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Lootera - A movie review

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I had read mixed reviews about Lootera so I was a bit hesitant to watch it. I went with an open mind and boy I was not disappointed. Lootera is based on O'Henry's short story "The last leaf". I had read this story during my school days and as such knew the plot of story. I have not seen Vikramaditya Motwane's directorial début "Udaan", but had heard a lot of praise for it. "Lootera" stands the acid test and is one fine piece of art. The film is set in 1953, during the time, when Zamindari abolition act was about to be passed. Varun (Ranveer Singh) is an archaeologist who comes for a dig to Pakhi's (Sonakshi Sinha) fathers land. Their encounter slowly blossoms into romance, which later turns into betrayal for Pakhi, when Varun disappears from her life. Their next chance counter is after a year in a remote cabin in Dalhousie when Pakhi is struggling to deal with her emotions for the man she once loved and Varun seeks atonement for his mi

The Hobbit- An unexpected journey

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People who are fans of the trilogy "Lord of the Rings" are in for a treat, when they get to see "The Hobbit- An unexpected journey". This Movie is again a trilogy based on the fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien and is the prequel to the "Lord of the Rings". This Movie is again directed by Peter Jackson who has done a wonderful job. Image Courtesy: Warner Brothers The story is about Bilbo Baggins who is Frodo's uncle and of his adventure with a group  of dwarves who are on a quest to reclaim their kingdom "Erebor" from the terrible dragon called "Smaug". The story is set 60 years before the LOTR.  This motley crew of dwarves is led by their warrior prince "Thorin Oakenshield" and accompanying them is "Gandalf the Grey", the wizard, who was also there in LOTR. Their journey takes them through difficult terrains, beautiful landscapes and the land of middle earth filled with fearsome Orcs, goblins and trolls. Thi

English-Vinglish- Movie Review

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I know, I am going overboard with Movie reviews on this blog. But how could I not write about Sridevi's comeback Movie? And boy, what a comeback. There is no one like her. Acting simply runs in her blood and she proved it with this fabulous, not to miss Movie, English-Vinglish. Folks, book your tickets pronto and be prepared to get totally engrossed in Shashi's life. Sridevi plays the role of 'Shashi Godbole', a middle class housewife living in Pune. She lives with her husband who is a typical Indian husband, a  teen aged  daughter, a small son and a gentle mother-in-law. Shashi is independent and earns her own money by making delicious 'Boondi Ladoos' at home, on order. Her life revolves around her family and she puts their priorities before her needs and happiness.  Her family keeps laughing at her bad English and humiliates her everytime she speaks bad English. Her husband underestimates her and does not have any respect for her talents. Her daughter

Heroine- A Movie Review

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For want of something to do on a Friday night, hubs and I ended up watching the Movie 'Heroine'. The director who gave us gut wrenching Movies like Chandni Bar, and Fashion that gave a National award to Priyanka Chopra, is not able to create the same spark with 'Heroine'. This Movie could not keep the high I had, after watching a beautiful movie like 'Barfi'. Image Courtesy: Wikepedia This  Movie  is in the typical Madhur Bhandarkar format, where he portrays the rise and fall of the the main character 'Mahi Arora' played by the beautiful Kareena Kapoor. The  Movie is  very  predictable, just like the rising gold prices .The canvas is so similar to Bhandarkar's other  Movies  that you can actually guess what is going to happen in the next shot. The Movie starts at a good pace but starts losing its grip very soon. Firstly, the Movie is peppered with too many characters that are one dimensional and then you have the requisite Gay fashion design

