Shakuntala Devi - Movie Review

 

Hey folks, this is technically not a review, but basically my views on the movie.

• Movie was decently made but I felt a slight disconnect with flashbacks not placed together in the best way for my liking.
• Vidya Balan could have been given a slightly different look. Too boring to see her in the same avatar in movies, ads, interviews... yawn.
• Her dialogue delivery and acting seemed eerily close to what she did in The Dirty Picture. In both cases, the character was strong willed and travelled places. If someone mixes the scenes from the two movies, it might get difficult to distinguish sometimes.
• I kind of empathised with the daughter. Even though SD must have had the best interests in her mind, it wasn't the route most mothers should take. There was a communication failure and Sanya's characterization was telling and probably the best in the movie.
• The climax scene with the firang attornees seemed to be a sham and I doubt if it did take place thus in real life. If it was a departure from reality, then it could have been scripted better.
• The guy who played Shakuntala's husband too did a great job, while Amit Sadh needs to emote better. He won't be playing the Breathe detective everywhere.

Overall, I felt it was good that I did not have to spend 200 bucks on a movie ticket and 500 on popcorn in a theatre. 

The Match Fixers XI

Since everyone is coming up with this XI and that all time XI, here's my humble attempt at an all time Match Fixers XI. 

All time Match Fixers XI

Herschelle Gibbs: One of the finest openers to play The modern cricket game. Aggressive and saves as many runs on the field as he scores. 

Salman Butt: Just when the world started to look upto him as a reliable opener, he decided to play traunt. Still walks into the side. 

Lou Vincent: Very u predictable but extremely talented. Got so many chances but threw, nah - sold, his wicket away! 

Mohd. Azharuddin: Can walk into many normal cricket XIs on his day. Brilliant player, great fielder. 

Hansie Cronje: Astute man, on and off the field. Dogged batsman and decent dibble dabble bowler. Will captain this side. 

Ajay Jadeja: One of the best limited overs players for his country, adding to the list of fantastic fielders. 

Umar Akmal: The real weak link in the side. Can be a fantastic batsman and and a sidey wicket keeper. Can be replaced by the standby players if Vincent takes on the gloves. 

Manoj Prabhakar: Genuine all-rounder. Can even open the batting or come one down if needed. Real floater in the side. Can provide the masala quotes too. 

Mohd. Asif: Undisputed talent and brilliant bowler. Not sure why he resorted to shady activities when he could do anything legally with the ball. He had mesmerized most batsman across the globe. 

S. Sreesanth: Brilliant bowler, but he's in the team more for his penchant to work up the opposition and provide histrionics. Wanted to take Amir but he and Asif opening the bowling would have been boring. 

Danish Kaneria: Quality leggie and genuine No. 11. Can pick wickets as well as keep scoring at bay. 

12th man : Shakib Al Hasan: Fantastic all rounder. He's been left out since Jadeja, Cronje and Prabhakar provide the all rounder role and he's in the run for a minor offense unlike the others. Still if need be on slower pitches, he and Kaneria can be deadly.

Manager: Gurunath Meiyappan

Shaandaar Shit !

Thanks to some generous friends, we were gifted passes to spend a few hours in INOX! Unfortunately, the box office was going through a lean patch and the only movie we could watch in the day time with good seating available on a Sunday was this grand shit! (Talvar, we had seen as you might realise from the previous post.)

Anyways, this is a story of two insomniac bores who were made to have similar tastes so that they could fall in love and sleep together (literally) ! Well, they could well have dozed off if they had seen the movie earlier.

 

All said and done, it is a brilliantly made movie. You just have to leave your brains at home. (Yes, at home - coz otherwise, you wouldn't buy tickets for this movie.) Its more a childish movie than anything. Whether it is the dialogues or the story or the inanity of the entrire 'show off' drama, it has to be written by someone who has the IQ of a seventh grader, if not less. Or, they were trying to impress Rahul Gandhi.

Acting is pretty decent, in fact I'd say very good. You need good acting skills to act as unnatural as the characters in the movie. Its the only positive side of the movie - the popcorn and coke aside!

The movie brings us back to THE QUESTION I asked a good 7 years back! 

A moon and seven stars to the movie! Din mein chaand taare dikha diye!

The Sword of Impetitude

Too late in the day to publish a review, but nevermind.. here it goes!

Everyone in the country and their bitter halves who have ever tuned onto news channels know about the Aarushi Talwar - Hemraj double murder. A lot has been said, written, discussed and debated about the case. Most people would know details better than many of the investigating officers. The script is basically what has been reported of the case by the media, plus a little more from the 'other' side.

The film, itself, is a brilliant docudrama narrating the story from a dual point of view with the same scenes being shot in different perspectives of narration. This itself points to a clear and well written screenplay. The dialogues are crisp and to the point. The ones by the main protagonist of the movie (Ashwin Kumar, played by Irfan Khan) are justifiably the best - with some dry and some caustic humour interspersed. The 'Dharmpracharak asan' term used for the missionary position is as brilliant a word play as you would ever get in a bollywood movie, mainstream bollywood movie at that.

I have a feeling that the motive behind the movie was to show the injustice done to the parents of the dead girl who are now languishing in jail. Quoting from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Boscombe Valley Mystery, "Many men have been hanged on far slighter evidence," "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged.". However, in this particular case, it did appear to the viewer - and was emphasised by Irfan's character in the brilliant climax debate - that it was quite obvious that the wrong people had been sentenced. The court gives a decision based on the evidence collected and evidence shown by the investigating team. The court did not do much wrong. The investigating team fucked up royally! On multiple counts. If the chief aim of the movie was to show the shabby state of affairs our so called investigating teams do, then the movie is a huge success.

The actors were chosen perfectly, the characters were brilliantly named. Hell, so was the movie! Acting is top notch by the entire cast. If you have not yet seen the movie, do so. 

Raaaaj...

Back to routine

1. Aussies thrashing the Poms.

2. The Great Indian Cricket Team getting sucker-punched in its face by the Saffers. Of course, its not IPL!

3. Someone gets up and says he'll carry on Brian Lara's legacy.