From Hollywood:

Rain Man: (1988)

Protagonists: Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise is self-centered man dealing with automobiles and is at loggerheads with his father. When his father dies, he gets just a car in will whereas 3 Million Dollars goes to some guy called Raymond. Tom gets into this matter only to realize that this Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) is his own brother. Raymond is autistic who lives in his own world and has no idea what money means? Tom is not willing to let go 3 Million Dollars to some autistic person (so what if the guy is his brother) and kidnaps him. They start a road trip and the rest of the movie is how Tom has change of heart. This Oscar winner (4 in total) movie is a light watch. Watch it on a lazy afternoon.

Rating – 4

From Here To Eternity: (1953)

Protagonists: Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Donna Reed and Deborah Kerr. Director of movies like ‘The Day Of The Jackal’ and ‘Julia’, Fred Zinnemann who has personally won many Oscars hit the maximum with FHTE (8 Oscars). The movie is about Army man ‘Prewitt’ who is been transferred to Hawaii. An ex-boxing champion refuses to Box anymore (citing the reason he injured his friend badly in eye when last he boxed). However, his Captain makes no stone unturned in convincing him and in turns makes his life living hell. Meanwhile, Sergeant Warden is seeing Captain’s lonely wife and Prewitt’s friend Maggio (Frank Sinatra) gets into trouble with another sergeant. The movie has some interesting dialogues and cinematography.

Rating – 4

The Seven Year Itch: (1955)

Protagonists: Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. Tom after sending his wife and son for vacation gets into conversing/flirting with his upstairs neighbor Marilyn. He is a professional proof reader and is currently reading a book which talks of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ (that most married men get into extra-marital affair after seven years of marriage). He is highly imaginative and sometimes over imagines things. It’s funny and it’s refreshing. Watch out for famous skirt raising sequence of Marilyn’s.

Rating – 3

From Bollywood:

Love Story 2050: (2008)

Protagonists: Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra. My brain was r@ped brutally. The movie is utter trash since ‘Hindustan Ki Kasam’ in late 90s. There were many that came and went but HKK stood its ground. Watch it if you want to have the best laugh. And now shaking the ground firmly held till now by HKK is LS 2050. I have nothing to say about the movie. Please do not watch.

Rating – ZERO

My Predictions:

3 Hindi movies are releasing tomorrow simultaneously.

Mission Istanbul – Flop to Average

Money Hai Toh Honey Hai – Flop, no doubt about that

Ugly Aur Pagli – A sleeper hit.

I was in Pune last weekend. I had been to this city many number of times, but my stint were always confined to my night outs with friends and I usually stayed put for couple of days (at the max 3) and roamed around in nights, late nights and early mornings (whilst slept whole day). However, this time I did step out as my ears pained to hear from people around asking me to check out the babes of Pune (supposedly "too good", a fren had said once drooling, another one added, "yo man, just check them out, better than your B'lore ones"). So, there the night vampire stepped out of his coffin and ventured out to explore the city and its dames in broad daylight risking his life. And what I saw was beyond my comprehension. If I go by the statistics (I did calculate in mind), 8 out of every 10 girl had covered her face FULLY. Just two eyes were visible. How was I then supposed to do that "yo-man-checking-out" thing?

The new police commissioner of Pune called Pune girls "Terrorist". Wondering why? Because Pune girls of all sorts and assortments wear their duppatta, shawl or any blah blah stuff around their face showing just the eyes, a look a Muslim women can identify with. (See the pic of one such girl). But are all these girls muslim? Not possible. The reason they are clad in such attire is to protect them from the pollution. Haha. Can you beat that? And I was thinking protection of your head is more important than the skin. They attribute the covering of their face to the pollution of Pune city. I say 'Haha' again. Ok, I agree your skin, face is very important to you, but then that sounds irrational enough to me. Going by that, you mean other city girls are not pretty or they are not concerned of their skin or is it your city highly polluted or whatever.

Whatever be the reason, I agree with the commissioner totally. The guy was stationed in Nagpur first and seemed he faced the similar situation there, upon which he banned girls from covering their faces which definitely used to give them terrorist look. After initial hungama and protest over it, the rule indeed is in practice and helmets have replaced the mask. Now, isn't that a novel idea? To use helmet instead of cloth mask.

My two days in Pune and I heard/read hue n cry everywhere from these girls. They are on a protest against this new police guy and they are calling him 'intruder in their private lives'. And who is supporting them? Raj Thackeray. 'Haha' again. Of all people, him. :) Hello? Excuse me? Intruder? The guy is trying to bring in the helmet rule. He is trying to save your head and you call him intruder in your private lives. You are taking resort of 'India is democracy and every one has right to blah blah blah' stuff but just think rationally for once. B'lore faced similar protest when it came to bring in the helmet rule and it took 3 years for the rule to be operational in its totality. But now we know it was for good. Helmet rule can never be for wrong reasons.

Moreover, if you girls are so well known around the country for your beauty, why the eff you need to hide it? Beauty is to flaunt. Show it. Get rid of those masks. And for that police guy I would say, "All the best".

