RGV's Rakta Charitras

Got a chance to watch RGV's bloody saga on Ananthapur's factionist and surprising myself, I've sailed through the two parts of Rakta Charitra. Here are few thoughts on it.

The movie was neither good nor bad. Otherwise put, it's equally good and equally bad.

Flip side:

• All said and done, this is a gutsy film. Probably, a subject only someone like RGV can take up. Though they have been innumerable movies on the faction-ism and few on the factionists lives (like Sree Ramulayya and all), this is an attempt to portray two lives which had substantial influence on all of Andhra Pradesh in one way or the other.
• The best part of this attempt is, it neither supports nor disprove faction or people involved it. It just tries to act as a mirror to what has happened and leave it to the viewer to approve / disprove it according to his own understandings.
• According to me, the point RGV was trying across is, no one is good / bad by default. Individuals take the form and shape of the society they live in. Dialogues like, "Killing here is not a play. It's a need." drive the point home.
• The cast was fabulous. Though I thought actors like Kota were underutilized. 
• Loved Surya. His eyes were emotions at their best. No wonder I liked second part better than first one.
• The roles of  Shatrughna Sinha and Subhalekha Sudhakar played were my favourite. They scared me the best. :P

Flops:

• It is, probably, a problem for every creator. Tendency to do it all by yourself or to be everywhere possible. RGV's voice over to the film was pathetic, ridiculous and a huge let down. The narration could have been more gripping.. the voice could have done magic to the movie. But RGV has taken it for granted.
• I didn't see a point in having two parts for this movie. Especially when he miserably failed to project the good-bad combo in Pratap's character. When Pratap had reached his peak, how did it affect some parts of the society? What were the negativity in doing all this? I'd heard about Paritala Ravi's regime in his area from someone who has seen it up close. As my friend was narrating to it, chills were running down my spine. For a moment, I was wondering how on earth can such things happen in a democratic country like ours. This movie failed to highlight the point. To project that regime, that kingdom as it was.. which was heaven to people inside it and hellish misery for people outside it. It could have been a 3 hour long one movie, rather than 2 parts. 
• The violence is in the movie was surprisingly not scary enough. Not that I wanted to see too much of bloodshed, but I expected the movie to project the ferocity or wildness that is usually associated with such factionists. Pratap's murder in part 2, came too easily to leave an impact. 

 All in all, if you can sit through it - for four hours of well researched content and leniently executed attempt - this movie is thought provoking. Since the director doesn't take stands, it's on the viewer to do the rest of the thinking.

 For me, the best dialogue was when some MLA's complaint to the CM about Pratap saying, "He is spitting at democracy." To which, CM replies:

"Oh.. how about the days when democracy had spat at him?"

That kinda summarizes it for me. What goes around, comes around! Be it among people or be it between people and the system.

Dhobi Ghat

So, yet another Aamir Khan Production! Beyond Bollywood seems to be the underlying motive of this production. Nice. Better, if its driven by "Cinema as an art."

Dhobi Ghat fails to reach the mark of a memorable movie, at least, for me.

I don't know why, but when it comes to titles, I get too picky. For me, title is the reflection of the soul of the piece of art - be it a writing or a painting or a movie. I consider it as an integral part of the art and not an identifier or label. Dhobi Ghat, straight away, fails here.

Why Dhobi Ghat? And why only that? Why not another place in Mumbai? Just because a key character works there? Or a lady -NY returned, investment banker, jobless in the name of research- chooses that place for photos? And a series of monochrome photos would capture the soul of Mumbai? Why a feature film when all it needs a photo exhibition?

The concept was good, but the execution failed miserably. "What is being told" should come first before "How it is being told".

This analogy may not go with everybody. From my understanding, what I see is that the director attempted to narrate a story of four individuals connected in no way, but only through the city. As they start with each other, their lives start interlacing with that of others and in the end, the final picture formed is not that of those individuals and their relations, but that of Mumbai. This is all so similar to a wall hanging made with steel or wooden frame as base with threads / strings of different colours run across each other - sometimes underlying, sometimes overlapping - to form a picture / design that one could connect to. This looks simple, yet beautiful. But the real challenge is that the threads should be neither too tightly woven, nor too loosely. It got to be 100% good to be in the awe of it. It's a case where 1% bad dominates 99% good.

