Vishal Bhardwaj who shot to fame as a composer of Maachis in 1996 has come a long way. Since then he has established himself as a composer, lyricist, singer, director, and writer. Kaminey is his 6th movie as director nevertheless he has composed music for more than 30 movies so far. He composed the music of all the movies he directed except Blood Brothers which was one of the four short films for Mira Nair’s AIDS Jaago Films.

Review of OST – Kaminey:

Dhan Te Nan:

Singer(s): Sukhwinder Singh, Vishal Dadlani and Robert Bob Omulo – Ranting and Raving already all over. It is the promotional song of Kaminey. The song was out on youtube with still pictures of Shahid and Priyanka to compensate for but listening in to OST is another experience altogether. Sukhwinder and Vishal in duet (first time I guess) harmonize perfectly. Throw RAP by Robert and you have song of the album. 5 on 5.

Pehli Baar Mohabbat:

Singer: Mohit Chauhan – He is every composer’s choice for the soft number post Khoon Chala (RDB) and Tum Se Hi (Jab We Met). If these two gave him recognition, Kuchh Khaas (Fashion) gave him absolute credibility. The guy doesn’t go wrong. This song is not in league of his earlier ones mentioned above including my absolute favorite of his Gunchaa Koi (Main, Meri Patni aur Woh) and Gulon Mein (Sikandar); he is perfect though for the beautiful lyrics of Pehli Baar Mohabbat penned by eminent Gulzar. 3.5 on 5.

Fatak:

Singer(s): Sukhwinder Singh and Kailash Kher – This song will remind you of the title track of Omkara. The commencement with the repeated use of word Fatak is direct musing of Omkara. Only when Kailash joins the song starts to find its own holding, although unsuccessfully. Sorry, Omkara’s title is too strong a remembrance; still. 2.5 on 5.

Kaminey:

Singer: Vishal Bhardwaj – The next best track after Dhan Te Nan is the title which Vishal kept for himself. After singing in Omkara, No Smoking and U, Me Aur Hum, he is once again at his best with title song. He never fails to impress. 5 on 5.

Go Charlie Go:

Singer: None - It’s the theme music of the movie on the lines of Dhan Te Nan. On first hear you can visualize it as a dark night/a chase/a con in progress/anything. 4 on 5.

Raat Ke Dhai Baje:

Singer(s): Rekha Bhardwaj, Suresh Wadkar, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kunal Ganjawala – Vishal’s wife Rekha [last heard in Genda Phool (Dilli-6) and Ranaji (Gulaal)] along with missing in action for sometime Kunal and Suresh render a different version of Pehli Baar Mohabbat. This will strike a chord of Beedi Jalaile (Omkara) but only if you mull over the lyrics. The composition is singular. 4 on 5.

The next two tracks are remixes of Dhan Te Nan and Raat Ke Dhai Baje.
Vishal is known for incorporating some distinctive Hindi words while working with Gulzar and Kaminey is no different. Not much proficient with Hindi might find it difficult to comprehend few words. Overall, the album is creative and worth a collection. On the whole 4 on 5.

Continued from Part 1

The seeds of frenzy for cinema were sown.

My father held that position for a good 4 years till he was transferred to Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh. In those 4 years, I watched close to 250 movies. I had a small notebook maintained of the movies I watched beside other details like cast, director, date of watching et al.

Eventually, new releases started hitting the defense theater as well. The first movie ever which I saw on the first day of release was Govinda’s Ilzaam and incidentally it was his debut movie as well. I do not remember much of that but same year Govinda had another release, Love 86http://blessed-curse.blogspot.com/2009/04/me-and-cinema-part-1.html and I saw that movie 3 times. Govinda instantly took over from Mithun as my favorite. Mithun and his Disco Dancer had left a massive impression on me and those days I could be found fighting with my brother for his stance that Amitabh Bachchan can kill Mithun with one punch. There were no arguments on who is better actor; that did not matter to us then as I recall now. There used to be just fights between us for who can defeat whom if they get in a brawl. Another point I used to put forward was Mithun is a good dancer and Amitabh cannot dance at all. For which my brother retorted with this: Mithun is Nachaniya (slang for cross dressers who dance in weddings up north) and Amitabh is real MARD.

All the time he said this, I did something horrible to him (apart from the ongoing punches and kicks we exchanged). Once, while playing in school during interval, I pronto jumped at him, snatched his glasses and threw far away and ran like hell. Or like pulling his knicker down during the assembly, stuffing his lunchbox with sand, emptying his water bottle.

