Peepli Live! August 15, 2010
Posted by Sai in Hindi, Movies, Reviews.Tags: 2010, Aamir Khan Productions, Anusha Rizvi, Bollywood, farmer suicides, Hindi, Movie, Natha, Peepli Live, Review
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While some early reviews would have me believe that this film is some sort of masterpiece, it isn’t quite so. Taking off on an interesting premise based on farmer suicides in India, the film manages to touch on quite a few aspects but where it succeeds most is in depicting the media circus. Debutant writer-director Anusha Rizvi manages to lampoon round-the-clock television news coverage in numerous scenes (most strikingly through one reporter’s in-depth coverage of the main protagonist Natha’s feces) more effectively than a film like Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann.
The film is filled with entertaining moments, many stemming from irony. However, the levity that dominates the film makes it hard to connect on an emotional level with a tragic situation. What could have been a thought-provoking take ends up just managing to bring attention to the issue. I was more moved by a single scene in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades depicting the plight of a poor farmer than this film in its entirety.
But maybe that was what Rizvi and producer Aamir Khan had aimed for. In that case, they’ve succeeded in delivering a nice little film here. Devoid of usual commercial elements, Peepli Live still manages to be an entertaining outing at the movies with a novel plot, a realistic setting that is captured quite nicely and some natural performances from mainly unknown actors (except for Raghubir Yadav and Naseeruddin Shah, whose shoes could have been easily filled by someone else).
Greek Gods 101 April 7, 2010
Posted by Shujath in Articles, English, Movies, Reviews.Tags: 2010, Alexa Davalos, Alexandra Daddario, blockbuster, Catherine Keener, Chris Columbus, Clash of the Titans, Film, Gemma Aterton, Hades, Kraken, Liam Neeson, Logan Lerman, Louis Leterrier, Medusa, Movie, Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Poseidon, Ralph Fiennes, Review, Sam Worthington, Sean Bean, The Lightning Thief, Uma Thurman, Zeus
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It’s just three months into the year and we already have a couple of flicks based on Greek Gods. Are they the new successors to vampires and zombies? The box office performances of both have been encouraging but the films themselves haven’t found much appreciation to establish a genre.
The first one – Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief has (justifiably) been labeled as Harry Potter’s poor cousin. The HP films have set such high standards for fantasy flicks featuring teenagers that it is tough to watch any film in the genre without comparing it to the former. The Lightning Thief is definitely a well made film with the right mix of action, humor and VFX yet not great enough to warrant sequels (they are definitely being planned for sure). I’ve always found the Greek pantheon of deities extremely confusing. But they are a staple part of pop culture – especially in film and literature, so a film like this was to me a perfect initiation into that world.
Watching Clash of the Titans earlier this week, I felt quite at home with the characters but the film itself turned out be a bland CGI extravaganza. Even earlier, the promos didn’t excite me – I was just drawn in due to the hype surrounding it. The local posters were embellished with the funny sounding “From the Hero of Avatar” tag-line which nevertheless seemed to have been successful in drawing huge crowds. I watched the 2-D version but I don’t think I missed much….since the 3D post-conversion process has drawn huge flak from prominent folks recently.
Between the two films, I’d easily pick Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief over Clash of the Titans. In any case, if you’ve seen the trailer of COTT you’ve pretty much seen the entire movie.
Varudu April 5, 2010
Posted by Shujath in Movies, Reviews, Telugu.Tags: 2010, Allu Arjun, Arya, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Bhanushree Mehra, Chiranjeevi, Film, Gunasekhar, Mani Sharma, Movie, Naresh, Review, Set Piece, Suhasini, Telugu, Tollywood, Tradition, Varudu, Wedding
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Do you want to know the secret of a successful marriage?
Do you want to know the secret of successful progeny?
Do you want to know the secret of a successful society?
Do you want to know the secret of a successful world?
Varudu answers it all and much more! Now, you might wonder why I’d write any further about such a groundbreaking film since it would obviously involve giving away spoilers. Well…the catch is that watching this movie comes with the risk of acute brain damage (temporary only…I hope!). I was able to confirm this condition in me because at one point in the movie I was actually cheering for the villain to sleep with the kidnapped bride and put our “Varudu” to a gruesome death. (There’s another part of me which says it’s a pretty reasonable wish and maybe my mind is alright after all – but let’s leave it at that for now).
If you’ve now decided you’d rather not watch the movie – here come the spoilers. The secret to all types of “success” mentioned above is the “Traditional Telugu 5-day Wedding Ritual”. Now, if you are really dumb to doubt something like that, Varudu even provides a scientific explanation to skeptics in one instance. Here it comes – It has been scientifically proved that putting Jeelakarra-Bellam (Cumin Seeds and Jaggery) on each other’s heads activates the “pathways of attraction” in the cerebral cortex of the people involved which results in them falling for each other instantly.
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(BTW, that was a two minute silence in memory of Science). In case you didn’t notice, with this film Gunasekhar successfully completes his trilogy of CGI-blunders (Remember Arjun and Sainikudu?). Maybe I am being a bit too harsh here. But someone loved the climax of Wolverine so much that they didn’t have any trouble composing shots of CGI Nuclear Power Plants with a CGI Kalyana Mandapam in a CGI countryside.
Varudu also boasts of the worst ever performance by a leading man. I’ve always admired Allu Arjun for his smart choice of films and the characters he plays – where his limited acting abilities fit in so perfectly; no wonder he reigns supreme over everyone else when it comes to the success rate of his films. In this film, the first thing which puts you off is his horrible diction. Also, in a lot of places he sports this obnoxious expression of smugness – which is a combination of a regular blush + “Wow…I am so stylish but see how I can still uphold and follow old traditions”. No wonder then…I was cheering for Arya!
The Dystopian Extremes March 24, 2010
Posted by Shujath in Articles, English, Movies, Reviews.Tags: 2009, 2010, Denzel Washington, Dystopia, Hughes Brothers, John Hillcoat, Mila Kunis, post-apocalypse, Religion, The Book of Eli, The Road, Viggo Mortensen
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I am always up for a post-apocalyptic loner anti-hero flick and The Book of Eli seemed the perfect one (on the face of it at least). Yet, in spite of the Hughes Brothers impressive visuals the content turned out to be a huge letdown. Even halfway through the film, things seemed quite interesting – the unfolding plot appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek take on religion and power but at the end I actually felt like walking out of a religious sermon. I am more disappointed because this is probably the one film genre where I would least expect something like this.
Just a couple of days later I caught up another post-apocalypse movie – “The Road”. The only common thing between this movie and “The Book of Eli” is that both the films weren’t what I expected it to be. You keep hearing about how certain films are bleak, gloomy and depressing – “The Road” makes all of them look like kiddie fantasies. Watch it and you’ll know what I am saying. Every few minutes or so, I kept wishing something good would happen (even a little) just to make my movie-watching experience less disturbing. It is an authentic throught provoking study about humanity in the most dystopian situations ever. With great performances from Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee – you would not want to miss this…..even though this is not at all an easy watch.
Sai and Shujath talk Cinema 