Beautiful Boy (2018)

When I logged into Prime after long, I came across ‘Beautiful Boy’ starring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet. I like both performers, and started watching the movie without knowing anything about it. The pace of the movie startled me, and I then looked it up – the movie is based on books written by David and Nic Sheff, and portrays the impact of drug addiction on addicts and their families.

When I started undergoing treatment for mental health issues, I was angry that substance abuse is also considered a mental health disorder. My mind kept saying, “They have control over the intake, unlike my issues”. Now, I know better. Many addicts have other mental health issues as well, and it is saddening to think of what they go through.

I can’t say I can relate to substance abuse, but given my struggles with excessive sugar intake for the past 5 years, I understand substance abuse a bit more. It takes courage to admit to the issue, take steps to overcome the addiction, and stay clean for long periods. Family support can make a difference, as can psychological counselling.

Coming back to the movie, I loved the portrayal of the relationship of Timothy’ character with his stepmom and step-siblings, the difficult bond between the father and the son (the father desperately wants to help, but is unable to), the impact of drugs on academics and work. Timothy is already lean and he lost weight further for his role as the drug addict. This is the scary part for me always – when actors take their roles seriously and look the part.

The movie reminded me of ‘Requiem for a dream’ and Jared Leto’s heroin addicted character, and I know Jared is far more impactful. ‘Beautiful Boy’ is more for the parents who struggle with their children becoming addicts, who need to accept the low recovery rates, and who end up questioning their upbringing style.

As per John Hopkins, a nationally representative survey of more than 2,300 Americans, fielded in spring 2023, suggests that 32 percent of the U.S. adult population, or an estimated 82.7 million individuals, has lost someone they know to a fatal drug overdose. It makes me want to look up for India data, and I will do so sometime. This is not a holiday-season movie, but worth a watch.

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Photo courtesy www.imdb.com

Warning: mentions of suicide

When I read that Tom Hanks was playing an aging widower in ‘A Man Called Otto’, I got interested in watching the movie. I love actors who play age-appropriate roles – the depth they lend to characters by their sheer presence is immense. And this is Tom Hanks, after all, so expectations were high.

Otto is a widower who is seriously contemplating suicide post his wife’s demise. He tries multiple ways to end his life, but all his attempts are thwarted by other people – who don’t know he is thinking of ending his life. His character is a contrast from the character played by Robert De Niro in ‘The Intern’ – Niro’s character accepted his wife’s demise and leads his life well.

Otto’s loneliness, grief and suicidal thinking is captured in an authentic manner, and reminded me of some days from my past. Otto struggles through daily life, missing his wife constantly. He keeps her clothes around, gets angry when someone tries to touch her stuff, and visits her grave and talks to her. He lost his parents early – we don’t know anything about his wife Sonya’s family – has no children, has severed connections with his neighbours and has accepted a retirement package from his company. The scene where the cake printed with his image is cut is poignant – I am now clear that I won’t get photographs of any person printed on cakes!

His life turns around when a pregnant mother of Mexican origin moves as his neighbour, along with her husband and 2 daughters. My exposure to Hispanics is only via movies, and she doesn’t disappoint – she is warm, chatty, straightforward and a great cook. She slowly draws Otto out from his shell – he reminds her of her father who is no more. He enjoys her cooking without being patronising.

I like movies in simpler, everyday settings that focus on how people interact with each other. The movie touches upon the treatment of transgender persons (a trans man has been cast in the role), men who are effeminate, interracial friendships. Added to this is the interactions with neighbourhood animals.

The book on which the movie is based in set in Sweden, and I am keen on reading it as it features an Iranian immigrant.

The Bourne Series

When I was in high school, my classmate RM~ lent me one of Robert Ludlum’s books. I returned it to him without reading it, and now I can’t recollect the reason behind not reading it.

Later, The Bourne Series of movies arrived along with Matt Damon. I immediately fell in love with Matt Damon’s portrayal of Jason Bourne. The perfect combination of brawn and brain (and integrity), he tremendously appealed to the sapiosexual in me.

