Swagat hai aapka kaun banega Crorepati dwitya mein!
Aur ye raha 2 crore rupaiye ke liye aapka sawaal…
The above two lines are no strange to Indian audience.. Amitabh Bachchan did it first and then Shahrukh Khan followed but now Anil Kapoor does the same although not on TV but on the larger screen. He plays host of the show: “Who wants to be a millionaire” (English translation of Kaun Banega Crorepati).
No one would have thought that someone will make a full movie on a TV show but British director Danny Boyle found an opportunity to make a brilliant masterpiece keeping the TV show in background. The movie has already won several awards in the selected limited screenings it has had so far.
The movie is basically about a kid from slums of Mumbai managing to get a berth in the show “Who wants to be a millionaire” and the events that follow. The kid was arrested for a probable case of fraud/cheating as no one expected the kid to advance to the final levels. This suspicion prompted the show host to call for an enquiry, where the kid (referred to as Slumdog in the movie) takes the police inspector (played by Irrfan Khan) through his life and how an illiterate kid from slums of Mumbai knew answers to the questions that even literates might find dicey at times.
The movie takes you through life of a slumdog through a series of events. It is basically like walking through the tragedies of life of a slumdog without having that thrown directly at face. The changeovers between the TV show and the life are so subtle that you at times even forget about the show running in background.
In all this drama and action, the movie also conveys a message of “Never give up” in a very profound manner. The quest of finding her girlfriend never ended for the slumdog despite the challanges and problems he faced!
Although the storyline of the movie is not very strong so as to say but the magnificent screenplay and excellent direction makes this movie a brilliant watch. I am yet to find a person who did not like this movie.
No suprises, the movie scores 4.5 on 5 and is highly recommended.
January 11, 2009
Posted by
abhitaneja |
2008, Bollywood, Good Ratings, Hollywood, Movie review |
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Oh My Goodness!
Now what the hell is this?
Even after having seen one of these movies, I had no clue that these were two different movies altogether. I saw the name different at two places and neglected that for a possible typo but after having seen the movie and when I could not find any of the songs, I was confused. A basic search on Google revealed something that made me jump out of my chair!!
Jun 27, 2008 – Two new movies were released.
One from Yash Raj Films – Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (TPTM)
and the other one from director Anand Rai – Thodi Life Thoda Magic (TLTM)
Should I call this a case of game theory in practice?
Consider the scenario: Two directors have decided upon the name of their movies as TPTM and TLTM and conflict regarding who came up with the name could not be resolved. Now the next issue in context is obviously the advertisements, promotions and the release date of the movie.
YRF being the bigger banner could get a larger share in the media and the other group did not contest it much (Not a dominant strategy for unknown banner to spend high on advertisements). So the more important factor here comes out to be release date.
Consider the case when Movie 1 comes before Movie 2. The name of these movies is so much similar that the second movie would be lost in the identity of the first one. If the first one is a success, it could draw some public or alternatively could lose market since people might confuse it for the first one, which they have already seen. On the other hand, if the first one is a flop, then there would be hardly any public knowing about the second one and it would pay for the sins of other one. So the payoff matrix if we see comes out to be negative if you move late, positive if you move first and unpredictable if you move along.
As a result, both the players would try to move before the other player but since it is like a game of simultaneous move where all the information is shared between the two players, second player would know as soon as first player tries to release it. This would lead to a further early move from the second player.
Clearly the dominant strategy for both the players comes when they move along, i.e. release the movie together, which is exactly what they did to avoid heavy negative payoffs involved with late release.
How much did it pay for each of the players and what is the effect of others performance on each movie would be known only by the end of this week or may be by the next week but in any case, it is really confusing and misguiding for the moviegoers. Moviegoers will have tough time in deciding which of the magic they want to see – Life or Love is the choice!
July 4, 2008
Posted by
abhitaneja |
2008, Bollywood, Movie |
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3 Comments
A good week for watching movies. The second review for movies I watched this week.
Amu- Simple yet very powerful
the central character of the movie is a foreign return girl Kaju played by Konkana sen sharma who left the country when she was 3. Now that she is back in the country she wants to explore her motherland and is more keen to know about the interiors and about the poverty ridden. Among these she was also keen to know about her actual family as she was an adopted child. During her interaction with people she gets to know about the 1984 riots and gets very curious to know about it in details. This coincides with her quest to know about her family as she finds out that her mother had migrated to city before she died and she happened to be living in the region which was most affected by the riots. She falsely assumes some drunkard to be her father as his wife’s initials match with her mother’s. This is the time when she is told everything about her family. The movie enters a flashback mode. She belonged to a Sikh family and her father was killed in the riots. Her mother tried to get some help and in trying to do so, she also loses her baby brother. Her mother shifts with her to a relief camp and there her mother hands her over to her new mother.
It would be inappropriate to say that the movie portrays the sufferings of people well (since those sufferings actually could not be reflected/portrayed at all – The loss and suffering caused is uncomparable). It attempts to reflect on the insane and irrationale behaviour of the Hindu community then. Although at times, it appears to be an attempt to target specifically the Hindu community but a few otherwise instances were sufficient to get the benefit of doubt from me. As far as timing of the movie is concerned, I think it is a bit late and could have been released when the rulings on 1984 riots were announced. Anyways the movie would not be able to cash in huge amounts for being on such a serious and sensitive issue but crititcally, the movie manages to score high for good handling of a sensitive issue, for apt screenplay, an engaing pace and above all its simplicity and effectiveness!
The movie by no means is a commercial movie but for all fans of sensible movies, Amu is yet another treat. All the people sensitive to the social issues are likely to feel touched by the movie.
Going by the rating tradition, Amu manages to score 4 on 5 for its subject, good acting by Konkana Sen Sharma (and others) and a good and engaging pace of the movie.
