The Book, the Movie, the Graphic Novel and Me

Was able to finish three versions of SHUTTER ISLAND in the last four months. I must say I was blown away when I read the book and was little skeptical when I read that Scorcese was going to direct the film. But somehow the film took the story onto a different plane. Yesterday I finished the graphic novel. The artist was someone for whom English is not the first language so his approach to the story was different from the film.

This set me thinking – how does a novel change when it is adapted to other formats. We have various examples of book to film but this was chance to test three mediums at one go. In this case the film and the graphic novel are much shorter than the novel so it was interesting to see what was left out and in the retelling how well do they tell the original story?

Of course this being a thriller, the surprise element for me was not there in the film and the graphic novel. I knew how the story ends.

The book is greatly detailed but like a radio play it leaves much to imagination. Words are fun since one can picture anything. A case in point was the Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. Both the radio series and the books were leagues ahead of the television series and the film since the last two could not compete with our vivid imaginations.

In the case of SHUTTER ISLAND (the film) it has Leonardo DiCaprio. He would not have been my top choice - I may have liked a younger Russell Crowe. But somehow DiCaprio does manage to get his character right. It is just that towards the end they could have edited it down a bit.

The prime problem is that the material might have done better in the hands of someone who is comfortable in this genre. David "Seven" Fincher or Hitchcock. This is a never ending debate but one must marvel at the fact that Scorcese does get the look and the feel of the 50’s right and for most part delivers.

The graphic novel is done a watercolour format with tones differing from the film. This was an independent project not undertaken by the studio that produced the film, so the images have a radically different look compared to the film. The washed out look does work in some portions like when DiCaprio’s character climbs back onto the cliff and realizes that his partner has disappeared. That feeling of loneliness is not effectively captured in the film.

The code breaking sequence is long in the graphic novel. And what is strange is that this is not even a visually interesting sequence to retain in that format. The film version is much better scripted. They do not go into the details of the code and yet maintain the mystery of the woman who has disappeared.

At another place a doctor offers a pill to one of the police officers. He is suspicious about the doctor’s motivations. The graphic novel elongates this sequence superbly showing the conflict in the police officer’s mind since he wants to take the medicine to suppress a migraine but also he is not sure what is in the medicine.

In fact, the graphic novel concentrates more on the inner world of the main character and edits out sequences like the trip to the cave. Also when the police officer visits Ward C, the graphic novel is able to maintain the tension better.

Another difference between the film and the comic version is how much time is given to Mark Ruffalo’s character who plays an important role. In the film there are close ups of his reactions to situations which do add up when the mystery is solved. In a film you can control the duration of the shot and therefore decide how much of something you will let the viewer see. But in the graphic novel this kind of a close would give away the story since each image is read and seen for the same amount of time. So no close ups here.

However the climax works better in the film. The tension is built up as DiCaprio’s character breaks into the lighthouse and here we see Scorcese at his best keeping his grip on the viewer’s mind till the end. In the graphic novel the ending is slow whereas in the book it is long drawn.

And the last line of the film betters the book. This was the surprise that the director sprung at the very end. In a mystery narrative this can leave the viewer with a feeling of surprise that maybe there are layers that he did not see in the first place. This kind of an ending forces you to return to the story again and again. Many books do leave you with that feeling but in a film this is rare.

Sometimes a well written story can be become better in its retelling.

Image: www.imaginaryforces.com

Dilli 6 - the review

Hmmm.

What?

Huh?

The cow does what?

There is a fakir with a mirror?

And who is the monkey ?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh !

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhh !

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh !

That felt good.

Writing this post.

How was the film? Go back to the beginning of this post.

The dumbing of India

In Seinfeld there is an episode where everyone is going gaga over The English Patient. That is everyone except Elaine. She just can’t understand what is the fuss about. I have been feeling like that for the past one month. Only in my case the fuss is about about Dumdog Millionaire.