In the Bourne Series, I have watched the first three movies (2002, 2004 and 2007) on TV and liked them. The remaining two have been theatre watches for me. I didn’t enjoy The Bourne Legacy (2012) as much – it didn’t feature Matt Damon, and I was glad when he returned in Jason Bourne (2016).

Moby’s “Extreme Ways” features in the movie series more than once, and in my illness spells, I used to think of KS~ while playing the song on loop. The blue and black combination in one of the videos held special meaning to me, and the grey one more so. Even as things fell apart, I loved that the picturisations had nothing more than Matt Damon's face. 

“Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does”

Go on, listen to the song. 

Extreme Ways – The Bourne Identity (2002) – not the official version

Extreme Ways – Jason Bourne (2016) – the official version 

I like this version even more – the pace is different.

Extreme Ways - The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - the official version

I discovered this version today. 

Black Panther (2018)

Place: Mumbai
Year: 2019

Mode: TV

The sibling and her husband are huge fans of movies featuring superheroes, and after watching Black Panther in the theatre, she excitedly recommended the movie to me. I couldn’t watch it in the theatre, but my interest in the movie grew after watching Naomi Osaka gush over Michael B Jordan. 

pls block me 😩

— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) October 16, 2018

When Black Panther played on one of the TV channels last year, I watched it. The sibling had specifically mentioned that the brother-sister relationship is portrayed well, and the music is fantastic. I agree with both her points. 

In recent times, there is much debate around the poor representation of Black characters in Oscar nominations, and I was glad that this movie got made and did as well. While quizzing this year, I got to know about another special feature in this movie – that of the presence of Tolkien white guys, a pun on token white guys.

I was happy that I could finally watch Lupita Nyong’o – I still haven’t watched her Oscar winning performance. What I wasn’t prepared for is Chadwick Boseman’s performance as T’Challa / Black Panther, and Letitia Wright’s performance as his sister Shuri. Both characters are written so well, and I was mesmerised with how inspiring they are. Since yesterday, post Chadwick’s untimely death, I am remembering the movie. Actors will pass on, and yet I suspect that the passing on of popular superheroes is going to hurt a lot more.

pic.twitter.com/aZ2JzDf5ai

— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020

Writing this post makes me realise how I have small stories connected with movies, and I hope to be more frequent here. For now, I leave you with the trailer. Do watch the movie – it is a delight. Wakanda Forever!

The Rainmaker (1997)

Place: Chennai

Date: August 2020

Mode: TV

It comes as a huge surprise to me that I haven’t mentioned John Grisham on any of my blogs, given that I have read 6 of his books and watched multiple movies based on his books. I have paid attention to how the best of actors star in movies based on his books (Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon to name three), and after I read “To Kill a Mockingbird”, I can see how it inspired Grisham’s “A Time to Kill”.

All of this is not to say that I have watched all the movies in totality. I watched The Pelican Brief (1993) briefly because I wanted to read the book first. Nowadays, I watch and read in no particular order, and when I found my father engrossed in watching ‘The Rainmaker’ recently, I too spent some time watching it on TV.

I didn’t expect to see Claire Danes play a battered wife in this, and her scenes with Matt Damon are really good. It was a pleasure to watch Danny DeVito too. Via this movie, I got to know about ambulance chasing, and how insurance companies can operate when it comes to claims. Hollywood often portrays corporates harshly (do you remember Erin Brockovich or Wall Street?), and yet it acts as a good reminder of the world that I have temporarily left. After working for as long, that world still scares me. 

I am mentioning the trailer of the movie here. Do watch it.

Shakuntala Devi (2020)

Place: Chennai

Date: August 2020

Mode: Amazon Prime

After “Crazy Rich Asians (2018)”, "Little Women (2019)", Parasite and Contagion, Amazon Prime is becoming like a theatre watch for me, and it is nice to be able to watch some movies despite Covid. I keep movie watching for weekends, and it is a nice routine to follow.

