Clearly an underdog : Slumdog Millionaire

My TL, jokingly, asked me one day the Hindi translation of the name "Slumdog Millionaire", and he answered himself, " Jhopadpatti ka Kutta bana Crorepati". At that time, I did not know the magnitude of the movie.

Winning the people's choice award at the Toronto film festival and a standing ovation at the London Film festival, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire touches you with surprise. And like most of the torrent downloaders, I could not stop myself from downloading the movie from the Internet before its official release in India.

It is about a boy's adventure from the slums to begging at streets (and mind you, the 'reality' shown here could be a bit more chilling than an average Indian watching Madhur Bhandarkar's real movies could handle) and then playing the game of Who wants to be a Millionaire? Jamal Malik, played by new comer Dev Patel, along with Freida Pinto (refreshingly different), Irrfan Khan and Anil Kapoor as the host of the game show(in his maybe, first negative role), the film grips you, takes you for a ride, and then brings you back to your seat. Added to that, is A.R. Rehman's music, which adds to the tension one would face while watching this piece of art which truly celebrates the spirit of Mumbai.

Without writing any further, I'd only very strongly recommend this amazingly made movie to anyone reading this post. In the last post, I'd mentioned about Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, and you know now why I didn't bother to update my blog with writing about that film.

"Priyanka ka Jalwa"

The reason I kept this lousy title for this post is because wherever I go these days, I see her pictures everywhere!

It started in June, with the release of her 'Love Story' 2050 and God, Tussi Great Ho, and even after Dostana, she just doesn't seem to slow down. Well, I know she's selling like hot cakes these days, inspite of the Global Financial meltdown, but how much in too much??!

Coming back to the movies I thought I would touch upon, Fashion and Dostana, well, before that, let me tell you, Mumbai Meri Jaan was an awesome movie. It did end up earning a standing ovation, which neither of the movies I am about to discuss could even think of.

Anyway, Fashion first, I think the music was very nice, especially the Instrumental thing playing at the beginning of the movie. And even the research and the imitation of a few designers were good. But somehow, I was a bit tired of the movie after 2 hours, and thought I would've enjoyed it more if Madhur Bhandarkar could have cut it short. It did touch upon subjects like 'Marriage of convenience' and how casting couch is more prevalent in the male modelling industry, but the shining star which came out, according to me was Kangana Ranaut, a brilliant actor this millennium has seen (after ofcourse, Shahana Goswami from Rock on).


All in all, I think it was worth the hype. I was only worried about Raghavendra Rathod (the only straight designer of our country), whose family might get disturbed seeing the movie which informs all designers are effeminate/gay!!

Dostana, on the other hand was a movie that promised everybody something! And guess what, it did give everybody their fair share of the pie. Be it Priyanka Chopra's bikini shots, John Abraham's butt shots, or the idea of bringing Homosexuality on the table for discussion in normal households. My friends and I couldnt stop ourselves from clapping when we saw a 6 feet 3inch pansy man running with his arms swinging from one side to another(Abhishek Bachchan, the bollywood royalty).

Kirron Kher was spectacular, so was Boman Irani(an understatement) and after a long time, humour was not farse on the indian screen. I loved it from the beginning to the end and would suggest everybody to go see it.

Next, would be Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!! And James Bond, no consolation for you from my side.

Chilling Raj-Neeti

With the rains ruining the plans every single evening, we(that is my family which includes my brother, Mum, dad and me, well my dog April too, but she's not literate enough to understand a movie yet) thought of going for a movie. The only name that could come to our minds was Sarkar-Raj, as none of the other ones had got good reviews except Aamir, but I, for some reason cant stand Rajeev Khandelwal.

I have always been like those wannabe actors from Lokhandwala saying, "I love Ram Gopal Verma for he makes different films"! Not that I ever wanted to work with that director(with punjabi surname but south-indian accent), but his movie, "Bhoot" made me wake up every night for about a week. The last best movie I could ever think of was Sarkar in 2005 from him. But later, I somehow forgot about him. I mean, what can you expect from titles like "RGV ki G*** mein Aag"?