I had heard about the film in Goa where several people who had worked on it were gushing about it. So even before watching I came with a few expectations. The first fifteen minutes blew me away. Let me elaborate :

1. The kids are natural and fantastic
2. The music is really good (although not Rahman’s best) and is able to infuse a lot of music influences from all over the world
3. The sound design and camera work adds to the crowded, rushed and edgy feel to the story

After that it was downhill all the way. In fact ,the minute Dev Patel came on the screen pretending to be from the slums of Mumbai, the film turned into a 21st century version of a Merchant/Ivory production. I was overwhelmed. How could they go wrong with such as simple story? For example:

1. What is with the accent of the lead character once he grows up? There is an explanation in the original book how Jamal learns to speak in an accented English. He gets adopted and works for a diplomat’s family. Simple. This is not there in the film.

Instead we are told to believe that he picked up the language and the accent working around Taj Mahal. Those kids and guides do know multiple languages but have a vocabulary of ten or twenty words. They also keep repeating words like – “Ya right” or “Cool” when they are not sure of what to say. Jamal does not. He is very confident of his language.

2. The Quizmaster meeting him in the loo during the contest and giving him a clue. There are better ways to help your candidate. Watch Quiz Show.

3. Most of the explanations to how he knows the answers (the source for the bhajan – Darshan do Ghansyam & identifying Benjamin Franklin’s face on the dollar) do not look convincing enough.

4. Of course the glaring sore thumb that everyone (including the constable) in India speaks English and the film uses millions to describe numbers instead of lakhs or crores. Grow up.

5. The song sequence in the end that is supposed to be a tribute to Bollywood, is silly. It is something a student would shoot in his first year of film school. All the director should have done is called an Indian choreographer and the sequence could have become a tribute. Right now it looks like a series of physical movements trying to copy a dance from an Indian film.

6. In the book the character has a multi religious name and the story is told in the tradition of Amitabh movies of the 70s where an underdog becomes a success against all odds. Maybe the scriptwriter should have watched a couple of those movies before. When Jamal wins the jackpot, I did not feel the joy.

In many ways the film says nothing new about India. It is neither a critique nor is it a tribute. The surface that the film scratched in the beginning is the greatest depth to which the story goes. Films made by a white director about a third world country at least centres around a crisis - Hotel Rwanda or the Killing Fields. You are swept away by the horror and tension in the story. Dumdog shows you poverty and then expects you to feel happy since the hero wins a million bucks at the end of it all.

In the Seinfield episode that I mention in the beginning of this post, Elaine’s boss decides to send her to Tunisia to experience life over there so that she appreciates The English Patient. I am waiting for someone to take me on a guided tour of Danny Boylewoodland so that I can appreciate the finer points of Dumbdog.

ps Four years ago Danny Boyle made Millions - a film about how a boy accidentally finds a bagful of money. That had a nice feel to it. How come he could not recreate the same magic.

music in films

A fellow blogger sent me this link about the sound design in No Country For Old Men - how the sound editor Skip Livesay and the Coen Brothers' regular composer Carter Burwell ended up producing a sound track that had minimal or no music to speak of. The effect is actually quite the opposite - the silences drive the plot. But good sound or music is never appreciated. As Skip Livesay himself puts it:

The better we do our job, the less people realize what’s going on...

Most of Hindi film music is wall to wall music with little time for aural relief. Single instrument pieces or silences do not get the respect they deserve except in a film like Sholay. Last night I was watching A Few Dollars More and it struck me how the main theme music of the hand watch is used cleverly.

The first time you hear it is when the villain Gian Maria Volonte challenges an informer to a gun fight. When the hand watch is opened, the music starts playing and this runs or some time. As soon as the music stops, you are supposed to fire your gun. What the music director does is that first he starts the watch music and then after some time he introduces a louder piece of music that overpowers the watch music. Then you hear the watch music again, this time about to come an end. The effect is that the scene is stretched out and the tension keeps building.

This use of a louder piece of music to drown another piece is rare in the sense that you still are left with the sound of the hand watch at the end of the scene. It draws our attention to the watch since it is important to the story. In the end it builds up to a huge climax where the three main characters are left standing.

Just see this last scene and how the music builds the tension.

Breaking through a cinema near you

New York Times has this article on breakthrough performances in Hollywood - roles in films that made you sit up and notice the actor and his or her career took a different trajectory after that. The most common case is of Amitabh in Zanzeer. After that film there was sea change in how the film makers and the audience saw him.