My latest watch is Shakuntala Devi. My mother and I watched it together, and enjoyed it. I first heard of the movie via Nayanika Mahtani, the writer of the movie – we are both in one online group. I got curious to see how the movie has been written and to my pleasant surprise, it is well written and well edited. As with any biopic, I am left with questions around how true the incidents depicted in the movie are, but I must say that I liked that the movie didn’t have too many songs. Perhaps the casting of Vidya Balan in the lead role had something to do with this – she isn’t known for her dancing skills.

Both my parents have witnessed Shakuntala Devi in action when she visited their educational institutes, and while I had heard of her, I must confess that I didn’t know much about her. Via the movie, I got to know that she opted to marry a divorcee and herself got divorced later. It makes me view her as a gritty woman. Her difficult relationships with her mother and her daughter have been fleshed out well, and I shed tears in one scene where she visits her childhood home after her mother has passed away, and she bawls at the sight of her mother’s material belongings that include newspaper cuttings of her performances.

The feminist flavor given in the movie to her choices make me want to know more, especially in the context of her book on homosexuality where she has referred to her ex-husband as being homosexual. The movie shows that she says this to sell the book better, but the Wikipedia entry says her book went unnoticed when it was published. 

The movie made on the “Human Computer” is worth a watch.

Joker (2019)

11 years ago, when I watched the Dark Knight, I didn’t imagine that Christian Bale would one day stop playing Batman, and Joaquin Phoenix would eventually play Joker. Watching Joker come alive in 2019 made me think of how well the story has been written – it turns out that the director of the movie (Todd Phillips) is one of the writers. He has the Hangover series and Due Date among his earlier writing credits.

There is much to be said about the violence shown in the movie, the method acting of Phoenix that has prompted him to dangerously drop weight, the joy of watching Robert de Niro, and the storyline connecting Joker and Bruce Wayne. However, there is something else that struck me way more.

I expect to see more articles cover how mental illness has been portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix - for good and bad reasons. For instance, I would have liked to see his descent into violence portrayed differently given how stigmatized mental illness is and how popular media readily associates the mentally ill as perpetrators of violence. The movie links his violent streak with the absence of medication, and I would love to see how this can be challenged in real-life as tapering of medication is reality for many recovering patients.

Three other things struck me as remarkable.

• His relationship with his original counsellor - he is candid and shares how he feels, how he takes his medication and enquires about dosages, and how she offers the right combination of challenging him and staying supportive as she works with him
• What he writes in his journal regarding mental illness - "The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't"
• How the underprivileged don't have ready access to mental health care, and how it can suddenly be withdrawn due to lack of funding - so even if someone is willing to take help and stay the course, it isn't possible to do so

The movie is conflicting more than once, and that perhaps is the mark of a great movie as it prompts one to assess one’s own views on what it means to be underprivileged and ill. What it means to go through childhood trauma and lose one's livelihood as an adult. What it means to get attracted to the people one does, given everything.

Recommended watch.

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

I have not read much of Tintin, and didn't go to watch the movie directed by Steven Spielberg when it released over five years ago. Last night, while surfing channels, we landed on this movie and watched it for a bit.

Despite the circumstances one finds oneself in, movie lines can be motivating.

Captain Haddock: I thought you were an optimist.
Tintin: Well, you were wrong, weren't you? I'm a realist.
Captain Haddock: That's just another name for a quitter.
Tintin: You can call me what you like. Don't you get it? We failed.
Captain Haddock: "Failed", there are plenty of others willing to call you a failure. A fool. A loser. A hopeless souse! Don't you ever say it of yourself. You send the wrong signal, that is what people pick up. Do you understand? You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it. There's something you need to know about failure, Tintin. You can never let it defeat you.

I have read elsewhere that people pick up the vibes we send, and yet I have often been able to place the "real" vibe underneath. I expect this to be the case with other people too.

