Book of the month : January

Knowing that this is not going to be very easy, I picked up something that I know I would surely enjoy - Asimov's short stories. The book was thoroughly enjoyable, for someone who enjoys Asimov's writing. I must thank one of my friend's - Murr for introducing me to Asimov's wonderful world. What started as an obsession with the Foundation series, slowly increased to the Robot series, Clarke's Space Odyssey, Clarke's Rama series, Frank Herbert's Dune series and a bunch of other books (including Ender's Game which I really liked). The best thing about Asimov's short stories is that they are fast paced and never have a dull moment. If you are like me, it will leave you with a smile on your face - the same feeling you get when you read Jeffrey Archer's short stories, or a PG Wodehouse story or a brilliant Sherlock Holmes' story (written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). There are few writers who seem to take a lot of pleasure in writing, and I would place Asimov right there at the top. The energy seems to transfer through the power of their words and it transfers right to the readers. Lately, the Harry Potter books did the same to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the narration and savored each book, hoping that they would never end.

One month down and I am already liking this resolution.

Khosla Ka Ghosla - The review

Bapu wiped off the sweat that had gathered above his upper lip as he nervously walked towards the room.

"Yaar, I cant do this."

"Shall we go back then, Bapu ?"

"huh ? ok.." he turned back to return. Mani made a gesture as if to punch Bapu. They can't back out now. They had rehearsed it over in their heads for a while now.

"Dont worry Bapu. You have done bigger stage dramas than this. How can you be scared to play a small NRI role ? Dont worry, you will be fine. Just leave it all to me. Just act dignified. Remember - 'Broker or Party ?' "

"Broker or Party" said Bapu, nodding along as if he remembered his cue.

They entered the room, where Vijendarr was already waiting for them. Judging by Bapu's hesitant steps, he assumed that Mani was the NRI and that Bapu was his secretary. He proceeded to shake hands with Mani. Mani gestured towards Bapu to indicate that Bapu was the NRI. Vijendarr nodded as if he had known this all along, and turned towards Bapu, extending his hand out. Mani looked at Bapu, to see if Bapu froze again. He was ready to say something instead, when Bapu said

"Aap broker hain yaa party ?" ("Are you the broker or are you the party interested in buying ?")

Vijendarr was shocked. He was not used to being dominated during these discussions. He regained his composure and said

"Sir, you can think of me as the party itself. Why dont we.."

"Aap broker hain yaa party ?" Bapu repeated in a more stern tone.

"Broker" said Vijendarr with a sheepish smile.

"How many times have I told you that I dont want to talk to brokers??!" yelled Bapu in Mani's direction and walked off.

Mani could not believe it. Bapu had pulled it off much better than he had imagined. He could not contain his excitement. As soon as they stepped out of the office, he told Bapu how he felt. All their planning was coming together now. It all started with Mr KK Khosla (played by Anupam Kher) who pulled together his entire life's savings to buy a small plot. Unfortunately, before he could make plans to build something there, Kishore Khurana (played brilliantly by Boman Irani) captures it illegally. He demands 15 lakhs from KK Khosla, to return the land. After trying various ways to get the land back, they finally decide to listen to Asif (played by Vinay Pathak). Asif suggests that they trick Khurana into believing that a wealthy NRI wishes to sell a large piece of land for a reasonable price. When Khurana pays an advance fee to purchase the land, they could use the same money, to buy back their land. They beg and plead Bapu (played by Naveen Nischol) to play the role of the NRI, and convince Mani (played by Nitish Pandey) to act as Bapu's secretary. Asif suggests that they play this plan patiently and get the attention of the smaller fish at first - Vijendarr, a real estate broker. Asif predicts that Vijendarr would eventually lead them to Khurana.

So here they were, after their meeting with Vijendarr. They sat in a room with the Khoslas and Asif, not sure when they would hear back. Just like that, the phone rang and Mani picked it up. It was Khurana's secretary who called up to arrange for a meeting. They were elated. Mani asked Khurana's secretary to meet them at the room in the five start hotel, that they had rented.

Once they were in the room, Bapu started sweating again. He opened the room service menu to try and order something.

"Rs 250 for a single tea ?? Oh my god! Everything is so damn costly. "

"Bapu, everything is going to be expensive here. Please relax"

"I dont think we can afford to order that. Why dont you open the menu and order the cheapest item ?"

"That would be tea!" said Mani quietly.