What are the breakthrough performances with our present stars? For Shah Rukh it would have to be DDLJ after which he became the lover boy of the 90's. Before that he had done interesting roles like in Baazigar but DDLJ endeared him to a larger audience. For Aamir maybe it was Sarfarosh from where he started experimenting with new ideas and directors.

Tabu had been successful commercially, but it was Maachis that made people notice her. The films she did after - Chandni Bar, Maqbool, Namesake, and Cheeni Kum put her leagues ahead of her contemporaries.

Both Abhishek and Saif Ali Khan had been around for some time till they got the role that turned the tide. For Saif it was Ek Hasina Thi - that little known film where he blew away the audience as the scheming but charming lover who has no guilt in putting his girlfriend behind bars just to save his neck. Try and catch this film if you haven't seen it yet. For Abhishek it was the con man in Bluffmaster. While both films did not do well at the box office, the performances set the pace for the coming years.

With Aishwarya it has to be Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Earlier she normally had "dumb blonde" roles in films like Jeans. But Sanjay Leela Bansali proved to us that she could act. Omkara did the same for Kareena. She was already commanding a huge price as a star, but no one thought she could do meaty roles. One look at the films she is doing post Omkara shows that she has catapulted into the A list.

Do you agree? What are the other breakthrough performances that you can think of?

i have a confession

Occasionally i love watching Bollywood in single screen old style. Like Regal. Or Sangam. Mostly theatres that are run down, have bad projection and an outdated sound system.

Here is where the actual test of a film can be done. You have nosy ushers who keep interrupting your view by insisting on checking tickets fifteen minutes into the show and late comers walking in half hour before interval. Someone behind you is explaining the story to his friend and laughing extra loud at the comedy because he loves Akshay Kumar. But in the end if the film turns out a bore, you haven't lost much out of your pocket.

However, this is becoming rare in Delhi since most of the older halls are being revamped (Rivoli, Odeon) or they simply are not interested in running the latest release.

In the last six months I have discovered a new fix. Each time I travel to a small town, come evening I end up catching a film show. Banaras, Haridwar, Meerut, Kanpur, Jaipur. (I know this is a more North Indian representation, but by next year I hope to include other places too) Watching film in these cities opened up a whole new world of audiences and their response to Hindi cinema.

Here is my list :

The best old style theatre : Rajmandir (Jaipur)

If you are in the city just catch a show for a view of the lobby. Its Huuuuuuuuuuge, garish, full of wall patterns in plaster of paris and very 70's. Shah Rukh should have premiered his OSO here! I went to watch Aajaa Nachle and during a song a man stood up and actually shouted I love you Madhuri ! The rest of the audience continued to watch as if nothing had happened.

The best Multiplex : Rave 3 (Kanpur)

A really well managed multiplex - good parking, food stall and great hall. PVR should learn something from them. But the film I watched was a dud - Dun a dun Goal - nothing could save a dead pan John Abraham

The funniest name : Victory Polo ( Jaipur)

The best behaved audience : Banaras

They managed to sit stone faced through Cash and filed out silently without cursing the director.

The best running commentary : Nishat (Meerut)

This guy behind us who had seen the film four or five times and had a problem with anything that Kareena did. He would keep abusing her or advising her or plain shouting at her. But he redeemed himself in the end by singing with her on Yeh Ishq Hai (in falsetto). Women please note. No metrosexual in Delhi could have done that in hall (we do sometimes sing in a female voice in our bathrooms though)

The seediest cinema hall : Chitra (Haridwar)

We were warned that there would be mosquitoes but the real danger was the hot coffees that were being carried by the vendor between the rows as he tripped on our legs. The seats were like school benches and every time a song started a speaker to our left roared blasting us into a desi version of surround sound.

Next year I plan to explore halls in other places (A friend tells me that there is a hall in Rohtak where fold able seats are lying outside for you to pick up and carry into the hall) and see the march of Bollywood in non metro India.

Chanakya...

