Paisa feko Tamasha dekho...

Paisa feko, Tamasha dekho…

Howdy my tiddly-om-pom-poms out there,

Paisa feko, Tamasha dekho…

Well, there’s much more to it than that. :)

Yes I am talking about Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha released this Friday. 

Why I saw the movie so early on?

Again, well…firstly, like most of us, when I heard it was a Ranbir-Deepika starrer, I decided at least it was worth giving a try. Maybe I too like most of us wanted to see the one time steady lovers who looked so good together, as the main leads, even if it was just for the movie.

That’s it, that’s all. I never thought of making any conscious efforts to try and view it proactively. After all there’s a lot to a movie than just a Hero and a Heroine, isn’t it?! :)

Then I chanced upon a promotional video of Tamasha in Facebook. No, it wasn’t the official trailor….[I saw the official trailor much later, even after I actually saw the full movie. :) ]

Then what was there in that video, where they were not even taking about the movie per se J. It was a short video having the three of them…yes, the three of them….Imtiaz, Deepika and Ranbir playing a game, some variant of dumb charades…..

It was then that I decided….decided to watch the movie positively. Sounds strange isn’t it? Not if you understand the perspective, and I admire the person who gave this idea of a promotional video which is not promoting the movie left right and centre :)

It was what I saw of the trio that made my decision…usually we talk about chemistry between the male and female protagonists only, hai naa? which was supposed to be all the more pronounced between Ranbir n Deeps darling…but what caught me unawares was the way the three of them vibed…..together….nothing to do with any past affair etc etc etc….no awkwardness….complimenting each other completely….no pretences……..I loved it…I had to now see what they had done in the three hour show....without fail.

Alright…..then I got to listen to the songs of the film…all five of them. I was disappointed. Only Matargashti showed some promise…with the catchy theme tune……

“daang daang da dang dang dyao…dang dang dang  dang dang dyao……daang daang da dang dang dayo……chirkut zindagi, you know!!!” haan yaar yahi words the… "chirkut zindagi":)))) but in Mohit Chauhan’s polished voice it didn’t appear as much "chirkut":))))))

Anyways so moving ahead in my quest, I researched….in fact searched for reviews that were there……and what I found, saddened me. The reviews were mixed, everyone had different points to disagree to…….of course with one common factor in all, the great performances of the actors :(….that I knew already didn’t I?)  but the movie getting mixed reactions was against what my brain had inferred in the face of my home work till now :(

Siiigh…….

All the more reason to go and see for myself, what went wrong, and where, hampering an open out n out 5 stars.

And the coming Sunday….I was there….with my popcorn and coke :)

The movie began…and ended…. :)

I felt like standing up and clapping….standing ovation….as in like the end of a brilliant theatrical show. Yes, that’s exactly what it was, a brilliant theatrical show….accessible and available everywhere, not just in colossal theatres.  :)

It was better than my expectations….Had Imtiaz been present there then, I would have shaken his hands and thanked him…thanked him for proving me right….thanked him for giving us….Tamasha…The Theatrical Spectacle….. :)

I was happy I had read the reviews, I knew exactly why it was written, what was written in there.

I was reminded of the story of The Six Wise Men!

They were all opining, inferring, judging depending on the part of elephant that they were touching….

Even I don’t claim I saw it all. Yet, I saw enough to savour it, relish it for all that it was worth :).

The songs that I had heard before, that seemed inconsequential without watching the movie, now made sense….all of them. Mohit Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Mika, Arijit Singh and doing complete justice to their numbers that were selected very aptly according to their genre and areas of excellence. Aur toh aur Alka Yagnik ka toh jeernoddhaar ho gaya bhai :)))))...with the chorus paving way straight to the listener’s heart :).

Saying that the performances were superlative would sound as hollow and stupid as stating the universally known truth that the Sun rises in the East. Still I would say Ranbir surpassed himself. He had so so many shades to do justice to as Ved, nowhere was any allowance of chance overdoing or under for that matter. Yet he brought out Ved for us perfectly.

Some sharply hilarious instances worth mention being Ranbir’s second intro in Tokyo as Don-“2”!!, the auto driver’s tongue hitting his teeth hard as he lip sang lagaawat-wat-wat-wat, etc :)))

Another point that couldn’t be missed was how effortless was Ranbir’s perfect rendition of looooooooong sentences in his dialogues, whether English, Hindi, or even French for that matter……hindi slangs and chalu bhasha ke half sentences in the middle of hard core technical English jargon…. My God!! Simply amazing….

When his mom asks, “tu toh jaane wala tha naa aaj?” the answer, “nahi gaya, baap ka ghar hai” with a smile, makes you relax instantly.

