Wag the Dog. Simply Amazing

First thing that comes to your mind after watching Wag the Dog is, weather a movie like that could be made in India? The reply is, simply impossible. Not because we in India lack talent, resources or actors, but due to the sheer fact that a movie of this genre would be censored from first reel to the last, not because of anything else but its plot. It is about President of United States who is trying to save his name from a sex scandal just 2 weeks before the next election. His trouble shooter Robert De Niro comes up with a plan to divert the the public attention by making an announcement that the USA has gone to war with Albania, a near unknown country, as there is actually no war going on, so De Niro hires a Hollywood producer Dustin Hoffman to help him to create a media campaign to make the public of USA believe that there is actually a war is going on.

They make visuals, theme songs and use the media to fullest, its like watching them making a branding and advertising stratergy to sell war. The movie is filled with intelligent remarks, dark humour and turns and twists. The character of Hoffman is the high point for me, his constant line 'That is nothing' will make you laugh to no ends. De Niro dose justice to his role as well.

A movie like this, where directly President of a country is not only involved but also is actively participating in a fraud of such magnitude is unheard in India. Although a lot of movies are made in Hollywood where President plays an active role, this particular one crosses a lot of limits.

Watch this amazing movie for the sheer fun of it, if you love satire this movie comes as close to another great movie "Dr. Strangelove" as possible. This is a must watch.

Rating ****

Drive Angry 3D

Off late i have started feeling that hollywood is facing a serious dearth of stories. And when they come across one, they screw it with which ever thing possible. The premise of a man escaping hell to save his grand daughter looks exciting, and the point that Nicolas Cage is in the driving seat makes your expectations take a new high, but the movie walks on a paper thin story, filled with abusive language, brutal violence and cheesy dialogues with nothing to offer but demise of hollywood cinema.

Nicolas Cage acts ok, not anywhare near the kind of style he used to carry, William Fichtner as 'The Accountant' makes a mark, people may remember him from his famour role of 'Mahone' from 'Prison Break'.
Only saving grace is the wonderful photography and the 3D experience, that only makes the 105 minutes of movie bearable. You will not find any other reason to watch the movie.

Not recommended even to die hard fans of Nicolas Cage.

Rating  *1/2 

Tanu weds Manu: Soft and Romantic

What do you expect when you see a R.Madhwan movie? something good! well he doesn't disappoint you this time as well. Tanu weds Manu is a simple story of an obedient NRI boy, who falls in love with a girl on first sight while hunting for prospective bride, the only problem being, the girl is least interested. Although Madhwan agrees but the marriage is called off. But as the destiny has it, they meet again at another marriage and the story has more drama than expected.

What strikes you with the movie is the simplicity with which it is shot, charecters are out of life, with may the exception of Kangana's character. The dialogues are simple and appropriate, the music of the movie is soothing and melodious . Performance wise Madhwan has done the role without effort, Deepak Dobriyal as his friend 'Pappi' is the live wire of the movie, this actor has done good roles before (Shaurya, Gulal, Delhi 6 etc) and has a promising career ahead, Kangana Ranaut may have performed better, she looks appropriate in the role but performance lacks in various counts, however good direction and good supporting performances from Jimmy Shergil, Eijaz Khan etc more than makes for that.

On the down side movie gets slow in the second half after a fast and entertaining first half, as well as the climax is not as powerful as expected, it is 'so-so', but still the movie touches a cord, it is having a good balance between comedy, romance, drama and emotional stuff. Altogether a good weekend watch by any standard. Go to the theater and enjoy this movie with your family.

Rating ***.  

7 Khoon Maaf - Not for faint hearted

Although the poster of the movie may make you think, that probably it is the hindi remake of Kill Bill, but it is not. Inspired by a short story by Ruskin Bond, 7 Khoon Maaf is a show case of talent and originality in Indian Cinema. The story of Susanna told through the eyes of a constant character, where different husbands come and die. The movie dose not talk about right or wrong, never intends ever to take a moral high ground not even tries to justify anything, makes it a beautiful and unadulterated watch.

