Midnight’s Children (2012)

I am a fan of Salman Rushdie’s writing and I am fond of Tinkerbells. Hence, when she asked me to do a review of the movie ‘Midnight’s Children’, I thought that I could use a diversion.

I remember finishing the book while on a train journey from Mumbai to Chennai - in 2002 and not 1999 as I originally told Tinkerbells. After three false starts, I read the book just before I joined b-school, and have vague recollections of the writing. I was travelling on my own, and my fellow passengers commented as to how I spent more time reading and less time talking.

Things haven't changed.

In February 2013, I watched the movie on my own and in a largely empty theatre. The few occupants were mostly foreigners or Indians who had lived / were living abroad. I got an aisle seat and was happy with the positive discrimination. I later noticed that there were atleast 3 more ladies who had come to watch the movie on their own.

The movie is faithful to the main story. What helps while watching this movie? For starters, reading the book will help. An understanding of India’s history is helpful. An appreciation for what happens when a person is forced to move sides because the country that once belonged to him doesn’t belong to him anymore, and what happens when you are not your parents’ child is useful. A liking for depictions of irony will help. If you dislike the idea of magic (and stories like Harry Potter), watching all the Midnight’s Children talking to each other might be bit much.

I remembered the description of Saleem Sinai’s grandfather, and found the casting of Rajat Kapoor as Aadam Aziz good. When his character ages, Shabhana Azmi plays his wife Naseem and I didn’t like her performance as much. Dal Lake looks real - I can't find any ready links as to whether film shooting was done on site.

Ronit Roy who plays Ahmed Sinai and Shahana Goswami (of ‘Rock On!!’ fame) who plays Amina Sinai were both well-cast. The break-up of Amina's first marriage is shown well. Amina’s sister Emerald (played by Anita Majumdar) was good, and her husband Zulfikar (played by Rahul Bose) was reduced to a caricature. I don’t know if this was deliberate – my memory of his character from the book eludes me.

Satya Bhabha who plays the protagonist Saleem Sinai has been panned by critics. His casting and acting worked for me because of the way he brought to life Saleem’s unsure body language, his Anglo-Indian parentage, his bewilderment at what happens to him and his love affair with Parvati. Also, his lack of height seemed to elevate his performance.

Parvati played by Shriya Saran was easily the best of the lot. The way she moved about in the dirty bylanes of Delhi with ease, and her comfort with her body was nice to watch. She played a magician, and she did well.

Soha Ali Khan plays Jamila Sinai, Saleem’s sister. She was aptly cast, and so was Seema Biswas as Mary the nurse who swaps the lives of two children – Saleem and Shiva. I remembered the descriptions of green chutney from the book, and was glad to find the chutney find its way into the movie.

This brings me to Shiva, played by Siddharth of ‘Rang De Basanti’ fame. He surprised me with his depiction of violence just via his body language, and was immensely watchable.

I didn’t like the portrayal of the Lady, played by Sarita Choudhury. There seemed too much effort with the movement of her jaw, and it came across as unnatural. What I liked was that there were no cuts introduced regarding this character. It serves as a reminder for me to read up a little more on Indira Gandhi.

Oscars 2013

As soon as I watched ‘Lincoln’, I predicted that Day-Lewis would win his third Oscar. Today, Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor Oscar for his performance in the movie. What makes it special – he became the first man to win three Oscars for acting. I am yet to write about the movie, and will do so sometime.

I had also predicted that Anne Hathaway would win the best supporting actress Oscar for her performance as Fantine in ‘Les Miserables’. She did. It is only a matter of time before she wins the best actress Oscar. I had once mentioned her here.

I am so thrilled that Adele won the best song Oscar for ‘Skyfall’. This morning, when I heard her perform, I had goosebumps. She has a mesmerizing voice.

Well deserved, all three.

Ghar Ho To Aisa (1990)

Bollywood in the ‘90s was full of stereotypes. The mother-in-law was evil personified, the sister-in-law was evil-trained and could take her place at short notice if required, and depending upon the story, the father-in-law would be a mute spectator or an abettor. There were multiple references to dowry and greed for money.

