Movie

Last day of summer holidays, day before school re-opens, however you put it, we worked very hard all of us this summer, my work, his summer camp, it was my small thank you, taran and I at movies, watched ninja turtle movie. Very special day for me....

The Dirt

Few weeks ago, at a friends place, i had the opportunity to watch "The Dirty Picture". The movie is loosely based on a south indian film actress, Silk Smitha. I'm not giving away the story, so there is no spoiler warning.

As we started to watch, S asked me how could she do what she did, however she eventually changed her opinion. But what i answered to her surprised myself, i was without any prejudice, she had her body as her skill to sell, she wasnt educated, she was being abused by her own family, she had very little to go by, so she did what she felt was right for her. I was given a "look" which i chose to ignore.

But really the dirt of this movie is not in her selling her oozing voluptuousness on the screen, nor is of the people who want to see it, it is of the people who exploited her, who viewed her solely as on object of sex. Yet portray exploitation as a platform. These are the same insecure men who'd do anything to keep their self inflated egos full by crushing other people or actresses naivety to their pleasures. She could be no saint, but the crime was hers not alone, and yet she crucified herself.

I personally loved the movie, but somewhere it failed me, i agree with few floating reviews out there, which say when the camera was on Vidya Balan, she captivated the screen, the other popular actors couldnt justify thier roles to the way she was, the dialogues were written so true to the character and the movie. They showed a feisty girl, who does unconventional things never heard of on screen. But the movie ran in thin waters for me when they didnt show a strong reason for her to take matters in her hands towards the end of the movie.

But the real kudos go to the actress who portrayed the character so grit fully true. By the end of the movie, i sorely wished Silk Smitha was alive to tell her story. Vidya Balan showed how beautiful a body can look and as she ages in the movie, the same body that she flaunts looks old and saggy and somehow not attractive as it was portrayed before. Her body language, her style of sitting, her way of clothing, how she taps her personal experiences to bring on screen performances were more than worthy a note. She was brilliant. Simply superbly brilliant.....You rock!

R.I.P

to Jessica Lall. Though i dont know you, the woman in you and i, is the same. For that, i stand with the family, your truest friends, and the public who stood by you.

I remembered reading the news online many years ago when Jessica Lall was shot in the Mehruli club for denying a drink to a politician's son. As i read the news that day, knowing india's mindset of the rich and the poor, i knew how the law would slant. In 2006, i saw the news of the killer being arrested as top class journalism prevailed the justice. At the time i had South asian channels at home and actually saw the news on tv and felt escalated at Tehelka's persuasion of the truth that was conveniently tucked behind the curtains of bureaucracy.

This afternoon, I watched that movie, No One Killed Jessica, and as i did, i felt enraged, sick to my stomach how somebody would feel when law fails them, when the obvious is so valiantly ignored because of the power in the wallets and the dirtiest tricks of politics that can clout the weak.

Justice has been served but it had been so twisted and tried. The song "mera kaat kaleja dilli..." aptly depicts the mood a justice seeker would feel...kaat kaleja! Kudos to Tehelka! 

The Noir ones

Few weeks ago, i saw Gulaal. The movie takes you to so many levels of lives that you may or may not come across. But the dark beauty of that movie can leave you with many questions. I dont know, for many weeks i've been trying to come up with right sum of words to express and am falling short of it. He has his own genre, one has to dig deep in their own worlds of parallel lives, to come up with such brilliance. His characters justify the essence of sacrificing unapologetically others sentiments for their self interests.

I think i got introed to Mr. Anurag Kashyap by the way of - hmm...was it "No smoking"....John abraham finds himslef in the midst of Russian military, i think, in a bathtub, in the middle of nowhere in snow...the abstractness and the eccentricity of the movie....made me fall in respect with Mr. K. Dev D is another one of my fave.

My first taste of offbeat movies that i can remember of is Salaam Bombay by M. Nair. I could never shake it off even to this day, the way, the pimp, Nana Patekar, whips his belt out and starts hitting the floor where the street kid w/ chai is standing. The sheer power that ass is feeling by exposing the helplessness of the kid - gives me quivers even to this day. ( ha i found the vid).



Some of my other fave movies of this genre are: Mandi, Hazaaron Khwaishey Aisi, Bazaar, Paar, City of Joy, Ardh Satya, Mirza Ghalib, Tamas (on DD, on sundays i remember watching this with my baba, after this he'd take me on his scooter to the market in RJY to buy veggies and meat.), another one,  Cant remember the name of the movie but Girish Karnad is the landlord and shabana azmi ends up as his mistress, Mirch Masala - uff the list is endless. What are your fave's?

Dhobi Ghaat

I loved it. Not everyone gets it, but it's an offbeat movie for bollywood.

AK says "To my muse, my whore and my beloved - Bombay"

Who is your Muse? Ever wondered!

Tu bin bataye!

Something about the way, she continues to look at him, when he puts the ring on her finger, though among many friends, the celebratory moment is so crystallized just between those two. Love it.

