Movie review: oohalu gusagusalade 2015

Happiness and a good sense of light heartedness (?) (not sure if that is an appropriate expression): The feeling that you get when you watch a happy ending where the hero and the heroine are in love but are not able to express due to ego clashes or are either too shy or keep thinking will I lose her/him in case I propose or just for the heck of it but finally unite through some twists and turns. Watched "Oohalu Gusagusalade" for the second time. Simple romance with a dash of embedded comedy, excellent expressions and taking to the edge the line of "I love you" but not really saying it out..a beautiful heroine (excellent choice of colourful sarees, elegance personified) and a smart hero, no villains and hence no fights, soulful music, an earthly plot. Some other movies that fall in similar genre that I liked Godavari, Uyalla Jampala, Anand, 7G Brindavan Colony, Ye maaya Chesave, Ashta Chamma, Gundajari Gallantainde......

Movie Review: Kerintha Telugu 2015

Kerintha - 2015 Telugu: One song was all it took to pique my otherwise dormant interest in this film. The trailer playing since the past few days on the Telly aroused expectations of yet another "light hearted" (please see my post of Oct 4th) evening. 15 minutes into the movie brought me to a great realization. Not all "feel fresh, nice color tone" kind of movies are good, not all happy happy college friends stories are good, one good song does not make the movie good and so on. Far from being light hearted, I cursed the story writer..not an iota of thought towards realism. Ofcourse, movies are not supposed to be real but good movies are those that are adept at being close to the make-belief. Some snippets of how idiotic the writer and the movie maker can get:
Flash back - A tiny forgettable fellow, can't really see the road once in the car seat dons an oversized coat, sports expensive gogs, projected as an achiever in the Corporate world, starts narrating in an extremely irritable tone his college reminiscences. 2 years ago, the screen reads...Start of the academic year, 3 guys and 3 girls with completely uncommon interests become thickest of friends. How?? I am still wondering.
Just a few Un-realisms:
1) Where the hell is a University where students graduate in just an year??
2) An overprotective well educated mother believes that her son is studying MCA whereas the guy is actually attending MA Music. The overprotective mom, herself an academician maintains a overly strict regimen on her son so much so that she taunts him on why he returned 15 mins late from college. Will such moms not go to the college to enquire how her son is doing or check mark sheets??
3)Wow, the college does not have classes nor lecturers in any of the frames. There are just a bunch of college going lads and girls shouting.."Hey", "hi" and that's all??
4)One of the sophisticated girl falls in love rather inexplicably with a village bumpkin whose aim is life is to patao girls in a cosmopolitan city. This guy can't even speak properly, terribly irritating getting on nerves character, has not one good thing to write home about and yet, this sophisticated girl is lovey dovey on him.
I sometimes wonder, how stupid do people get to put their money on making such movies, where does the little iota of common sense get hidden during these times. What is it that they are teaching the younger generation through this medium. #%#&#^@$%$^&&**#$% (My famous expletives - not being translated here for obvious reasons)
I am giving a one star for this movie. The lone star is for the song remember. It goes Mila Mila Mila....

