Passport Impossible........

This should have come about a month back. But I could not help it. It took so many days for the feeling to sink in.

The story started sometime during the year 2006-07, when I and my sole companion, Mr. Subhash Rabindra Jha, in this endeavor were trying our hand in securing an internship abroad. Both of us did not have passport. Being the lazy bums that we were, we thought....Passport....Usme kya hai...wo to tatkaal mein 15 din me mil jaayega.... Only to realize later how stupid and silly we were.
We visited a few brokers and all of them demanded huge amount of brokerage (yes 5k was huge for us at that time). We used to think..."ye passport humara, documents humare to isko itne extra paise kyun de". Almost a year passed by and we were still without the passport. Then came the super year 2009 with jobs drying up fast. Our focus shifted from getting a job abroad to securing a job at the first place.
I was picked by "the great Indian Public sector bank" at our campus placements. And the first thing i  thought was "I will be a public servant, now nobody can stop me from getting a passport". The joy was shortlived. I joined work. I was given a profile where i would only need tickets for local train. You see, people dont need passport for travelling to Dharavi, Vasai or Mira Road. That time the only thing i needed was a jet plane to just go away from that place as far as possible. Being hopeful of a brighter future, I did not give up yet. I tried finding out how can i get my passport now. I was going through the list of documents i needed. Suddenly, i realized that tears started rolling down my eyes. I could not believe it. Apart from the docs i needed earlier i needed one more "no objection certificate" from my office. Another advantage of working for the "great Indian Public sector bank". I then realized that it was about 3 months back that i joined office and had not got my id card yet, so getting this NOC will take me atleast another year or two. I was devastated. I told to myself "Passport gaya bhaad mein, Pehle yahaan se niklo". I gave a few interviews and went on to join a private company. Not to forget, in every interview, i was asked about passport and i said i have already applied, i will get it in few days.

Having joined the new office, i resolved to get my passport done at any cost. Then started the series of meeting with brokers and agents. Everyone used to say "ho Jaayega. Address proof hai na". And i used to reply "haan lease agreement hai". On hearing this some smiled, some laughed and some drove me out of their offices saying rent ke address pe to president of India ka paasport bhi nahi issue hoga. I was aghast and thought "Will i have to buy my own flat in Mumbai". I could not think beyond so stopped right there.

I also met a couple of funny characters. One was an agent with hair protruding out from every inch of his body. He could have put Anil Kapoor to shame. He was very hopeful and demanded money. He promised he will get it done. But my wise friends advised me against giving him any money as they thought he will run away with that money.

In the meanwhile, i got an opportunity from my office to travel abroad for a couple of weeks which i had to miss for obvious reasons. All hell broke loose. All you people can not fathom how disappointed i was. By then my sole companion Mr. Jha went to visit his homeland (coincidentally we share our homeland Bihar) and somehow managed to get his Passport done in 15 days.

Now, i was the lone warrior in the battlefield. All alone, like a gladiator. It suddenly occured to me that if Mr. Jha can get it done from our homeland, i can get it done from there too. I found out an agent there and applied through him. He said , "it might take some time but it will be done". and before he could ask for his fees i put it in his hands. Then started the much awaited wait of having applied and going through the procedures. This part was also not devoid of obstacles with me being in Mumbai and having applied for a passport in Bihar. I had to grease the palms of a lot of people involved. The final one being the passport issuing authority having objection with the name of my mom which is Shanta Varma at one place and Shanta D Varma in one of my school certificates. The solution that he suggested was to publish that these two names are of same person in 3 national newspaper for 2 weeks and get the newspaper cuttings to him. I asked for an easier workaround and obvious came the reply.



Finally after all the madness, my passport was issued. My brother came to visit me with my paasport. I vividly remember the date .It read 17.09.2011. I stood there with my passport in my hand. I flipped the blank pages of my passport as time froze. I will never forget that moment. My passport, my most prized possession, means a lot more to me than your does to you.

AARAKSHAN

‘Aarakshan’ was a burning issue in India just 4-5 years back. Prakash Jha comes up with the film supposed to revolve around the same conflict. But 5 minutes into the film pops up a romantic number between Saif and Deepika. True that the songs are used as a device in Indian cinema to enhance an emotion. But the emotion over here is a sub plot to the main premise of the film and gets established clearly in scenes before. 10 minutes later pops up one more song and then 10 minutes later probably the most bearable song. Had it been a masala entertainer it wouldn’t have pricked me but over here the flow of the script was compromised.

