Agneepath Redux

I must be the only person of my generation that has not watched the original Agneepath starring Amitabh Bachchan. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised with this new version of the movie directed by Karan Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar, because it kept me engrossed despite belonging to the gory "action" genre.

Hrithik Roshan plays Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, son of teacher Deenanath Chauhan from the small town of Mandwa. Sanjay Dutt plays Kancha Cheena who frames Vijay's father (since the teacher was the only one who stood between Kancha and his plans to take over the village of Mandwa) and gets him falsely accused of rape and hangs him in front of the entire village and Vijay. Vijay and his pregnant mother (played by Zarina Wahab) leave Mandwa to come to Mumbai and Vijay has his first brush with the Mumbai underworld. He curries favour with Lala and joins his gang much to the dismay of his mother. Every move Vijay makes brings him closer to Kancha and avenging his father's murder.

First, I am completely blown away by Hrithik Roshan's performance (although he does look old in this movie). After a long long time, for the duration of the movie, I actually forgot that this is Hrithik Roshan the superstar. He is completely convincing as the angry young man, wronged by the system and driven by the sole aim of avenging his father. I thought the director Karan Malhotra did a great job (yes yes - I am going to watch the original one soon - its top on my must-watch list). Priyanka Chopra did not have much to do as Kaali, Vijay's love interest in the film - they did have a few cute scenes together. I thought all the supporting actors played their roles well. Zarina Wahab looks pretty good for her age. Rishi Kapoor was fabulous in his role. If I have one complaint with the movie, its basically that I don't understand why Kancha asks Vijay to kill Gaitonde when he could do it himself considering the vast army of henchmen at his command. And, in the interest of full disclosure, the movie did drag a bit in the middle. I enjoyed a well-made Hindi movie after a long time. I wish filmmakers paid more attention to their scripts. Good script + good acting = Good movie

All in all, it was good Friday entertainment - am glad hubby persuaded me to watch this flick. And more importantly, our little chotu, very kindly, slept soundly and allowed us to watch the movie with no interruptions.

Summer TV

"Suits" - Watch it if you like witty dialogues, handsome leading men and legal drama. Summer is here and with it some kick-ass USA and TNT shows (what can I say - I like me my summer TV). Some of my go-to summer shows are The Closer, So You Think You Can Dance, Rizzoli and Isles, Royal Pains, and the list goes on... This post however is about "Suits". Thursdays 7 PM on USA.

Gabriel Macht plays Harvey Specter, hotshot lawyer at a big law firm who hires Mike Ross (played by Patrick J. Adams), a young "lawyer" with an amazing memory - I say "lawyer" because he passed the Bar without attending law school. The firm has a policy of only hiring Harvard alumni so Harvey and Mike start a facade that Mike went to Harvard. Together they tackle cases big and small and in the process, forge a mentor-mentee relationship.

Pros: The 2 leads and their crackling chemistry, a good supporting cast with Gina Torres and Rick Hoffman and the sassy dialogues with an undercurrent of humour.
Cons: Lack of strong women characters - the managing partner is a woman but she is in a supporting role (but that can change) and slightly far fetched plot-lines (the whole faking he is from Harvard makes for an interesting storyline but in this day and age when information is at your fingertips it's almost impossible to fake your education to a big firm that can do a background check within a matter of days) but then again this is TV.

All in all though, if you find yourselves free on Thursday nights I recommend this.

BBB

Watched a good Hindi movie after a long time - of course with the new baby on board, forget watching the whole movie in one go but I did manage to watch the whole thing with a few interruptions... The movie in question was Band Baaja Barat - a Yash Raj movie that I didn't hear as much about compared to other films from the same banner since it lacked the fanfare that typically comes before a Yash Raj movie premiere.

I wasn't sure if I would like the film but I must say that I enjoyed myself thoroughly. The movie stars Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh as Shruti Kakkar and Bittu respectively. Shruti is a non-nonsense Delhi chick, a go-getter with a vision and ambition to start her own business, "Shaadi Mubarak", as a wedding planner. Bittu on the other hand, to put it mildly, is looking for his calling. Not doing very well at college, his dad wants to yank his derriere back to his hometown and have him join the family business. While crashing a Delhi wedding for good food, Bittu runs into Shruti who is the assistant to the wedding planner and he is quite smitten with her. He makes a DVD of her singing and dancing at the wedding and tries to "patao" her. Unfortunately for him, she sees through him right away and calls him out on his antics. They end up becoming friends anyway and later on start the wedding planning business together but not before she has made it amply clear that she does not believe in mixing love and business. Will "Shaadi Mubarak" succeed? Or will their professional relationship get in the way of love? Will Bittu and Shruti have their own "Happy Wedding" (shaadi mubarak)?