S tagged me to write a poem, haha. That was enough to laugh. I warned her but she was ready to bear the onslaught. What I had to loose, but I hope RJ doesn't lose his senses after this. Go on, get murdered.

Jack and Jill,
Came up to Me,
Said Jill, "Give me a Pill",
Else I'll be a Mommy.

The Other day I met RGV,
And we discussed his 'Aag',
So rotten felt He,
But I told, Please don't Nag.

Harman came crying, "Why Me"?,
You make faces as if u have to Pee,
He continued, "But we tried so hard,
Wonder where the surgery went wrong",
I said, cuz your dad is not bald,
And you should clear your bowels before you break into song.

PS The poet has tried his best to rhyme. Isn't poetry all about that?

Vimmuuu and RJ, they both tagged me and there was no escape.

Shelling out at least 200 bucks for a movie left with me no choice but to catch one on DVD and other in theater of the two releases this Friday. I wasn’t even half confused about which one to watch in theater. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na was in my mind and JTYJN was the one I went for, though I wasn’t keen on catching this on first day. Anyways, saw it and here it is what I have to say.

Jay and Aditi (Imran and Genelia) are friends for five years surrounded with four other friends. Jay is basically a fattoo (rats) whereas Aditi is fearless one (meow) and then others are referred bounce, roltu and what not. Jay and Aditi are just friends (according to them), friends and parents think they are in love. Jay and Aditi deny that with an eeeww-eeeww-how-can-you-possibly-think-that act and set onto look for a marriageable partner for each other only to realize they indeed are in love with each other whilst Jay proposing to her at done-to-death-clichéd -airport climax.

Jay and Aditi are friends for five years and never realize or get attracted to each other (of course sexually I mean).

Now, how could that be possible? Have we forgotten the golden lines of Maine Pyaar Kiya “Ladka ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakte” which I modified to “unless one of them is gay/lesbian” and which our leads are not (at least that’s what it is shown). Before you jump guns, let me tell you a guy and girl are bound to feel something if thrown together for so long. Period.

Just passed out college students are keener on looking for marriageable partners than looking for a job.

Those rich kids I tell you have their priorities set already. Or is it that the makers have high Yash Raj films and K-Jo films hangover where all that matters is how good you look and how soon you get into lust-love-sex-dump-next act.

Supporting casts are some strange weirdos I tell you.

Aditi’s parents are super cool to start with. All they do is leave the place for their kids to arrange parties and they themselves are also interested in getting their kids married as soon as they passed out.

Jay’s mom (Ratna Shah) is twenty-first century mom whose dead husband, Jay’s dad (Naseer) speaks from the huge painting. How silly!!!

Meghna’s (Jay’s catch) folks are of twisted minds and Meghna herself believes in living in illusion and what is strange is she herself knows she lives in illusion. I mean, how silly. How can you possibly be in illusion intentionally when you know you are in illusion? Sushant (Aditi’s catch) is MCP. Well, you might say what’s so weird about that? I tell you, yes nothing weird about that, but then nothing weird in showing a real-life situation either.

Amit (Aditi’s bro) who in real life is known as Prateik Babbar (Raj Babbar’s son) is another item. He doesn’t work, never goes out. All he does is paints, read books and gives gyaan on life. Dude, if you know so much, get your life on track first and don’t be such a loser just cuz your only friend (your sis) has got another friends (ain’t we supposed to have friends out of family?) and all you are left with is a white mice as friend. It really got to my nerve him ranting to his sis, “Why did you go away from me sis? You were the only friend I ever had”? Come on, you not doing bad after all. You got white mice. Now, that’s rare catch I tell you dude. Not many people get to have white mice as friend.

Finally, the four common friends. Like U, Me aur Hum, they interfere in lead’s life but unlike UMAH, I loved them. Yes, each of them. They were cute and adorable. But then what’s weird in that? Well, nothing weird. Maybe the weird is why ain’t they leads?

Arbaaz and Sohail Khan: duo brought in for some comedy irritated with their typical Khandaan style dance, acting and expressions.

Original song “Jaane tu ya jaane na”, yes that one too is a supporting cast. Almost throughout you are forced with this song. “Tera mujhse hai pehle ka naata koi, yun hi nahi dil lubhaata koi” is like the anthem of the movie. Everyone seems to have a thing going for them with this song including the airport inspector in the end who sings this to his superior over phone. Eeeww. No, that wasn’t cute AT ALL. You know why? Cuz despite having some good numbers thrown in by AR Rehman, all you end up doing after coming out is hum the original JTYJN song. WHY? Cuz you do not seem to register any other song of the film (yes, including Kabhi Kabhi Aditi one) at the end of the film. Why don’t I buy the CD of original and play it then? AR Rehman did some good work which gets waste.

Script and the climax. Now get real. Why should I be told before watching any Bolly flick that it ain’t Einstein movie so watch it with a pinch of salt. I ask, why it isn’t Einstein then? When will it be for us? U ask, why should it be? I ask, why shouldn’t it be? Many say I seem to run down all Bolly flicks, I say, No, I did like Black Friday, Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met, Dil Dosti Etc and No Smoking of late. JTYJN is a bad take on Socha Na Tha. There can’t be another Socha Na Tha. The writer-director (yeah, both are same) Abbas Tyrewala has punctured his inflated ego himself after writing gems like Maqbool and Munna Bhai.

