It was nothing less than a Nonsensical Attyachaar seeing the Star Screen Awards. Ashutosh-Sajid feud, Akshay’s sacrifice reeked of two-facedness and in due course the secret which almost everyone knew was out in open. That year after year the awards go to a good number of unworthy ones, that they are already decided in the closed bed-rooms of people with power, money and high libido, long before the premiere show sometimes. Few deserving ones do get nominated (percentage would be negligible) to bring about a balance (all pretense) but the deserving ones never win. Filmfare Awards are the Oscars of India they say, (much above the National Awards) that I guess has reached a ludicrous stage.

It was after the Star Screen Awards and getting acquainted with the nominations of upcoming Filmfare Awards that I decided to come up with my own version of Awards. Why not? I might be a small fly and my appreciation might not be acknowledged in open by people whose movies, performances and contribution to the cinema I enjoyed in the year gone by. But that doesn’t dissuade me. Is it worth? For me, yes, it is. Do not we talk of changing the structure when we see the immoral events around us and do not few of us stand up and indeed bring in the change? So, that’s what I am doing.

The idea was put off by few in all possible ways, in a roundabout way to right on my face calling it useless. What is the purpose? I would be lying if I say not for a moment I was discouraged. However, after initial hiccups, here I am to announce the launch of Bloggers edition of awards.

Yes, it is by us and it will be for the best. Let’s welcome and honor the best. I would need support from fellow Bloggers in making this a success.

I approached few of the fellow Bloggers. To my surprise, they all readily agreed. Well, not exactly :). Reema, Poonam and Vimmuuu are helping finalize the categories and nominations. Nikhil is roped in for anything and everything related to promotion. Smita is supervising the overall job and is strictly kept out of ‘Categories and Nominations’ decisions for obvious reasons. After all who wants to see Salman being nominated in all the categories? And finally, this would not have been possible without a friend who pushed me to go for it, a friend who requests to be anonymous. I wish I could say ‘as of now’. I hope he changes his mind. He is the brains behind the name given to the awards (with our feedback) and he designed the poster for the awards. And soon he will be done with the award badge.


Work on Poster, Badge, Categories, Nominations is in progress and will be released soon. Keep watching this space for more.

This is almost a review. Definitely not elaborate and spoiler-full like my earlier ones but a quick one as I do not have much time on hand.

Rakeysh ‘RDB’ Om Prakash Mehra. What an ensemble cast. Delhi. Chandni Chowk. Mysterious script. Sonam Kapoor (Oooohh). A.R. Rehman. 20th Feb. First Day First Show. Intermission. Bantadhaar. End. Sab Satyanaash.

ROPM is back to (aks)quare one. IMDB says Genre is Comedy/Drama. They couldn’t have said it better. It’s a comedy. Almost whole junta was laughing by the end. The last time was when Junta hooted for poor Drona, his ghodi, his dushman (KayKay), his angrakshak (Priyanka). Trust me, even CC2C was saved of hooting. Probably no one was expecting anything out of it unlike D-6.

Not going deep inside the story and plot because till end I could not find a single rational storyline, not even parallel one, not eve an askew one. NRI returns to Chandni Chowk from Amrika with his ailing grand-ma (her last wish). The boy definitely like any firang desi is amused at everything. The traffic jams, cows giving birth in middle of the road, padosi behaving, interfering and yak-yakking like family members, the narrow lanes adorned with gazillion shops. Almost everything. His NRI mind is looking for an identity in the chaotic assembly. He is confused soul. So much so that by the middle of the movie he imagines one whole song where Amrika and Delhi are mixed. Watch it to believe how grossly that was shot.

The infamous ‘Monkey-Man’ that created a menace in Delhi few years back is the central character. Others are just supporting cast. Great performers but sadly irritating after some point of time. There are so many characters that director is busy introducing them right till the end. Zoya recently showed truck loads of them but you can identify them and remember them in LBC. In this case, you get assaulted. There is nothing that you carry when you walk out. Music? Yes, to an extent. The music no doubt is outstanding one, this truth is already established. But, the songs are placed so absurdly you almost feel sorry for A.R. Rehman. ‘Rehna tu’ in particular (which is a soft romantic number) will disappoint you the most.

ROPM tried to preach us the lesson of unity in diversity but he failed. Abhishek and Sonam’s much talked of chemistry is invisible. Bilkul thanda, barf jaisa. It is sad to watch artists like Sheeba, Supriya, Om Puri, Pavan Malhotra, Rishi Kapoor being wasted. Mass assassination. And the preaching that every human has monkey inside along with the god doesn’t go down well. I did not feel for any character or situation. Waheeda’s stubbornness of not returning to Amrika gets a jolt when her grand-son yells at her and she gets teary-eyed. I did not feel sympathetic towards her. Abhishek gets shot. I did not care whether he lives or die. Sonam who looks gorgeous in any outfit is totally wasted. She gets to howl again like Saawariya in the end and this time it’s for real yet I did not feel anything for her. Few scenes here and there brings in some moments but then that’s long forgotten by the time you try to finally listen to Mr. Director and look for monkey inside you. But it’s too late by then and the show is over.

