Karthik Calling Karthik... oops wrong number!!

Just got back from Karthik Calling Karthik - a prime example of a concept that is kinda unique but suffers due to poor execution. The film was also a tad too long - the second half dragged - they could have wrapped up the movie in 1.5 hours.

The movie is about an average guy, Karthik (played quite well by Farhan Akhtar) who takes a lot of shit from his boss, his co-workers, his landlord and basically everyone in his life and is invisible to the lady he adores from afar Shonali Mukherjee (played by Deepika Padukone). He is almost on the verge of committing suicide one day, when a phone call from himself, changes his life. Karthik starts calling Karthik regularly and changes his life for the better. He commands respect at his workplace, manages to successfully woo his lady love and stands up for himself. Life progresses very smoothly until he lets Shonali in on his secret about getting calls from himself. She persuades him to see a psychiatrist (played by Shefali Shah who has now changed the spelling of her name to Shiffali or something) but the calls start getting nasty as Karthik did not want Karthik to tell anyone about these phone calls. He now wants to wreak havoc in Karthik's life. What happens when things start getting ugly? Will Karthik ever get a break in this lifetime?

The premise of the movie is really unique and could have been really well done if the story moved a bit faster and if the direction was a bit more taut. Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is immensely enjoyable (am still humming "Uff teri adaa, I like the way you move" in my head). For once, I liked Ms. Padukone in a movie - she acted and showed a hint of an actress emerging from behind the pretty face (in all her other movies, I never fully believed that she was the character - a bit like Hema Malini - in every movie save a couple, she was Hema Malini). Farhan Akhtar was good - seems like he is fortifying his acting career with yet another solid performance after Rock On and Luck By Chance. However good the lead pair are, they still cannot save the movie from the weak second half and uninspired direction.

All in all, my recommendation is to wait for the DVD and save your movie money for something else.

2 nights of dismal performances

American Idol sucks this year - so far we have had performances from the top 12 ladies last night and the top 12 guys tonight, and almost everyone sucked big time. There is no one here that blew me away. The girls show a lot more potential than the guys. If things don't improve SOON we are going to have the worst season of Idol ever.

That said, on the plus side, Ellen is not bad on the show. She is doing better than I thought she would. Kara seems less verbose this season - I liked her but thought she talked too much. Randy is completely redundant as ever. And Simon - we're so going to miss him. He calls a spade a spade - he was completely irritated with the performances tonight as he should be. They better start looking for a good replacement for him - it's not going to be easy.

On a positive note, there were some performances that sucked less than the others (okay - I am being a bit too harsh - there were a few that were good). Among the girls, I like Crystal Bowersox, Didi Benami, Janell Wheeler (though I do admit that she was bad - I think she can do better), Katie Stevens & Katelyn Epperly (I think she will go far if she chooses her songs well - has a good voice). I also liked Siobhan Magnus. Among the guys, I liked Casey James - he actually was good. I think Joe Munoz and Lee Dewyze have potential and Aaron Kelly could be the next Archuleta - David Archuleta has the far better voice but I mean that Aaron could be the one to tap into the teens/tweens fan base - he has one of the better voices this season but needs to believe in himself.

Here's hoping that the next few weeks are much much better. On a side note, Thursday's American Idol will feature performances from Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta from last season.

Lift Kara De

When I came across this new chat show called Lift Kara De hosted by Karan Johar, I must admit that the first thought that crossed my mind was Wow - yet another talk show. I finally found some time to watch a few episodes today and am utterly moved by each and every episode I've watched courtesy youtube.com.

A celebrity is invited to the show to meet his/her biggest fan (believe me - the fans they show are completely loco and will stop at NOTHING to meet their favourite star) and do a good deed in the process. Auditions are held in different parts of the country to narrow down the thousands of fans to 3. The top 3 fans of the celebrity then compete in a contest and whoever wins gets to come and meet their idol. There is a twist however, the amount of money generated by the winning fan is then multiplied by a certain number and the star donates that money to a deserving individual and changes his/her life.

Each episode I have watched this far has me dissolving in a puddle of tears and completely thankful to God for everything I have been blessed with in my life. I watched the shows with Kajol (she gave Rs. 800000 to a strawberry picker from Panchgani who made Rs. 30 a day to support her family and needed medical treatment but couldn't afford it) and John Abraham (who donated Rs. 1000000 to a family from Kerala that lost their house to the tsunami and were completely debt-ridden) this far. The people whose lives are to be changed forever do not have a clue as to why they are brought on the show - they are told that they are to appear in a documentary - and when they do find out what they are getting, their joy and surprise and complete gratitude is palpable.

It's a good watch to help put our lives and "problems" into perspective. So watch it if you have the time - but make sure there's a box of tissues handy because you're going to need it.

