AAG se BHAAG!

I am still wondering what it was? Was it a remake, or a tribute or a spoof? Two and a half hours of disjointed scenes those neither impress nor express. The way Mr. RGV has taken the story forward; he has gone ahead with the assumption that everyone has seen Sholay. So he never bothers to etch out the characters, or establish the conflict or create drama. Each scene just comes and goes making you wonder whether it’s a remake of the original, or a tribute or a mere spoof.
I don't even want to list here, how the changes made in this "re-interpretation" have totally worked against the narrative. Or how the scenes that have been retained have become a poor parody... Let's just talk about this AAG... sorry! RGV ki AAG.
The background score that tries to copy Sholay goes insanely wrong whenever it tries to do something original. So here we have “Ye dosti hum nahi chhodenge” in the background when Heeru-Raj decide to go to Kaliganj, the mouth-organ piece when Raj looks “oh so lovingly” at Durga “Deviji” and the slow instrumental version of “Ye Dosti” when Raj dies. Most of the times, you’ll hear pieces of music that you’ve heard before in Bhoot, Vastushastra and other RGV films.
Some of the shots are interesting but nothing to carry home. May be just the one with Amitabh tossing the apple up in the air towards the camera. I am sure, I will come to know in a day or two that the shot was borrowed from some European film.
Amitabh Sir tries to be sincere in a role which can best be described as a caricature of Gabbar. His expression, just before he kills Jai, is amazing.
Rest of the cast, lesser said the better. Mohanlal takes pause within sentences thus changing the complete meaning of the sentence but who cares! Ajay looks like a retard every time he tries to be funny but who cares! Nisha hams so much you feel like shooting the screen but who cares! Prashant speaks in two voices. Surprised, may half way through the film, he joined voice-modulation classes. He should ask for a refund. But then, who cares! Sushmita Sen shouldn’t have done this film but then she isn’t doing anything in the film either so who cares!
RGV wanted to make this film and he did it. All that the critics and viewers can do is make fun of it after they have watched it. But again, if they have watched it once, RGV’s mission is accomplished.

Phir Dekhenge...

कुछ गुनगुने अहसास
मेरी साँसों की आँच में तप जाने दो
फिर देखेंगे
खुशबू में बसे ख़्वाब
मेरी पलकों के हिजाब में छिप जाने दो
फिर देखेंगे

पहले यकीं तो कर लूं, ऐसा भी कुछ हुआ है.
है खेल हवाओं का, या सच में तुमने छुआ है.
फ़िलहाल तो आँखों में सर्द आहों का धुंआ है.
हाथों का थोड़ा ताप
आँखों पर चुपचाप से मल जाने दो
फिर देखेंगे

ठहरी हुई यहीं पर, है कब से समय की कश्ती.
तुम तक पहुँच भी जाते, लहरों पर ग़र ये बहती.
चल चल कर चाहे रुकती, रुक रुक कर चाहे चलती.
फिर मोड़ हैं वही
बातें हैं अनकही, बस कह जाने दो
फिर देखेंगे

© S. Manasvi

Naqaab – Plagiarized Intentions!

Picture this scene between Gael Garcia Bernal and Natalia Verbeke:

Gael : What harm is there if you see me just once? Would you like to see me beg? Believe me, I'm no stranger to humiliation.
[Gets on knees]
Natalia : Get up.
Gael : A coffee.
Natalia : No.
Gael : One glass of water. In a brightly lit public place.
Natalia : Nope.
Gael : Ok, we don't even have to talk to each other. We don't even have to sit together.
Natalia : Nope.
Gael : You sit on one side of the room and I sit on the other.
Natalia : Nope.
Gael : And if everything goes really well, we'll just wave to each other every once in awhile.