I have nothing more to add to this. I will probably discuss or say more if someone writes a review. This was just ‘almost-a-review.’ I give Delhi-6 1.5/5.

I am done with my nom de plume ‘Oxy’ and back with my actual one, ‘Vee.’ Those who wish to call me Oxy are welcome to do so. However, I prefer Vee.

Btw, Baba Sehgal is back to what he does best. ‘Oh, Sexy Mama’ a hip hop number by him for Madhavan starred ‘13B’ is my current fav. Listen to it. Awesome. Sushmita’s ‘Karma Aur Holi’ is ready for release. Click her to watch the song ‘Holi Aayee’. And click here for Gulaal's Rana Ji song. Funny lyrics. “Jaise Durr Desh Me Tower Me Ghuss Jaye Re Aero Plane, Jaise Har Ek Baat Pe Democracy Mein Lagne Lag Gayo Ban, Jaise Sare-Aam Iraq Me Jaake Jam Gaye Uncle Sam, Jaise Bina Baat Afghansistan Ka Baj Gaya Bhaiya Band." Haha.. too good.. Mahie Gill doing mujra after Paro act.

Lastly, watch my space for the upcoming ‘Bloggers Awards to the Best in Hindi Cinema – 2008’

Reema. Wooyay. Applause, Claps, Trumpets, Gun-Shots, Red Carpet.

The answer is: It's the flower of Guava (or Amrood in Hindi) tree.

So, the floor is now yours Reema for the next 'Riddle Me This'.

P.S. After Dev.D, Anurag is ready with his next offering 'Gulaal'. Click here to watch the trailer. Oh Gosh!!! What A Trailer. Jack and Jill went up the hill, To fetch a pail of BHOSADI-KA! (I will clarify later that I am not saying 'what a trailer' for that phrase in particular). Watch it to believe what Anurag is made of. 13th March, there I wait for you.

P.S.1 - Read Shobhaa's this entry and my comment there (4th comment). Don't I make sense there? Isn't she losing it completely these days, Brains I mean!!!

P.S.2 - My 'twin brother' is celebrating his 28th Birth-Day today. And I am damn excited about it. So, no more rant and it's fucking party time.

One day I was reading Chammak Challo and she had uploaded an image and asked the readers to guess what it is. I cracked it and as per the rule I am supposed to post something that others have to guess.

Here is the Riddle:



You have to find something stranger than strange and, post it on their blog within the next two weeks.

The quiz remains open for at least 1 day and at the most 2 days.

The person who guesses it correctly gets the torch and is the next host for Riddle Me This.

If the person who guesses correctly is the previous host, then that person will get to pick someone to pass the buck to from all those who made a guess.

And so on.

Please use the fabulous logo, also designed by Manisha, and link back to the host who passed the baton on to you.

Please do your best to keep this alive. Just think of how much fun it will be!

Here is the image for you guys:




Tell me what it is. Now don't just say flower :). Photograph Courtesy: Dev and Dev, No, you cannot participate.

The countdown begins.

Those who have followed the lives and works of makers like Sriram Raghavan, Sudhir Mishra, Shimit Amin, Hansal Mehta, Onir, Anurag Kashyap will know that these makers have always taken risk. Few succeeded, few did not and others were labeled self-centered psychopaths (read just Anurag). Isn’t every artist/actor/director/producer? Didn’t we just see that in LBC? But Anurag has been subjected to all kinds of brickbats since he made ‘No Smoking’. I loved his ‘Black Friday’ immensely and was excited about NS like hell. I did not understand it first time. I spoke to few filmi friends, discussed and went for repeat watch. This time I liked it. I became fan of Anurag.

Dev.D unlike his NS is not a self-indulgent cinema but yes, it definitely shows the pain and anguish the man has gone through in this industry. He vents out his fury through Dev; A man in search of salvation after screwing up his love life. The movie in all departments takes Indian Cinema a few notches higher. Watch it to believe that it is nothing less than a Nolan or Fellini or Scorsese. We have our answer to west, east, middle, left, right, up, down. And the answer is Anurag Kashyap.

I usually do not go with the disclaimers. However, here I would wish to say that if you are an escapist, ignorant, and fragile then skip the movie and this review as well. Others read on.

As we all are aware by now that Dev.D is a contemporary take on Sarat’s celebrated novel Devdas. Bimal Roy (sticking to the book) and SLB (a bit twist by arranging a full fledged meeting between Paro and Chandramukhi) have given their versions. Anurag’s version in actuality is a convincing mockery of SLB’s version. There are four to five direct and countless indirect references to SLB’s version. From a Sonapur and Kolkota, the movie shifts to picturesque sarson-ke-khet of Punjab via 'London' to neon-lit Pahar Ganj in Delhi. A rich father who threw Devdas out of house in earlier spoils him rotten in this by justifying to mother, “Tumne bachpan me bigada, Mai jawaani me bigad raha hun.” The two ladies who had a cheesy confrontation of ‘Devdas loves you more’ exchange just a strange ‘Hi’ here and both proclaim ‘Dev doesn’t love anyone.’

