Duplicity

Clive Owen + Julia Roberts + A spy thriller = Very high expectations. The movie was good, but not great. The lead actors are competent, the script is taut and the dialogs are witty. But there is nothing that "blows your mind out".

The movies is about rival retail product companies and their spy department. Industrial espionage with two lovers acting as lead spies is an interesting concept, and the director has done justice to the idea. I don't want to divulge more, because you would rather watch the movie.

It gets 3.5 stars from me.

The visit to the barber

I dreaded the barber when I was young. I hated to have scissors so close to my ears, the blades so close to my eyes. To prevent a haircut from being a complete ordeal for me, dad used to promise me sweets after each one, if I did not cry. I had to visit the barber once a month then - I had a lot of hair.

And now, the visit has reduced to once every two months. Sigh! I still dread going to the barber. What if she finds a "bald spot", what if she sees graying hair and tells me, what if she makes that sympathetic "cluck" sound when she sees my thinning hair? It is a terrifying thing.

It happened today - my barber was going on and on about her Peurto Rican home and how she missed her family there, when she suddenly stopped. She started examining my head minutely, and looked at me. My heart stopped - did she find something that I did not want to listen? And then out it came - "Hey! You have a brown tuft of hair", she said. I heaved a sigh or relief. It wasn't something that would break my heart. It was about a patch of brown hair I had. (I still need to figure out where THAT is).

After a 5 dollar tip, I returned home, wondering when the next terrifying barber visit would be...

The barber and the monkey

The foundations of my passion for Bollywood were shaken this week - I saw Billo and Dilli 6. Oh what a huge mistake! Billo had Irrfan and SRK in the lead. What's wrong with Priyadarshan? It was a movie about a poor barber and his rich actor friend. Everyone and everything about the movie except Irrfan was disappointing. The utter negligence towards the core of any movie - the script was shocking. The music was bad. SRK was irritating. Lara Dutta looked old. Rajpal Yadav was pathetic - the list goes on and on...

Dilli - 6 was much worse as my expectations from the movie were high. Rakeysh Mehra had directed Rang De Basanti. He could have got any producer, actors, script writer etc. But what did he do? Directed Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor in a direction less movie. It does not need a first half and the second half can be kept 10 minutes long. It has no meat. And over and above that, there is Amitabh Bachchan in heaven. Yikes!

I will be watching Dev D soon. Please please please Bollywood. Keep my passion alive...

Luck By Chance

The first time I heard that phrase was while playing "gully cricket" (which is the anglicized name for cricket played on the narrow roads of Mumbai). I was batting and had to score a four off the last ball. I wildly swung the bat and lo and behold - it went for a six! The bowler came upto me and told me "Saale (abusive word)! Luck by chance shot tha!". And that phrase stuck with me ever since, like scores of other slang words picked up from the streets of my beloved Mumbai.

Twenty years have passed since then, and Zoya Akhtar used it to name her debut film. I saw the movie yesterday, and they were 13 $ well spent. It is a wonderful parody on Bollywood (sorry Dimpleji, the Hindi Film Industry), very underplayed. It was great to see the characters make fun of themselves. It is indeed rare to find Indian celebrities laughing at themselves. The movie is worth a watch for Farhan Akhtar (that versatile guy who can sing, dance, act, direct and produce), Konkona Sen-Sharms (that dynamo of talent), Isha Sharvani (that beautiful chic who can play a bimbette to perfection), Hritik Roshan (that amazing actor, who can pull of anything with conviction), Rishi Kapoor (that rolly-polly actor, who I feel is being wasted in Bollywood), Juhi Chawla (that cute actress, who has slowly moved into character, supporting roles really well) and above all Zoya Akhtar - her script deserves kudos.

I would recommend the movie to all and sundry - it is definitely worth a watch. But beware - I had also recommended CC2C, which I still feel was a good movie...

The murder of a movie

People did not like Chandni Chowk to China much - that is expected. It was a spoof, a movie to be watched keeping one's brains outside the theater. I did just that and had loads of fun with my friends. But not everyone did that. Quite a few people expected to get some sort of a guided tour into the historical relations between India and China. Some thought that it would be a meaningful, sensible story. But it wasn't. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But I was appalled to see the movie crucified by "critics" and media houses. Unfortunately, these people who mould public opinion, are not above petty politics and foibles - they are human after all. Did Warner Brothers not give them free premier tickets? Did they not give them good seats? Did they not shake hands with them? Who knows?

Akshay Kumar deserved better, and so did the movie.

Slumdog Millionaire

I finally watched the movie that everyone is talking about - Slumdog Millionaire. A friend of mine was going to watch it a couple of months back. He asked me if I wanted to go. I did not as I had heard it was too "depressing". I don't like depressing cinema, simply because life in itself is not that great. I don't want to come out of a theater all sad and sorry. But the fact that it won multiple globes convinced me to go for it and I did today.

The movie is nice. It is harsh, in your face and technically really good. The eye gouging scene and the "this is real India" scene stand out. The movie definitely makes an impact on a third person . The cast is able. The music strictly OK. I was expecting more from Rehman.

The thing I did not like about it was that there was nothing and no one positive about it. Everyone seemed to be out to get the protagonist. Mumbai can be callous and selfish, but not always. There are good souls in the city too. What was the need to have the show host to be so much of a dark character? Why was there no one to help the two boys stuck in a riot? How did Jamal feed himself after he parted with his brother? Did someone help him learn English? Was he not given the opportunity to earn a decent salary in a call center by a good samaritan? Being a hardcore Mumbaikar, I would want to see something positive atleast about my beloved Mumbai...

All in all though it was a movie I would recommend all and sundry to watch.

Movies seen this week

I returned to the US of A on the 6th of January, and since then have seen 4 movies (that I can think of). My new years resolution is to do one thing everyday that makes me happy. That combined with this biting cold winter made me watch a few movies since my return.

1. Seven pounds: Had a choice between this and Walkyrie and unfortunately watched the former. It was B-O-R-I-N-G. Will Smith is competent (as is expected of him), but the movie was a let down. It dragged a bit and the focus was on just a couple of characters. I believe the plot could have been handled better.

2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall: This was an OK movie - the plot is flimsy, but Mila Kunis is HOT. Watching her move on the screen was in itself money's worth. It is a one-time watch.

3. Chandni Chowk to China: One of the most hyped movies to come out of Bollywood, it is a senseless comedy. If you go for the movie with zero expectations and keep your brain out, you will enjoy it. I was laughing during the serious scenes as well. There is a lot of unintentional comedy going on. Akshay Kumar is good, but that's it.

4. Consenting Adults: This is an old movie with Kevin Kline and Kevin Spacey (one of my all-time favorite actors). It was a good movie, taut with an element of mystery. It was fun to watch. Just wish the ladies would've been hotter...

Next on my wish list is Slumdog Millionaire - a movie about the "harsh reality" of the city of Mumbai. I haven't watched it, but a lot of have told me that it is a bit unfair due to the fact that it just shows the "ugly" side of the city. Mumbai is about hope too. It is about opportunities. It is about hard work getting rewarded. I will be watching Slumdog soon, to decide for myself. Has Danny Boyle done any injustice to the city???