Water (2005)

The third installment of Deepa Mehta's 'elemental' series, Water is a subtle attempt to highlight an age-old social evil in india. The problem is, its quite boring, unless you have a compulsive obsession with the technical aspects of film-making, in which case, a lot of things would make more sense to you than they did to me. From my perspective, the cast did tremendous justice to their roles, teleporting me to the pre-independence days of ignorance and superstition (not that they're no longer in vogue!). The statistics at the end of the movie speak about the sad state of widows in this country, some of them widowed at ages of 8, 9 years.

If you look at water as a movie which just tells you, "Listen, it is true that plight of widows in india used to be bad. If you don't believe me, let me show you", it does a decent job. you feel for the poor child who's widowed before even coming of age, you feel for the inmates of the widow home who lead a wretched life of neglect. You are also shocked by some revelations about society that was.


Where it goes wrong is where John abraham comes onto the scene and a convenient love ensues between him and lisa ray, a widow as above. I feel, it needed more script space than in actually got. Where also it goes wrong is in the ocassional fleeting references to Gandhi and friendly debates on british rule. they were probably in place to give the viewer a feel of the times..hmm, fine then. but when you look at the statistics in the end, you can't help but feel that, the director is trying hard to justify her efforts.

Simply put, Water is yet another love story gone wrong.

concept 7/10 (not really relevant to the times)
performance 9/10
screenplay 7/10
technical 7/10

Overall 7.5/10

Vivah (2006)

I saw it y'day...beautiful movie...beautiful for its innocence, beautiful for its simplicity, beautiful for the emotions. This movie is a throwback on those days, when love was not all about who's got the biggest attitude or who's got the best moves (on the dance floor, in a fight, in the bed..wherever). Its a refreshing throwback amplified by the great chemistry between shahid kapur and amrita rao. As one would expect, the movie is about the marriage between them, majorly the build up to it.

Why can't movies be all hunky-dory from start to end? while watching Vivah, i was often reminded of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, by the same director. There too, the movie is all cheer until suddenly something untoward happens and a pall of gloom spreads all over.
Why not avoid that? A similar scene in Vivah towards the end, made a few things clear to me. Triumph over adversity. It is such, a strong emotion, that can fill one's heart with satisfaction and whats time spent, without satisfaction!


Alok Nath does a great job in adding a lot of sensitivity to the role of a loving step-father. He deserves special mention for the wonderful actor that he is.

At times, the movie tends to drag a bit, but makes it up with some beautiful emotions.

concept: 8/10 (for showing the courage to be simple)
performance: 8/10
technical: 8/10 (nothing much to talk about technical, here)
screenplay: 8/10

overall: 8/10

Lord of War (2005)

Narrated movies have a charm of their own. They give the movie an air of importance, a no nonsense personality. The theme then has to essentially be something serious, something that is food for thought. Lord of War is. It is a well researched film on the illegal arms trade and its humanitarian consequences or savagery, whatever u may call it.

Nicholas Cage seems to have created a niche for himself when it comes to the 'cool customer' kind of roles. He fits to a hilt as the polished yet ruthless, gun runner who never loses his temper. He's quite ably supported by Jared Leto who inspite of less screen space, shows lot of presence.

The movie touches upon the relevant political issue of Blood Diamonds but doesn't explore it further. For most parts, the movie tends to engage in hero worshipping, zipping through deal after deal of Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) without showing the details. It kind of makes it look easy, which is not the case. Come to think of it, the whole movie had this 'its so easy' attitude which otherwise, could have made the movie gripping.

Technically, i didn't notice anything jarring and throughout the movie was well absorbed in it. Guess that means, things were pretty fine in that department

Overall, an ok movie

concept: 7/10
performance: 8/10
technical: 7/10
screenplay: 6/10

overall: 7/10

American History X (1998)

"hate is baggage, life's too short to be pissed off all the time. its just not worth it"

we live in turbulent times. there is lot of friction in society; friction because, we're not all the same shape to fit in easily. we need our space. some, however, think they need more space. thats where the problem lies. the solution is in the mind; it is in the above quote; the quote is from the movie...a beautiful movie

American History X ... an insight to racism...an insight to what it is like to hate...an insight to the mind games people play

Edward Norton goes all out in this one as the frustrated nazi skin-head. A dream performance from him, ably supported by Edward Furlong ( John Connor from Terminator). The rest of the cast is blurred away by their combined brilliance. Edward Norton is under-rated, i'm telling you


Technically, its a well put-together film. There is no nonsense in the screenplay which is paced nicely. The camera highlights the flashback scenes beautifully and the use of slow motion enhances the moments in the film.

On the whole, a good movie, but maybe it just falls short of greatness by being a bit vague in its conclusion. The narration could have probably used some more facts to strengthen the case.

