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Movie Review: Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year (2009)
“In a Nutshell”® rating: 9/10.
Excellent movie! Very down to earth. Love the excellent simple dialogs, and weak humor that doesn’t try to dominate the serious nature of life. There is no song and dance sequence (thankfully), although the title song is beautiful. Ranbir Kapoor gives an excellent performance.
March 18th, 2010
Some of my favorite movies
I thought, it wouldn’t hurt to share some of my favorite movies. We are a nation of lists, and if this helps you to know yours truly, so be it. 
- Sgt. Bilko
- City Slickers
- Father of the Bride (Part I, with Steve Martin)
- Gods Must be Crazy (Part II)
- Groundhog Day
- When Harry Met Sally
- My Cousin Vinny
- The English Patient
- Chocolat
- Odd Couple (Part I)
- City Lights
- Seven Years in Tibet
- Pulp Fiction
- Back to the Future
- Hillary n Jackie
- As Good as it Gets
- A Few Good Men
- Amistad
- Godfather
- Taxi Driver
- Titanic
- The Usual Suspects
- Last of the Mohicans
- A Civil Action
- Wag the Dog
- The Sixth Sense
- The Invisible Child
- Aladdin
- Great Expectations
February 14th, 2010
PS: Elements of metafiction in Steppenwolf
Hesse slides in somethings with such subtlety that you can easily miss them, and you don’t want to blame him for that (Ha!). For you believe in the truest of your heart that he meant no guile in you missing that point – this isn’t a master story teller running a suspense job, but a fair person having a fair conversation.
The said element of interest here is metafiction. In the extended stage setting preface, the narrator describes Haller and then laments that he got too carried away in the description, and ended up disclosing more than he wanted to the reader, thus, subtly confessing to the reader that there is a reader and there is a writer, and such is the frankness and the directness of the communication between them that the writer is not willing to go back and tear away a page which he has written contrary to his plan. To quote Haller’s words from a bit later, “Is that not witty?”.
This reminds me of frequently written “PS” note in an email. Of course it was very meaningful in the olden paper times – if you thought of something after writing (post script) the main portion, it was easier to address the additional thought as a post script rather than rewriting. In electronic times, its utility is more doubtful, so it is almost never seen in electronic documents, but occasionally makes its appearance in emails. Now, if the sender thought of something before sending it, why don’t they go ahead and change the content anyway, rather than using a PS construct? Or perhaps the sender means it as “Post Sending”? The answer clearly lies in a metafictional sense as well – the sender of the email would really like to convey that this additional point is merely a PS, perhaps in an attempt to deemphasize it, even if it is the most important point the writer makes.
February 9th, 2010
Beautiful Kiev!
With 30 inches of snow outside, I am really missing thinking about some summer days. I spent beautiful 2 days in Kiev this past summer, and I can honestly say that Kiev is one of the hidden gems of Europe, if it is hidden at all. From my very short stay there, I felt that the number of things to see there exceeds that from many other cities, and thus Kiev should really be on most tourists’ plans.
Here are some of the sites in Kiev that I enjoyed the most.
1. St. Andrew’s Church
This absolutely beautiful church from the middle 18th century is located on top of a steep hill on a lane bustling with hundreds of souvenir shops and thousands of tourists. As you walk up the hill, you are treated to this absolute gem.
The church was designed by Rastrelli.
The inside of the church is very beautiful as well, although my camera didn’t take as nice a pictures in the dark as it takes outside.
2. Kiev Pechersk Lavra and Sv. Sophia Cathedral
This must be the largest set of churches, perhaps outside of the Vatican. The original cave church was built in 1015, so one thousand years of this breath taking building must be coming up.
3. Just hanging out in the city center
The Kiev city center is a very nice area as well. Really pretty, and absolutely
perfect for people watching. If you have weeks in Kiev, you can spend days in the center. This area is around the Khreshchatyk and Maidan Nezalezhnosti metro stops. There are many cafes and restaurants up and down. There is an underground shopping area as well, which for no good reason really reminded me of Shanghai.
February 1st, 2010
Best scenes in Hollywood
Citylights’ final scene remains one of the best scenes ever produced in Hollywood, in my utmost humble opinion.
