My favorites of 2009 !!

Looking back at 2009 here is a list of my favorite movies across various industries. The list is purely a choice of personal liking and only out of those which I have watched. Also note the list is in no particular order.

TAMIL:

Pasanga : After making a dream debut as a director in Subramaniapuram, SasiKumar struck gold as a producer in ‘Pasanga’. The movie had its heart at the right place and was hilarious. The movie which had small kids as its main characters was as much a movie for the grownups as it was for the children.
Naan Kadavul : Balas movies are always dark and would have a shock value. In Naan Kadavul his exploration of the beggar’s world and the Agoras was brutal in detailing and was way too realistic for many of the viewers liking. But people like me who had the stomach to digest simply loved it.
Unnai Pol Oruvan : The Tamil remake of Wednesday if not better was as good as the original. Kamal and Mohan lal teamed up for the first where in top form in this less than 2hrs thriller. Sans songs, sans cheap thrills, sans comedy tracks this movie had racy screenplay and crackling dialogues.
Eeram : This eerie horror/thriller from the Shankar’s production was a surprise winner this year. With very less known stars this one had a solid script which was equally executed. The movie had one of the best cinematography in this year with apt BGM which complimented the genre really well.
Yaavarum Nalam : Way before eeram another movie which brought back horror genre to the audience with great success was Yavarum Nalam. With a Television Set used as the medium for the ghost to communicate, the movie had an interesting set up and the tempo was maintained throughout making it an engaging watch.

HINDI :

Dev D : Anurag Kashyaps contemporary take on ‘Devdas’ was the first hit of 2009. This Creative attayachar was visually stunning. The narrative interlaced with killer soundtracks pushed boldness to new levels in Indian cinema. It was one helluva trip !!
Luck By Chance: This satire on the Bollywood industry was one of those underrated gems of 2009. Right from the moment credits starts rolling Zoya gets the mood of the movie right and maintains it throughout the movie. It was a brilliant movie with an absolute gem of a performance from its huge ensemble cast.
Kaminey : Vishals latest offering about two separated twins was fimply fuperb!! A movie which appreciated the intelligence of the audience had a mind-blowing screenplay . If the Numerous subplots running parallel running behind a MacGuffin reminded of guy Ritchie, the sheer mad characterizations and exaggerated violence and homage’s reminded tarantino. This film with a desi heart was dished out completely in international ishtyle !!
Wake up Sid : This coming of age story was an absolute delight. With not much of a fancy plot the movie worked really well with a brilliant cast and straight forward narration. Ranbir went on to cement his place as the most bankable of the new breed of stars.
3 Idiots : “All izzzz well” ensured the year ended up on a rib tickling high note. The movie works effectively as a comedy and had the audience in splits during its entire run. No wonder that this one was declared the feel good movie of the year within couple of days of its release.

ENGLISH:

Avatar : This modern day classic of James Cameroon will go on to one of those defining movies in the history of Film making. Abig thumbs up to him for drenching us with his vision of Pandora which blew us all apart. He redefined 3D watching experience and took visual delight to dizzy heights.
Up : This touchy inspiring story of the quest for the Paradise Lost was thoroughly enjoyable. This Pixar movie had one of the most touching sequences of the year where Carl runs through his wife’s adventure book after her death. Pixar score another winner here after its cult classic WALL-E.
Inglorious Basterds : QTs best work after pulp fiction was an absolute stunner. This fictional tale happening during the World War 2 is comical, violent and is completely crazy. As many of his movies this one also met with extreme reactions but wowed the critics and audience to a larger extent. Do we see an Oscar coming for QT.
500 Days of Summer : “This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story” . What makes this movie mainly work is its brilliant screenplay and terrific humor. The narrative is completely non linear. Its moves back and forth constantly and makes it an engaging watch. Another of those underrated gems which is a must watch.
Hurt Locker : This movie is one helluva pressure cooker. This low budget movie tracks the 40 odd days of a bomb unit in Iraq in the midst of a war . The bomb diffusing scenes are so realistically shot that it would for sure increase your heart beat rate to a faster rate.

