7aum Arivu

Produced by: Udhayanidhi Stalin

Directed by: A. R. Murugadoss

Starring:  Suriya, Shruti Haasan

Music by: Harris Jayaraj

The movie follows the life of a Arvind, who works in a circus. His life takes an interesting turn when he meets Subha, a genetic engineering student, and falls in love with her. He coincidentally meets her in several places and the two soon become friends. Just when he is about to admit to her that he is in love with her, he finds out that their meeting so often hadn’t been a string of coincidences but a planned strategy by Subha. The angered Arvind goes to her to find out why she had been playing with his heart, when he finds out that she had other, more important reasons to meet him. Though reluctant in the beginning, he eventually decides to help her out. The movie then spirals out into a world threatening plot which can only be stopped by Arvind and Subha.

Though it doesn’t sound like much, the plot is quiet interesting. I haven’t disclosed much because it takes away the fun in watching the movie. It is a typical A. R. Muragadoss plot which is detailed, lengthy and yet – believable. The story-telling manages to engage the audience all through the movie and moves smoothly from one scene to the other. Suriya was fabulous. The transition that he showed from the character of Arvind to Bodha Dharman was clear and well-defined. The way he is agitated and restless as Arvind and calm and collected as Bodha Dharman is close to perfect. And after a long time I’ve seen an Indian movie where the actress actually had a pivotal role and wasn’t just kept in the movie to look pretty (but she does look ravishing!). Shruti Hassan played the role of a researcher impeccably. That slight part where she seems to be distracted because of her love interest is done well and does take over the rest of the movie. Most of the movie concentrates on the main plot and seldom gets side-tracked by the ongoing love story between the lead pair.

The music wasn’t very good and sounded like it had been pieced together from different songs. The action sequences too went on for longer than needed. It tends to be irritating when the lead is engaged in fighting when you are really eager to know how the story is going to unfold. They haven’t been done very well either and in today’s day and age of advanced visual effects they are quite disappointing. All in all, it is an innovative concept and you can’t help but be interested in knowing what is exactly happening. The second half does tend to drag just a bit but that is pretty much ignorable.

Verdict: I wouldn’t mind watching it again!

Bodyguard

Yet another guest post from another one of my best friends, this one being a die-hard Salman Khan fan (no wonder she chose to review this movie!!) Known to be spontaneous, unpredictable, creative, super smart and i’m also pretty sure she ate an encyclopedia when she was small, this friend of mine doesn’t have a blog yet, but after reading this review, if you feel that this one needs to create a blog ASAP, then please let her know.

BODYGUARD – By Sujatha Nayak Sujir

Produced by – Reliance Entertainment

Directed by – Siddique

Starring – Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor

Music – Himesh Reshammiya

It couldn’t get any better for a Salman Khan fan like me!! A bag of popcorn, a large Pepsi, and a rom-com to go with it on a rainy afternoon. Like I said, it couldn’t get any better! J J Salman Khan – romancing his lady love and fighting the gundas for her – basically doing what he is best at! Blush! Kareena Kapoor – The damsel in distress and some amazingly good songs – a perfect combination for a Bollywood blockbuster! (No surprises when it became the highest opening day grosser ever!)

Lovely Singh (Sallu Bhai), son of Balwant Singh, is indebted to Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) for saving his mother when she was expecting and hence gets on the mission to save Divya Rana (Kareena Kapoor), Mr. Rana’s daughter from the local goons. But Divya is not very happy with the idea of a bodyguard following her around college, invading her privacy! (Even entering the wash room accidentally! ) So after frequent and failed attempts to get rid of Lovely, Divya and her best friend Maya (Hazel Keech) prank call him with the name Chaya. Poor Lovely Singh, being a hopeless romantic at heart falls for the prank and coincidentally Divya starts falling for Lovely, knowing that they can’t have a future together. Sartaj Rana suspecting a romance brewing between the two of them sends his men after Lovely Singh! Just in time, Divya sends her “BFF” to Lovely to reveal her true identity! What happens next? Well.. you need to watch the movie to find out!

Salman Khan- The Bodyguard, the boy-next-door, the average Indian male doing more than average (rather extraordinary!) stunts. So many different shades of Mr.Commitment in a 3 hour flick! Kareena Kapoor looks stunning throughout the movie – a true fashionista! Hazel Keech, the debutante has a perfectly sound screen presence despite two other superstars sharing screen space with her! One character in the movie one can’t miss is Tsunami Singh – a little on the healthier side and hilarious – Tsunami is way too adorable!! Although Himesh Reshammiya has composed the music for this movie, guest composer Pritam takes home all the accolades for his romantic number ‘I Love You! (At least a goofy smile lightens up my face every single time I listen to it!)

Another one of Salman Khan’s Eid releases seems to have struck the chord with the general masses ofIndia! Although I have to admit that the storyline is wafer-thin, true SK fans will love this movie!! I wouldn’t mind falling into trouble if I had a Lovely Singh by my side… What about you??

