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.

TED (2012)

I got reminded of this movie when I saw Andy Roddick retweet something from the fan account called Hilarious Ted recently. I didn’t enjoy the movie when I had watched it in the theatre, and couldn’t fathom as to why this movie became a huge hit. My company for the day was (is?) a fan of Mila Kunis, and I expected that he’d enjoy the movie – he hated it more than me.

When I read the tweets, I realized that they come across as more hilarious than when I heard similar stuff as dialogues. Also, the setting is fully American and that takes some time in getting used to.

The story is that of a friendless boy John who finds a magical teddy bear Ted that can talk, and they grow up together. Well, the years roll on and both remain fairly immature. John’s longtime girlfriend is Lori (Mila Kunis) and she increasingly gets annoyed that John remains childish in Ted’s company – there is one awful scene where she is forced to clean up the mess (human shit) caused by hookers in the apartment.

Watch the movie for some laughs, and for a non-serious Mark Wahlberg. I have watched him in many movies, and he usually plays intense characters. I must add that he scared me in his role as David McCall in Fear.

Shuddh Desi Romance (2013)

Let me say this right in the beginning - I didn’t enjoy this movie despite an interesting trailer, good acting by everybody, the realistic setting and the really nice music. Watching commitment phobia in real and reel life has become extremely boring for me, and while I understand that rom-coms can’t survive without this concept in some form or another, I am certain that it is time for me to look at more interesting movies. A friend told me that she couldn’t relate to the movie at all. As for me, I walked out even as the title song was playing (when the closing credits were rolling) – the sibling was surprised, and she walked a little slowly behind me so that she could watch the song. Later at night she said, with disappointment writ on her face, “The movie didn’t leave me with any afterthought.”

The story is set in Jaipur, and takes us to other parts of Rajasthan as well. Sushant Singh’s character Raghu considers Rishi Kapoor’s Goyal as his father. Raghu is uneducated and does odd jobs – he cons foreigners into buying stuff by giving them stories of the orphans of Iraq and Afghanistan. He also pretends to be a baraati whenever Goyal asks him to, and gets paid for the act. On the day when he is really getting married, he meets the fake baraati, English-speaking, independent Gayatri (played by Parineeti Chopra). He develops cold feet mouthing the classic – “Doubt ghadi dekhkar thodi na aati hai”. I have heard this line in reality, and the thought that came to my mind was regarding the selfishness of the character. The bride Tara (played by Vaani Kapoor) later smiles and tells Gayatri in a matter-of-fact way, “Mere baare mein socha hi nahin na?”

It is our right to lead our life exactly the way we want. While clamouring for this right, let's not forget to take responsibility for our actions and for being considerate towards others.

All three of them don’t have deep parental ties. Raghu’s parents are no more, Gayatri’s mother is no more and her father is posted in faraway Assam, and Tara’s parents died in a road accident in Delhi when she was still a child. They are indeed thinking only about themselves when they take decisions. For instance, Gayatri asks her father not to interfere in her matters.

Post Raghu’s ditching Tara at the wedding altar, he enters a live-in relationship with Gayatri. Raghu is incredibly attracted to her (the cliche "opposites attract" is at work here), and he moves into her house without the slightest hesitation. Gayatri wants to take it slow, and then easily lets go of what she wants to do. The neighbourhood gossip confuses Raghu, and he doesn’t trust Gayatri easily – one of the more realistic scenes in the movie. Like I mentioned earlier, it is a worrying trend that financially independent girls are supporting reckless men in the name of love. Gayatri runs the house, takes an extra loan from Goyal because her “brother” has come home, buys Raghu stuff, washes his underwear and (thankfully) enjoys unrestrained sex in return.

Then, the unexpected happens. The movie is new and I don’t wish to spoil the twist.

When Tara later runs into Raghu, it appears as though she is seeking a combination of revenge and closure. When she starts interacting with him, I think she forgets the past and becomes determined to see him mature - she falls in love with him, and seems like an understanding lover. A few more scenes, and she mouths the line – “One may not remember the moment when one falls in love, and one surely remembers the moment when one falls out of love.” 

Rom-com movies would like us to believe that falling in and out of love is as easy as turning a tap on and off. Unless one is the lead pair, of course. Their love conquers all, and the tap never runs dry.