If you have seen Naqaab, you know which scene is this! Well, the synopsis goes like this:
Spanish flamenco dancer Carmen (Natalia Verbeke) is preparing to marry well heeled but dull Brit Barnaby (James D'Arcy). During her "hen night" at a French restaurant, Gallic tradition dictates she must bid farewell to singledom by choosing a man from those present for one final kiss. She picks out-of-work Brazilian actor Kit (Gael Garcia Bernal), and the earth moves for both of them.
While she's irresistibly drawn to the passion and spontaneity offered by Kit, Carmen goes through with the marriage, seeking stability and protection from her troubled past. But Barnaby's priggishness soon drives her into Kit's bed, provoking a drastic reaction from her betrayed husband.
However, appearances are not what they seem, and the story's layers are peeled back to reveal an elaborate sex-lies-and-videotape scenario of deceit, ingenuousness, remorse and self-serving artistic ambition.
Oops! I am sorry! That was the synopsis of “Dot the I” – the original film. But then, why should I bother writing an original synopsis.
Coming to Naqaab, the lead performances are good, editing is crisp, and length of the film two hours so all in all, it is watchable.
The twist in the tale is good. I have always liked the climax and anti-climax stuff.
***SPOILER*** There is a major blunder in the film – Akshaye Khanna’s VO refers to Bobby Deol as Karan where as he is supposed to know him as Rohit. Were the director duo sleeping when Akshaye was dubbing this VO?
Urvashi’s debut is confident and you’ll like her in the film. Akshaye’s tilted smile and sheepish grin works with the role so good for him. Bobby’s volte-face is good but his face isn’t. What happened to the Bobby who was supposed to have an Italian look?
As for others like Raj Jutshi, Vikas Kalantri (why is he still here?) and Vishal Malhotra, there’s nothing worth mentioning.
The smartest move was to keep the film short and with only three songs out of which, one comes during the beginning credits. So, enjoy this short and smart ride and have few laughs during the end scroll too which has all the NG takes!

To jhoom or not to jhoom...

I was not interested in watching Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. I am not a big fan of either of the starcast and was certainly not impressed by Bunty aur Babli. To top that, my friends who watched the film came back and said- “Koi free mein bhi ticket de to mat dekhna”. Taran Adarsh said, “The film is all gloss, no substance. Body beautiful, minus soul”. Ever cynical Raja Sen wrote, “The first half is merely, mindnumbingly boring, while the second gets exasperating. And it's all so inanely wasteful. There's nothing wrong with making a madcap comedy. Next time, though, a plot would be nice”.
So yesterday I decided to see the film for mere sadistic pleasure. I thought I will laugh at YR films, Abhishek and company, and Shaad and say, “what a waste man!”
But by interval, the only thing that had irritated me was the presence of cheese popcorn in my bag of plain salted popcorn.
When the film ended, I turned to my friend and said, “Itni buri bhi nahi thi yaar!”
Okay, so let me tell you what worked for me and what did not. Believe me friends; it’s personal, not business.
I liked the basic plot and the story. I sincerely felt that such story should have had the Basu Chatterji/ Hrishikesh Mukherji kind of treatment. The over-indulgence killed the story.
The screenplay should have been tighter. Preity walking against the escalator and Abhishek getting a tattoo were the two scenes that fell flat on their faces.
Abhishek has done a nice job. Lara was awesome and Bobby for once was very entertaining. Preity needed to put more energy in her role, she was the weakest of the lot.
Lara and Bobby actually have more interesting roles, never mind the length. Lara with her French accent in first half and abusive tone in the later half stole the show from right under everyone’s nose. Bobby was the surprise packet. When I look back, I wonder if anyone else could have fit in this role. It was the perfect casting.
The film suffers because of overdose of Punjabi. The filmmakers take it for granted that the whole of India understands Punjabi!! The songs and major comedy scenes were in thet Punjabi. I could understand so I was the only one laughing in the hall which had all of 15 people as the audience.
Gimmicks like playing “main jat yamla” or “Ye dosti hum nahi chhodenge” did not work at all. Mr. Director, please refrain from such acts in the future.
Vaibhavi Merchant needs special mention for her choreography, especially the pre-climax dance competition.
Amitabh Bachchan could have been utilized as a Sutradhaar but he was only breaking into a song (though at right moments) and not carrying story any further. And what was the need of telling the audience how they started creating stories and all. Once we come to know that they were creating stories, we know very well where they originated from.
All in all, it is worth a watch. See it just for Abhishek, Lara and Bobby. Go with zero expectations and to avoid any regrets later, chuck the popcorn.