In “Ghar Ho To Aisa”, Meenakshi Seshadri’s Seema is an educated, rich, no-nonsense woman. Her poor friend from college Sharda (played by Deepti Naval) gets married into a family where the mother-in-law Durga (played by Bindu) and sister-in-law Kanchan (played by Rita Bhaduri) torture her. Durga has perfect control over her husband Ramprasad (played by Saeed Jaffrey), and her elder son. Sharda’s husband and Durga's elder son Vijay (played by Raj Kiran) is a bully who cannot stand up to his mother, and he proceeds to have an extra-marital affair. The affair receives full support from his parents and sister. Kanchan’s husband Bajrangi (played by Kader Khan) is a ghar-jamai and he is a mute spectator who doesn’t dare say anything against his shrewish wife.

Sharda receives support mainly from her brother-in-law Amar (played by Anil Kapoor). Seema gets married to Amar, and then proceeds to teach Durga and Kanchan the lesson of their life.

I was less than 10 years of age when I watched this movie, and remember being very impressed with Seema for standing up to her husband’s evil family. I also wondered as to why Sharda didn’t make a similar attempt.

Luckily, Seema and Amar remain married towards the end of the movie and therefore justify the title of the movie. Till date, real life doesn't mirror Bollywood and what one can wish for is Ghar Na Ho Aisa.

The movie is so old that it is freely available on YouTube. At 2:01:51, a scene starts where Kanchan and Durga plot to burn Seema’s hand. Watch how she thwarts their plan, and takes revenge of behalf of her friend.  

The first phone scene from ZNMD (2011)

This is my original review of the movie.

Arjun, Kabir and Imraan have started the road trip, and then Arjun (who is driving) gets a work-related call. Kabir makes a casual remark about why someone can’t throw Arjun’s phone away, and Imraan actually does so. He yanks at Arjun’s phone and throws it away in the midst of his call.

Arjun is furious, and then the fight starts. Unresolved feelings come up, and then Kabir steps in with his candid assessment of the situation, and of how Arjun and Imraan should deal with the situation as adults and not as children.

The way Arjun says that Imraan gets away with situations when he is always acting so cool / so fun to be with, and when he insists that Imraan has to apologise till the time the apology doesn’t stem from his heart is beautiful to watch.

Arjun's real demand from Imraan was a sincere apology and an acknowledgement of the cracks in their friendship. The fact that he is girlfriend-less or phone-less isn't as bothersome.

Nice going, Hrithik.

Pooja from Biwi No. 1 (1999)

I had watched this movie at home, and found it entertaining in the way David Dhawan movies can be. The songs were interesting, the actors played their roles well, and there was a happy ending. I added this movie to my list of Hindi-movies-with-sunshine-optimism. They don’t mirror reality.

Pooja (played by Karisma Kapoor) is a happily married housewife who takes pride in taking care of her husband, two children, her mother-in-law, the dog and the house. Her husband Prem (played by Salman Khan) gets bored of her goody-goody behavior and gets quickly attracted to a model Rupali (played by Sushmita Sen.) He starts spending more time with Rupali, and starts lying to Pooja.

When Pooja discovers the affair, she asks Prem to choose between her and Rupali. Prem chooses Rupali and moves in with her. His friend Lakhan (played by Anil Kapor) then steps in, gives Pooja tips on attracting her husband back, and she wins him over.

This is not the complete story.

Pooja actually takes Prem back – Rupali leaves Prem to go back to her boyfriend Deepak (played by Saif Ali Khan) and Prem is left alone. Pooja is the epitome of wifely sacrifice, and Prem the epitome of selfish behaviour. Sickening, both.

I wrote in my previous post that I believe the cheating spouse / spouse who emotionally abandons must be allowed to go away. This movie mirrors pretty much everything that I don’t believe in - the movie shows how physical attraction is more important than mental compatibility, how a sincere spouse who spends more time taking care of those at home is boring, how extroverted behavior is more deserving of romantic love, how emotional drama on part of the family will make the cheating spouse realise his mistake, and how husbands deserve complete trust and understanding irrespective of their behavior.