And all this because of he had bad mouthed Mithun.

Govinda after that movie was my favorite for sometime till I saw a movie released much earlier than Love 86. It was Vinod Khann’s Hera Pheri. Well, it was Amitabh’s too but I was never Amitabh's fan. I had seen other movies of Vinod but Hera Pheri transformed me into a bona fide fan of his. And I knew I was his only fan. No one and I say as a matter of fact, no one in my vicinity ever said that Vinod is their favorite. If few did vouch for Mithun or Govinda, no one mentioned Vinod. I now know I was yet to meet some people who were sensible enough to appreciate what an actor he was and thankfully I do now know many such people and particularly few ladies who appreciate a lot more in him than his persona. I know one such who still gets weak-kneed speaking of him.

When it came to heroines, I was absolutely besotted with Sri Devi from then till now. I need a whole different post to talk of her. So, I am going to talk of other few who enormously caught my interest. There was Neetu Singh and her gleaming smile. Dekh Ke Tumko Dil Dola Hai song had three couples; Vinod and Neetu amongst them but not paired opposite. I was not so happy with that information. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoy that song (if not the movie) even now when I see it on some channel.

Bollywood then always came up with movies which were like mind puzzles. Whose son/daughter was born where, raised by whom, finally ending where to avenge whatever crime that was committed by whomever gazillion years ago? And I enjoyed all of them. One such was Dharamveer starring Dharamendra, Zeenat, Jeetendra and Neetu. Chuck all, Neetu was the one for me.

Amrita Singh was another who caught my fancy. I was upset with Mayapuri for calling her ‘Mard Singh’ and I was overtly glad few years later when Jackie Shroff called her the ‘Real Princess’. I am not sure if it was Jackie or someone else. I remember reading that though. Whoever it was knew the real her like I always knew.

As I grew older, I also criticized these very favorites of mine (Mithun, Vinod, Neetu, Amrita) for their idiotic roles and bizarre performances. I knew then, I cannot be anyone’s fan just for the sake of it. I found myself to be blatant in my opinion by the age of 10.

The seeds of unprejudiced position for performances were sown.

P.S. A little diversion here: I am not liking the posts/blogs written on MJ's death and how sad people who are writing these are after hearing he is finished.

When he was alive, none of these people wrote post/blog on 'how good an artiste he was' but post his death everyone seems to be mourning his death out of no where. Be it Shekhar Kapoor, Ram Gopal Varma, Adnan Sami or my fellow blog mates; everyone seems to get up from sleep to say something about him. I like anyone else grew up on his music but I never captured him in my writings all this while; so I see no reason to imprison him in my words post his demise.

I commiserate the sentiment of those who spoke of him. In fact, I did go and comment on few of the blogs which spoke of MJ’s death; but I did that out of friendship with the blogger friend who wrote the piece. I do not wish to offend anyone here by saying this; nonetheless I am finding it very uncanny to read plethora of piece upon his death.

Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka to win the ICC Twenty20 World Cup Trophy in it’s second season. Pakistan who lost the inaugural final to India in 2007 demonstrated how good they are the team in a match which they almost lost at the end of 15th Over. Cricbuzz reporters after that over wrote: Only Pakistan is capable of losing at this point and only Sri Lanka is capable of not winning from this point. What an ironical statement but I guessed that summed up how Asian teams ultimately choke at the Nth moment. India leads at that is my theory and I stand by it. However, at the end of 17th over it could have been anyone’s game. Many lost faith in Afridi, who by now had just managed to gather 1 or 2 runs if not notorious boundaries and high-flying ones for which he is better known as.

I have been Pakistan Cricket fan since they were defeated by India in 1996 World Cup quarter finals at Chinnaswamy in Bangalore. It was the first ever live match I had seen, despite the fact I was in mid of my Class X board exams and ‘Science’ was 2 days after that unforgettable match. I was over the moon for India’s triumph but I had my heartfelt sympathy for the losing team. I was just 15 then to settle on a favorite. Back then, I had always gone by the fact I am Indian and I need to show my hold up for them. How naïve that was I sense now. As I grew up, I prepared myself for the predictable; wherein, I will be questioned for my beliefs. However, when I still see people holding up to any one for sheer emotional stance, I cringe if their reasoning is not strong enough but I have stopped confronting them.