The real protagonist of Dev.D is Amit Trivedi’s music and background score. His 18 songs aptly placed throughout recite the story. You can almost call it a musical. I have never experienced something like this before where you can almost feel that you do not need dialogues, the songs says it all. Anurag himself confessed sometime back that Amit’s music was so impressive that he changed his script to rationalize and credit Amit’s work. Welcome to new-age Bollywood. Times are changing. Those who understand and believe in lucid and rational cinema know that SLB’s Devdas was a ridiculous movie with idiocy written all over it’s frames and the essence lost in its grandeur. Chuck it. Embrace brand new Paro, Chanda and Dev.



Dev (Abhay Deol) is sent to London for studies. The only motivation for him to return is the nude pics of Paro (Mahie Gill) which she diligently scans and sends after having a steamy internet chat with Dev. ‘Dhol yaara dhol’ begins and Paro is cheerful with dreams of a good life ahead. Dev is back. His elder brother is getting married. ‘Hikknaal’ and ‘Maahi Mennu’ (the two Punjabi numbers of the lot) steps forward the story along with Dev’s and Paro’s failed attempt to sleep with each other. Misunderstanding follows and Dev insults her, tells her to stop dreaming that she can get married in his family (aukaat nahi hai teri) almost calling her a slut. Dev’s father in fact is keen on making Paro his bahu. What an irony!!! Anyways Paro’s father gets her married to much elder Bhuvan and just before her marriage Dev realizes he was at mistake and not her. But it’s too late, gulps down full bottle of Vodka, vomits and falls with a huge thud in front of the baraat. What an ‘Emosanal Attyachaar’!!!



Enter Lenny (Kalki Koechlin), a class XII student in Delhi. She is a cheerful and smiling girl who is dating a visibly very old to her boy. She does stuff to him, goes on bike rides with him, and is not apologetic about it. ‘Yahi Meri Zindagi Hai’ background score tells her story. The boy makes MMS. The girl is made fun of. The family is shattered. They leave country but the ghosts do not. Lenny gets into argument with her father when he says that he indeed has seen the clippings of her doing the stuff to boy and asserts she knew what she was doing. “How could you watch, fucking coward? I am your daughter.” Father kills himself, mother abandons her. She is left alone to be picked by a pimp and later gets into prostitution. Yahi Meri Zindagi gives way to ‘Ye Kaisi Kaisi Aankh Micholi Khele Zindagi.’ Lenny makes course for Chanda (Chandramukhi). Chunni (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) gets her client but also makes sure she finishes her education. She is taught the nuances of the profession (master-slave, phone erotica et al) in the mid of passing the board exams. ‘Paayaliya’ takes her into the new world; she has killed her ghosts. She has moved on. Dev enters her life. Dev, who by now in the guilt of losing his love is an alcohol chaser, pills popping, self-centered wreck mocks at Chanda’s show of compassion. “When in pain, it’s good to talk” she says. “What do you know about pain?” he replies. He leaves her place and goes back to his earlier histrionics. The ‘rock version of Attyachaar’ shows Dev wandering on streets, hiking between Delhi Metro and buses. When legal bars close, he ends up elsewhere. The dancing trio mocks at him, ‘Meetha Sa Chadha Hai Bukhar’ becomes his state of mind, he is ‘Pardesi’ in his own mind. He tries to find out ‘Saali Khushi’ which is lost. He calls Paro. Re-enters Paro. Content with marriage Paro to whom he desperately wants to make love to and requests to be loved back mocks at him too, “Tum kisi se pyaar nahi kar sakte. Tum sheeshe se shaadi kar lo.” What a scene it was when she makes him see the reality, “Itni mat peeya karo. Kisi se itna bhi pyaar na karo ki baaki cheeze nazar hi naa aaye.” She is clear, she doesn’t need him anymore. She shows him his aukaat, leaves him infuriated more than before. Welcome to new-age women. What a rip-off to Aishwarya’s self pity in earlier version.



He is lost again. ‘Nayan Tarse' does the same. He is having a trip. He drinks more. Chunni follows him, wants him to come back to Chanda (after all Dev is loaded). Dev gives in, back to Chanda. Chanda with her new ‘Dil Me Jaagi’ beat goes out with him; they share steaming Momos, jump into swimming pool, talks about her pain. “Half of the country downloaded the clipping, had fun out of it and they turned back and called me slut.” Dev shares his pain. Chanda agrees to Paro’s stand. “You can not love anyone.” I have moved, she has moved. You move on ending with calling him a slut. Dev leaves her again, gets into drunk-driving-killed-seven-people fiasco. His father dies. He goes to the funeral; brother ignores his presence, gives money to settle the court case. Dev doesn’t return to Delhi. ‘Duniya Gol Hai’. He blows away the money too. He is completely broke, sleeping on the road next to dog, sees a speeding car hitting the wall. The man dies. ‘Abhi bhi wakt hai’. He traces Chanda, finds her at steaming Momos joint. She takes him in. He confesses that he never loved Paro in true sense as he never saw her carefully actually and accepts he indeed is a slut. ‘Ek Hulchul Si’ marks the happy ending with duo having a bike ride.



