Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

Kaminey 2The director (lets call him aKa) made a fist, positioned it in front of his crotch, moved it to and fro, cracking a joke on me, because thats what I think love is all about. Atleast accoding to him. Why ? Because I didnt feel the lump in my throat when i saw Love Aaj Kal(a title that sounds like a mathematics theorem and is even written like one). Ofcourse, aKa felt that lump, a big one too and some three four times. That Mr Ali has already been branded as bollywood’s new age love guru and every producer/director aspires to make a Jab We Met kind of romcom is surely some indication. And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu!

But fuck that new age. Fuck that theorem of love. Enough of that cool and confused one. One that make an effort to sound smart and make you laugh. Hail the Bharadwaj Boy! Why ? Because for me, the greatest stories are those which belongs to us, of our times, of our politics. And someone finally dares to touch the M-word. Marathi, Maharashtra, Mumbai. Ironic that the filmmaker belongs to other M(eerut) town. The newspapers had enough, there were lot of tv debates. But like always, politics is a bad word in our bollyland. And only few dare. And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu!

Sharmaji from Bambai is in love with Sweety from Mumbai. The risk ? Your do nimboo aur mirchi! And still he goes for it and pulls it off with so much ease. And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu!

As the film moved on, i was wondering if love will again be doomed in Bhardwaj’s Kaminey, as it happened in Maqbool and Omakara! When killing is more poetic that any happy ending, i dont complain. Kareena’s dead body on the swing, Tabu looking through the mosquito net, aha…the visuals that will stay with me forever. But finally Bharadwaj has a happy ending to his love story of Guddu and Sweety! And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu!

As Guddu gives condom gyaan, Sweety drops the bomb. Her eggo is preggo. She has tested thrice. No, its again not that dude style, where the couple decides to part away after mouthing some cool lines. Here the writing on the wall is apne haath jagannath. They dont shy away. Shit happens. And you can get rid of it in just 24 hours. Thats my generation. Knows the shit, wants it, enjoys it and wants to get rid of it too. And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu!

 During my school days, we used to open the history books, hold it vertically and used to enjoy the history lessons. It used to baffle our history teacher and somehow it always remained a mystery to him. Inside the history books, it used to either Nandan, Champak, Suman Sourabh, Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Doga, Bhokal or Chacha Chaudhry.

Nandan had a popular punch line too – Jo bacche Nandan padhte hain, woh jeevan me aage badhte hain. Me and my sister never cared much about jeevan me aage badhna but with every new issue of Nandan, we used to fight. She always claimed the first right because her excuse was she would finish it quickly and i take lot of time to read. I would wait for my turn.

I dont remember if any hero of hindi films ever claimed to read Nandan or Champak. Guddu did. And he wins it. Guddu stammered and so Sweety decided to do so, to boost his confidence. Love is all about stammering together. Its not just about drinking same tea or coffee. One is tangible, the other one is sharing the discomfort. The group of aunties who sat in the row behind me kept on wondering about Sweety if yeh bhi totali hai kya ? Aisa kaisa? Its the payoff.

Finally, the petrom pump scene. One of the most romantic scenes I have seen in recent times. One that gave me lump in my throat. Mr aKa, love is not only to and fro. Just like its not about drinking black tea! Sweety wants to fly out for honeymoon, she managed to book the tickets last minute. But Guddu remembers his school love suddenly. All of a sudden. Sweety wonders why. Bus abhi yaad aaya na. Aha, love without calculations. And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu!

Whats with all the Tarantino and Ritchie talks ? Was i the only one who didnt remember any bit of any of those filmmakers while watching Kaminey! The characters are so rooted, they speak so many languages, so much mannerism, the psychedelic visuals, the brooding sky, the morning rains…i was stuck! Eyes wide open! All i want to know now is the man called Tassaduq Hussain.

And, mere har jhoot ki niyat hamesha sach thi Guddu! Beat this killer line. Dont think anyone will. Atleast not this year. And yeah, do handover the award for the performance by an ensemble cast to Kaminey! Say no more. 

love aaj kal4Recently I wrote a post on Love Aaj Kal. But the kind of extreme reactions the film is generating, I could not resist the temptation to dissect it more. And so, in the span of just three days, here is one more post on Love Aaj Kal, wondering how & why was it written.

