Wordless Wednesday -- Both volumes of Sherlock Holmes completed - Finally!

Special 26 -- Movie Review

This movie released this year but since I spent most of the first part of the year travelling to and fro to Hyderabad, I had not caught it. So, when a colleague offered his copy (Thiruutu VCD / torrent file), I knew the weekend would slip past. However, it was many weekends later that I finally saw it. 

The movie stars Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpai, Jimmy Shergil, Divya Dutta, and a few other character artistes. The ensemble cast does not detract from the story. If I had to classify it, I will have to call it a thriller. However, it is first and foremost a good story and it has been told well. Most of the characters are well-fleshed out and support the story from the get-go. I thought Akshay would be the wrong choice considering his recent outings (Khiladi 786, Rowdy Rathore) but he was subtle and ably supported the script. Kajal Agarwal as the Khiladi Kumar's girl friend was a nice touch.

The story starts off with Akshay Kumar calling the local police station and asking for backup on a CBI raid. Jimmy and Divya Dutta are the backup police officers and they walk into a local politician's place and are part of the raid conducted by Akshay and team. As money is literally found in every beam, wall, ceiling, hidden cupboard, puja almirah etc. you are as awestruck as Jimmy and Divya. All the money bundles are moved to multiple government issue steel trunks. An official letter (essentially an inventory of the items) is typed up and shared with the politician and the CBI team leaves after informing the backup team to wait for further orders. 

Image Courtesy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Reviews/Anupama-Chopra-s-review-Special-26/Article1-1008866.aspx

The politician is sitting with a towel on his head, his secretary and others are trying to make light of the matter while the backup team is re-living the amazing raid. After a long wait, the backup team calls the CBI office for information and realize that they have been conned. Both the backup officers are suspended but the politician refuses to file a complaint because of the embarrassment involved. Lucky strike for the fake CBI team is what you think when you realize that they have made a business out of this and this was nowhere their first or last strike.

Real CBI Officer played by Manoj Bajpai

The rest of the movie moves in an exciting manner and keeps you entertained. The suspended officers join forces with the CBI (real ones) to capture this gang. Manoj Bajpai as the main person in charge of catching the fake CBI gang is fantastic. His energy, love for his kid are small nuances which add life to the character. He does not seem like a person who will ever give up and because you were maha impressed with Akshay's plan, you are in a quandry as to whom to support. There is enough excitement and thrill towards the end as you wonder how the fake CBI team will attempt their final task and/or escape from the clutches of the CBI sleuths.  

Image Courtesy:http://www.glamsham.com/download/wallpaper/22212/special-26-wallpapers/46145.htm

Akshay is very well-dressed for the most part and travels only by air and comes across as a sauve gentleman. Anupam Kher has a surprisingly huge number of children and he explains it away that there was no television then. As he bids goodbye to his wife, you notice that she is expecting and you automatically gulp :) Akshay's love story, while believable, resulted in some song-dance stuff which diluted the proceedings somewhat. A nice movie- well-shot, well-edited, and was true to its storyline. If you have seen a number of English thrillers, you may not be too impressed but for a hindi movie, this was definitely a good watch. I was so glad this was not one of those blaaah movies - hindi films are known to be all hype, fluff, and no stuff. This was a nice change.  Thumbs Up!!

Writer's Block -- What, How, Why me??

I find it rather rather ironic that whenever I resolve to update my blog with new posts, I am often hit by writer's block. It is almost as if all interesting ideas that were sitting in my head, suddenly sprout wings and fly away. When I am in the middle of my work project, I will be bombarded with so many interesting ideas that there are times when I want to stop working and start writing - to hell with the consequences. Of course, being who I am, I do not really indulge in that. So, when I really want to  write - writer's block appears uninvited!

When that happens - I usually try to identify the one thing on my mind at the time of writing a post - it could be a book I read recently, it could be a game, it could be a family function that I am all excited about, something that is bugging me, something I want to share, a rant on the traffic condition in Bangalore, a wishlist, a new weight loss option, any one of these can be made into a post provided it is exciting enough to write about and I have something new to offer. A new perspective, an analogy, anything that makes the person who reads it connect to it.

I always remember my English classes at School, where many pleasant afternoons were spent writing an interesting one-page essay on any topic that the teacher chose for the day. I can still recall the groans from most of my class-mates while I was away in my dreamland coming up with yet another interesting tale to tell. I recall being told that I have a vivid imagination and interesting tales to share and that I ought to try my hand at writing. I felt the English class was the best thing to happen to me - the same cannot be said about the grammar classes :)

Of course, there are times when absolutely nothing suggests itself to me and I really have to let it go that day.

Those are the times I am really glad that I do not blog for a living! But, then I think, if I did, the idea would hit me a few minutes before the deadline. Sometimes the added pressure of a deadline, makes the brain work harder and Viola! the idea is here and now all you need now is a few minutes of uninterrupted time so you can express it all in a funny, interesting, wah wah way :)

So, how do you handle it?