The movie has Anurag’s style of film-making stamped all over it. The first half is radiant, full of life as we slowly gets introduced to the characters. It’s the second half that would blow your mind off. Each and every person can comprehend the happenings. The third plus after Amit’s exceptional music and Anurag’s characterization of the trio is Rajeev Rai’s photography. The movie gets dark in the second half with almost the whole second half shown in neon-lit streets and bars. The concept is by Abhay Deol which Anurag wrote along with Vikramaditya Motwane to give it a position of a formal script. Nikhat Azmi of TOI who surprisingly gave it a 5 star rating (surprising not because it doesn’t deserve but cuz Nikhat finally acknowledged good cinema) says for Abhay: Manorama-6FU and OLLO were just trailer, Dev.D is the class act from Deol. Not that the movie/Abhay needs her approval. Anurag had limited audience so far, but now the audience will multiply. Anurag has given Bollywood which is decomposing day by day a boost. And Abhay is the real star-baadhsah-king-ace or whatever those titles are called that few stars keep calling themselves with. One says 'I am King', then other replies, 'So what? I am Ace' for which third smiles mockingly at both of them. But it's Abhay for me and for many fans who find him the torch bearer of coming-of-age cinema in this country.

P.S. It is A rated but it is not porn as the belief of few goes. It’s not even soft-porn as the belief of many goes. It's a contemporary, on-your-face, blunt, straightforward and extremely engaging cinema.

P.S. 1 – I have seen it twice so far and will go for few more dekko. That’s what an excellent piece does; every time it throws up something marvelous.

The wait was over this morning. If we address the prior versions of Devdas as classics, then Dev.D is no lesser. In fact, I would call it a modern classic. I am yet to recover and put my thoughts coherently to write a detailed review. As of now, I would just say it’s an excellent cinema, with exceptional music and first class performances by all three leads. It’s a mind fuck journey with no cliché, anonymity and self indulgence. Ten on ten to this or in our terms 5 stars.

‘Paanch’ never saw the daylight. ‘Black Friday’ which is a cult classic in DVD circuit was out on DVDs long before its theatrical release. ‘Gulaal’ has been in making for 7 years now. And we all know what happened to ‘No Smoking’; the movie was brutally raped. I and many of my friends loved the movie though and have had countless mindless discussions on it. Anyways, a flop is a flop. Anurag Kashyap was given unimaginable names after No Smoking. He was jinxed as director. He was asked to stick to screenplay and dialogue writing. The man in his own words took chance with Dev.D and he made the movie that will go down in history as a classic. Take A Bow Anurag.

P.S. The review will soon follow.

It’s in the blood. That ‘creative bug’ with which we are often arranged a meeting in all promising ways gives the impression to belong only to the Akhtars and just them. Father kept us amused all these years; Son led the way with his ingenious intelligence and now daughter rounding it off ‘The Three Musketeers’ with her brave, brutally honest and matter-of-fact cinema. Zoya Akhtar, who was being cast as 'Extra' in few movies before including Kama Sutra (cuz she chose that), writer of 'Migration', a 20-Minutes movie based on AIDS awareness produced and directed by Mira Nair, and elder sister of producer-director-actor-singer-anchor Farhan Akhtar captures the quintessence and obscurity of Hindi Film Industry (HFI) like never before. There were many pieces which imprisoned the good old HFI and there will be many more (Inshallah); nonetheless Zoya’s mental picture will be the one to surmise for. The two recent illustrations ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Fashion’ gave the broad feel of industry to the lay viewer whilst ‘Luck By Chance’ (LBC) not only gives the imminent sense to it but also portrays it in the most unapologetic mode.

The beginning credits of ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’ with yesteryears ‘Pyaar Pyaar Pyaar, Chahiye Thoda Pyaar’ giving out the details of people involved with the film was my current favorite till I saw LBC’s ‘Ye Zindagi Bhi’ doing the same. Oh, I fell in love with the movie that very moment. Seeing the straight, dismal faces of all those unnamed and unaccredited people; chai-wala, khaana-wala, security guys, spots, extras, poster-wala et al along with getting notified with the cast and crew was just the right element to set the temper up for close to three hours of beautiful cinema awaiting ahead. Farah Khan did something like that in the end credits of ‘Main Hoon Na’ but I was so disappointed by the end already that I did not care.

But of course the story was already few minutes in presenting struggling female protagonist Sona (Konkona Sensharma) sucking up to Chaudhary, producer of Pinki Productions (Alyy Khan; ex of Pooja Bhatt in real life for the uninitiated) when the beginning credits started to sway me. Credits end and you see Aamir Khan in first frame and some 20-odd other biggies (playing themselves) of industry all the way till the end when same struggling female protagonist now fairly better off and unambiguous of the goings around sums up one of the elating endings ever.

