Ishqiya (2010)

I now seem to have developed a new genre of movies — I call them Traffic Movies. These are the ones that you watch, waiting for Mumbai traffic to slowly dilute, allowing a three-lane road to thin down from a six-lane standstill.

Usually Traffic Movies are painful, and make you think that you were better off suffering the traffic than the movie. Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Kurbaan (2009) were two such movies.

But Ishqiya caused some dilemma.

Here’s why I thought I was better off in the theatre.

I liked the execution, in general. The cinematography, the dialogues, the performances are generally above average. Naseeruddin Shah is his usual self, he is in character, but nothing explosive or different. Arshad Warsi seems to be in some kind of a transition phase, nearly graduating from the usual comic sidekick roles to being a true actor. But Vidya Balan came as a good surprise, where she isn’t necessarily appearing as if for a toothpaste ad. She has done more than smile, and she has done it better than before.

The story itself, is something that leaves you wondering if the movie was good or not. The story has a sense of incompleteness about it, but is very difficult to point out how. For one, the story doesn’t patronise – most Indian movies are used to that – they have to explicitly tell the entire bloody story and each nuance therein. This aspect, relevant more-so, because they have taken the story from the known stereotypes of where movie stories are set, to hitherto unknown locations. How many films we know, were set in Gorakhpur? The story is not apologetic of taking you away from the stereotypes that you know. Secondly, the story chooses to stay satisfyingly raw, which seems to me, is a Vishal Bhardwaj signature. Maqbool (2003), Omkara (2006), Kaminey (2009), e.g. I wonder, however, if that can be applied in the true sense, since it has been directed by Abhishek Chaubey. But, then, he does belong to that team.

The cinematography itself is well-done and doesn’t, by itself, give scope for any complaints. I felt however that the photographic beauty that has been so well-captured, was disconnected, often with the story. It is almost as if it offers breaks from the story, to help you catch up. At times, I felt, Mohana Krishna was at risk of becoming Santosh Sivan like in Before the Rains (2007). I am not particularly impressed with the new “saturation-contrast” style of photography that many new movies have. Kaminey, was a welcome change.

And now, here’s why I thought I was, perhaps, better off in the traffic.

I just couldn’t relate to the entire presentation. There was something frequently jarring in the presentation that did not allow me to get sucked in the presentation. And this is where the lack of my review skills kick in — I am unable to say what those were. Also, given that I have never been to Gorakhpur and have no idea how it looks like, I felt that it was shot in the interiors of Maharashtra. This proves either of two things: that there is landscape similarity in the country or that quite a bit of the outdoor shooting was indeed done around here.

Verdict? Watch it when you can. Avoid comparing it to the presentation and finesse of Omkara, however. I think I made that mistake.

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2010
02/06
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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

What can I say?

Watch it if you are a John Travolta fan, but you will be dismayed. Watch it if you are a Denzel Washington fan, but you will be dismayed. Preferably rent it.

Don’t make the mistake I made; don’t buy the DVD.

2010
01/14
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Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Guy Ritchie’s films have one character about them: they remain with you.

The Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes, changes the paradigm of any Holmes version you may have seen. The good question the movie asks, is: why should Sherlock Holmes be the same character every time we have a new presentation? And it gives a wonderful answer.

Robert Downey Jr. is his usual amazing self, playing Sherlock with an attitude that only Downey Jr. can bring to the screen. I would love to know the “character brief” he would have got, when he started the movie. Hopefully the DVD will have this in the feature and I am looking forward to it. Having seen The Soloist (2009) (Review Pending) recently, I have increased respect for Downey Jr.’s performance.

Many may argue that the Jude Law version of Watson fell short of expectations; I’d disagree. The smart actor that he is, he always places his character in context of the other characters in the movie. To that effect, Jude Law has done a fabulous job.

There is little to find flaw, at least in the first view. The editing is smart and racy, the CGI-fx leaves no doubt for identifying where it was used. Over all, a must watch.