Goyal has a nice line to mouth regarding how the three of them are running away for different reasons. So if one partner is unable to deal with a relationship based on lies and the other is unable to deal with the truth, why does the ending not reflect this? Instead, the movie gets into how the lead pair isn't ready for marriage, how the pair prefers status quo to continue while experiencing genuine love. The partner with the preference for truth says stuff that goes,"Tum uske saath khush nahin rahoge. Tum use khush nahin rakh paate." Ugh.

Trivia that left me feeling surprised - the writer is Jaideep Sahni. When I compare this story with his previous works including Chak De! India, I am further disappointed. The movie is being marketed as "Random Desi Romance" abroad - I think this title does more justice to the movie than the original Hindi title. As for the interval being referred to as "Bathroom break", perhaps I should have taken the hint, indeed taken a restroom break and left the theatre.

Chennai Express (2013)

I have grown up watching SRK movies, hence it is with mixed feelings that I watch his movies now. The thought of watching SRK's old movies again is far more appealing than that of watching his recent movies. Yet I go to the theatre every now and then, giving myself some excuse or another.

I was genuinely going to miss watching Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and couldn’t resist the combined pressure of the then-Yokefellow ("It is Yash Chopra's last movie") and the sibling (she likes Katrina). My parents were in town as well. Perhaps I didn't wish to resist after missing Ra.One and both Don movies in the theatre?

Perhaps.

“I am going to watch comedy and laugh a lot” – this was the reason I gave myself for Chennai Express. It is a poor reason, given that I get easily distracted while watching mindless movies. As it turned out, not getting tickets for the lone show of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was the other reason. The sibling has been aggressively promoting the Milkha movie so much that I decided to go and watch it. I still cannot fathom the sight of Milkha dancing.

The promotion of Chennai Express was eye-catching, and everything looked straight out of a Tamil movie. People took offence at the accents. 

SRK said that he was the lone non-South Indian associated with the movie. That’s not true. The 6 feet 4, well-built Nikitin Dheer who played Tangaballi can’t pass off as a South-Indian even if everybody wishes. While casting Nikitin Dheer as the villain, why do filmmakers want us to believe that he will lose physical fights? Yes, I know that romance has to win / justice has to be awarded and all that idealism, yet against Dheer, it looks absurd. Hrithik’s Akbar looked somewhat convincing against him, and managed to win the fight. SRK’s puny Rahul had a different idea. His courage won Tangaballi’s heart, and he let go.

What did I like about this movie? 

In the opening credits, Deepika's name appeared before that of SRK - this was a nice touch. Deepika’s Meena looks ravishing. SRK played a 40-year old and looked convincing. Some of the action sequences, especially the ones where SRK is driving an orange coloured jeep, are nicely done.  The usage of Tamil and some Malayalam is nice – it feels good to understand other Indian languages, particularly when I find myself stumble through the Punjabi used in movies I like (for example, Fukrey). I could recognize Tamil actors in the movie – Sathyaraj, Delhi Ganesh, the priest in the village where Rahul and Meena take refuge. I couldn’t recognize Manorama though. I liked the references to SRK's earlier movies including "Dil Se" and DDLJ (of course), and the communication via songs.

“Telegram se leke twitter ke zamaane tak woh zinda rahe. Poori zindagi ji unhone.” 

I also liked the take on death – Rahul’s Sachin Tendulkar-loving grandfather (played by Lekh Tandon who is supposed to have discovered SRK) “getting out” on 99, how Rahul reacts to his parents’ death when he was 8, and the news about Meena’s mother’s death.

As a kid, I heard the song that went “Ennama kannu, soukiyama?”. Regular Tamil movie-watchers, did this line get used later in some eve-teasing context? So when Sathyaraj goes “Ennama kannu” repeatedly, I was quite thankful that Rahul makes fun of it towards the end.

“Lungi dance” – sung by Honey Singh is a earworm. I can imagine it being played on the dance floors at b-schools and perhaps in dance floors outside as well. The tune is catchy, and everybody who watches Indian movies these days seems to swear by their allegiance to the Thalaiva. I am not a fan of Rajnikanth or Honey Singh (I am speechless at how he gets so many songs despite his horrible song of last year), and yet liked the way this song has been picturised. Go ahead, take offence.



I tweeted to the film critic post this review, and received a neat “thanks” in response. Among other stuff, I found myself nodding about the “clever update on facebook.” It did cross my mind – several updates did, and then I let them all be.

“I think I should stick to watching movies that make 00 crores”
“Rahul. Naam kyun suna maine?” 

