Guru

Who is John Galt? This is the line that comes to my mind after watching the monologue of Abhishek Bachchan a.k.a Gurukant Desai at the climax of the movie. It had to be this way for Guru to be a hero but as Roshan Sheth a.k.a Thapar said he is both a genius and a thug truly identifies the character of the movie.

I had to watch this movie over the hype about it and its likeness to the Ambanis and their struggle and I would say it was a typical Mani Ratnam movie. It has to have an item number as well as a young girl singing about her dreams to hardcore actions and human emotions with family and the whole bouquet. I will say it was a well made movie but the protagonist being potrayed as right at the end with hints to the governments shortcomings were erroneous. The tax evasions, duping shareholders and other items were not shown in the climax but the licence raj of the government, the stranglehold of the market by individuals were depicted till the end.

The end was abrupt. It showed one needs to bend the laws to create money. True the laws were restrictive at that time, but I will not say Guru was a John Galt. He was just a clever manipulator who understood what he needed to do to earn money and flourish in a business which was not to be a fly by night thing but a sustainable 'bijness'.

Over and all it represented the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, his clash with Nusli Wadia or Bombay Dyeing's fight with Reliance. The petrochemical venture, the clash with Indian Express and Arun Shourie. Why else would Mani Ratnam do a private screening for Mukesh Ambani prior to releasing the movie? Inspite of the declaration of fictional characters in the begining of the movie.

Abhishek and Mithun were brilliant in the movie. The songs were ok and I would have preferred seeing Vidya Balan instead of Aishwarya in that role of Guru's wife. Madhavan was under-utilized but effective. Over and all strictly pista movie according to me.

Trivia I observed:

Aishwarya Rai has a relationship after every successful movie with her co-actor.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam - Salman Khan
Kyun! Ho Gaya Na - Vivek Oberoi
Guru - Abhishekh Bachchan

Maria: So very graceful

After the terrible disappointment of the much touted ManU Arsenal clash, I decided to sit back and take my mind off the game. And what better way to do that than a compelling foreign language movie. I’ve been hearing loads of positive reviews of Maria full of grace that I decided to rent it on Netflix and I surely wasn’t disappointed with the final outcome.

The story is set in troubled Colombia shown through the eyes of an ebullient 17 yr old Maria Alvarez. She initially works at a florist factory separating thorns from roses. She is badly ill-treated to the extent that she quits her job even when she is one of the primary bread winners for her familia. Life takes a turn for the worse when she discovers she is pregnant with the baby of her boyfriend with whom she shares a relationship bordering hatred. The upswing in that relationship is that the feelings are mutual. Frustrated with her life in the remote town, she decides to move to Bogota and work as a ‘Mule’ (drug runner).

Her first assignment is to transport ‘Cocaina’ to New York. If successful, she would earn a fat pay-check of 5000$ which constitute to a zillion Colombian Pesos. I was startled at the way they’ve shown open drug transport from Colombia to the US. Maria is made to swallow small ‘Latex’ pellets filled with Cocaine. The obvious danger is, that if one of the pellets breaks inside her body, she would OD and die. The other is that if she shits, she would lose a few pellets and with that would have to face the wrath of the Colombian drugs lords both in the US and back home. The compelling story takes one more incredible twist where she is detained by the US authorities. They are of course aware of Mules and suspect that she might be one of them. They order an X-Ray to be performed on her to cross-examine their doubts.

I won’t go further into the story line of the movie to spoil it for anyone who decides to watch the movie after reading this. It is a very realistic story of the dreams of people from Latin America and their perception of US as the land of milk and honey. Catalina Sandino Moreno’s debut performance is just outstanding. The rave reviews and a debut Best actress Oscar nomination are richly deserved. Her subtle expressions, blank face in times to crisis and the joyful exuberance of a 17 year old are a treat to watch. Watch this one and you surely won’t be disappointed.

Rating 7.8/10

License to Kill

Caution: Spoilers Ahead

After a strenuous week at work, I decided to treat myself with a movie. The options at that time were Babel, Casino Royale and the much acclaimed and hated Borat. But, by the time, I left work, the only option available to see was Casino Royale. A Bond movie and having seen all the previous ones, I just had to watch it. I guess, its not so much about the movie or the story but to be able to see all of them. Infact, I have also seen the 1967 spoof of the Bond Movie which has the same name and has the comic genius Peter Sellers as Bond himself.

So what does one expect from a Bond movie, Daredevil and earth defying action, Bond Girls who ooze with sexuality, Bond Villains who have larger than life roles and grandeur plans to rule the world, Car chases which would put mere mortals in awe. And yet, I watch it with all the fascination I can muster. Maybe just to be in a world where it is possible to defeat evil single handedly, maybe to see the world more as a touch of black and white, not having shades of grey.

Yet, I decided to go to the movie to watch all the gadgets, the fascinating cars, the sensuous Bond girls and villains who I would admire them for their plots. But I was pleasantly surprised. This movie is the adaptation of Ian Fleming's first James Bond Novel of the same name published in 1953. But, it is not the same plot. The broad plot is intermixed with today's realities. While the original plot was based on the cold war rivalry between Russia and the West. This was different.

This movie starts at a time where Bond does not have a 00 status. This is a vintage Bond, who is a normal spy and uses his bare hands and his stamina to kill people. We do not see a spectacular mission to set of the movie, but a subdued monochromatic scene where he kills a double agent while reminiscing his first kill. He doesn't waste time on melodrama but clinically kills the enemy like an assassin would do. This scene is a sets the pace of the movie. It is going to be different than all other Bond Movies so far.

