The Window

Note: Returning to my favourite class of blogposts - the incomprehensible ones. :-p

A huge glass pane separated him from the running trees outside. He was looking at them with a thought on his mind. He wanted a mirror. He did not know why - but he wanted it badly.

The train came to a screeching halt at a station. He stuck his nose to the pane of the window and looked around on the platform. It was unlikely that he would find a person selling a mirror on a railway platform, he knew, but he could not stop himself from looking. The train slowly moved out of the station and before he realized it, picked up speed.

He continued to look out of the window - hoping to find what he was looking for. He soon got lost in his own thoughts. His eyes were open but he could not see.

When he got back to where he was, the day had dimmed - hence, the glass pane was dark on one side and reflected all the light on the other side. The other side was him. He was staring at his face. He had found his mirror.

It is indeed true that we get things we want when and where we are least expecting them.

3 idiots - Movie Review

'3 idiots' is undoubtedly my most awaited movie of the year - one of the reasons being the fact that I have loved '5 point someone'.

I have my opinion regarding the current spat between Chetan Bhagat and the makers of 3 idiots. I write this review being impartial w.r.t. that. I have also mentioned my opinion regarding the movie - but have kept it to the end (I mean, a movie is good or not is not dependent on whether it is a copy or not. Because in that case, I should not love many Bollywood movies. :-p )

Rajkumar Hirani works on his superhit formula again - give a mantra to make people happy, have a character which is unconventional/rebellious yet spreads a lot of love and joy around him. In Munnabhai, it was the jaadoo ki jhappi, in 3 idiots it is 'Aal iz well'.

Pre-release, I was hooked to the music of the film - repeatedly heard 'Give me some sunshine' and 'Zoobi doobi'. 'Give me some sunshine' is a number which proves that a guitar and strong lyrics can make a song really successful.

Some comedy scenes in the movie make you roll on the floor laughing - the 'chamatkar' scene being one of the funniest ones. The Ranchhoddas twist takes you by surprise. The climax starts off with a non-hero Sharman running away with a to-wed Kareena from the shaadi ka mandap and that's when you know it's really not going to be very conventional. It only gets better when 'Funsuk Wangdu' comes into the picture!

Aamir Khan is constantly under focus in the film. No wonder people are loving his performance so much. I mean, when you have the limelight on you, you are going to look as fair as a fairy! Nevertheless, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan definitely stand out. Boman Irani's character looks like an extension of the angry school principal from Munnabhai 1 - just that here the 'evility' has been toned down to some extent. I have been an avid fan of Mona Singh and was pleasantly surprised to see her in the film.

The friendship between the three characters which was the soul of the book comes out well in the movie. The movie claims to make a statement about the current education system. It does so to some extent.

MANY jokes from the movie are stale. They are either from cheap SMS forwards or from '5 point someone'. So, they didn't really make me laugh. I could only smile. What were the writers thinking when they copied a joke directly from a television advertisement (where the student puts his paper in a stack of papers after an examination). Chori karo, par kam se kam pakde mat jaao yaar!

By the way, whoever said that '3 idiots' is LOOSELY based on '5 point someone' has horribly mistaken. I do not know what the contract between Chetan Bhagat and the makers of the movie is. So I would not comment on who is right. But, the makers' claim that it is only a loose adaptation is TOTALLY wrong. Several jokes and the key scenes are lifted from the book.

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Overall verdict : Both the Munnabhais made me laugh and cry a lot. 3 idiots did not make me cry at all, tickled me in parts. It entertained me nevertheless. Not worth the hype - definitely should make a good watch.