MOvie Review - "Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year"

Over the past three yrs Real Cinema has emerged out of the woodwork of Bollywood. Dibakar Banerjee with Khosla and Oye lucky, Balki with Cheeni Kum and Paa, Anurag with Dev D and Black Friday, Shashant Shah with Dasvidaniya, Sagar Bellary with Bheja Fry, and Shimit Amin blessed with the backing of YRF has given us Chak De India and now Rocket Singh. What sets apart these films? Do they have a secret direction rider that states no foreign locations, no helicopters, and no Russian dancers? We will never know. But what we do know is tht these movies have a "real" touch to them. Honest storytelling is the main motive. Stories that are about people and ordinary lives, and not about manhattan and mehndi. Rocket Singh is the story of one man's journey into the big bad corporate world of salesmanship. And everything about him and the story is real. Yes he is a Sardar and they speak Punjabi at home, but he does not count stars or talk about Chandni chowk and wear Armani or strut the London bridge. It's a heartwarming tale of a man who fights the odds and lives life on his own terms through the world around him maybe corrupt and bad. I don't want to talk about the story as the magic will be lost. And cleverly written lines of mine will not give you the whole picture. So. The movie is very. Well written and it's glorious to see Prem Chopra not as a paraplegic comic in a B grade comedy caper but as a doting grandfather who has a great sense of humor and is a perfect foil to Ranbir. Well cast the actors play the characters and Gauhar Khan is a revelation. But the cherry on the cake is Ranbir Kapoor. A brilliantly understated performance that gives him the tag of an actor. No towel-wearing silhouettes, or dancing on Greek islands. We always knew he had great comic timing, the charisma to pull off solo hero projects. But this movie will make you take him as an actor. The script is brilliant and detailed. The direction is flawless and after ages comes to a movie that relies not on montage, gimmicks, and stars but on the script and the lines. Without a song, the movie is a slice-of-life film. It's not a multiplex film. It's good cinema. Blessed by a studio budget Shimit Amin utilizes the budget to tell a story well like he did in Chak De. And big studios should support such real cinema. What started off with Bheja Fry has now given the chance for good scripts to emerge. Rocket Singh is poignant, funny, touching and like Chak De it's an underdog story told well. The art direction is brilliant and blends into the movie brilliantly. Real. Watch Rocket Singh.

Movie Review of "3 Idiots"

There is a difference between something good and something great. It's the slip between the cup and the lip. So in terms of Indian movies sholay is great, taare zameen par is great, munnabhai is great. In fact the three films are more than great. But 3 idiots is not a great film. It's a good film. Do I hear outcries of anger when I say this?it's my opinion and it's subjective. 3 idiots is a very likeable good film. It's got a kick-ass cast of actors the finest perhaps in the country, with Aamir leading the way. It has been gloriously filmed, the music and songs are good, the milieu of the engineering college captured efficiently and that is what makes the first half of the movie so likeable. But it's a character that Aamir has done many times before - the lovable comic underdog. And boman returning in yet another of avatar of the principal seen in munnabhai is now too familiar a move. That does not mean he does not excel in his role. My belief is that boman can do any role. And here too he is fantastic. But the character does not rise above what he had achieved with Asthana. And of course the expectation of the RDB trio returning is high. As for the chemistry between them - it's good but not as great as it was in RDB. As for individual performances Sharmaan shines. Madhavan is good. Aamir is good. But this is where the movie stands. It's a good film. Intact a bloody good film. But not a great one. The length is too long, the implausibility of the second half with Javed jaffrey, and what was with the baby delivery sequence? If Virus needed to be taught a lesson could it not have been better to do it the way Rocket Singh dealt with hi nemesis. Stuck to his guns and ideals - no melodrama. Could it have been dealt differently? Who knows? We see what we see on the screen. Finally, Kareena Kapoor. It's a miniscule role. Yes it is. If anybody told you that this movie is not an Aamir Khan vehicle then they would be lying. It's an out and out Aamir film. Kareena shone in Jab we met and Chameli. Here she does not disappoint in whatever little she has been given. Munnabhai series upped the ante in movie making and story telling. And Rajkumar hirani had shown us what a great film maker he is. And the expectation indeed was high with 3 idiots. Is itvthe story? Or is it just the whole product? It's a movie that has to be seen just like munnabhai, taare zameen oar, rang de basanti. When I walked out of the theatre after watching the three mentioned films I was moved. And so was the nation. Sending bouquets, and standing up for justice became the mantra of the nation. But after 3 idiots all we take back is All is well. And that is where lies the little chink in the armour. Unlike the three movies mentioned which had very strong messages and often multiple messages, this movie has just one message of allowing people to chase their dreams. And it gets stretched across almost three hours. Do watch 3 Idiots - it's a good film. A film that the team should be proud of producing. And as viewers we should definitely watch. But pardon my observation - it's not a taare zameen par, nor is it munnabhai. It's a good film not a great one. Actually I am being very generous when i say it's good. It's a very average film. Amen.

BORDERS

Drawing lines in imaginary spaces

Dividing all by the color of their faces

Their races, their language, where their space is

Does not matter if the line cuts through homes

The tomes that they read about God

That say draw a line,

Draw a sword,

Draw blood

Let it flood,

Let each space be washed in red

The slaughtered heads which your lines create

Fate hangs in balance as with your HB2 Ajanta

You draw a line, so fine,

It’s only yours not mine

No rights, no left, no wrongs, no songs

No this, no that, no what, no ifs,

No buts, no whys

And then the darkening of the skies,

The Junes, the Julys

As people prepare to cross the line

You rant, with a map in hand

Showing them where they stand

As they huddle together inside a box

You built for them as home

You turn out the lights

Squeeze the fight out of them

As you turn on the gas.

THE PRELUDE

Bang your head against the wall
And fall
For reasons beyond your grasp
Only to beck and call.
And always like the ways
The stench of putrid days;
One stares at burnt bottom of pans,
While somewhere a pantomime plays.
Numbers on the pages you hold,
The clammy dungeon, the cold
Monster stands scythe-handed
For your life is sold.
The lullaby from the mouth
That silently shout
And stick out tongues to lick your face
Into a mesmerizing doubt,
Only then to slice you complete
The pleading bleat
Of the stab of your pen through the heart
Like a knife through dead meat.

What a start
To the beginning.

STATIC CONVERSATIONS

Old voices over phones with static
A face you once knew
But now thousands of miles away,
Seem a dim, faded projection
Like the stained pages of your diary
Dated 1986
Just like the remnants of tea-leaves
At the bottom of your cup.
Silence is your conversation
Though you thought you had
A million tales to tell.
The static is all that remains.

THE BUTCHER

Loneliness makes its onslaught felt –

The hanging carcass in the butcher’s shop.

Life drains out

With drops of blood and tears;

The glassy stare of the severed head.

While God laughs

Slicing another piece of you.

image courtesy: www.wired2theworld.com/nepal1.htm

MERGING

I shall not smell the rain
Or hear the breaking of dawn –
A trail of black smoke
Is all that I will be;
A thin sliver of ash and
A boat of flowers, afloat
As my body will bid adieu
To my soul.
I shall not smell the rain –
I will be the rain,
And I will be the breaking dawn.
In nothingness shall I exist.
I will be nothing – yet everything.