I didn’t mind the brief sermon delivered by Rahul on what it means for women to be truly independent, though speaking to a powerful Don in a reasonable manner seemed silly.

And yes, it was wonderful to discuss the movie with Manali. We spent some time looking through the wiki entry when we were wondering about the locations used in the movie.

Now, coming to the bits I didn’t like.

Why did the Sardar character have to be introduced? Or for that matter the Sri Lankan smugglers?

More than the accent, I get annoyed when a language isn’t spoken correctly. Deepika’s accent isn’t the problem. When she mixes gender and says, “Kamban goan jaati. Chennai express se.” it is annoying. It reminded me of the focus on “shudh bhaasha” in this movie.

“Garu” makes an appearance – this is clearly Telugu. A smattering of Malayalam also appears in the form of the truck driver who calls out to Ayyappan just as all stereotypical Mallus do. Each language has its nuance. Why confuse them all?

“One two three four” is sung in perfect Hindi apart from the strong start in Tamil. If I didn’t know it was a Hindi movie, I would have easily mistaken it for a Tamil song – the music is overwhelmingly Tamil, and so are the dance steps. How did the dappan koothu dancer sing in perfect Hindi and speak about shaking booty?



I am waiting for 2 States. It better get the stereotypes right, and I hope there’s lots of English to boot.

Talaash (2012)

When the promos of this movie first came out, I knew that I’d like to watch the movie. In order to avoid an anti-climax, I started telling myself that perhaps this movie wouldn’t be as good as the promos made it out to be. When I later saw why the movie is titled “Talaash: The Answer Lies Within”, I got to know that there was another movie by the same name – “Talaash: The Hunt Begins”.

The surprising bit – Kareena Kapoor has starred in both movies.

I watched the 2012 movie on the last day of November 2012 in the theatre and liked it. I watched it in bits and pieces when it was telecast on one of the TV channels in April this year, and liked it even more. Surprising, I know.

The inspiration from The Sixth Sense is hard to ignore (I had earlier mentioned this movie here), and if you are like me, you’d spend some time during the interval in order to figure out the twist and lo behold, it is clear. Kareena’s clothes told me that something was wrong. She was too well-dressed when compared to the average Hindi movie prostitute, and that set me thinking. I then waited to see how the twist would unravel itself on screen, and was quite happy with the treatment.

As the opening credits roll, this song plays. It sets the mood very well.



The movie starts with the death of the actor Armaan Kapoor (Vivan Bhatena) in a mysterious car accident. Aamir Khan’s character Surjan “Suri” Singh Shekhawat investigates the accident and speaks to the two junkies (?). He almost speaks to the dog who witnessed the accident as well.

Suri is married to Roshni (Rani Mukerji). They have lost their only child in an accident. This has left Suri feeling perennially guilty for not being able to protect his son, and he withdraws from his wife. He also becomes an insomniac. Suri then meets Rosie, the prostitute played by Kareena Kapoor. She aids him in his investigation. He also finds himself being able to share his thoughts with her, and he often seeks her. Rosie leads him to Temur, a lame pimp played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

The name Temur is a delightful reference to Timur Lang. Temur’s love story is told really well. He is love with an older prostitute, and their anguish is best depicted in the scene towards the end of the movie when she opens a bag in the train. She finds several bundles of currency notes – the pimp has bought her freedom. He loses his life in the process.

When Rosie mentions to Suri that nobody wanted to investigate into how a girl disappeared into thin air, it made me wonder. How exactly are death certificates issued in India?

Roshni is left upset dealing with her withdrawn husband and the loss of her child. He has refused to have another child, and she finds her offbeat methods of finding solace being torn apart by him. Finally, when they fight in front of his subordinate (played by Raj Kumar Yadav), she asks her husband as to whether she ever questions him on his nocturnal jaunts. She understands that he derives happiness from whatever he does, then why mustn’t she indulge in what gives her peace and happiness?

Peace. Happiness. Both are much abused words these days.

Suri and Roshni reunite at the end of the movie. Watch them when they live in their past. As for the handlebar moustache, the sight made me relive my past.

Fukrey (2013)

I am finding it amusing that I am recommending a movie based on two loafers. It has a well-written story, and a cast that looks the part. The movie has been shot in Delhi, and I could recognize many places shown in the movie. The dust-laden feel of the city has been captured well.

