songs forced into a film is Karan Johar’s prerogative, Mr. Mehra!! Originality rakho yaar!
  

And what’s good:

• The Masakkali girl Sonam Kapoor looks absolutely gorgeous. Most women and some men (*wink*) in the cinema hall wish they looked like her. She is an able performer too.
• All the songs have a different flavor altogether. There is an Amba-maata bhajan and there is a light romantic number ‘Masakalli’. There is a ‘Rehna Tu’ and there is a ‘Kaala Bandar’ song! A nice mix of songs!
• Atul Kulkarni and Divya Dutta shine among the ensemble of actors the film boasts of. The two get into the skin of their characters with the accent and the body language perfectly chiseled. (And Darling Katrina Kaif, you always thought getting into the skin of the character for a film meant colouring your hair and hiring a new fashion designer, didn’t you?!)
• The film captures on reel amazing visuals of Dilli 6 – a section of the Indian capital which is, in a way, very reflective of the diversity that one sees in India.
• The star of the film is its story and the screenplay. The film uses several metaphors to make its point – the ‘Kala bandar’ is only the most obvious of them all. For example, the untouchable girl who helps the resident of the city at the end isn’t an untouchable girl at all. She stands for the potential untapped talent of the society. What I mean to say is that every character is a metaphor for a set of values, beliefs and energies that reside within the Indian society. Above all, all the characters have the strong ‘Dilli’ flavour.

What one notices is that the movie sticks to being a hardcore satire rather than being preachy (except at the tail end which is only fair enough.). The movie exactly knows where it is going.As the ‘Kala bandar’ mystery builds up, you keep hoping that the climax is as good. The best part of it is that it is so.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (I hope I’ve got the spelling right.) does it again, in a different setup, in a different form and in a different style!

Dostana - Thumbs down!

Dostana was such a letdown. Fine, the locales and the actors all looked good. But then that's the case with every other Bollywood movie these days! (Except for 'Ek vivah... aisa bhi' where Esha Koppikar and Sonu Sood were battling it out for the 'who-looks-uglier' title.) But what the heck!! Dostana promos grab attention with the 'gay' story - the film neither amuses nor enlightens.

The horribly loud 'Abhishek-John love-story' flashback - it sucked!  Kiron Kher hammed big-time in her extension of Kantaben and John Abraham just cannot act. He does not act, he does not dance, he does not clothe himself. Sorry dude, I am really not interested in seeing you walking on a beach in those undies or whatever if you cannot emote. And not interested in seeing you that way otherwise too by the way.

The scene when Kiron Kher comes to Abhishek's apartment was faaltoo with a big F.

Abhishek Bachhan sucked especially in the love-story flashback that I booed earlier in this post.

Priyanka Chopra's performance is good. The kid who plays Bobby Deol's son is cho cute. The scenes where Abhishek and John try to misguide Bobby Deol who is trying to woo Priyanka make a good laugh.

But I cannot laugh at Abhishek Bachhan walking in that womanly gait or doing close dancing with Boman Irani.

The film is plain ordinary! Nothing great about this one!