As the first half unfolds and characters and plots are established you can’t help but feel that the screenplay is a little disjoint. Too slow at places and to rushed at some other. In short it doesn’t gel. So we have a man Mr Prabhakar (Amitabh Bachchan) the Principal of STM with his philosophy of a just chance to every student without looking at his cast. Then there is Deepak Kumar who through the film is rubbed the wrong way by people constantly trying to remind him that he is a lower cast. Then there are elements is college trust and netas who want the institute to mint money and make education a business and then there is Mithilesh Singh (Manoj Bajpai) who is a shrewd greedy coaching class teacher who squeezes the last penny out of the students pockets in the name of KK coaching classes. So when the legislation of reservation is passed there is a lot of unrest with people being made to stand either for or against reservation. Taking advantage of all this like a politician would do Mr Prabhakar is made to resign as a Principal and Mithilesh Singh is appointed.

Come the second half sans too many songs is much more fluent. The focus of the film is not lost. Though now Aarakshan (Reservation) issue is lost and it becomes a battle of principles of Prabhakar versus the immoral deeds of Mithilesh. And then the film reaches a subsequent climax.

Coming to the performances, Amitabh Bachchan has the best role and obviously he enacts it brilliantly. In some scenes he is terrific. But now that is expected, just like a century is expected from Sachin Tendulkar everytime he takes guard. Saif Ali Khan doesn’t look right for his role but portrays it with utmost conviction and does a good job. Deepika is good. Prateik is ill at ease with both the language and the character. He doesn’t convince as (Sushant). Yashpal Sharma, Saurabh Shukla, Darshan Jariwala, Chetan Pandit , Vinay Apte do really well but the person who steals the show is once again Manoj Bajpayee. You hate him everytime he is on screen. His is the most memorable performance of the film. Others in smaller parts do well.

Somehow the entire tone of the film doesn’t work. It appears to bright and at a lot of places shots are soft focus. Editing is also lacklusture. Songs don’t add to the film in terms of choreography also.

Overall doesn’t deliver the expected output

Singham

SINGHAM

What interested me about Singham and finally took me to a cinema hall is the presence of Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty (who I believe makes his films very passionately). One could sense what to expect from the promos (which also remind me a lot about Dabanng).

The film starts of with a honest cop (Sudhanshu Pandey) being proven guilty for a crime he never committed (obviously the villain of the film- Prakash Raj(Jaykant Shirke) traps him in this) and subsequently committing a suicide. The story then moves to a small town Shivgad on the border of Maharashtra-Goa, where there lives an honest cop..SINGHAM (AJAY DEVGN). Then there is a love track of a cute little village rooted urban upfront girl (Kajal Agarwal) and the macho inspaector. Then finally there is a confrontation between Singham and Shirke. Shirke then gets Singham transferred to Goa (the place where uski chalti hai) and the story unfolds.

The film is a full on masala film which will have a lot of ceetis and taalis reception at a single screen. It has almost everything a masala film would have....fights, romance, comedy, drama, rona dhona...and at places crafted well too. Ajay Devgn carries the macho man Singham role with ease. Prakash Raj also does his part superbly Govind Namdeo is superb. Kajal Agarwal doesn’t have much to do but nonetheless she does well for a new comer. Sachin Khedekar and Ashok Saraf are in fine form and evoke a lot of laughter with their characterization and punches. There are some witty lines that do evoke laughter.

Songs are a big let down. Be it the romantic songs or the title track. The title track looks like wannabe ‘Hud Hud Dabang’. Also the song is shot at the same location is ‘Hud Hud..’. Also what doesn’t work are the day for night sequences and the general camerawork and a lot of shots are out focus. Though this is not a film where you apply logic but there are a few sequences where you hoped Rohit Shetty to have done a better job.

But to sum it up...Singham turns out to be better than Dabanng. And Ajay Devgn rocks!!!!!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Do what gives you true happiness. Is that an insight new to any of us? I am sure the answer would be a profound 'No'. But, "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD, henceforth)" does try to help us get out of the matrix that our worlds (generically speaking) are and be free, feel free, and does so so very successfully.

I shall not dwell too much into the details of the film's story as I assume most of those reading this post must have either watched the film by now (or are planning to) or have read/heard about the story somewhere or the other. I, in all honesty, intend to digress from the central theme of Chalchitrakatha, the blog to scribble a little on the nuances ingrained in the experience called ZNMD (Gaurav, my sincere apologies there!). 

Should I do it point wise? No. It, somehow, limits the scope of writing and takes away something we all must crave for, more so after watching ZNMD -- freedom. So, the free flowing paragraphs are better!