I loved Anushka Sharma in this movie - as an actress, she is far superior to her contemporaries like Sonam, Deepika and Katrina - I am stumped as to why she has not done better than them in terms of box office success. She believes in the role and the character so her audience does too. You completely buy her act as the smart and sassy Shruti Kakkar. Ranveer Singh does a great job as Bittu. He lacks the "hero" good looks but is a decent actor. The supporting cast is pretty adequate. I like the relationship portrayed between Shruti and her mother - they didn't spend too much time on that plot-line but did a good job with what little they did. So in a nutshell, if you are looking for a Bollywood movie that is entertaining and worth your time, Band Baaja Barat is it. Enjoy!!

Mr. Darcy and the Single Man

So I'm a little late catching up on my 2009 nominated Oscar movies and roles but better late than ever. This lazy afternoon (we have the week off from work so it's awesome to be a couch potato in this cold weather) I received my Netflix movie and it was "A Single Man" directed by debutant director Tom Ford. Now I have to be truthful and say that the main reason I watched this movie is for Colin Firth who in my mind will forever be THE Mr. Darcy (no matter how many men have played and will continue to play this character). I was also curious about the movie because it seemed so far from the genres that I usually watch. This was an out and out "art film" - an "art film" is a term we use in India to describe a movie that is not meant for the masses. The pace was super slow but I don't see how it could have been any faster but all said and done I liked the movie - hated the ending...

**Spoilers ahead** Colin Firth plays George, a university professor, who has recently lost his partner of 16 years Jim. The entire movie takes place on 1 single day - Nov 30, 1962. George wakes up with a start after dreaming about his dead partner's body. George lets the viewers know that he is considering suicide because he cannot endure life after losing Jim. He chats with his friend Charlie played by Julianne Moore, fellow English ex-pat and tells her that he will meet her in the evening. He then goes to his class as usual and ends up chatting with one of his students Kenny who seems to be very interested in George and seems to want something beyond a regular student-teacher relationship. During the course of a day he also meets a young male prostitute Carlos who is surprised to be treated so kindly by a stranger. George then heads to Charlie's house where we see that Charlie wants to have something more than a platonic relationship with George. He leaves her place angry. He runs into Kenny again and the 2 go swimming together - we then see that Kenny is sleeping in George's house in a different bedroom and George sees that Kenny is sleeping with the same gun that he wants to use to kill himself. George then sees that suicide is not his way out and decides that life is worth living after all and tears up the suicide notes he had left behind. And then ironically he dies from a fatal heart attack.

Colin Firth was amazing. His acting was subtle and his grief palpable. He transforms himself from the young dashing Mr. Darcy to the older, proper University Professor with ease. Julianne Moore is awesome but then she always is - I just couldn't stomach the accent from her though... but that's just because I know what she really sounds like in other movies. Tom Ford I thought, did an absolutely wonderful job - from fashion designer to director - the transition appears super smooth.

So to sum it up, this movie is not for everyone - watch only if you can be patient and allow it to slowly unravel.

Koffee with Karan

Breaking my blogging silence. I know its been a while since I wrote in this space but something I watched on Sunday jolted me into writing again - and jolted not in a good way...

Many of you know that I have been a huge fan of Koffee with Karan - I like his wit, and sparkle and how he uses his friendships with the celebrities to make them reveal to him (and the audience) more than they intend to. Season 3 began Nov 7, 2010 - 4 long years after season 2 ended. So to say that I was awaiting the premiere eagerly is an understatement. I set my DVR to record the show, told the hubby not to watch it without me (not that he watches it anyway), made some chai and snacks and plonked myself in front of the TV to soak in as much Koffee with Karan as I could...

The guests were Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan - I was of course not thrilled... I have never been a fan of Aishwarya Rai on talk shows. She is very giggly, and comes across as completely fake and studied - if you don't believe me watch any of her old interviews on youtube especially the 2005 60 Minutes appearance (I cringe even today!!). However, on this particular episode while she was tolerable (perhaps because I had low expectations of her to begin with), the person that made her look more genuine, sadly, was her husband Abhishek Bachchan. I have always thought of Abhishek as poised, in control and tolerably intelligent as a conversationalist from watching prior interviews of his. I was less than impressed with him on this show - the initial 10 minutes after his entry on the show were almost too hard for me to watch. His attempts at humor failed miserably and he came across so completely different than he usually does. While I must admit that it definitely got more bearable as the interview went on, I was hugely disappointed. When will actors learn that they don't have to don a role for an interview - an interview is to talk to the "real" person behind the face. I suppose that they have been "actors" for so long that they can't help but act (and to be honest I do think everyone "acts" a little bit to put their best foot forward - be it for friends or business colleagues). I think little B should take a page from Big B's book. Senior does not have to rely on gimmicks and poor jokes to get his point across - he always comes across as uber-elegant and suave in almost all interviews; all the while looking like he does not have to make an effort. That is the charisma of a true star. Some other desi celebrities who give a good interview are Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta, and Aamir Khan. I watched an interview of Kangana Ranaut with Koel Puri ("On the couch with Koel") and even Kangana, despite her less than average grasp of the English language, conversed with Koel Puri so intelligently and with so much dignity, that I was hooked and watched the entire show.