Before this happens, it starts appearing there could be no positive end to this complex situation that Ved is in and that the movie is heading for a depressing, frustrating, saddening end….maybe like Rockstar…………but when Ved starts telling the story to his father……tears well the eyes…..

Ending achchhi naa ho toh koi baat nahi…….

Kahani apni hai…….ending badal deinge………:)

Kahani apni hai doston……ending Happy honi chahiye…..toh utho jaago aur lag jao…..build a happy ending for yourself…..like Ved…..:)

This is what Tamasha wants to tell us….:)

So darlings…….go watch the movie if you haven’t already…..with my eyes….and be positive….be happy always…..:)

Now I leave with this note and very Merry Christmas Wishes…

Take good care of yourselves…love you all….

Bye bye, tata, cheerio from me here at Page-3 :) 

Titli :)

Titli

Hello ppl!

Winter knocking at the door and Diwali round the corner…

Bahut busy hoge aap sab, nai?

Pata hai aaj toh mere saath badi durghatna si ho gayi…..

No no, don’t worry, no bodily injuries baba J

Actually kya hua ki today was Sunday, and as a rare occurrence we found ourselves having time, heading towards the movie theatre. Now we had the decision of -which movie to watch- in our hands…and fast. So for once I googled for reviews of the Friday releases and the movies running in the theatre before going to the ticket window.

The one sentence that made us decide upon Titli was – the best hindi movie made this year in one of the reviews!!!

That’s quite a strong statement and whatever the repercussions, at least this was a seeable movie, I decided. Thus we took the tickets available then and that was none other than the Magnum Class of Fun Cinemas J This was the first encounter with the super luxurious Magnum class couch seats and we were still exploring n enjoying them by the time the movie already started.

After I settled and directed my attention to what was going on on the screen I was shocked….progressively scared, frustrated……PANICKY !!!

I wanted to get up and run away…………..…stat.

No less….

What was going on in front of me was harrowing. The violence, the language, the whole set up….

I looked to both my sides for help….pleaded with my hubbs to exit…

My daughter a teen, was all for it but my young sonny boy was adamant. He had found his new toy in the dynamic Magnum seat which made him nearly supine and he was in no mood to comply. He said ‘I don’t care about the movie but I am not leaving this seat’. So there. We decided to sit on till he had his fill. We even tried to persuade the waiter who came to take the order for snacks, to kindly get us the tickets for some other benign movie running in the adjacent screens. But unfortunately…..or fortunately he returned pleading non availability of tickets.

Siiigh….

So there I was…stuck….

The movie meanwhile went on…..

Eventually, I found myself getting engrossed, besides myself…….against my voluntary mental protests……

The three brothers, the marginalized community….Titli….the need to break free….oh how I identified with that, having felt exactly the same a few minutes ago…

The idea of getting Titli married off so that a female comes to aid into the business…the business of car jacking, seemed criminal. The raw truth that females are used to make all kinds of things done, all kinds of products sold hinted by Bawla [Amit Sial], from daily utility things se ‘hawaijahaaz tak’ , hit hard.

The dump that was their home….the way they cleared their throat while brushing their teeth….[and mind u, they did that quite many times during the film :(], spit, vomited relentlessly…..impossible to tolerate.

I was reminded of Raju Hirani’s movies like Munna bhai and 3-idiots where he was so fond of showing men in washrooms…… :(

Is it some kind of OCD or superstition of directors to show filth? Beats me… :/

The very sight of a young vulnerable bride in that madhouse was unimaginable. A rabbit in the midst of jackals. The only feeling rampant being…… ‘oh poor dear, how will she survive?’

But all my misgivings were allayed to see the assertive girl she turned out to be….the way she successfully barred Titli’s advances and the brave front she projected in front of the brothers made me almost smile. Her interaction with the salesman in the Ford showroom made me relax. And I laughed at the “Prince hamare ‘Love’ hain!!!” backlash. :))

The movie finally ended.

It shook me. Didn’t leave me even after exiting the hall.

I researched……

I was pondering why it was called “Titli” over anything else. Though I did not get the real reason but I did chance upon a Bangla 2002 flick with the same name starring Aparna Sen, Mithun da and Konkona Sen Sharma – Aparna Sen’s daughter and incidentally Ranvir Shorey’s wifie. J There real life mom-daughter duo play the same role onscreen and both root over Mithun da :)))

Khair, coming back to ours, a thought crossed my mind what if Suraj Barjatya is made to see this movie? He would have the fright of his life :))))

Let us talk about the people making this whole web called Titli which grips you and leaves you scathed in the end.