Valentine's Day - a fun watch

The hubby, my brother who is visiting (aka as the third wheel) and I went to watch Valentine's day on Valentine's Day. The boys were a bit hesitant (and I do not blame them for the movie had the worst critic reviews ever - one critic gave the movie 0 stars) but I insisted so we went anyway. I wanted to watch the movie because it basically reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood with Kathy Bates, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, the man of the hour Bradley Cooper, the two Taylors (Swift and Lautner), Jessica Alba, the immensely talented Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts, Jamie Fox and Gary Marshall staple Hector Elizondo.

The movie is an ensemble romantic comedy with snippets from the lives of various Los Angelinos and what happens to them on that particular Valentine's Day. Without giving too much away, of the various storylines, I enjoyed the ones with Anne Hathaway & Topher Grace, Julia Roberts, and Emma Roberts. Absolutely did not like the 2 Taylors and their plot-line - but oh well, they cannot all be winners. All in all I had a decent experience. The movie kind of reminded me of Love Actually but the stories in Love Actually were a bit more detailed with the characters more fully etched out because they did have the luxury of time. While there is not that much detail paid to the fleshing out of some of the characters, Gary Marshall did a good job. Of all his movies, Pretty Woman still remains my personal favourite but this is not bad by any means. It's a tad too long but with this cast of characters I guess everyone needed some screen time.

Anne Hathaway is coming into her own as an actress. Every time I watch a movie of hers, I am more enthralled with her acting skills (I wasn't always a fan but I loved her in The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, Rachel Getting Married and Passengers). Jessica Alba is quite the opposite - every time I watch her in a movie, I am left completely unimpressed (the male of our species will violently disagree as has been my experience whenever we have discussed JA). I liked the twist Bradley Cooper's story had. Ashton Kutcher did a decent job, as did Jennifer Garner and Emma Roberts. Julia Roberts did not have much to do. Everyone else in the movie did a pretty good job.

So my recommendation is to watch the movie if you want a light breezy uncomplicated movie (it's by no means a theater must watch - you can wait for the DVD too).

The Hurt Locker - A Must watch

I first heard about this tiny movie called The Hurt Locker at the Golden Globes when James Cameron, while picking up his award for best director, doffed his cap at Kathryn Bigelow indicating that he thought she would win the coveted award (for those interested in trivia, Kathryn Bigelow was once briefly married to James Cameron in the late 80s - early 90s). Met up with a friend for lunch the following week and he raved about The Hurt Locker and lent us the DVD. I didn't know what to expect because I am not a huge fan of war movies and wasn't quite sure if I would like it that much. But boy was I surprised.

For the majority of us who've never had to fight in wars and stare death in the face, this movie is a hard-hitting look into the life of soldiers in Iraq. Amidst the chaos of war, how do these guys continue to function without snapping? How does a soldier retain his grip on sanity and switch back into normalcy as a husband and father when he goes home? The cast led by Jeremy Renner (SFC William James), does a phenomenal job of portraying the hardships of being out at war - it's a hard thing to do without going overboard. If this were a Bollywood movie, I can only cringe when I imagine how over the top it would have been. But luckily for us, it isn't. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty portray Sgt. Sanborn and soldier Owen Eldridge remarkably well - the movie opens with the loss of their Sgt when he tries to diffuse a bomb. This leads to the addition of William James to their team. It turns out that he is a bit of a loose cannon prone to doing things his way. How do they tackle the enemy on enemy lands - how do they get up and go out there without knowing if they will come back at the end of the day - that forms the gist of the movie.

This movie made my heart go out to these anonymous soldiers who fight a war - many of them barely old enough to drink and yet old enough to go to battle. For those of you looking for a glossy feel-good movie, this is definitely not it but I highly recommend it, if nothing else, then just to empathize with the thousands of soldiers who have given up their lives and for the soldiers who are still out there fighting everyday. Another thing that struck me about the movie was the desolate look of Iraq - civilians who die in accidental or malicious cross-fire - when will they limp back to normalcy?

Golden (Globes) Night in Hollywood - Part Two

I am glad that they are airing the show live for us Californians finally! I never figured out why they would start the show at 8 pm for us and make us stay up late - so NBC, thank you for this one.

Some of the highlights of the show:

Ricky Gervais's funny monologue - taking potshots at his good friend Steve Carell, at Hollywood (looking at all the great work done by... plastic surgeons), NBC (let's get on with it before NBC replaces me with Jay Leno), Angelina Jolie etc. He did a decent job in all his bits through the presentation.

Nicole Kidman presented the first award for Best Supporting Actress that went to Monique from Precious (am yet to watch the flick but I heard it's amazing yet depressing). While on the subject, am not sure why Nicole Kidman chose not to wear a bra/pasties or something - wearing that gorgeous outfit, one would imagine that there would be attention to detail on the stylist's part at least. Toni Collette looking gorgeous in a shimmering outfit accepted Best Actress in TV Comedy. John Lithgow accepted an award too. Do not like Felicity Huffman's outfit. Jane Krakowski 9looking fabulous) and Neil Patrick Harris presented the Best Actor in Drama award to Michael C Hall who recently revealed that he is battling cancer. Best Actress in TV Drama went to my favourite Julianna Margulies for one of my favourite new shows The Good Wife. Loved her outfit too - the asymmetric neckline rocked.