Two boys have flunked their XII Std. exams repeatedly and yet are keen on entering one of the best colleges in the city. Another boy wants to shift from his correspondence course and study at a proper college - it happens to be the same college. The fourth character has studied at this very college and spends time there making music.

I liked this song based on an old Punjabi folk song. It made me think of my long-forgotten desire of picking up Punjabi.

When the struggling musician needs money for his father's operation, his estranged girlfriend (who is a Professor in the same college) steps in to help him and rather effortlessly at that. This, when he has let her go because she asks him to get more serious about their relationship and he chooses music over her. There is a gem of a scene when he starts to fill out a form and the letters get smudged immediately.

There is a remark made by the lead character played by Pulkit Samrat - "I like mature girls. Pata hai, meri girlfriend mujhse badi hai." It made me smile, for I have heard it in real life as well.

As for the character played by Manjot Singh, there are some hilarious moments involving his Bullet. The policeman makes a remark on the sound of the Bullet, and I agree. Even a non-rider like me can recognise THAT sound anywhere.

The best performance in the movie is by Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadha). Watch it for her.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)

A few years ago, there was a controversial episode in “Koffee with Karan” where Deepika spoke candidly about her ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor. Ranbir came across as a momma's boy, and that's a post for another day.

On momma's boys, i.e.

Today, Deepika and Ranbir are good friends. Recently, Ranbir’s mother Neetu (who reportedly disapproved of Deepika) warmly hugged Deepika. Why not? Deepika is on a roll with “Cocktail” and “Race 2” being declared as hits. Now, YJHD is the third-biggest grosser ever in Bollywood. It makes sense to be good to her, no?

This is my teaser post on the movie. As expected, many songs from the movie are still stuck in my mind even if I was disappointed with their sudden appearance. The songs are picturised really well, and the movie is worth watching just for them.

A group of three friends (Ranbir’s Bunny, Kalki’s Aditi and Aditya’s Avi) are on a trip to Manali, and Deepika’s good-girl, bespectacled, "topper" Naina joins them on an impulse. She is worldly unwise unlike them, and can sing Bachchan songs and use her calm head when required.

At Manali, when Bunny tells Naina that if he had a heart, he would have fallen for her smile. He then tells her that she is the sort of girl one romances, not flirts with. Finally, he says - “Apne aap pe daya karna chod do. Apne aap se pyaar karna seekho.” 

One must admit that Bunny knows how to flirt with all of them.

Naina develops a liking for Bunny and doesn’t declare her love for him because she knows that Bunny doesn’t believe in commitment. A mature head on her young shoulders, she concentrates on her studies and goes on to open a clinic close to where her parents stay.

She also wisely invests in contact lenses, or perhaps lasik eye surgery. She doesn't let go of her competitiveness as well.

Aditi is silently in love with Avi, and finds her love not reciprocated. She decides to get married to a ‘boring’ engineer with a BMW rather than wait endlessly for the drunkard, fast-losing-money bar-owner (or was it a restaurant?). She has a destination wedding in Rajasthan, and that’s where Bunny and Naina meet after years.

Bunny's real name is Kabir Thapar. He is self-centered and doesn’t wish to get deeply involved with anybody. “Main udhna chahta hoon. Bas rukhna nahin chahta.” He is an only child, his mother is dead, he has a step-mother who he hates (a charming Tanvi Azmi) and his father (Farooq Sheikh) is the indulgent sort who silently praises his son for having the courage to lead his life the way he wants and for paying the price for indulging in his dreams. This is true in Bunny’s friendships as well. He finds it easier to deal with the non-demanding Aditi when compared to the demanding Avi who has expectations from his friend. 

In short, Bunny's commitment phobia is celebrated.

Much later, while spending time with Naina, he tells her - “Tum right nahin ho. Bas mujhse alag ho.” He rightly realises that she is very different from him. Why is he drawn to her then? She has turned drop-dead gorgeous, you see. She also mouths lines such as - “Zindagi mein kuch na kuch hamesha chooth jaayega. Isliye jo hai, usi ka mazaa le lo!”

Bunny scores when he points out her double-standards when it comes to her consumption of alcohol. Earlier, his father scores when he points out to Bunny's habit of lying.