Aarakshan

This is a guest post written by a budding writer, a devoted movie watcher, a true fan of this movie, a dedicated student, a marketing enthusiast, a Ranbir Kapoor fan and also a very close friend of mine. If you would like to write a guest post for this blog, please click here.

SINGHAM

produced by : Reliance Entertainment

directed by : Rohith Shetty

story by : Hari

starring : Ajay Devgan, Prakash Raj, Kajal Aggarwal

when i first heard that ajay devgan was starring in a Suriya remake, i didn’t expect much. but this movie  - blew my mind off!!!! i can’t say that this is better than the tamil version but it definitely matches up to the standards they have set. this usual good-cop-trying-to-rectify-the-political-system-story line actually worked for me. i have to admit that ajay devgn had style. every time he fake-bashed the heroes, he did it with such style that it became a little believable. the script was good and their comic timing was almost perfect. even the serious dialogues were placed and delivered properly. story was obviously not very individual. music was so-so. the title track didn’t really work for me and some of the other songs weren’t that bad.the heroine – a first timer, i assume – was good. not that she had much to do in the movie, but whatever little she did – it was good. she didn’t look small in front of Ajay Devgn (like i had expected). the villain – ah! well.. he is the perfect villain for me!!! Prakash Raj didn’t leave a single hole in his performance. it was perfect – as usual. its just a pleasure seeing him on screen. the action sequences were done well. i loved the way they showed the trauma that he undergoes – a guy from a small village entering a huge city and finding himself getting lost in the crowd. well, you will have to watch the movie to understand that. but it is very watchable – its basically your average hindi masala movie – but it has been done well. Rohith Shetty knows what he is doing, and the unfaltering  duo of Ajay Devgn and Rohith Shetty worked again!!

Dum Maro Dum

directed by : Rohan Sippy

produced by : Ramesh Sippy

story by : Shridhar Raghavan

starring : Abhishekh Bachchan, Rana Daggubati, Prateik Babbar, Bipasha Basu.

write a really good script, add a lot of colour to it, throw in some very good actors, a very jumpy item number and you have Dum Maro Dum. this is the story of the drug circle in Goa and how A.C.P Vishnu Kamath (yeah – i have the same surname) tries to break the biggest drug lords of Goa. it is entwined with the stories of an eighteen year old boy(Lorry) and an air hostess(Zoe) who get caught in the drug circle due to lack of money and a singer(Joki) who cares for them both deeply. when Lorry gets caught in an airport for the possession of drugs Joki who had lost his girlfriend (Zoe) for the same reason agrees to help Kamath in exchange for Lorry’s freedom. Kamath is assisted by a cop called ‘Mercy’ who adds an interesting touch to the movie. and they all are trying to find one man (who is not revealed till the end of the movie) – Michael Barbosa, who holds this world of drugs in Goa together.

all through the movie, i never felt a dull moment and i was kept engaged till the end. a very powerful script with few loopholes, that kept me strapped to my seat!! an excellent selection of actors, with Abhishekh Bachchan leading the way. as expected, he was simply outstanding. he played the part of a corrupt police officer very well. Prateik Babbar also played his part to perfection, but he was overshadowed by Rana, who was the main catch in the movie. from the moment he appeared on screen, i lost sight of everyone else. i would really like to see more of this guy in hindi cinema. Bipasha Basu on the other hand, impressed me – for the very first time. and the way the story was narrated!! they start with one character, and when you are really interested in the story, they cut off and go to the next character. that kept me on the edge of my seat all along!! i loved that they maintained the suspense till the very end. Especially about Michael Barbosa. did i mention i loved the ending? it totally blew me off!! the songs were also very well constructed and placed into the movie carefully. none of them seemed out of place and they fitted in with the movie really well. and the way the story was constructed!! the dialogues helped too. i loved the part where Abhishekh Bachchan sings ‘khaike paan banaraswala‘ while torturing his suspects. Rohan Sippy really outdid himself with this one. it might not be a hit, but it was definitely a movie that caught my attention after a long time. you should see this one for the story, the screenplay, the direction and the acting. it is not your typical bollywood masala movie, but a very well thought out and smart movie. and that is what i love about it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMr2kXdASVo

F.A.L.T.U

produced by : Vashu Bhagnani

directed by : Remo D’Souza

starring : Jackky Bhagnani, Puja Gupta, Ritesh Deshmukh and Arshad Warsi

initially i thought that this would be a movie for youngsters which the older generation wouldn’t understand or like. but my dad liked it, i liked it and turns out everyone else liked it too!!

it is based on three teenagers who don’t do very well in their boards and don’t get into any colleges. and as they don’t want to get fried by their parents they make a fake college. they think of it all – a fake name, a fake admission letter, a fake website, a fake ad in the paper, a fake premises(an old abandoned bulding which they polish), a fake principal and even fake students. but unfortunately the students turn out to be real. people very much like them who have no where else to go because of their low grades. they finally decide to keep the college open because none of them can go anywhere else. its a story of how poeple who are rejected by the world, come together, find themselves and prove to the world that they too can achieve a lot!!