The escapade starts with three friends, namely Kabir(a)(Abhay Deol), Imran (Farhan Akhtar), and Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) (in order of appearance in the film), travelling to Spain on a Bachelor Road Trip. The adventure (as the three musketeers were to discover in due course of time) was essentially to try out an adventure sport of each one's choice. Besides, Imran, the "diamond biscuit" man (Laugh Out Loud...he writes scripts for advertisements) had his plans of meeting his biological father (Naseeruddin Shah), an artist in Spain. Arjun is the money-man (aptly addressed that way by Naseeruddin Shah in a later scene) and it is revealed later that his ex-girlfriend had apparently left him due to his obsession with work and money. Kabir(a) runs a hotel (family business) and is about to get married to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin) in a couple of months.

ZNMD is full of clever gentle wit, humor of the rolling-on-the-floor-laughing category and discoveries!Yes, discoveries. Imran is just too cool and too good at uttering all those jokes, witty one-liners, and making just laughable gestures & expressions. How often have we come across such characters in our lives amongst ourselves, amongst our friends ! The answer is a big "All the Time". Some imponderables, amongst many, are the Mantal Bwoyz Sequence, the Bagwati thing (though I have to admit I didn't like it as much as others may have), all the pranks they (the three musketeers!) pull at people, the Japanese School-Girl sequence (love the way Arjun says, "Main ek stock broker hoon, koi Japanese school girl nahin"), and many many more. Yeah, the Laila-Majnu one and the Doordarshan one too. :-)

Coming to the performances, I mean, I don't know what to write. Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin are such good actors. Acting comes so so very naturally to them it's difficult to appreciate they are on celluloid and not around. Just plain bland smooth simple and plutonic acting. The Farhans the Akhtars! Oh! My My...what do I write. You look at him through the passage of the film and you say to yourself where the hell has this guy been all this time! what the hell has he been doing all along! Such elegant and smooth transitions he makes; from a witty prankster to a disillusioned bewildered son (his girlfriend in Spain very rightly exclaims -- you laugh from the outside but your eyes are sad); simply superb. And Hrithik Roshan. Oh! Everytime I watch him on screen I feel like Man...What've you done...What magic you create...and at that time, I recall one line from one of the movie reviews I came across a couple of years ago -- "Hrithik Roshan is the best that we have at the moment." So very true. Hrithik Roshan is terrific. Period. What a Stunner (from him)! What a pull-off! Like, really. Laila (Katrina Kaif) is brilliant in the context of the character she portrays and the audiences instantly connect to the theory she espouses -- that of Life.Freedom.Break-Free.Live.Live Now.Discover. She brings vibrance and oozes raw freshness to the film. I don't know if I right but characters like these suit Katrina Kaif like no other. Never in a moment will you feel her uncomfortable with the character. She seems at ease. She is at ease. And, what's comforting is she has got finer if not the finest dialogues in the film which she has delivered effortlessly solely because she seems to have a similar approach to Life as Laila. I don't think I need to applaud Naseeruddin Shah for his work. Yes, he is tremendous and the baritone is devastating (I mean devastatingly enticing). The character he portrays, his lines, and the way he delivers those lines...it seems Zoya Akhtar requested him to come to the set one fine day and shot the scene.Yes, like that. Just Pure Awesomeness there!

But, the characters that overshadow all the aforementioned, in my opinion, are the "Emptiness in Space Punctuated with Mesmerizing Poetry " and the "Background Score" of the film. Consider the sequence where Arjun experiences epiphany in Deep Sea (the Deep Sea Diving sequence) and cries afterwards or the sequence after Imran meets his biological father punctuated with beautiful beautiful poetry. As Arjun would put it Just Magical. Beautiful. The Bull Run sequence, in my opinion, steals the show. I am referring to the second half of the run (from when Kabir(a) starts running again till the gorgeous screen-freeze...again, terrific poetry...jo apni aankhon me hairaaniyaan leke chal rahe ho to zinda ho tum...Javed Sa'ab, take a prolonged bow.I mean it.Yes, really.Pure Awesomeness there!). The Background score is so subtle it speaks more than a thousand words. What brilliance what class from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy! You just have to look at the characters looking into the emptiness of space and feel the moment. You have to feel it to comprehend what I am trying to say. It's that magical. It's that beautiful.

The film has numerous magical sequences and moments, some of them being the Sky Diving and the sense of achievement and fearlessness that punctuates the trio's gestures & expressions on its completion, the sequence where Imran and his girlfriend are exchanging thoughts totally diverse and oblivious to the other and still deriving a meaning out of the exchange, the sequence from when the trio arrives at the artist's (Naseeruddin Shah as Salman Habib) place till when Imran walks out of his house in tears saying "Sorry tab boliyega jab yahan se (dil se) ho", the Bull Run sequence (I know I have mentioned it before) when the three friends take oaths as to what would each one do if he survived...is just breathtaking, etc.

