zoran009

I think Robot was better film than Ra one, and I wish hindi bluray would be as good as tamil alas

flixtime

Angadi Theru (2010 - Tamil) - Only one censored word in this movie, that's a relief after the previous movie. Anyway, the title was translated as BAZAR STREET, certainly an accurate description of this issue-oriented romance between a young man and young woman who work under approaching-sweatshop conditions at a large department store in Chennai. Though a romance, that is not the only driving force at work as the film also highlights the conditions these workers (often from poor or broken families) must endure to earn a living. It is a rather fascinating look in that regard. One significant complaint I would have is with the structure, it is one of those films where the opening scene (about the first dozen minutes) is actually showing you something that chronologically happens as part of the climax. Sometimes this technique is successful, but as utilized here it is too revealing and I think the film suffers measurably because of it...they really should have moved that section back where it belonged towards the end. Aside from that - and a little rough editing - the first half is quite successful as you enter the world of these department store workers and the hardships they endure. The second half starts to feel just a little under-powered and overlong (a movie runtime of 157 minutes) and repetitive...but it's more a nitpick on my part than any sort of negative criticism. To offer variety away from the department store setting, the story steps away for brief passages as our romantic pair grow closer by telling each other about past loves from their old villages. Also - and they are more like little vignette-like glimpses than any sort of subplots or secondary/sidebar characters - but there are some really nice moments showing the experiences of other characters who are part of the Bazar Street community. Some minor gripes I'd have is that they do lay the misery on a little thick and heavy-handed at times, and sometimes the voices of the female lead and also the somewhat comic sidekick of our male lead did register as unpleasant to my ears. Maybe in terms of style and tone I might have preferred something a bit more earthy and natural, as a substitute for some of the melodramatic feel. The music was average-to-good and generally well-integrated into the movie. Though it may read as if I focused on the negative that would be an inaccurate representation of my feelings with regard to ANGADI THERU. I'd actually rate the film rather respectfully with a comfortable thumbs up. As a message-movie it was very interesting, and ultimately too it succeeded as a quite affecting romance.

flixtime

KO (2011 - Tamil) - I'll label this as "the movie that pulled a rabbit out of its hat". Basically this is yet another political-themed movie however with a different approach in that it is presented from the viewpoint of a young photo-journalist. I've read of this as being a take on STATE OF PLAY...now I've seen both the miniseries and American movie but I don't recall much at all of either. That being said, I do strongly believe a lot of the newsroom presentation was very much lifted from STATE OF PLAY. But aside from the general bringing together of political suspense film via a newspaper angle, I believe this story is something different from STATE OF PLAY. Also, though the title translates as LEADER, this movie is not related to the recent Telugu-language LEADER (though a scene or two focusing on the young idealist politician in KO did remind me of LEADER). Still, the newspaper photo-journalist is undoubtedly the main character and the newsroom setting and characters are the main viewpoint as opposed to the political aspects of the movie. All that being said, I thought this movie was pretty lousy (but keep reading). I got worried from the get-go because in terms of style it looked to be of that heartless-product, mass-market, South Asian filmmaking that I general dislike (and thankfully has been absent for the most part from all my other recent Tamil viewings). The opening scene - a bank heist - I'm sure is directly lifted from some American movie. And then you have a really dumb action scene with our photo-journalist chasing the robbers. And some awful Indo-hip-hop songs, and songs in European locales for no reason, and bad acting, etc. And I was pretty grumpy as this went on well past the first hour mark. The best thing I could have said was that there was a nice section pre-intermission (which was at the 89-minute mark of a 165-minute movie). By nice section we are talking something as small as a nice mountainous setting for one of the songs and a decent (if exploitative) action scene...certainly not much to praise but in comparison to everything else, it was at least tolerable. And then the film was reasonably tolerable I suppose until the 120-minute mark at which point I thought it totally flushed away any little goodwill I had built up to that point. This was one of those movies where I was tempted to call it a wrap at intermission and finish it up the next day, and then when a particular song hits at the 120-minute mark I had this negative review all set to go to press and this movie was getting two thumbs down. And then we get to my leadoff "pulled a rabbit out of its hat" comment. And once that 120-minute mark song ended, that's when the magic started to happen. In other words, the last forty minutes or so forced me to re-evaluate my entire two thumbs down stance. But then I said to myself, okay fine the story worked, but how can you dismiss the earlier bad acting, etc., etc., and then I started to wonder if maybe the filmmakers were purposeful in handling the earlier portions of the movie as poorly as they did...thus giving greater impact to when they "pull the rabbit". I must be overthinking this and giving them too much credit for being that clever...but maybe, just maybe...I really don't know. So all said and done, KO is actually worthy of some praise...perhaps even more than that (depending on how I ultimately come to terms with the first 120-minutes of the experience). KO is also available in a Telugu-language-dubbed DVD under the title RANGAM, and too it looks like KO is going to get a Hindi remake in the not too distant future.