Unthinkable – A Movie Review

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I recently saw the movie ‘Unthinkable’, a political thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson and Carrie Ann Moss (Matrix), playing as black ops interrogator and FBI agent from counter terrorist unit respectively. I was quite intrigued by the story and in some places it even reminded me of  the TV series ‘24’ of which I am a huge fan. Though it is not a typical ‘Hollywood’ film, it does leave you with a lot of questions in your mind. The main questions being ‘How far are you willing to go when its a question of saving thousands of lives?’, ‘Are you willing to allow ‘human rights violations’ when it comes to saving many lives?’.  The film is gripping and all the lead actors have given superb performances with Samuel L. Jackson as the bad  cop  ‘H’. He has played the role of a menacing and ruthless interrogator with aplomb. To counter balance him, Carrie Ann Moss plays the good cop as Agent Brody, a sensitive yet strong woman. ‘H’ is brought in when ‘Younger’ aka ‘Yusuf’, an American Citizen

Hachiko - A Dog's tale - A Movie Review

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I love dogs and I am a sucker for all Dog Movies. I have never bawled my eyes out so much in a movie. This is was a real tear jerker and pulled at my heartstrings. I cried a few tears while reading 'Marley and me', but this movie is in a league of its own. It too is based on a real story.  *Spoilers Ahead* 'Hachiko' or Hachi (DVD Version) is a remake of a Japanese film 'Hachiko Monogatari'. The American version is a bit different from the original story. It is about a college professor who adopts an Akita (Japanese dog breed) puppy wandering on the platform of a railway station. That is a beginning of an unbreakable bond between the dog and his master which transcends beyond the death of the master.  Hachiko, during his owner's life, bade him goodbye each day at the front of the station and used to be there at the same place to greet him when the professor came home from work. This ritual continues till one day the professor passes away. He suffers

Tum Mile - A Sensible Movie

After watching a spate of rotten and over hyped movies like 'Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani', which should have been named 'Ajab Kahani' and the Saifeena starrer 'Kurbaan', I was really skeptical while watching 'Tum Mile'. The movie starring Emraan smoochie hashmi and Soha Ali Khan turned out be surprisingly sensible. Set against the backdrop of Mumbai floods of 2005, the movie is out an out a romantic movie. People who go to watch it expecting it to be about nature's fury, will come out disappointed. Go watch the angrezi movie ' 2012' if you want to see large scale destruction (I found that movie too predictable and was actually trying to stay awake). Even though I am not a big fan of Emraan Hashmi, his performance was super. He is quite restrained and mature in the movie. Soha was always a good actor but she always ends up picking the wrong movies. This movie gave her a lot of screen time to show her acting talent. The chemistry between the two

Wake up Sid- A Movie Review

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I saw this movie last week. It’s such a rare experience for me to watch a Hindi Movie in a cinema. Most of the times I am left with watching grainy prints on the web trying to decipher the faces of actors. The movie revolves round a character called 'Sid' played by Ranbir Kapoor. In short, he is a spoilt brat whose father has sacrificed and worked hard and is now loaded with money. Sid is oblivious of the hardships his parents had faced and is completely pampered by his mother and father. His life revolves round his friends a geeky guy and an overweight girl. He spends his time loafing around and blowing cash. He meets a girl called 'Aisha' played by Konkona Sen-sharma at the college farewell party. They become friends in spite of having nothing in common. Aisha is new in Mumbai and is here from Kolkata to become a professional writer. She is older than Sid and is mature. She finds Sid as immature and without any aim in life. Sid is good hearted kid who has lost his wa

'Gran Torino' is Grand

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I came upon the movie 'Gran Torino' by chance and decided to watch it just because it was directed by Clint Eastwood aka 'Dirty Harry'. I had recently watched 'Changeling' another movie directed by him and had been really impressed with it. The movie starts of with Grumpy old Clint ( Walt Kowalski) at his wife's funeral. It seems he is angry with the world. I was a bit reluctant to go on but with the want of nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon I decided to continue. The film starts at a very slow pace and people who lack patience will start fidgeting to see a codgy old man slurring racially tinged epithets and in general angry with the himself and the world. First 30 mins and I was hooked. My better half who can master the art of 'snoring away to glory' in superb movies like 'Lord of the Rings was glued to the screen as well. The film is set in Detroit and 'Walt' a retired automotive worker lives in a immigrant dominated neighbourh

