Two days - two Tamil movies

It was Friday evening and yet another weekend at Mumbai was staring at me. My typical weekend would be rather lazy and boring. Get up by 10 am or so (purely coz one is hungry) have something to munch...watch TV and do some work on the laptop go out for lunch and dinner and more of TV & laptop.

This weekend also started no different. While watching TV, its a zapping exercise till you find something worthwhile to watch. On Saturday, around afternoon I suddenly realised that its been long since I watched a good Tamil movie. Given I only get to watch Sun TV, I tuned in. One of the channels with highest programme promos, I quickly caught 2 of them talking about movies being aired over the weekend - Lee on Saturday and Perazhagan on Sunday.

Half an hour later got down to watching Lee. Dont be surprised with the name. Its a story of an individual (with a group of friends around) who wants to succeed in football. Starring Sibiraj (son of Satyaraj, for all those Tamil movie fans), it showcases the struggle of a group of college students who want to make it big in football, the politics, the sacrifices and finally the revenge.

A simple no nonsense storyline and some good acting coupled with interesting camera work made it an interesting watch. Once the movie was over life was back to the weekend routine.

On Sunday, it was another interesting movie - Perazhagan. A movie with double roles for both Surya & Jothika. One (Chinna) is a hunchback village guy trying to get married who comes across a blind innocent girl while the other is a college rogue in love with an Inspector's daughter. Again simple storyline, good acting supported by great comic scenes thanks to Vivek the movie is a complete package. Its story always keeps moving and mostly in unexpected directions and has a great ending.

In all got to watch two good Tamil movies after a long time. And had a better weekend...

After watching Quantum, we really need some Solace!

One fine day sitting in office a colleague of mine received an invite for the premier of the latest Bond flick - Quantum of Solace. It was being sponsored by a new magazine launching in India. The word Bond immediately started playing multiple memories in my mind - all those stars who played Bond in the past namely Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton etc etc. As a hardcore fan described the franchise, its the same old plot an island, a technologically superior villain threatening to end the world, some hot babes, cool gadgets, unbelievable stunts ending in Bond winning and saving the world. But the way the plot is built with locations, characters, stunts, gadgets etc etc it makes an exciting affair

Over the next 2-3 days plans were being made to go watch it and I even tried sourcing some more passes without much success. On the day of the event though luckily we got hold of some passes and the excitement build up started all over again. And then its been ages that I watched a movie. We left office much after the 8.45 pm the schedule time of screening. Worried that we might miss some part of it we zipped through the Mumbai streets to reach the theatre. When we entered we realised that the pre-movie bash was still on. The movie started 15 mins later. And with it grew the excitement.

We were in for a surprise right from the start. Quite unexpectedly the movie began with a maddening car chase ending in an accident. And the bond - Daniel Craig drives off in his battered Alfa Romeo to a secret location. Over the next hour and a half to much of our disbelief we witnessed clearly the most boring Bond movie. While there were couple of cool locations but as my friend later described it- where was the plot, where were the gadgets (except possibly the screen which looked like flicked from Minority Report), where were the babes, where was the immortalised dialogue, I'm Bond. James Bond, and where was the Martini? Even the credits were so un-Bond like. The flick unbelievably was a disaster. We left the multiplex wondering whether it really was a bond movie!!!

After watching Quantum, we really need some Solace!

FLYBOYS

It was Saturday evening and everything till now went as all other weekends...Lazy morning...lot of TV and a bit of laptop for company. Motivated myself to get out of bed to go out for a quick lunch. And then back to some more of TV and laptop.

It was about 6 or so in the evening and I was zapping channels when a shot of a World War I plane flying over scenic countryside caught my attention. The channel was Star Movies. Thinking it might be Aviator, the movie I watched on. There came a commercial break and I came to know the name of the movie - Flyboys. With nothing much to watch on the sports front, I continued watching the movie. And it turned out to be a great experience.

Flyboys is a 2006 drama film set during World War I, starring James Franco (Tobby Mcguire's friend in Spiderman series), Martin Henderson (of Pride & Prejudice fame) and Jean Reno, an amazing actor who has played some great roles over all these years. Flyboys is a story of young Americans who go to France for different reasons, enlist them as pilots, volunteering to serve the French Air Force against the Central powers. During their training, the film mainly deals with the struggles each pilot has with the demanding flying; later, the focus shifts to the aerial dogfights that dominate the front line missions.

