Showing posts with label Rahul Bose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rahul Bose. Show all posts

Husbands and Wives play Dil Kabaddi

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , , , , , , , | Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009

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Saw Dil KabaDDi few days back; thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was the best 'Romantic Adult Comedy' I have seen in Hindi. I found the screenplay fresh, neat narration, excellent pool of talented actors and hilarious dialogues, only to realize later when Saravanan pointed out that Dil KabaDDi is blatantly ripped off from Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives. I watched Husbands and Wives the very next day. I was shocked. Dil KabaDDi is almost a Hindi translation of HAW. Dialogue writer of DK has shown his credibility in English to Hindi translation. Or did he just get the Hindi subtitles of HAW and provided a printout of the same to the actors while acting/rehearsing? One could notice the finger count of differences between the two movies.

Having said that I would also like to say it is a very rare thing to happen for a ripped-off movie to come out more enjoyable than the original! DK is one such movie!!

Husbands and Wives
Dir: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis

This is the first Woody Allen movie I have seen. After reading/hearing a lot about him, I witnessed his style of film making in HAW. In the beginning of the movie, many of the scenes are long shots, actors speaking to each other for long without breaking, cinematographer moving along with the characters; My eyes usually take time to get adjusted to the camera, when it is moving between the characters, dodging the shoulders and heads of actors (if they are also moving along the camera), maneuvering not to hit the static objects in the scene. But at the same time it gives an impression to the audience as if they are dropped right in between the characters, which is very nice.

It revolves around 2 couples, Gabe, Judie and Jack, Sally. The story revolves around infidelity, adultery and about their unsure decisions they take in life, letting them split, re-unite, live apart, find another companion etc. Though it is being categorized as a comedy movie, I hardly smiled at any of the (if any) jokes in the movie. May be I am not of the types who laughs for Woody Allen type of jokes.

I also felt, all the lead actors were too old to deal with these marital problems; well that’s purely my personal opinion.


Dil Kabaddi
Dir: Anil Senior
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Rahul Bose

Dil Kabaddi opens with one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Irrfan starts with a monologue on love. Speaking about to what extent people go crazy for love, he continues, "boss, bees saal tak ek hi building ko banwaana koi mazaak kaam nahin hain, woh bhi ek hi color main.. banaane ke liye patience chaahiye. Shah Jahan bawra nahin ho gaya tha buddy.. marble pe marble kharch kar daala, kaay ke liye..? true love, sachcha pyaar.. ruh se ruh ka milan... wahh.. but then... times changed... ". Irrfan’s voice gets sidelined in the noise of ringing phones.. sound of horn, vehicular movement, traffic chaos.

Samit played by Irrfan is an on-the-edge-eccentric kind of guy, who thinks it is style to wear sun glasses while driving the car in the night. Who wears silver grayish tie for a bright pink+blue striped formal shirts, has a penchant for kinky sex, also thinks his body-brain balance is screwed up because he is sex starved. Check out another gem of a dialogue by Samit, "bed room ke under kya hota hain usse romance ka kya lena dena... woh bhi husband and wife ke beech main….. husbands and wives are beyond romance”. Well, that's Samit for you :) Add to this, the unique dialogue delivery style, his mumbles, deliberate repetition of words, that makes Irrfan Khan THE BEST guy to play the role of Samit.

Soha Ali Khan is surprisingly refreshing in the role of Mita (Irrfan’s wife). Though Irrfan and Soha look very odd as a pair, but that is the exact requirement of the script to have a couple who are not so alike, who make an odd pair. The other couple, played by Konkona and Rahul Bose suit the role of Rishi and Simi at their best. Payal Rohatgi has overplayed the role as a dumb bimbette. Though Rahul Khanna has nothing much to do, has done justice to the role.

Even after copying scene to scene from HAW, the director of DK, Anil Senior deserves a mention for the portrayal of subtle man-woman relationships (in the very few original scenes of the movie). In both the movies, a narrator guy keeps questioning / prodding the characters to speak out to the camera. No better way to spill out the insecurities, idiosyncrasies and confusions about the relationships of the characters than this. I enjoyed it.

Though portraying all the men as creatures who think between their legs is questionable, I would recommend this movie to all the people who love laughing on this vice of men.

Movie mania

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009

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Im on a movie watching spree like never before. To be precise I have watched 13 movies in last 1 month!! I know there are movie maniacs out there who watch a movie every day, but 13 in 30 days is still a whopping number for me. I am impatient to write a review/comment on each one of them in separate posts, though some of them deserve at least a post on them.

So I here I write few lines about those movies.

Slumdog Millionaire
Dir: Danny Boyle
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto
Much has been written and discussed about this movie. Keeping aside the flaws; it is a very good entertainer. Kudos to Simon Beaufoy for an excellent adaptation of the novel by Vikas Swarup. I read the book, Q and A too which is not as good as the movie.
The disgusting cesspit scene of the movie tops my list of 'Most disgusting scenes ever in cinema'. Guess the 2nd and 3rd in the list, they are from the movie, Trainspotting again by Danny Boyle!! 2nd best being a stupored lead actor defecating on the bed in his GF's house, 3rd being Ewan McGregor diving in to the commode of the filthiest toilet of Scotland. But, however disgusting the scenes might be, I still love Danny Boyle's movies! :)

Lake House
Dir: Alejandro Agresti
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves
Watched it after Ethapay reco'd this to me. A nice romantic story with a mysterious time difference of 2 years that separates the lead actors. Liked it in parts. Watchable for the very idea of the screenplay.