'Defiance' - A story about leadership and courage

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I have recently been reading quite a bit about 'holocaust' - which refers to the extermination of Jews by Nazis during the 2nd World War. It started with the book 'Schindlers List' on which the famous movie was based. Then I read a book called 'I escaped from Auschwitz' written by Rudolf Vrba who escaped from Auschwitz with his friend Alfred Wetzler and informed allies about the Mass Murder taking place in the concentration camp. The 32 page detailed information which which they dicatated to horrified Jewish Officials in Slovakia came to be known as the Vrba-Wetzler Report. Yesterday I saw the movie 'Defiance' based on a true story starring Daniel Craig. It is about four Jewish brothers who escaped from their Nazi Occupied Village in West Belarus in Poland and joined the soviet partisans to fight the Nazis. The brothers rescue around 1200 Jews from the ghettos in Poland. The movie shows the courage and determination of people who want to live and die lik

I am crazy for Prem aka Main Prem ki Diwani Hoon

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Could the title be any more Cheesier....??? Watching this movie was a deliberate plan of ours(Naira - a friend in Lancaster and me) to experience the Horror of a bad Bollywood Movie.I had endured the torture years back when I had watched it for the first time. The setting of the movie is in "sunder Nagar" supposedly a small town somewhere in India. The small town not only has bungee jumping facilities but has snow clad mountains the size of ALPS and Coral Reef at the same time....isn't nature wonderful...I mean WOW is the word that comes to my mind. The place needs to be checked definitely for property prices... I know I know... Suraj Barjatya tried to make the scenery at least pleasant for the viewers... The torture..oops, the movie begins with Sweet albeit a saucy Kareena-Sanjana who is a girl of today's generation...who wants to live life as per her own terms.Her mother however wants her to get married to a rich bloke (Abhishek) named Prem. However in his place com

Sholay.....

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This movie is an epitome of what a Blockbuster Hindi movie should be. Much has been written and said about this movie so how could I not write something about it. I have seen "Sholay" countless number of times and know all the dialogues by-heart. My romance with this movie started very early in life. My father had a audio cassette of this movie with all the dialogues and songs. Even though I had never seen the movie it was fun just listening to the dialogues which were and are still so powerful even after more than 30 years after it was made. I dont remember when I saw "Sholay" for the first time. I recently saw the movie again. The beginning of the movie is so much akin to a western movie.The bandits on horse back trying to rob a 'maal gaadi'(goods train) has been shot really well. The film was a commercial diaster when it was first released in 1975. It was a Lavish film for its time and took 2.5 years to film it. Critics were harsh in their judgement. Onl

Race....helps you race for the "Stop button"

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After looking at the promos of the movie I was eagerly waiting for it to get released so I can see the pirated version on the internet (Well fellas dont go all "how can u do it ?" I am desperate...and there are no Hindi cinemas nearby to go to ) The star cast looked impressive and songs were also promising. Added to that was I love Saif ali so it was a chance worth taking.The print was quite ok. The movie started and the entrance of saif was so typical of Hindi movies as if dumb viewers like us, cant guess it anymore... The movie revolves around 6 main characters saif , bipasha , akshaye khanna , katrina kaif , anil kapoor and sameera reddy... This is not a review so I wont divulge into the storyline.. The first thought after watching the movie was... What was the director thinking...? The movie has so many twists and turns , it becomes difficult to follow the storyline. I feel Saif was totally wasted in the movie .Bipasha just looked hot and sexy (as usual) ,Akshaye Khanna

You've Got Mail...

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This is one of the most delighful Romantic comedies I have ever seen....I fell in love with both the characters "Kathleen Kelley" played by Meg Ryan and "Joe Fox" played by Tom Hanks. The movie revolves around these two characters, who communicate well via email and fall in love without knowing each others real identity.In actual life they are Business rivals and Joe Fox puts Kathleen out of Business. "Shopgirl" and "NY152" are the Avatars under which they are emailing each other. The theme is so simple yet so sweet.The dialogues which are in the form of emails are Fabulous and so interesting. " The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee b