Wake Up And Smell The Coffee...

"Pay It Forward"…an extremely impressive and moving film. I rented the DVD purely based on a hunch. Boy, am I glad I’ve a great sixth sense when it comes to choosing movies! I thoroughly enjoyed and absolutely loved this movie!

The movie spreads the simple message of "One Good Turn Deserves Another" in a very heartwarming manner and from a slightly different angle. It is not about returning favors or paying back; it is about paying forward...it is about someone helping you do something you can't do by yourself, you helping three more people, each of them helping three more, and so on, thus leading to a chain reaction of goodwill and kindness.

It is a story of a little boy's vision about doing something to change the world. It starts as a 7th grade social studies assignment and grows into a national movement. All it takes is passing the torch of benevolence.

The film is very well-made, with a perfect cast to complement the story. Haley Joel Osment is extremely adorable and sincere as the 12 yr old visionary, Trevor McKinney. Helen Hunt has done a commendable job as his compulsively alcoholic mother, trying to make it work with her son, while juggling 2 jobs, a deadbeat and drifting husband, and a budding romance. Kevin Spacey excels as the motivating teacher with a sad and haunting past. The other supporting cast is also very good. The biggest virtue of the movie is that all the characters are multifaceted and explore a wide range of emotions.

Watching this inspiring movie made me pause and think, as if Trevor were asking me instead of his teacher, "What did you ever do to change the world?" I hope that at least some of us will get inspired enough to pay it forward and be a part of this simplistic way to bring about a change in the world. The most important lesson to be learnt is that changing the world does not require power, money, or material possessions. All it needs is each one doing whatever they can, whenever they can, with whatever they have.

One of the dialogues from the film summarizes its essence perfectly.

"Some people are too scared or something to think things can be different. The world's not exactly...shit. I guess it's hard for some people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they are bad - to change and they kinda give up and when they do, everybody loses."

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Forever!

I have been thinking about doing a post on one of my most favorite TV shows ever, but never really got to it. Finally the time has come to pay homage to one of the best sitcoms...F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

I was introduced to this legendary show a long time after its cessation. Although I am not one of those who followed the show from start to finish while it was on air, I have probably watched all the episodes more number of times. It is almost impossible to get bored of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. The more you watch it, the more insight you get into the characters, and the more you love them. You can never get tired of Chandler's sarcastic one-liners or Phoebe's eccentric behavior. Joey will always charm you with his "How you doing?" and his silliness. Monica’s discipline, Ross’s nerdiness, and Rachel’s fashion never get old.  Could I BE more right about this?

The six main characters are brilliant, and so is the supporting cast. The show would not be the same without Janice, Gunther, Frank Jr., Ross and Monica’s parents, Chandler’s parents, Mike,  to name a few. I’m trying really hard to pick my favorite character but that just seems like an impossible task. All of them are so different, and yet so essential to the recipe of fun…it wouldn’t have the same flavor if any of them was missing. That said, I can personally identify a lot with Monica’s character, being an over-organized (read: crazily disciplined) person myself, though I wish I could be as pure hearted as Phoebe.  

Some may find this silly, but I have learnt a lot of things about America and Americans from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I started watching the show when I was new to the US, and I got a great glimpse into the American way of living, in terms of traditions, culture, cult classics, jokes, and even to some extent slang. I was exposed to a lot of different things which I could possibly have never encountered in personal life. It may not have been a perfect picture, but it did give me a head start on fitting in better.

The bottom line is that F.R.I.E.N.D.S. rocks! The show's essence can be summarized from its name. Here’s my two cents worth on what the name symbolizes

Freaky Phoebe

Riotously funny Chandler

Idiotic Joey

Elegant Rachel

Nerdy Ross

Disciplined Monica

Superb Supporting Cast

90% Talent, 10% Luck

I must admit that like so many other girls, I was swooning over Farhan Akhtar after watching “Rock On”. I was waiting to see more of him in Bollywood. That’s the reason I jumped on the first opportunity I got to watch “Luck by Chance”.  

It is a good movie, rocking debut for director Zoya Akhtar, and another feather in Farhan’s cap. The film has all the ingredients of a masala movie, and yet it is not spicy enough to cause heartburn. Everything is just right.  The story progresses at a steady pace and is well executed by the cast. Farhan has done a tremendous job as the not-so-perfect struggling actor. Konkona has done a swell job as usual. Among the others, especially worth a mention are Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, and Arjun Mathur. Although Juhi Chawla was great, her immense talent was totally wasted in that role.  I wonder if Isha Sharvani was acting or being herself…in either case there is not much to talk about her abysmal acting skills! Among the cameos,  Anurag Kashyap, Shahrukh Khan, Hritik Roshan, and Karan Johar got the meatiest ones.