Dhobi Ghat failed on showcasing the streams of the dhobi and the banker, tightly enough. And any interaction of these two with the rest, look like forced upon acts.

Also, an off-beat movie, needn't necessarily be boring. 90 minutes seeming to be an eternity isn't the target to be achieved. Not at least, when the story line has the scope to be engrossing enough for naive audience too.

Moments after getting out of theater.. I was thinking, why isn't the story better?

There is a painter, who is looking to shift to a new flat in old Mumbai. He gets to see a flat which happens to be semi furnished. The broker promises to remove the mess, if he plans to shift. He does. One day, a dhobi knocks his door and is surprised to see the new tenant, who also happens to be his old client. Now that the old tenants are no longer here, he decides to take back the clothes (or whatever to do they do with them, in reality) but handovers a key - which was tied with a knot at the end of a dupatta he washed - to the painter. Least interested, painter puts aside the key and rushes to one of his exhibitions, where he meets with this NY investment banker, who eventually ends up in his bed that night. Morning after, with all his uneasiness and inability to handle the situation, he successfully shoos her away. Disappointed, yet, sure-footed banker gets to her business of research and sees an opportunity to explore Dhobi Ghat and it's finance, when she gets to know the same through Dhobi guy. Meanwhile, the painter chances upon video letters left out by old tenant, thanks to the key given by dhobi. Now, where did the couple disappear? How did the mystery unravel? Was it a crime related to Dhobi Ghat? Or was it sheer carelessness on part of old tenants? What did the banker find out about the financial lives of the Dhobi Ghat? How did the Dhobi Guy ended up there and was he ever able to get out of it, despite his strong ambitions? Along side, how did these three deal with their passions and love and life and get along in the city?

Oh wait... why this rambling? I neither plan to do a Kiran Rao, nor do I have an Aamir Khan next to me. Let me stop here.

Aamir has said in press that this is a movie for someone who can appreciate an art, instead of being entertained mindlessly! Well.. it is not so easy to impress, when it comes to those set of people, for they tend to think too much! :P

... inebriated ecstasy ...

I miss Kafka, these days. As if none among the living is worth missing, I choose to miss the dead often. How often did your soul wanted to dance and your feet fail to stand up? How often did it want to dissipate into eternity and you couldn't even understand that? Kafka, in his engaging prose, kept complaining about a trampled soul trapped in a decent body. I've an exact opposite problem. Added to that, I can't express myself. Now, doesn't that justify me missing Kafka?

"pee loon, hai peene kaa mausam" - professes a song from Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. I've been drunk too, drunk on happiness, drunk on life, so much so that it's hard not to stagger, not to stammer. Yet, I've decided to write something on the album that has swept me off.

I was introduced to this album through the song, "pee loon.." , which is truly an intoxicant.


Mujh mein samayi hai yun, Jis tarah ki koi ho nadi
Tu mere seenay mein chupti hai, sagar tumhara main hoon

These are the lines that make this song an exhilaration, for me. Bollywood poets were always good at getting to heart of man-woman relationships; the above line, in its various forms, already part of numerous songs. But the amour prope shown by the man here - in being her saagar - amuses me.

The rest of the song is good too, passionately rendered and beautifully composed. Having listened to it many times, I conveniently skipped checking the album in full, until I came across the song "tum jo aaye" by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Listened to it. Got bowled over. I keep listening to it. And I enjoy getting myself bowled over again and again. This is one of the best songs that happened in Bollywood, recently. I can't talk much about the music, but I'm sure it has enough to sway anybody to its tune. The semi-classical base and Khan's voice make this song a beauty, especially the start of the song:

Paya maine, paya tumhe, rab ne milaya tumhe, Hontun pe sajaya tumhe, nag mein sagaya tumhe
Paya maine, paya tumhe, sab se chupaya tumhe,Sapna banaya tumhe, neendun mein bulaya

Breathless rendition leaves you gasping with ecstasy. And the more I talk about the lyrics, the less, I feel I could express.

Zindagi bewafa hai yeh maana magar
Chod kar raah mein jaoge tum agar
Cheen launga main aasman se tumhe
Soona hoga na yeh, do dilon ka nagar

Again! I-damn-the-death-when-it's-you attitude has been part of Bollywood for long, but the way these lines are rendered take it to a new height.