Once again, Mani went over the plan in his head, ready to take over in case Bapu got nervous. Just as the door bell rang, Bapu excused himself to use the restroom. Mani chided Bapu on his ill-timing and hurried to open the door. He invited Khurana and his secretary politely and seated them. He made an excuse for Bapu, saying he was on a conference call with some minister. All the while, Khurana was calm, observing the room and Mani. After a while, Bapu entered the room, and looked at Mani who got up. He introduced Khurana in a low voice, and smiled nervously, expecting Bapu to go shake hands with him. Bapu turned towards Khurana and said in a loud voice

"Aap broker hain yaa party ?"

Khurana was shocked, as was his secretary. And Mani!. And with that one sentence, Bapu had established his superiority over Khurana, for all further dealings!

Sa-Ro-Ja

Jaganna (Jagapathy Babu played by the likeable SPB Charan) could not believe it. He stopped in shock and tried to think hard while the train pulled away. Chinni, Ganesh Kumar and Ajay yelled madly, egging him on to run towards the train. Jaganna stopped dead in his tracks and started searching furiously for his wallet. He remembered hiding in the store room when the goon was looking for them. And as he realized that he probably lost his wallet somewhere there, he cursed his luck and the fact thathe had to go back in to that abandoned building. Reluctantly, one by one, Chinni, Ajay and Ganesh Kumar got down from the moving train and ran back towards Jaganna not realizing what could be some important to stop him from running for his life.

What started out as a simple road trip of fun, to watch a cricket match in Hyderabad, had now gone sour. After they witnessed the killing of a policeman by Sampath, they had only one intention - to flee the place. After a great lot of difficulty, they managed to run to the tracks where they barely got on to the moving train. Almost. Jaganna realized that with this wallet lying around, the goons could always track him. It had pictures of his family, his driver's license and pretty much everything needed to locate him.

The four of them argued over who would go in. Jaganna pleaded with all of them to back while he went in alone to search for the wallet, but they did not agree. After a lot of deliberation, Ganesh Kumar (played fantastically by my now-favorite Prem G Amaran) is volunteered for the task. After scoping out the area as best as they could, the two of them finally reach the store room where they had been earlier, tip-toeing out! Just as Jaganna heaved a sign of relief at having spotted the wallet, he turned around and realized that Ganesh Kumar was no longer around. Yet another time in the day, Jaganna could not believe it. They had everything that they needed to get away, but were now missing a dear friend. He went back to Ajay and Chinni, who were waiting outside the building. No, Ganesh had not returned there.

In a dilapidated room, Saroja sat in the chair, against her will. Her heart was pounding and her throat was parched. She did not know where she was, she had little time to inspect her surroundings when her blindfold was removed momentarily. She barely got a glimpse of the pervert who was touching her inappropriately - one of Sampath's men, who had kidnapped her and were holding her hostage in this god-forsaken place! Thankfully, it looked like someone was coming that way, so he put back the blindfold on her and moved away. She sat in darkness knowing not what to expect next. As she heard footsteps, she cried out

"Please, don't do anything. Please let me go". What she heard next, caught her by surprise. A frail voice of Ganesh Kumar "Ille ille..naan avanga ille. " He explained briefly how they had come here by mistake, lost during their road trip. She asked a few questions and convinced herself that he was genuinely trying to help her. Just as they were preparing to leave, Ganesh Kumar turns to her and says "Seri, vaanga. Naan ungale kaapaathirein...Adhukku munnaadi, inge purse edhaavadhu vittengalaana parthhukonga. Yena..inge tirimbi vara mudiyaadhu!" (loosely translated - "Ok, I will help you. But, before we leave, please check if you have dropped your purse here. It will be very difficult to come back once we leave")

The movie has many such moments that I loved. I cant understand why there is so much hatred on the net for the music and the fact that it was copied off Judgement Night. I loved the characters in the movie who I thought acted well within their limits. I applaud Premji and Charan for doing something beyond music. And I loved Yuvan's music. With so many things to like, I could overlook the lack of a original story or "seasoned" actors.

Omkara: The power of a song

(image courtesy: www.xkcd.com)

I watched Omkara over the weeked. At first, I did not like the movie and was prepared to do an autopsy of what was wrong with the movie) and may well end up doing that. However, I can't do any justice to this review if I don't mention this song from the movie which has capitivated me more than any song has, in the past few years. The lyrics of the song go

Ooo...Saathi re

Din doobe na

Aa chal din ko roke

Dhoop ke peeche daude..