The incredible “Red Bus” luxury Express journey

Cock a doodle dooo…the morning in Shirdi dawned as the 2 of us quickly showered, got our “special” darshan pass ready, checked out of the hotel and strode towards the temple. The plan was to 1) pay our obeisance, 2) have a quick bite comprising vada pav, usal pav, 3) down 2 or maybe 3 special masala chais (given my unending love for this brown water thingy), 4) shop for the yummm dudh peda, 5) walk through the by lanes and the small market chaos towards the main road, 6) thumb lift for one of the umpteen Pune bound Volvo busses and 7) reach Meherabad, Ahmadnagar some 95 kms away.
The going was good and we completed the 5th milestone post a little more than a heavy breakfast. The watch claimed the time to be 10:12. Great, I reckoned pretty smug that the going was being perfected to the plan. The sun was up. We were directed to walk down the road to ST (State Transport) bus stand where Volvo busses would pick up travelers. 10:20 the watch showed. Soon it was 10:30 and then 10:47. The sun was beating down on us now while we saw a couple of Maharashtra red busses emerge from the ST stand and go past blowing soft sand into our faces. A few coughs later, we realized about the missing Volvos. Throats parched, we decided to take the next best alternative. We trudged into Maharashtra State bus stand, while one of the busses was just about reversing out of the platform. Phirrrrrrrrrr Phiirrrrrrrr was the shrill noise that fell on our ears. “Kutehe” (Where) shouted the man in Khakis, removing the whistle from his mouth. Nagar, I shouted back over the din. A loud thunk on the bus, stopped it, and we were ushered in. The bus appeared full with many men wearing the whitest of the white shirts and trousers, a cap adorning their heads. The ladies in their cottony dark shades were busy conversing while settling down. A few strange quizzical looks welcomed us. Perhaps, thinking, what this neatly dressed folks are doing in a bus like that !!. Luckily for us there were seats, the last row it was while we sat down on the not so leathery seats, the coconut straws peeking out of the torn seats pinching through the trousers a bit. An Express luxury service the writing on the bus proclaimed that I noticed while clambering on. Alright, I thought, so much for the luxury…let me experience the “Expressness” of the services.
Soon enough, the rattling started. The windows went rattle, rattle, rattle. I was sure that the bus was keeping its “Express” reputation intact and presumed that we were doing 90 kms an hour only to realize a few slower vehicles go past us. I realized that the incessant rattling of the windows added to the notional “speedy” feeling. The flow of air was good, the whiff from the sugarcane fields felt divine. My keen observations into the environs I was in was broken when the conductor came over thrusting his hands shouting “Teeekets”. A 100 Rupee note is what I gave him said “Doan paije, Nagar” recollecting some of my chaste Marathi. “Ankhin Shambhar kada” I was asked with a rather scornful dismissive look. I gave him another 100 and waited. 2 teekets, he thrust into my waiting hands and left. I was expecting some change back, but a quick look into the Marathi numbers on the ticket, left me aghast. Rs. 98 one way !!! My jaw dropped. When did tickets become so expensive, I thought. Highway robbery, I say !!!. I quickly came to and realized how cut off I was from the current times.
80 mins into the journey, we covered a paltry 51 kms distance, when the bus pulled into Rahuri bus station. A glee broke onto our faces. Kheeras, Bhel, parle biskeets, water botttals, time pass moong phallis greeted us. The greedy us bought one of each. A few of the passengers de-boarded while a few walked in. I noticed a burly looking lady walk right upto where I was sitting and said sternly..”Tikde Sarka” (move over) and before I adjusted myself, she plonked herself on my reasonably thin frame. I wailed and let out a soft cry…cursing under my breath while my wifey couldn’t control letting out a grin.
A good peek into a different world it was. We felt pretty good at the end of it, experiencing something different from routine. I still carry the memories of this trip 2 years later. A subtly romantic one I must say…..

An Extraordinary Man who influenced millions and one (Me!)

Belgium…Brussels it was “to be precise” my destination.  When I told my mom that I will be off to Belgium for a week, she had a “Now where in the world is it”..kind of expression and immediately connected it to glass and recounted memories of how her ancestral home had windows made of Belgian glass whereas I mapped it to Georges Remi aka Herge and his inimitable characters, the best amongst them the “Thousands of Blue Blistering barnacles, pithecanthropus, Ectoplasms, Zapotecs…” fella, the most adorable, cutie, cutie, occasionally drunk fox terrier and the lovable Belgian reporter..Ring a bell??  Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock of course.

So I stole a couple of hours from my work and rode a 38 kms journey from Brussels Nord station into the heart of the Herge Museum.  Being overwhelmed would be an understatement, by what I learned of the man behind the characters and the comic.  Born in 1907 in what those days would have been a nondescript village outside Brussels, with humble middle class beginnings, he rose to put a cheer on millions across the world.  From his universe of this small place and his little exposure, he dreamed of characters, of situations, of plots to pen down and draw some of the most diverse and unique images that one felt that they were living the stories.  I got to know that he created the comic twins Thompson and Thomson based on his own relatives.  His father and his brother.  The term “To be precise” was used by his uncle and this found way into his books.