This movie is different from all other movies in many different ways. It has the reality of blood money from Africa to the shadow world of terrorism to smooth operators who converts their funds to legitimate means in quite a believable way. The movie does not have glamorous Bond girls and neither the elaborate sex romps which are a hallmark of Bond's persona, but divulges more of Bond the man and his thoughts. There are hardly any swimsuit shots and the one scene is actually a long shot.

Another significant aspect of the movie shows Bond to be not perfect as embodied by Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan before. This movie gives a glimpse of the way Bond thinks about women. Infact, it is the movie where Bond falls in love and is ultimately betrayed. Bond commits mistakes and at times questions his own judgment. The movie does not have the characters in white or black but shades of grey, self doubt, sacrifice, selfishness and this includes even the love interest of James Bond - Vesper Lynd. Sarcasm and Wit are the hallmark of Lynd's character without showing a hint of skin. Bond attempts to charm her to bed but is torn apart with his real feelings for her.

This is a movie, where M is shown to have a family and is not afraid to reign in James Bond if required. She does not give in to the recklessness to Bond while also acting as shrink to Bond. Q or his successor is notably absent from the movie. Total absence of a car chase which again like the swimsuit is over before it started. But its a phase in Bond's career where he moves on from being rough to being sophisticated. But its a 3 hour movie which is almost riveting, thrilling without having all the aspects of a Bond Movie. Daniel Craig cannot be compared to either Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan but a more believable Bond and is in his own class.

While it does not have outrageous stunts but it has Bond cleaning up his own blood after an encounter to being the suave gentleman to saying the last line of the movie, "The Bitch is dead". It is truly a different Bond movie having a grittier Bond.

Movies on Mafioso

Well, Mangal Pandey was the disappointment of the year. Took 4 years to make such shit. But its a waste of time to talk about such movies.

What I wanted to talk was about the theme of a different genre of movies. Movies which involved the Mafia. Well, I was watching Godfather the other day @ Pushkar's house and then watched Sarkar. Also, reminisced the first gangster movie - Satya and the followup of Company.

What struck me was the gradual delineation of boundary between bad and good.

If you observe Godfather - in all the 3 parts it firmly believed that what the Don did was bad and Michael and the Don himself were always trying to become 'legitimate'. Even when they mentioned about the days in Italy where they had to fight the government, it was a robinhood kind of thing to do but ultimately it was bad. Although, it was all about business and the family, however the family grudgingly accepted the business. Michael did not want to be part of it and Kay left Michael for what he became.

Satya - Here the family had very little say even though Bhiku Mahtre the protagonist loved his wife. Here, Satya joins initially to take revenge but the ultimately, he is in for the money.

Company is where the shades start becoming gray. Chandu's wife and mother have no qualms about him earning money by killing guys. And the movie does not show a robinhood kind of saga but its money and greed for which Chandu does not follow the path of good. A far cry from 'Mother India' where the mother does not tolerate such behavior.

However, Sarkar is where the protagonist is now good instead of being bad and he punishes the people since the justice system could not do its work. I do wonder how did the justice system degrade if not for such warlords if I may say. So if not a single innocent man is harmed by Sarkar who runs a parallel government than it means the laws are ineffective or the laws are not taken in the spirit in which they are to be enforced.

Now, why does the bad really become good. Is it the law as Ayn Rand mentions in Atlas Shrugged - Making a law which people are forced to break will involve more power to the government. But I do wonder, if the entire constitution is bad ...

This does not look to be the case then, the people involved do discharge their duties properly. Which of the above actually is what has happened ? Which means the sense of fairness and morality of people have nosedived in the society ..

Basically, the movies represent the genre of our own society or is it all fiction ...

Is RobinHood really a good person or are Robinhoods created due to the societies righteousness dives down ..

Any Thoughts !!!

Shwaas: Breath --> Movie: Breath of fresh air.

Had the opportunity to see Shwaas yesterday and was totally impressed by the movie. I'm not saying this coz this movie was Oscar nominated or whatever. For that matter even Devdas was but the movie was...to put it gently - 'a Disgrace'. Shwaas was made on a shoe string budget of 60 lakhs whereas the most expensive 'Magnum Opus' piecashit costed over 600 million. This is where Shwaas scores big time (and ofcourse it doesnt have that asshole Khan and the thumb twiddling,semi-paralyzed Jackie).
Shwaas is a very simple story of the relationship shared between a 7 yr old kid and his grandfather. They hail from some remote gaon in Maharashtra and set foot in Pune(i think) for an eye check-up for the kid. It so turns out that the kid has a rare cancerous growth near the retina or somewhere(sorry Bio fail) and the operation wud take away his eyesight. There are no twists or cliches at all in the movie....so even if i wish i cant share the spoilers...there arent any.
As far as the technical angle goes, the movie is astounding. The scenes where they show parts of the village, the birds flying over the brooks etc are stunningly shot. The camera is really 'in your face' coz the movie is all about capturing the character's emotions; which reminds me of the acting...SENSATIONAL!
The kid has done a tremendous job especially in the scene where he comes to know of the 'dark' truth that he is going to be blinded for life. Here I am really talking about a prodigy...no definitely not in the Jugal Hansraj mould. The actor who plays the grandfather seems a natural...after seeing him enact its hard to imagine anyone else who could do justice to that role. But walking away with the plaudits is the guy who plays the doctor...nonchalant,unfazed and a thoroughbred professional.
What really catches the eye in Shwaas is its simplicity. The movie couldve been made very melodramatic keeping in mind the sensitive subjectmatter, but the director thankfully refrained from it.The marathi is really not that difficult to understand as the dialogues are delivered at a very slow pace and not many demanding words are in use. Sad that it didnt make the grade at the Oscars but i was really very impressed that atleast at the National award level Marathi movies fully got a rub of the green. A must watch, I give it a 4/5.

-Balls