Sarkar had everything, from good actors, to impressive shots(I don't know the technical terms), the background score(Govinda Govinda Govinda Govinda.......... Hehee.. that's my father's name, without an "a"), everything about the movie was top-notch. Sarkar-Raj has all of those things, but with so many surprises, it really turns out to be like one of those partners in the relationship who you love the most only because they keep you on your toes.


Aishwarya Rai, for the first time really surprised me. She looked beautiful, composed, and actually lived her character in the movie. Though, the end was a bit predictable, but wont give any spoilers away.


I'm not a very big fan of Abhishek Bachchan, but I loved him in this movie. Some of the scenes were really touching, and unbelievable. And well, you cant say much about Big B, he really is the best actor of our desi industry, no waist coat clad, frequently sighing actor can take his place.


During the end of the movie, I found myself shivering from seeing the developments happening on-screen. RGV has really delivered this time and I have no qualms spending Rs. 175 over such an amazingly made movie. Maybe he has realised now that Nisha Kothari cant make him big bucks, how ever she may wear clothes(or not)!

I shall recommend every person who liked Sarkar to go for Sarkar-Raj, I'm sure one would find chills running down his spine while watching the movie.

The Narnians and Me

I woke up late, at 9:45 this morning thinking today, like every other day I wasted my chance to go to the gym. Cant really walk to the gym in this blazing heat that would only benefit an unevitable tan and gallons to sweat while working out. So I woke up, carelessly glossing through BT came across the Entertainment page with movie releases which reminded me of a date that I'd promised Prince Caspian two weeks ago. The timing was 10am Cinemax, or 10:40 PVR.

Since morning shows are 75 bucks, I attended to my morning cleanliness routine faster than I should(A thorough bath incl.), got dressed, buttered my bread, and ran out with that in my hand.
I WAS LATE. By complete 3 minutes! In the window(PVR), my mind constantly lured me towards "Indiana Jones". Even the kids were going for him!!!
Anyway, remaining faithful to the Prince I ran upstairs with the ticket in hand to show it to the person generally standing with a torch inside, but found no one. The whole screen was empty!
The movie had begun, the lights had gone, the beautiful Prince was riding away to save his life from his uncle and I was there, standing all alone inside that dark scary room.

I took my seat fearing Manjeet ki atma from RGV's Bhoot might just say 'Hi'.
Decided to call Bubu, ofcourse he's my 4 am buddy. Could someone come from behind and choke me to death for the Rs. 400 in my wallet and my cell phone? And that's when the Prince hit his head at the bark of a tree. Caught my interest, and he blew the magic horn to call the Kings and Queens of Narnia.
The glimpse of Lucy(the youngest of all) in London made me forget everything. Thats when I started my journey to Narnia along with them from the Subway. And so came a few more people who like me decided they wanted to watch this movie, waking up this fine morning.

Leaving a few dialogues like "You have got to be 'kidding' me" which didnt seem quite 100 centuries' old words used by a dwarf, most parts of the movie was believable, except the odd Israeli/spanish accent of the Telmarines, the ones fighting Narnians. Many a times it came to me it might not be for grown-ups, but then again, the action packed middle of the movie (and Anna Popplewell a.k.a Susan) really caught my attention.


But it was only when a soldier from Telmarine, confused with the mice fighting better than him was told "Have some imagination..", it came to me the whole movie was about your imagination only!

However, with Aslan, the lion back in the second half, the war became more interesting and imaginative. That odd israeli looking General was finally swept away by the Water God and the victory was in favour of Narnia. Yet the much hyped kissing scene between Prince Caspian and Susan had not arrived.

At the end, the Prince looking handsome than ever and Susan ravishingly beautiful as ever finally kissed(blink and you miss) and the Kings and the Queens returned to the same subway where we all began our journey from after handing over the throne to the Prince.

Surprisingly, I felt quite disappointed with the movie coming to an end. They got inside the train and left and left me behind. But I reconciled humming to the beautiful song at the end of the movie, "You'll come back when its over, No need to say Goodbye" and came out, gearing up for the next date with Indiana Jones tomorrow. Probably.