...theatre is no more

yes siree
due to some expired lease you will not be able to go
watch a movie there anymore

Anyone who has been into this single screen 1000 seater hall will remember its strange design and seating arrangements. Designed by architect P.N. Mathur who taught at the School of Planning and Architecture, its large curved cinematographic screen made heroes (and villains) look bigger than they seemed.

How many times has one taken a bus to Sarojni Nagar bus terminal and then walked to the theatre for the show for this was one of the few halls which regularly showed "foreign films".
I went to watch Ben Hur with my dad and brother, sitting in the front row with Charlton Heston's biceps magnified many times over. Also i was introduced me to some to eclectic stuff like Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence which forced me to rethink my career as a dictator. I still remember Ryuichi Sakamoto's music that kept echoing in the half empty hall.

There was Nirulas' under the hall where i remember going after our school farewell. This was a long lunch where the boys irritated the hell out of other customers by singing loudly and getting into fights with the employees who were trying to throw us out. Thankfully i do not going out on a date to this outlet . This loss of memory i take to be a good sign since I must have made a complete ass of myself. (This was my Brando phase and none of the girls gave a fuck).

Then there were the eating joints with Russian signboards which served momos. You sat in the open or half covered restaurants discussing the film you just saw.

It is sad that this quirky architectural structure will be taken down. Somehow we never value our contemporary urban history till it is too late. Had this been any other place this would have been converted to a museum for cinema and visitors charged a bomb to enter. Now that's an idea for Delhi Tourism....

PS Does anyone remember the name of the video game that operated in the 80's in the basement of Chanakya?

Another write up on Chanakya by Pragya

youth, revisited

saw this film
made in the late 70's
set in New York
it follows the lives of teenagers
who join a performing arts schools
each one in search of Fame

as the stories intertwine
and
enter into each other
we are treated to
beautiful musical pieces
songs springing out of everyday situations
the students dancing in their lunch room
or in the streets


the director Alan Parker (Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning, The Wall)
is able to capture the energy of youth
their dreams
as they try to emerge as adults from the school
leaving behind their tortured childhoods

the city is another character
always there is a comment on the
different communities
classes
groups
that exist side by side
and yet wants to ignore the other

moving between the documentary camera
and fictional format
you are drawn into the stories
believing the characters
their pain and joy

watch this one
for it will surely remind you of college
you may recognize your friends
or yourself

it will remind you
how you were

innocent
wide eyed
vulnerable
and yet
ready to conquer the world

the choice for the oscars

so Eklavya it is

each year there is so much fanfare about
which film is nominated from India
and every year there is a controversy about the choice

this year Vidhu Vinod Chopra has strongly defended the choice of his film
and launched an attack on detractors who have claimed
that Chak De India or Dharm should have been the right choice

i think each year
we have the same questions
should we send the film that is most likely to win
or should we send the film that best represents India
in this case Dharm would fall into the first category
Chak De would be the ideal India film

but we also need to look at other films
in regional cinema like Dombivli Fast
which I thought was good for nomination
a year ago
but was ignored

Meanwhile
this suspicious blog
says that the L A Times thought that
Eklavya looks like a "lost David Lean film"

Well I am not sure about that compliment
Eklavya actually looked like an exotic Hollywood movie made in the 50's

Maybe that might make it the right choice for pleasing the goras
but not for India

10 things i learnt from Curse of the Golden Flower

1. The Tang Dynasty started the Punjabification of Chinese culture

2. Women in China adopted the Victorian style of dressing (many centuries before it became a rage in England)

3. Women when they went mad in China started embroidering chrysanthemums onto cloth

4. Every emotion could be expressed through quivering lips

5. Spiderman's ancestors originally came from China

6. People spent half their time getting dressed up

7. The Emperor's past time was to warm his ass using vessels full of medicinal concoctions slipped under the seat and simultaneously getting his back rubbed by a man (really go watch the movie !)

8. Always take your medicines on time else your husband will force it down your throat

9. Never watch a film in an afternoon slot...

10.Chinese directors are qualified to take up contracts for large weddings in India

Shah Rukh vs Aamir Khan

going back home after a screening of Chak De
i got into a discussion with Aditi
about who is better – Shah Rukh or Aamir?

