Wordless Wednesdays -- Confessions of a Shopaholic

7 Khoon Maaf

The Story:
Susanna (Priyanka Chopra) is a young rich orphan who falls in lowe with the dashing Edwin Rodrigues (Neil Nithin Mukesh). She marries him only to learn that he is not quite what she believed him to be. A brave fighter during war-time, he is quite insecure in his personal life. His suspicious attitude, hurtful comments, and jealous actions hurt susanna a lot. Susanna, instead of divorcing him or running away, kills him. She meets and marries Jimmy (John Abraham), a choirboy turned rockstar. Just wen she is settling into wedded bliss, she learns that he is a liar, a cheat, and an addict to boot. So Susanne, sends Jimmy to parlok as well.

And subsequently she meets 4 other men: Wasiullah Khan (Irrfan), Vronsky (Aleksandra Dyachenk), Keemath Lal (Annu Kapoor), and Dr. Modhusudon (Naseeruddin Shah) and while all of them love her in their own way, they also hurt her very badly and so they have to die too. Susanne's quest for love ends when she meets her 7th husband. As Susanna moves from one husband to the next, she is ably assisted in her murders by her butler, maid, and the horse trainer, Goonga. Arun, the orphan she adopts, falls in love with her and the whole story is shown from his perspective and what he has pieced together. Based on Ruskin Bond's short story, Susanna's Seven Husbands.

Image Courtesy: http://bollywood3000.blogspot.com/2011/02/7-khoon-maaf-music-review.html

What I liked about the movie:

• The concept of the female bluebeard character. Priyanka does a good job.
• Fleshing out the characters of the husband(s) to show us the qualities that Priyanka falls for and the ones that she abhors
• Transformation of Irrfan from the soft-spoken, romantic, poet by day to the beast by night.
• Vronsky's mouthing hindi dialogues especially "Mera pass Ma hai" in a thick russian accent.
• The song "Daarrrling" was simply fantastic.

Why some folks may not like the movie:

• No suspense element -- the trailer gives away the plot. Some folks believed the movie to be a murder mysetery.
• Linear style of narration and pace -- no twists
• Why did Priyanka never not stop falling in love or stop murdering her husbands?

You can either like it or you can hate it -- there is no middle ground. There are no punch dialogues, no mushy stuff, no masala potboiler, no detective story, and no twists. This was my first Vishal Bharadwaj movie and I enjoyed it. Watch it and let me know what you think.

What am I reading nowadays?

I do not like vampire stories.. I did not even watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it was aired, like a zillion years ago.

So, when my SIL handed me her copy of the first book of the Twilight series, I was not so sure if I wanted it. That was until my cousin(her hubby) started groaning in the background and yelled: "How can you ppl read such trash?" His putting the book down was enough encouragement for me to accept the book and begin reading it :D I had watched a few scenes of this movie everytime it was aired on televison but I never got to see the whole movie. So, this was kinda like the Golden Compass. I can only hope that I like the other books.

I am yet to finish reading the book -- it even has a poster of the two actors which means this is another young adult book. I mean, who would stick a poster of the movie inside the book - movie promoters who are sure gals would go ga-ga over it. And I am reading it :( More in my review... coming up shortly.

Kaavalan -- a movie review

After taking a break from watching movies.. I am back with a bang. Well, I was not really guzzing the movie watching all this time - jes not reviewing them :D Anyway, I wanted to see a Tamizh film after a looong time. Though this movie was fraught with gossip and bad press about both the co-stars: Asin's return to Tollywood after London Dreams flopped big-time, Vijay's chance to redeem himself after his successive flops and his political hoo-haa, I wanted to see the film. Maybe that is why I wanted to see it :P

Image Courtesy: http://www.movih.com/tamil-movie-songs-download/kaavalan-release-date.html

And then I heard that Kaavalan was a remake of the malayalam film, Bodyguard (pronounced bow-dee-gaa-rd). Now, malayalam movies are way ahead of Tamizh movies in terms of script, story-line, movie-making style etc. Tamizh folks, meanwhile have to contend with Vijaykanth in yet another fight against corruption movie, or Sarath Kumar in yet another triple role as grandfather, father, and son, or watch Simbu gyrate to yet another mindless dapanguthhu song in his next movie or watch Dhanush play the underdog yet again. Naturally, this movie would be like movie-amrutham.