2010
01/12
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Kurbaan (2009)

If you shoot a majority of a movie in the US, have a large production budget, why do you shoot in India for a really small office sequence?

I don’t know.

If you have seen Fanaa (2006) or New York (2009) there is really no need for you to see Kurbaan. There is no need for you to see Fanaa, or New York in the first place.

I won’t waste blogspace trying to tell you about the acting. Where Om Puri starts acting like the rest of the cast, there isn’t any point mentioning how people have acted in the movie. Kirron Kher completely disappoints with her over-Afghanified accent, which you can just about tolerate, however, Vivek Oberoi should strike out “can do American accent” from his resume.

There is nothing worthwhile about the direction, it is plain and staid. The worst of all is the story. Sorry, my mistake – the story is not bad – it just doesn’t exist!

Predictable right from the word go, Kurbaan is an absolute waste of the money spent in making this film. I feel really sad, I added to the waste.

2009
11/22
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Inglourious Basterds (2009)

There are some movies, if I see them in a theatre, I come out very quietly. Often times, these are violent. Most of the times, the movie isn’t boring. Often times, I say to myself (or to whoever accompanies me) that I need to get the DVD of this movie.

Inglourious Basterds was one such movie. I loved it at first shot; what can I say? And I want to see it many times over. Happened to me with Kill Bill (both volumes), happened to me with Death Proof). And I must say, it helped, that I saw Valkyrie (review pending), a few days ago. The mood was well set to continue in the WWII thought mode, with Germans involved.

There is something about this movie however, that was an away from the usual Quentin Tarantino stuff, yet the entire footage is marked with his unmistakable signature, which was absent. (Yes, yes, I do know what I am saying, this is a QT movie, remember?) There is classic QT in the met-presentation and in some of the micro-scenes.

Brad Pitt does a decent job, but the content, character, and charisma of Christoph Waltz’s role, doesn’t give a large canvass to the other players. Waltz has an extremely strong screen presence and does immense justice to QT’s vision. Mélanie Laurent was also a pleasure to watch, first time for me, especially in the scene where she first meets Goebbels.

Inglourious Basterds is master craftsmanship and the skill of this craftsmanship will be clearer as you see this movie a few times over.

2009
10/04
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Purple Cow, Seth Godin

I never expected this book to be one of the finish-in-one-sitting books. But it ended up being one. Interestingly so, till Seth Godin does not actually tell you what a Purple Cow is, I did not make the connection. But he moment he did, I immediately thought of The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

In short, the Purple Cow (like the Black Swan) is what doesn’t exist. (I haven’t completed reading the Black Swan, so I’ll refrain from any further comparison)

This is the first book by Seth Godin that I have read, and while it is similar in structure to some of the recent popular non-ficion books of recent times (The Corporation, Blink, and such), it does make for good reading. Recent non-fiction books seem to follow a common structure, which make for dull and monochrome reading. When putting a powerful idea forth, it seems to me that the way to do it, is to present a very short idea in your head and then overload the reader with repetitive examples that prove the point – some examples are straight and directly relevant, some are far-fetched and seek your imagination to contextualise the incident.

While The Purple Cow does something similar, the theory is well presented, formed and delivered. The proverbial proof is well set and relevant to the items that make up the idea. The writing is simple, clear and allows for easy mental digestion. The idea that Godin presents is valuable and quite inspiring. Inspiring, however is a very relative term. Unlike Godin, I believe that most people strive to be remarkable, but allow constraints and circumstances to enslave them. This book is meant for those.

In life and work (and I don’t make a distinction between the two) we are surrounded by a continuum of dreariness and everything pale. When everything is bright-red, bright-red is pale. As I was reading through, the first image that came up was the supermarket shelf where biscuits are stored. It is almost impossible to identify a good biscuit. Heck, nowadays, even the packaging doesn’t stand out. Of the masses he talks of I am the obvious one: I never get carried away by a mass-media ad and never have to buy something that the ad hypes. Buying behaviour is more complex than we seem to have imagined.