When Pakistan reached the final of 1999 world cup and were brutally assaulted by the formidable Australian team I was disappointed as a fan. Nevertheless, I also knew they lost to the best side of that time. It was Lord’s and today at the same ground they defeated Sri Lanka and winning by the same number of wickets Australia had won against them 10 years ago, ghosts are finally laid to the rest after that ghastly loss.


Younis Khan in his most emotional statement ever said before the finals that this win is very important for them and their trouble torn country. Winning is all that is in our mind, he said. And I second that. A momentary happiness but they have something to exult on. And the man who achieved this, of course with the helping hands of other team members is Shahid Afridi. He was the part of the loss in 1999 and he is part of the win in 2009. I cannot see any other sportsman at this moment more joyous than him. He was in his best form throughout and keeping his calm (which is unlikely of him) was appreciable in the close fought match at Lord’s today. The team owes it to him or maybe he was paying back. I remember watching India vs Pakistan Test Match at Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2005 and that’s the only one test match I ever saw live on all the five days. Once, Afridi was fielding at the boundary and I could see him very clearly. Indian crowd booed him endlessly and also threw mouthful of maa-behen ki gaalis at him. I was aghast. Why? Why were my countrymen doing that? Afridi reacted to it by raising his water bottle in the gesture that suggested “Shove it up”. Indians went berserk and gave another round of mouthful. Finally, he was moved to different position; much inside the boundary.

Indians were about to be defeated by then. I tried to reason my mind by thinking the inevitable loss which was about to happen could be the reason for people to behave in such contemptible manner. I was wrong. The public was not bothered about our defeat. I found out; We just love to hate Pakistan Cricket team. I did not like that idea. I was speaking to my classmates after the match and they did not find anything wrong with how few Indians had behaved that day. It was all unsettling for me. I kept my mouth shut. But today I won’t. I have always found them a better team than us. Why I emphasize on 'us' is because all this while I had supported them in mind but this is first time ever I supported them so blatantly and I went into countless arguments for this. For me, It doesn’t matter what Pakistan as a country comes across as to the world and India in particular. When I inadvertently blurted ‘Bhai Log Achha Khel Rahe Hain’ in Pakistan’s favor against their semi-final match against South Africa, a friend in point of fact got hurt by that statement of mine and asked me how could I use term ‘Bhai Log’ for Pakis. For me it was irrelevant, I said it as I would have said ‘buddy’ or ‘yaar’; but he by then had got really upset. I find that stupid. They are my favorites and I have followed their game enigmatically all these years. How can anyone take that away from me? Supporting Pakistan cricket team is not a crime for heaven’s sake. They deserved to win and they did win. End of Story.

Street dancers Diversity won this year’s Britain’s Got Talent. IMO, they deserved to win after that scintillating dance act in the finals. 48-year old Hairy Angel Susan Boyle for the finals sang “I Dreamed A Dream”, same song which made her an instant star after the first round. Initially ridiculed for her appearance and later for Everything-is-planned ploy which also included the planned shock reaction of audiences and judges alike, she decided to quit the show mid-way. However, she stayed on and came second in the third season of Britain’s Got Talent. I loved her singing but I guess she was hyped way too much. That apart, she has got impressive voice.

My personal favorites Shaheen Jafargholi and Stavros Flatley did enter final but could not reach the final three. In particular twelve year old Shaheen was an absolute delight to hear. Like Susan, he too chose the song he sang in the first round; Michael Jackson’s “Who’s Loving You” and boy was he good? He was enormously attention-grabbing. Greek Irish father-son duo of Stavros Flatley completely entertained with their uncanny dance manner.

Other findings which I enjoyed were: 10-year old Natalie Okri and 11-year old Aidan Davis. Natalie rocked with Jamelia’s Superstar song and Aidan wowed everyone with his delightful dance.

Thanks to talent.itv.com and live commentary by Sujoy on his blog, I was able to watch all these great acts on internet. There were many more amazing performances; I have listed only my favorites.