So we went with high expectations. And as usual it ended up going phhhhttt! Firstly, it was not a typical Vijay masala movie. The songs were bad and looked mostly unnecessary. There were a lot of holes in the story and a couple of loose ends which the director did not tie up towards the end. The end was supposed to be a twist. However, because the movie is sans masala, the twist has minimal impact and actually raises a lot of questions. Vijay's awful wigs for two songs were honestly laugh-worthy. There were some scenes which were good but I think the director tried catering to the Superstar Vijay instead of the actor Vijay resulting in a movie that only partially redeems itself. I am not a major fan of Vijay but I usually enjoy his songs and some of his movies are pretty much like Dabaang -- loads of fun and a total entertainer. This movie disappoints and how. Watch it and share your thoughts.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Belgian Chocolates for me

Manmadhan Ambu

Madhan (Madhavan) is a rich business man and the suspicious fiance of film actress, Nisha (Trisha). Due to his suspicious behavior, Trisha asks him to wait till she completes all her film commitments. She decides to go on a European cruise with her childhood friend Deepa (Sangeetha), a divorcee with two children. Madhavan hires a detective, Major Mannar (Kamal Hassan) to spy on Trisha because he is sure she is meeting Suriya (Suriya in a cameo). Usha Uthup, as Madhavan's mother was quite funny, and the credit goes to the script-writer for the hilarious one-liners. Madhavan was good as a amma kondu, suspicious lover, and a drunkard. Kamal sleepwalks through most part of the role and his flasback story (told in re-wind mode) does not offer anything new and fails to impress. Some of the dialogues are so non-filmy that you are impressed but post-interval, the movie kills you with a supposedly filmy comedy sequence where you want to say "Oh Stop it!!".

The movie is supposed to be a laugh riot. However, the movie drags and fails to impress. There are a few nice scenes in between which raise your expectations but sadly the movie does not meet those expectations. There is absolutely no chemistry between Trisha and Kamal -- I think the audience connects to their character in the movie but their falling in lowe makes it absolutely filmy. Who is the Hero? sounds innovative. Neeeeela vaaanam could have been good but Kamal kills it, I feel with his rendition of "neeeeeeeeee ----eeela vaanam". The movie is different - it does not have an item number, the story deals with a business man falling in lowe with a film star and his insecurities while dealing with her work and her proximity with her co-stars. Sangeetha as the divorcee seems quite mercenary - very realistic. It could have been great but it misses it for me. Catch it and let me know what you feel.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Four Years completed in Jan

Happy New Year -- an incident that spooked me!

Another day, another walk but this time the incident was not so pleasant. Ok.. let me start at the beginning.

I was walking home from work when I noticed this rat darting out of a hole in the road. I had this goofy smile on my face regarding the sad state of roads in Bangalore. When I finally looked away, I noticed a boy (an adolescent) running towards me with his hand thrust out yelling "Happy New Year". Now, for some vague reason, I did not want to shake his hand and so I shook my head and mouthed "No". The lad looked mentally unsound. My not shaking his hand irritated him no end. He continued to insist while I ignored him and walked on. He was soon following me, blocking me, and at the same time shaking hands with the other folks on the road. After running ahead and shaking hands with a guy on the scooter, he came running back and said, "Why are you insulting me? Happy New Year. Last chance". I started panicking big-time. I called the Arien on the phone and told him of the incident.

I noticed that the lad was still following me so I slowed to a snail's pace. I wondered why I decided not to shake his hand. Thankfully, because I had slowed down, he was now ahead of me and I could keep him within my eye-sight which was a major relief! While I was talking on the phone, I noticed that the lad tried shaking hands with a young gal and she ran as if a mad dog was chasing her. I felt that I had done the right thing by not shaking his hand. He walked into a bakery and I continued walking. I stuck to the main road, and kept a close watch to see if he was following me. I was so glad to reach home. I finally cut the call with the Arien.

It was a small incident but it scared me no end. He was blocking my path in the middle of the road and no one even noticed. When he saw that I was likely to scream, he fled to shake hands with the guy on the scooter. Walking is no longer risk-free. You could come across loony folks like him and you would swear never to walk again. Ok - thts carrying it too far. Anyway, I never saw the boy again but I still keep a sharp lookout for the likes of him.

127 Hours

Danny Boyle and A R Rahman team up again after Slumdog Millionaire, for the movie 127 hours which stars James Franco, Spiderman's cute friend-turned-foe, in the lead. The reviews promised that the movie would be gripping and very realistic and that decided it for us.

The movie starts with Aaron (Franco), leaving at dawn for a weekend of mountain climbing. His passion for mountain climbing is very evident right from the beginning. As he starts walking towards the remote trail, he notices two young women trekkers who have lost their way. He shows them the right way after they overcome their initial distrust. He then shows them a hidden water body. They have some harmless fun together and Aaron is attracted towards the girls but he is ready to leave as he still wants to complete his trail. Within 15 minutes, the girls are left far behind, he enthusiastically climbs down when a small boulder moves and his right hand is caught between the boulder and the wall. He is unable to move his hand and yells out the names of the girls but they are too far away. He is totally imprisoned for 127 hours (5 days) at that isolated canyon and the rest of the story is regarding his fight for survival.