The lines that I like most in this song are, the following:

Mere dil ki jeet meri baat ban gayi
Hoo tum jo aaye zindagi mein baat ban gayi

Fall in love. That's the ticket to stay put a visit in both hell and heaven. You keep swinging between dreams and practicalities, between spring and autumn, between life and death, between excruciating pain and exhilaration. If I can tweak those wordings a little, "mere dil ki jeet meri maat ban gayi.. tum jo aaye zindagi mein baat ban gayi" capturing the irony of love.

The re-use of the old song "parda.." isn't very great, though the original has such a magic that it can easily live next 100 years, with or without remixes. And that leaves just two others songs in this album. "babu rao.." song is a funky, for-the-masses song, however is good enough to catch one's attention. The big plus of this album is that the songs have captured the soul of each character very well, be it the 'can't help being love' souls in above and soon to be followed song or the typical i-me-myself character in this song. The lyrics catch the mood well, and liked the song a lot - especially the lines: babu rao mast hai, mast hai, mast mast hai - makes me mast!

Final song of the album is a usual, listen-i'm-in-love song. The lyrics, though, are refreshingly beautiful.

Baadal pe chalta hoon main, girta sambhalta hoon main
Khwaishein karta hoon main, khone se darta hoon main
Jaaga na soya hoon main, musafir khoya hoon main
Kuch sarfira sa hoon main, budhu zara sa hoon main

A typical Indian male for you! The dreamer, the fighter, the yearner, the lover, the traveler all rolled into one - what a combination, delightful and frightful at the same time. Alas, if only the characterization in films could reflect what the songs convey. The directors either aren't poetic enough or can't translate that onto celluloid. I'm not pinning any hopes on this movie, despite such lovely songs.

Monsoon suits both: fall in love and fail in love cases. However, when such music comes to your rescue, you can fall in love, all over again. Just as the raindrops falling onto you titillate you, let the music grow on you.

Get drunk. Stay drunk. On music. On life. On love.

pee lo.. hai peene kaa mausam..

Karthik calling Karthik..

Some days are special, because there's nothing special about them. It was just another holiday, it was just another festival not celebrated, it was just hanging out with friends - opting same menu for lunch and watching yet another movie. Everything's mundane, but every single moment is exploited to get the best out of it. Not sure, if it happens because of company one is in or one's own mood helps. But yes, a meet after a long time is something to treasure.

So, yes, I watched Karthik calling Karthik. I'm hesitating to write about it, because I'm still in awe of it. Tonight I might shower praises on it, give me two days and I'll get you the picky report possible. Also, I think I began to take a liking to Farhan Akhtar. I enjoy watching him on the screen. Luck, by chance - had a similar magic on me. And also, I'm just too amazed to see Bollywood move away from stereotypes and getting some fresh breeze for itself. I'm happy that the guy whose name is first on the credits, is no longer a super hero, a saint! He started resembling a normal, average Indian. I'm happy that women are no longer the sati savitris or run-around-trees mortals. Not that seeing an Indian woman smoke in style on the screen is a thrill. It simply reflects us. And women in film can be mean, can be disloyal. There's not much dishum-dishum as well, the wrestling with self is trying to be portrayed. The subjects Bollywood is undertaking are worth a pat. Keep going, folks!

Well, coming to the movie. The lead is a guy called Karthik and is a soul crushed under thousand and one insecurities - can't say "NO" to people, is guilty that he screwed up lives, not happy with job - and who happily lets anybody take advantage of him. More importantly, he is in love with a hot chic who is not even aware of his existence, just to add to his list of failures. (The style statement these days, probably.) Amidst the chaos, he makes sure he seeks a psychiatrist's advice. One bad day, he ends up losing his job and he has no friends to wish on his birthday, thus takes a very intellectual decision of killing himself - oops, pardon my language - he was giving himself another chance, you see. He takes a handful of sleeping pills (he has a STOCK of them) and at that very moment receives a call. Who's calling? Will that call be successful to pull this guy out of depression? Will this guy be helped or pulled into further mess? Oh, how about Deepika? - check all these on the big screen. (I guess, Karthik is a Telugu guy, his father happens to be reading "Eenadu" in his childhood. Somebody can confirm?)