Shah Rukh the more popular one
but who looks the same in all his films
with the exception of Swades and Chak De
(remember the time when he refused to cut his hair for the role of a soldier arguing that people would not notice this detail)

Aamir who takes more risks
sets fashion trends (Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi, Raja Hindiustani, Dil Chahta Hai)
but comes up with the inexplicable (the mooch in Mangal Pandey)

Shah Rukh who appears
once a year with a staple film
Aamir who retires to his hill
for two-three years
before appearing with a masterpiece
(OK forget Mangal Pandey)

Aamir whom you could call on
to act if you life depended on it
but by the time he is ready for his performance
Shah Rukh would have already charmed
your tormentors
and helped you escape

Shah Rukh whose each film
brings smiles to the producers (and tears for NRIs)
Aamir who took us to the Oscars

Shah Rukh who gives quotes
dime a dozen
Aamir who thinks long before answering
and then refuses to elaborate

once when we had to interview Aamir
for a BBC show
he insisted on a typed questionnaire
and then proceeded to answer sincerely
each question like it was a school exam

Shah Rukh with his off the cuff answers
that disarm the interviewer and the audience
(Are you Bi Sexual? No I am Tri sexual - I Try anything!!!)
Aamir who is always at war with the media

Shah Rukh seems to do
everything with ease
not at all awkward or conscious
Aamir it seems
is always scared how he is coming across

like the Muhammad Ali and George Foreman bout
or Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassy match
it has been a fascinating battle
in the last decade
each one out doing the other....

wonder who will come on top?

my bet is on Shah Rukh
what about you?

Watching Julie Delpy in Paris

am a big fan of Julie Delpy since the days of Before Sunrise
that mind blowing film
about two people accidentaly meeting on a train
and spending the entire night walking around in Vienna
only to seperate (they promise to meet after a year)

what better way to celebrate my first day in Paris
watching her new movie
2 Days in Paris
a funny romantic comedy about
a french woman and her american boyfriend
who come to meet her family in Paris
slowly their relationship unravels
over the two days
before they rediscover why they fell in love in the first place

i reached in the morning
most of the places were closed
because of a monday
thats what i was told
(apparently the shops were open late into the night on Sunday)

but it was fun to walk in the rain
somehow we landed up at the Cinematheque
a modern glass structure with many cinema halls
where i caught this film

late in the night
i sat with my friend
waiting for aditi
at a cafe
discussing
many things
watching the world go by

The REAL review of the Guy with the Topi

Yet another review without going to the film.

This is a trend I started here, what with so many promos of films nowadays I’ve decided to review films without watching them.

Aap Kaa Surroor: The Moviee - The Real Luv Story (I’m sorry they wanted a longer title but just did not know any more English) is the Himesh the Resham (no relation to Reshmaa, the famous singer from Pakistan) the launchpad. Actually it is tribute to all the Elvis movies except that in those movies Elvis is wearing tights. Resham has his Cap.

The Cap. What can I say about. I think it is the eighth wonder of the world. (No need to vote for this one) It protects the rest of the world from so much shit. If the cap was not there imagine there would be more songs, more nasal twang floating around. Right now it keeps things in control.

Then there is Mallika Sherawat. She was paid 1.5 crores for a 30 minute appearance????? The last time i checked that kind of stuff was paid for Brando in Superman. I know I should have volunteered. With that kind of money i could have gotten a boob job, gone back to my unemployed male status and yet made a small budget film with the rest.

Then of course there is the virginal heroine wearing Pink all over (lipstick included), I think she is going to take all the Pink away from Amisha Patel’s wardrobe. She is helpless and Himesh is the strong Nasal Type. They fall in love but there are many challenges and silly dialogues before they can consumate (with the Cap on of course).

But first some basic questions. When I know that even Shah Rukh will not get play time in Germany why the hell set the film there? What’s wrong with good old US of A? Then of course, what’s with the caps that change colour. Is it like a sublime messaging for safe sex (there are two other women in his life) since the street slang for condoms is topi (cap)? And don’t even get me started on his tribute on autowalahs.