If you are one of the (what I believe) many, who are tired of the commonplace and insipid, this is a tangy book that will spice up your thoughts, if not action. This is not an answer book, however, and Godin makes it clear somewhere in the middle. But then, personally, most how-to books have failed for me unless they teach a “tactile” how-to. There are some interesting insights (case studies that you may already know of) that I was happy to discover.

I wish, however that non-fiction structure evolves soon. I wish for a Purple Cow in non-fiction books.

2009
08/26
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Dabawalas, Shrinivas Pandit

The story of their success is not new. It has been around for a while and has been excitedly spoken of in various business events and discussions. They have made Mumbai proud by placing an otherwise taken for granted enterprise on the global map. I am, no doubt, talking of the Dabbawallas of Mumbai. Those pyjama-donned and Gandhi-cap clad busy-bees who are ubiquitous every morning during your commute to office.

I finished the very unputdownable book, Dabbawalas, by Shrinivas Pandit, yesterday, in one sitting. The entire book is a set of dialogues between the office bearers of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust and the author and Anita Dalal. The author has inserted takeaways at the end of every dialogue and has summarised them at the end of the book. It is a very simple read, does not use complicated business jargon, neither does it present an over-analytical view of the dialogues. In fact, the analysis, if you insist on calling it that, is embedded in the conversation seamlessly and does not require a separate process in your brain to comprehend that.

The dialogues provide a deep insight into the functioning of the Dabawalas: not as a process of implementation, but the philosophy and the value system of an enterprise. The dialogues often touch upon the concept of durability, which had me mesmerised, thinking of how these people look at their business and how most businesses are superficial in their mission definition.

This book is an important read for anyone in business for one very important reason. This book explores the psyche of the enterprise. Often, most business-self-help books provide you the tools of success — describe what has been successful in one business that you may implement in yours. This is a classic posture for failure. Most processes are built on foundations of a value system that is often ignored. To adopt a process without it’s underlying value system is a mistake that many businesses make. In my opinion, every enterprise is unique based on the value it creates for customers and markets. Therefore the processes that they should adopt must be derived out of the value systems that they follow. Processes that are orphaned from their biological value systems are doomed to fail or at best achieve mediocre results.

A significantly large population who knows about the Dabawalas story, will focus on their six-sigma performance — one error in 16 million transactions (99.999999%). This would be the fallacy. Dabawalas, by Shrinavas Pandit, helps provide the perfect context of this error-rate. The context of the belief-system in mission; the spiritual density in action; a discrete single-mindedness of a business (not financial) goal, and the arresting inclusion of every stakeholder in the enterprise.

The book, if you are willing to delve in its takeaways, is even a guide for how you may live your life. Read it completely, if you want to make sense of why certain things work and why certain don’t. In the fast-paced life that we live, it will be useful for us to take a few scoops from this book, rather than scrape the icing, mistaking it for the cake.

2009
08/09
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Love Aaj Kal (2009)

It was the traffic, and the news that there was an accident on the highway that made me turn back to Inorbit Mall and catch up a movie till the traffic diluted.

Ever been tempted to remove the thin plastic wafer on a new mobile phone? The one that covers the screen and such things? It’s almost not there, but of course you know that it is there and there is always a dilemma in your head whether you should remove that thin and transparent plastic film from the screen or not.

That’s Saif Ali Khan in Love Aaj Kal. He is there in the movie, all through, just, it’s very easy to peel him off and he isn’t there. And boy, is he losing touch (rewind to Dil Chahta Hai (2001)) and hair, for that matter. His delivery is losing the smoothness that he once had. Scene: afternoon discussion at he Chowk with Rishi Kapoor. There are instances when he is brilliant – most of the funny scenes – but the moment he tries and emotes, I wish I was in traffic.