Its made under the famous YRF Banner-the Yas Raj Films. Haan naa, sach mey!! :) Now it’s a movie entirely opposite to the genre YRF is renowned for. The family, its values, love, etc etc all have distorted definitions in this movie. Its as if the people, for want of basic needs to be fulfilled, for bare survival, move down the line of evolution that man had climbed and attained the designation of being the most evolved and “civilized” creatures. These words sound hollow when survival is at risk.

The debutante director Kanu Behl who was assistant director to Dibakar Banerjee in films like Love Sex n Dhokha LSD, has been writing this story even before the completion of the aforesaid movie. He came up with this flick under the patronage of Dibakar Banerjee who produced it for Kanu.

Kanu claims he actually wrote the character of the eldest brother Vikram specifically with Ranvir in his mind. Ranvir Shorey was an acting ace, a complete contrast to the dabbu black horse that we saw of him in Chandni chawk to China….oh so loathsome…. The language, the bloody stark violence and casual indifference to it was shocking and Shorey gets full credit for it.

The beauty of the flick was [no, not in the literal sense, nothing was butiful that way here :( ] that no one, absolutely no one appeared to be acting in the flick. All were completely natural. But it wasn’t easy.

One of the major ‘qualification’ for the role of all the brothers and the patriarch father was that they all had similar “Noses” that made them look like that of same family !! hadd hai naa? :)))))

Titli alias Shashank Arora fitted the role with the lean body of his. You’ll be surprised to know what all the production house did to him to finally make him fit in. He was actually beaten by the production assistant by a hawai chappal at least 35 times to make him feel the humiliation that Titli felt daily….the more yukkkk exercise that he was made to do for the purpose was to actually go and shit in the open in Varsova beach in the mornings. All this to remove the urban-ness from him!!! siiigh….

Likewise Shivani Raghuwanshi who played Titli’s wife, Neelu had no acting experience at all. She was selected because on the audition she chatted on n on n on when asked to introduce herself :)))) she too got lot many thappads for real to make her cry with conviction. :)

Pata hai kya us bechari ko toh pehle story ke bare me kuchh bh nahi maaloom tha. All she knew was that she was the heroine and had a boy for a hero plus some luv interest too…that was enuf to make her excitedly happy :)))))))

She was given the script very late into the making of the movie.

It was so preposterous how her wrist was broken by a hammer and the hero was as competent as an expert anaesthesiologist giving superb intraveinous regional anaesthesia for the forearm perfectly, painlessly breaking her wrist. :(

In the end there is mention of the need of putting in a rod in the fracture of wrist. Gazab bhai!!! Hain jee?! :)))))

Pata hai kya, the patriarchal father was Kanu’s real father Lalit Behl the theatre actor director.

Aur maze ki baat Kanu’s wifie Namrata Rao is the third and final editor of the movie [yes there are a lot of editors in it]….and quite a family thingy haan!! :)))))

The whole production team of the movie is a young brigade which is daring enterprising, tireless, uncompromising, ready to take risks, full of energy and thirsty for perfection. Its good to find youth taking over…and in style!! Bollywood!!-way to go!!!:)

Achchha ab having said all this the movie becomes a “Love Story” in the end…..

Vishwas nai hota naa?? :)

Koi baat nai…you go watch the movie and decide for yourself :)

Aur fir mujhe batana how you feel…theek hai?

Till then tata bye bye…Happy n Safe Diwali to all you wonderful people!!!

From me, here at Page-3 :)

Dilllllll….Dhadakne do !! :)

Dil Dhadakne Do….lab-dup, lab-dup, lab-dup… :)

Hi me darlings'!!! :),

Dil Chahta Hai- Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, 2001, Benchmark in Indian Cinema

Zindagi na milegi dobara- Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Zoya akhtar, Reema Kagti, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, 2011, National and International blockbuster

And now we have…

Dil Dhadakne Do-  Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Reema Kagti, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, 2015……….decide for yourself… :)

Lets talk about it then. Like the previous flicks of the Akhtar Bro-sis Combo, one very strong point in the movie is the consummate star-cast that doesn’t waver a single bit throughout the 170 mins that the movie runs.

The reason why they made this movie as also why I wanted to see it, was obviously the expectation to engender and witness respectively, the magic created in the aforementioned flicks.

But yaar, magic doesn’t happen as a rule. It definitely didn’t happen here. Even the music was utterly unimpressionable and the songs [except the title track which comes only in the end when we are in the process of leaving the hall moving cautiously towards the radiant “Exit” signs…..all our senses alert, directed towards preventing ourselves from stumbling in the darkness n falling flat on our faces. :)))] were nothing but a painful impediment in the flow of the story.

I for one would have shelved it as an okay one time watch, but contrary to that here I am, writing about it.