It's one of those Hindi movies for me, where I love most frames of it. Say, for example, the opening frame - the guy wakes up from a nightmare, a ray of light falling on half his face and there's a drop of tear on the other half of face in dark. I liked the way sleeping pills spill out of his hand onto floor. The locales of Khandala, Kocchi were well shot. Some of the dialogues were too good. "You're a safe guy!" - the line and the follow up has raised huge roar from audience. The lines were punchy and catchy. The narration was good too, if I keep my usual complaint of too much of screen time to myself.

Finally something to nag about. This is a movie dealing with "the uncommon", but as usual in the end, they make it a "feel-good" movie - all is well, before the credits roll. For me, this guy having an unusual problem or being just a short tempered guy wouldn't have made much difference to the story. Somehow the fact that something unusual has unusual effects is comfortably and conveniently ignored, which ends up this movie as just another good movie, instead of a better one. I'm amazed with the fact that the Indian film makers never really ventured into showcasing relations on a "how-it-happens-in-daily-life" basis on the screen. I find it always superficial. (Now, please don't start with Rays and Benegals and all.)

"Karthik" happens to be one of the names I'm fascinated about. Voices are also of my fascination. Farhan Akhtar's voice was disappointing, especially over the phone.

Kudos to the team which did this film! It's thoroughly enjoyable. I liked it, though I see a wasted opportunity. As always.

Final thought: Seems like the modern day man-woman relationship is all about dealing with insecurities - of one's own and the others. You and I and we all are, nothing but a bunch of insecurities!

Go watch this movie, NOW!

Talent for Vulgarity

Many of his words struck me hard, this being one of them, Kurt Vonnegut talking about his mother.


"She was a good writer, it turned out, but she had no talent for the vulgarity the slick magazines required. Fortunately, I was loaded with vulgarity, so when I grew up I was able to make her dream come true."

Watching Ishqiya trailers makes me so uncomfortable, not just because of what I get to see on the screen. That's anyway obvious. The new  disquiet is about the fact that I can't stomach most of it. Vishal has been tempting me for the days of Omkara. I watched that movie with my thumb mostly on the fast forward button of the remote.  I prepared myself a li'l too heavily when we planned to watch Kaminey. I was far more at ease with this film, but never did it impress me to the fullest. Now watching Ishiqa makes me curious and apprehensive at the same time. I'll be very surely out of place to enjoy this movie, even with censor board's best efforts. 

As Kurt said, to be an artist - to be in the process of mirroring what's around you - no doubt, you got to have the nag for vulgarity. I just started to feel that to be an  connoisseur of art you got to have that talent for vulgarity. I'm not campaigning for vulgarity in arts, it's just that I'm possibly seeing with wider eyes and acknowledging facts that aren't to my liking.  I still wonder if there could be a way to erase the world, when I close my eyes.



Good part of Vishal's genius  as  far as I'm concerned is his music. Partnering the mastreo Gulzar he comes up with some unusally brilliant music. After Gulzar and RDB combination, these two are soon becoming my second best. 

Never been there.. yet been there

Have you ever been in love? Have you ever been rejected, hated or left in despair by somebody? Have you ever felt the need of somebody for your own existence? Do you even have the faintest of ideas as to what it means to have a broken heart?

Do you want to wander about in the kingdom of a broken heart, without ever experiencing personally? Welcome to the world of Abhinandana.


Abhinandana is a musical romantic Telugu film released in early nineties. The story line is too simple: it's all about a gal and guy madly in love with each other when destiny scares them away that it seems that they gonna lose each other forever. But as they say, good happens to good souls. Its kind of happy ending that they both get back together. That's all! The beauty of the movie is actually how this simple story is turned into a masterpiece on the celluloid. I'm no expert to discuss the nuances of cinematic skills, so I'll leave that part right here.

As with any typical Indian flick, music and songs become such a crucial part of the movie that it mandates the gal and guy run around trees or drench in the rain or whatever that supposedly entertaining to the audience. Again, I'm not connoisseur of music, but still, that is what this post would contain. I'm terribly gonna fail at that, yet I'll be doing that.

The songs of this movie are a creation of three masters in their respective fields. None needs introduction. Or to the matter of fact, any introduction, however good, makes them look small, ordinary and one-among-us. Whereas they create magic that could overwhelm anyone - ANYONE!

