newginafets

aww thanks, any other Hindi movies recommendations?

flixtime

Man toddly you must really have hated YAMADONGA; it seems you've completely erased it from your memory. I'll be watching ARUNDHATI most likely tonight.

nitin, I suppose you really have found your new favorite Indian filmmaker with Bhardwaj...that's good. If nothing else, I might turn out to be a fine reverse barometer for you in regard to movies.

newginafets, who the heck needs Hindi movies when we could be watching Maria Ozawa (or as I now anoint her Maria O-wowza! or Maria O-yowza!) instead! Note: for those who haven't read the INVITATION ONLY TAIWAN SLASHER thread, simply run a Google Image Search for Maria Ozawa to see the reason for my current infatuation. Also, I hereby renounce any prior claims I might have made in regard to Monica Bellucci...Maria Ozawa is the only girl for me!

starman9000

I don't think it's here. I was in Mumbai for about 3 weeks so I caught it there.

I don't think an Indian movie has ever been aired here in Fargo for some reason.

toddly6666

haha, I didn't forget about that film being a Telugu film. Yamadonga didn't count since I only watched 30-40 minutes of YAMADONGA before I couldn't take it anymore. ARUNDHATI is the first Telugu film that I watched from beginning to end! I hope you enjoy it!

toddly6666

I'm not crazy about Lock Stock or Guy Ritchie, so I have a feeling that I may not like Kaminey....And yes, UTV screwed up again. What a fucking joke of a company - screwing up their "good movies" (Jodhaa Akbar, and now Kaminey). I just don't get it...

flixtime

Watched Arundhati, it was...not unwatchable. Still, I thought the movie rather flat and unengaging, and even with the short runtime of 2:05, to me it fell overlong and dull, and I certainly kept glancing at the counter on my player to see how much time was left before I could be free of watching the film. That said, toddly I think your take on the film is quite accurate too, in that it is a film - as compared to other Telugu films - that would be easier to take for Western audiences than the vast majority of Telugu cinema. ARUNDHATI certainly doesn't suffer from the awful comedy sidebars and "stalker romance" which plagues Telugu cinema and generally makes it unpalatable for outside audiences. As a B-movie curiousity it should definitely suffice for those wanting to check out a Telugu movie. For me though, it just never grabbed me. I didn't care for the performance of lead actress Anushka (who I didn't like in BILLA either). On a sidenote, Indian cinema in general really needs to get away from post-production dubbing and record more film with sync sound, I think that would really help with the actor's performances. The special effects are Sy-Fy channel quality but that really didn't bother me at all and they would have been perfectly acceptable if I had felt anything for the characters or plot. An obvious borrowing in the film is a drum room setup that they lifted from HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS; I was disappointed they didn't do much with that in this movie as I was expecting a really solid dance number out of that at least. For me, the best parts were some short sections with these tribal mystic characters...including the best part of the film for me which comes shortly after the ninety minute mark. Basically, I'd rather suffer through the lengthy and annoying comedy/romance that plagues the masala action films of ALLU Arjun, N.T.R. Jr., Mahesh Babu, etc., because with the valleys found in those films, I also find satisfaction in the peaks whether it be charismatic performances, diverting action or song/dance, engaging melodrama, etc. In ARUNDHATI, I didn't really see much that entertained me aka if I were channel-surfing and came across it on TV, there really isn't a section of the film that would compel me to watch it again. Whereas some other Telugu films I've seen might hold me to watch them depending on if I were fortunate enough to channel-surf upon it at the right secton of the film.

As to the DVD, while I'm in no way an A/V critic, I wasn't happy with it on my set-up. It showed split-second digital glitches on maybe eight occasions and even stuck for a second at one point. I didn't try it on other players to see if the problem repeats itself. But I guess that's what you get with a cheapy DVD.

Back to the movie, I actually think the movie would have been better if it had been restructured (see below).

BuddhaWake

I have nothing to contribute to the discussion but I must encourage you to rethink this statement before is too late. Monica Bellucci is the only one.

flixtime

I assure you my friend, I've already thought long and, umm, hard about it.

Seriously though, I recently watched SHOOT-EM UP and somehow in that movie Monica Bellucci just didn't have that usual aura about her. So, at least for the moment, as far as numero uno silver screen beauty, count me among those on the Megan Fox bandwagon.

flixtime

Okay fine, maybe I overstated, can we let it slide with...enough to get the job done.

toddly6666

Flixtime, I'll agree with you about what you think of Arundhati, but I'm sorry I have to disagree...Maria Ozawa is nowhere near as sexy and good-looking as Monica Bellucci! (Bellucci wasn't that hot in Shoot Em' Up though, you are right)...

Concerning Arundhati, I wish you could do a Fan Cut of the film. You are totally right about the order. But I was entertained and I appreciated the lack of pointless filler...especially after trying to watch the painful Yamadonga.

toddly6666

KAMINEY
I've seen only three totally professionally-made Bollywood films this year:
1. Jodhaa Akbaar
2. Luck By Chance
3. And now Kaminey

Kaminey is a fair film though. I wasn't that impressed with the story. It's a two-hour film but it felt so much longer, especially when Shadid Kapur and Pryanka Chopra aren't on the screen. The acting in this movie was pretty great. Finally, Pryanka Chopra gets to do a little acting and she can act! The star of the film is Shadid Kapur - this guy is a good actor. He actually felt like two different characters, instead of one person playing two. Great acting and great directing. It's just that the story wasn't that great and actions in this movie were sort of confusing. Maybe I will appreciate it more after a second viewing.

MOVIE: 7.5
DVD VIDEO: 7.5
DVD AUDIO: 8.5

BuddhaWake

another voice of reason. She can look like the witch from Brothers Grimm for all I care but I understand that is good to have new inspiration from time to time.

So what have been the best Indian films out this year? I need to start up again.

flixtime

The picture of her used in the DVDTalk DVD review for STONE COUNCIL isn't exactly doing much to win me back either.

We can always hold on to a thread of hope that whoever does the Hindi remake actually brings some inspiration to the project instead of doing a straight shot-for-shot remake.




I watched the Hindi comedy AAGEY SE RIGHT maybe a week ago but it didn't really inspire me to write anything about it. It was too "indie" and generally done rather sloppily. There was a funny tale in there somewhere but they made the wrong movie. There are basically two main tracks...one with Shreyas Talpade as a cop trying to track down his stolen gun. The other with Kay Kay Menon as a terrorist who gets sidetracked by his finding love. I would like to have seen a whole movie built around the Kay Kay Menon storyline...that idea has potential for a very funny and touching comedy/romance. I've generally liked Shreyas Talpade a lot but I thought he was subpar in this film.

Some stuff on tap for viewing in the coming weeks:
The Last Thakur - Bangladesh
Parugu - Telugu
Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyadu - Tamil
E - Tamil
Anjathey - Tamil
Nepali - Tamil
Naan Kadavul - Tamil
Subramaniyapuram - Tamil
and of course whatever Hindi movies might strike my fancy

flixtime

Yeah, yeah....just too much competition 'round here for Bellucci in my book, I'm sailing a different tack from now on and angling for number one in port for Maria O-wowza!

LUCK BY CHANCE...and KAMINEY (even though I hated it, everyone else seems to have liked it), maybe too TAHAAN (but wait for the U.S. DVD, the Indian DVD has too many on-screen logos). I liked RAB NE BANA DI JODI but it might not be your cup of tea. There was a horror movie 13B that I've not gotten around to watching yet...reviews were so-so...haven't bothered with Ram Gopal Varma's AGYAAT (also horror) either.

nitin77

toddly, i agree with most your comments on Kaminey.

I also liked the dialgoue which Im sure doesnt translate as well (going by past experience with Omkara). But both priyanka and Shahid surprised me (although both have been improving in their last few films anyway).

I suggest trying out Maqbool and Omkara if you liked this, same director, heaps better films IMHO.

dvd_freak

You may be able to rent these from Netflix or any Indian DVD Library:

Taare Zameen Par
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
99
Omkara
Jodhaa Akbar
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Johnny Gaddar
Bend It Like Beckham (Original Audio is in English)

dvd_freak

A lot of Indian movies are getting Blu-Ray releases these days. Eros has a bunch of movies out but the quality is disappointing according to some reviews.

Movies out on BD now:

New York (YRF)
Lage Raho Munnabhai (Eros)
Partner (Eros)
Bhool Bhulaiya (Eros)
Billu Barber (Eros)

Forthcoming Blu-Ray releases from Yash Raj Films (YRF):

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
Dostana
Bachna Ae Haseeno
Chak De! India
Dhoom:2
Fanaa
Veer-Zaara
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Silsila (**Looking forward to this one)
Kabhie Kabhie (**Looking forward to this one)

Rumor has it that Sholay may get a BD release from Eros. But knowing Eros, the quality is going to be very disappointing.

flixtime

The recent talk about ARUNDHATI, and mention of the Indian horror movies 13B and AGYAAT (and because it's Halloween time), reminded me of another Indian horror movie which I had meant to watch but then it slipped my mind. So I'm putting it back on my viewing schedule since the official DVD is already available and has dropped to discounted pricing.