Why? I ask myself…

There was something, which intrigued me, and I was at the risk of getting my intractable pain abdomen back if I didn’t come here and talk to you about it. :)))

Lets start with the good things first. As I said the movie rested on the strong shoulders of its awesome cast, especially Ranveer. PC babe, Shefali, Farhan all were par excellence. Priyanka and Ranveer as brother-sister too came on as pro. For Shefali to play Priyanka’s mom and for Priyanka to play Ranveer’s sister were gutsy decisions which the ladies pulled off flawlessly.  

Anil Kapoor was also very endearing. I am sure he was having difficulty stopping himself from dancing and jumping with a shove of his hair, screaming ‘Jhakkaas’or managing so very little body movement all through the movie. :)))

Zoya had to manage a Celeb Cast of 25 people, crew of 150, all of the heavy duty equipment with THE Bull Mastiff on board the cruise where in they spent a month and a half to complete the shoot. The idea of cruise and the narration of the story with Aamir Khan’s voice-over, was refreshing. Yu ki Mediteranian me tairte tairte movie banaa daali :)))

Ranveer surpassed himself with his subtle and accurate performance. He and Anil Kapoor were in a mutual admiration club, sticking together so much during the shoot so as to make the women folk jealous. :) Ranveer says he wanted to become a ‘Hero’ as a child, and for him the definition of Hero was Anil Kapoor. :)

What actually hit me was the picture of the modern age human behaviour and mentality that stared at me blatantly through the screen. Is it what we have in store for us? Is the society going to be this way? And believe me, though the reviews call it the story of a dysfunctional Punjabi family, I found it completely contrary. They were a very normal-for-the-present-times family.

You’d be shocked and may probably even laugh if you see Ranveer touching the feet of his parents in the movie. In the garb of modernization, open-ness, ‘individual space’, are we sadly enough walking back towards the stone age? Is it not prudent to have a certain degree of mutual respect rather than speaking out your mind all the time? I don’t know…..

I felt proud for a moment, of Indian culture and human values that have been inculcated into us since ages, and felt sad in anticipation and fear of it all getting lost eventually. We are probably the last generation following those social and family norms. I hope I am wrong. :( The movie clearly projects the confusion, chaos and clashes between the old and the new school of these norms.

Achchha lemme give u a simile. Lemme take you back in time….

Remember Bapu’s 1983 movie “Wo Saat Din”? It is such a relief when Padmini decides to carry on with her marriage. Aur door kyu jaanaa, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 1999 super-flick, ‘Hum dil de chuke sanam’?? I am sure most of the women audiences would’ve come out of the halls with tears of relief and ‘Awww’ seeing Aishwarya back with Ajay Devgan. 

Here we see Priyanka wanting a divorce on grounds of ‘incompatibility’ and we are convinced she should get the divorce asap. And why not? Everyone has a right to decide who he/she wants to spend his/her life with.

Par baba is sab me bahut locha ho raha hai. Tu nahi aur sahi…aur nahi aur sahi…is this ok? :)

Fir what is right what is wrong? Bheri bheri dipphicult to decide you see…. :/

In the process, one thing is clear though, that relationships are becoming flimsy, our tolerance is decreasing….we are less ready to work hard on keeping the relationships alive and run for easier options like freeing ourselves out of it. But we forget what this will lead to as regards the social framework in the long run.

Apna and the future generations for that matter, ka toh toh ab Bhagwan hi maalik hai bhau, nai kya? :) yu ki Global Warming jitna vadda issue hai ye toh :/

Khair mai bhi kahaa ki kahaa pahuch jaati hu, by God ki kasam!! :)

Its safer to just take everything as it comes.

And ofcourse,

Har dil dhadakna chahta hai,

Toh

Har Dil Dhadakne Do…… :)

So people, go watch the movie and enjoy!!

Lots of luv from me here at Page-3!! Cheerio….byebye….and ‘Take gud care of yourself’- Amitabh ishtyle :)

'Pk'….err...'Piku'… :)

PK…..err….Piku… ‘light’ ‘comedy’ ‘family-drama’?!!

Hi wonderful people,

Howz mid summer treating you? Hotly of course :)))

Abhi kya hua naa, ki after ‘Pk’, now Bollywood decided to ‘treat’ us Indian audiences with ‘Piku’ by the Director of ‘Vicky donor’, Shoojit Sirkar.

When I first heard that a movie was coming on floors with a name like this and starring all my favourites, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika and Irrfan…it obviously got me awaiting in earnest. I happily started researching more about what its going to be.