That's eight Tamil movies so far this month. I think I will only do one more - PARUTHI VEERAN - to end at nine for the month instead of the originally planned ten...mainly because I want to get to some of the American stuff I purchase during the current Black Friday sales...and following that in December I'm planning on some South Korean viewings such as FRONT LINE, SUNNY, BLIND, etc., and following that some Hong Kong viewings - OVERHEARD 2, 1911, MY KINGDOM, WOMAN KNIGHT OF MIRROR LAKE, THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE.

nitin77

flixtime,

if any of the HK or Korean stuff takes your fancy, wouldnt mind hearing about those too.

flixtime

Paruthi Veeran (2007 - Tamil) - A dark tale of forbidden love and family (and some caste) feuding in rural Tamil Nadu. Parts of the first half - the flashback to the childhood friendship of our romantic leads - reminded me of MYNAA, while a large section of the climax was reminiscient of AADUKALAM. Though it should be strongly noted that this movie was done years before either of those. The movie - at least in comparison to my other recent Tamil viewings - had a very dry style, measured pacing for at least two-thirds of the 162-minute runtime, and a slightly arthouse vibe. The aforementioned flashback section and another key flashback section were presented in black and white instead of color. The song and dance was uniformly quite interesting. Now I did have a significant issue with the movie, that being that I didn't connect at all to our romantic leads. The male lead and his uncle are introduced as sort of ne'er-do-well, low-life, petty-criminal types, with our male protagonist seemingly have as a chief interest the idea of committing an important enough crime to warrant confinement in the big city jail in Chennai. The problem I had is that neither the young male lead (nor his uncle) had any sort of that loveable rogue/hooligan quality to them; they just came across as total losers. Similarly, the female lead seemed a bit of a brat along with being somewhat obsessive in her interest in the male lead...granted she has a significant reason...but the guy is such a loser that I considered our female lead as being more than a little bit off her rocker in her somewhat stalker romance pursuit of him (which was at least somewhat interesting in seeing the stalker roles kind of reversed). So that was the problem I was having, I just didn't have any caring interest in either the two leads or their romance...which combined with the sort of slower-pacing made the movie feel long. However, after some time into the post-intermission portion of the movie there were a couple of key scenes which changed my feelings about the experience. One is when the female lead expressed her love for our male protagonist...though I still didn't like her...it helped immensely in creating a feeling of sympathy for the character. Likewise a key flashback section fills you in on the background of the family feuding and helps to define a lot of the relationships between the characters. Until that point, I lacked a solid orientation for this little rural world and its inhabitants (which again played to my feeling of detachment/disinterest). The two aforementioned scenes very much remedied my main complaint as they served to significantly humanize not only the romantic leads but other supporting characters as well. In a way too the scenes made me question my own thinking...by my earlier dismissive label of "losers" was I perhaps too guilty of a caste-type mindset. I had passed quick judgment on the male lead, yet until the later flashback I really didn't have the experience of "walking in his shoes". After doing so I thought differently of him. Is all that a sign of a well-written script...maybe so. Anyway, the final third or so of PARUTHI VEERAN took on a runaway train pacing and was breathtaking in its powerful climax. I'd count the movie as a winner.

flixtime

Adaminte Makan Abu (2011 - Malayalam) - This movie is India's submission for the upcoming Oscars. Now here is the part where I again suggest to India that they stop sending amateurish regional films for Oscar consideration (though too they shouldn't send Bollywood movies that aren't as good as some other Hindi fare). But, well...I can't really lean on that convenient crutch this go 'round; ADAMINTE MAKAN ABU was actually quite an okay viewing...a pleasant surprise. And though I haven't seen all the Indian films that were under final consideration for the Oscars, I have seen at least half (if I recall correctly), and I'm pretty comfortable with the selection of ADAMINTE MAKAN ABU. The movie is a rather simple, vanilla, and straightforward tale of an elderly Muslim couple in rural Kerala who are trying to scrape up the money to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca (The Hajj). This type of material could take the form of something overly syrupy, feel-good, and sentimental...but the film avoids those elements (at least in terms of them being excessive). "Yes", the old couple are poor, and abandoned by their only son, and they are living in a world that has passed them by, and they are flawlessly good human beings...but the world is filled with good people too so a film about "goodness" should be relevant too...plus the characters and story are treated with dignity and not "exploited" to pander to an international market that might want to feel pity for the unfortunate (you know where Western critics will go ga-ga over a foreign movie if it shows how terrible and miserable life is for third-world type folks). The lead male and female performers do a nice job as the elderly couple (actually the actor playing the old man is only in his mid-40's in real-life). There might have been a slight stylistic disconnect in the performances of some of the minor supporting characters, but it doesn't really hurt things overall. One aspect of the film I thoroughly enjoyed was the harmonious presentation of the relations between the Muslim couple and various supporting characters including Hindus and Christians...it's just a film about different people all functioning together in peace and being good friends, neighbors, and business associates. The runtime on the film was approximately 105 minutes with a song at the open, close, and one in the middle (highly unfortunate is that the songs were not subtitled on the DVD...the music was nice but it would have been relevant to know what the lyrics were saying). Other technical aspects were solid too...it was a professional movie...there was some nice cinematography both in terms of graceful camerawork and framing, and nice shots of rural Kerala and scenes shot during sunrise and sunset. Initially, I thought the film would feel overlong or maybe that the material was too thin for a feature film and would have been better suited as a short film, but the movie finds its hold in the decency of the old couple and simple scenes like their reactions to receiving their very first passports. If slower-paced, Indian arthouse/indie fare is your thing, then I'd recommend giving ADAMINTE MAKAN ABU a viewing.