The movie is titled 1920 (2008) from director Vikram Bhatt and it looks like a mix of THE EXORCIST and a haunted house tale. From the trailer, the production values seem quite commendable. Here a youtube link for the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mgj2nMoKN4

flixtime

Naan Kadavul (Tamil - 2009)
To my great delight, Tamil director Bala returns after a long six-year absence. Too much time has passed since I've seen his three other films - SETHU, NANDHA, and PITHAMAGAN - but I do recall being impressed enough that I hold a significant degree of respect for his work. I don't remember much about SETHU which was remade with Salman Khan in Hindi as TERE NAAM, and I recall being disappointed a little in PITHAMAGAN, while NANDHA I remember enjoying quite a bit. Despite being familiar with Bala's capabilities, I still wasn't prepared for the excellence of NAAN KADAVUL which I think is his best film to date. Though I haven't seen the film India selected as their Oscar submission, I am entirely confident that they maintained their consistent track record of bypassing stronger Oscar candidates. NAAN KADAVUL should have been the choice...without question. I didn't think any Indian film would come close to challenging LUCK BY CHANCE for the number one spot in 2009, but having seen NAAN KADAVUL...it is a tough call. NAAN KADAVUL is certainly the more unique and powerful of the two. The last time I was so stunned by an Indian film was likely MATRUBHOOMI from a few years ago but even that film wasn't done nearly as well as NAAN KADAVUL. I knew little about it going in...basically I was sold simply by the fact that it was the directorial return of director Bala. The DVD cover art makes it seem like it would be another South Indian action film. It isn't. The movie starts with the introduction to a...well, I'll call him "imbalanced", not-all-there mentally, drug-using, religious holy man...but he is not some sort of charlatan but actually a member of a respected and acknowledged religious faction. His family who had deserted him years before bring him back to their home in South India, but he is there only as a final farewell before he returns to his home in North India. And then the film gets truly interesting...as it really isn't about this character at all. Instead we are introduced to the main thrust of the story which focuses on the criminally organized begging that occurs in India. I expect most of you have at least gotten a peak into that from having viewed SLUMDOG MILLIOINAIRE. I assure you this is an even more savage look at the practice with a cast of performers the likes you might not have seen since Tod Browning's FREAKS...and director Bala does not shy away from giving them prime screentime. I guess some might think it sounds rather exploitative but I didn't feel that way at all, rather, the time devoted to these characters gives the viewer the chance to get past the shock value of their physical appearances, and find the common humanity in both you as a viewer and the characters. Candidly, it was a far more mature and sophisticated approach than current wild child Lars von Triers exhibited with his cheap shock effects in ANTICHRIST. A darned shame really that so many in the International market disregard Indian cinema entirely and don't do any work to find the diamonds that do exist in Indian cinema. Think about the the blog-type sites here in the U.S./Canada and how they cover festivals and never seem to attend any of the Indian films shown...every piece of direct-to-video piece of shlock out of Japan will get covered, but you'll read nothing about Indian films. Where was I...okay so actually most of NAAN KADAVUL is spent with these beggars and the brutal lives they lead and the practicality with which they approach their lot in life. The runtime of the film is two hours and fifteen minutes, and maybe it isn't till the last half hour where the religious holy man comes back as the primary focus of the story. In this latter half hour, the film does fall back a little into action film territory with a couple of extended fight scenes. However, it does come back to close on a strong note. The music from the acclaimed Ilayaraja is strong throughout and incorporated to excellent effect in the movie. There's no dancing, no romance, no comedy sidebars. NAAN KADAVUL is a surprisingly provocative film that caught me very much offguard. I hope in time it finds great appreciation with International audiences who might stumble upon it. I think with his four films to date, director Bala might be an interesting choice for a daring festival programmer to select as the focus of some sort of festival sidebar. NAAN KADAVUL sits right there on my first-tier when ranking all the films I've watched in 2009. I offer the highest of praise to director Bala for selecting such a daring subject matter for his film. NAAN KADAVUL is essential viewing in my book.