I came to know, it would be a ‘light-hearted’ ‘comedy’ ‘family-drama’, wherein Amitji and Deepika are playing a Bong father-daughter duo and Irrfan her love interest. It was supposed to be a flick much like the Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies in the past. Wow, so far so good. Chupke Chupke was already running in my mind. I readied myself for a feast, completely appeasing my emotional thirst and tickling the laughter-centre in my brain, leaving me ROFL [Roll Over the Floor Laughing] all through the movie. After all, all three of them are perfectly capable of that, nai kya? :)

Aur uspe the Bangla backdrop was a welcome atmosphere for me where I expected the girl to be very well educated and liberated in tune with the present times. Ab imagine two Bong women in conversation…..in….err….cordial conversation I mean, :), it sounds so musical nai? ‘Hain, kee holo…?’ ‘Bolbe naa kee?’ ‘Kamon ashen?’ ‘kaino…?’ ‘Jol khobe kee…?’ [pardon my mistakes]

oh I just luv it. :)

Aur uske bhi upar se, Amitabh, jinki ‘Biwi’ khaalis Bong ho, he must toh relish the tone and slangs in Bangla having lived all his life with his wifey and sasural wale!!  :))))

Toh bhaiya, I was in eager anticipation and 8^th of May seemed so far away it was very discomforting for me.

Aur maloom? Just for the records, when Bachchan saab cycles through Kolkata streets the cute little girl that we see from the window playing harmonium is Shoojit Sirkar’s daughter…..her debut in bollywood movies :)

In the process of killing the time lapse, I even saw the 1980 short film by Satyajit Ray himself, called Pikoo starring Aparna Sen and Victor Bannerjee. It was a very intense story, true to the maestro Ray himself. It had so much to say, if I start, it would take a whole book to speak about it…so I would leave it at that saying, ‘its beyond the scope of this write-up’ as of now. The only thing I would mention here is that it was very saddening…..seeing the lonely old grandpa dying of heart attack when he couldn’t reach the bed switch of his alarm bell put up to call his aide in case he required something. I sighed in relief that at least this modern Piku would be a comedy, leaving me fresh and light headed when I am done watching it.

Finally the D-day arrived… ‘Piku’ was released….and I did watch it….from begininning to The End…..

Then? Fir kya?

Did it not give the best ever performances by the three main leads?- It did….they were in their acting best.

Did it not have instances of making you ROFL?- It did….the comic timing, superb expressions and spontaneous dialogues of Amitabh , the flawless performances of Deepika, Irrfan and Maushmi were very much there.   

Did it not grab a whopping 25 Crore in the opening weekend? – It did,

Was the music not up to the mark? – It was…

Then again I asked myself,

‘Fir tujhe problem kya hai Devi?’ :)))

Why was I not happy?

Why was I not satisfied, neither emotionally nor psychologically?

Why did I feel disappointed?

I pondered…..

I had read, it was a ‘light’ movie…I felt it was far from it, it was a strong satire and very heavy on my head.

I had read it was a ‘family drama’ showing the realistic status of a family. Oh c’mon, give me a break….is this the way the family members communicate in a family? Piku’s daily conversations with her father, with the taxi drivers, with Irrfan…even daily behaviour and interactions of Irrfan with his mother and abandoned sister, when its clearly specified in the movie that both Bhaskor and Rana are feminists and respect women….can we call it all normal? Just imagine what kind of place would the world be if such is the scenario in each and every family?

The so called perfect, liberated, modern daughter is cribbing all the time, shown like a martyr sacrificing her life for her own father, while she works, boozes, moves about in a taxi [no hassles of public transport] has a full time maid and a male aide for the old father….and still they share a single solitary smile in the entire movie when they sing a bangali song!! 

 I was forced to ponder, is it some favour that the children do, when they look after their old eccentric parents? And if this is the justified status then how can we blame a daughter in law or son in law, who have to look after their ailing saas ans sasur [fathers and mothers in law] for anything that they do or do not do. What to talk of those old parents and parents in law who cant go to the proper washrooms for their basic needs.....

India is still a country where parents respected and loved. Being liberated doesn’t justify any change from this.

The way Irrfan falls for her, the way her colleague Jisshu waits on her….all this is illogical in practicality. Irrfan, the cab owner, going out of the way to drive them to Kolkata just doesn’t happen in reality. 

The relation between the old man and his male-maid is much better in comparison. He stands outside the washroom making the verbal atmosphere with ‘Sssssssssssss’…….. while his master pisses. He wakes up first when his master nearly dies the morning after he gets filthy drunk, calls for Piku since 4 am in the morning but she doesn’t wake up. When she reaches her father’s bedside, the Doctor has already seen and treated him being called by the nauker. I am disappointed :/

I am again forced to ponder, when the real daughter is so uncomfortable what Is the motivation behind that servant loving and behaving well with the master? I am disappointed :/

Amitabh is at his acting best no doubt but his Bangla words and slangs are loud and overdone. I am disappointed :/