Cher and Christina Aguilera looking suitably funky presented the award for best song which went to the song from Crazy Heart - I was bummed that I See You from Avatar did not win - Leona Lewis did a good job and I just loved the song itself. Best Original Score went to Up. They keep showing Kate Winslet in the audience and she looks very pretty. Amy Adams looked charming, and with Josh Brolin, presented the award to Grey Gardens for Best Mini-Series or TV Movie. Drew Barrymore was there with Justin Long so it looks like their on-off relationship is on again. Colin Farrell presented the Best Actress Comedy award to Meryl Streep and Sam Worthington, looking dapper as usual, along with Zoe Saldana, presented awards to Drew Barrymore, Kevin Bacon. Jennifer Aniston was a presenter and looked fab. She was more confident this time around as a presenter, as compared to the last time she did that - methinks it's because a certain Mr. and Mrs. Smith were not present at the awards show. Alec Baldwin won in his category (again) but he always does a fabulous job no matter what his role.

Sofia Loren got a standing ovation from everyone and her royal fabulousness presented the award for best Foreign Language film to White Ribbon. Zachary Levi (who I saw in this movie called All about Ray and loved by the way; I also like him in Chuck) and Amy Poehler (love love love Parks & Recreation) presented the Best Dramatic Series to Mad Men. Taylor Lautner (ever poised and confident) introduced 500 Days of Summer (another movie on my To Watch list). Choloe Sevigny (did not understand her dress choice by the way - it made her look like a frilly pillow case or something) nabbed Best Supporting Actress in a TV series, Halle Berry looking super fit and fab presented the Best Actor in a Supporting role in movie award. It was good to see Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio reminisce as they honoured Martin Scorsese (as I was looking him up I discovered that he shares my birthday - fancy that!!). He got a standing ovation, deservedly so. He graciously shared his award with all his collaborators on all his movies.

I was very happy to see James Cameron win Best Director Motion Picture for Avatar - he completely deserved it. He acknowledged the director of The Hurt Locker (this movie is slowly gaining ground - another one on my To Watch in the near future list). Glee took home honours for Best TV Series - Comedy/Musical. It was a treat to see the cast of Hangover present their movie and it also won top honours for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. If you haven't watched it already, please please watch it - it's FUN. The Governator introduced Avatar - pronounced Aavadaar - he also took potshots at NBC. Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side. Robert Downey won for Sherlock Holmes - his acceptance speech proved that he's as crazy as ever :). Avatar won Best Picture. And that's how the first awards of the year concluded.

Golden (Globes) Night in Hollywood - Part One

Sunday evening 4 pm:
Grocery shopping for the week - check
Spot of cooking for the week - check
Golden Globes Red Carpet - here I come. I am writing this blog as I watch the red carpet and the show. This first post is dedicated to the red carpet. Part Deux will be more about the show itself - Ricky Gervais as the host - am certain it will be fun. Enjoy!

E Channel had Giuliana Rancic and Ryan Seacrest working the red carpet and interviewing celebrities as they came in. They are veterans now at chatting up the stars and did a good job as expected. Billy Bush on the other hand was blundering his way through the red carpet on NBC - I swear that the guy sometimes does not know what to say. Natalie Morales did a decent job and tried to hold fort.

Some of the standouts on the red carpet for me: the lovely Emily Blunt looking like a vision in pink, Courtney Cox for once looking good - she usually takes risks on the red carpet and has never managed to pull it off except for tonight in my opinion, Kate Hudson and Kristen Bell looking pretty in white, Lisa Edelstein from House was gorgeous in silver. Sandra Bullock was in a fetching colour. The cast of Glee looked very well put together - I hope they do well. Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson took potshots at NBC regarding the late night fiasco going on currently. Jennifer Garner looked pretty but alarmingly thin to me. Regarding the guys I really have nothing to say unless someone comes in wearing a garbage bag - the guys do well if they have a suit or a tux on.

Now for the "What were they thinking" - Tina Fey - love the gal but hated her outfit. She needs to sit down the stylist for a serious chat. Mariah Carey - never know what he is thinking but she had her globes out for the night (could not let that opportunity to take a shot pass). I think she would have looked better if she covered them up. I was not a fan of Sofia Vergara's outfit - I think the bow thing was not working for me. Heather Graham's outfit would have looked better if she had gone with an outfit with a symmetrical length but that girl will look good in anything. Absolutely did NOT like Patrcia Arquette's outfit but luckily the gal had a smashing accessory in the form of her handsome husband, Thomas Jane, on her arm. I had no idea what Quentin Tarantino had on.

So those were some of my likes and dislikes - let me know what you thought. Click here to check out some of the red carpet arrivals.

Some pics for you: