An Underrated Masterpiece

Dor is one of its kind..yet another masterpiece from Nagesh Kukunoor! It is a powerful story of love, friendship, trust, sorrow, laughter...you name an emotion, and you will probably find it somewhere in Dor! The storyline is strong..characters well-etched! It is a tale of going above and beyond for the one you love.

The main protagonists Zeenat and Meera are as different as chalk and cheese! Zeenat is a strong-willed girl, who makes her own decisions, and is willing to bear the consequences. On the other hand, Meera comes from a traditional and orthodox background, and is the ideal obedient daughter-in-law to her obstinate in-laws! Her only ray of hope is her loving husband! Throughout the movie, we see each of these women struggle with her own share of obstacles ...and how they cross the hurdles in their path. Comic relief is provided by the Behrupiya..and his mimicry skills are worth applauding!

Gul Panag is excellent as Zeenat. Ayesha Takia is very endearing as Meera. Shreyas Talpade has done a swell job as the "Behrupiya". He sure has a carved a niche for himself in Bollywood! The other cast is apt, and each character is well created and justified. The music is very good, and well-suited to the story. The song "Yeh Hosla Kaise Jhuke..." is especially worth a mention.

All in all, once again, an excellent piece of work from Nagesh Kukunoor!

Smoking Brilliant Film!

'No Smoking'...another sixer from Anurag Kashyap. After the hard hitting 'Black Friday', he has done it again.

However, it is definitely not a movie for everyone..I recommend it only for people who love movies and not those who are looking for pure timepass and entertainment! It is one of the best abstract movies that I have seen in recent times.

The story revolves around "K"...just K! It is about K's struggle to quit smoking. The film is full of metaphors and clues, and the director forces the audience to come out of their passiveness and think! If you are not alert enough, you might end up confused and clueless about what's going on. There is much more than what meets the eye..you need to activate your brain cells and relate the activities on screen to what the director is actually trying to convey! Miss that and the entire movie seems like a waste of time! There a quite a few things like a bath tub in the middle of nowhere in Siberia, Baba Bengali cutting off 2 fingers from peoples' hand, the dirty room where people arrive through the bath tub, cupboard or such unusual places, the right to take a 'bath' for the people who have paid the full fees to Baba Bengali, or a woman singing "Jab bhi cigarette" in Adnan Sami's voice, that look weird to the normal eye. But, this symbolism itself proves the sheer intelligence of the film maker.

This film is a gem in all the departments: direction, cinematography, acting, music. John Abraham has done a commendable job as the egoistic and obnoxious K. Paresh Rawal is outstanding as the eccentric Guru Ghantal Baba Bengali . Ayesha Takia is decent. Ranvir Shorey excels in his short, but well etched out character.

Kudos to Anurag Kashyap for this brilliant piece of work! A must watch for cinema fanatics!