Let me not get into the technicalities of his works, but what struck me most was his imagination into the future.  Would you believe that “Destination Moon” and “Explorers on the Moon” were published 2 decades before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon!!  You will notice that the space ships built and the equipment donned by Tintin and others were almost close to the actual used in 1969!!!  Wow, I thought.  Come the 2nd World War, Herge was pushed into exile, fearing an arrest by the Gestapo.  He and his small company ran out of ink, but yet, he put the pencil to use and sketched.  And this is where his greatness comes to light.  While Belgium and the world was reeling under the German onslaught, the concentration camps, he took a different route of providing comic relief by casting Tintin as an explorer rather than an adventurer.  He took the readers into China, into Egypt created several other characters diverting thoughts from the tragic events that were being faced.  Yes, I learnt several other aspects of this man and his thoughts.  The net is a good provider of such information, I am sure.

For me, this was a dream trip.  A trip back into my childhood.  Images of me all of 10 years, dodging some sparse traffic making my way to the dinghy comic book rental store, on the Station Road, besides the Madras Café in Baroda every Saturday to pick up the next one and the next and the one after that came fore.  Those were the days of Tintin, those were the days of the Asterix and Obelix of Commando, those were the days of Hardy Boys (Frank and Joe), and Alfred Hitchcocks’ Three Investigators.  I am sure you will connect with evidence posted in the form of pictures taken at the Museum.  The broad grin on my face gives it up.  The usual reticent me, spent, 10 minutes speaking to the lady at the Museum relic shop, taking her through my journey with Tintin.  Oh another diehard fan she thought a bit amused and bewildered.  Did I bring something back?  Yes, Snowy it was and a couple of folders.  I am planning to carry these folders to official meetings J………

Movie Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014, English)

Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014, English)

Simply put, it’s the story of Ramses and Moses.  And if you have seen “The Ten Commandments” already, then Exodus has nothing new to offer except that it is a paler version of the original.  Shot in 3D, in a much larger scale, Exodus flatters to deceive.  Watching the trailers led me to believe that I was about to witness a magnum opus with quite a bit of pulsating battle scenes where metal meets metal amidst thundering horse hooves and an absorbing background score.  I was looking forward to intense exchanges between the protagonists.  Alas, the movie meandered into many a silence moments and appeared to drag in places.  And since it was the story of Moses, predictability of what’s going to happen next became a given.  As with respect to SFX, except for the parting of the Red sea there is nothing much to write home about.  Having said this, the last 10 minutes of the movie beholds the spectacle that is uniquely created and is certainly worth a mention.  Christian Bale (Moses) and Joel Edgerton (Ramses) are no comparison to the intensity that Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner (of the 1956, “Ten Commandments” fame) brought in.  No screen presence at all.  I would like to compare this with the electrifying performance of Russell Crowe in Gladiator.  The reference in here, since, the Director, Ridley Scott is a common denominator.

On a lighter note, amusingly, I was drawn into a comparison of my daily work life.  There is a General (read “Project Manager”) leading a bunch of slaves (read “Team Members”) extracting every ounce of flesh and blood at a far location (read “client site”) and the Kings rep (read “Delivery Excellence Auditor”) is sent to inspect how the Project is coming up.  The Kings rep (the auditor) demands, documents, project plans, authorizations on excess money spent, approvals from the King on deviations conducts a few slave interviews and threatens to report the project as an abject failure.  The General meanwhile pleads and counters, “I do not have skilled manpower, the resources are scarce, there are no tools to automate, the environs are harsh and hence the delays on Project Delivery....”  Sounds familiar ??? -J.

On the rating part now, would give it a 3 out of 5 and would not put it on a “Must Watch” list on the big screen.

Movie Review – Loukyam (Telugu, 2014) Starring: GopiChand, Rakul Preet, Pragathi Mahavadi

Movie Review – Loukyam (Telugu, 2014) Starring: GopiChand, Rakul Preet, Pragathi Mahavadi

An out and out entertainer with Brahmi as one of the central characters.  And when Brahmi is in…will others matter much?  Yes, they do in this flick.  The central theme is not much to write home about as it gives a sense of déjà vu…been there seen that.  No twists, no turns, a little bit of flash back…2 Reddy families battling it out for something that is passe....Reddy 1s  sister wants to marry Reddy 2…but you Reddy 2 does not want because of abc and def.  Reddy 1 takes objection and unleashes his side kicks on Reddy 2, Reddy 2 has another sister…enter Reddy 2s brother Reddy 3 and somewhere in this plot are thrown Brahmi and other comics.   A few fights, some tricky situations, some passable but not worth home to write about songs and lots of comedy mark this film.   Rakul Preet offers lots of eye candy moments…which may not go too very well with protective parents who would take their children along.   All in all a good refreshing movie…A 3.5 out of 5.  