Enough said. My friend who I do not envy anymore since he had to review the film, recalled that the story for Mere Mehboob was written keeping in mind a set of songs that the producer had in his bank. He had recorded them for another film that did not materialise. What a hit the film became. (Although I have several problems with “Silver Jubilee” Rajendra Kumar but that’s another blog). AKS seems to have been done with the same idea.

Sadly AKS is not Mere Mehboob. Nor is the Himesh the Resham, Elvis. With or without the topi.

watching Shivaji and Casino Royale

I watched Shivaji, the Rajnikanth movie last Sunday in Delhi. I couldn't help comparing the screening to Casino Royale I watched in a hall in Trissur in Kerala.

Both halls were crowded and the audience followed the story to a T. Of course the audience in Delhi had a large contingent of Tamil boys and mamis. Each time Rajni tossed his chewing gum into his mouth they went ecstatic. In the case of James Bond it was an action sequence or when he seduced a Bond Girl. (i doubt if anyone could follow the dialogues in English coming through an outdated sound system) The audience would clap or let out a gasp.

What is it about a Rajni film or a James Bond flick that evokes such attention from the audiences from other cultures although there may be very little logic or story to follow ? Scene after scene the story went into fantasy land but the audience had no problem understanding the nuances of the trials the Hero was facing.

The next time you see a foreign film (or a film in any Indian language you do not follow) try watching it without subtitles. If it is well told you do not need to know what the characters are actually saying.

Cartoon courtesy : TORNOE, littlefunny, Comicartville

Ek Anek

Priceless animation film from the good old times.

How soon did you start singing the ek anek song?

thanks to G for this link

PS. If you do not have Real Player then you have an option of Windows Media Player on the site

all your memento questions answered

I am a huge fan of memento. I hope you know what I am talking about. Anyways to those who have seen the film and can't get enough of it, here is a site that can answers all your questions. Stuff like - what is the actual story? who killed whom and when? and what is carrie-anne moss' telephone number?

Image courtesy : Christopher Nolan

Thoda Thoda Kum Kum

So onto the movie of the decade… er…year…no summer…well actually April. April 28th to be precise. And I’m am not talking about Pathfinder.

The good thing about Yash Raj movies (apart from the fact that with each movie you keep thinking DDLJ was their best shot) is that if you watch enough promos you should be able to guess the entire story. The initial promos are normal Yash raj stuff - cars whizzing around. Saif walking out to NASCAR(NASCAR???????) with his trademark - one shoulder lower than the other - walk. Rani and the kids cheering. Rani and Saif dancing alone in New York. Accident. of course Saif knows all about them. The car spinning in slow mo. And then crashing to the ground. Of course throughout this an irritating kid's voice talking about how her parents are the best in the world . ( Yeah right. We'll talk to her when she is an adolescent)

Over the weeks as the film does not recover its money one will see more – heart wrenching scenes, kids crying, Rani crying, Saif sadly strumming the guitar. Till you’ve seen the entire film. And you never have to go to the hall to see the movie. Come to think of it even if the film is hit the same strategy will be used.

So why am I writing about Thoda Thoda Kum Kum ?

Actually what got me this time was the campaign . It was an hour long thing which came on NDTV and then MTV. We got to know how the crew shot in hostile conditions ( New York City no less), also intimate details like the year the director was born the cameraman on the film started shooting his first film (how does that help me???) and how the kid who were acting were fantastic etc.

Towards the end we had Saif saying that he is tired and wants to go home. He interrupts the director and Rani who are sitting with him and turns to the camera and asks them to stop. He then proceeded to wind up the session by saying that this film from the premier studios in India, with a talented director and fantastic star cast. By this time the other two are embarrassed shit.

But he continues. He says that the audience has no other choice. This will be the hit film in April. Either you can watch this or some Hollywood flick because there are no other films worth watching.

By this Rani and the director had their mouths open. I almost choked on my tea.

So I thought maybe Saif lives in a different world where you had very few choices when you had to spend time with friends and family. I decided to take my partner for dinner on Sunday. That’s 200 rupees less that Yash Raj would earn this summer.