Edited to add: I put this up on facebook, and got to know that the character of Captain Haddock is portrayed differently in the books. The wiki entry informs me that he grew to be a courageous character.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

When I first watched a scene from this movie, I thought it would be on the lines of Slumdog Millionaire and switched channels soon enough. The name of the movie continued to intrigue me, and I checked the ratings. I was shocked to see the high ratings, and when I landed on the movie again (on a different day), I decided to watch it from then on.

I enjoyed the movie, and while I found the way Jean and Douglas end their marriage unrealistic, there were several positives. I am now drawn to movies with older characters, and this one had plenty of them. The gay characters weren’t caricatures or stereotypes, the British accents were nicely done and the humour was welcome, the Indians looked Indian and behaved like Indians (even if they spoke better English than usual), and the settings looked realistic. The characters were gripping – their idiosyncrasies and fears were well explored.



This line mouthed by Sonny (Dev Patel) – “Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end.” reminded me of 'Om Shanti Om'.

My favourite line is this – “All we know about the future is that it will be different. But, perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same. So, we must celebrate the changes.”

I am waiting for the sequel that’s due for release in 2015. Richard Gere is expected to join the cast.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Somewhere in the middle of the movie, Jordan Belfort’s drug addict character receives a sudden high from taking an overdose of drugs that have been preserved – they are called “Lemmon" Quaaludes. He falls with a thud on the floor of the country club, he loses control over his limbs, and he is drooling like a baby. He struggles and gains some control over his disobeying body and then drags himself to the staircase. He then stares at the staircase wondering how to navigate it in order to get to his parked White Ferrari.

The audience burst into loud laughter when we watched him stare.

In an earlier scene, he gets invited to lunch by Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey in a brilliant performance). Hanna has an odd musical ritual that he encourages Belfort to pick up, among other stuff. The young Belfort looks around, is slightly embarrassed as he copies the ritual and then gets the audience to wonder what happens next.

'The Wolf of Wall Street' has plenty of such moments, if you are willing to look beyond the f-bombs being dropped (the highest ever in a non-documentary film), the sex references and the general debauchery. I am part of the audience that is marveling at Scorsese’s ability to poke fun at Wall Street in this manner, and there are several critics who found the movie over the top and unrealistic. My father is critical of the language mouthed by the characters. This isn't a new reaction from him.

All of this was one man’s real life. One can debate on whether everybody in his life swore this way or whether they snorted cocaine as often or whether he has been punished properly. What gets established is that Belfort was a master salesman who sold penny stocks to unsuspecting clients, made a killing that would make the rich men of Wall Street envious and led a lifestyle that was mostly ugly.

The movie succeeded in making me laugh and feel really uncomfortable at the same time. The scene where a woman in Jordan’s office gets her head shaved by a colleague even as the office is watching and cheering (she makes money for a boob job this way) made me feel sad – it is a horrible sight to see someone lose their hair, the scenes where Jonah Hill’s obnoxious Donnie Azoff character masturbates on seeing Jordan’s future second wife or the one where he urinates into a dustbin are outright disgusting, the scenes when dwarfs are being flung on the dartboard with precision are less disgusting than the time when the “top management” is discussing the services they can provide.

Then there are scenes that are well-written. The times when Jordan’s character is thinking to himself while taking the audience into confidence – they include scenes with the Swiss Banker (played by Jean Dujardin) and his second wife’s British aunt – are delightful.

I read more than one interview based on the movie 'Wall Street' where Douglas has said that people wanted to emulate his character, and it shocked him. DiCaprio has played Belfort in a manner that his lifestyle isn’t to be emulated. To me, this is where Scorsese really scores as the Director. Here is one interview with DiCaprio that I liked.