3 Idiots - Funny and entertaining !!!

Movie adaptations based on books are not as popular in India as it is in the west. We rarely see them happen here. So it was kind of interesting when 3 idiots was supposed to be the adaptation of the successful novel ‘Five point someone’. Hirani had come public and clearly stated that it’s not an adaptation of the novel, but just takes the basic premise from it. Rajkumar Hirani has precisely done that.

He takes the main characters and basic knot out of the book rehashes his cult classic Munna bhai and dishes out his own new product. So we have the story of three friends in their engineering years ( taken from the book), out of three the main idiot Rancho is sketched out to be a mix of Nikumbh from Tare Zameen Par, John Keating of Dead poets society and also has shades of munnabhai . Then we have the strict disciplinarian in Sahastra Buddhe the college dean who wants high scoring engineers and not free thinkers, (this one is straight out of Hiranis Munnabhai where we had the hospital dean endorsing such a philosophy). If it was Munnas tapori attitude questioning the work culture of the doctors there, here our live wire Rancho questions the very structure of our education system in general and Mr. Buddhes way of learning in particular. He also preaches everyone to follow their heart and passion and not to succumb to external (parental/society) pressures (Again an extension of Taare Zameen Par)

3 Idiots works wonderfully well as a comedy. Hirani is in top notch form in his comic sequences and the actors pull of their scenes brilliantly well. Take for instance the scene where Rancho tampers with the speech that has to be delivered on the teachers day function makes for a great laugh. The funny portrayal of Sharman joshis suffering family was a hatke se thinking, like the scene where they mix up all the answer sheets to confuse the invigilator are all nicely done. I seriously wish Hirani had stuck to such smart heartfelt comedy sequences.

But he fills the second half with so many melodramatic sequences and fills in with a whole lot of convenient coincidences which took away all the zest and energy from the movie. Take for instance the most crucial scene where Rancho successfully helps a delivery with the help of doctor through web cam using a vacuum cleaner ( it was shocking that I was reminded of a ridiculous scene from ‘Sabari’ when I was watching this). If that wasn’t enough the baby which is so close to have been dead born suddenly starts kicking alive when everyone says ‘Aall is well’. Even in midst of such a sequence there are shades of Hiranis humor ( watch when Aamir and Boman Irani both instinctively throw the keys to Madhavan to get the Vacuum cleaner asap, you cannot resist from cracking up).

So as much as the serious melodramatic sequences never created the expected lump in the throat, while the comic portions were brilliant and enjoyable. Another big reason why the movie works so well is because of its actors. Though Aamir has the Nikumbh hangover from TZP throughout the movie, his likeable charm and high energy levels works wonders for the movie. Sharman Joshi is underrated and has a brilliant timing in comic sequences ( How does an Induction motor start :P ). Madhavan is restrained and plays his part well. Kareena with little screen space does justice to her role. Boman Irani was strictly ok and looked like he was overdoing it a bit. Omi Prakash who plays Silencer is a brilliant find.

If I end up saying that this movie is a no brainer entertainer then it would be utter cruelty to its makers and as the same time you cannot say that is a satirical comedy that needs brains then I would be fooling myself, so if I may say so it fits in somewhere in the middle of these two categories but assures you unadulterated entertainment. It’s not a movie which might change your life or way of thinking ( as some people portray it), not sure if the makers even intended the movie that way, but it gives you a hearty laugh and big smile on your face for sure !!

Quick bite - The Fall

This movie will top the list of movies that I regret for not having watched it on a big screen. Such stunning visuals. The movie is so aesthetically shot and each frame is such a joy for the eye.

The movie revolves around an injured stuntman stuck in a hospital narrating a imaginary fantasy story of 5 warriors/mythological characters who rebel against an emperor to a young girl whom he gets acquainted in the hospital. The narration is brilliant as we hear the narration from the injured stunt man but the movie visuals are shown as seen by the eyes of the young girl. We see her visualizing these characters in the story with the people whom she meets in the hospital. The sequences in the hospital and the narrated story are contrastingly shot to bring in the difference between reality and fantasy. The fantasy sequences are filled with bright vibrant colors and huge landscapes which gives it a brilliant touch.

One of the underrated movies which is hardly talked about. A must watch!!

Check the trailer below

For more details about the movie visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/

Paa !!