The music is good I agree, but apart from the peppy Sunidhi number, rest all four songs seem to be just a continuation of a single one….found it hard to differentiate one from the other. They are very soulful with nice voice of Anupam Roy who has done the composing, writing and voicing in this film, first Hindi movie for him….but somehow they seem inconsequential……the contexts could easily go without a song interspersed. They did not get their due worth. I am disappointed :/

I am sad, that I am disappointed. I wanted to love the movie. But again I ask myself, isn’t it getting rave reviews? Mera thoda alag hai toh kya hua? :)

Toh sau baat ki ek baat….. “Afwaho pe mat jao, apni akal lagao”

Go watch it for yourself and decide what its worth. I did. You do too. :)

Aur fir apan fir mileinge…..ek aur Bollywood movie ke saath Chai pe charcha karte huye…

Tab tak khush rahiye, muskurate rahiye….

Love, Laugh and Live to the fullest….till we meet again…

Bye, Tata, cheerio from me here at Page-3 :)

Badla-pur?!! :)

“The axe forgets…

But the tree remembers………”

Hi my tiddlee-om-pom-poms…

Sunday’s here again and Rajni sar’s testing his pichkari….rains all over the place on the first day of March…lo kallo baat!! Hain jee!! Kuchh bhi!! :)

Asal me kya hua, ki kuchh din pehle again a couple of songs caught my attention like, ‘jee karda’ and ‘jeena jeena’ featuring Varun Dawan. Then as usual my curious dimaag got me to research about wat the movie was and when was it expected to release.

But all my expectations dashed and crashed when I came to know of the name….It was “BADLAPUR” !!

“Badla-pur”??!! what kind of a name was that? I mean, so very “Mayapuri-ish” nai?!! :)))

No baba, I am not going to waste my time on such a seemingly mediocre movie…I said to myself. But again listening to and viewing those songs, I realized that apart from the high energy and melodious music there was an intensity and a peculiar mystery that came along. Alright, these things set the movie apart for me and I decided to see it afterall, despite the qualms about the name that lingered on, but I would take the risk I thought…at least I’ll be treated with good music, if not anything else. :)

And finally I made it…..

It commenced….and….and….OMG!! Had it not been for dear life I would have stopped breathing altogether…..for fear of distraction from the ongoing high momentum saga….the thrill, the speed, the screenplay…..

The beauty was….generally in movies the suspense about the murderer is revealed only in the climax, but here, we know it all very very clearly right from the beginning….who killed, how n why he killed!! Aur maze ki baat, Only the audience knows!! Not even the characters in the story!! Imagine!! and the title too very clearly tells us it’s a revenge saga. Still….despite all this, the thrill isn’t lost!! “ab kya hoga!!”….all the while we are kept asking this question!!

I was Not allowed to make up my mind about anything baba!! Who is the Hero? Who is the Villian? Whats gonna happen? Whats this all about? :)

Good isn’t good enough and Bad can be fairly good…..!!

Hats off Mr Sriram Raghavan for this brilliant cinematic megafeast!! :) He knows exactly what he is doing and like the Pied Piper, we play with our heads and hearts to his tune in totality. :)

I was loving it. I thanked God giving me the soundness of mind to understand this phenomenon, running in front of my eyes. I was shocked, surprised, amazed…I cried, I laughed, I smiled…. :)

I mean, it was too good to be true. The performances were perfect…whether it was Kanchan[Arpita Apte], Yami, Divya Datta or the private detective [Ashwini Kalsekar] or may be Laik’s mom [Kumud Mishra]

…..just observe the subtle perfection in Vinay Pathak’s movements, his body language, his expressions!!! 

Huma Qureshi was more of a looker than any consequence in acting….she did well in whatever capacity her character let her to.

The Stars all along were Nawazuddin Siddiqui n Varun Dhawan. Nawaz takes away the limelight from Varun so many times yet varun surpasses himself with his acting prowess. The sheer transformation from a chocolaty “oh so cute” boy to a hard hitting man who could be brutal to the hilt, hell bent on revenge at any cost, something a bit like what we witnessed with Ranbir in Rockstar.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui!! My God…what can I say about him in this film….it was totally his movie…..He is ruthless, He is sly, He is disgusting and despicable….and then he luvs, his bond with his mom and girlfriend, and then he tries to do good in the end…in that utterly unexpected climax…superlative!!

Yes, for Raghavan to work without restrains, and to push a few boundaries, this movie had to be ‘A’ rated. 

And yes, this movie did actually get me to the edge of the seat most of the time…in literal sense…. :)

So people….do take out time, see the movie and experience it in your own individual way because each of us are bound to have an impact distinct and discrete to ourselves, very different from the rest!! :)

Would love to know your views….

Till then, its bye bye…tata…."Happy Holi" from me here at Page-3!! :)

"Piddly si baatein…!!" :)

Piddly si baatein……

The Television was on….I was walking by….when something hit me…..