Later, when in true Hindi movie style Bunny comes to woo his girl and asks for her hand, she asks him – “Tum bhaag to nahin jaaoge?” Bunny has rejected the offer to host a new TV reality show, and is jobless when he woos her. Conveniently, both his parents are dead by now and hence Naina has no in-laws to contend with. As for Bunny, he is suddenly willing to let go of his dynamic career and independence in order to be with a pretty doctor whose life begins and ends in the same locality, and who has a controlling mother.

Hindi movies obviously don’t deal with the operating nuts and bolts of daily life. Two months later, Bunny would be cursing his decision to be with someone so different from him. He will complain that he doesn't get time with Avi, Aditi and Aditi's husband. He will find his wife's structured career boring. The fact that his wife spends lots of time at her clinic will irritate him. Her clothes will be declared as revealing, and he will act possessive. He will (subtly or otherwise) ensure that Naina loses her friendship with Vikram.

It is good for Naina that like her, Bunny isn't cynical. Perhaps their marriage would work. The rooh afza would taste just as bad as before though. Hey, the manufacturers don't think so.

In terms of performances, it is Deepika who shines in her role and is the best part of the movie. This is high praise considering that she is paired opposite the oh-so-awesome Ranbir Kapoor. I loved Kalki’s Aditi – feisty and practical, and an absolutely fantastic friend. I didn’t think much of Aditya’s portrayal of Avi, and Rana Daggubati as Vikram is wasted in his bit role. 

As for Madhuri Dixit, with the pun (unintended?) on ‘via Agra’, she shows why she remains Queen Bee.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

After 8 years of completely avoiding this movie, I finally got around to watching it in July 2012. This was 108 minutes of time well spent. For good reasons, I am reminded of this movie today and I decided to get down to writing about it. 

Kate Winslet plays Clementine and Jim Carrey plays Joel. Clementine and Joel are lovers who spend two years together, and then they break up. They are very different from each other, and this contributes to the break up. Clementine then decides to erase all of Joel’s memories, and becomes Joel-free so to speak. Joel decides to do the same to become Clementine-free. The movie is from his perspective and shows how he struggles to hold on to her memories. He tries to hide their important memories within other memories, and realizes that he has much more control over his memories than any machine ever can.

The attendant in the clinic (Elijah Wood) is incidentally dating Clementine when he views Joel’s memories, and proceeds to interact with her in the same manner as Joel had once done – he has her case history and enough evidence to know how Joel behaved and what Clementine liked about Joel. Clementine gets confused repeatedly, and doesn’t know why.

I am not getting into the plot with Kirsten Dunst – it is an interesting twist. Watch the movie to see how it ends. The Yokefellow thinks happy endings are meant for movies, and I am at the opposite end of the spectrum where I believe in happy endings.

Winslet’s acting is a class act and she received an Academy award nomination for her performance. The striking colours of her hair, her dialogue delivery and her body language are fantastic. The movie makes use of Bollywood music, and the song “Everyone's gonna learn sometime” is nice.

Some thoughts as I watched the movie.

If we are expected to hold on to memories of love long gone, we lose the perspective that it perhaps makes sense to obliterate (a strong word) those memories in order to move on. If we spend time in seeking the friendship of old lovers and maintaining those friendships, then we’d never give our new lovers a chance. We'd not give love a chance.

Imagine if someone were to tell you the stuff that you wanted to hear, somewhere deep within, and it is not because he/ she is supremely understanding of you. It is because he/ she has got to ‘know’ you in a roundabout manner, and already knows what matters to you, what your pet peeves are. He/ she doesn’t ever tell you that he/ she ‘knows’ you. Would you feel cheated? Would you feel flattered? Would you question the authenticity of the friendship / relationship / whatever you wish to call it?

The movie also made me think of the beauty of companionship. Some get obsessed with the idea and repeatedly seek company in order to be with someone all the time. There are others who move away from the idea when their companion leaves them.

I leave you with this.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;

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.

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.  

Chupke Chupke (1975)

My family has watched a few movies more than once, and Chupke Chupke ranks very high in this list. In the list of repeat watches, I mean. This PG Wodehouse style situational comedy was directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who has a long list of comedy movies to his credit.

The principal character is played by Dharmendra. He plays Parimal Tripathi, a professor of Botany from Allahabad. His best friend and colleague is Sukumar Sinha, a professor of English literature played by Amitabh Bachchan. Parimal’s girlfriend (and later wife) Sulekha Chaturvedi is played by the dimpled beauty Sharmila Tagore. Sukumar Sinha falls in love with Parimal’s friend P K Srivastava’s sister-in-law Vasudha. P K Srivastava is played by Asrani, and Vasudha is played by Jaya Bachchan.