Another struggling actor Vikram Jai Singh (Farhan Akhtar) befriends Sona, sleeps with her, and gets ‘lucky’ by chance to get the lead role opposite Niki Walia (Isha Sharvani), daughter of former time’s superstar Neena Walia (Dimple Kapadia) in Romy’s (Rishi Kapoor) home production ‘Dil Ki Aag’ directed by younger brother Ranjit (Sanjay Kapoor). The said lead role refused by the iconic Zaffar Khan (Hrithik Roshan) lands up in Vikram’s lap after Zaffar gets ‘lucky’ by chance to bag the two-hero role in Karan Johar’s movie despite having shot song (Baawre) and few scenes for ‘Dil Ki Aag’. And not to forget the altercation between Sona and Chaudhary which inadvertently turns blessed for Vikram.

Vikram’s egocentricity, Zaffar’s bashfulness, Sona’s fate of ‘being deprived of’, Neena’s manipulations, Nikki’s murkiness confrontations with mother, Romy’s overriding craze, Ranjit’s inane filmmaking and equally cynical approach of many others form the basis of this star-studded film. Be it the opportunist attitude of Maasi or struggling friends of Vikram, or the writer friend of Sona, everyone is doing whatever they are doing for a price. ‘Nothing comes free’ is conveyed or rather shouted from the rooftop.

Each and every character here can be put on pedestal and dissected. Zoya’s story and screenplay is of top class and hardly is she seen making a gaffe of the status the characters are in. On one side you have Saurabh Shukla’s ramblings on how to act complimented with visiting actor Mac Mohan’s deliverance of his famous ‘poore pachchas hazaar’ dialogue from Sholay and Vikram’s shaking the hips on ‘Bachna aae Haseeno’ that keeps your mood radiant about all that coming ahead, and on the other you see Karan Johar’s proverbial observation on ‘how-an-outsider-becomes-a-star’, SRK’s profound advice on ‘not-to-forget-those-who-remembered-you-when-you-were-no-one’ to Vikram after latter embracing stardom, Neena comparing her initial days to that of her daughter’s & subsequent outburst to the editor flooded with colorful language will smack you on your face.

But the one who steals the show on screen (outside of it, it’s Zoya) is the man who should be seen more and more as long as he can be. That’s Rishi Kapoor. The only word I can think of for his performance is ‘divine’. The man is in complete control of what he is delivering. Forget his ‘Hum Tum’ and ‘Fanaa’. LBC is the one he will be remembered for years to come. I somewhat felt uncomfortable seeing Farhan in emotional scenes. I mean the guy has an image (more so after his ‘Oye, It’s Friday’) of someone who is naughty, cool and at-ease. And seeing him act out gloomy ones makes me sore. It’s futile to say how Konkona was as she has gone beyond scrutiny of her performance long time back. Her close-up shot of walk on the busy street with hair flowing before catching a taxi in the end reminded me that of Natalie’s in ‘Closer’ though a lot superior closing. Yet, Rishi Kapoor was the best thing that could happen to LBC by god.

A lot of people will try to pull you down once you attain the ultimate triumph. There will surely be detractors along with the appreciators. That’s exactly is something happening to Slumdog Millionaire. Not surprisingly the most of those detractors are our fellow-countrymen/women whereas West has embraced Danny Boyle’s version of India like never before. Even Mira Nair could not create the hysteria with her Salaam Bombay back in late 80s what Slumdog Millionaire has done in last couple of months since it’s release in select theaters of Northern America.

I remember getting in argument with a friend on Facebook when he commented robustly on my status message (‘Speechless after watching Slumdog Millionaire’) stating Slumdog Millionaire is bad remake of Mira’s cult classic ‘Salaam Bombay’. I leave it to the people who have seen both the movies to make their own opinion. For me the similarity ends with the fact that both are set in Mumbai and slums of Mumbai have been captured quite viciously by both the directors. Mira’s movie was and will be one of the best to come out from Indian Film Industry. But show some maturity by not comparing it to Slumdog Millionaire.

Amitabh Bachchan cannot fathom what the fuss all about Slumdog Millionaire is and mentions in his blog that Mumbai was shown in disgraceful manner. Few of our own makers here have shown their anger by saying that Slumdog Millionaire is a "generic western movie about India". I say what the fuck? First of all treat a movie as a movie. If Danny decides to make a movie based on a book written by an Indian (Q & A by Vikas Swarup; who himself says that he has his approval stamp) then I do not see any reason to malign him and the hard work of those associated with the movie. If it’s badly scripted/directed, if editing and actors suck then open your big mouth and rant as much as you can. But no way demean any movie based on how real/unreal it is. Is that the basis to judge a fictional piece anyways?

Mr. Bachchan played a character (Sexy Sam) well in his mid-fifties or something romancing and shaking his booty with girls half his age. K-Jo and Ekta promote infidelity at the drop of the hat and RGV doesn’t go beyond underworld stories where murder and rapes are child’s play? So, all that is acceptable and slums of Mumbai aren’t. A film-maker has all the liberty to make what he wants to and how does he/she wants to.