What kept me interested and later rivetted to the TV was the entire plot - the aerial sorties and finally the dogfights. The film through the setting also talks about camaradrie, racial prejudice, love, passion and finally revenge. Franco has played the role of an ace pilot and later that of a leader exceptionally well. And Jean Reno as the commander...as always a class act. The dogfights, shot amazingly from almost all angles were pretty interesting and pushing the adrenalin levels up...let it be the one on one, the sorties, the bombing of enemy depot or taking off the Zepplin. The killing of the ace enemy pilot using a pistol suddenly reminded me of Rajnikanth movie though!!!

When I did a search on Wikipedia, there were a lot of historical lapses that were pointed out but, overall it was a great movie and really worth watching. And then I was really not looking at it from education perspective. For that I should be watching National Geographic or The History Channel. Definitely recommended for a one time watch. And the DVD will definitely be part of my war movies collection...

Memories of Lagaan

Its Diwali today. Am in Rayagada, a small town / district in the south of Orissa. Rayagada is where my father in law worked with JK Paper Mills and retired. Like almost everybody of that generation, he chose to settle down here gotten built a small abode for himself.
With diwali comes new clothes, crackers, sweets and good old family get together around TV. I have grown up watching some Tamil movies over Diwali like Baasha, Muthu and Annamalai. Today while zapping channels I chanced upon the Aamir Khan epic – Lagaan.

I have very very fond memories of this movie…simply because it takes me back to my days in Lintas when I was working on a big consumer promotion for Britannia with Lagaan. While I did catch it in the theatres, over the next 45 days I might have seen it over 30-40 times. And during this time office or the studio was my home...depending on where I was....It was also because the entire consumer promotion and hence the communication package was designed around the movie. The sales audio visual, the TV commercials, radio jingles, posters, danglers etc etc. The project also gave me access to the making of the move, rare footages, pictures, related stories etc. This helped me a great deal in contributing to making the communication so much more in sync with the movie.

Like Sholay & a lot of other cult movies I could almost recite the whole story frame by frame, the character names, dialogues etc. While it was a very very serious movie, it had its own share of comedy which kept it light. The entire cricket team of Bhuvan (Aamir) was so well casted! So were the other elements in the movie – the location, sets, music etc. To top it all the legendary narration of Amitabh Bachchan!

Though I had watched the movie so many times, every time I saw a piece of communication coming out I would jump with joy.

After all the handwork, the highpoint was when I got a chance to be part of the launch press conference where in Aamir & his cricket team was present. I was surprised to see all of them look at the screen in utmost awe when the audio visual was played. The icing on the cake was of course a personalized autograph from Aamir and of course a cricket bat with the autograph of the entire team!

Its been a good 7 years. Watching the movie made me feel as if it was yesterday. Time is flying……..And how!!!

CLICK - The experience

October 2nd. It was a relatively quieter day with less traffic and I left with my colleague for office. After a not so great day at office and whatever followed, we finally left for home. After finishing dinner I went with Praveen (my colleague @ Kingfisher Airlines) to his residence. We sat watching TV. After the usual zapping we settled to watch an Adam Sandler - Kate Beckinsale flick titled 'Click' (got to know the name a little later). Warning: What follows is not a movie review.

It’s a story of a guy who’s happy go lucky what with him laying his hands on a Universal remote which will control his universe. He started using it to make his fantasies real, then forward things he was not too excited about etc etc. With nothing better coming on TV we continued watching. And soon we were into it completely. What kept us gripped is a simple, entertaining storyline which is a trademark of all Adam Sandler movies. While he's happy with the remote and the advantages he has he soon realises life is running too fast and soon getting out of hand. Daughter has grown up and goes partying, wife's got grey hair etc. In another fast forward his wife has married another person and he’s in the hospital for obesity treatment...another fast forward and his dad is no more. And some sequences later he's himself on his death bed. His kids meet him at the hospital upset and move on. Worried that he may never meet them again he runs out of the hospital and ultimately dies amidst his ex-wife and kids. And there was a timely commercial break after that. Expecting movie credits after the break we both wondered what the flick was all about...was it an Adam Sandler movie etc etc. We were in for a surprise. After the break we see Sandler happily sleeping in a big retail outlet. He suddenly wakes up to realise all that has happened to him was a big dream. Happy that he's still alive...happy that he still has his parents around him, happy that his kids are still as young as they were before, happy that his wife was still next to him he’s overcome with joy.

The whole sequence also makes him and along with him the audience realise that he got a second chance to enjoy life. And not let it slip by.