Raaz – The mystery continues
Dir: Mohit Suri
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Adhyayan Suman
I watched this in theatre. Quite gripping and scary too in places.

Salaam Bombay!
Dir: Mira Nair
I had not commented when people said Salaam Bombay is the best portrayal of Indian slums and a better movie than Slumdog. Watched it just for the sake of it. Believe me, I could not tolerate the movie for more than 45 minutes from its beginning. I know the lead actors are kids from slums, but I simply could not feel empathy for the characters who just can not emote a single scene well. It just does not bother me when a character in the movie is dying in boiling oil in hell with an eternal wooden expression on their face. No special accolades for then not so established actors like Nana Patekar, Irfan Khan and Raghvir Yadav too.

It might be considered a good documentary in my opinion. IMHO, Slumdog is a way better movie, technically, screenplay wise, direction wise, cast wise and background score wise. I do not wanna praise Salaam Bombay just because Mira Nair is Indian.

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Before the rains
Dir: Santosh Sivan
Cast: Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das
This is an Indo-British collaboration. I am not sure whether this movie got released in India or not. Picked this one up only because of Santhosh Sivan and the movie did not disappoint me at all. The movie is 'painted' on the canvas of Kerala by Sivan. Neat performances by all the lead actors and an awesome handling of the subject by Sivan. Watch it. 

Wrestler
Dir: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei
This is one of the best movies I have seen in recent times. Thanks to Ashwin for giving me the DVD. I dint know who Mickey Rourke was until I saw this movie and now he is there right on top of my favourite actors list. I simply loved his performance in this movie. I hope he wins Best Actor award in this year's Oscars (Sean Penn for Milk will be a strong contender too).

The story of Wrestler is about Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, a wrestler in the descent of his glorious years in the ring. He is old now, his ageing body will no more bear steroids and sustain on pain killers, he has a daughter who lives apart and hates him immensely and he does not know any thing but wrestling for his livelihood. He often visits a strip club and shares his thoughts and emotionally connects to a middle aged stripper named Casidy (Marisa Tomei). Casidy is no more a young and voluptuous stripper in the club, her skin is sagging, and teenage boys humiliate her when she offers a lapdance. Once, after a brutal fight in the ring, Randy collapses in the locker room of heavy heart attack. Undergoes a bye pass surgery and is advised by doctor not to continue wrestling at the stake of his life.

The portrayal of these miserable souls, the emotions they undergo and the choices they make in their lives make the movie immensely adorable. Don't miss this one.

Luck by Chance
Dir: Zoya Akhtar
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma and a whole lot of cameos by Bollywood biggies
A satirical take on clichéd Bollywood, protagonists' struggle to stardom and a believable role the luck plays in shaping the protagonist's future. The self clowning acts by many cameos are surprisingly wonderful. A must-add DVD to the personal collection.

Dev.D
Dir: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin, Mahi Gill
A bold and modern take on Devdas in quintessential Anurag Kashyap style.

I bet this is going to be the only movie that stands apart from rest of all the Devdas versions in various languages. An excellent act by Abhay Deol and new comer Mahi Gill. Though Kalki Koechlin suits well for the role of Chanda, a better rendition could have been possible by any other capable actor. Thank God Anurag Kashyap did not make it as cryptic as No Smoking, still Dev.D is abstract enough in places. I wanna watch it again to connect the dots that are left over in my mind.

Curious case of Benjamin button
Sorry to say I was not impressed. Movie was not engaging for me.

7 pounds
Dir: Gabriele Muccino
Great performance by Will Smith, a well made movie. But, not as good as The pursuit of..

9 ½ weeks
Dir: Adrian Lyne
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Kim Bassinger
The movie is based on the erotic escapades of Mickey Rourke and Kim Bassinger in a duration of 9 ½ weeks. Watch it to see a charming and young Mickey Rourke (unlike in Wrestler) and hawwttt Kim Bassinger.

Elegy
Dir: Isabel Coixet
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruze
I picked this to see 'more of' my favorite actress Penelope Cruze. Ben Kingsley is charismatic as ever. This movie would not have been so special without these two actors.

Old Boy
Dir: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae
Thanks to Ashwin again for giving me the DVD. This is a South Korean movie released in 2003.
I finished watching this movie at 2:15 AM last night. Could not bate my eye lids till 3 AM! This movie leaves you stirred, shocked and amazed! This is the 2nd of the Vengeance Trilogy by the director Park Chan-wook. Im dying to watch the 1st and the 3rd part too, search for the DVDs in on.

Oh btw, Zinda starring Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham is based on this movie. Seeing the violence, brutal revenge plot of the original I am convinced Zinda would be a much softer version of Old Boy to fit in the frame of Bollywood, but I wanna watch it for the mere comparison's sake.

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