Wishing you all a Happy New Year! Peace be with you.

flixtime

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

Kahaani (2012 - Hindi) - standard Hitchcockian conspiracy suspense/thriller ingredients are skillfully blended to the level of haute cuisine...KAHAANI was a huge surprise, and an extremely satisfying piece of entertainment. Actress Vidya Balan is solid in the lead as a pregnant wife who journeys to Kolkata in search of her missing husband...issues arise when no one else seems to acknowledge that he even existed. I'd consider the movie highly spoiler sensitive so that is all I'll say about the plot (do be careful in reading about the film elsewhere so as not to spoil the experience for yourself). This film looked like a winner from the very beginning and it most certainly was. Without giving it too much thought, my initial feeling is that this is about as good an entry for this type of movie that India has ever done. Even measuring it on the international scale, I think I enjoyed it more than recent French entries such as TELL NO ONE, LE SERPENT, ANYTHING FOR HER...the recent Liam Neeson film UNKNOWN, etc. I'm not saying that KAHAANI is significantly or even measurably better than those films, but to me it is the most memorable of the bunch. A great plus and refreshing change was the utilization of Kolkata as the film's locale. There is no song/dance in the movie. Beside Vidya Balan, I thought the supporting players were all consistently interesting...technical values were all impressive. I'm really rather stunned by how nice a job they did with this film...solidly on-par with international standards...and excellent, unique, and special on an Indian scale. KAHAANI functions purely as entertainment, not as meaningful cinema in any way, so it might not be able to claim my "best of 2012 in Indian cinema" title but, at this early point, it is definitely the leading candidate for my favorite Indian film of 2012. A highly praiseworthy effort by Director Sujoy Ghosh and all involved. KAHAANI is playing in theaters right now.

7 Aum Arivu (2011 - Tamil) - and then we get to the opposite end of the scale...I wish I could declare a Mulligan on my Hrithik Roshan three-thumbs-down ranking, and re-position it for this movie. Actually, this was such a dud, I'd rank it so low as to not even deserve a ranking. It started off interestingly enough with a twenty-plus minute prologue...it wasn't especially well-done or anything but it was quite interesting. But after that...say a prayer...the remainder of the runtime was entirely without merit...awful, awful, awful...and terrible music...and a misuse of actor Johnny Nguyen (THE REBEL) as a lame TERMINATOR 2 type killing machine. I covered that bunch of Tamil films some time back, and this would have been the worst of the lot by far...no "so bad, it's good" fun to be had here. And seriously what is with South Indian directors/cinematographers/editors...this movie needed some type of epileptic seizure warning like they do with video games...the filmmakers just can't seem to let any shot last more than five seconds...it is fatiguing to watch and entirely unnecessary...but South Indian filmmakers seem to feel that why show a guy walk across the room in one shot when you can break it up into a half-dozen different shots...just such a waste and it serves only to drop me out of the film entirely. So, yeah, this was utter garbage...I'd guess maybe I've watched eighty-something movies so far this year and this was without question the worst.


nitin, I still haven't worked my way to DELHI BELLY yet.

flixtime

"the biggest hit you've never heard of" says the L.A. Times
"ignorance is bliss" says me