First Illayaraja - he's called maestro - thankfully, I can stop here. Any given day and every single time I happen to hear the music of this movie, I'm taken into a different world. All of a sudden the real world diffuses itself into the magic called Illayaraja, leaving me swinging to the tunes of pain, hurt, hopelessness, melancholy, desire and many others which I can't even name.

Then there is the one who renders these songs so heartrendingly well - S.P. Bala Subhramaniam. It takes a certain age and most importantly a certain set of experiences to actually empathize with the fall-in-love and after-love effects. But not when you have someone who can bring ever single emotion of heart into the vocal chords. I was equally fond of these songs during my childhood, so much so that whenever I heard this song over radio - end of it, I wanted to give SPB a glass of water, make him sit beside me, pat him on his back and tell him, "Don't cry! Good boys shouldn't cry!" If you wanna hear a heart's beat, listen to SPB!

And the third and my most favourite is the lyricist of these songs - Aatreya. People call him 'manasu kavi" - poet of heart - and that is because he actually speaks heart's language. I can never understand when people say, 'heart is dumb' (మనసు మూగది). Heart has found its mouth piece in form of this man, who can so eloquently speak any of its pain in simplest of words and ways.

మరుపే తెలియని నా హృదయం
తెలిసీ వలచుట తొలి నేరం
అందుకే ఈ గాయం
(despite the fact that my heart can't forget, it has loved you and that's the wound)

గాయాన్ని అయినా మాననీవు
హృదయాన్ని అయినా వీడిపోవు
కాలం నాకు సాయం రాదు
మరణం నన్ను చేరనీదు
(You don't let the wound heal - You don't desert my heart - time doesn't help me - death doesn't let me associate)

కలలకి భయడిపోయాను
నిదురకి దూరం అయ్యాను
వేదన పడ్డాను
(Scared of dreams - distancing sleep - I grieve)

All you insomniacs out there, this is your problem, which no doctor on earth can cure, unless you help your self.

ప్రేమకింత బలం ఉందా?
(Love is this potent?) Brings a smile on my face. Yes, it is more potent that the strongest of "I"s wither away. But words can equally pierce your soul and chisel your heart. Words are potent enough to let us experience without being there. They let us live someone's feelings and emotions, though momentarily.

This song, at the moment, has completely taken me into it. More songs will be talked later.

On an ending note, music, vocals and words are equally potent. Better put, anything that has the heart as focus is always potent!

Confessions of a shopaholic

It's nice, cute, sweet, funny movie. If you don't have better things to do for an hour or two, I strongly recommend you watch this movie.

It's a story about a shopaholic, who feels on top of the world after every single purchase. That feeling being only for a moment, she feels like re-doing it, re-living it and hence ends up with too many debts to handle. Life, I guess has its own plans apart from what we plan for it. This gal happens to fall for a guy, who is at the other end of the spectrum. This movie has all those li'l moments of craziness, of weirdness, of sensible under the mask of nonsense and all the likes.

I Loved this movie, for many reasons. One for the story line, two for the guy who played the lead, third for the whirlwind into which I was pushed time and again watching few scenes.

This may not be the best possible movie, but something that would linger on my mind for a long time. Reasons? Shhh..

Lives intertwined..

I guess, this was a couple of years or more, ago! There was this program aired on Zee TV which was supposedly a talent hunt to rope in new faces for the Bollywood. Nothing great about the idea, nor the execution, but still every Friday night, I used to watch it religiously. In one of the episodes the participants were paired to form couples and were given a scene to enact. One of them, though was a mediocre performance, stuck with me to date. The scene was: For whatever reason, the lady has nightmares and denies to sleep in the newly occupied house. The guy trying to pacify her, says something to this effect: "If sleep is that scary to you, don't sleep. We'll not let that come to you.. it may only be a night, but it still can pass off as a day in our company. If I can't lull you to sleep, I can at least accompany you all through the night sleepless." I needn't repeat how much I love these lines.