It is indeed an art to present so much sensitive issues in a manner that will heart everybody’s heart and yet not offend anybody.
February 21, 2008
Posted by
abhitaneja |
2008, Bollywood, Good Ratings, Movie review |
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Jodha Akbar
Good direction, Good Sets, Good Acting, Proper dialogue delivery, Proper casting … is sufficient enough to make a successful period movie.
Akbar is a kind hearted king who doesnt believe in inwanted tortures and uncalled wars. His target is to rule whole of the country but with harmony. He believes in making allies(to work under him) and not fighting them for stake. A fight is last resort to him and he would like to do anything to save any bloodsheds and to save honour of his territory. In fulfilling this quest, he is confronted with a difficult condition to marry a Rajput girl. He agrees to marry and also agrees to allow her to keep her religion. This does not pleases some of his family members who try their best to distance Jodha and Akbar. Falling into one such trap, Akbar sends Jodha back to Amer but as soon as he realises his mistake, he himself moves to Amer to get her back. Jodha made her feel that although he can win wars but he knows little about ruling. He gets the point and did a marketing research on what is percieved wrong among common man and he takes immediate actions to bring about changes. Then there are couple of war scenes, which are very similar to the scenes from Troy.
Hrithik Roshan does a terrific job in the Mughal getup. Deliviering Urdu dialogue is not that easy but he does it with so ease that one could not help but admire. Aishwarya Rai also displayed extremely good acting display. The emotions are pretty similar to what I was expecting for this being a period movie.
What I think lacked in movie was some focus on Jodha and Akbar. At times movie strayed a bit from the theme but those durations are so small that before someone realises it is off the point, it gets back. So, it doesn’t hurt the movie as such.
Overall a tremendous performance on part of actors, a beautiful job on part of script writer and terrific job as far as costume designer is concerned.
Based on the lively performances by the actors, I would rate Jodha Akbar 3.5 on the scale of 5. There is not much more one could expect from a Period movie.
Why to watch?:
Lively performances by actors
Good Direction
Long yet engaging throughout
Good sets
Well written dialogues
Why not to watch?:
Only if period movies is not your taste and you do not admire Hrithik Roshan or Aishwarya Rai
I strongly recommend that you watch this movie.
February 21, 2008
Posted by
abhitaneja |
2008, Bollywood, Good Ratings, Movie review |
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1 Comment
First things first.. Unless you know what this movie is all about, you would not be able to know that till last 20-25 minutes of the movie. The movie aspires to be another RDB but fails miserably in doing that.
RDB was about a common man raising his voice against the corrupt system in the country, Halla Bol is about a famous movie star doing exactly the same. Aamir Khan in RDB chose the route of violence, Ajay Devgan suggests Gandhian ways to fight the same.
To be frank, it seems like the director did not have it clear as to what was it that he was trying to focus and convey. On one hand, it had ingredients common with RDB while on the other hand, the first half of the movie focuses on the character of Ajay Devgan (who plays a famous action hero in the movie) and film industry in general. The transition from the film industry to the fight for truth was not abrupt but it was ineffective. Although I would have to agree that some of the scenes reflect that the director wanted to show things from real life but unfortunately, he could not mend up those gaps of artificiality in between.
The movie starts with Ashafaq Khan, an aspiring actor, trying to get break into film industry. He happened to have good references but still no one seems to be interested in signing him. Then he happens to meet a director who was looking for a person in specific and on listening to a fake story by Ashafaq, agrees to sign Ashafaq as hero for his movie. (A very simplistic and very stupid portrayal). Ashafaq changes his name to Sameer and Sameer becomes egotist. He even rejected his Guru’s request to perform for a protest presentation. Everybody leaves him and he is alone in his life, yet focused on his career. (Again too simplistic a portrayal). Then he encounters murder of a young lady he knew from some Acting competition he chaired long back. Everybody refrained from making any comment, even after being eye-witness to the incident, so as to stay away from controversies. Some silly comments and comparisons are being made to celebrities suffering for getting into such controversies (e.g. Aamir Khan’s involvement in Narmada case). The convicts are sons of Member of Legislative assembly and a Liquor Barron (The idea is highly influential people) and obviously threats are being made to Sameer and his family. He fights!! They lose the case but he doesn’t stop. He still fights and decides to perform a protest presentation – “Halla Bol”. Obviously the influential people decide to prevent that but he doesn’t stop. The impact is that he finds himself fighting against death in a hospital. It is then that Junta feels awaken. They come in full heartedly in support of Sameer Khan and there is a nation wide protest. Courts decide to re-open the case and a verdict is passed stating every member who made false statements along with convicts guilty. Junta wins and movie ends!!
As far as my personal opinion goes, an under-prepared script and poorly managed direction is what this movie indicates! The concept might have been a decent concept(although that would make it just another RDB) but unless presented properly, it is worth nothing.
Overall, Halla Bol is a disappointment!
Halla Bol get 1.5 stars out of 5
Why you still might consider watching the movie:
- An average performance by Ajay Devgan
- Vidya Balan is charming as always (although very short appearances)
- Good acting by
You have enough reasons not to watch it:
- Frankly if you read goods above, I don’t need to write any bads as such.
- Wasted actors
- Under-prepared script
- Poor Direction
- Too many fundaes being put into one movie
- A complete “Disaster”
January 14, 2008
Posted by
abhitaneja |
2008, Bollywood, Poor Ratings |
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2 Comments
RDB was about a common man raising his voice against the corrupt system in the country, Halla Bol is about a famous movie star doing exactly the same. Aamir Khan in RDB chose the route of violence, Ajay Devgan suggests Gandhian ways to fight the same.