So, why do you feel the need to tell/write a specific story ?

(A) Because something inspired you. You saw, heard, read or experienced something that triggered that thought. That got stuck in your head, heart or anywhere else. You slept over it, your start drawing the characters, the characters starts talking to you, dancing on your head, make you confused and restless. And so, you don’t hav a choice but to write. To get it out of your system. 

OR

(B) Is it because you want to say something ?  Because you want to make a strong statement. You want to prove a point. Because you observed something and you want to share your take on the subject. 

Now, (A) and (B) can happily co-exist. But if you got (B) in your head, you know what you want to say in the end, then you join the dots, draw the lines and make the structure (A). 

To me, then the story seems like a mathematics theorem.  Why ? Because you know the result. You know what you want to say in the end. Like any other maths theorem that you are given to prove in the exams. So, you pick up the variables, put certain constraints, take some steps and show that the theorem is correct!

So, is it the same way that Imtiaz Ali wrote Love Aaj Kal ? He knows (or belives) what is Love Aaj and he knows what is Love Kal. He wants to put it all together. He has to prove what he knows or believes. He picks up the characters, sets them in certain conditions and beliefs, make them take some steps and in the end, proves the theorem. The Love Aaj Kal Theorem.

Huh! Enough of dissection! Filmmaking is all about faking it, right ? How well one fakes it, there lies the catch. And when you can see through the art of faking, where is the fun! You desperately look out for that smooth flow of the story. But you realise, its just one step after another, towards that last line “Hence proved”!

She smiled, posed, looked confused and clueless, but caught everyone’s attention too…Harleen Kaur, the coy kudi who ran away with Saif Ali Khan in Love Aaj Kal. And whoever saw Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, they surely asked one question…who is that girl ?

In google search, Harleen Kaur (Giselle Monteiro) has been in top five since friday. The makers of the film smartly kept her away from all the attention though lot of newsprint and airtime was devoted to the film. Here is our earlier post on her.

And those of you who are still googling her, here is her first tv interview done by CNN IBN. Yes, the girl can talk, unlike what she looked in the film, with just four lines diloagues which were alter on dubbed. Katrina Kaif in the making ? Well, only if she can patao a Salman Khan!

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Agyaat_New_Poster_1We are back with our CQ feature! And  this time its about Ram Gopal Varma’s new film Agyaat.

As it always happens, we got the script of Ramu’s new film Agyaat, through a friend’s friends’ friends’ friend. The lokhandwala loop! And we know the killer! But it would be unfair to reveal the suspense. So, how about tickling your cinema cells a bit! Test your CQ – Cinema Quotient!

Ramu says sometimes terror has no form! Smart line. But is that for real ? So, here is the question.

Q. Who is the killer in Ram Gopal Varma’s Agyaat ? 

A. a) Its a python!

b) A never before seen creature on screen, found only in Sri Lanka. Fictitious.

c) One of the crew members.

d) Will be revealed in Agyaat 2.

e) None of these. You have something else to say.

Put on your cinema caps and place your bets. And if its option E, do lets  us know what else it can be.

Elesh ParujanwalaAnd we are ROFLOL!  So when was the last time someone’s marriage became BREAKING NEWS ? Just Imagine. And even for the holier-than-thou attitudewala NDTV India! Why blame only India TV ?

We admit we are natural born voyeurs. Could not keep ourselves away from Rakhi Ka Swayamvar finale. And what a show it was! Hand over the entertaining show of the year to Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. We have never been hooked to someone’s marriage so seriously. Intially, it looked like there are only counted few jokers in the world. But today I discovered that family of jokers do exist. The genes are not from some random planet.

So, the mommy, daddy, brother, sister and all the possible relatives turned up at the show to do naach-gaana  for their few seconds of fame and celebrate Rakhi Ka Swayamvar! But the one who caught our attention is Ram Kapoor. In a Lajpat Nagar sherwani which can bounce of light even in a black hole, he looked as if he could easily replace the elephant who is supposed to take out the couple for a post-engagement ride. 

Back to the lucky/unlucky boy of Canada. Elesh Parujanwala is a 30 year old Gujrati businessman based in Toronto. Runs family business and wants to get into entertainment industry in Mumbai. Seems like a perfect match. Rakhi will have deep pocketwala NRI and Elesh will find a getaway for his bollywood aspirations! And NDTV Imagine gets the TRP’s.

Whats next ? The couple plans to spend more time together to figure out if they really gel well or not. And the sati-savitri that Rakhi is, she has made it clear that there will be no physics or biology involved. Only chemistry!

Our suggestion – For second season, NDTV Imagine should go for Rakhi Ka Honeymoon. Canada Tourism will happily sponsor it. And we bet, they dont have to worry about the TRP’s. Or it will be new edition of Lost In Translation with Rakhi’s english and Elesh’s hindi! And who said marriages are made in heaven ? Rakhi has proved everyone wrong. Its made on and for TV! Imagine.

love-aaj-kal new posterBollywood’s new age Love-guru is back! And with a heavy adjective like that, its difficult to live up to the expectation. Yashraj romance is so passe. After Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met, Imtiaz Ali is cool, hep and happening.

Read all the reviews. Thought will catch on sunday morning. Tickets will be cheap and easy to get. How many people wake up and reach the theatre by 11 am. I was wrong. Fame Adlabs – 11:30 am show. Houseful. I thought I will wait, will manage a ticket from someone. It has never happened with me, that i have returned home without watching a film. No luck. I moved to Cinemax Versova. Believe it or not, Cinemax has 24 shows daily! One show every half hour. Cinemax – 12 noon show – Houseful. Again I decided to wait. No luck. 12:30 – Is also houseful. Only red lounge availabe. Huh! Whats the point of waking up and coming early if I am going to watch it in red lounge, which is too expensive. Finally bought the ticket for 13:00 pm show and moved to my fav place (Landmark) to kill time. Now if this is any indication of the box office report, Love Aaj Kal is heading for big numbers. And a real one, unlike Kambakkht Ishq’s pumped up numbers. Next week there is only Agyaat, so Love Aaj Kal will have two weeks time till Kaminey releases.  

Does Imtiaz Ali delivers ? And if so, what ? Well, he tries atleast. Some ten great scenes, smart dialogues but too much of deja vu! Give me one more punjabi family that wants to sing nagada nagada..nagada baja, and I will take out my gun and blow someone’s head! Seriously! Imtiaz’s characters still prefer to run away and get married. They are still confused about their choices. Here, they are just a step ahead, more confused, and realise it all after marriage. They still talk in the same tone. 

Comparing notes of three films, Imtiaz and his love mantra has changed a lot with time, as it happens with us when we grow up and see the same world in a different way at different age. First one (Socha Na Tha) was naive, tender, natural. Second (Jab We Met) was smart, mature, understanding. This one (Love Aaj Kal) is clever, trying to be too smart and calculative.

And when you have two tracks in a love story, the craftsmanship is easy to spot, which makes it look unnatural. Have always felt that. The criss-crossing makes it look all intentional, to mix and match this scene here with that scene there.  The intention is still honest but then the baggage becomes too heavy.

 After a friend’s recco, recently saw a film titled 5 X 2 (Five times two). Five chapters of a couple’s romantic story which starts with their divorce and moves in reverse. So, a story with a sad end has a happy cinematic ending. The first time when the boy meets the girl. Love Aaj Kal too starts with a break up, and you know, its a hindi film, so the couple will get together for sure. How ? Thats the question.

They break up. They find new boyfreind/girlfriend. They pretend to be cool about it but realise soon that its the wrong choice baby! Much like Abbas Tyrewala’s Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. And as a friend asked me, so what new can you do in a romcom ? New ? Well, add a old track then. And thats where Rishi Kapoor fits in with his Harleen Kaur. The villain in the story is distance. Yesterday, they went all out to cover that distance. Today, we have too many choices close to us, why bother to go for the long distance ! Thats the central theme of Love Aaj Kal.

Saif Ali Khan is not new to being the cool n confused lover, having done similar acts in Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Tum and other films. Deepika Padukone is unbelievably inconsistent. In some scenes, she cracks the code perfectly and in some, she is horrible. Harleen Kaur (Giselle Monteiro) must be the subtle-est character in the history of hindi cinema. Blame it on Brazil! But it works.

