Straight Post

Review – Raavan(Hindi)

Coppola is still alive, but will he be able to recreate the magic of God Father yet again?I don’t think so.Steven Spielberg is alive too ,will he be able to do “it” again? i am pretty sure that he will.Whats the difference between these two legends,frankly, i don’t know.Mani Ratnam, i guess ,slowly is falling into the former category.

Right from Nayakan, Dalapathi, Roja, Dil-se to the very latest Raavan, Mani has always tried to reason with the bad guys. If Nayakan is about an orphan who later turns out to be the champ of the underprivileged slum dwellers , Raavan is about a “Naxalitish” Mr Bachan fighting against the establishment seeking  revenge for what has happened to his family.Set in the deep  jungles of chirapunji(figuratively!) , Beeru played by Bachan abducts Raagini(ash) ,the wife of  sharma(Tamil super star Vikram) and the rest of the story is how rain falls  in different angles with varied velocity onto the faces!.

At times when the country is ravaged by the naxal menace, India’s top director comes up with an excellent story which in a way , ironically that is , is sympathetic to their cause. There is a scene in which Beera explains  to Raagini as to why he became a monster  that he is now . He recollects how his sister was , ahem, “treated”  by police which made him an extremist .It reminded me of the interview i took from Osama Bin Laden last year.

Me : hi Osama, why did you became a terrorist?

Osama: Just for fun.

Me: comonnn, you should have had a very very bad and a  legitimate reason to become a terrorist.Don’t tell me there isn’t any.

Osama : No, Nothing of that sort, bored of construction business, i became a terrorist, it gives me “kick” you know.

No one becomes a terrorist just for fun.Every one has his own reason. What irked me is the fact why the director should use rape and abuse as an excuse to invoke emotional response from the audience to gather support for the unlawful acts committed by an extremist.The same is the reason for Manisha to become a suicide bomber in Dil-se . The same is the reason why Beeru becomes an outcast in Raavan.

It is obvious that Mani wanted to recreate Ramayana in a modern way.I have no issues with that. But i don’t see the reason why he has to butcher the underlining theme of this great epic , which is a revered legacy of Hinduism. Ofcourse, my concern is not the box office response while i write this review. “Iruvar” one of the biggest flops of Mani’s carrer is still my favorite movie from his kitty.

All in all, except for some stunning visuals , there is nothing in stock for this flick. Don’t waste your time.

Rajneeti

I really loved Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan until one day i came to watch coppola’s God father and i recollected a scene in Nayakan which is a direct rip off from the original Godfather,from then on i really never had the respect i used to have for Maniratnam even though i am a great admirer of his work till this day( I know Raavan bombed BTW).The same thing happened with RamGopal Varma and now the same thing with Prakash Jha.

The film has a great story to begin with inspired partly by Mahabharata, the present Nehru Gandhi family,some ideas from God father.Its about the internal power struggles of a  major political family.The story pics up pace once Bhanu pratap(Khan Jahangir Khan) who heads the Rashtrawadi political party suffers a stroke while announcing the withdrawl of support to the ruling party resulting in the collapse of the government.He then announces that his brother Chandra pratap would take over the reins sparking a bitter rivalry between his son played with ease by Manoj Bajpai and the eldest son of chandra pratap played by Arjun Rampal. Rest of the story is about the unrelenting blood bath that follows as both the rival parties tries to get the upper hand in the upcoming elections.

Rajneeti by indian standards is a fine film,with some great screen play, some commendable acting, and some clean off screen work.But where it falters is its unrealistic portrayal of contemporary Indian politics and a finishing act which is less than impressive.

I dont get why Katrina has to be the face of this film in every poster that i see which has some fine acting by some of the legends of contemporary indian cinema like naseeruddin shah and Nana Patekar.

Breaking news!!!

If something happens EVERYTIME, i mean every time ! do we call that news??that is not news.I guess more people are interested in the pic coming along with the post..aaahaaaaaaaaa.And why do they use the word “Crashed” out as if there has been a big battle .”she walked out”,”she crawled out”,”she came out” anything would be appropriate i guess !

BANGalore

Heavily inspired by Aromale song from some crazy movie, i quit my job,took my Apache rtr, left HyderaBAD and came to the city with a BANG in it,Bangalore. Never been in Bangalore for more than a day before,never saw its different shades,never observed its diversity.After one week of my stay in the silicon valley of India,oh my gosh(i ‘m not gay,its just an exclamation),i was left with a feeling that i am nothing but a guy with a lungi put on , got on a red bus and headed for the city famously called as the Fashion capital of India.

There is no beach here to stare at the horizon all through the evening,there is no Hussain Sagar here with a statue of Buddha at the center for the young couples to discuss philosophy. So what do bangalorians do ? they go to Malls. Bored of the weekend i requested one of my friends to take me to a mall.So we ended up in a mall called “FORUM” which he says is one of the best malls here in Bangalore. It took little time for me to realize that a mall is just  like a voluptuous heroine, you want to touch her ,own her, buy her off ,whatever,but you just cant!

Done with our window shopping,not aware that Kites bombed at BO,we wanted to grab 2 tickets amidst huge lines.While i was standing in the line, i happened to see  the screen above the counter which shows the timings,rates etc. Against kites it was written 350. For a second i thought its 35 rs,but common it cant be! i took a quick re-look to realise that its THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY!!, what, come again. 350 to entertain me for 2 hours? are you kidding, back in my village i can get entertained for a whole night for 100 bucks.You know what i am talking.

All throughout  the movie, my thoughts were not on Barbara mori’s curves but on something else,my wallet.Ofcourse i find the movie a total crap.Anyways, after the movie got completed i got out to pick my helmet from the counter and there were at least three to four girls sitting outside the mall —– smoking.I  was a Hyderabadi for 2 years and i never ever saw an Indian girl smoke. So i pulled my friend closer to me and whispered in his ears “did you see that?”, He said “What”, i said “The girls, they are smoking” he said “Ya, so what?, grow up dude, this is BANGalore” i thought “Ooh is it, i dont know” in a “saas-bhahu”   tone.

I am slowly coming to terms with this great city.Believe me, much worse things happened to me this past week.I will keep you updated.. ciao.

Mani ki AAG :RGV

Mani already had his “AAG”, remember “Iruvar”, it played for 2 days in AP.If one movie plays for 2 days ! it can be called “jwala”( I am weak in hindi).Anyways check this post