This really is one of Leonardo DiCaprio's best performances. When he gets shocked on knowing his debauchery on the aircraft to Switzerland, the way he reacts to his second wife’s aunt’s death, his scenes with his honest accountant father, when he is training a bunch of drug dealers to sell penny stock, when he is hosting couple of FBI agents on his fancy yacht, when he decides to give up the lifestyle for a bit, shooting infomercials – he makes Belfort come alive. His Golden Globe for best Actor is really well deserved.

At the National Board of Review Awards, DiCaprio and Scorsese won the Collaboration award. Here’s their irreverent interview.

Belfort's life has taught me something. It is never too late to make changes in one's life, and lifestyle. The movie's style has taught me that jokes are mostly made at someone else's expense, and it matters how you take jokes directed at you. The scenes in the yacht are about this.

Great Expectations (1998)

Recently, I got a chance to watch this movie on Romedy Now. I haven’t read the book, and I remember stills from this movie – it was released in 1998, and it reminded me of days when I was mad after Titanic and its stars. I still had about twenty minutes to go before the movie ended, and I couldn’t stay up. Gwyneth Paltrow’s acting came across as unbelievably cold, and I am not sure whether this was a deliberate choice.

I recommend the movie – there are enough moments that left me surprised and glued (for example, the introduction of Ms. Dinsmoor played by Anne Bancroft), the music is really good, the usage of voiceover is interesting and there are beautiful lines like this one.

“I'm not going to tell the story the way it happened. I'm going to tell it the way I remember it.”

Finn (Ethan Hawke) is the narrator of this story. I wonder what it would be like to hear the same story from Lustig (Rober De Niro).

Watch the trailer.

Devdas (2002)

I had earlier written about the Devdas character in this post, and it is a nice feeling for me to derive strength from my own writing. I was watching a few scenes from this movie recently, and I realised that one of the reasons why Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi is so watchable is because she doesn’t take poor treatment from most people. However, she is willing to take poor treatment at the hands of the spineless Dev babu – a classic case of strong women tolerating abuse in intimate relationships.

Watch this scene.

Really. Tamasha ab khatam hua.

Fight Club (1999)

This is a violent film, and has some fine performances from the lead actors. There are quotes that are thought-provoking, and outright funny. Brad Pitt plays Tyler Durden, Edward Norton plays the unnamed narrator and Helena Bonham Carter plays Marla Singer.

Tyler Durden: "Now, a question of etiquette - as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch?"
This is really the reason why I hate seats other than aisle seats while flying.

Tyler Durden: "It’s only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
My interpretation of this quote will take some time in getting expressed.

Tyler Durden: "Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
This line almost made me cry. It is so deprecating of the human race that it hurts. How does one respond to such cynicism and not get damaged in the process?

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.

Teaser post: The Great Gatsby (2013)

There's F. Scott Fitzgerald's story, Baz Luhrmann's direction, Craig Armstrong's music, the presence of Amitabh Bachchan and 3D movie-watching experience in offer.

Will Leonardo DiCaprio get his Oscar with this movie?

The Social Network (2010)

“The Social Network” is about how Facebook was conceived as an exclusive club first, how the idea grew into something much bigger and continued to rate high on the coolness quotient, how Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) became the youngest billionaire in the world, how he cheated on his best friend Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield, who has also acted in the interesting "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"), and how he has dealt with lawsuits.

At Harvard in 2003, a boy of above-average intelligence thinks what he does is the best thing in the world – there is little respect shown to his girlfriend’s intelligence or subject choice. After getting rejected by her, he decides to write an algorithm that compares the photos of girls in his college and gets those who know them to rate the photos. He blogs when he is drunk and compares women to farm animals. He meets two rich twins and their business partner after the photo-comparison application becomes hugely popular. He doesn’t hesitate in asking his rich Brazil-born best friend to sponsor his idea and later doesn’t oppose diluting the best friend’s stake to 0.03% from 34%. He falls for the vision shown by Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) and agrees when he says,"Drop the 'The.' Just 'Facebook.' It's cleaner”. He knows what it is like when things don't go in accordance to his wishes. He looks disinterested while he is processing and retaining every bit of what is being said. He feels left out of exclusive clubs. He loves Facebook.