Basu Da

Last night, when I saw Basu Da being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at IIFA, images of all his films that have deeply influenced me, played before my eyes.
Started with an off-beat film like Sara Akash, he was one of the pioneers of the parallel cinema movement. But he decided not to indulge into making movies that cannot be understood without a brochure and gave us middle of the path films. You'll realise what I mean if you look at his filmography - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0154113/

He adapted literary works so well, whether its Rajnigandha from Mannu Bhandari's "Yehi Sach Hai" or Swami from Saratchandra's novel by the same name. Bernard Shaw's Pygmallion has been adapted to screen so many times but Basu Da's Manpasand holds its position.

His ear for good music can never be neglected. Just to mention a few:
Ye jeewan hai - Piya Ka Ghar
Rajnigandha phool tumhare - Rajnigandha
Na jane kyon - Chhoti Si Baat
Gori Tera Gaon - Chitchor
Ka Karoon Sajni - Swami
Koi Roko Na - Priyatama
Thoda Hai Thode Ki - Khatta Meetha
Kabhi kabhi sapna lagta hai - Ratnadeep
Suniye Kahiye - Baaton baaton mein
Rimjhim gire saawan - Manzil
Main Akela - Manpasand
Shyam rang ranga re - Apne Paraye
Jab bhi koi kangana bole - Shaukeen

Basuda, we need you to make a film again. Come out of your Banwaas.

Spidey gets sidey

After watching Spiderman-3 with my group, I got to hear response like "Ye to makkad ke sholay hai" or "Is bollywood standard rising or hollywood standard falling" or "Thoda filmy nahi ho gaya"?? But what matters is that the two plus hours I spent inside the theatre, I really enjoyed myself. The visual effects, breathtaking of course, literally made me jump in my seats. One shot even had me ducking when the glass shattered.
Toby goes chubby, tries to be cute but fails. Harry Osbourne was and remains my favourite. MJ looks devastated, being the damsel in distress. Sandman reminds you of The Mummy series. The black stuff was the real hero. It gave our spidey some cool moves, a new wardrobe and even made him a great dancer. So, from now on, whenever I'll do something evil, I will blame it to my black vest.
The film was paisa-vasool. I won't mind watching it again. They should try putting some songs in the hindi version. My suggestions:
1. मेरे यार ये क्या हो गया. सुनते हैं तू बेवफ़ा हो गया
२. या रब्बा, दे दे कोई जान भी अगर
३. ज़िन्दगी तो बेवफ़ा है एक दिन ठुकराएगी
४. बन्दा ये बिन्दास है

what say???

Aisa Sama Na Hota

Listening to Aisa Sama Na Hota for the 100th time since last week, I've decided to analyse the song. For all my friends who have not heard this song, you have missed out on one of the most beautiful compositions of Panchamda. Sung by Lataji and penned by Anjaan Sahab, this song according me works on several layers. Right from Ronu Majumdar's flute in the intro music, the song hooks you and the next 7 minutes are mesmerising.
Lataji's input to this song is extra-ordinary. Watch out for her renditions of simple words like samaa and shabnam, the feelings she has put in "Aise gungunati, yoon na gaati yeh hawa" or the way she gives clue to the interlude after the first stanza or the way she ends the song.
Salute to Anjaan Sahab for coming up with a line like "Raahein wohi, vaadi wohi badla kuchh nahin
Phir bhi tere milne se hai duniya kyun haseen"...
This is one of the songs where after coming up with a wonderful tune, Pancham da must have sat with his team working hard on transforming a good tune into a timeless classic. The arrangement compliments the lyrics, the singer and even inspires the filmmaker to capture breathtaking locales for a song that actually takes you to the scenic mountains.
In today's world, where each and every song is made with intentions of playing it in a discotheque, it's a treat to hear a song like Aisa Sama Na Hota. Panchamda, why did you have to leave so early?