The next week's episode of KWK promises to be better with Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor as the 2 guests. These are interesting talented young men that seemingly have the whole world at their feet - it will be a treat to see them in action on Koffee with Karan as Karan tries extract their deepest darkest secrets as only he knows how ;) - there I go again, expecting the world from a talk show... Here's hoping for a season that is as good if not better than the first 2 seasons!!

Emma redux...

From childhood I have been a Jane Austen fan - I particularly loved Pride & Prejudice and Emma. I re-read them as often as I could - everytime I didn't have a new book in my hands, I automatically gravitated towards Jane Austen for yet another read (I was a compulsive reader in my youth). So when I heard that Emma was being remade as Aisha in apna Bollywood, I was stoked. I loved the Hollywood adaptations with Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless so obviously I had high expectations of the Bollywood adaptation as well... but alas. That was not to be... but we jump ahead of ourselves.

Aisha stars Sonam Kapoor in the title role and Abhay Deol as Mr. Knightley or in our version he's Arjun, Aisha's family friend for many years and now Aisha's sister's brother-in-law as Aisha's older sister is married to his older brother. Aisha and Arjun are more like buddies and have fun hanging out and teasing each other. Aisha is a self-confessed matchmaker and believes that she is a great success at it... Aisha's friends' circle includes her BFF Pinky (played by Ira Dubey, Lillette Dubey's daughter) and Randhir (played by Cyrus Sahukar) and newly inducted Shefali (Amrita Puri). Shefali is Aisha's new project in her matchmaking scheme and she tries to push Randhir and Shefali together but it backfires badly. She then tries to push her towards Dhruv (her maasi's stepson) and that too fails. Arjun is the voice of reason and constantly tells Aisha to stop interfering in people's lives and do something worthwhile with her own. Does Aisha succeed in finding romance for Shefali? Does she find her own happy ending? This, in essence, forms the basis of the movie.

I thought the cast of the movie was pretty good overall with the exception of the lead. I did not like Sonam as Aisha which is probably why I was disappointed because Aisha is the basis of the movie!! She does not have the combination of the well-meaning charm and innocence of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless and she is sorely lacking in acting abilities in this movie... and I do think Sonam can act but for whatever reason she plays Aisha in a one-dimensional way - the same tone of voice for all dialogue delivery. The redeeming factor was that she and Abhay Deol share pretty good chemistry. Abhay Deol was awesome - he plays his role effortlessly and is a complete charmer (love those dimples!!). The surprise package of the film though for me was Amrtia Puri as Shefali - the pretty actress completely pulled off her role as behenji trying to become modern and keep up with the pace of big city life. I hope she gets good roles after this and makes it in the big bad world of Bollywood. Ira Dubey was also decent.

Loved the soundtrack - especially Suno Aisha and Gal mitthi mitthi bol. The style quotient of the movie rocked... everyone looked suitably attired and glamorous especially the girls. It's a decent movie for a one-time watch especially on DVD. It could have been way shorter and crisper but we can't get everything right all the time!!

Eclipse

Eclipse is my second favourite book after Twilight in the Twilight series. I finally watched the movie this afternoon (to avoid the long lines that inevitably accompany a Twilight movie during its first week) with the hubby in tow - he now claims that I owe him big time after he sat through the film. In reality, the third installment was actually better than the first 2 - Summit finally appears to be increasing the budget for these films after experiencing the huge returns. However, the third installment is also the one that deviates the most from the book.

In this movie Bella (Kristen Stewart) faces up to the fact that while she belongs with Edward (Robert Pattinson), she definitely has feelings for Jacob (Taylor Lautner) as well. Victoria (the mate of the vampire that the Cullens killed in the first movie/book) wants revenge and decides to go about building an army of newborn vampires to fight the Cullens and achieve her goal of killing Bella. In the meantime Jacob decides to reveal to Bella just exactly how he feels about her - while Bella is deciding between Edward and Jacob, the army of vampires advances to Forks to kill her. Is Bella safe? Does she finally make a choice? That forms the rest of the movie.

The chemistry between Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart appeared to be much better than that between Robert Pattinson and Kristen (however I wonder if there is any truth to the observation made by Joey to Chandler in Friends... if someone is a couple in real life, the chemistry on screen or on stage is not as great) - don't get me wrong, I am completely on Team Edward but I felt Bella and Jacob were more believable. I want Edward and Bella to be more passionate and I don't think the lead couple did that - I feel their performances were too restrained. Edward does look very handsome in this movie. In other Twilight news, they have broken the next movie into 2 parts - that is the best decision because the book is almost 800 pages long and has a lot of material to cover which would be next to impossible in 1 2-hour movie.

So the verdict: you will enjoy this movie if you are a Twilight fan. If you are not acquainted with this series, I would suggest reading all 4 books by Stephenie Meyer and watching the first 2 movies before sitting down to watch this one. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!