The movie has everything going for it – perfect casting all across, a tight storyline, dialogues that are intelligent and raise uncomfortable questions that linger, and characters who are of similar age as me. For the record, I really enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Mark. He confirmed one thing to me – I can deal with the arrogance of investment bankers better than the arrogance of technology geeks.

The movie also reminded me of the issues I had with facebook initially – the trivialization of relationships and ease of rejection, the ability to establish independent personas – one in the real world and one (or more) in the world of facebook, the disappearing boundaries between personal and professional worlds, the manifestation of negative behaviour like stalking and lurking.

Facebook is now valued at $65 billion. While watching the movie, I wondered what Mark felt about having an Oscar-winning movie made on his life so early on. He is 26 years old and is still growing the company. He has only dated Priscilla Chan – the movie paints a different picture.

The sibling had watched the movie soon after it was released and had excitedly told me to watch out for the twin brothers in the movie. I watched the movie yesterday and told her that it was the same actor who played the role of the Winklevoss twins. His name is Armie Hammer. You should read about how he played both roles here – there is a model who stood-in for some of the scenes, and then his face was digitally replaced with that of Armie.

Technology makes the impossible possible?!

I am going to leave you with two thoughts. The first one - you might want to read this review. The second one -

Marylin Delpy: What are you doing?
Mark Zuckerberg: Checking in to see how it's going in Bosnia.
Marylin Delpy: Bosnia. They don't have roads, but they have Facebook

Aisha (2010)

When "Aisha" was released, I had dismissed it off as a wannabe rom-com. Plus it had Sonam Kapoor - an actress I don’t particularly enjoy watching despite her excellent dressing sense.

I watched most of the movie when it played on one of the TV channels recently. Independently, I also watched the controversial Koffee with Karan episode in which Sonam appeared along with Deepika Padukone. She took sides with Deepika and not Ranbir, and that appealed to old-fashioned me.

In case you didn’t know, I love filmy gossip.

Coming back to the movie, what worked for me was the setting of the film, and the music. I think the makers have got the act right in terms of expensive clothes, décor of the houses, lifestyles of the super-rich in Delhi, and the hobbies they pursue – watching Aisha bake cakes was fun.

Who exactly is Aisha Kapoor? The daughter of a well-to-do father, she is obsessed with finding the right life partner for her friends. She thinks everybody is a “bechaari” who is waiting to be rescued by her, and is judgmental about how her friends should lead their lives and who their life partner should be. At this point, I started getting interested in the movie for I have often been advised by friends on marriage. Like Aisha, they always knew (know?) better than me as to what I want from life, and my life partner.

From being someone who is loved by all, Aisha goes on to realize that her friends think of her as shallow, selfish and judgmental. Her best friend Pinky Bose is tired of towing the line in accordance to her wishes. Newbie Shefali questions her when she almost says that being middle-class, Shefali isn’t good enough for rich dude and Aisha’s friend Arjun (Abhay Deol).

I liked watching Aisha get jealous and irritable when Arjun’s friend Aarti is with him. I laughed when I saw how she was dressed when she goes to meet her sister and newborn niece Anoushka in a hospital in Mumbai (she wears a coat and short dress – this is one scene when I would have liked to see her dressed casually in jeans).

I love the placement of this song (and the song) in the movie.



At the end of the movie, I could relate to Aisha Kapoor despite her world being far removed from my own.

Aitraaz (2004) / Disclosure (1994)

In a recent study conducted by ET-Synovate, every fifth worker in India is subjected to sexual harassment, with Bengaluru emerging as the leader with 51% respondents saying ‘yes’ to the question, “Have you personally faced any kind of sexual harassment at the workplace?” The other cities included Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune.

The study made it to the front page of ET on 22 August 2010. Did you read it?

I have just one point to make. In each city, the survey was administered to 75 respondents. Isn't it too small a number for a survey of this nature?