They poke. But they dont make out. They talk and go yap yap. But they dont do anything. You only hear the “khula saand“, the “kuch bhi” talks. The intention must have been to score U/A certificate, so that it becomes family viewing. Was surprised to see so many kids in the theatre. What kind of parents take their kids to the theatre to watch Love Aaj Kal ? Its not for kiddies, by any logic and reason. Its a mature story and God only knows, what the kids will make out of it. Am scared for the next generation. Poking friends on Facebook and in Love Aaj Kal is not the same.

I loved Socha Na Tha. I liked Jab We Met. Superbly written. And Love Aaj Kal is, well, nice. Honest but too crafty! Its all about having black tea/coffee together!

Three IdiotsFirst it was Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Khan , which Fox Star bagged for Rs 100 crore. Not sure about the exact details yet but the deal is confirmed. And now the exclusive dope on Aamir Khan’s next – we have got to know that Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots (Three Idiots) have been bagged by Studio 18 for Rs 85 cr! Woohoo! 3 Idiots is directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi.

Except Music, Studio18 has got all the rights of 3 Idiots (Three Idiots) for Rs 85 crore. Music rights is with T-Series. So, if we add 10-15 cr more for music rights, it will be equal to 95-100 crore. Shah Rukh Khan & Aamir Khan on par! Fox Star and Sony was also interestd in it. But two factors contributed towards Studio18 bagging the rights. Aamir Khan’s personal and professional equation with Studio18.

Aamir is close to Vandana Malik, head of Studio18, whose daughter Avantika Malik is Imran Khan’s girlfriend. And professionally Aamir was happy with the box office result of Ghajini, which was distributed by Studio 18. Ghajini was sold for Rs 90 cr. And so Aamir made sure that Studio18 gets the preference for 3 Idiots.

3 Idiots will release on the last week of december as the date has proved lucky for Aamir Khan since last two years. First it was Taare Zameen Par, then Ghajini and now Aamir wants to stick to the same date. So, come what may, 3 Idiots will release on the last friday (25th december) of the year.

Himesh ReshammiyaAnd is it really possible ? Ripley’s Believe it or not! According to this report in Mumbai Mirror, Himesh Reshammiya went through a vocal surgery to get a new voice. WTF!?!? Well, to quote from the report…

Himesh has quietly put himself through surgery a couple of months ago and added one more voice, apart from his nasal voice. He has now become the only singer to have two completely different voices and the new voice will be heard in his forthcoming films. He has already recorded songs in his new voice.

BTW, the report doesnt have any reporter credit. We wonder why ? And reacting to the report, music director Vishal Dadlani  twittered..

Today, i read about someone having vocal-chord surgery to get an extra voice! What dumb faacks write this, and what suckers believe it?

And some more…

Questions re: surgery to get extra voices should be directed to the ‘tards at the m’bai mirror who wrote this crap! Who is this genius doc!?

And now Indiafm has put out a new song from Himesh Reshammiya’s new film Radio and its in his new voice! Woohoo…check it out. Mann ka radio! Surprisingly, Himesh is all quite so far.

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The first trailer/promo of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Whats Your Raashee is out. It doesn’t say much, doesnt even dare to go close to Harman Baweja. Just gives a glimpse of 12 avtaars of Priyanka Chopra. The film is produced by UTV.

Its based on Gujrati writer Madhu Rye’s novel Kimball Ravenswood. The film revolves around a young Gujarati man (Harman Baweja) who is looking for his dream girl (Priyanka Chopra), whom he must find in 10 days to save his family from an unforeseen ordeal.

So, will Harman Baweja finally get a second life with Gowariker or is Baweja already singing…hum toh doobe sanam, tujhe lekar doobenge!

The theatrical trailer of Salman Khan-Ayesha Takia starrer Wanted is out. The film has been directed by Prabhu Deva and its a hindi remake of the southie hit Pokkiri. Produced by Boney Kapoor.

Lessons we learnt….some quickies….

1. Salman Khan is still trying to act.

2. Boney Kapoor is still remaking southern spices. Is Sridevi the real inspiration ?

3. Has Satish Kaushik passed the baton to Prabhu Deva ? 

4. Sahara One Motion Pictures is still in business!

5. Strictly NOT WANTED!

This one looks like Salman Khan’s Ghajini!