 The words, The song….The voice…and…ahem…The Location!! :)

….The Words….catchy, uncommon, evoking curiosity….

….The Song….softly foot tapping music, one that you can sing along with, better than raw rap, soothing to senses I must say :)…

….The Voice…that is one in a billion and can be recognized by any Indian anywhere on the globe. Of course, of course, belonging to who other than the Bollywud Yugpurush, Amitabh Bacchchan. :)

….The Location- ye sabse khatarnaak ha bhailog…Amitji is sitting on The Seat [aasaan bhaasha me…err..Commode!!!]….yes that’s exactly where he is…singing this song, using the Hand-shower as Mike!!! :))))

Lo bolo…hai naa khatarnaak!!!! :)

Amitji says, its this very auspicious seat, ye wo mahaan singhasan hai, that when we sit on, we get all the goodh-gyaaan ki baatein and all sorts of introspections, retrospections etc etc etc coming clearly to our heads………..oh dear!!! :) fir kya bol sakte hain :))))

Bas fir kyat tha, meri restless page-3 aatma se nikal aaya ye [P]review….:)

[P]review, because the movie is yet to be released…on the 6^th of Feb ie…but, yu ki,  sochne wali baat ye hai ki, tab tak rukti toh pet me dard naa hone lagta bhalaa? :))))

Ab aap poochhoge, ki ye Piddly Piddly kya hai, ye Piddly Piddly?

Haan haan poochho poochho…bindaas!! :)

See there are two schools of thought going for the meaning of this slang ;)-

-According to our Amit ji, it means ‘susu jaane ka urge’, haan bhai, he himself said it!! :)

-According to the writer-director R Balki it means trivial, common-place, aiwayi…. :)….maslan, “Piddly see baatein manje, chhoti-moti baatein…”

Chaliye ab zaraa song se hat kar Movie per se pe concentrate karte hain!!

This song belongs to the upcoming R Balki’s,

AMITABH Bacchan-REKHA,

Southie superstar and RAJANI SAAR’s Damaad, DHANUSH,

Kamaal Haasan’s daughter, AKSHARA [who is debuting with this high voltage movie] starrer… “Shamitabh”!!

Ab bolo bhalaa…. Amitabh Bachchan, REKHA!! Rajanikanth, Kamaal Haasan, Dhanush [of Kolaveri fame hereabouts]….Soooo many biggies…associated with one movie!!! Gazzab naa?!! :)

Ab ek aur mazedaar baat batau?...the music in this movie is given by none other than the legendary Ilayaraja saar!!! See I don’t blame you Bollywoodies, if you do not know the greatness of this great person….I’ll let you into the league…he is revered down south as a maestro…

Recently, at the trailer launch the team celebrated and felicitated him for completing no less than…100 aur ek aur zero….ie 1000 movies down south!!!!!

….Kamaal haasan n Rajani Saar declared to have done more than 100 movies with Ilayaraja sir!! Kamaal haasan went on to say how he snatched the event as an opportunity to ‘hug’ Ilayaraja sir, while felicitating him….and how Ilayaraja sir had converted all the songs of one of Kamaal Haasan’s movies that were very ordinary into sure shot hits just by changing the music of them all with absolutely no rerecording. ab samjhe? :)

Pataa hai kya, the gorgeous multitalented Shruti Haasan [kyu naa ho…akhir Shruti jo hai!! ;) ]has done the playback on a peppy, quirky, trendy song for the movie….is song ki ek khaasiyat ye bhi hai, ki it has a female voice playing at the back, Dhanush the Hero performing in it….and so very unlikely for Bollywood…he doesn’t lip-sing, sacchi!!!!! :)…..its really Stereophonic Sannata going all strong there. :)))

Ab wo baat, jiske liye you must all be waiting restlessly…I mentioned the name of none other than Rekha, twice earlier….YES, she IS in the movie!! Though not paired with Amitabh sadly, she’s in a cameo role there and that too with Dhanush!!....siiigh :((

Fir bhi hum toh isi me khush hain ki dono ek hi movie me hain toh kum se kum….ab dekhiye naa, if you ask either, “kya aap Shamitabh me kaam kar rahe ain?” toh dono kaa answer sau fee sadi “Haan”hi aayega, nai kya? ;)

Aur batau…..

Ek minute….kahi aap bore toh nahi ho rahe naa?....nahi hona pleeease….kyuki mai jab tak poori gaathaa bol nai lungi, mere pet me dard hota rahega….aur abhi toh picture release hogi….uske baad fir pet dukha toh? :)

Haan toh mai keh rahi thi ki, thoda newbie cutie pie Akshara ke bare me bhi…while the movie was being made, Balki says he chanced upon her he says he weaved a character around her and she became the Third ‘Hero’ of the movie!!!!!!