Walking out of the theaters after watching ‘Paa’ two of my friends were complaining that the movie never made the emotional impact or never had those gut wrenching scenes which would make us walk out of the theaters with a heavy heart. For me that was one of the many reasons that I like about ‘Paa’. Many movies dealing with physical disability to its protagonist often treads the expected path of showing how difficult is their survival and tries to win over the audience by getting highly manipulative and pretentious.

“Paa’ which is about a Auro 13 year old kid who is suffering from a rare genetic disorder Progeria treats its subject with high sensibility and not for one moment tries to get manipulative. None of the characters treat Auro as a piece of sympathy be it his single mom or his set of adorable friends. Auro himself is portrayed as a bundle of energy with a tongue in cheek humor. There lies the films biggest strength. Take for instance that brilliant sequence where Auro calls up his best friend Vishnu ( brilliant performance ) over the phone to check if he has got any similarities with his dad or the sequence where Auro talks about potty with the minister on his way back from Rashtrapthi bhavan, these scenes are absolutely hilarious and very well written. These are the films highest points. Even the sequences where abhishek asks vidya to get an abortion or the following sequence where vidya breaks her situation to her are treated with utmost subtleness and there is no huge loud of cry.

While Balki the director gets most of these things absolutely right he loses his grip with a needless subplot of abhishek as a revolutionary young MP, trying to bring down a corrupt colleague and as a do gooder to the people. This subplot turns into a mini episode of bachchans taking pot shots at the media which does no help to the movies central theme. How I wish we could have had more scenes with Auro and his gang at school or even a bit more of development between Auro and his father.

Nevertheless but for this glitch Balki should be applauded for his terrific effort. Such ideas will always look brilliant on paper, but here he executes it close to perfection. Dialogues are simply brilliant and his witty one liners are rib tickling. Special mention should be made for his ability to extract such natural performances from the kids. The film belongs to Ilayaraja and PC Sreeram as much the movie belongs to Balki. Ilayarajas music and background score are top notch. The Violin orchestration running throughout the movie gives us a scintillating feeling and simply elevates a scene to a different level (Was utterly disappointed that balki used only 1 min of the brilliant ‘Gumm Summ’ song). PC Sreeram matches IR shot by shot and literally creates poetry with his cinematography. ‘Mudi Mudi‘ song is so beautifully shot and looks purely magical on the big screen.

With taking the mantle of the producer as well for the movie, Bachchan junior gives a decent performance as a ultra cool MP. Surprisingly Vidya balan gets much more screen time and gives a very restrained mature performance. She has never looked more beautiful on screen. Better than these two I loved Arundathi Naags performance as Auros loveable grand ma. Given a very well written character her performance was so natural. Wish we could see more of her. That leaves us with the biggest talking point of the town right now, Amitabh Bachchan. He redefines superstardom and shows the way for all the other aging super stars . Under such a heavy prosthetic make up ( outstanding work, so much of detailing , check out his teeth and single shot where his calf muscles are visible) you are left with very little chance of emoting . The more important issue was to get the body language and his voice modulation right , and he gets that to perfection. Right from the first frame where he is introduced to us to the last frame its hard to believe that it’s indeed Amitabh Bachchan. To reinvent like this and put an effort at this age is nothing short of an astounding achievement.

(500) days of Summer !!

“This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story” - so says the narrator at the start of the movie. 90 mins later when the movie ends its hard to make up your mind your take on those lines. As ‘500 days of summer’ is one of those romantic movies which has everything going for itself to be a just another date movie or a feel good romcom, and yet has its subtle variations that makes it stand out from the other ones in its same genre.

So we have our hero Tom Hansen ( Gordon-Levitt) who falls in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) at the very first sight. So we have Tom who believes that true love surely exists and is damn sure that summer is his soul mate the moment he sees her. Summer on the other hand is someone who really doubt if something called love exists and who isn’t attached to anything and is never for any serious relationship. So he likes her instantly in a very serious intense way, she likes him eventually in a casual way!! She warns him it’s nothing serious and just a casual relationship and doesn’t want to give them any tags of boyfriend – girlfriend. So they have a good time together, everything looks nice and merry until one day when she calls it quits. She moves on, he is stuck and vows to win her back .So do he or does he not?? Well it’s better to be watched rather read!!