In my last post, many people asked me the source of those movies. Pirated? Downloaded? Well, nopes. I do not download them from net. I am way too impatient for that. And forget finding those movies in your local dvd library. I am member of DVD rental sites Seventymm and Bigflix. And that’s where I get the movies from. This doesn’t work out cheaper but ultimately I it’s worth it. I had been member of 70mm for over two years now. I am not too demanding, in the sense I do not look out for latest blockbusters or famous ones. I look out for movies which are hard to get otherwise and which we hardly get to hear of. There are so many movies being made all over the world and we get to hear of just 15-20%. Where else could I have seen Iranian/Korean/Mandarin/French/German/Persian/Spanish/Japanese et al language movies? In the name of foreign language films, all that gets released in India are the blockbusters of Hollywood, half of which I found absolute crap. Yes, I am talking of Superman/Spiderman, ye-man, wo-man, Harry Potter and many such. They might be having huge followings but I do not like such movies. Of late, the scene has changed and we do get to see some lesser known good ones releasing in India too, ‘The Revolutionary Road’ for example. Yet, the scene is pathetic when it comes to the release of Non-English movies in India.

Am I happy with them? I have heard from few friends from north that 70mm service sucks. Well, I haven’t found any reasons whatsoever so far to discontinue my membership. And definition of suck varies from one to another. My look-outs are usually the Non-English foreign language films and 70mm comes with a good collection of them. For English, I am trying to watch as many old classics as possible. I am going by the decade and I am still on 50s/60s/70s. I half-way through watching the movies of Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor et al. I do not see any other way to watch their movies as I yet cannot afford to buy DVDs of all these movies.

Serviceability too is an important factor, and my experience says these providers have improved a lot in last couple of years. Initially I did face few hiccups but I was patient. Bigflix I joined recently because I wasn’t getting few movies on 70mm. Though, 70mm remains my primary provider. Cinema Paradiso is another DVD rental site, but I haven’t checked out them. My queue in the former 2 is more than 100+ which will take some time to get exhausted. However, Cinema Paradiso is another good one if words of few of my friends are anything to go by.

I do not go by the fact which site provides maximum number of titles. What is the point if you have more number of titles but what you want to see is not there? These are web based, you can check out the kind of movies you wish to watch and decide whether you want to take the membership or not. Makes sense?

Btw, did I tell how Bangalore is progressing backwards? The deadline for pubs/clubs to remain open is 11.30 PM, killing the nightlife. And, not many know that dancing here in pubs/clubs is banned. This wasn't enough that the show timings of the movies have been revised and the last show of the day will be screened at 8 PM. Can anyone beat that? The last show here till now started by 10 PM and in order to reduce the crime (words of Shankar Bidari, Bangalore Police Commissioner), they have decided to end the show at the most by 11 PM for which the show must be at 8. Now, is that rational? I do not even wish to get into the pros and cons of this as I feel there are many people (working ones usually) who would prefer to go for late night show after day’s work. And if not just that, there could be hazaar other reasons. And why any reasons? Do not we have any say in anything? Ending up show 2 hours early than usual will reduce crime. Mashallah.

Facebook and Blogging took backseat, thanks to work. Phone calls and SMSes reduced but Books and Movies never lost their priority. Surprisingly, the number of movies I watched in last one month is almost double of what I watched in 2 months before that. And same goes for the books. I finished 4 books and started the 5th one 4 days back. IPL too was something which kept me away from the world. My favorites since the first edition of IPL (Delhi Daredevils) lost in semi-final, so I wasn't actually rooting for any particular team in finals. No, I am not amongst those who decide their favs based on the place they belong to or feel closer to. Bangalore played good cricket (in the later half of IPL-2) but they were(are) never in my top 3 list. However, I appreciate their game and the rise from nowhere to runner-ups and same goes for Deccans for showing the best of cricket and clinching the IPL-2 trophy.

Anyways, here goes short reviews of the movies I saw in last one month.

World Cinema: (English title in bracket)

Kurdish/Persian:

Niwemang (Half Moon) - *** - Mamo, a musician after seven months of hard labor to get approval to perform in Iraqi Kurdistan leaves for the final concert of his life along with his sons (9 or 10 they were). Along the way, he picks up a female singer Hesho. As women are not allowed to sing in public, they all get in to trouble with the police. Niwemang (Half-Moon), a girl who is a huge fan of Mamo suddenly appears out of nowhere and helps them in reaching the concert place on time.

Portuguese:

Cidade de Deus (City of God) - ****1/2 - If you run you're dead...if you stay, you're dead again. Period. That’s the tag line of the movie. It sums up the movie. One of the finest movies based on Mafia/Crime/Thriller, Cidade de Deus tells the story of a boy (Rocket from his point of view) as he gets entangled in the drugs, crime, and an ultimate rush to get away from it. A true story based in 60s and 70s of Brazil is a real cinema that would leave you with a lump in your throat.