I'd like to start rating from hereon. so here goes

concept: 8/10
performance: 9/10 (norton all the way)
technical: 8/10
screenplay: 8/10

overall: 8.2/10

Cidade de Deus (2002) a.k.a City of God

in one word, eye-opener! but for this movie, i wouldn't have known what life is like in the ghettos of Rio De Janeiro. i wouldn't have know that being born in, ironically, the city of God, is akin to being handed a death sentence at birth. I'm referring to the City of God housing project, a mass housing initiative in the 1960's for thousands of homeless, on the outskirts of Rio De Janeiro. Civility ceases to mean anything in this part of the world. Life is war and everyone is a potential enemy. Lawlessness rules and the lawbreakers flourish.


If you've liked movies like 'the constant gardener' and 'blood diamond', this is another one that you will love. you'll love it for the realism that its able to portray. What i like about such movies is the way they go about telling you their story. the crux of the movie is subtly woven into a plot involving 2 protagonists, one doubling as the narrator. there is the underlying message or effort to educate, rather, of certain ground realities that escape the glossy pages of tourism brochures. But the director does a great job of not making it look like a documentary.


City of god also delights you in its cinema tography. The mode of communication for some of the scenes, one in particular, is very stylish. I also enjoyed having to keep lot of things in mind to keep track of the flow. felt kinda challenging, what with the movie shifting between sub plots ceaselessly. There is some amazing trivia associated with this movie. You'll really enjoy it once u've seen the movie. read it from here.

to sum it up, an entertainer of the other kind.

Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006)

original post as on 31st march 2007


First and foremost, let me tell you that i'm only halfway through this movie at the moment. But its been such a pleasure so far, that i'm sure its going to be one of the best movies i've seen in a long long time.

Khosla Ka Ghosla, deceives by name, but more than makes up for it in virtually every department of film-making. If i had my say, this film would have gone to the Oscars as India's official entry. Yes! it has a very strong and relevant story to tell and its telling it beautifully to me. Anupam Kher and Boman Irani need no eulogies, but every other member of the cast has been a revelation. Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak have newfound respect in my eyes. they are truly magnificent in this movie.

I'm yet to see Navin Nischol take centre stage, but its understood that he'll do a damn good job. Everyone fits their role to perfection; Tara Sharma as a slightly hare-brained theatre artist, Parvin dabas as the no nonsense software professional, Kiran Juneja as the mediating and caring house maker and surely every other character that i'm yet to come across.



Three cheers to director Dibakar Banerjee for his brilliant effort behind the camera. The pace of the story is just right and interspersed with the right amount of comedy and executed to perfection by the aptly selected cast. The plot is so real, i got scared when i put myself in the protagonist's place. This is something that could so easily happen to you and me. And this is something that, if it happens, you'll have very little that you can do about it.

Whether the Khosla family has what it takes is to be seen and i can't wait to get back to the movie for that

If you think Hindi films have lost their meaning , this is the movie that will prove you wrong and wrong, in a big way. So go ahead and redeem your faith in Bollywood. I got to rush now

ciao :)

The Departed (2006)

original post as on 21st november 2006

Just saw it a couple of hours back and am still in the process of digesting the movie. So i may have more insights on this, but i just have to post about this awesome movie as soon as i can. First of all, lovely cast and superlative performances. At times, the tensions within a crime fighting police aquad were palpable. With some hard-hitting language and unabashed violence, this is not a movie for the faint hearted. But for all you motherfucking sonofabitches ( yeah, without the slang), u've just unleashed a goldmine.

Excuse me for the language there, but thats exactly what u'll get in the movie - unadulterated street talk. makes you sit up and think whats with this 4 letter word and all its connotations. Anywise, the plot is tight and builds up to a nice stage where the viewer can predict every conceivable ending and still miss the real one. stroke of genius i aver, the ending. There are still a few loose ends to be tied up as far as i'm concerned, but i'll probably figure out with time.

About the action, i loved the spontaneity!! The sequences showed a lot of imagiation and ingenuity. Another thing that struck me as good is the detail shown in the depiction of the police force.

To criticize, i'd say that i thought for a while, but didn't find anything strong enough to be written. There are a few others but that would steal some fun out of the movie.

Final verdict - if u like thrillers, this is a movie you shouldn't miss. your brain will work overtime with this one, rest assured

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its been about 18 hours now and i have some more insights. The way i feel about it, the movie has blended into reality. Its as if i was led through a reality show. Just as real life incidents stay in your short term memory and slowly get accepted, the movie too snuggles into a comfy spot. Henceforth, whenever the brain registers a movie from this genre, memories will be recalled. Only a fast and gripping screenplay can achieve that. Thats one more facet of 'the departed' for you