There were some nice moments. The mother-in-law (played by Himani Shivpuri) is good to Pooja and supports her instead of her errant son. The husband’s friend, Lakhan, helps Pooja tap into her self-confidence. I believe in the innate power of sincere (and direct) apologies and forgiveness, and it was good to see Deepak forgive Rupali. As for Pooja, she gets back to wearing glamorous clothes and shows off her perfect figure and dancing skills.

Life’s good when you rediscover yourself. 

Dev from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006)

I have written about extra-marital affairs in my other blog and am a firm believer that once there is an extra-marital affair, it is best to let the cheating spouse go, and officially declare emotional abandonment as unacceptable. The cheating spouse is unhappy in the marriage and it is unfair and mentally agonizing for the spouse who has been cheated to forgive the cheater. Granted that it cannot always be the case – there are families involved, and many times there are children as well – and a compromise towards maintaining peace is often reached. However, if there are no such ties involved, it is best to walk out.

One of the more dramatic movies made on extra-marital affairs is Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, and it was my first movie review. When I read it now, I realize that my opinion on Dev the ineffectual wimp hasn’t changed. The irony – Dev was played by the super successful Shahrukh Khan.

Rhea (played by Preity Zinta) is his hard-working and professionally more successful wife. Dev is emotionally unavailable to her and their son, and is a bitter man because he cannot play football anymore (post an accident) – and therefore doesn’t have a stable career.

There are several confrontation scenes between the two of them. In one of them, Dev wrongly accuses Rhea of taking up a more lucrative offer and being selfish regarding herself and her career, and doesn’t wait for her to announce that she has let the offer pass because it would mean uprooting their family.

There is another scene where Rhea declares to him that she wears the pants in the marriage, and that harsh truth leaves him shattered. He is forced to face his own incompetence, and is unable to deal with it in a constructive manner. The affair follows.

The scene where Rhea slaps him after getting to know about his extra-marital affair had left me with mixed feelings. She could have expressed her sense of betrayal with words? For instance, with something on the lines of, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Perhaps Rhea decided that it was no longer worth it to be reasonable with Dev.

With the wimp out of her way, Rhea then decides to focus on her son and her work – in that order. Her mother-in-law supports her, and stays back with her. She finds love again.

Priya from Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

I had earlier written about 'Dil Chahta Hai' in this post.

Remember Sameer's (Saif Ali Khan) girlfriend Priya (Suchitra Pillai)? She looks disgusted at having Akash (Aamir Khan) around her at all times when she is trying to have a snap clicked with Sameer at a party. She finds Akash's behaviour obnoxious when he randomnly goes and proposes to Shalini (Preity Zinta) at the same party, and then has a conversation with Sameer at the beach.

Watch the clip from 24 minutes 49 seconds till 30 minutes 49 seconds.

Priya asks Sameer to stay away from Akash, and issues an ultimatum. Sameer, who doesn't have the heart to break her heart – and loves his friend more than his girlfriend – struggles with the ultimatum. After all, why is he being asked to choose between his close friend and girlfriend?

He lands up at Akash's place for advice on how to deal with the situation, and doesn't realise when Akash starts making fun of him and his confusion. “Be a man” is great advice for someone who knows what he wants – not for a confused soul like Sameer.

Siddharth (Akshay Khanna) knows Akash well and asks Sameer what he wants to do. He helps Sameer relax. By then, Akash's charming speech has had its effect and Sameer is all set to be a man.

To make matters worse, Akash tells Priya when she calls for the second time that Sameer had not visited him that day. Priya loses her cool completely and breaks up with Sameer.

Sameer and Priya wouldn't have had a long lasting relationship because of the differences in their personalities – she is more aggressive and clear thinking when compared to him, and he is gentler and a people-pleaser. However, could their relationship (while it lasted) have been more peaceful if Akash wasn't confusing Sameer, or if he wasn't teasing Priya as much?