What I liked 'bout the movie

• Simple story. The movie starts off in a fast-paced manner. During the course of the movie, the pace slows down, stops and then picks up speed. The movie's pace matches the mood of Franco.
• Realistic. Sometimes too realistic and quite painful. Franco's performance was fantastic - worth a watch.
• "This rock has been waiting for me my entire life.. I have been moving towards it my entire life." - I quite liked this dialogue for its karmic connection.

Verdict: 3 Stars

My Latest Addiction - Global Bloxx

When I found out that Philip Pullman's third book (The Amber Spyglass) totally failed to hold my attention, I was at a loss. I used to hurry home so I could read in peace before the Arien came home :D And now, I had nothing to come home too. Waaanh :( Plus, the Arien had actually purchased the two books for me after I bladed him to death 'bout the Golden Compass. I couldn't really tell him tht this book was blaah :(

I spent a whole day hunting for a game, that we all used to play on the system a looong time ago, known as Tetris. The Taurean was very good at the game and I sucked big-time. I thought this would be a good time as any to hone those skills. No No - I am not on a break, or a sabatical or anything like that. Its part of my new year resolution. More on that in a different post. Anyway, so while I was unable to find it, in sm kind of weird co-incidence, a version of the original Tetris was available on my mobile phone. No, I kid you not. Its known as Global Bloxx. Yupp - totally ridiculous name :D

Global Bloxx is my latest addiction and I am lovin it - I say :D This game has me so badly addicted that there are times when I do not respond for ages when the Arien is talking to me. He is hopping mad :P His plan is to beat my score to get even. Hehahahahaha (Evil Laugh). Does he think it is so easy??!!

hey - Do you remember me?

Yesterday, as I was walking home from work, a guy stopped his bike right in my path. I decided not to panic when he took off the helmet and made as if to talk to me. I tried out various answers in my head, when he called out my name. The plan was not to look up but his saying my name, changed the rules. He continued, "Hey - Do you remember me?" and I looked at his face sans the helmet and realized that it was my friend and not a serial-killer on the loose or a Hindi Mallum guy on a bike. The last time I saw him was 10 years ago when we studied together. Now, both of us were a lot plumper but not unrecognizably so :D

It was such a relief that I burst out laughing wen he asked me if I remembered him. After I convinced him, we spoke 'bout our other class-mates. I cud remember most of the names. (Surprisingly!) Our batch was the naughtiest of the lot. We were also quite competitive. Some of the folks had completed their Engineering (like my frend), others were college students, some were students who had completed their +2 (XII Std), and there were also a few housewives. To say ours was a mixed bunch was an understatement. The one thing common to all of us was the fact that we were part of the 11-1 batch and that we were in awe of our teacher. He was the bestest thing to happen to us. More 'bout that in a different post.

After spending the next 20 minutes reminscing 'bout those days, what we were upto of late, etc. it was time to say bye. It was such a welcome break to my otherwise boring day that I spent the rest of the evening, smiling.

Wordless Wednesday -- Don't you wish..?

Unstoppable

On Monday, when both of us were feeling the effects of Monday blues and feeling totally blaaah, the Arien decided to catch the movie "Unstoppable". For some reason, I was reminded of the action movie, The Expendables and so did not want to watch the movie. But, as usual the Arien insisted and added "Its based on a true story". Well, that did it :D

The movie has Denzel Washington, Chris Pine but the real hero is an unmanned runaway train. The unmanned runaway train is identified using the number 777 and is bright red in colour. Denzel and Chris are the villains whose aim it is to catch this train. Well, not really :) In bollywoodishtyle, the train is the anti-hero, somewhat like the badshah Khan's Baazigar act. Anyway, 777 is loaded with toxic chemicals and is running full steam towards Stanton. Denzel and Chris, who are on a collision track with 777, narrowly escape 777. They then set out to attach themselves to 777 in a bid to stop it.

The movie is interesting in bits. The train occupies a large part of the movie and the media captures events in real-time and information is shared via the newsreader as well. Honestly, there is very little for the heroes to do until almost half the movie. After that, you are cheering them on :D While there is nothing new in this plot, the chemistry between the two actors works very well for this movie. I enjoyed the movie. Coming from a person who hates action movies and loves romcoms - means that the movie had enough human interest to keep me glued. Some scenes do seem OTT (Over the Top) but if you can disregard that, you can enjoy the movie.

Image Courtesy : http://www.beyondhollywood.com/