Although this is a great effort on Zoya’s part, this film reminded me of Madhur Bhandarkar’s style throughout. It is usually he who wants to show people “the other side of things” and is one of the best  at it.…be it Fashion (the other side of the fashion industry), Chandani Bar(the other side of bar girls’ life), Page 3 (the other side of the glamour world), Satta (the other side of politics), Corporate(the other side of the big industrialists), and so on. 

Every once in a while I was comparing the progress of the storyline of Luck by Chance to that of Fashion and I found lot of similarities. For example, the transition of Farhan’s character from a simple Delhi boy to a selfish and uncaring star was parallel to the transition of Priyanka Chopra’s character in Fashion.  Also Konkona’s character was a female counterpart of Arjan Bajwa’s character.  

Also, every time I saw Arjun Mathur’s character (Abhimanyu) on screen, I felt that there was something more about him coming, and that he would add a possible twist to the story, but it never happened! He was giving out mixed signals throughout the movie, as if something important involving him was in store.  However, that’s just a minor glitch, and so is the not-so-great music of the film. Other than that, I loved the movie.

Lots of people have been complaining about how they didn’t like the end of the movie. I felt that it was totally justified. In the movies of this genre, it is not about a “..and they lived happily ever after” kinda ending,  but rather, it is about practicality and realism. The end really tied it all together.

All in all, Zoya has done full justice to the story. Not once did I feel that someone else could have done it better.  Farhan is as charming and cute as ever.  Konkona is an amazing actress and simply reiterates that fact. Most of the supporting cast is also “all star”. Apart from Farhan, Arjun Mathur seems like the one to watch out for in the future. He has a lot of potential.  

Overall, this venture is not a lucky success – it is a big scoop of talent sprinkled with a pinch of luck. 

Slumdog Millionaire for the Oscars...Really???

So many people were raving about the greatness of the new movie "Slumdog Millionaire" that I was desperate to see what's so good about it! When I finally got a chance to watch it, I was disappointed! I was trying very hard to understand what was so outstanding but failed to do so.

I'm not saying that it was a bad film, but, there was nothing extraordinary either. To me, it looked like a tweaked, tad glamorized version of Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay". Personally I think that "Salaam Bombay" was very powerful and portrayed the life in slums of Mumbai as realistically as possible. The authenticity of the film lay in the fact that many of the child "actors" were actual street kids, and of course some stellar performances by actors like Nana Patekar and Raghuvir Yadav. "Slumdog Millionaire" failed to make the same impact on me.

First of all, a westerner making a film on life in the underbelly of Mumbai sounds like a strange phenomenon in itself. Some might argue that Mira Nair is also a westerner, but being of Indian origin can make a huge difference. An Indian can identify with certain aspects of Indian culture and society that might seem alien to a westerner. However, that's not the primary reason for me to dislike the film. I felt that the lead actor Dev Patel was too “polished" to be a "slumdog". Although he played the part well, the hint of a British accent in his dialogue delivery bothered me quite a bit all through the film. A thought crossed my mind one too many times that if Jamal (Dev Patel) was so sharp, intelligent, well-versed, with a good command over the English language, why the heck was he still working as a chaiwala? And since when did the questions on "Kaun Banega Crorepati" become so simple? If that was the case, India would be overflowing with millionaires! I also felt that the arrogance and sarcasm of Anil Kapoor's character was a bit overdone and a total contrast to the behavior of actual hosts of KBC like Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan.

On the bright side, the overall plot was pretty decent, and most of the actors did proper justice to their parts. A.R.Rehman's music score was good. The film-makers managed to successfully capture various facets of street-life in Mumbai.

All that said, does the film really, really deserve to be nominated in so many categories? Or is it getting all this extra attention simply because it is made by a westerner? As an overall experience, I felt that from the past few years, "Taare Zameen Par", "No Smoking", "Manorama Six Feet Under", or for that matter even "Dor" would have been better candidates for nominations.

All said and done, to end my thrashing of this film, I would say that in my honest opinion, all the hype and hoopla about "Slumdog Millionaire" is a plain case of "much ado about nothing!"

Toon Time

Everyone loves animated movies… the good old cartoons! On a gloomy day, nothing cheers me up more than a nice Disney/ Pixar movie. I greatly admire the creativity of the movie makers who put so much into making every character life-like. Of course there is a lot of fantasy involved, but then where’s the fun in life without a wild imagination! As they say, there’s a child in all of us, and Disney movies definitely bring that out. These films are meant for kids of all ages – zero to infinity.

There are so many characters that have become immortal over time….be it Simba (Lion King), Mr. Potatohead (Toy Story), Toll Mater (Cars), or Donkey (Shrek), to name a few.

Some of my most favorite Disney/ Pixar movies include Toy Story, Cars, Madagascar, Horton Hears a Who, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and the Shrek series.

To cut the long story short, animated movies rock!

Marathi Paaul Padte Pudhe...