Here, take a look:
December 20th, 2009
Book Review – "Above Average" by Amitabha Bagchi
When someone in your close friends/acquaintances circle writes a book, there is a desire to read it that comes from beyond just politeness and desire to further know the person. It somehow also comes from how the common circumstances have shaped the person.
When I first heard about Above Average, from my good friend Vaibhav Sinha, he made it quite a point not to build the hype up. That was a pretty good thing, because the book would otherwise fall a bit short. When I read the book, my main concern was whether Amitabha Bagchi has exhausted all the experiences of the 6 years of early adulthood in writing the book. It is not entirely clear to me whether the book is fiction or if it is non-fiction. Certainly, the author has made some attempts to change the names of the characters etc, but for anyone who knows the relevant people, the mapping jumps out. For example, Darrell appears to be Paul Benjamin. I can think of a few other mappings too, but am holding back on disclosing that.
Every single person can write at least one book – the story of their life. Question is, can they write another? If they can, they become writers; if not, that is fine too.
July 18th, 2009
Movie Review: Up (2009)
“In a Nutshell”® rating: 8/10.
Finally caught up with Pixar’s new movie UP. Pixar has a knack for making animated movie for adults (Toy Story, etc). Up is another movie in that chain, and by the way, the first animated feature film to open at Cannes. It starts off awesome, Carl meets Ellie, they grow up, get married. Then the tragedy hits – them not being able to have children. They move on, get busy with other things, and keep their dream alive of adventure. Of course, along the way, life happens and their dream of adventure constantly needs to be postponed a little, until it is a little late (Ellie dies), but still that is when it happens. Carl gets tagged along with Russell, an 8 yr old, who no one would miss out as his emotional child. They start off as an odd couple, but the paternal bond is all too vivid.
To me, it appears that the story lost the plot when they reach the Paradise falls and gets surrounded by the speaking dogs. I don’t have any problem sharing the gift of speech with other species, but that might be better done in a separate movie. If I have to hazard a guess, it looks like the screen writer wrote the story of Up in two separate sittings, and then slapped them along. The arrival of the balloon house at the Paradise Falls is the point of the discontinuity for the movie.
So, what is the movie’s message? (That is a question Nabakov says should never be posed for any work of art. Artist need not be saying anything, and least of it, need not be saying anything specific, that multiple people can agree upon. Still, that is the way reviews go – messages, and detestable allegories, that allow us to highlight the meaning that we drew from the work of art.) The message of the first part is entirely clear (and beautifully banal). The struggles of life that we all go through are essentially the photo album of our journey. That is the Cirque De Soleil message. Though of course, the constant breaking of the money jar that Carl and Ellie are trying to save for their adventure is also reminiscent of the myth of sisyphus, but in a benign kind of way, because each challenge is different. The second part of the movie does not appear to have any clear message, except perhaps to Canis lupis familiaris.
The funny aspect is critical to any Pixar movie, and in this, Up is a winner, but not a slam dunk winner. Humor comes easily in this movie, but more importantly, rarely appears forced.
All in all, I give Up a “Should See”, 8/10 rating.
May 4th, 2009
Movie Review: Dasvidanyia (2008)
| “The Best Goodbye Movie Ever“ | “In a Nutshell” rating: 9/10. |
The theme of a person having only a few months to live and suddenly turning life upside down is not new, but it is the execution and the perspective that counts, isn’t it? That is certainly the case in Dasvidaniya, the 2008 Bollywood movie, starring Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor and Neha Dhupia. As Amar Kaul (Vinay Pathak) suddenly finds out that he has only 3 months to live due to stomach cancer, he is forced to reevaluate his life. Having spent his entire life making banal lists of banal things to do, he makes a final list of things to do, the things that he actually wants. The list of 10 things includes “love” (which should make it a memorable list for anyone with any number of years), having a photograph on the front page, and travel, which presumably can resonate with a lot of people, even seasoned travelers.
The entire cast fits right in. The editing is spot on – there is not a moment in the movie that looks made up or awkward. The movie has only a couple of songs, and they are very appropriate for their location. “Mumma”, sung by Kailash Kher, especially fits along nicely. Movies such as these make Bollywood richer, and the very normal/casual dialog delivery style of these so called “independent” movies is a pleasant change from the so called “blockbusters”.
There is a special message in the gifts that Amar Kaul leaves for everyone – he leaves things not in terms of monitory value and closeness of the relation, but only in terms of the need of the person. He does not leave the car (perhaps monetarily his biggest item) for his mother or brother, rather he leaves it for Savio, his music teacher since he needs it. He leaves the apartment for rent to the car saleswoman since she needs it. The mother and brother are left with each other as a family. He leaves a collection of his childhood memories for Neha, and a DVD set for Tatiana. He doesn’t leave anything per se for Rajiv Jhulka, but the list of things to do (the list of life), serves as his gift. He leaves the guitar for his ex boss – the connection there is that his boss took all the time that he had. So, he 
passes on the guitar to his boss, so his boss can now learn music, and Kaul can finally become the boss of the boss.
Finally, a note of thanks to the director for not spoiling the ending. It might have been very tempting to have the cancer go suddenly in remission (or even worse later found out that the results were mixed up or something) to finish the movie on a happy note. Instead however, the protagonist does indeed die, and still it is a very uplifting movie with an especially uplifting ending. Perhaps that is true for all of us – we can’t really choose the time of going, but if we can finish with a dasvidaniya, that wouldn’t be too bad.
January 19th, 2009
Criticising Magic
Just came across a very nice video “Criss Angel And Half A Woman”, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0BukAy_dko. Feel free to watch it before continuing to read this page. If the link does not work, just search for “Criss Angel And Half A Woman”, many video links will show up.
It is a neat trick, and my comment is not really on how it is done. Searching online for explanations, a few pages come up, which point out how Criss Angel has been debunked, how each of his “magic” tricks can be easily explained, and all the usual scientific explanations. What the critiques don’t really seem to understand is the fact that Criss Angel does not claim he has any magical powers. Nor does he say he is doing any magic. Criss Angel says very clearly that he is performing an illusion. That is his art. No debunking required.
July 28th, 2008
Movie Review: Khosla ka Ghosla (2006)
Memorable lines:
- “Yeh theek hai, same ka same, change ka change.” (Banti)
(This is good. It is same. It is different.) - “To hum bewkoof hain jo pee rahe hain? Saahni saab bewkoof hain jo roz roz peete hain?” (Kamal Kishore Khosla)
(And are we idiots that we are drinking? Mr. Saahni is an idiot that he drinks every day?”) - “Waise ‘Chiraunji Lal’ software programmer kam aur paan wala zyada lagta hai.” (Saahni saab)
(You know that name Chiraunji Lal doesn’t really sound like a software guy. Maybe like a cigarette seller.)
Must say that with this one movie, we can wipe away the era of pretentious, unpractical dialog writing in Bollywood. The dialogs are very down to earth, like normal people talk (imagining for a sec that you can define “normal” for a country with 1.1 billion people). The script is largely believable too – I am not 100% sure whether some guys can pull off such a trick and get away with 24-25 lakhs, but I have heard similar stories happening.
So, the plot is largely this: a hardworking family man (Kamal Kishore Khosla, played by Anupam Kher) works hard to buy a piece of land in a upscale neighborhood. Barely a few days after settling the deal, he takes his family out to see the land, only to find an occupied boundary wall with a clear sign outside “Yahan peshaab karna mana hai” (not allowed to pee here). He logically points out (to no one in particular) that he hasn’t come this far just to pee, but to look at his piece of land. So, it turns out that his piece of land has been illegally occupied by some political big shot and that it is going to cost him 50% of his original buy price to get the land free again. He doesn’t have that sort of cash, but luck brings him in contact with some one who understands these matters, and together they set about beating the bad guy at his own game.
The character that I enjoyed the most was Banti. He is the brother who is not considered academically brilliant (at least is not shown in that light), but is a practical guy. Perhaps this could be pointing to the fact that when I was little I longed for a brother. The brother that I longed for didn’t have to be Einstein or a glam or a movie start – just a normal guy.
Thoroughly enjoyed this movie – double thumbs and bigtoes up!