Watched "A Beautiful Mind" today and that is what set off the swarm of thoughts. ABM is supposedly the story of a nobel prize winner with a grievous brain disorder, John Nash's story. And in all certain, it his story. But for me, it is somebody else's life too. I wonder why lives are so intertwined with one another, that a point it is so hard to guess who is it? The journey which starts as  "you and  me"  surpasses enough hurdles and transforms into "US" and it is now next to impossible to pick "the you" and "the me" again. Is it called losing identity or getting a new one? I wonder!! Nash's story is nothing but a life time experience of the line.. "If I can't lull you to sleep, I can at least accompany you all through the night sleepless"!!

Well.. only yesterday, one of my friend went on this statement, "No matter how close people are to me, they can never "feel" my silence as I do. They may empathize and sympathize, but they never gonna "feel" the way I do". "Aptly put!" was my initial response on it. Watching this movie, all I could understand is having nightmares is one, and empathizing nightmares is another hell. Your mind is clear, serene! You think only what you are really sure of. And yet, you go ahead, step into a mind that is utter mess, understand his plight, be his strength and march ahead in life. Boy.. isn't a nightmare lot better than this experience! It isn't your feeling, yet you live it! These are the particular moments, when I feel that all these romantic expressions, "I'm you" and "I love you" turn terribly to their true meaning.

A Beautiful Mind is not about a genius, not about a brain disorder, not about prestigious nobel prize. It is about  love, Love and LOVE! Nothing works like it!

Fashion - All about chasing dreams

I watched this movie "Fashion" only a couple of hours ago, and that it's images are still so very fresh in me,  seems like this the moment to put it in words. Not only that, ever since I came out of the theater, though I've been through the bustling city to get back home and then surrounded by decent enough set of noises around, few of which are now taken care by the midnight; yet I've this strange feeling that I'm surrounded by deafening silence. May be, I'm out of the theater, but not out of the movie. Hmm..may be.

So, did I like the movie? I liked it! "Hum jab sapne dekhte hain, tho koi yeh nahi pataata ki hume kya kuch khonaa paDegaa?" is one the lines of voice over (Priyanka Chopra) and that really sums up the story. We all dream, dream big! And some of us really have the guts to chase these dreams. They go all out, they give it themselves, so much so that there is no single moment to track back without the dream. Alas! But only to realize that they have lost everything and anything in the process and right now, there are amidst the ruins of their success. It's like on the top of the mountain, you feel empty! The promos said "... you lose more than your morals.." and I wondered what that could be! It is losing SELF, becoming an absolute stranger to one's own self!

For me, the fashion world was realistically portrayed, not that I know a whole deal about it! Time and again, I felt I've been witnessing the stuff here and there, in particular the Shonali (Kangana Ranuat) episode! I get to see these fashion news at times and it did look all so familiar for me, though the shades were unknown. What I loved about the movie was that there was no "bollywood" kind of treatment to it. Her first love/affair wasn't waiting for her to realize her mistake and he would be the rock kinda stuff to her. The lady in the lead was just an other ambitious gal, who thought she knew her business and lost the path. There aren't any social dramas, a gal from a middle class Chandigarh family grows into a India's No.1 Supermodel and falls down, just exactly as it happens in real world.

There is no moral treatment to the story. It was not preaching about what is good and what's bad in our society. It was only about how can you get along the path of your dreams, when the thorns of reality are pricking. Can you still hold onto self or would you in the mad run, lose to yourself? In this be-always-on-top competitive world, it's so hard to hold onto dreams/success and self together. Most times it is one winning over the other.

I felt the concentration was li'l too much on the big leads in it and the super success lives in the fashion world. Which I felt was incomplete. Modeling is such a tough job, a single scar on the face or a single fumble on the ramp can ruin the entire career. It's not always the money-minded sponsors or the ill-intentioned guys that spoil the party. I wish, the movie had those kind of insecurities, the challenges, the struggles, the hardwork,  the emotions and the actual workouts, to make it complete. Insights into models' own mind would have made it even better. Would still take, because this is supposed to be a work of fiction, and not really a documentary.

I don't know if to call it typical bollywood ending, as Priyanka Chopra rises from the disasters and proves herself, all over once again. She gets a standing ovation at the end, but I felt when you have such a support as she had, be it friends or family, that it is not that impossible. As her one of the voice-over lines states.. "kuch rishte aise hote hai ki, unhe apnaane ke liye haat bhi phailaaana nahi paDtaa"! Lucky ones are the few, as the rest are dusted as Shonali.

Am I out of the movie? No, not yet! :-)