German:

Gegen die Wand (Head-On) - ***1/2 – Part German and part Turkish movie Gegen die Wand is a romantic drama. Cahit is not so happy with his life and after getting drunk at a club, rams his car purportedly into the wall. He survives but has a support around neck. At the hospital he sees a girl (Sibel) staring at her. As soon as he walks out, the girl approaches him and asks him to marry her. He is shocked at the proposal. Sibel explains her reasoning and they get married. Quite strange eh? Watch the movie to realize how amazingly psychedelic it gets. Directed by celebrated director Fatih Akin, Head-On or Gegen die Wand is a fresh story.

Im Juli (In July) - ****1/2 – After Gegen die Wand I wanted to watch other movies of Fatih Akin and got hold of Im Juli. The story is spanned across the first 8 days of the month of July.

Daniel is a school teacher in Hamburg. He is not planning to go out of city for summer vacation. Juli (a vendor) has crush on him but she is too shy to tell him that. She finds a way out. She sells him a ring with a Sun on it. She tells him that he soon will meet a girl who will carry a sun too and that girl will understand him the most. Daniel sees a girl (Melek) wearing a t-shirt with sun imprinted on it. He befriends her. Melek, its soon revealed is from Turkey and is heading to Istanbul to meet her boyfriend. Juli sees them both and is dejected and decides to leave city for vacation. Coincidentally Daniel who by now has decided to follow Melek to the Istanbul gives her a ride when he sees Juli at the road which goes out of city. A marvelous and unexpected journey filled with unusual circumstances begin and things go out of hand. They get separated only to meet at Istanbul by when Daniel has already met Melek and in a surprising way her boyfriend before meeting her. It is a lovely story and was released in 2000. The emphasis on year is because after watching this, I have no doubts that Imtiaz Ali was totally inspired by it to make his ‘Jab We Met’. I was of a mind that JWM was an original story but I do not think so now. Our makers, mashallah.

Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir) - **** - Nominated this year for Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category, Vals Im Bashir is the first animated movie to achieve that honor. Ari, a director once is reminded by his friend about the Lebanon War they both were part of. Ari has long forgotten the war and do not have a single memory of that war. He is not suffering from Amnesia, he knows. Yet, there is no memory of that war. He starts looking for friends who were with him then and gives a picture to what he is told. The movie is a poignant drain. An absolute moving film.

French:

Les Quatre Cents Coups (400 Blows) - **** - Spoilt boy Antoine is a trouble maker and pain in ass for his parents and school teachers. Majorly misunderstood boy soon gets into minor crimes in the neighborhood. He spreads his wings of trivial crimes to the city (Paris). Paris is captured magnificently through the eyes of Antoine in this passionate drama.

Spanish:

Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch) - ****1/2 – Three stories. Interconnected through a ghastly car accident. Motorcycle star Gael Garcia is in love with his brother’s wife and persuades her to run away with him. He gets his pet dog in a dog-fighting competition to make money so that he can run away with his beloved. A middle aged publisher abandons his family for the love of Spanish Supermodel. The model gets injured in the car accident which is caused by Gael Garcia. A homeless-moneyless ex-teacher who has a junk cart carrying stray dogs is the witness of this accident. There is much more to all this than said. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the great direction and brilliant performances by all.

Korean:

Bin-Jip (3-Iron) - ***1/2 – The protagonist has a peculiar way of living. He looks out for the houses which are empty (probably on vacation et al) and gets into the house secretly to live till the family is back. While staying, he takes care of the house like his own, washing clothes etc. Once, he gets into house absolutely unaware of the fact that the abused and assaulted wife is still there. He goes on living and she secretly watches him. Once he realizes that their life changes. The movie has minimal dialogues and is majorly conveyed through actions and emotions.

Hollywood:

Judgment at Nuremberg - **** - 3 years after World War – II, an American Court puts 4 Nazi Judges on trial for ill-doings during the Hitler’s regime. Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift come once again after ‘From Here To Eternity’ in this highly powerful movie. Clift has a cameo; however he goes onto win Nominations for the Best Supporting Actor at Oscars that year. The best part of the movie was the Actor Maximilian Schell (Won Best Actor-Oscar). A movie loaded with dominant performances and emotion.