Bhandarkar made Page 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal and we acknowledged him by giving National Award every time. I am not saying adorn Danny with National Award, but give him and his movie a fair chance. Some of the French/Iranian/Korean movies which I see are upsetting to the core you feel disgusted later; not because they are badly written or shot but because they fucking tell the story in such a moving way you cannot but be in awe. No one complains. Most of them go to win the awards. So, why is there so much of fuss in India? Is it because a foreigner made it? Oh come on, I know we have few makers here who are better than Danny by leaps and bounds. Nonetheless Danny has made this movie and we better accept it the way it is. After all, it’s just a movie.

Everyone is saying that it is a rags-to-riches story of a slum boy from Mumbai. I would not say that. Rags-to-riches stories are those where the sheer hard work or the plain luck (by chance) get you the moolah. No doubt Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is playing ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ but he is not playing to win the money. He is playing hoping his beloved Latika (Freida Pinto) would be watching the show. And indeed she was. The movie in actuality is a love story than a rags-to-riches story by participating in a reality game show.



Youngest Jamal (Ayush Khedekar) and youngest Salim (Azharuddin Ismail) are brothers who pull off petty mischief every now and then. Always late for the school duo or musketeers take the youngest Latika (Rubiana Ali) as their third musketeer after their mother gets killed in the riots. Orphanage doesn’t go well and they all run away in the middle of the night only to be chased by the owner Maman (Ankur Vikal) and Co. Salim and Jamal manage to get on to the moving train while Latika is running along with the train whilst holding Salim’s hand. Despite the desperate cries of Jamal to pull Latika in, Salim intentionally leaves her hand.

The fate takes the brothers to Agra and back to Mumbai (it was Bombay when they had left). It had been seven or eight years since the last time Jamal had last seen Latika. They finally trace her. She is being taught classical dance to be later sold of course when Jamal sees her through a key-hole. Salim exclaims she is hot and opens the door. All three are united but life changes for all of them thereafter. Salim ditches his own brother at gun-point after throwing him out of house only to be left alone with Latika. Latika too agrees to sleep with the brother for the sake of Jamal’s life.

Few years down the line Jamal working as a chaiwalla in a call center chances upon Salim’s contact number and meets him. In one of the most poignant scene I have seen in recent times, the meeting of the two brothers is well executed (technically, watch the scene where Jamal imagines he jumped off the building with Salim) and well acted upon; Jamal’s continuous outburst of “There was no message” shows 18-year old Dev Patel is a name to reckon in years to come. He is simply brilliant in that scene and the one after when he looks wrathfully in Salim’s eyes and says, “I will never forgive you.”



Jamal inquires about Latika. Salim chooses to ignore the question. Only when he follows Salim one day that he realizes that Latika is now a mistress (or wife probably) of gangster Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar) for whom Salim in fact works. He enters the well guarded house on the pretext of being a dishwasher. He requests Latika to run off with him which she refuses while putting forth question “what for?” “Love” Jamal says. It never happens as Javed is home then and Jamal loses Latika for third time now. The next is climax which I would not reveal.

I never felt so elated even when Bhuvan in Lagaan hit the last ball six in the climax. I still remember the whole theater just erupted with a feat (one experiences when one achieves that himself) when Bhuvan hit that six. I found myself hugging a complete stranger standing on left to me in the theater that summer morning of 2001 when Lagaan was released. Slumdog Millionaire, almost same experience but more euphoria than what Aamir & Co provided me with then in the climax; nothing taking away from the glorious climax of Lagaan though.

Coming to the performances, all three Jamal will steal your heart. The second Jamal (Tanay Chheda) who was also seen in TZP (Ishaan’s crippled friend) is convincing as a guide of Taj Mahal when he tells the Firang couple that Mumtaz died in a road accident while giving birth to child and Taj Mahal was actually built up by Emperor Khurram. Haha. Hilarious. Dev Patel is a fine actor and he will go places. He says it all through his eyes and that is what I guess Danny and other technicians would have felt to concentrate mostly on his close ups. His boyish innocent face with popped-out-bear eyes said more than the words could ever. But it’s Ayush as youngest Jamal who is the soul of this movie. That five or six something boy is absolutely incredible and the fact that he in reality is a slum boy makes it even more unbelievable. Where the fuck he learnt to act? All the three versions of Salim and Latika could not be better and special mention should go to youngest Salim and Latika along with the Villain Ankur Vikal. Frieda has been hogging all the limelight at the moment at all the right places and she deserves it. She is breath-taking in climax.



Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, and Saurabh Shukla in their miniscule roles are apt. It was quite surprising and implausible to see such a host of a reality based game show. But as rightly justified later by Anil that it’s his game show and he can do whatever he wants puts all cases to rest.

