The Social Network is a cult film in the making

During a time when Hollywood has gotten redundant on themes of alien invasion and paranoid about apocalypses, comes David Fincher's latest offering The Social Network, that chronicles the evolution of Facebook  and How !!

Based on the book, The Accidental Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich, the film holds the attention of the audience, right from the word go. Starting off with the portrayal of Zuckerberg as an eccentric, insinuous,reclusive and arrogant genius, who in a drunken stupor creates a girl rating site for the Harvard commmunity overnight,to beating the Winklevoss brothers,to their own idea, and creating the sensational Facebook,as we know it today, the movie treads like a fast paced novel that hinges heavily on the performance a la grande of Jesse Eisenberg who portrays the perceived image of Zuckerberg to perfection.

The entry of Justin Timberlake,as the failed Napster CEO who follows on Zuckerberg first as an advisor and as an ally becomes an important turning point in the movie that distorts the relationship between the founders of Facebook.
 Even as the cast delivers a stellar performance, the music by Trent Reznor, resonates the mood of the protagonists precisely well.
While Facebookfans across the world  argue against the portrayal of Zuckerberg and his story as unidimensional, The Social Network clearly is a crowd puller that unravels the story behind the greatest social change movement of our generation. On that note, this movie gets a 4.5 out of 5 for a compelling and gripping view !

This HURT LOCKER IS NO GREAT OSCAR MATERIAL

Hollywood has always stuck onto some tried and tested themes just as with our Good Ol Bollywood that include Saving America and the ROW, Biographical Sketches and a jolly good romcom along the way if time permits the saviours of the world to experience the pleasures of life. Given that Americans have been rather depressed since the recent recession leading to job losses and the like while the leaders were busy negotiating and ruling the territories of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, there is high probability that any film released during this period that echoes the sentiments of 'poor' Americans would very well make it to the Oscars.Thats precisely the case with the latest Oscar Winner,HURT LOCKER,by Katheryn Bigelow. Following suit with movies such as Farenheit9/11, Syriana and movies that have common employed the Iraqi template, the movie focuses on the trials and tribulations of a US bomb squad that scouts for live bombs in war infested Iraq. Frankly, this movie does not appear any more than 'A DAY IN THE LIFE OF.." series that is commonly aired in educational institutions or the largesse of television channels that we get to see in our everyday life. After shelling out a bomb of a price to catch the Oscar sensation at the theaters, this flick is as confusing as its positioning between a mainstream cinema and a documentary. The movie goes down well as a documentary, but fails to elicit the same emotions when taken in the light of a film that has been bestowed with an Oscar in the mainstream cinema category. However, the movie does have its share of gripping moments but they are not strong enough to make you sit up and notice. As it were, the movie chronicles 30 days of a military operation in the midst of the Iraq and attempts to get the audience to go WOW with the cast getting busy with military like operations and defusing bomb after bomb and knocking of insurgents.
Come to think of it, the only reason a movie such as this could have fetched itself so many Oscars, is the sensitivity of America against terrorism and the recent global apathy. Guess, CNN deserves an Oscar instead of this movie,as they have been making the longest serial documentaries on Dafur and Iraq for sometime now.Will the real Oscar Committee Please Stand UP!!!!

My Name is Khan Strikes a Chord but a Long one at That...

The 9/11 incident has been a favourite within the global film circuit since its occurence and like many has also caught on directors in the Indian soil,most of all Karan Johar, who has bravely attempted to tell the story first through  Kurbaan and next through his latest offering My Name is Khan. While Kurbaan failed to connect effectively, My Name is Khan Works and works well clearly because of two important people,who keep the movie engaging enough to have u weep time and again ,but in empathy. Shahrukh Khan , as Rizwan Khan and Kajol as Mandira, create magic on screen and its a delight to see this lovely pair come together after a long long time. So does, My Name is Khan, turn into a justification of sorts around the 9/11 attack. Fortunately not, far from it, the story focuses on Rizwan Khan , the protagonist who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and his simple aim to prove his love for Mandira through a simple message he wishes to reach out to the President of the United States-My name is Khan, Kha..from the epiglottis, I am not a terrorist. Empathizing with the situation, the audience is never at once left to feel as if they were forced to buy the character of Rizwan Khan, which is a fine piece of acting by Shah Rukh Khan. After a spate of roles that glorified the persona rather than the actor within, My Name is Khan comes as a welcome relief that for once has Khan shedding his starry imagery and get into the skin of a character that is affected by a genetic disorder. But that is where it ends. Khan just manages to scratch the surface of a patient suffering from Aspergers syndrome. Yet, this may be a minor flaw for the millions who are not aware about the eitology of the syndrome. Nevertheless, SRK plays a convincingly troubled character that is constantly seeking love and yet unable to emote, taking every utterence almost literally to the extent of travelling the breadth of United States,only for Mandira, a working single mother who could not have been played more convincingly by Kajol. Clearly, the off screen friendship shared by SRK and Kajol and their long association almost makes this pair act instinctively and lends the much desired personal touch in this choreographed three hour long caper. Brilliant camerawork by Ravi K Chandran and music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy topped with impactful dialogues by Niranjan Iyengar, reach  out to you at a personal level almost pouring your hearts out for the character.