In Bruges - *** - Nominated for the Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) at Golden Globes, In Bruges is a story of two hit men (Colin and Brendan) hired by Ralph to go to Bruges. Colin has a disturbing past of killing a young boy. The story thereafter follows their time spent in Bruges. Colin who got nominated for Best Actor at GG and ultimately won has moved from his eye-candy image and grown as an actor a la Di Caprio.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - **1/2 - Woody Allen, The Moghul of sex-inclined movies comes with another tale of sexually-driven story of two female friends (Scarlett and Rebecca) who are on tour to Spain and their encounter with artiste couple (Penelope and Javier). Javier propositions Scarlett-Rebecca to accompany him for weekend to a distant city. Rebecca hesitates but Scarlett is totally smitten by him. They both eventually accompany and the trip and the return thereafter change everyone’s life including Javier’s wife Penelope.

Dot the I - ***1/2 - Another Gael Garcia’s movie. Natalia is engaged to James and on her Hen’s night (similar to Bachelor’s party), she is asked to participate in a tradition wherein she has to kiss a complete stranger. She kisses Gael who is sitting at the same restaurant. Soon, they fall in love and what ensues thereafter is an absolute treat for people who like thrillers with a pinch of drama and romance added.

Milk - **** - Everyone knows about Milk. Oscar winning movie about America’s first openly gay activist Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn who got Best Actor Oscar for this role) who gets elected to California office and his fight for gay rights is an intense and emotional film. The film captures Milk’s life from the day he turned 40 till the time he was killed by his colleague Dan White, who was a conservative.

All The King’s Men - ***1/2 – Sean Penn plays smart and cunning Willie Stark, elected governor who is up against the riches and upper classes. When upper classes (including an influential judge) get together to impeach him, he gets one of his subordinates, Jude Law (who is related to judge but rebelled to support Willie) to trace the life of the judge. Things get ugly during the course and it ends with a dreadful finale.

Left Luggage - ***1/2 – There have been umpteen movies based on Holocaust. Left Luggage is one of them. It tells the story of a holocaust survivor who had hidden the suitcases during WW-II and after the war is over he starts looking for his suitcases (luggage). His daughter Chaya is a party time baby-sitter-cum-nanny at a Jewish family. The head of the family is a conservative Jewish while Chaya is a free-spirited and liberal Jewish. Chaya is well accepted by the other family members (wife and 4 children) especially the youngest boy. The boy cannot speak though he is four years old. Chaya often takes him to the park near the lake and teaches him to speak. Everybody’s life turns upside down one fine morning. A heart-touching drama.

Platoon - **** - The infamous NAM war has been the favorites of many American directors. Platoon, the first in trilogy (followed by Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven & Earth) covering the Vietnam War by JFK director Oliver Stone is not just about men fighting the war. It is an emotional portrayal of a young recruit (Charlie Sheen) who is caught between the fight with enemies and the fight within his regiment.

Henry and June - *** - A true story. Acclaimed authors Henry Miller and Anais Nin had more than just mutual admiration for each other. June (Uma Thurman) who was married to Henry and supposedly had same-sex relation with Anais was an inspiration to both Henry and Anais. Henry and June literally lived off Anais and her husband Hugo’s money when in Paris. Anais gets into sexual relation with Henry while he is working on his novel (Tropic of Cancer; title suggested by Anais). Anais is intimated by June and shares a moment or two of intimacy with her.

Movies of Audrey Hepburn:

When it comes to Audrey, the only word that comes to my mind is enchanting. She is an absolute delight to watch. The first movie of hers that I saw was Breakfast at Tiffany’s and I was blown. Roman Holiday confirmed my confidence in her and I realized there can never be anyone like Audrey. That was last year. I wasn’t able to get hold of her other movies as my search continued. And this month I got to see three of her finest works.

Wait Until Dark - ***1/2 has her playing a blind girl who is left alone at apartment by her husband who has some work to attend to. Three men take advantage of the situation and enter the apartment in search of a doll who they believe her husband has hidden. Only these three men know that the doll has heroine stuffed inside it which her husband was given at the airport by a young woman who wanted to avoid giving it to one of these men present then at the airport. Woman puts it in Audrey’s husband’s hand and vanishes amongst the crowd. A crime thriller well directed.

Charade - ***1/2 – A startling chemistry between legends Cary Grant and Audrey in Charade will be remembered for ever. Audrey while in Paris discovers that her husband (never shown) is killed and has left a fortune which is missing. Many men enter her life suddenly to lay claim to the missing cash, including Cary Grant. She trusts only Cary but later finds out even he is fake and is behind the cash. The movie is full with some very interesting and witty dialogues between Cary and Audrey.