After a hectic day we, Praveen & me watched a movie which was...I wonder what would the right words be...amazing? thought provoking? inspirational? As many thoughts flicker around we both discussed that in a short span we were made to realise what was happening around us. In all a very simple yet beautiful movie. Would recommend it to all of you who haven’t seen it yet.

Just hope to keep it in the back of my mind and approach life accordingly.

Dus Bahane Karke Le Gayi Dil!

This morning like all other days I was up by around 6.45 am....Got up had a shower, switched on the TV and was having my breakfast. While flipping channels I stopped on one which was playing music. A track just got over and the next one was beginning. Having my breakfast by the side I was staring at the TV screen wondering which track was it. Remote was handy just in case the track was not the one I would want to listen to...To my amusement it was 'Dun Bahane' from the movie 'Dus'. I immediately increased the volume and switched the audio to Theatre mode (my Philips TV has some really handy options) and listened to the song. In no time it took me back in time....

It was June 2005....Dus (with the tag line Every hour, every minute, every second... counts) the much talked about movie's trailers and previews were all over the TV channels. Tarilers...previews...musci release...reviews etc etc etc. Like all other Bollywood flicks the TV preview started with the title track 'Dus bahane' ...Starring Zayed Khan & Abhishek Bachhan, sung by Kay Kay & SHantanu Mukherjee with music by Vishal & Shekar (later went on to give other hits like Bluffmaster & Om Shanti Om), the track was an instant hit. And soon found its way into the playlist of almost everybody. From PCs to IPod & MP3 players...from pubs & disks to the restaurants, malls and the cab n auto drivers! The movie previews also built curiosity amongst one and all and was being eagerly awaited.

A hardcore bollywood music buff that I am, every time the song was played on any channel, I would pump up the TV volume and start dancing to the racy track...back at office we would discussed about how cool the movie was looking and how we should be watching it. And then one day (possibly within the first week of release) in July 2005, we decided to catch the movie. There were 5-6 of us along with this 3 year rockstar Anoushka! It was decided that we will catch it at Naga (a theatre near Ulsoor, Bangalore which if not mistaken has already been razed down). Tickets were bought for an evening show, we wrapped up work early and reached the theatre rather 30 mins before the show was supposed to start. The crowd outside was abuzz with the eagerness to catch the movie what with the previews of the songs, the stunt sequences etc.

Eager not to miss the starting we got into the theatre and were happy that we were in the row marked 'A' fight at the back! We quickly settled down. After the customary 'No Smoking / spitting' and 'Keep mobile phones switched off' messages and a few TV commercials, the movie finally started. After settling down and a bit of chattering as soon as the movie name came on screen all of us went silent gazed at the screen, eyes wide open with a lot of anticipation! To much of our surprise it started with the 'Dus Bahane' track. With the aid of now very popular Dolby surround sound system...the effect was great. So much so that we all stood up dancing to the track. It was so catchy that even Anoushka had cought on to it and did the jig with us...

The move, the plot, the song and stunt sequences were great. The end was a bit of a dampener but over all we had a great time....

Defining a Hit!

When does a movie in India qualify to be called a hit? I wonder...

Growing up in various part of the country depending on where my father was posted, we (me, parents & my younger brother) used to travel down south for our summer vacations. During the period of 40-45 days we would have travelled through villages in Coimbatore and Madurai districts. And over the years we have watched Rajinikanth (the Superstar), Kamal Hassan and a host of other actors & actresses, their movies and their fan followings. Every movie was well documented right from the day its announced. Till not long ago Rajini & Kamal will have a movie releases on Pongal (harvest festival celebrated on January 14th) & Diwali days which happens with much fanfare consisting of huge processions to garland the actor's cut outs with music bands dishing out the actors hit songs etc amongst deafening noise of crackers.

And then the movies will run to packed houses for weeks and sometimes months together. A movie, if am not mistaken was declared a hit if its run for 25 weeks in the olden days, then came the times when it became 100 days to be declared a hit. Currently am told with the new generation actors 50 is the number down south.

In Bollywood it seems to be very very different. There are movies which have hardly run for a week or couple of weeks and they are declared hit. And this one within a couple of weeks is a worldwide hit!!!

Has the time span to qualify gone down or is it yet another stunt of promoting a movie and catching attention? Wonder if its a mix of both....

Personally it doesn't matter. Am somehow clear as to which moves I want to watch in theaters...and which ones I would rather catch glimpses on TV.

Whats your opinion of a hit???