Welcome to the golden age of Marathi cinema where film makers are not afraid to experiment with different plots and ideas, and deliver excellent quality products. Right now, the Marathi movie industry is at its peak. In the recent past, we have seen so many good films, of so many genres…from thrillers like “Checkmate”, “Chakwa”, and “Savarkhed – Ek Gaav” to full-on fun films like “Pak Pak Pakak”, “Aga Bai Arechha”, “Kaydyacha Bola”, and “De Dhakka” and from timepass comedies like “Jatra”, “Hyancha Kahi Nem Nahi”, and “Navra Majha Navsacha” to serious films like “Dombivali Fast”, “Nital”, “Shwaas”, “Uttarayan”, and “Saatchya Aat Gharat”.

I remember the days when the Marathi movies were ruled by the awesome foursome of Sachin, Ashok Saraf, Lakshmikant Berde, and Mahesh Kothare. Majority of the mainstream films featured permutations and combinations of these four actors. As a kid, I enjoyed those movies tremendously, be it “Ashi Hi Banva Banvi”, “Thartharat”, “Dhadakebaaz”, “Eka Peksha Ek”, to name a few. Although excellent (and some of them are my all-time favorites), those films were somewhat limited in their scope, and focused primarily on comedy. Things were sort of repetitive, as the theme, genre, and most of the times actors were the same.

Things have changed dramatically over the past few years. Even today actors are repetitive, but the films are not. Although some of the movies that become superhits are modeled on the lines of popular Hollywood hits, they have a distinct hint of a “Marathmola” flavor. Today’s awesome foursome in my opinion is Sanjay Narvekar, Makrand Anaspure, Ankush Choudhari, and Bharat Jadhav.

Here are some films from the past 4-5 years that I absolutely loved:
1. Pak Pak Pakak
2. Yanda Kartavya Ahe
3. Kaydyacha Bola
4. Checkmate
5. Aga Bai Arechha

All in all, this is a great time for the Marathi film industry, and for an enthusiast like me for whom movies are like food, and watching an amazing Marathi movie is like a feast.

Hats Off To Hats Off!

In the era of saas-bahu sagas, shows from ‘Hats Off Productions’ are like a cool breeze. There are no far-from-real characters, or baseless and TRP-oriented plots. These shows are as close as it can get to real life; real life of ordinary people like you and me.

One can identify with the characters. They don’t seem unreal; rather, they are much like people we encounter in our day-to-day life. Be it the simple and straightforward Arvind (Baa Bahu Aur Baby) or the pakka businessman Shailesh (Jassuben Jayantilal Joshi Ki Joint Family); ziddi Baby (BBB) or ever-so-cooperating Aarti (JJJKJF); arrogant socialite Maya (Sarabhai vs Sarabhai) or char-chopdi fail Godavari (BBB); and the list goes on and on..we've been or at least seen some of them at some point in our life.

The factor that makes these shows special is the honesty and realism of the characters. They are not people born with golden spoons in their mouths, with a readymade family business, which runs by itself, (well, people in typical daily soaps usually spend all their time and effort in sorting out their overly complex personal life, and hardly seem to have any time left for making money..and yet they seem to have a never ending supply of it!). But, be it BBB, JJJKJF, EPU (Ek Packet Umeed), or SVS (Sarabhai), or any other hats off show, characters are like real people with real jobs. They have genuine and close-to-life problems, which are not limited to a troublesome saas, a vamp (usually a jethani or devrani), or an external troublemaker saut. Since the characters are so close to actuality, one tends to get involved in their family and day-to-day activites, their joys and their sorrows.

Here are some of my hats off favorites:

Top 5 hats off shows: (in this order)

1. Ek Packet Umeed (EPU)
2. Baa Bahu Aur Baby (BBB)
3. Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai (SVS)
4. Khichadi
5. Jassuben Jayantilal Joshi Ki Joint Family (JJJKJF)

Top 5 male characters: (no particular order)

1. Praful (Khichadi)
2. Rosesh (SVS)
3. Pravin (BBB)
4. Babuji (Khichadi)
5. Arvind (BBB)

Top 10 Female Characters: (Could not narrow down to top 5!) (no particular order)

1. Meenakshi (BBB)
2. Maya (SVS)
3. Baby (BBB)
4. Paroma (EPU)
5. Hansa (Khichadi)
6. Monisha (SVS)
7. Pravina (BBB)
8. Jayshree (Khichadi)
9. Sundari (EPU)
10. Pankor Baa (JJJKJF)

I used to be a big-time tv watcher when I was in India. With time, my filtering system became more powerful, and now, all I watch is hats off shows. They have all the elements necessary for a full package of entertainment; a perfect blend of drama, comedy, joy, and sorrow.

In conclusion, the only thing I would like to say is “three cheers to hats off”. As Aamir Khan said in Dil Chahta Hain, “Perfection ko improve karna mushkil hota hai”…but I’m pretty sure that at the rate that hats off is going, it will keep giving us fans better and better quality of television.