Zara zara tum ho merey

Zara zara paraye....main...hum hum...

I once went out to watch a movie with a friend in hyd, sudarshan theater, evening show, arrived late, walked past few people to get to our seats, I was into first 20 mts of the movie and my pager was going off, beep beep, the people next to me gave me one of those looks not sure what sound was it, and where was it coming from. i quickly made a futile attempt to search for the pager in the dark,  I read the msg and decided to call after the movie, but then it went beeping again i knew i wouldn't be forgiven for not returning the call, maybe i didn't want to be forgiven, maybe i wanted to hear the gentle wrath i usually get.... so I excused myself to come out and call. I stated my reason for the delay but I wouldn't be heard of...

For reasons I'll never share with you my doll, that movie has been my all time fave Telugu movies. As I went to AUS, one of the songs from that movie, actually only the first two lines of that song, I made graffiti of it on the bare closet door in my room to have a piece of .....around.....(for which I got so much trouble into by the house parents, when i was moving out of their chatra chaya, she complained so much about how she was going to remove the graffiti, she even claimed that i have to come back and repaint the door, i said that would be the last thing I'd do, white wash my memory away, unh unh...no way, i should have a picture of the closet door somewhere).

Laxman the srilankan chef dude going to the same uni as I, the nicest person you'll come across, wonder where he is now, anyway he once came to my abode with sheebu, and asked me what that graffiti meant,  i said i wouldn't share with you, but he liked the kites, the strings and the bows i drew around it, asked me whose picture was it on the table. Then he looked at me said, wait you are not going to tell me right....

Kal woh movie dekha....and i remembered this incident, felt happy, felt sad, felt like holding on to it, felt like just one more time, i'd like that back.  I even remember the pastel peach salwar i was wearing, which coincidentally my mom irons and lays it in the closet for me to wear whenever i'm home. I fit effortlessly into it, even now, says ammi.

On my PL...Kailash kher is blessed with such a rustic voice ....

tere dar pe jhuka hoon, mita hoon, bana hoon, 
marammad mukkadar ki kardo moula, mere moula
mujh me hee woh khushboo thee jo thune milwaya--- now thats a good line.

tut ke bikhar na mujhko zaroor aata hai
warna ibaadat wala shahur aata hai
.....Ab jo tumne thukraya to sawar naa paaunga

Terrific lyrics mr.j.

It's raining here and dark as my mood.

maybe the title of this blog should be marammad mukkadar ki kardo moula. the month of ramzan starts from aug 8th says ammi. i didnt fast at all last 2 years i should this time.

Who could resist!

He dashes out of the home after the big fight, she is pretty upset too, after few hours when he cools it off and returns home, he doenst find her there.

He asks the neighnours if they have seen her, with no luck, he runs out in the rain to look for her. Just about everywhere he reckons she might be, he searches frantically, but in vain....Not knowing where else to look, with lost hope and a weighty heart he comes back home and slowly opens the door, brushing his wet hair back....just then he finds her sitting in the couch, feet up, arms around her legs, with a shawl wrapped, her eyes so full, her lips tightly curved down....in that split of a second, the relief in his eyes that she's safe, the restrained anger and loss of it, the want to protect her, hold her, but unable to with the fear that he might ....then she comes running to him and asks him to promise her that he will never leave her, that he'll never be upset with her, with his jaws clenched in control of his surging emotions and not wanting her to see it, he brushes her hair back and promises her, better yet, makes dinner for her, with rice and achaar.

I couldnt help it, i just sat there and wept it out, so sweet of him and her. The song following that later kind of smoothed my nerves, but just couldn thelp but give kudos to both kamal and sridevi to have conveyed the thought so beautifully. The director Balu mahendra must be so proud of them, it felt like thier acting was just bursting into life. The switch she makes into a suave woman towards the end, when she gets better was just terrfic. Unfortunately the last scene was deleted which i was waiting for. So now when i'll have time, i gotta watch this movie again.

I totally dig her Lamhe, Chandini, Kshana Kshanam, kamal's Sagara Sangamam....i have lost count how many times i have seen these movies. Love them both....akali rajyam of these two is just awesome with sri sri dialogues, the tempo and that one song my brother use to sing...

But that one scene just stuck in my head, wanting to be written in my words....i had to.

Move...ees

Since i'm back from india, whenever i get a break from running behind my son, i anxiosuly pop in a dvd to watch. So far, i've managed to see Guide, Sagara sangamam and for the past three days my trials to finish Mughal-E-Azam hasnt been fruitful. But one thing i've come to realize is that, the movies you see as a kid make a different sense than when compared to seeing the same movie now, when you are all grown up and can figure things out in more mature way. The essence of the dialogues are making more sense now, the circumstances seem more compelling now, the feelings seem more real now.

When i saw these movies many years ago, i only felt for the hero and herione and thought poor guys, it's so unfair, or why did thier parents have to make them do this and so and so. But now since i've gained more perspective on life and experiencing many life events in many angles....i finally get the "picture". My personal fave so far has been Guide....

(Thanks M for those dvd's)