My Fair Lady - ***** - The best of the lot (these 3). Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is an upper class snob, who thinks that he can make a flower girl (Audrey) who is crude, tom-boyish and unrefined into a proper lady and can pass her as one from roal family with hew teachings on phonetics, language and mannerisms. The musical has many fine moments. This is how a musical should be made I feel. Watch it for a totally different pleasure.

When I first watched Cinema Paradiso, I could not believe it. I saw initial days of my life there. For uninitiated Cinema Paradiso in essence would be a story of an eight or nine year old boy who is fascinated with behind the screen happenings at a theater. Loading the reels, focusing, aligning and projecting enthralled him.

The first ever movie (that I remember) I watched in a theater was Silsila (Amitabh-Rekha-Jaya) from the projector room. I remember standing on the stool and peeping through a hole to see a big screen of an open theater. Soon, I came out and stood in the lobby next to the projector room. I was mesmerized. I wish I knew the word love then.

My father worked for Indian Air Force. Those days almost every defense unit (Army, Air Force or Navy) had a mini-theater or an open theater. When he was transferred to Air Force Station Rajokri (Delhi) from Air Force Station Jodhpur (Rajasthan) I was three years old. He was given the charge of an open theater. My mother tells me that technically my first movie was Rocky (Sanjay Dutt) when she carried me along with my twin brother for the first ever screening under my father’s supervision. Of course, I do not remember. However, I saw Rocky much later, bought the DVD and see it once in a while out of ‘missed’ nostalgia. So, Silsila it was, and the coincidence is both these movies were released the year I was born (1981).

I entertained my father’s colleague with an enthusiastic dance whenever ‘Rang Barse’ came on the screen. I saw the last two shows back to back daily for three days, making it six viewing of Silsila in three days. Thereafter, almost all movies had at least three viewings by me.

There were no Fridays release decrees in the Air Force. It was two different movies in a week regulation. Every Tuesday a movie would release which will run for three days and Friday another movie was screened that went till Monday. I was hooked to it. Most of the times the movie would get screened six months after their India release (this I got to know much later) as prints were not directly available to the defense units in those days. Elders knew but no one cared. Defense people were by and large known to be cut off from the world then. There were no updates on new releases anywhere whatsoever which a child could get hand on. I got into a mild depression thinking how I was cheated with the fact that I am the privileged one to see a movie the moment it is made is a different story. I was thinking people who made movies knew my father and are sending those reels directly to him to screen it.

Nevertheless, I also realized I have had an experience of a lifetime. I could touch those reels, feel them, could pause the various stages of the movie right in my hand. I wasn’t allow to load the reel or fiddle with the projector as per my father’s strict orders to his employees but I did start the projector, positioned the focusing light through the hole and adjusted it accordingly on the screen whenever father was away with the help of his subordinate. I spent my time after school drifting around in theater than playing with my friends. I did play few sports but I was a better spectator of them.

The seeds of frenzy for cinema were sown.

The moment you all have been waiting for is here. You have decided the winners of The MovieManiax Awards’08.

Before declaring the winners, some interesting ins and outs of the awards:

Category that received Highest votes: Best Film – 394

Category that received Lowest votes: Best Child Artiste – 301

Individual who received Highest votes: Manjot Singh (Best Child Artiste for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye – 204 out of 301)

Individual who received Lowest votes: Adhvik Mahajan (Best Debut for Contract – 7 out of 311) and song Aae Paapi (Song of the Year – 7 out of 307)

Maximum margin to the 2nd; (Absolute No Competition): Manjot Singh got 204 votes in total of 301 votes in Best Child Artiste category. Purav Bhandare for Tahaan who came second received 43 votes.

Minimum margin to the 2nd; (Cut-Throat Competition): Abhay Deol lost to Naseeruddin Shah in the Best Actor (Male) category. Abhay received 113 to Naseer’s 114 in total of 360.

The winners are listed on The MovieManiax Blog.

Now, coming to the Guessing The Winner Contest.