But then,when you just had forgotten,that this was a film directed by Karan Johar, you are painfully reminded of his presence behind the megaphone when you come back to the cliches such as a TV station glorifying Khan or people crowding around almost instantly in front of the jail to receive Khan, or the standard Hindi speech that the protagonist utters to a congregation of blacks in a church,and them seeming to understand every word uttered. The overdrive of emotional undercurrents, and Rizwan reaching out to save every other  neighbour who handed him out a morsel of food,stretches the thing too far and so does meeting with the President.While the first half of the film offers some meat, towards the end of the second half you almost wish the movie would reach the finish goal soon.

Yet, the movie scores 3.5 out of 5 solely for the act by Shahrukh Khan and Kajol,. which could have become a life time performance and a movie for posterity, only if Karan had resisted the cliches that we have been constantly fed from this stable.

Do take a peek at this movie only for the magic between SRK and Kajol in a most unconventional manner. You wont be disappointed!!!!

Signing Off

Eashwar

Random Musings at the Movies Last Week

Strange are the ways of the world and more so of films. Frankly....nothing of superior taste really did make it to the theaters last week.While on the one end, Siddharth pinned his hopes on Striker, that despite being a brave attempt did not cash in enough despite his Range De Basanti act, the off screen drama surrounding King Khan and his movie was juicier and enticing enough to have people hooked on to the televisions than the silverscreen. Following up to help dissapoint further was this supposedly Gung Ho of a comedy called Couples Retreat. What may have seemed an endless vacation, ended up becoming a dreary tale of relationships, of which the Indian audience has had better taste in the  ' monster-in law' serials that keep plying over and over week on week and not to forget generations over generations. Makes me wonder, why they chose A.R.Rahman to give the music or even more, why AR gave dates to compose music for this mish mash goof up that was but a product of the Discovery Travelogue Meets Baba Ramdev meets Adam Smith,and thats precisely what Jay Leno was doing in the middle of the beach discussing the benefits of marriage and sharing...a rather interesting way to put into perspective the economies of scale and law of diminishing marginal utility as synthesiszed opposites of the relationship called marriage. Marginally tolerable in the light of such a grievous situation was the Laurence Fishburne,Matt Dillon starrer Armoured,centered around a bank heist.Try as much as they could, both proved stiff competition to the Khan fiasco that caught India by fire. First things first, his comments on including Pakistan Players in the next season of IPL, did not go well with the senas of this world,but a deeper enigma surrounds the earthly connection with My Name is Khan,that released this week after a lot of fanfare and controversy together. Guess the Badshah finally understood he is afterall a common man just like the others. Guess, however, that has brought the movie more attention that Karan Johar decided to substantially reduce his publicity costs after he had sacrified enough for the sake of his last venture Kurbaan that was a great sacrifice at the box office altar.
All said and done, each has its place and guess SRK needs to keep mum on things he really doesnt know.Looks like the act of Asperger's syndrome will get him some much needed sympathy and silence the controversy that is becoming the undoing of SRK. Are Madhur Bhandarkar and RGV listening!!!You have a great script for your next movie....Khan and Khandaan.....Guess Ekta Kapoor has already signed a 15000 episode deal with the Senas and Khan-daan to make this the talk of the town for the next forty decades.
If only each took his work seriously...the world would have been a better place and of course cinema would have been a lot less expensive and a delight to watch.
Signing Off.....
Eashwar

RANDOM MUSINGS AT THE MOVIES LAST WEEK

The week that passed by gave enough to cheer but still with a tear.After the debacle of Veer the earth had regained its composure to brace itself for another attack on its poor souls, humans who apprently according to a scientist in Australia are but descendants of an alien world.And so it must be that we are always looking out for some otherworldly entertainment that makes us sweep off our feet.Thinking that his next flick would have us all grounded to earth,Ram Gopal Varma prayed to the heavens, had a tete a tete with the cast and upon consulting with the stars and pacifying the activists who were angered about his fidgeting with the Jan Gan Mann as Jan Gan Rann thought his Rann would have the audience running.And did it happen??? Oh yeah...the audience ran towards the exit faster than Usain Bolt.But the reviews told us something else...didnt they...I know I know... but most of the audience stayed back to witness Amitabh's monologue that possibly was hinted towards a certain director,after signing whose movie, Sudeep decided to fall off the terrace in the movie.Hopefully,he had a bus waiting for him to take him on a roadtrip.Thinking thus, Vishal Bharadwaj and Abhishek Chaubey decided it was time to breath life into the lives of million useless souls like me who burn all their hard earned money on movies and some rotten corn that has a huge opportunity cost of 100 bucks a pack just because the corn pops out in a simulated air conditioned environment And so were we transported to the dust and mist of Uttar Pradesh only to be greeted by a fiesty pair of actors par excellence. But,after all the fun and having blown up most of the money at the theaters for two movies that did not really have a far reaching impact, it would have been wonderful, if STARSHIP ENTERPRISE could have jettisoned us back to some remote location in outerspace,with of course a rechargeable laptop for company that could have possibly reached out to the signals of a new ET flick. But who knows for all the effort you may have downloaded Shaktimaan rerun 5000 with an old Mukesh Khanna playing a crossover between Bhism pitamaha  and a superhero in a cheap suit that would have Batman cringing and Superman raging..So much for a film that hoped to make it to the Annals of the Film Academy and the undying hope and tenacity of man to still invest a cool 200 bucks every week on a movie that at the end of the day does one thing for sure..reach out for a Pepsi or a disprin..Take your pick.......
Signing Off
Eashwar

GOA IS BREEZY AND JOCULAR

It is amazing to think that some movies are just made to make all feel good and take you back to a time when movies were watched to bring in some cheer into our sullen lives.Now thats the kind of movies that Venkat Prabhu is known for making and he does live up to his reputation with his latest offering in Tamil, GOA.This maiden production venture of Soundarya Rajinikanth, does not delve into the complexities of life and just aims to get you to have a whale of a time at the theater.
The movie focusses on three characters Vinayagam(Jay), Ramarajan(Vaibhav) and Samikannu(Premji Amaren) who are a fun loving group that are constrained by their village which considers it taboo to leave the village.Driven by their urge to enjoy life as it should be, the trio escape to Madurai,wherein upon dashing into their friend's marriage to a white woman, make it their goal to seek a partner in a westerner and live the fabulous life abroad.After exploring some possible options of seeking their goal, the group lands in Goa and has a whale of a time chasing bikini clad women and enjoying the Goan life,until each meets their partner and returns home.

While fundamentally, the story is not great, the approach is quite interesting. Filled with spoofs of tamil movie situations and songs, the movie offers some pure entertainment. Sampath and Arvind as a gay couple excel in playing their roles well enough to have you in splits.Premji Amaren energizes the show with his comic timing along with the rest of the cast including Sneha , Prasanna, and Silambarasan in guest appearences. Yuvan Shankar Raja complements this comic caper with some amazing background scores. While the GOA soundtrack may sound stange when you hear it for the first time, the songs add a great deal in highlighting the comic timing in the movie. Its interesting to see that none of the characters in the movie aim to prove their act.All this happens to flow out effortlessly and you are clealry led to believe in the holiday that the trio enjoy.
Replete with punchlines and tacky situations, Venkat Prabhu does not clealry talk of a story here. Nevertheless, you leave the theater feeling refreshed when classic filmmaking has been attributed to focussing on a serious subject and grim performances. Further, the slick filming by Venkat offers respite to our eyes which has you interested and laughing at the follies of the characters.Drawing generously from some popular songs like Kangal Irundhal from Subrahmanyapuram and some popular Illayaraja scores, the GOA team repeats its act in Saroja and Chennai 600028.
While the movie makes you feel good, the second half of the movie stretches and introduces some lame plots that make the movie a tad long.Given that there are spoofs, the team does not expect you to take it seriously when Premji gets into the Vijay act in Vettaikaran , while fighting goons and saving his girlfriend.
At the end of the day, the movie is intended to be short vacation of sorts and you are advised not to go looking for some plot but enjoy the parody that Venkat and team have to offer with all its cheekyness but still gets aimless as if the director has lost sight of what he wanted to originally communicate.Despite passing over the confusion, GOA works because of its ability to make you feel light after a hard days work.That said, GOA is worth a watch if u have been stressed out for a long time, but its definitely not as masterful as a Saroja or Chennai 28 that leaves the film with 3.5 out of 5 for making you laugh and letting you have some fun while you are at it.Take a break and catch the movie. You may just end up saying..enna kodumai saar idhu ( what torture),evalovo pannitom idha pannamaatoma (we have done soo much, wont we do this afterall) in chorus with Premji and gang.
Signing Off....
Eashwar

ISHQIYA IS PURE ENTERTAINMENT!!

There are movies and then there are movies.When you are wondering and feeling wasted about your gambit at the movies week on week, the Gods decide to shower some mercy and thus comes along a movie like Ishqiya that has you looking at cinema as it should be-entertaining. The latest offering by Vishal Bharadwaj,directed by debutante Abhishek Chaubey offers a dark comedy in Ishqiya,that compels you to appreciate intelligent humor and at the same time lets you be.
The movie opens in the heartland of Uttar Pradesh,a muse that has stuck with Vishal Bharadwaj for sometime now.Rustic and blatant, the surroundings offer a perfect pitch to set the mood of its central characters Khalujan(Nasseruddin Shah), his accomplice Babban(Arshad Warsi) who are thieves, one brooding and the other lusty, that cheat their boss of some hard cash and find a refuge in the idyllic villages outside Gorakhpur in a certain Krishna(Vidya Balan),who apprently is the widow of a certain leader of the numerous factionist groups in the state. During the course of their stay both Babban and Khalujan in their own way get hooked to the demeanour of Krishna,who apprently has her own agenda and plays along until she wins their confidence and has them plan the kidnapping of a small time millionaire and extort money  and make merry. But all is not as it seems.Sleight and deceit become part of this cat and mouse game that delightfully complicates a straightforward plan into one that ends up involving the fascist groups after a point and has the trio claim their stake.
The movie deserves to be applauded for its treatment,that osscillates between a comic caper and an intense thriller of sorts dangerously enough and its the skill of Abhishek Chaubey and Vishal Bharadwaj that enables the script maintain its fine balance and has you laughing even when people are being shot at. Much of the entertainment factor in the movie comes from the dialogues that are impactful in driving the movie forward.
Sample this: "Humne galti karne mein thodi jaldi kardi, aapne maafi maangne mein thodi deri" Coupled with Arshad Warsi's spontaineity and reprising the "Circuit" act, the comic punch lines clearly come out as gems of intelligent positioning in the movie. Needless to say,Nasseeruddin Shah as Khalujan is every bit the spurned lover and a man seasoned by experience who slips well into his erratic moodswings more than once.Its a pleasure to watch Naseeruddin Shah go reclusive and communicate his pain to Krishna after his realization of her feelings for Babban ,in these very lines " Main Mard hoon isiliye bata nahin raha hoon. Agar aurat hota toh tumhe pata nahi chalta ki mein biwi hoon ki tawaif" .After a long time,Vidya Balan comes around to prove her mettle as Krishna, a woman with grey shades, an avengeful seductress who feigns her inclinations for Babban and Khalujan only to scheme a way to grab the booty. You cant but help admire the boldness of the character essayed by Vidya Balan that fluxes between a cold and affectionate demeanour by the minute.Scenes where she takes the duo by surprise and holds them captive and drives away with the kidnapped businessman while Babban and Khalujan fight in the middle of the road, is quite exciting. There are many moments in the movie that have you root for the characters at some point.
Complementing the movie is the music by Vishal Bharadwaj that has some great scores that would linger in your mind well after you have left the cinema hall. The cinematography by Mohana Krishna Agapu offers a pleasant experience and editing by Namrata Rao offers the streaming narrative some crisp time management .
However, it  does take a while to warm up to the situations and characters of this two hour flick that is possibly attributed to the unpredictability of situations and the effort of the director to tie all of them together into what makes Ishqiya, an enjoyable piece of entertainment and storytelling that is here to stay and hence scales 3.5 out of 5 for its attempt to be different and successful at that!!
Heres to Ishqiya for making popcorn the best accompaniment at the movies.

Signing Off.....
Eashwar