When I was in Bengaluru in 2004, I had gone to watch the Hindi remake of Disclosure (1994) with couple of friends from school. The remake was called Aitraaz. I enjoyed Priyanka Chopra’s performance, liked the casting of Askhay Kumar as the victim of sexual harassment, and found Paresh Rawal’s lawyer act annoying.

I also found the ending too convenient - the character played by Priyanka Chopra commits suicide post the ruling (the case is fought by none other than the victim’s lawyer wife, played by Kareena Kapoor). Someone obsessed with power would give up on life so easily?

Last weekend, I watched the original starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. This well-written movie is based on the novel by Michael Crichton. The victim gets further victimized at the workplace (for instance, his access to data is revoked), his wife gets upset and she expresses her hurt privately while standing by him throughout, he receives unexpected help from an anonymous person, and he engages a lady lawyer who fights harassment cases for male victims.

Douglas’s character came across as too cocksure despite being the victim – this is probably the only weakness in the movie.

Michael Crichton passed away in 2008 from throat cancer, and now Michael Douglas has been diagnosed with the same disease. Douglas, I hope you take to chemotherapy well. Prayers are being sent from here.

And you gentle reader, link the following – Rain Man, Disclosure, and Wag the Dog?

Shutter Island (2010)

Given that I enjoyed The Aviator and The Departed, nothing could have prevented me from watching the latest collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio soon after it was released. Not the lukewarm reviews it received from critics. Not my boss’s review, “You just might like it. I didn’t particularly care for it.” Things were proceeding in accordance to schedule when I ran into an unexpected problem. The movie stopped playing at the closest theatre rather soon, and the show timings at theatres farther away did not suit me.

Recently, my boss lent me the DVD and I am glad to have watched this under-hyped movie after I watched Inception.

Shutter Island is based on a book of the same name, and was originally scheduled to be released in late 2009. The economic downturn (ED) apparently had a role to play in the delayed release; I am not sure what exactly ED’s role was though. The budget doesn’t look compromised, and there seems to be as much water as Scorsese required for narrating the story.

The intelligent man who can work with anagrams, DiCaprio’s character is a US Marshal who is sent to Ashecliff hospital in Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a lady prisoner. As the movie draws to an end, it becomes clear that it is he who is undergoing psychiatric treatment at the hospital post the murder of his wife.

He kills his wife.

She drowns their three children.

Save for a few scenes (set on the Island) that drag, the movie is paced well. I particularly liked the ending when DiCaprio utters, “Which would be worse, to live like a monster, or die as a good man?” Watch the movie to see the context.



Much like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese has excellent taste in music. At the end of the movie, Dinah Washington’s ‘This Bitter Earth’ plays.



Post watching this movie, I have two wishes. The first one is that DiCaprio should open his Oscar count in 2010, and for his powerhouse performance in Shutter Island.

The second is that Woody Allen should consider working with DiCaprio again – Allen is capable of making him smile, and of making me laugh. For the record, I am yet to watch Celebrity in which Allen cast DiCaprio a dozen years ago.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Miranda Priestly: “…But I was very very impressed by how intently you tried to warn me. I never thought I would say this, Andrea, but I really, I see a great deal of myself in you. You can see beyond what people want, and what they need and you can choose for yourself.”

Andy Sachs: “I don't think I'm like that. I couldn't do what you did to Nigel, Miranda. I couldn't do something like that.”

Miranda Priestly: “You already did. To Emily.”

Andy Sachs: “That's not what I... no, that was different. I didn't have a choice.”

Miranda Priestly: “No, no, you chose. You chose to get ahead. You want this life. Those choices are necessary.”

A very enjoyable piece of story-telling, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestley and Anna Hathway’s Andrea Sachs are the chief characters. Post the movie I wondered what it would be like to be Miranda and Andrea. Would I ever have the guts to give something different a try – the way Andrea does – and then quit it? What are the choices I am going to make in order to last in the corporate world for as long as Miranda does?