Now, some technicalities. The Camerawork is truly first rate. Beautiful Spain becomes a character in itself. And What a Beautiful Character! The Music is brilliant and compliments the screenplay beautifully. But, "Paint it Red" (the entire La Tomatina sequence is an experience!), "Senorita", and "Khwaabon ke Parinday" deserve a special mention. I just wish the song "Dhadakne Do" were used more frequently during the screenplay. And Zoya Akhtar is a Top Class performer. Again I recall a reviewer's line on her -- "Zoya is much ahead of her time." So true. She has an enviable vision of things, of sequences, of story-line, of characters that is very very rare. What a Director! Kudos! Yes, Dialogues are, I would say, very simply and very intelligently (yes, both at the same time!) penned by Farhan Akhtar who continues to stun us with his abilities.

I could go on writing and writing about ZNMD like a stream of river travels a thousand miles but I should not. And that's why I think I shall pull my vocabulary list out of the closet and put it to good use (finally!). ZNMD is MAGICAL BEAUTIFUL EPIPHANIC. Period. So, JUST LET YOURSELF GO and float in the ecstasy called "Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara".


P.S. You can find all Imran's poems here. To relive the magic, watch it again. Yes, watch it again. It's Pure Awesomeness.
Gaurav, this is my first post on the blog. So, as Imran would say, "Cheque bhijwa dena"  :-) A Big Big Smile. 

      

ZINDAGI NAA MILEGI DOBARA!!!!

DCH set in Spain! Spain ki advertising hai! Yaar Hritik ke peechle do filmein flop hui hai hope ye naa ho! These were the kind of comments I had heard for the film before I caught this one up.

The film starts of with Abhay Deol (Kabir) proposing Kalki (Natasha) for marriage. And as the wedding date comes closer time comes closer for the 3 musketeers Abhay, Farhanm (Imran), Hritik (Arjun) to go to Spain for a bachelor party. The terms and conditions are that each of them will decide a task for all 3 of them to do and the tasks have to be taken up come what may!

As the story unfolds, one realises that the film could have fallen into the DCH trap right at the beginning but it doesn’t! The initial friction between Arjun and Imran is treated differently than Sid and Akash (in DCH). The characters are well etched. Abhay is a caring husband to be, Hritik a money minded financial broker and Farhan a happy-go-lucky poet. The chemistry between the three is superb and most of the humour comes across brilliantly. The timing is awesome! Looks like a lot of lines are improvised and it works!

Another winner is the music of the film. Senorita, Khaabon ke parindey are interwoven and picturised superbly. But ‘Der hui lekin’ takes the cake. Cinematography is another winner. The film at most of the places is a visual treat. Espcecially the underwater bits.

Performances wise Hritik, Farhan and Abhay go strength to strength! Hritik is superb and balances his character very well. It is a complex character to portray and he does it with ease. Understated Abhay Deol is also brilliant and so is slightly more exuberant Farhan. Lot of sequences are worth a mention! Of the lighter moments ‘BPL’ scene works very well and on execution level it is handled very well...Right from starting out as a lighter scene and shaping up into a serious one and then again ending on a light note! Well crafted. This scene actually establishes the friction between Hritik and Farhan. The use of ‘bag’ wati is also good. But the scene that stands out is the scene between Farhan and Nasseruddin Shah. Nasser sir is brilliant in his one scene cameo! Deepti Naval leaves a mark in her cameo. Though the story is based largely in Spain and some opine that it is an advertisement for Spain tourism..for me it doesn’t come in the way of the film.

The length of the film is one of its weaknesses. The post interval portion is longer by atleast 10 mins. The story culminates much before the film finally ends. Also didn’t like Katrina’s peroformance. Personally felt that the character had a lot more scope in it!!!

All in all the film works and is one of the better films of the year. Hritik fans can rejoice!

Delhi Belly

About a couple of weeks ago, on a lush green court of wimbledon playing his quarter final match against Jo wilfred Tsonga, Roger Federer was gallopping all over, firing aces, majestic backhands and sharp winners.Tsonga on the other hand stood belittled in contrast to his inhumanly long frame. It was going to be an end everybody had anticipated well before the start of the match. It was the end to be till a delicious forehand winner from tsonga went past Federer and things were never the same again...