Dookudu (2011 - Telugu) - Well, 7AUM ARIVU, is off the hook with DOOKUDU - a box-office shattering hit for Telugu movies - now claiming the spot for my worst viewing of this year. This made for a rough night...it was one of those movies that looked like a stinker in the first five minutes...and then you realize that you have another two hours and fifty minutes to suffer through. I have nothing positive to report...not even in the song & dance department. Lead actor Mahesh Babu is someone I initially didn't care for, but I've been finding him increasingly likeable with each new movie he has turned out...well I thought he was pretty dull in this movie. And I know I've seen too many South Indian movies to still be complaining about it, but what is it with their concept of "romance". Like a lot of you I watch a lot of movies that are violent, have lots of nudity, etc.,...with all that I actually find that some of the most offensive films I watch come from India and they are generally considered family fare. Now in this movie, there of course is a budding romance between Mahesh Babu and the female lead. Mahesh Babu is an undercover cop in the film and he is on an assignment at a club when the female lead once again runs into him. And she comes over and he is telling her to get away, go away, leave, etc. because he doesn't want his cover blown. Now she knows he is a cop so she should have realized and just left, but my big problem is that he could have simply said "I'm on an assignment and can't be seen with you right now" and she would have left, but "no" he just keeps saying leave, go, get away from me, etc. and of course she keeps hanging around...so he slaps her across the face! And then when walking away the female lead's best friend is saying something to the effect that he was probably undercover and that is why he was unfriendly and telling you to leave. Gosh, the whole segment is just dumb. And this Mahesh Babu is idolized by millions of kids and this is how he is putting himself forth on screen. And - though I'm not certain about this because I've tried to eliminate the film from my memory - I think when they first meet earlier in the movie he also might have threatened to slap her. And after this entire nightclub exchange when they meet again - and again I'm not sure I am recalling correctly - but I believe the female lead comes across as the apologetic one. Actually other Telugu movies I've watched a while back had similar issues in that I found some scenes rather offensive...I recall one very racist scene but there were other scenes that very much had me shaking my head too.



nitin, I have DELHI BELLY on-tap for viewing sometime in the next three days.

Also, a note on KAHAANI, one of my favorite - along with LoveHKFilm - Asian review sites - filmbiz.asia - has put up their review of KAHAANI (a review which is in step with how I felt about the movie). I wouldn't bother reading the "Story" section (not that it offers spoilers, but why would you want to read so many story points). The "Review" section can be read but I'd suggest you don't read the latter half of Paragraph 5. Then you can read all of the last Paragraph 6.

flixtime

Delhi Belly (2011 - English/Hindi) - Well nitin, I finally got around to this. I wasn't really expecting much (I don't care for the genre itself), and that is what I got. Still, I certainly hoped it'd be more interesting than it was. To be fair, the movie is undeniably rule-breaking and path-clearing in terms of Indian cinema, so in that respect it deserves recognition. Also, the technical values were perfectly fine...and I suppose the cast acquitted themselves well enough given what they had to work with. First off, this type of film isn't really my thing at all...potty-mouthed twenty-somethings, toilet humor, sex gags, male anal clefts, unlikeable/annoying characters...basically I don't watch the Hollywood equivalents to this movie either. At only a 103-minute runtime, I thought the movie felt long and slow...didn't care about the characters or Guy Ritchie-esque plot concerning crooks and misplaced diamonds...so maybe this was sort of AMERICAN PIE meets Guy Ritchie. Also, the filmmakers focused on the actual plot far too late in the film, such that the constant profanity and cheap humor overwhelmed anything else along with it feeling gratuitous...see isn't this movie cool because we keeping using the "F-word"...not really, no. Like I said, in general, no matter where it's from, this genre isn't my thing at all. Even from what little experience I might have with this type of film, I still felt like everything on display in DELHI BELLY is something I've seen done better elsewhere. Sure, for India's first effort it is fine and commendable I agree. Still, I thought the movie only fair-to-average and kind of a dull experience...I didn't find the humor funny at all and it wasn't an entertaining movie to watch. And honestly, can this really be considered humor...a barrage of curse words, bathroom humor, etc., any nitwit can write that sort of stuff...it requires no talent, only a willingness to do so and an undemanding youth audience willing to lap it up. This type of material eventually has to have some heart to it and it wasn't there...there was potential and the pieces were on hand...but instead of focused writing to develop those elements, they took the easy way out and concentrated on the audacity of it all. Again, I've only done a quick scan of some reviews now and I just don't get the high praise. Acknowledge DELHI BELLY as the dawn of a new era for Hindi cinema maybe, but don't ignore that it is a thoroughly mediocre entry in its genre...everything here has been seen in better form in other films. I did like seeing actor Vijay Raaz back in action even though his character too wasn't fully developed. The best part for me was the song/video over the end credits...now it is sort of stuck in my head..."I hate you, like I love you". And as a final note, I'd guess the language in the film is split along an English/Hindi ratio of 85/15...the first half being even higher in English, while the Hindi ratio nudges up more in the second half.

flixtime

Agent Vinod (2012 - Hindi) - Bollywood does old-school Bond and it sizzles...at least for the first quarter...unfortunately it begins to fizzle by going Brosnan era Bond with the introduction of Kareena Kapoor's character...before totally flatlining post-intermission where it entirely loses any sense of identity and turns into an entirely generic race-against-the-clock-to-stop-the-baddie thriller...maybe a little like THE PEACEMAKER but nowhere near as good, a brief instance also had me thinking THE JACKAL, and an aspect of the climax even had me flashing back to that awful Hindi movie DUS from a half-dozen years back. A big disappointment given the impressive opening portion.