What makes this movie mainly work is its brilliant screenplay. The narrative is completely non linear. Its moves back and forth constantly and makes it an engaging watch. It starts off with the two happily sitting on the favorite spot in the city and enjoying an evening, immediately cuts back to stage to the day when she calls it quits, then it goes back further back to the day he meets her the first time, then its jumps ahead where he is trying to win her back and so on. So as much as it predictable the non linearity in the narrative keeps us guessing what really has happened. It is beautifully done. Then the lead pair are very simple looking normal people. The characterization and the casting of the leads is nothing fancy which makes the story very relatable. More importantly it never gets melodramatic or cheesy at any point, the one mistake most romantic movies make at some point of time in its running time. Here its deftly handled with neat humor sprinkled all over. The dialogues are funny, smart and well written.

The director Marc Webb makes an interesting debut, who has shot several music videos in the past. So we see the influence. This one has some really good soundtrack (Sweet disposition was awesome) running along through the movie and several references to many music bands. He also employs a few split screen sequences to effectively bring out the several differences and a few similarities between his lead characters. There is a scene where Tom enquires what really is the relationship that he shares with summer, intending he wants to make the relationship official, where summer retorts back saying she doesn’t really care what the relationship is and all it matters is if she is happy and doesn’t want to give it any name. Then we see a touch of disappointment in Toms face as their car moves into a road tunnel which goes darker as they progress which implicitly implies the state of their relationship too as tom sees it i.e. no light at the end of the tunnel. Then we have the song sequence right after the two make love for the first time and we see Tom dancing and singing with predominantly blue seen everywhere resembling the blue eyes of Summer. Such little things are beautifully done in this movie.

This one may not make the cut as your favorite romantic movie ( like as is said in the beginning still unsure if you could call this one), but definitely its one of best movies that I watched this year or should I be saying one of the best of movies of this Summer :)

Quickbite - Ajab Prem Ki ghazab Kahani!!!

APKGK is a decent entertainer. Its a mad fun movie, filled with silly gags and loads of slapstick sequence. 15 years after Andaz apna apna the famous cult comedy Rajkumar santhoshi returns to comedy. This one is no where in the league of that classic but nevertheless turns out to be a decent watch. So the script has a lovable carefree hero with a doting mother and a complaining father, a ravishing heroine who has a namesake lover who gets ditched at the very end.. and a hell a lot off characters who form the so many subplots of the movie. The very first sequence of the movie makes us realize that this is one movie that should never be taken seriously and thankfully the script remain faithful to that for the entire part of the movie. It does reminds us of andaz apna apna, KAbhie haa kabhie naa in bits and pieces and probably that was intentional. Watch it if you love mad crazy comedies.

But one reason why you should definitely watch this movie is Ranbir Kapoor. The whole movie completely belongs to Ranbir Kapoor. I don't remember any one of the recent past or i can even go to the extent of saying in the last decade who has such likable screen presence. He is simply terrific. You give him a 10 mins sequence ( the dance party sequence) of pure slapstick and boy o boy how well does he perform. He equally scores in heavy emotional scenes be it the one where he breaks down in front his friends or the scene where he promises his mother to make her proud. Without a doubt he is the next biggest thing in Bollywood. After wake up sid and now with AJKPK he has once again proved that he could effortlessly carry of an entire movie on his shoulders. With Shmit Amins ( Chak de fame) Rocket singh being his next, he can only be moving forward. Way to go Ranbir !!

Unnai Pol Oruvan !!!

This common man remains mostly faithful to the original and proves to be a clear winner!!

Remakes are always a tricky case to handle. All you have to do is just to imitate a proven winner, yet it’s no simple task. Recreating the same magic especially when you are adapting to an industry which is much different from the original is quiet a task. Especially when you are remaking a movie like 'A Wednesday' whose plot primarily revolves around terrorism and had a Mumbai backdrop to down south is a challenging proposition. Unnai Pol Oruvan proves to be a well worthy remake thanks to the exceptional performances from its lead cast, filled with brilliant dialogues and of course the original script by Neeraj Pandey.