flixtime

Anjathey (Tamil - 2008)
A standard cop movie plot involving childhood friends who end up on opposite sides of the law...one becomes a righteous cop while the other falls in with the wrong crowd, specifically a small group of child kidnappers. Though the story is rather small scale in that it could be covered in a one-hour TV episode, the runtime is mammoth at three hours and eleven minutes. To the film's credit, I thought it moved along well enough...I thought it might become a more epic tale but even though that didn't happen, the pacing was still fine. The song and dance was solid enough. Again, there is no comedy, and really not much romance either. The actor who played the good guy cop turned in a rather "old-fashioned" performance but given that I enjoyed the movie, I suppose I can make peace with the chosen acting style. Another minus was a distracting long-haired wig worn by one of the villains. Given the type of film this was, I'll credit director Mysskin for his artful visual presentation of a number of scenes in the film...kudos then to the cinematographer as well. On my scorecard, their efforts in the visual presentation of the movie helped elevate ANJATHEY from an average film to a good film.

flixtime

Brief thoughts on four skippable Indian films:

Blue (Hindi - 2009)
Notable as being the highest-budgeted Hindi film to date, and maybe too for the triviality of the Kylie Minogue item number. The budget was well over 100 crore which translates to over $20 million U.S. This underwater treasure hunt adventure flick stars everyone's favorite actor Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, and features a guest appearance by Katrina Kaif...and a quick non-speaking appearance by veteran actor Kabir Bedi. Curious too that they gave this mega-budget to a first-time director. The good news is that the running time is short at one hour and fifty-five minutes...and that's about it for the good news. The movie is junk and not really any different than other Hindi action films shot in foreign locales...in this case Thailand and the Bahamas...and I don't think they really maximized these locations to any significant effect. I know director Michael Bay gets a lot of grief, but, despite some missteps such as PEARL HARBOR, THE ISLAND, and TRANSFORMERS 2, I think he is rather talented at what he does. BLUE is strong evidence to that point because it is maybe like a Michael Bay movie done by folks truly without ability for that type of fare. I really don't know where the budget went because the money really didn't translate to the screen. While there is quite a bit of water-based footage, none of it ever really comes to life to create any sort of atmosphere...just a sterile, edited mess. Akshay Kumar is actually okay, while Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta, and Zayed Khan don't fare so well. The music didn't register with me at all...and I'm really sick of the rap-style numbers they show over the end credits...rich, middle-aged Bollywood guys look really silly trying to do the intense, cool, rapper thing...actually most Indian big-name actors tend to fail miserably when trying to act cool or hip...cheeseballs is closer to what they succeed in doing. Anyway, the story is dumb, the action a failure...and well I just don't want to devote anymore time to talking about it.

The Last Thakur (UK/Bangladesh - 2008)
This Bengali-language film is from fledgling cinematographer/first-time director Sadik Ahmed. Given that background, I don't want to be too critical of this effort. The story is simple beginning with the appearance of a mysterious young man with a rifle in a rural town/village that is presided over by an aging land baron-type and his adversary an emerging political leader rival. The runtime is short at seventy-nine minutes and sad to say but even that short runtime is overlong. The story is just too thin and would have been better for a short than this padded feature. The movie is filled with many shots of the main players just moving about the town...I believe the whole story takes place over one day's time. A significant complaint I have is the use of a grating device whereby the voices of two children narrate the background of characters and explain things during many instances in the movie. This could have been replaced by something more visual such as showing to old men sitting roadside and drinking tea/smoking while they explain things with some sort of Shakespearean air about it. I thought the film might have some sort of YOJIMBO vibe to it, but it really doesn't as the story is way too bare and underdeveloped. I don't want to be too harsh but the script really should have been far more developed...you'd think it would be the most easily controllable factor for a first-time director. Unfortunately, I really can't recommend this film. As a comparison, Asif Kapadia did a much better job with his 2001 effort THE WARRIOR (a film which I do recommend).

Parugu (Telugu - 2008)
Latest effort from director Bhaskar who found great success with his previous effort BOMMARILLU (which I don't recall liking), and "stylish star" (as per the opening credits if memory serves me right) ALLU Arjun. Though his movies haven't been to great, I've liked ALLU Arjun for his on-screen charisma. Unfortunately, I think it was lacking here and maybe now having achieved great success, he too will perform with the complacency shown by many an Indian performer...the guy can still dance though. The movie was okay...but it is definitely one of those "stalker romance" type flicks. Prakash Raj (who seems to be in all these Telugu/Tamil flicks) plays the father in search of his daughter who ran away from an arranged marriage in order to elope with the boyfriend she loved. ALLU Arjun - as a friend of the undesirable boyfriend - is captured by Prakash Raj and questioned as to how to find them. Naturally, stalker romance develops between ALLU Arjun and Prakash Raj's other daughter. And the movie looks at arrange marriage/obeying parents versus love marriages. It's all commercial/masala fare, and not the type of material that would appeal to those beyond South Indian audiences. I rate it as okay given what it is and primarily because the awful comedy often found in Telugu films is generally kept to a minimum...so I was okay with it because at least I wasn't punished with bad comedy.