I thought a good time was going to be had with this film in the beginning...sort of India going retro-Bollywood and doing Bond like they used to do in the 70's...except this time instead of a cheap knock-off, it showed promise of actually becoming something greater while also turning out to be a more fun and entertaining experience than the current Bond films. But again, things got completely derailed. Saif Ali Khan was fine as RAW Agent Vinod, reminding me of the current Bond - Daniel Craig (by the way RAW can be taken to be India's equivalent to the CIA). However, the movie starts to come apart with the introduction of female sidekick Kareena Kapoor. Surprisingly, given that they are a real-life couple, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor exhibit no chemistry or spark in their scenes together...and the movie loses momentum every time Kareena Kapoor is on-screen. Another point of criticism is in the villains. After a taste of interesting and charismatic bad-guy types early on, the ultimate big-baddies are thoroughly bland and lacking in personality. I was also disappointed in what little song and dance there was, and I really thought this type of movie needed to up the fun factor with more and better in the song and dance department. The action scenes too didn't register, except for maybe one that plays out as a song is going on in the second half. In that sense too, I anticipated a greater sense of grandeur and entertainment when it came to the action. Gosh, after an opening that maybe seemed like AGENT VINOD was going to be another DABANGG (except this time for the spy genre), the movie just felt like a complete letdown thereafter.

On a curious note, they open the movie with a quote from THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, immediately followed in the opening scene with an homage to the harmonica opening of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and shortly later is a reference to the comparatively lesser known THE FIVE MAN ARMY, and later a music cue lift again from THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY. The Spaghetti Western references were fun no doubt, but ultimately they had no real purpose...I mean this is a spy film so why load it with winks to Spaghetti Westerns (and then just drop the whole thing after the opening sections).

All-in-all, AGENT VINOD earned some good will for showing early promise, but after that it is of little merit...so a grade of "average" at best (with it earning that grade only because of the opening section)...a frustrating "average" to be sure.

Actually, in terms of recent globetrotting RAW Agent movies, at least in one regard AGENT VINOD even came up short when measured against the pretty awful vanity project that was AAZAAN aka AZAAN (2011). At least AAZAAN, eventually found some heart in the relationship between the male and female leads...maybe not much given that the movie was otherwise awful, but it did have at least some emotion as it closed. Of course, in every other regard AGENT VINOD was unquestionably better but again that really isn't saying much as compared to AAZAAN (actually now that I recall, the music in AAZAAN was rather pleasing too, meaning just the actual music (not the dancing aspect).


Before the movie was a trailer for HOUSEFULL 2, and I barely survived the experience of viewing that trailer...but my salvation came in the form of Malaika Arora who - after her magnificent item number in DABANGG - seems to be lined up for another terrific item number in HOUSEFULL 2.

nitin77

flixtime,

I was in India recently and I actually watched some indian movies

Namely, Kahaani and Agent Vinod. My thoughts match yours almost to a T on both. At the moment I will watch anything with Vidya Balan in it, she has good taste in roles IMHO.

Also bought about 25 BDs and DVDs, now need time to watch them.

And good to see I'm not the only one who thought Delhi Belly was amateurish cinema.

zoran009

darn, so long forgot abt that

flixtime

Today is not the day for me to head to Vegas...zoran, I wanted to refresh my memory with regard to that post you quoted so I started clicking backwards through all the pages in this thread only to find that post was all the way back on the first page...haha.

nitin, I'm curious to see if anybody picks up the remake rights for KAHAANI...and by that I mean other countries...as opposed to possible regional Indian remakes. Yeah, Vidya Balan seems to be on a nice little roll for herself...she was magnificent in THE DIRTY PICTURE...I thought the movie overall was only kind of better-than-average (if I recall correctly), but she was outstanding in it. Heck, speaking of THE DIRTY PICTURE, I'm also really liking Emraan Hashmi these past few years. I recall taking some shots at the guy when he first started, but I have to say he deserves a lot of credit for working at his craft...he comes across to me as having a little more soul to him as compared to other Indian lead performers.

zoran009

The day I watched Vidya in Parineeta, her simple but elegant portrayal, really came out as strong as I was use to watch Madhuri Dixit, minus, queen of dance and glamor of her own. Vidya did prove day after day her metal, compared with a lot of other successful, non actresses.
I was pretty optimistic about lead actress of Swades to be another strong performer but sadly she did adios post marital

nitin77

yeah I got Dirty Picture on BD along with the director's earlier effort Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai.

Overall I think I got 25-30 BDs/dvds so that should be enough bollywood cinema for a while.

nitin77

saw a couple from the dvds I bought on my recent trip. Nothing recent but first up was Road, Movie from 2009, an offbeat road movie set in Rajasthan that's a little too self consciously arty for its own good but has nice performances from its 4 main characters and some lovely visuals and music. Worth a watch for sure.

Next up was another Abhay Deol starrer (this guy also has decent taste in film roles), the 2007 indian noir film Manorama Six Feet Under. Its a well made, well acted and well shot film but it needed some help in the editiing and pacing department. Also, it suffers quite a bit in being a loose remake of Chinatown (theres too much borrowing for it to be a homage, even though its not a blatant scene for scene remake like the Vikram Bhatt movies of recent times).

nitin77

finally saw some of the BDs I bought. Comments on 5 films follow.

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan - The film itself is your typical fluffy Bollywood romance but was better than I was expecting. Overall, though, it was still not very good and would have been far better had it embraced the zaniness of Katrina Kaif's character a bit more and not just follow the standard bollywood cliches. I never thought I would say this but Katrina was the best thing about this movie adding energy and charm to an otherwise lackluster script.

As for the disc, I thought PQ was a bit too oversharpened making mid-long shots very video like. Most the closeups were very good though although occasionally shots with Katrina looked very waxy. AQ was good but songs were mixed too loud as usual.


The Dirty Picture - I thought the movie was decent, extremely overrated but decent. Vidya was terrific IMHO, its not her best acting by any means, but she was so tonally in sync with the script and the character (much more so than Milan Luthria was in the second half) that she lifted some rather poorly implemented tone and character transitions in the last 1/3.

As for the blu ray, apart from the watermark, it was of excellent quality. Very filmic looking and superb sound separation.


Shaitan - Highly disappointed after hearing many good things.

First, some comments about the disc before I attempt to explain my dissatisfaction with this movie and, to a larger extent, the Anurag Kashyap stable as a whole (heresy I know and I'm prepared for the criticism to come).

The disc looks fine, when it doesnt it is hard to tell if it is because of the way it was shot or a fault of the transfer. Overall, PQ wise, its highly watchable. AQ is also good, even great in spots, but every now and then, some distortion creeps into the front channels.

Onto the movie, its very stylishly shot, reasonably naturalistic, considerably gritty and also very creative when compared to mainstream bollywood cinema. Yet, in its own way, the plotting is just as preposterous and unlikely as the mainstream bollywood it so desperately wants to avoid and all of the stylishness counts for nothing when you could not care less about any of the characters. Sure, some of the characters have been given interesting traits but the script does not flow from those traits and only calls upon them to service the plot.

The above can be applied to pretty much everything that seems to come from the Anurag Kashyap camp. Yes, its different, but that does not automatically make it good. Revelling in ugliness, albeit stylishly shot ugliness, does not equal mood or characterisation. Apart from the two female characters in Dev D, I cant think of any memorable characters from his camp.

End of rant.


Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai - I found this to be pretty poor all round with nothing characters and a scattershot all over the place directorial style. Did like the picturisation of 'Pe Loon' and one early scene involving a young Shoaib getting caught.

As for the disc, PQ varies from scene to scene, some closeups have DNR galore but they mainly seem to relate to Kangna Ranaut's scenes. Other scenes are nice and filmic while a lot of the long shots have EE. Way too inconsistent on the PQ front but not a disaster. AQ is nice but the songs are much louder than the rest of the mix (a problem with a lot of bollywood dvds and BDs). 'Pe Loon' sounds great.


Dhobi Ghaat - Quite a good film and the type of film that India needs to embrace and make more of. Not perfect by any means but with a great sense of mood, finely tuned performances, and real characterisation.

PQ and AQ is superb, one of the most filmic looking hindi BDs I've seen and an extremely well balanced audio track.

flixtime

nitin, I think we are in the same ballpark with regard to THE DIRTY PICTURE, SHAITAN, and ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI. I liked THE DIRTY PICTURE for Vidya Balan and basically technical values, otherwise in somewhat the general vicinity I much preferred MAIN MADHURI DIXIT BANNA CHAHTI HOON. Also for THE DIRTY PICTURE, I don't think Naseeruddin Shah was the best choice for that role. And one technical note with regard to the DVD for THE DIRTY PICTURE, they left quite a bit of Emraan Hashmi's narration unsubtitled on the DVD...maybe thirty percent...quite annoying it wasn't all subbed. Your comments with regard to Anurag Kashyap are fairly reflective of how I feel about him. I like him for being "interesting" and for his "yet-to-be-fulfilled potential" but yeah the clock is ticking and he'd better put it all together soon...for now more "interesting" than "good". SHAITAN I liked for the young cast and again technicals and for being edgy with regard to Hindi cinema (I liked it better than DELHI BELLY), but yeah your criticisms are accurate. And I thought the same as you about ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI...it didn't know what type of movie it wanted to be. I liked Emraan Hashmi; he seems to be aware of his limitations as an actor and I like him in lower-key roles which better suit him. Quite liked the Pee Loon song, and also the Baburao Mast Hai song...the girl in the song was especially attractive plus I liked her in the 60's/70's type clothing and hairstyle. DHOBHI GHAAT I've had on-hand for a while, but it still hasn't made its way to a viewing. As many movies as I watch, it still feels like I can't keep up and get to everything that I want too. I watched MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER but it was long ago...I don't recall thinking much of it. ROAD MOVIE is one I've had slated for a low priority rental for a while but that list is huge.

Watched Rockstar (2011 - Hindi) a while back. I'm a fan of Director Imtiaz Ali's JAB WE MET. That being said, ROCKSTAR was a big disappointment...and earns a skip it. I can't be longwinded on the topic because it isn't fresh in my mind anymore, but it started out okay then slipped and then finally did a crash and burn post-intermission...way too much focus on romance and I didn't feel anything for the lead couple. Also, the tourist commercial aspect of the film - this time for Prague - was more grating than anything else. One of the songs reminded me of the touristy number for Spain in ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA (and that isn't a good thing). Actually while Hindi cinema is improving in many areas, it is really getting excessive with the shooting in foreign countries...nothing but manufactured/artificial product and business deals with assorted European countries trying to entice India's well-to-do travellers.

And on a related note, I finally caught up with the latest Mission Impossible film. One thought running through my mind while watching the film was..."why am I not having as much fun with this as I did with the opening portion of AGENT VINOD". I thought from the trailer, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4 looked like a lame replay of the greatest hits from the three earlier films, but then a lot of the reviews seemed quite positive so I thought maybe I was wrong. I wasn't. I mean the movie was okay and entertaining enough I suppose...maybe "better-than-average" if I were being very generous. But I'd take the first and third films any day. And actually, I thought it felt very Bollywood...globe-trotting, artificial and manufactured product. You know the segment in India was done purely for business purposes to appeal to the large Indian market, just as they did with China in Part 3. By the way, Anil Kapoor was rather forgettable in a forgettable role. So I guess - with India and China out of the way - we can expect a visit to Brazil for Part 5 in the Mission Impossible series.

nitin77

flixtime,

Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon is actually one of the ones I brought with me, will give that a spin. I'm also an Antara Mali fan (and heavily disappointed she did not get more work in hindi cinema).

And I liked Naseerudin Shah in The Dirty Picture, although one probably has to have seen cheesy Tamil 80's movies to appreciate how good of a parody performance that was

As for Road movie and Dhobi Ghaat, although they are somewhat new for hindi cinema, you may find that they are of the typical arthouse fare readily available in the west variety. But I still think both are good examples of that sort of filmmaking, although DG is much better than RM on the whole.

Rockstar, I want to see, mainly because I love parts of the soundtrack (including the song that is supposed to be set in Prague). Waiting for a BD though.

And buddy, I have 500+ movies on my owned but unwatched pile plus another 32 seasons of tv. I sympathise with how much time always seems to win out

flixtime

Any chance the SPARTACUS TV show is in your pile of 32 seasons, or maybe you've already watched it? I had sampled a couple of the early episodes when they first aired and thought not much of what I saw...gratuitous sex, nudity, violence, and cursing (or in other words, a mixture of soft-core porn, the movie 300, and the show ROME). Since the film SPARTACUS is one of my all-time favorites, I felt sort of obliged to try out the show more fully even though I didn't like what I had seen, so when the Blu-rays came across at a decent price last fall I picked up the first two series. And....I loved the show!!! What I hadn't picked up on during my sampling was how well written the show was and how well performed by the cast...magnificent storytelling and furious plot momentum. Plus it had gratuitous sex, nudity, violence and imaginative profanity...what's not to like! On my scorecard, it is essential viewing.

nitin77

nah, like you saw first 3 eps or so and could not be bothered to finish it.

if you want to see my unwatched pile, click the link in my sig. No unwatched Bollywood stuff listed yet.

flixtime

That's a real nice collection you have there nitin. I don't have my collection in any sort of online database. It looks like you take a director-based approach in building your collection. I was pleasantly surprised - among other things - by the Errol Flynn titles. THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON is another one of my all-time favorite films (and by that I mean, as with SPARTACUS, in my top twenty favorites). I couldn't care less about it not being historically accurate. Since this is the Indian thread, I'd put forth that THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON is an American masala film...it is a grand tale that has a little bit of everything...romance, adventure, drama, comedy, music. Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, as usual, work incredibly well together...tons of chemistry. Their final scene together in the film never fails to move me...misty-eyes every time. The Warner Bros. team was really on top of its game in making this one. A lot of modern filmmakers would benefit from a viewing (and learning techniques such as the effective use of montage, tight editing, etc.)...no self-indulgant and overdone multi-part storytelling such as in Che, Carlos, Mesrine, etc. Simply an epic story perfectly delivered in two hours and twenty minutes. I couldn't imagine a kid - back in those days - walking out of the theater and not wanting to be Errol Flynn.

And I really love THE BIG COUNTRY too!

nitin77

<q>It looks like you take a director-based approach in building your collection</q>

Sure do, big believer in the auteur theory. Although lately, and you picked it up with Flynn, I've been adding more and more based on particular actors and actresses. On a bit of a Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G Robinson build at the moment.

If They Died with Their Boots On is anywhere near Spartacus quality, I will be very pleased. I was initially put off Flynn because I was disappointed by The Adventures of Robin Hood (which I do like to an extent but do not understand the hype). Then I saw I think The Sea Hawk which is solid action adventure and I thought I need to see more of this guy.

And hey I liked Che (well Part 1) and Mesrine (both parts), havent got to Carlos yet

flixtime

Business Man (2012 - Telugu) - I used the IMDb title to start things off, but actually the title is BUSINESSMAN (previously THE BUSINESSMAN). Anyway, this is the latest Mahesh Babu flick. Thankfully, it is an improvement over DOOKUDU...admittedly not a difficult achievement. On popping this into my player, I was relieved to see the surprisingly short runtime of 131-minutes. In addition to relief, I also became filled with some hope that maybe the short runtime also was indicative of something a little less ordinary than the usual fare. Things started off interestingly enough...Mahesh Babu arriving in Mumbai and setting about trying to establish himself as a mafia don (filling a "void" after all the other criminals had been eliminated by the Mumbai police). Of course being a Telugu movie there has to be some sort of creepy boy/girl track that is supposed to taken as romance. Trust me, BUSINESSMAN most definitely delivers on that aspect...just totally bizarre...Mahesh Babu doesn't actually slap his love interest this time...instead he just makes her cry a lot...Prince Mahesh Babu indeed. Setting that aside, the film showed some promise early on as being a Telugu attempt at a Hindi crime film. Also, there wasn't even the expected song/dance at least for the first half hour...so aside from the "romance", it was interesting enough as a viewing. I didn't think much of Mahesh Babu's performance as the bad boy gangster...it was poser tough...like Jr. Bachchan often does when he has to step outside his nice-guy-type abilities and play rough. A huge relief - and the main reason for the shorter runtime - is that the film did not have a comedy track...a great act of mercy as far as I see it. Unfortunately, the song/dance does pop up over the final three-quarters and it was rather bog-standard aka not offering much entertainment value. And ultimately, the early promise of a Hindi-type crime movie also washes away and it ultimately is a run-of-the-mill message film with the usual twist that the "hero" isn't who he appears to be (plus I thought the message being communicated was sort of sending mixed signals as well). So, yeah, BUSINESSMAN was an okay viewing I suppose...a little different from the usual fare...but still certainly nothing to be bothered with by anyone who isn't a frequent watcher of Telugu films.

And a note on censorship in this film...it was just totally strange. Besides the common audio censoring of objectionable words, this film also had quite a bit of digital blurring over scenes. One is during a song/dance at a beach...the background caucasian female dancers are wearing bikini tops...and these girls were not Russ Meyer model types...but during some parts they imposed a digital blur over their chests. Also, during the item number, the item girl is wearing a not-too-revealing top and yet when they do a downward angle shot they do a digital blur over her cleavage area. I really can't imagine there being that much on display given the top she was wearing, that it required the censorship. Plus they did it at some other times during the song as well...digital blurred her upper thigh. And there were maybe a few other digital censors of the visual content in the film as well. So to recap...racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. content is perfectly fine for Telugu commercial cinema...while decolletage is seen (well, actually, not seen) as the great threat to public well-being.

nitin77

finally watched another recent indian film after being distracted by the excellent Treme (season 1) and In Treatment (season 2).

Paan Singh Tomar (2011) - An enjoyable biographical film about a famous indian athlete who ends up becoming a bandit.

Has some serious flaws, most notably a very rushed transformation into the bandit in the second half, completely unfleshed side characters and too much of a focus on what Paan Singh did rather than enough of a focus on who he was (my pet biopic hate).

But it has two things in its favour which overcome the flaws to quite an extent. First, a very impressive performance from Irfan Khan. It might seem a bit repetitive and mundane in the second half but compare it to what he is like in the first half, his acting alone sells the transformation more than the script. Also watch his face and body language in two scenes, an exchange with his wife and kids over the affections of a japanese fan and a conversation with his grown up son at the army barracks.

Secondly, it has some excellent dialogue with the same sort of wit and naturalistic authenticity that one finds in Vishal Bhardwaj's rural films. Not sure how well it translates via subtitles but a pleasure to listen to if you can understand the language.

DVD is of substandard quality with plenty of compression artifacting. Should have got a blu release.

On another note, Irfan Khan is in the third season of In Treatment, looking forward to that.