Inside Job

The destruction caused by a falling economy is much more sustainable than that to of a natural catastrophe like flood or an earthquake, because in case of the later, the whole damage is done in one go, and the reconstruction starts from the scratch just after that, and people are aware that there are no more surprises left for them. But in case of the former, you can never be sure as to how much is still lying beneath the carpet, every time you think all the dirt has come out in open, some thing more happens. But there is one much more vital difference between the two. Natural disasters never give signals months before in advance of their occurrence.

Many have wondered and some still dose on the reasons as to why the economic meltdown of 2008 happened. Even I fail to understand as to why the whole world economy collapsed, just because there was some problem with the housing market in USA. Would a similar situation arise in India, if our housing sector collapses, probably not. Not because our economy is robust, but because people in our financial sectors will look like saints if we compare them with their counterparts in USA.

It has been general opinion in India, that the financial sector of America became greedy and created complex products to increase profitability. But truth goes deeper than this, a weak structure was created and harbored, while constantly ignoring the high risk involved, laws were made so that big corporate can make huge profits and those laws were restrained which could have stopped this. The meltdown was not caused by human error, it was a well planned elaborate con game, in simple language you can call this as a fraud, which involved, investment banks, stock brokers, rating agencies (like S&P, Moodys, Fitch), housing mortgaging companies and people sitting at the apex government departments like, federal reserve and treasury.

All the high ranking government officials involved in this constant endeavor to serve the gigantic financial conglomerates while ignoring safety for public money made huge amount of money as consultants to these very companies, and the joke doesn’t end here as well, not only there were no criminal action taken against these very people, few of them were actually taken back in the system at the same critical positions.

How this whole game was played is very elaborate to explain, watching this documentary will be an excellent way to understand this mess. This documentary makes a mandatory watch for all people who are related to the financial sector, and for those people who find this field interesting.

Rating ****.

Ready

Its 9:30 P.M, I am sitting in a small less than comfortable chair in a single screen theatre at Morbi, although it is a Tuesday, still the board outside the premises says houseful. Inside the theatre people are perspiring (because only dogs sweat, men perspire) due to humidity, and only three fans can not take care of the hall filled to capacity.

And with the entry of Salman with a super hit song, people started shouting his name hysterically; all that was needed now was a good movie. What I got was a movie that works in part i.e. makes you laugh, and rest of the time entertains you with age old jokes forced into the narrative, scenes with keeps on going beyond a point that you start thinking that the director forgot to say cut and where the screenplay writer was probably sleeping.

I won’t go in to the story of the movie as it doesn’t matters in a comedy film; neither had it mattered to the story writer. I agree you take a lot of things for granted in such type of movie, but “reason and logic” died a sudden and terrifying death in the first few minutes of the movie itself.

So is it a movie worth avoiding when half the population of the country is getting into a queue outside a cinema hall. Well even after criticizing in lengths about the technicalities of the movie, fact remains it is a movie you enjoy and like. It may be due to the fact that Indians are not getting good enough entertainment off lately that is the reason why we have started enjoying even average movies to the extent that these movies become blockbuster hits. Anees Bazmi is an extremely talented director, but he is turning into a factory now a days, ‘Ready’ being his third movie to be released in last few months

(No Problem and Thank You being the first two), he has started to compromise with the quality of the movies he is directing, and just for information he is currently working on the sequels of ‘Singh is King’, ‘No Entry’ and even ‘Mr. India’ although these are rumors till date. So it may be possible that he is directing just a few parts of the movie while rest is directed by his assistants.

Coming back to the point whether the movie works or not, well certainly in parts, but a great opportunity missed by the director to make a much more entertaining movie, if only he had worked hard on the movie as hard he had worked on the songs. Turing out to be the second undeserving blockbuster for Salman after Dabang. So go to this movie as not much better options are available.

Rating **.

Deathtrap: Just Wonderful

Last few weeks i have watched a lot of movies, but not one of them was like Deathtrap. A sheer pleasure to watch, it is a real treat for the fans of thriller genre. Adopted from a play itself, the movie is about a play writer, who used to be very successful, but now is struggling with continuous flop stage shows and a ‘writer’s block’ (A condition where a writer can’t generate new ideas for a new plot or story).  Telling anything more would be unfair as the movie keeps on surprising you.  I feel no gifted Indian film maker has seen this movie otherwise it would have surely remade in Bollywood, or maybe i have just not watched that movie.

Anyhow the settings are just like a play, only limited characters and more or less just one location, with a couple of scenes shoot at other places. The story is amazing, the budget is low and the actors are wonderful, just when you will think you know what is going to happen the movie will surprises you.

The director of the movie is Sidney Lumet, the man who directed ‘12 Angry Men’, one of the most wonderful movies i have ever seen in my life. And now after watching this movie, i have turned into a fan, and would surely watch all his movies.

It is a gem of a thriller, don’t miss it.

Rating ***1/2.