Coming to technicalities, everything from editing to screenplay, cinematography to background will mesmerize you. Within few minutes into movie and you get to feel the A.R. Rahman’s magic when cops chase the slum boys in the dirty lanes and pipes. The background score adds to the narrative and is evenly played depending on the situation with an utmost ease along with the songs ‘Ringa Ringa, ‘Paper Plane’, ‘O..Saaya’. However it’s ‘Jai Ho’ (comes with the end credits) which will make you shake your hip too along with Dev’s and Freida’s. Shot at CST, Jai Ho is a lively number by Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah and Mahalaxmi Iyer. Loveleen Tandan who co-directed the movie with Danny is also the Casting Director. What an ensemble cast she chose. Bravo!!! She played a very crucial part in the making of this movie. She has been previously associated with Monsoon Wedding, Earth and The Namesake to name a few.

It has its own flaws. Manjrekar changes the channel and the music comes on TV. The song is ‘Aaj ki Raat’ from Don but TV shows ‘Fanna’ song from movie ‘Yuva’ (Kareena moving his hands). As the movie progresses, all the leads speak English (I accepted that though many haven’t) but it’s the accent of Dev Patel which seems quite unrealistic. It is not tough to pick English but it is quite tough for somewhat literate boy to pick accented English. Was that because he worked as guide to foreigners at Taj? Or just because Dev happens to be British in real life, the angle of call center chaiwalla was added to give a leeway that he might have picked up the accent at call center? Whatever, I call it cinematic liberty which according to me if done in a lenient way shouldn’t harm the flow. And it did not.

Slumdog Millionaire is an excellent cinema in all terms. Three people who deserve all the applause are Danny Boyle (Director), A.R. Rahman (Music and Background Score) and Simon Beaufoy (Screenplay). These very three people won the Golden Globe along with Best Movie-Drama. The movie has got 11 BAFTA nominations along with the very gripping “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Oh, another masterpiece; Brad Pitt is marvelous and Cate Blanchett is alluring) and hopefully Slumdog will continue its success rate at Oscars nominations as well and eventual win thereafter. Hopefully.



A friend who has watched the movie and appreciated the direction and music cannot seem to digest all the adulation the movie is receiving. His complain is ‘Oh, you glorify the poverty of India and you win the awards’. I sneered at him and said almost what I wrote in the beginning while adding that ‘Why are you so negative about it. A film-maker made a nice movie and he is getting appreciated for it. Why the fuck we need to nit-pick in this very case and ignore many such incidences just because he happens to be a firang?’ I hope people start appreciating/ridiculing cinema the way cinema should be.

The movie is having it's theatrical release on Jan 23rd in both English and Hindi (Slumdog Crorepati). Go ahead, book your tickets and enjoy. Each to his own, though its better you watch the English version.

I knew it and many like me knew it too that Taare Zameen Par was too feeble an entry for Oscars like Paheli (miserable), Eklavya (hopeless), RDB (many like that already made; we made it late), Devdas (Hazam nahi hua) in last few years. TZP was too long like Lagaan and very foreseeable like Lagaan; yet Lagaan was prevailing but TZP from beginning was no match to Majidi’s The Song of Sparrows (Iranian), Takita’s Departures (Japanese), Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir (Hebrew; Israel) and Garrone’s Gomorra (Italian); these which I have seen amongst the 67 entries and surprisingly Majidi’s movie is out of the nine selected so far for the third round and unsurprisingly Aamir’s TZP too doesn’t feature in top nine. Majidi who made 1998’s Best Foreign Language Film Children of Heaven about which I have talked in my earlier post might be disappointed as his was one of the best entries amongst the 67 this year for 81st Academy Awards.

I am not sad for Aamir, I am not. His was not enough to be recognized globally as a good cinema so it did not make. Fair enough. I am sad for Majidi though.


Slumdog Millionaire has left me speechless. It’s a mind-boggling movie for which I hope Boyle, Beaufoy, Mantle and our own ARR win Oscars on 22nd Feb. I am yet fostering the aftereffects of watching a mind fucking movie which is Slumdog Millionaire currently for me. I feel like crying.

With all due respect to makers of Lagaan; I feel Jamal’s last question worth 2 Million Rupees overshadows Bhuvan’s last ball six. (A Premise to my review later; COPYRIGHTED)

Excerpts from review which I hope to write soon:

I wish Slumdog Millionaire had never ended. I felt 120 minutes passed too soon; I hoped for it to run forever. I never felt so elated even when Bhuvan in Lagaan hit the last ball six in the climax. I still remember the whole theater just erupted with a feat (one experiences when one achieves something akin himself) when Bhuvan hit that six. I found myself hugging a complete stranger standing on left to me that morning in theater. That was 2001…. 2009; Slumdog Millionaire; almost similar climax (penultimate?) but more euphoria than what Aamir & Co provided me with then.

P.S. Slumdog Millionaire is extremely different to Lagaan. The reference was only to the climax.

Today after a long absence from it, I am at it. There are times when you just should not write. I am not talking of the block, chunk or the equivalent of it; I mean you just should not. Because what you write in state of experiential anguish termed Emosanal Attyachaar these days could be hurtful to anyone; the way every TDH of our country gets hurt at the drop of hat, ‘Our sentiments are hurt’ they shout from the top of their lungs. It pisses me beyond means to fathom what sentiments in first place they brag of? Political/Religious/Physical/Biological? What kind of sentiments they carry that they get hurt so effortlessly. Nonetheless, one thing I am possibly sure of is that when called upon these same TDHs will turn out to be pansies pissing from their pants and petticoats.