E (Tamil - 2006)
An interesting entry for two reasons. One the subject matter...about illegal medical/drug testing as poor people are exploited by big business, etc. And two in that the "hero" doesn't really fit the traditional mold found in South Indian films. He is basically a neighborhood petty criminal and though this isn't new to Indian films, usually they are shown as loveable rogues, where here the dude is kind of a jerk. So too the heroine is not the saintly good girl usually found in Indian films but here is a bar dancer at a local dive. And the hero and heroine even discuss her becoming a prostitute for local bigwigs...so this type of material is certainly off the norm found in commercial/mass-market fare (which this is). And given this is intended for the masses, don't expect the drug-testing subject matter to be handled with much depth, intelligence, or sophistication such as something like THE CONSTANT GARDENER. All said, while this film came close, I can't quite recommend it. Weakened by some unnecessary songs in the first half and a few minutes of material that could have been trimmed from the first half, the film did feature a strong second half, but then the climax is totally botched. The hero - E is his name - realizes he is being used by the evil doctor and thus we get the climax where E confronts the villain at his medical facility. The huge problem I had is that out-of-nowhere, the filmmakers give the villian a medical facility that looks like something out of STARS WARS or a futuristic Michael Crichton medical thriller. It really looks ridiculously overdone compared to the rest of the film, and the expenditure on CGI and such was entirely unnecessary. This climax is basically the last six minutes of the film, and if they had gone with something more simple, I would have been able to overlook some of the flaws in the first half and give this film a mild recommendation. But the option they chose really nullified an otherwise entertaining second half. In addition to the hero, heroine, and main villain, actor Pasupathy (from KUSELAN) deserves mention as he turns in the best performance as a mystery man out to assassinate the evil doctor. A lot of the conflict revolves around his character, as at first the villainous doctor enlists E's help to protect him from Pasupathy, but then E slowly comes to learn more about the true nature of the doctor and his evil doings, and reconsiders his assignment of capturing Pasupathy. While not highbrow fare - the film is intended as a simple message film to educate the viewing audience on a very basic level - it was interesting because at least it had some higher intentions than the usual South Indian fare. I don't recall much distracting comedy, the action was standard for South Indian cinema, and there was a pretty unique looking abandoned apartment-type building used as the setting for a number of scenes. Too bad the botched ending prevents me from being more positive about it, but it sure was a lot more worthy of my time than something like BLUE.

toddly6666

Flixtime,
If you were a superhero, I would call you, "PATIENCE MAN!" I'm amazed you can watch so many of those so often AND watch all the way through.

nitin77

flixtime,

important questions, how does Lara Dutta look in Blue and how much screen time does she have

BuddhaWake

yeah, flix is like a miner, always digging through all that guck and garbage to fiind some gold dust every once in a while as I'm sure there aren't too many nuggets.

flixtime

And I don't even fast forward through them or anything...maybe I should be called "MASOCHIST MAN!" instead.

Actually, there might be a good movie idea in that Patience Man title. A superhero dark comedy movie about a far left-wing liberal who - instead of using violence - tries to "understand" all the sides of the conflict and then mediate all to peace and love...you know the villain is not a real bad guy but it is the fault of his father for not giving him a Sega Genesis videogame system as a child, and then of course the father isn't bad because his father spanked him as a child. And then - after trying this ineffective approach for a while - Patience Man mentally implodes and becomes a total misanthrope and somewhat of an anti-hero looking to punish mankind because planet Earth would be better without mankind as it is now.

Yeah, when watching a movie like BLUE, yours is probably the most logical way to approach things...I probably would have commented earlier but then I had to get on to writing about the other movies, so I was a bit remiss in not addressing the Lara Dutta issue. I'd say BLUE doesn't really deliver in terms of Lara Dutta eye candy. Except for looking absolutely magnificent in JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM, she hasn't done much for me in other recent movies. I don't think she looked too great in BLUE either. She has that black lingerie shot you might have seen in preview clips, but that selection of lingerie is rather conservative. I expect all the underwater bikini shots of her were done by a body double. Performance wise she doesn't get much at all to do besides being the stereotypical love interest/girl-in-jeopardy. Lara Dutta doesn't get too involved in anything such as maybe Jacqueline Bisset in THE DEEP...it's mostly about the guys - Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, and Zayed Khan...and even though it's only a guest appearance you can say Katrina Kaif's character is more integral to the movie than Lara Dutta's. If you need a Lara Dutta fix, just re-watch a couple of the songs from JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM.