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My Bollywood Bride (2006)
Enough of the stereotypes. Please spare us!
I saw most of "My Bollywood Bride" today at the IAAC film festival in New York and had to leave the theater due to feelings of nausea welling up within me. I've seen Bollywood movies, and I've seen satires of Bollywood movies. This movie couldn't decide which one it wanted to be, so it ended up being a joke on itself.
It seems to have been liberally copied from movies like Bride and Prejudice and Bollywood Calling, and what a sloppy, lazy job at that. How can Bollywood ever be weaned off of its determination to stick to overused, well-trodden scripts? Is there no one who can bring to the screen the millions of real, fascinating stories that surely exist and transpire in the land of a billion people? The over-smart auto driver, the cow on the street, gratuitous scenes of foreign locations, pointless scenes of Mumbai streets, they're all in there. Every possible cliché about India has been faithfully included. So sickeningly predictable. ugh!!! Acting performances are weak across the board except for Neha Dubey, who is talented and beautiful. One wonders why she would pick a project like this.
15 Park Avenue (2005)
A very courageous exploration of perception and reality. Oscar worthy!
This is a multi-faceted, insightful and bold story about the people in the life of a schizophrenic patient, their (and our) perception and realities. Although the main theme revolves around a delusional young woman, the story delightfully flirts with physics, medicine, religion and even politics as it questions our perceptions about what is true and what is real. Konkona Sensharma beautifully conveys that the world Mithi is living in is as real to her as ours is to us. Within that world, she is logical and her thoughts are internally consistent, not the gibberish that they seem to us in our world.
Here are a few outstanding scenes to look out for while watching the movie (don't worry, these are not spoilers). I absolutely loved the way Aparna Sen wove these commentaries into the story.
- The references to quantum mechanics and relativity intermingled with the witch-doctor ("ojha" in Hindi) performing his religious rituals that he believes will drive away the "ghosts" sitting in Mithi's brain.
- The doctor prescribing shock-treatment as a solution that is "believed" to work
- Windows of perception - The scene about the review of Anu's book.
- The allusion to illusion in a conversation about a director looking for "maya".
- News footage of George Bush telling the whole world that there is "no doubt in his mind" that there are WMD in Iraq (now, that is not as much about Bush's perception, who I suspect knew the truth, as the gullible public's perception about WMD in Iraq.)
- One of the best scenes in the movie is where Mithi tells Anu "Charu sent this man to beat me" and Anu dismisses it as a matter of course. Konkona did a fantastic job, bringing out the strange mix of muddled thoughts in a schizophrenic's brain when her world and the real world clash.
Aparna Sen was bold, but not bold enough to pose one big question: Is nearly all of mankind delusional to believe in God? She could have inserted some scenes about "normal", "healthy" people praying to and sacrificing for a Being that no one has ever seen or heard from in all of human history (The ritual/exorcism scene doesn't go far enough). That would be the ultimate question: What is normal? Who's reality is right, the Believer's or the Atheist's?
IMHO, this movie is a far more intricate exploration of the schizophrenic mind than "A Beautiful Mind". It looks at the minds of not just the sick person, but also the healthy, and does so from many different angles and illuminates our understanding of our own minds and our world. If the former got 4 Oscars, this deserves more - At least one each for story, screenplay, direction, Konkona, and Shabana Azmi. It was truly a treat to watch this movie and I'm glad I bought the DVD for my collection.
This was a story very well-told indeed.
Main, Meri Patni... Aur Woh! (2005)
Simple story about the complexes in a simple mind
The director does a good job of exploring and bringing out the insecurities of a simple, very plain-looking middle class man who somehow lands a gorgeous woman for a wife. He's constantly reminded of his shortcomings (pun unintended :) and lack of charisma in innocent, everyday incidents. The movie delves into the depths of his complexes, which grow with time, consuming him completely. Yet those complexes are so very real, experienced by each one of us everywhere in our own lives.
The one not so real aspect was the wife's sweet innocence throughout the story. Unlike real women, she never once compares him to other men (which of course would have proved his complexes to be well-founded)! The movie thankfully does not have the Bollywood signature of clichéd dialogues and exaggerated, melodramatic acting and direction. That makes it watchable. Rajpal Yadav is very talented, and does a great job of portraying a man aware of his inadequacies. Rituparna did good justice to her character, which unfortunately lacked depth and realism. K K Menon was a superb choice for the charming and suave friend of the wife who unconciously overshadows her husband in everything.
Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets (2005)
Good time pass
Please turn off the logical/critical part of your brain and you'll be ready to enjoy the movie. Compared to usual Bollywood standards, this is a slick flick with respect to editing, cinematography, sound, etc.
Of course, the "Usual Suspects" story has been adapted to suit current events with plenty of vague references to Al Qaeda thrown in, but don't watch the movie for the story. Watch it to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon, when you can't go out, and don't feel like reading a book.
Irfaan Khan should have been cast as Rocker. Sunil Shetty didn't look scary enough. Arshad Warsi did much better than his past roles. Tanushree Dutta is certainly one to look out for. A few more acting classes might help. Lastly, Sushma Reddy's role as an almost caricature-ish sidekick to Krishna Pandit didn't do justice to her talents. She will certainly do better to pick meatier roles.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Real suspense. real drama. real context
The story may seem far fetched at first, but if you take out the sci-fi stuff, the political context is so very real. The Carlyle group kept coming to my mind throughout the movie. Private Equity is going to be a huge political factor undercutting democracy in the coming decades. The sci-fi part was a bit hard to swallow, though. I also liked the fact that they showed Shaw as an heir to a political dynasty. Again, so very real.
Meryl Streep is just stunning. Her part was played to perfection. And even at this age she's so sexy, it's amazing. she had my hormones going quite a bit. She said in the interview that she modeled her character on a real life person. I suspect that is Karen Hughes, the "power behind the throne" to George Bush.
Denzel is one of the best actors today. He keeps proving it time and again.
Namkeen (1982)
Fabulous, realistic ending. Got cut out of the DVD version
I just read abladabla's review and since it was written in March 2004, I assume it must have been for the DVD version. I saw this movie as a kid, I must have been 10 or so. I picked up the DVD yesterday and was disappointed that the ending had been changed. I remember that it was a very real and tragic, yet hopeful ending. The DVD had Girulal driving away in his truck in the final scene (song). The original movie had him come back to find the small household gone.
Email me if you want to know what happened because I don't want to put the ending here and get blocked by IMDb.
Gulzar has always told stories worth telling. He brings together his talents as a writer, director and an artist to weave a deeply human story that touches you. He makes it entertaining while bravely delving into the depths of the story, even if it's likely to be unpopular. He does this with dialogues that are realistic and yet laden with emotion and drama. I have been amazed at his work in Mausam, Maachis, Ijaazat and other movies. Certainly one of India's best artists. He deserves to be recognized as such.