By the way my sentiments are hurt too. They are not political, religious or biological and may be not even worth for those who inflicted them on me to ponder and respond but they are mine and they are immensely hurt. And more than once in last few weeks. It all started with RNBDJ. My sentiments were hurt when heroine mentions parathe waali gali to the hero. Wasn’t it Amritsar? I know of Delhi one though. How can she blatantly lie? My heart went through a series of moans every time heroine failed to recognize her own hubby in new avtaar. As a human my sentiments are hurt. I have become laughing stock for aliens and animals; because they can distinguish their partners from rest despite all of them looking same but our heroine cannot. Sigh!

Shobhaa De did not help either. I spent last week of last year in Mumbai and hoped of bumping into her somewhere, anywhere blowing kisses in air or tasting wine on the pretext of raising money, conscience for whatever reasons. Alas, she was in Goa. And I find her as livid this year as last in her writings for the same reasons. She is still holding onto the same schema, same positions have been revisited. She is tired of the analysts, politicians, tired of India showing evidence and Pakistan rejecting it out-and-out. She doesn’t realize she is doing the same through her articles.

Madam De talks of how the New Year has brought a New Beginning in the lives of the people of Mumbai. I was there for a good one week and I do not see much difference in the attitude of people this time compared to my visits before the attack, before the blasts and after that. Wonder what upbeat thing she is referring to? The only disparity (amongst few) was when few of my friends unlike me refused to celebrate and decided to spend the eve at home. Apart from that nothing visibly singular or buoyant about this whole upbeat business. Or possibly the rich ones are flashing it on their sleeves or the wrists which holds the champagne glass. Or may be she is so happy about the whole damn getting together of ultra rich Ambani brothers to celebrate sister’s wedding anniversary in Goa that she mistook it for the new beginning and sane attitude.

I wonder in what way that conveys the message of solidarity and of new beginning. These industry stalwarts, actors and celebs like her passed comments, wrote articles and more articles and welcomed the New Year in the safe cocoon of their plush abode by stating ‘It’s a new beginning as we are almost burying our differences’. Like heck I care if Ambanis come together. A commoner like me who traveled through the locals still feel unsafe; moreover I was appalled to find not even a single scanning machine at the major stations (Andheri, Kurla, Bandra et al) for I was carrying two huge bags. The other day TV actor Nikhil Arya entered the station with rifle and no one questioned him. Is that a new beginning?

How good these actors and industrialists have turned out politically? We do not have to be rocket scientist to know what transpires between the trios of Big B-Anil-Amar. We know how Govinda almost had to forego his seat when he was caught in a video footage along with Dawood. Amitabh’s exit from politics when the heat rose and Dharmendra’s discomfort as he found himself incompetent is no secret either. However now I wonder how Madam De is going to respond to the Comments by Big B in response to the comments initially made by her considering he is chaddi-buddy with the same Ambani she has been singing praises of. I hope you remember how she had lambasted everyone from SRK to Hrithik to Aamir to Big B after the attacks as these stars chose to keep quiet unlike her. SRK responded to her by calling her a ‘Cynic in designer Saree’ which I feel was quite an apt description of her but only second to the ultimate one by Sonam Kapoor who called De a ‘Porn Writer’. All said and done, isn’t that an Emosanal Attyachaar on all of us? We can blissfully ignore all this and move on but someone has to show you guys how trifling it all sounds and looks to us. You guys always fail to get the bigger picture, general understanding of us commoner.

If these were not enough, Aamir did his part of Attyachaar by doing what Mithun, Sunny and Akshay have done gazillion times in past. Unlike Attyachaar of De and gang, his Attyachaar deeply hurt my sentiments too. My sentiments for Aamir always have been that of a great thinker, a creative brain and a one stop dukaan of cinema. By Ghajini he has hurt my sentiments a great deal and my faith in him is defunct now.

The only good Emosanal Attyachaar is the one composed by Amit Trivedi (of Aamir fame) for Dev.D. The song is too good for the words and the rock version by Bony Chakravarthy indeed rocks. In fact all 18 songs of the movie rock. Not many know that Abhay Deol is also a good writer and it was his idea to make a modern Devdas which Anurag wrote and directed. It’s going to be one mind-fucking movie for sure. Critic Joginder Tuteja said, "Chuck the very thought around whether this album will do well commercially or not; it is an exemplary piece of work and that's what that matters most". Yes, that’s what matters most and for me as a fan of Abhay, Amit and Anurag that’s what matters most. What else a fan needs if his favorites act, compose, and direct top class stuff. So what if it’s Emosanal Attyachaar of multiple kinds listening to the songs continuously, in-loop the whole fucking time I am awake. I let the songs grew inside me and trust me it gets even better after 3 pegs down. Three cheers to Emosanal Attyachaar. The link to the Video