this movie was not only touching but it was also fun and very real. it showed me that we do not have to follow the rules set by society. we can make our own rules and our own lives!! we can think out of the box and choose any career we want to. even though we have developed so much in matters of education and career opportunities, we are still compelled to go by the norms of society. a change in  our lifestyles and our thinking is very much needed and this movie proves it very well. not to mention the dance and the speech in the climax. that dance was probably one of Remo’s best work to date!! the songs too are a fresh change from what we have been hearing for the past few months this year. acting – well not that impressive. of course Arshad Warsi and Riteish Deshmukh were good and Jackky Bhagnani was not bad. but it is the movie as a whole that blows your mind. a great directorial debut by Remo and one you should definitely not miss!!

the most romantic ones :)

i was in a pretty romantic mood some time ago. and i decided to make my own ‘best romantic movies’ list. and after putting myself through the tedious (:P) task of watching the following movies, i have decided that these are simply amazing. you may not understand a few of the movie names or the languages that they are made in but please look into the story, get a version with subtitles and watch it!! there is a reason why i put these here.!!

1. letters to juliet
2. a lot like love
3. sweet home alabama
4. maid in manhattan
5. 27 dresses
6. 50 first dates
7. a walk to remember
8. 10 things i hate about you
9. Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya
10. jab we met
11. shakespeare in love
12. love aaj kal
13. someone like you
14. amrithadhare

also these are the movies which i couldn’t watch but their trailers looked pretty interesting. so watch them and let me know what you think of them:

1. the next best thing
2. then she found me
3. new york minute
4. the rebound
5. the holiday
6. the ugly truth
7. the break up
8. bounty hunter
9. wedding crashers

i will keep updating this list, as and when i feel like it. especially to bring in more regional movies which are really good but do not get the credit they deserve.

[ also the movies aren't necessarily in that order. i just put them in the list when i remembered them]

the dog, the rain and my passion.

Image via Wikipedia

It was raining pretty heavily. But I didn’t care. With every drop of rain that touched me I felt more secure. I felt like I was disappearing into the rain, and the wind was taking me away with it. But a part of me was still in the present; looking at every tiny object around me- romanticizing it all! I had been like this for quite sometime now and I had no idea why. I barely spoke to my friends any more and I didn’t concentrate on anything I was supposed to be doing. All I ever did was analyze everything, look at life from a different perspective, a different angle. I thought about everything I wanted to do, all the places I wanted to visit, all the food I wanted to eat and all the colours I wanted in my life. I sat at home, watching movie after movie, in languages I didn’t even understand. And I loved it! I loved the peace and the silence I kept all around me. But I also had this thunderous roar sounding within me. And with every drop of rain that touched me, just as I was floating away with the wind, I was also looking for answers. And then I saw this dog sprawled on the pavement and he seemed like the only one on that pavement who espoused my policy of gripping the rain. He seemed as away from the world as he was with it-just like me. Then it hit me. I was shutting them out because they weren’t what I was. As in, I belonged to another world. A world filled with writers, filmmakers, critics and artists. And a world with a whole lot of colour. They loved me but they didn’t understand me. I needed someone to understand my need to watch movies in languages I didn’t understand. I needed someone to understand my need to stay silent in the midst of a huge crowd. I needed someone to know that I yearned to laugh and cry at the same time. And I also needed someone not just to know these things, but also to understand them, to feel them and to go through the same stuff with me. And all of a sudden I felt happy because the dog understood me. The dog was with me. As petrified I am of dogs I was still grateful for that one dog, because in that moment-he had made me happy. So I left it all there- the dog, the rain…

 

dhobi ghat

directed by :- Kiran Rao

produced by :- Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao

story by :- Kiran Rao

starring :- Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra

Dhobi Ghat is Aamir Khan’s wife- Kiran Rao’s directorial debut. and i have to say that she has lived up to the expectations that we have from a perfectionist’s wife. she is as creative and perfect as her husband. actually, a tad more creative than he is

dhobi ghat is a very interesting movie and it is about four people in Mumbai. they are as ordinary as you and me and it is the tale of the small things that happen in their lives which affect them in some way or the other. there is a painter who mostly keeps to himself, an investment banker from New York who comes to India to dabble in photography, a dhobi(laundry man) who aspires to be an actor and a newly wed bride.

as i said they have ordinary lives and the things that happen to them could happen to any one of us. in other words, they do not go through any uncommon situation. you just sit back and observe their lives and as the movie unfolds you begin to understand what the director is trying to potray.

i felt she was showing us the simplicity of life in Mumbai and how even those simple lives are so unique and interesting in their own way. it is a movie about love and life and the different people we meet and the things we experience and feel because of these people. every single person around us has a story, and if we listen we will know that every story is unique.

it is not a movie to feel, but a movie to understand. it is a simple movie and i do not understand why people claim that it is complicated and very heavy and you need to have patience to endure the movie and to understand it. it is very simple and each person can see something different in the movie.

(also known as mumbai diaries)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WdAS2-Czg4