Before you start thinking that i have messed up the title of the blog, let me tell you, the experience of watching Delhi Belly was exactly the same. A film with so much promise, great music, brilliant plot and a maverick producer, things could never go wrong. Still, this film turned out to be, atleast for me, quite forgettable. A lot of "credit" for this can be given to the script and screenplay. With a potentially classic plot, this film could have gone on to be one of the best comedies in Indian cinema. But as they say, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link and the weakest link here was the lead actor Imran Khan. Khan falters at all the departments be it acting, emoting or dialogue delivery. The only thing good about his character in the film is his looks and he is not to be given any credits for that. Supporting actors have done well for their role but the film belongs to Vijay Raaj as the don. He does not have much screen time but whenever he is there he electrifies the screen. His portrayal of the character is totally hilarious. He is one of the few characters in the film whose dialogue delivery does not seem to be forced (talking about the "Hinglish" version). Vir Das also stands out in his portrayal of a cartoonist.

The story of the film revolves around a "package" which Shehnaz, fiancee of khan and an airhostess, has to deliver for a friend of friend. The "package" contains diamonds which shehnaz is unaware of and hands over to khan to be delivered to the specified address. From khan, it changes hands and goes to vir, then kunal and then vir again. In the meanwhile vir also has to take a stool sample of kunal and deliver it to a lab. Vir mixes the package and the don gets the stool and diamonds are delivered to the pathology lab. There are a couple of sub-plots also going around like the khan-poorna story, kunal's stomach disorder and the trio's landlord's story.

Technically the film is very good with some brilliant cinematography and background score.Dark corners of Delhi have been captured very well.

Its really surprising that with so many things going well for the movie, when you step out of the theater, you dont feel good in your head. It promises you lettuce and serves you cabbage ;) (bad joke..... the Delhi Belly effect.... can't blame me..)

Transformers 3

There are movies which you want to see and there are the ones which you have to see. Transformers 3 comes in the latter category. In 3D, it is pure awesomeness. The effects are really good. The storyline is very tight and Micheal Bay is at his best.

The movie starts with the shot of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who has replaced Megan Fox in this 3rd edition wearing probably a victoria's secret and walking up the stairs and thats the best scene she has managed to pull up in the entire movie. Shia LaBeouf in the role of Sam is in his elements. Though this movie is not as much about actors as it is about the plot. The plot revolves around an incidence in which a cybertronian aircraft "The Arc" carrying Sentinel Prime, who was considered the Einstein of Autobots, and 5 of the pillars that he had built for building bridges around the universe for teletransportation, crashes on the moon. The decepticons have managed to steal 100s of such pillars but the master pillar still lies in "The Arc" along with Sentinel Prime. There has been references to the Appollo Mission to moon, when "The Arc" was actually found out and how it was kept as a secret all through these years.

On the earth,Optimus Prime and other handfull of autobots have formed an alliance with US military. Sam manages to find out that decepticons are targeting autobots and human, about which he informs Optimus Prime. Optimus finds out about "The Arc" and travels to the moon to bring back Sentinel and the pillars. Optimus succeeds in reviving sentinel but finds out that Sentinel Prime has struck a deal with Megatron for saving cybertron.

Then starts the final war between Optimus on one side and Sentinel Prime and Megatron on the other. How the story further unfolds is to be seen. Having the backing of a very sound script, the movie with some brilliant 3D effect is a must watch. Some of the sequences are quite breathtaking. My personal favourite being a chase scene in which bumblebee trying to save Sam from Decepticons,throws him out in the air, transforms and then catches him back before transforming into the car again.

Optimus Prime is at his best and you would want a little more screen presence for him in the movie. The 3D effects are quite effective with really good detailings. Overall a very good movie but you might think that you expected it to be little more. Its like sachin Tendulkar. Even if he scores a century people would want him to score a double ton.
A must watch...

Pyaar ka Punchnaama

PKP is a very honest attempt towards showcasing the plights of exploited male breeds of human species. Infact, it is so honestly made that at some scenes you would actually feel as if you are not watching a movie but thinking about someone amongst you or may be even yourself.
The actors have done well but the director and the dialogue writer takes the credit away. The direction being superfluous and the dialogues very crisp.

The storyline of the film revolves around three friends living together, away from their hometowns, in Delhi. They are really keen on getting into a relationship with a girl of their choice. How they manage to find a girl of their choice and what happens after that is to be found out.

The film does really well from humour point of view. The scene of the movie obviously has to be where the guy living in with his girlfriend vents out his frustration. It's a 5 minute monologue which is very well written, executed and extremely humourous. Everybody watching this would automatically connect to few of the instances mentioned. The bespectacled guy also does very well while venting out his anger on his 34k a month job. Infact among all the new and inexperienced cast, the guy has acted convincingly well.

On a whole a very good film to watch and brilliant one if you are watching it with your girlfriend...