She is cute, a bit tomboyish and I get a fair impression why Balki took her for that particular role and I am very sure she’ll be exceptional in it….aur picture release hone ke baad mai pakka bolungi…“Dekkhaa, mai naa keti thi?!!” :)

Akshara says she’s a huge fan of Shahrukh!! Lo bolo Amitji ke saath picture kisi ko mile and she goes gaga over SRK!! Hey Prabhu, ajab teri duniya…gazab tere khel!! :) 

Waise pata hai kya, Akshara ke dil ki hote hote reh gayi!! The role of Dhanush was first offered to SRK himself, but he had qualms about the screen space that he would get in the [omni]presence of Amitabh himself. Sahi bhi hai…at least mai toh srk ki taraf dekhtitch bhi nahi!! :)))

When asked about Kolaveri D and him being a vocalist, Dhanush says he is no singer nor does he want to pursue it professionally. Kolaveri D was an accident and could happen to anyone. Luckily it happened to me. :)

He has copied his Sasurji Rajni Saar’s mannerisms in the movie though that he says we’ll understand after seeing it first hand. Aise vishaalkaay sasurji hone se toh mannerisms apne aap hi aa jaate honge, nai kya? ;)

Aur pata hai…even before the starting of its shooting, Balki and Amitabh did the sound recording of the entire movie….and then after the shooting was over, they did the whole recording all over again!!! Such is the consistence, dedication and resilience of great people!! :)

Talking about the story…the title itself tells it all…..

‘dhanuSHAMITABHbachchan’!!!! :)

Dhanush is Backed by Amitabh Bachchan!! :)

R Balki says he was on his way to Amitji’s house on his birthday when he got stuck in traffic, and in that one hour he conceived this story…so instead of a formal gift he whispered tis story to Big B’s ears and thus Shamitabh came into being!! Kaash sabko traffic me fase fase aise gazab ke khayaalaat aate!!:):)

In it, Dhanush plays a vocally-challenged guy, who is given the voice of Amitabh Bachchan making him a superstar. The stars shine till they are and work together and hell breaks loose when they get caught in ego clashes. Bole toh… “mai hi mai hu…mai hi mai hu…doosaraa koi nahi!” pulls them down.

This story goes on to prove, alone we are nothing…its with the help of many that we achieve what we do…hence we should always be grounded and never forget what others have done and are doing for us to help us stand where we are today!! Jai ho!! :)

Chalo bhai log, bol bol ke thak gayi….now toh I am waiting…haath maste huye…the release of Shamitabh…and what does it have to offer us Bollywood lovers!!

Aap sab bhi dekhna zaroor and then we’ll meet again…

Till then, bye-bye, tata, Ram-Ram, take care, cheerio….from me here at Page-3!!

Keep smiling :)

  

O M G!!

15th Oct 2014

.....exactly one month today....

One month, ie 4 weeks, ie 30 days.....

...From 15th Sept...the day, when God decided to click on the "Pause" icon....in our smoothly running life....and then to click the "slow motion" !!

O Lord Almighty!! 

I love You.... I know You are with me....near me....all the time!!

I am sorry for what I made you go through!! The dilemma that I put you in, because You luved me, because You hate to see me suffer!!

But my Karma had it all in store for me....How could you change that?!

Still You went out of Your rule-book and cushioned me....made sure that I suffered the least....

I pondered all these days as I shall continue in future too....thinking mode....introspecting....

One fine day,

we both lay there....in our fowler beds....the door lock of our room got stuck....it could be opened only from inside....oh how very easy it was a few days back...but now?!

We panicked !! Family and staff panicked outside our room!! There was commotion as the spare key bunch was frantically searched for.

It was strange...it was shocking...we both lying there...helpless...

I had kept a spare key securely, called up papa because it was impossible to let my voice heard sensibly in that chaos and discord. Thankfully i had my celfone with me. Tried calling up papa.....he didnt answer.....

probably in his hurry, he had left it in his room....

As a last ditch effort i called him as loud as i cud, to get his mobile....

He heard!! :) then i called and directed him step by step towards where the key was...

He got it....the door was opened...

Innumerable such experiences....making us think even harder....

We were gud ppl, weren't we?! Yet this happened to us. But are we complaining? Absolutely not!! 

Why? Simply bcoz we were left with so much more...to cherish....to use...in our new life....in being still better persons.

God saved us fr a reason. He had things in his mind for us to do....the rest of my new life is now gonna be this quest. The quest to decipher his biddings and act the way He has chosen for me to....

I am sure, we'll not let Him down....we'll triumph!! 

...amen.