The movie has a bit of bumpy start, the initial character establishments (with the exception of Kamal) of the ensemble cast doesn't really grab your attention. Just as you start to feel the bumps, the movie takes off and never turns back. As mentioned earlier the narrative remains faithful to the original and hence moves at a very good pace. One of the main back bones of the original was its crackling dialogues, the Tamil version matches it word by word. Most of Lals dialogues are satirical digs targeting the political and the governing system. Even the current CM of Tamil Nadu is not spared, who appears just as a voice over the phone. The dialogues are filled with smart witty one liners which are spread out throughout the movie. The original was so intense throughout with the pressure building up right to the throttle till its end, but here with all the witticism and sarcasm in the dialogues makes it less intense and a tad less serious. Am not sure how technically the red one camera works but the visuals looked stunning and appeared very rich. The cinematography was top notch. The BGM given by Shruthi hassan was apt nothing more or nothing less.

When you work on a script that was already made, there is always scope for improving on it and tweaking it to fit to the local flavor. Here they give it a bit more detailing and simplify it for our south audience and have played it safe. And thank god they replaced the solitary bench in the climax with a jeep, as it looked very amateurish in the original. They also reiterate the fact that terrorism needs not to be associated with one religion alone with instances like best bakery highlighted. One of the terrorist is a weapon pimp is a Hindu and confesses it’s all pure business and nothing else. But the terrorist footage's where more realistic in the original and the fact that known faces playing them doesn’t help it either. The emotional twist in the original would have never worked here as soon as you had someone like Kamal hassan playing Naseers role. So they keep it pretty simple right from the first and don’t try to misguide the audience. Lal gives it away right in the start that it was common mans work and the screen immediately cuts to Kamals introduction where he is seen preparing on a bomb. Hence the climax is not much of surprise here.

Inspite of these few glitches what makes UPO fantastic is its lead cast. The movie starts with Mohan Lals voice over and his Tamil diction looks a bit odd initially then you understand that he plays a Malayali police officer and just as you settle down you start realizing why many term him as India’s most spontaneous and natural actor. He is simply fantastic as the Commissioner. He is given the most screen time and has the most of the best dialogues in the movie and he makes full use of it. Many felt Mohan Lal was misfit and would not do justice to Khers ( outstanding in the original) performance, and I wonder where even those people would hide their faces. The biggest success in Lals performance to me is that there were not even a single iota of Kher in it, he completely played it in a different way. Kher was all serious, upright and very commanding, here Lal plays the character a touch less serious yet you could see all the frustration, sarcasm, anger and at times the helplessness just with his expressions. Hats off to him.

'Am a limelight moth' declared Kamal in one of his recent interviews. But here Kamal the producer has to be lauded for giving an another star much more screen time than him which was the only way the script could have worked. And when punch dialogues, over the top heroism, 5 songs, 5 fights and one senseless comedy track has become the norm of the day he shows us the guts time and again it. He remakes a movie with no such ingredients and yet makes it work. Naseerudin shah fit the bill of common man to perfection in the original. Easily would be among the top three performances of last year. He played rather lived on screen like any other common man and brought in the subtle frustration and anxieties brilliantly. He delivers one of the best monologues during the climax, which for me is the whole crux of the movie. That one single scene takes the movie to higher levels. So what does our man do. Well Kamal plays the role as Kamal. His common man is not the insecure tired frustrated type, rather he is an angry and had enough of all this happening around him type. He plays it with his own flair and is a delight to watch. Throughout the movie as much as you enjoy him, you kind of doubt if Shah does have the upper hand over him. By the time the all important monologue starts and ends all the doubts are sent back to the cleaners. Kamal wallops Shah in that one single scene. Listen to his narration of the gruesome story observe how he slowly breaks down and that single tear that drops at the right moment, then he regroups himself and wipes of his tear with his pistol ( A nice touch, looked like a brilliant improvisation from Kamal which simply reiterates the theme of the movie). He is as magnificent as always. Wish we see an another glorious 50 years of him.

On the whole the people who watched the original should be mostly satisfied that it sticks to its original, while the others should really enjoy this one. Two legendaty actors hit it off and at the end of it, you wish the 100 odd mins was slightly longer.