The movie requires from its viewers to be mature and imaginative, although at times you may feel some sequences have become weird without requirement, but barring that the movie dose full justice to the story. Vishal Bhardwaj has shown yet again  what type of talent he contains, execution of a lot of sequences is just excellent, the dialogues are just fabulous, they couldn't have been better. Although a few songs could have been cut short, but the beautiful wordings of Gulzar more than makes for that.

Performance wise Anu Kapoor surprises you, his stand out performance you may even make you think that his talent have never been utilised properly before, Vivaan Shah as the narrator and one of the few constant character of the movie impresses you with his fine dialogue delivery, Priyanka Chopda's choice of subjects and her approach to charecterization can't be ignored, the man playing the butler dose a commendable job, Usha Uthup has been wasted, other actor playing 'Gunga' dose the job well. Ruskin Bond in a special appearance looks gracious, and the special appearance by Konkona Sen Sharma could have been spared.  All the husbands (Neil Nitin, John, Irfaan, Aleksandr, Anu Kapoor, Naseer)  dose there job well, but to be honest nobody could leave the mark apart from Anu Kapoor.

On the whole yet another good movie to watch, people who love dark movies would find this one amusing and while watching the movie may start wondering who actually will be the Seventh and last Husband.

   Rating *** 1/2 Stars

Blackberry V/s Apple

Hi friends, yesterday only while talking about creativity in advertising with my friends in a juice bar, one of my friend told about the following commercials, and i felt like sharing the same with you. It is an excellent example of, "How to take a shot at your competitor", where Blackberry mobiles are trying to show the fragility of Apple mobiles. As i have already told you in my previous posts that such kind of commercials are very frequent in some countries.
  

However, the other party Apple is not a silent victim, as they launched the following commercial as a reaction to the above commercial. The beauty lies in the subtle way of response. 

 

I simply loved it, didn't you? 

Yeh Saali Zindagi

It is 1.00 A.M. on a Saturday morning, i have just returned from watching the late night show of Yeh Saali Zindagi, i have an exam first thing in the morning, but this review can’t wait.

The story is primarily about 2 men, trying hard to hold on to their respective love interest, and how different people and different situations arise between then and how the two different stories starts getting intertwined to each other. Irfan Khan plays the role of a money laundering agent who loves Chitrangda Singh, who is ready to stake everything for her, even though she doesn’t love her, Arunoday Singh who has just been released from Tihar Jail, and is now looking at starting a new life with his beautiful wife and kid.

This movie is the closest Bollywood has ever come near ‘Noir Cinema'. People may feel the movie has its share of Abuses, but this is not a family movie anyhow, characters in the movie have a lot of grey shades, a lot of movies doesn’t give a lot of importance to supporting actors, but this movie scores heavily on this point, be it the character of corrupt cop Sushant Singh, or the role of Irfan Khan’s boss, played by Saurabh Shukla, or Yashpal Sharma as ‘Bade’ or Prashant Narayanan as ‘Chote’, everyone makes a mark.

Irfan Khan is just awesome, the cool with which he plays the role is adorable, Arunoday Singh is a talent to watch out for, Aditi Rao was last seen as Ramaa Bua in Delhi-6, people may even fail to recognize her due to the fact that her role in this movie is complete contrast, Chitrangda Singh gives a decent performance, Prashant Narayanan is having tremendous potential, as shown by him in his previous movies (‘Waisa bhi hota hai’ and ‘Chhal’), but he was not fully utilised here, he deserved a few more scenes.

Altogether solid performances, good story, witty dialogues and abuses, makes the movie ‘must watch’* on my list. Hats off Mr. Sudhir Mishra.

*Not for families.

Sholay too, now i am disappointed.

Well i don't need to ask any of you whether you have seen sholay, ofcourse you have, Now one of the most iconic scene in the movie is when all of Thakur's family is shot dead by Gabbar. Only a boy is left in the end how is also gunned down by him, and we can very distinctly here the voice of a bullet overlapping with that of a train approaching with Thakur as a passenger. Very original indeed? well think again and look at the above video from the movie 'Once upon a time in the west'.