Movie Review – Transformers 4 – Age of Extinction

Movie Review – Transformers 4 – Age of Extinction

Pre-scriptum – You will find this to be a rather long review…had to kill some time on this 2 hour flight from Kolkata to Hyderabad. So please be as patient as I have been while typing this out with lots of angst…

Expecting the expected, we trooped into the movie hall anticipating a good bit of metal rub metal, we have come here to help you humans, autobots…this bot…that bot, kind of imagery and audio-phonics. Was not one bit disappointed as the familiar magic began to unfold.  Pleasantly taken in on a slow but yet, entertaining story build up.  Presenting, a young barbie doll faced teenager and her over protective dad…No boy friends, no late night parties, no this no that, while our expression less doll goes around in her micros educating her dad about her being good and yada yada yada.....and you guessed it…with this familiar build up comes, surprise surprise…an existential boy friend J….surprise surprise…there will be dialogues later…with the Dad screaming a few words…thou shalt not touch my daughter…she is too very young…and surprise surprise…the boy wins over the Dad by saving him and his daughter from surprise surprise…the vagaries of some bang bangs and Governmental Agencies and the bad bad bots.  Hokay,  so far so good, the movie is moving the way you thought it would go…now this will happen and that is bound to happen..deja vu…I’ve seen this earlier…I can write this script and so very predictable…but where the heck are the bots ??? I need some action now…and lo…there you go…our good old Optimus Prime comes back to life.  The very very battered Prime (remember Transformers 3..almost beaten to pulp, sorry to metal sheets !!!) 40 minutes into the story, pop the bots and some more bots and many more bots and soon the screen is filled with some tall, some short, some new looking, some oldies..a bot here a bot there and a bot there and another bot to the left and they are everywhere !!!  Hokay, I’ve now gotten used to watching gigantic human looking metals in Transformer 1, 2, 3 (the degree goes up), Pacific Rim, a bit of Iron Man 1, 2, 3…and a host of others..High time, I stopped going to one of these kinds any more…Alright, I was waiting for a surprise element to make the story a tad more interesting.  Was looking for an estranged “Mom” to appear. You see, the dad and the barbie and the boyfriend…but where is the Mom??  Then I reckoned and thankfully felt…good No Mom lest I would have to make do with some more clichéd exchanges of “Honey”…”Sweetheart”….”I will be right back…” et al.  Anyways, back to the story or the lack of one…the bots are fighting with each other, rather mindlessly, some more bang bang, some more clunk, thunk, ding, doong, dhunks and while the screen lights up with some mega explosions, and the dolby system is put to sound test…courtesy the bad bots, our father dear, daughter dear and boy friend dear go unscathed..tut tut…they cannot die, fire cannot burn them, bullets cannot pierce them, bombs cannot blow them, smart and super duper senses laden dog-teligent creatures cannot find them ???  Come on give me a break…ZZzzzzzzzz…I slipped into a slumber…What the suddenly awakened by a bizarre sound…only to find some new bad bots beating the heroic Optimus Prime and his friends to mittens..Zzzzzzz…nudge nudge from my Son a while later exclaiming…Dad, when can we go home…while I  look over to my right only to find my spouse and daughter blissfully and oblivious to the madness and cacophonic eruption unfolding on the screen, asleep.  I felt sad, pity, remorseful for dragging them to this movie…The pain ended thankfully a long time later.  It was only 10 pm in the night and it was as if we had slept the entire night…I wondered why spoke aloud the question: “Where the heck are the bots?”

I guess you would have arrived at the verdict and the numbers by now.  Plusses, the first 30 mins of the movie 3.5 out of 5 and 1 out of 5 for the rest 4 hours.  Yes, the balance 1.x odd hours seemed to be like 4.  And the average 2 out of 5.  Go watch it if you want to catch up on sleep.  Thankfully, I did not get tickets in Prasadz Imax and the Atmos digital sound theaters, else,  I would have ended up with a megatronic ache in the head.  Extinction was the name of the movie…ha ha the Director has the last as he leaves behind a couple of transformers on mother earth for a Transformers 5. I can hazard a name.  Transformers 5 – Obliteration.  That is, was and will be the last of the Transformer movies for me.  I can tolerate no more lest I become extinct….Sigh !!!!