NO ONE got all 6 guesses correct. As promised, we must declare 5 winners. So, those who got 5 guesses correct will compete for the first three spots and people with 4 correct guesses will fight for the fourth and fifth position. We will soon come up with a way to decide the deserving winners. Here are the results:


Fenil – 5
Rakesh – 5
MystiqueDew – 5

Sahaja – 4
AlphabetWorld – 4
Bhargav – 4
Vikas – 4
Perx – 4
Amit – 4

007(V) – 3
Praveen - 3
Shayari – 3
Kanagu – 3
Oorja – 3

UH – 2
Kanupriya – 2

Finally, I thank all of you for the support.

Many people visited the Contest Post which all MM members have published in their respective blogs, but not many guessed. The response to the Awards have been tremendous, so the only reason people are not guessing the winners before the results are announced could be that they are finding it too tiresome to check the MovieManiax Blog to see the nominees unless they are not interested in the gifts. So, here goes the nominees for your convenience.

1) Best Film:

* Aamir
* Mithya
* Rock On!!!
* A Wednesday
* Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye

2) Best Director:

* Raj Kumar Gupta (Aamir)
* Rajat Kapoor (Mithya)
* Abhishek Kapoor (Rock On!!!)
* Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday)
* Dibakar Banerjee (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)

3) Best Actor (Male):

* Rajeev Khandelwal (Aamir)
* Ranvir Shorey (Mithya)
* Naseeruddin Shah (A Wednesday)
* Abhay Deol (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)
* Vinay Pathak (Dasvidaniya)

4) Best Actor (Female):

* Neha Dhupiya (Mithya)
* Genelia D’Souza (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)
* Preity Zinta (The Last Lear)
* Amrita Rao (Welcome to Sajjanpur)
* Priyanka Chopra (Fashion)

5) Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male):

* Ravi Jhankal (Welcome to Sajjanpur)
* Paresh Rawal (Mumbai Meri Jaan)
* Anupam Kher (A Wednesday)
* Jimmy Shergill (A Wednesday)
* Manu Rishi (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)

6) Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female):

* Ratna Pathak Shah (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)
* Ila Arun (Welcome to Sajjanpur)
* Sahana Goswami (Rock On!!!)
* Kangana Ranaut( Fashion)
* Richa Chadda (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye)

You have got another day and a half to guess the winners in the above mentioned categories.

Comments are in moderation. Please leave your guesses in the comments section.

The MovieManiax Awards'08 is coming to a close.

We thank everyone who has helped us make this endeavor a success. To give back to our readers, we have come up with another contest. All you have to do is to guess who will be the winner in the following six categories. Only one guess per category is allowed :-)


The Categories

1. Best Film

2. Best Director

3. Best Actor (Male)

4. Best Actor (Female)

5. Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)

6. Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)

You can CLICK HERE to see the nominees.

The first two winners will get DVDs of a Hollywood Classic along with a classic from Hindi Cinema. The 3rd prize is a signed copy of the recently launched – “Happionaire's Cash The Crash” by Yogesh Chabria.

The goodies don't end here. We have 4th & 5th prizes as well yay!!!. These winners will gets copies of Invest The Happionaire Way (ITHW). If requested the Hindi version of ITHW is also available.
A few rules:

1. Members of MM team can not participate.

2. In case, no one gets all guesses right, the prize belongs to the one who gets most of the guesses correct.

3. In case of a tie, a tie- breaker will be arranged as per the discretion of MM team :-)

4. The contest is open till 8th April midnight.

The results for The MovieManiax Awards '08 initially were to be be declared on 7th April but it has been postponed to 9th April, giving you two more days to loot the prizes. :)

Go on guess the winner and take away your prize.

P.S. A very Special thanks to Yogesh Chabria for sponsoring the books. The DVDs will be sponsored by me.

The voting for the MovieManiax awards which we started in hope of recognizing the best of Hindi Cinema is nearing close. In 30 more hours the voting will be closed and results will be declared on April 7th 2009. If you have not voted yet, jump here to choose your favorites.

Upon closing, Smita will be coming up with a contest. The winners can win Books and DVDs sponsored by us. Keep an eye on her blog for the announcement of contest.

Meanwhile, please be informed of two other blogs I have become member of. The first one is a tribute to the movie Dev.D. Ava came with this idea and I was more than willing to be part of it. Ava has just written the introductory post. 007(V) is another member who would be contributing too. If any of you wish to be the part of this, you are more than welcome. We need total fanatics of Dev.D, the film. Check out the site.

The other blog is started by 007(V) and Mayz called ‘Emotional Atyachaar’. I was their third member, though I yet have to post something there. Do check out the site.