And why that airport-climax once again? You know why JWM was hit cuz they shown the train and platform and not airport and planes cuz huge Indian middle class survives, I mean depends on trains. Is that a bad analogy? Oh, I guess it is. Why can’t I give such bad analogies when the makers can give much weirder ones?

Is there any silver-lining after all this mess? Surprise!!! Yes, there is. Genelia it is. She is the sole-savior of this sinking ship. She is the STAR of this. Whenever she is on screen, she puts in her best acting. Her dialogues, acting, haav-bhaav, ada-style are just too good. She should be seen more. Imran, well I won’t run him down now (poor boy’s first movie), so let’s give him another chance. But hey, I think I should run him down (cuz I just remembered Refugee). Wasn’t Abhishek written off after that debut? Ok, here I go. Imran can’t dance/act/emote saala. That’s it.

Go for Genelia.

P.S. I am still not repenting for choosing this over LS 2050 for a big screen watch. Cuz I know LS 2050 is not even worth half watch. I will watch it though and bug you all with my take on that. Ciao.

A Quickie is a Quickie is a Quickie.

Last ten days and I watched some of the best movies. Here's some Quickie Recommendations in Movies you should definitely watch: My list is in order of my recommendations (from highly recommended to somewhat highly recommended, there is nothing in this list which is least recommended).

From Hollywood:

1)Breakfast at Tiffany's: (1961)
Protagonists: Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Based on the novel of same name written by Truman Capote (Oh, he is so good), the movie also was written by him (Oh, he is so good). Audrey as Holly Golightly is now my all time fav character (amongst actresses) on screen. The story revolves around her and her histrionics in this 1961 Drama movie which won an Oscar for Audrey (undoubtedly) and another for the beautiful song 'Moon River'.
Rating – 5 Stars

2)How Green was My Valley: (1941)
Protagonists: Roddy McDowall and Maureen O'Hara. Based on the novel of same name written by Richard Llewellyn, the movie is about the Morgan family: the story narrated by Huw Morgan, youngest of all amongst six brothers and one sister. Huw is the black sheep of the family (possessing academic inclination in the family of miners). However, he too becomes a miner like them and narrates this story when he is leaving the city he grew up in.
Rating – 4 Stars

3)JFK: (1991)
Protagonists: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones. This controversial movie directed by Oliver Stone is not about JF Kennedy but the follow-up to the murder of President. Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison re-opens the JFK’s assassination case, trying to prove that The President was not killed by Lee Oswald but was a victim of conspiracy plotted by the secret services, FBI, CIA, Vice-President and a Businessman Clay Shaw.
Rating – 31/2 Stars

4)A Streetcar named Desire: (1951)
Protagonists: Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Blanche (Vivien) takes refuge at her sister’s place. Her brother-in-law Stanley (Marlon) labels her as a melodramatic and tortures her (both mentally and eventually physically) in hope that she speaks the truth about her past. The major highlight of this flick is the dialogues.
Rating – 31/2 Stars

From Across the Globe:

5)The Lives of Others: German (2006)
Protagonists: Ulrich Muhe, Ulrich Tukur, Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck. Winner of Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, movie is of time when Germany was divided into East and West. Before the fall of Berlin Wall, East Germany secret police Stasi bugged the homes of all those whom they suspected are with the west part of Germany. And in this film, famous playwright and his actress lover became the victim. How this political drama and thriller unfolds is something to watch out for. A superb storyline with an awesome climax makes this film a classic in times to come.
Rating – 5 Stars

6)Lust, Caution: Chinese (2007)
Protagonists: Tony Wai and Wei Tang. Remember Ang Lee, famous director of Crouching Tiger and Brokeback Mountain. Ang comes with a spying thriller set during World War-II. A young woman (Wei) befriends a political figure (Tony) on behest of her revolutionary friends. The movie has multi-layer themes running parallel to the plot of assassinating the political figure. There is love, lust, sex, romance, drama, and suspense. This can be related closely to our own RDB including the climax where the revolutionaries die but unlike RDB, here they fail in their attempt to kill the politician and are shot and thrown from the cliff. A gut-wrenching film.
Rating – 4 Stars

7)Caramel: Lebanese (2007)
Protagonists: Nadine Labaki (also, the director of this film). Layale (Nadine) runs a beauty parlor and is supposedly seeing a very much married, a high profile figure. The story revolves around her and four other women (3 of them work with her) and one who visits their parlor. The basic plot is that of romantic comedy. All ladies are going to love this as they would be able to relate to the parlor talks. They share their married life, sex life, mid-life crisis and in turn support each other. All men would love seeing this film where each one of the girl is more gorgeous than the other. A light-hearted film which will make you realize the importance of being content with less.
Rating – 31/2 Stars

Please do share your opinion, If you have seen any of these?