Deepika Padukone is good looking. No doubt about it. We all know it. She knows it. The best asset being her smile. She knows it. So, even when she is in bang centre of a heartbreak, she is smiling. When she is drunk, she is smiling. When she is teasing, she is smiling. When she is brushing dust off old fort walls, she is smiling. When she isn’t smiling, she is clumsy. When she isn’t clumsy, I wish I was in traffic.

Rishi Kapoor is his consistent self; his laugh keeps bouncing between the inner walls of his cheek. No one else in the movie is worth a mention.

And then, there is the mystery of Harleen. Doesn’t appear in credits. But what a wonderful blast of fresh air! Giselle Monteiro, a 19-year-old Brazilian model, plays the 60’s village beauty perfectly. There isn’t much for her to do in the film except look beautiful, which she does with exceptional ease, or look frightened, which isn’t too difficult for her either (she probably was imagining working in a Hindi Movie for the first time).

And the highlight of Harleen is when she grows old and becomes Neetu Singh. What can I say? (Update: even if certain filmy types think otherwise) All my wishes of rather being stuck in traffic vanished without a trace.

The concept of the film is lacklustre and trite: discovering love. The movie is often over saturated, and you wish you had a desaturating control in your eyes. Yes, everything Indian is colourful, but we don’t use a ‘photo shop’. The constant saturation/desaturation shift between the 60’s and 2000’s is equally troublesome. On a personal note, I was happy to be taken back to images of London; places I knew and frequented.

All in all a very average film, and bearable only because it was better than being in traffic. Slightly, slightly better.

2009
08/04
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Eyes Wide Shut

Blink

It’s about six-forty in the morning and I just finished Blink, by Malcom Gladwell. I have yet to read The Tipping Point by the same author, but now, I am not sure that I will.

The problem with any book is its reputation – especially if there is a lot of it. For some reason – it kept reminding me of Freakonomics – only this was esoteric on the dull side.

There is a trend (I am not sure who started it) of looking at the world as if suddenly we are finding new things. These books go on with examples and experiences – and it just seems never ending. Some examples are interesting – but then it does get boring after a while. India Unbound, The World is Flat (left it halfway), and now Blink. I am given to believe that the Tipping Point is similar. I call these, the “books that tell us what we know”. And I may add, “that we choose not to know”. Possibly we are bang in between a revolution of how we see our world – and these are the small changes that we dont notice. Hmm. Need to read Tipping Point.

Freakonomics stands out – because the relationships that it talks of – are curious, to say the least.

Blink is a good book, mind you, nothing wrong with it – but it failed to impress. At least as much as the promise that people said it held. The theory that the book talks about is absolutely bang on! And I should have known. I don’t pick up books recommended by some people. Then many people talk about it – I know all the more I shouldn’t pick it up. But then you feel left out – because everyone is talking about it. That is not the Blink moment. The moment I choose not to pick it up is the Blink moment.

Recommended only if you want to be told, with never ending examples of, what you possibly already know. Yawn, need to get forty blinks…er…winks, or more.

(Originally posted on Oct 12, 2008)

2009
08/01
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Intuition: Knowing Beyond Logic, Osho

It was the most innocent pick-up of the year, I think. When I picked up Intuition: Knowing Beyond Logic, by Osho, you could say, it was intuitive.

I am amused and smiling as I write the review. One of the resonating themes of the books is to let go of the shackles of the belief system(s) that you have adorned, imbibed and ingrained over the years. Whatever these may be – religious, spiritual, social or political.

Osho says in a section of the book – to be in the moment and not necessarily agree or disagree with what he says – just be with him him. Like you do not agree or disagree with a sunset or a rose, just be – do not agree or disagree. Significant social conditioning denies us this pleasure of being. The mind needs to settle everything in one of lobes.

So, I have nothing to tell you about the book. No experience is ever the same – especially with books and what we gain (or not) from them, this book is a shining candidate. I was just going along reading without thinking (which was a huge effort, I will admit).

In the end, it was an enjoyable experience.

2009
06/29
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