Chaanv chue na

(hence the connection with the xkcd pic)

If you are a reasonably insane movie watcher and occasionally read reviews to find out what has been going on in the Indian movie industry, you would have known that Vishal Bharadwaj too to movie direction from music direction and paid homage to Shakespeare with two movies - Omkara (adaptation of Othello) and Maqbool (adaptation of McBeth). However, if you are like me and do not know the story of Othello, please do not read the synopsis before watching the movie. Not because, it will ruin the movie for you, but because the movie deserves to be seen with an unbiased opinion. The following might contain spoilers so do not read further if you wish to keep an open mind and see the movie.

Omkara is a movie about a lot of things - there is the jealousy of Langda Tyagi (played well by Saif Ali Khan), there is the rise to power of Omkara (Ajay Devgan) and there is the innocence of Kesu Phirangi (Vivek Oberoi). You can forgive Vishal for trying to further milk the Ajay Devgan - Vivek Oberoi chemistry and setting up a scenario that viewers are familiar through RGV's Company. You can also forgive him for adding all the bells and whistles possible, by adding Naseeruddin Shah and Konkana Sen Sharma in roles that could have been done just as well by any other actor. However, what you cannot move past, is that the characters are easily manipulated in this movie. The heart of it all is Omkara himself who cannot see the ulterior motives behind Tyagi's claims or can't see his wife's loyality despite the fact that she chose to leave everything to be with him.

While I could go on and rant about this further, this post is mainly about this song which is holding my hand and preventing me from writing anything against this movie. You see, while the movie is about a lot of things, it is fundamentally about the love between Omkara and Dolly (Kareena Kapoor). When you see the movie a second time, you will see that these two have little time to be with each other and each moment is as important to them as the other. This song captures the beauty of this emotion, by Gulzaar's precise and deep lyrics. In these days, a lyricist rarely gets a chance to be heard above the layers of orchestrization and visuals that unfold on screen. However, thanks to Vishal's brilliant work in this song, the lyrics lead the way and set the mood of the song. Listening to this song, you feel that this movie was all about this love story and everything else just unfolds around the lead pair. The song felt so powerful that while I sat through predictable scenes and bad screenplay, I had this song running in the back of my head which set a mood for the film that no dialogue, camera angle, acting or prior review could do.

The Counterfeiters

Sorowitsch sits down at the bed and looks at Burger who is fast asleep. He can not understand what this man believes in. But he does believe in standing by his mates. Even if that threatens his very existence. The Nazis want them and the other Jews in their camp to print counterfeit dollar bills, so that they could use them to buy whatever they need, and weaken the Allies. Burger believes in thwarting their attempts. He knows that although printing these bills will keep them alive temporarily, it will be used in killing Jews all over Germany. He wants to stand up against them, he wants this to be a sign for others to revolt. Sorowitsch does not believe in this. He believes in staying alive, even it is for just another day. So he swallows his pride and works for the Nazi cause. He does it even when an officer pisses on his face, while he is scrubbing the toilets. He does it even when the officers beat him, although he is valuable to their cause. He wants them to respect him, but not lose face while doing so. He carries himself quite dignified, but he does submit himself to authority when he needs to. He cares for his companions and tells the soldiers that each one of his men are valuable and irreplaceable.

It is due to this compassion that he wants to save Kolya and the others. Kolya is suffering from Tuberculosis but he can't be treated as they do not have the right medicines. The Nazis would kill him if they found out as they do not want the infection to spread. Sorowitsch tries his best to save the man. When the Nazis arrange for a "carnival" and Kolya can't stop his coughing, Sorowitsch cuts his finger and smears some blood on Kolya's face. "You have always wanted some colour, didn't you ?", he says while trying to cover up Kolya's pale face. He strikes a deal with Herzog who is in charge of this camp, and gets some medicines. He checks with the doctor before rushing to give them to Kolya, who is missing! He searches for him in vain, and catches a glimpse of him through the window. Kolya is offered a smoke by a soldier, who shoots him after making small talk. Sorowitsch is furious and quite shaken up. He cannot understand what he can do. He believes he is genuinely trying to help out his fellow prisoners, keeping them alive a day at a time. He wants them all to be alive by the time the war is over. His craft is the only thing that is valued by the Nazis, and he wants to deliver at any cost.

Recently watched movies

In no particular order

Angels and Demons: Leave aside the fact that it was a book first, or that there is a controversy involved in the movie. You can watch this movie for the action involved. It will be interesting to see if any director considers making a third movie, without a novel as an inspiration.

