2017 Indian republic day Weekend ...

The past weekend was spent in Movie and "Friends"(season 5 to be more precise) marathon. One of the movies I watched was "Munnabhai MBBS". I have loved both the movies in the Munnabhai series ... the innovative storyline and enthusiastic performance by the actors especially Munna-Circuit pair never tires me from watching the movie repeatedly. This time I watched it with English subtitles. I normally turn off the subtitles because it distracts me a lot ... even though I follow the language I end up reading the subtitles and most times the essence of the dialogue is lost in translation. The movies I have watched with subtitles in the past also have some word to word translation incorporated which completely destroys the punch in the dialogue. But this time I watched Munnabhai with subtitles and I was surprised that the title song translation was done quite well ....
The hindi version goes:
M - Master ke Master
B - Bindaas Doctor
B - Bemisaal Actor
S - ShaNa character

And translated version goes:
M - Master of Masters
B - Bohemian Doctor
B - Brilliant Actor
S - Slickest character

Not bad huh ??

Next time I watch movie, may be I will turn on the subtitles just for fun in analyzing it !!

Jai Ho ....

So Slumdog Millionaire sweeps the 81st academy awards last night ... Congratulations SDM Team !!
I understand that is a movie about a boy in Mumbai slum ... but I don't buy the argument of this being India's entry to Oscars. Sure many Indians have contributed to the success of the movie ... but it is not completely an Indian movie ... for one its Director is Danny Boyle, producer is Christian Colson ... but I surely believe that A.R.Rehman who won 2 oscars last night for best song (Jai Ho) and best score is a great musician.
Now then again, is Jai Ho his best composition ... well that's debatable. But I am glad that a person of Rehman's caliber won an Oscar. He truly deserves it for some wonderful contributions he has made to Music world.

As for my take on the movie, here it is.

Slumdog Millionaire

Watched Slumdog Millionaire over the weekend. This movie by Boyle is an adaptation of Vikas Swarup’s Q & A.
There is so much buzz around this movie that I had very high expectations from it. My curiosity grew all the more when Raja Sen (who normally rates movies very low) of Rediff, gave this movie 5 stars.

The movie is good ... not bad at all. But does it deserve all the buzz ... well I am not too sure. It won the Golden Globes. Makes me wonder if all this hype would still be there had the movie been made by an Indian director? Is it lobbying of the movie which has generated this buzz or has it really touched a chord with many?

To me, the movie was good ... the idea great... but the presentation, could have been better. This I say, especially since, some scenes do not portray India or for that matter Mumbai at its glorious best.

Would I recommend the movie ... sure ... will also ask them to go with No expectations.

Movie - Matadaana

Watched the movie Matadaana (kannada) over the weekend. The movie is based on the same name novel by S.L.Byrappa. One of the few realistic movies ... I'd say.
Director T.N.Seetharam has roped in the right actors for the different characters. The movie depicts the various incidents that might happen during the time of election and how common man gets affected with all the politics around election. The story is quite gripping mainly telling of a contractor played by Anant Nag and his morales and political links.
The most irritable characters of the lot to me was "Puttathamaiah", the role so well played by actor Avinash. The moment he appeared on screen made me cringe. The thought that such people exist in the real world makes me really sad.
The best scene of the movie is when Lakshmi, wife of Puttathamaiah, unable to tolerate her husband anymore, walks away from his life. This guy then in his male ego shouts out "Lakshmi, I forgive you" instead of asking for forgiveness ... Lakshmi then gives him a pitiable look.
I wish the movie ended more realistically ... but then the ending depicted was not really very bad. It needed to end on a happy note ... so it did.
Watch this movie if you are looking for some realism...

warning: A very depressing movie ... if you watch movies for escapism from real life, this one is surely not for you.

Chak De India

Last evening, hubby and I went out to the theatre to watch this movie after almost 4 years. Thanks to my family who offered to take care of my little one.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the movie … there were no surprises … the story was predictable all the way. But what made it interesting was its execution ... err… I mean the narration, crisp editing and excellent acting.
There was no mandatory song / dance routine … the songs played in the background and were quite enjoyable and added to the mood.
The storyline is very simple … its about a disgraced hockey player guiding the Indian women’s hockey team from ground zero to World championship. I knew that SRK played a disgraced hockey player … I knew he would lead the women’s hockey team to victory … what made the movie interesting was the journey taken along.
The so called “Non actresses” did not come across as actresses at all … err … I mean, they came across as relatable likable characters and never once I realized they were acting. Well, that should say quite some thing about their performance. And SRK … well, this was the second movie, in which I saw an actor in him !! Wow … what a performance… Even without being a remote fan of SRK, I could not help but appreciate his performance in this movie. Its appropriate to his age (he should stop running behind heroines mouthing silly dialogues) …. He takes up a risk with this role, clearly not going with his image and delivers a punched performance. I couldn’t imagine a better actor for this role.

For anyone, liking pure family entertainment, with no frills … I would recommend this movie any day! It just doesn’t hurt if you are a sports enthusiast … more so, if you have loved “Hockey” !!!