Rush (2013)

In the past 5 weeks, I have spent some time admiring two extremely good looking men. The second is Hrithik Roshan in Bang Bang, and the first is Chris Hemsworth in Rush. I have watched Chris in The Avengers, and he made for a perfect Thor.

Last month, I watched Rush again on television, and then thought about my incomplete post. I had watched Rush last year itself, soon after its release in India. That particular weekend was a great weekend – I had watched two biopics based on sports - I had watched The Fighter on television. As for Rush, since it is based on F1, I had wanted to watch it as soon as I could.

The sibling and I had spotted VJ Yudhishthir (Yudi) when we had gone to watch Rush. The minute James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) appeared on screen, I realized why Kimi Raikkonen considers him as an idol, and why his legend lives on - he is supposed to have slept with 5,000 women. In today's times, he would be considered a sex addict, and asked to go through de-addiction.

The movie paints the F1 circuit in a realistic and gripping manner, and credit goes to the director Ron Howard who has previously directed A Beautiful Mind. There are a few scenes that struck me as unreal, and the wikipedia entry shows that some scenes had been created specifically for the movie. For instance, the scene where James Hunt beats up the journalist who asks insensitive questions on the impact of Niki Lauda’s looks on his marriage.

This year, I realized the casting is perfect and the lead actors and actresses resemble the real-life characters. This link has more information, and I am going to post two pictures.

This is the real Niki Lauda and James Hunt.

This is a still from the movie.

I found it painful to watch the scenes post Lauda’s crash at Nurburgring, Germany. I shed some tears watching the scenes at the hospital, and when Lauda tells Hunt that while he was responsible for the crash in some way, he was equally responsible for getting him back to racing.

There is this exchange between James Hunt and his wife Suzy.

Suzy: Why have you come here, James?

James: To get you back.

Suzy: You don’t want me back...you never wanted to be married in the first place. You did it because you hoped it might change you...settle you down... help with the racing. Not because you loved me. And who knows, if it had been just the drinking, or the dope, or the infidelity, or the moods...it might even have worked...but when it’s all of them?

James: I know. I’m terrible.

Suzy: No, you’re not terrible. You’re just...who you are...at this point in your life. And God help anyone that wants more.

James: Will he be able to give you more? He has quite the bad boy reputation himself.

Suzy: What’s important is how it feels to me. And it feels like he adores me.

The real-life incidents are slightly different from what has been depicted. What would I have done if I were in Suzy's place - the movie character's place? If this question had been asked last year, my response would have been that I would not have gone skiing 'that weekend' with another bad boy. I would have just let some dreams die and reconciled for second best. Today, my response is that I would have first left Hunt and then gone skiing at a later date.

The references to rats are delightful, even though I am no fan of rats in real life. Lauda says, “Behind my back I know some of you guys call me ‘The Rat.’ Because I look like one. It’s meant as an insult. But I don’t mind it. Rats are ugly, sure. And no one likes them. But they’re intelligent. With a strong survival instinct.”

This remains one of the best movies I have watched.

Bang Bang! (2014)

When the movie title was first announced, I thought it was a silly name – even if it rightly gave the impression of several gunshots. I knew that it was a remake of Knight and Day, and the original movie hadn’t been a great watch, even though it starred Tom Cruise.

Then I saw this song, and got excited. I wanted to watch the song on the large screen.




The movie was released on October 2, 2014 – just at the start of the long weekend. I watched Hrithik Roshan, the lead actor, tweet about the #bangbangdare and I experienced a surreal moment when he was online past 2 a.m., at the same time as me. I am waiting for the day when one of these huge celebrities notice my tweet.

The movie was released and the reviews weren’t flattering, especially with reference to the storyline and the heroine Katrina Kaif. It left me disappointed. Nevertheless, I was happy that the movie started off strongly at the box office - it has now crossed over Rs. 300 crores overall.

This weekend, I wanted to take my parents out to watch a movie. I had already watched Haider (highly recommended) and Bang Bang! was the only other Hindi movie playing at the Chennai theatre we wanted to go to. Chennai has a ceiling on theatre ticket prices since 2007, and I knew that even if the movie was terrible, it would still not be a prohibitive watch.

As it turns out, the movie has not too much in common with Knight and Day. As for the flaws in the storyline, if I get into talking about them, the points that I wish to highlight would get lost.

Hrithik Roshan has the ability to play superhero, much like stars from Hollywood, and that’s no easy feat. His stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania has done wonders with his look for this movie too – she had earlier styled him in Dhoom 2. He carries off aviators extremely well (a silent nod to Tom Cruise and Top Gun?), his body is to die for and I welcome the sex appeal. If I go by his waist, he must be a lean man in real life, despite his muscles.

The scenes involving the flyboard have been shot extremely well. I was mesmerized when I watched them, and I later got to know that it is for the first time that scenes with a flyboard have been shot in a Hollywood or Bollywood movie. Hrithik injured himself while shooting these scenes, and had to undergo a brain surgery.

Siddharth Anand, the director, seems to like cars. Stock car racing found its way into Ta Ra Rum Pum (yes, I have watched this too) and here F1 makes an appearance. The F1 car scenes were shot in Abu Dhabi, and Hrithik has driven the car himself! Perhaps it was a car from Marussia. I’d like to check with Army officers if they are indeed given unlimited expense accounts, and taught all these skills.

Danny Denzongpa, Kanwaljit Singh and Deepti Naval are nice to watch in their limited roles. I wish Katrina Kaif had picked up something from them. As for Jaaved Jaffrey, he is cast in a role different from his role in Salaam Namaste made by the same director.

Online / internet dating is made fun of, and the way the lead pair gets together involves a case of mistaken identity. What’s not funny is the way the heroine asks the hero why he is with her when she (in her words) is clearly so boring, and he clearly so exciting. The hero, being a superhero, gently reassures her and reminds her of how great she really is. In reality, these 'scenes' would look quite different and self esteem issues might get discussed.

Finally, watch this song. Is there anything Hrithik Roshan cannot do?

Here!! Some more bangbang before Thursday! title track http://t.co/Dc4BjuU8Ji poora gaana!
— Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) September 29, 2014