Rating 3 on 5

Pachchai Kudire: Happened to chance upon this movie, while browsing. Uma got interested with the initial scenes. The heart of the story is about an uncouth menacing man who changes for the good eventually. What I liked about the movie was how they captured the crude ideas that this man has when he initially wants to turn "good". The idea of being good, is not easy to comprehend, and he eventually does more philanthropic deeds. Namitha acts surprisingly well.

Rating 2 on 5

Mamma Mia: Loved the songs as I have always. Got to hear a few more songs of ABBA that I hadn't before. When we were kids, we used to make up short stories, during which we inserted movie songs (out of context) to make it sound funny. Looks like someone took this idea a bit further and made this movie out of ABBA's songs. One thing that takes your breath away is Meryl Streep's energy. I was getting tired seeing her prancing around to all these vibrant songs!

Rating 2.5 on 5

X-Men origins : Wolverine The prequel to the X-men comics was atually better than I expected it to be. Watching this movie made me think that the first X-men movie was better. When I went back and watched it, I wasn't really sure any longer.

Rating 3.5 on 5

Multiplicity: What happens if a man clones himself multiple times ? The premise of the movie sounded interesting. I watched it on DVR. The movie was funny in parts but I guess I was expecting something else from the movie. It bothered me that each clone did not feel ownership, and let the "original" Val Kilmer boss them around. Kudos to the guy for showing enough variation across the characters!

Rating 3 on 5

Johnny Gaddar: I loved this movie. I dont watch Hindi movies on a regular basis, and for good reason. I hate to see yet another khan opening his arms wide open for a new heroine to run in to. This movie had a novel story line, a tight execution and a good choice of actors for most part (excepting the lead). At the risk of hyping the movie too much, I would recommend it heavily.

Rating 3.5 on 5

A Wednesday: A phone call received on a Wednesday morning sends the Mumbai police into a frenzy. The caller intends to blow up bombs placed at multiple locations unless the police are ready to negotiate. I did not like the idea of Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah in the lead roles. Anupam Kher is not cool and Naseeruddin Shah is way too cool for their roles. The supporting cast does well though. Again, I like the fact that it does not feature yet another khan gyrating to loud music!

Rating 3 on 5

In defence of Oldboy

There are two reasons why I am trying to come to its defence. One, I picked the movie (without knowing ANYTHING about it) to watch on Netflix and got heavily criticised by my wife and two, I liked the innovative story line.

This movie is definitely not on my list of best movies watched by any means and I dont intend to glorify or recommend it to even a third of my friends. The simple reason being that individual tastes vary, and I am pretty sure most of my friends might react in a way that my wife did. I am trying not to give away the story line, so you can continue to read without worries, if you have not seen the movie yet. In my mind, the director could have made a movie with a simpler story line, which would have had less taboo topics. In doing so, it is possible that the movie might have appealed to a much larger audience. Infact, I am pretty sure that some filmmaker in India is toying with the idea of making a movie on similar lines with a story line that gels well with "Indian sentiments". However, this particular director did not. He chose to stick with the story line, and chose to live with the comments. To his credit, he got a lot of positive attention which is good for him.

I am a strong advocate for creative stories. I like paying attention to the story line and viewing a movie as I would read a book. I like movies, and I consider myself pretty open minded when it comes to new ideas. Point being that this movie has a novel idea. I have heard that it has been compared to Memento and I think that it is pretty silly to do that. It stands alone and is as unique a movie as I have seen. The reason why it does not make it to my favorites is because I thought it could have been much better. It should have had better accompanying visuals and it should have had better team to dub it into English. Yes, pardon me for not understanding Korean and bring a prick about it, but the English version is the version I saw and understood. Production values are important for this reason.

Did you see and like this movie ? Let me know why!

Star Trek

Uma and I caught this movie on Saturday. I have never been a Star Trek fan, preferring Star Wars to it. The movie did enough to rake my interest in this franchise. I might not have appreciated the nuances of the movie (like the original Spock showing up). I admit I am not a Trekker, so my views might not mean much. However, I have the advantage of analyzing the movie as any other movie-goer. Warning: Spoilers ahead

] So pardon me when I say that the whole idea of forging a friendship between Spock and James T Kirk, at the behest of the older Spock seemed very contrived to me. It seemed like the director was running out of time to tell his story, realized that Spock and Kirk were heading in opposite directions, and brokered a peace between them!

Having gotten that out the system, you have to appreciate what a fine job the script writers have done. The characters of Spock and Kirk came out as instantly likeable. You root for these guys to become better friends and at the end of the movie, you realize they have a very good team, and are curious to see how they face their upcoming adventures. All in all a likeable movie. I would give it a 3 on 5.