PS A special programme on NDTV with Rani and Saif even had a woman asking Saif for advice about how to bring up children as a single parent. When Saif started talking seriously about stuff like spending time your kids, I had to switch to another channel since I did not want my dinner on the floor.

kabul express

saw kabul express yesterday
to all you south dilli walahs
who are not able to catch it because some PVR Yashraj spat
try and see it
on the big screen
its worth it

these are the film that big production houses
should make once in a while in between
their weepy flicks

i cannot for the life of me understand all the bad reviews
Kabul Ex got
the film has faults but then
this is the first film that has placed indian characters
in a foreign country
dealing with contemporary issues
issues important to people in the subcontinent
none of the old fogies (or young ones for that matter)
have been able to move beyond essays they call films
the only exceptions have been Hazaaron Kwahishein (saw limited release in Delhi)and Paanch (which did not get a release)

Kabul Ex is short
all of 120 mins
maybe the director had a lot of time before the release to go over his cut
(the film had been completed many months ago)
the visuals are stunning
(although i felt that some locations were repeated in other sequences)
the story is crisp and the characters believable
the background score is minimal and powerful

arshad warsi is good but he is getting into the habit
of playing the funny guy
the shashi kapoor of contemporary films
john abraham is cast well
but he does not get much to do

what was interesting was how the five characters are thrown in together
and the conversations they have
(who is responsible for aghanistan's fucked up state, the best all rounder in cricket kapil or imran, hindi film songs)

the best scenes i liked was when cans of pepsi fall on the pakistani
while arshad and john are arguing what drink it is
another one was the tribute to the Dev Anand song
and the donkey on the road

however some of the lines were too predictable
and stilted
(conversations between the american and john, john's comment on cricket)
i think the director should have gone over them with a finer comb


the only real failing if i call that is that
in the end the characters get off too easily

the indians - they are not responsible for this situation buy they empathise since they belong to as third world country

the pakistani - because he was doing his duty and does not belive in most things the Taliban does

the aghanistan - because his country has been ravaged by outsiders (how green was my valley etc.)

the american - because she has a concience and she knows that as a journalist she knows how much ever we do it will never be enough

also the film being short is not able to deal with the complexities of the problem
but the film does leave you with many questions
important questions, searching questions that don't leave you

not silly stuff which you think when you leave a bollywood flick

just for that Kabul Ex is worth a watch

thank you aishwarya and whoever the director was

i tortured myself and watched the mistress of spices

first things first

the film should have a disclaimer that it is documentary on spices posing to be a fiction

all throughout there are these voice overs about well - spices

is the book actually like that

does it actually have lines like "thank you spices" (fifty times after which i lost count) and "my spices are feeling me"

throughout the film our miss world is wearing sober saris
and suddenly she decided to wear a blood red sari
(with a halter neck blouse if you are interested)
to seduce the hero

also could someone tell the producers that if you show stars lying on a bed of spices making love their should be a disclaimer - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

and what kind of a name is Tilo (rhymes with prilo)

if it is bengali how does the young girl (aishwarya as a child) land up in kerala ?

of course here i am expecting some logic

the entire film is about stereotypes in the NRI community
including aishwarya's character with her strange diction and grand mummy sarees


riddle no 1 - if padma lakshmi (who is about 40) is playing a grand daughter in the film how old does that make her grandfather anupam kher ?

riddle no 2 - from where does aishwarya import her spices ? she cannot actually growing all of it in the backyard

the economics of films

when Dhoom 2 was released there was this talk that the film would not do well
since the producers were not showing it in many of the multiples (PVR, FUN cinemas)

now it is the third week since its release and its still
getting the crowds

I went to watch it on a weekday afternoon show(yeah i am between jobs) the hall was almost full and when i walked out the parking lot was overflowing with people

this year many times multiplexes and producers have had disagreements (Munnabhai,Fanaah) however the films became a hit

i guess if the buzz about the film is good
the crowds keep coming
also single screen halls are generally cheaper that multiplexes

its a funny logic
last year films like Sarkar and Kaal
became hits by using multiplexes
in mumbai fame adlabs nearly all the halls were showing Sarkar in its first week of release
so you really had no choice - the irony of walking into a multiplex and actually having ONE option

but this year it is the revenge of the single screens