Enter the real hero of the movie, Raghavendra played by Om Prakash. Raghavendra is Sulekha’s brother-in-law. Sulekha holds her dear jijaji in such high esteem that it gives Parimal an inferiority complex, and he is determined to rise in his wife’s esteem. Sulekha’s brother Haripat (played by David) helps him by agreeing to his plan.

The movie is about how Parimal Tripathi engages with Raghavendra in Mumbai by pretending to be an Allahabadi driver Pyaare Mohan who speaks chaste Hindi. He is sent by Haripat on Raghavendra’s insistence on the quality of his driver’s language.

The exchanges between Pyaare Mohan and Raghavendra are meant for laughter of the lol and roflmao kind, and I am unable to recreate their magic here. 

Raghavendra: “Wahaan khade khade kya kar rahe ho?”

Pyaare Mohan: “Khada khada kuch nahin kar raha hoon saheb. Bas aake aake khada hua hoon.”

Raghavendra: “Pyaare Mohan, tum paagal ho paagal!”

Pyaare Mohan: “Ab to main bilkul pagaal nahin hoon saheb.”

Watch the movie. If we could resolve our daily fights and lead life with such humour thrown in, life would acquire a whole new meaning. Also, if we are able to admit to our hero-worships, fears and insecurities the way Parimal and Sulekha do with each other, marriage can be beautiful. 

Black Swan (2010)

Post its release in India, this movie had been heavily recommended to me by the sibling and my earlier boss. I have the habit of deliberately delaying watching some movies, and Black Swan was a ready candidate. My reason was that the storyline felt creepy and I was not in the right frame of mind to appreciate it.

Last week, a sanitized version played on one of the TV channels (I have forgotten which channel). When I say sanitized, it means that the sex scenes were abruptly cut and the creepy scenes where Natalie Portman’s character Nina tortures herself had mostly been removed.

The movie had me hooked.

Natalie’s character is a ballerina who seeks perfection in her work , and is unable to let go of herself while she seeks perfection. She gets the prestigious role of playing both the white swan and the black swan in the ballet titled “Swan Lake”. As she trains for the role, the audience gets to see the manner in which she chooses to let go of herself, her complicated relationship with her mother, her responses to fellow ballerinas Lily (Mila Kunis) and Beth (Winona Ryder), and the hallucinations she suffers from.

Picture courtesy: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/blackswan/


I cringed when I saw the petite Nina (who looked like she wouldn’t hurt a fly) tear out her own skin – why would she subject herself to such pain? The horror of it all struck me when I saw that she doesn’t remember inflicting pain on herself, for she is in the midst of a hallucination when she does so.

Nina’s performance as the black swan in the play is a class act. The movie doesn’t glamorize the hallucinations – she dies as a result of them.

What struck me was that ballerinas have a professional shelf-life similar to that of sports players – both professions rely heavily on physical dexterity. They have to maintain their weight much like Formula One drivers. The pressure to achieve a lot in a comparatively short span is quite different from that experienced by professions driven by mental dexterity, to put it mildly.

The movie also reminded me of my post on neuroticism.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

When I watched the movie today and later spoke to my mother, she excitedly asked me, “Did you enjoy the movie?”

She knows that I am a huge fan of Tom Cruise. Yes, I have forgiven him for the incident at Oprah Winfrey’s show.

At the age of 19, I have stayed up till 11:30 p.m. in order to start watching "Jerry Maguire" on TV (in my household, sleeping post 2 a.m. was unheard of in those days) and have meticulously noted down all his movies so that I could tick them off my watch list. I have written about him earlier here.

Last year, there was news regarding how he has been displaced by Leonardo diCaprio as the most bankable star in Hollywood. I received the news with a twinge of sadness. To give a tennis comparison, it was the equivalent of Sampras losing to Federer at Wimbledon. I knew that I was going to rate Federer higher as time passed by, just as I rate Caprio higher than Cruise.

Hence when Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol kept me engrossed, I felt thrilled. This post is not exactly a review, and I am going to leave you with a series of thoughts.

My order of recommendation of Mission: Impossible movies: 1, 4, 3 and 2. The second movie is close to Bollywood fare, and left me disappointed except when Cruise was scaling the Utah cliff. That’s seriously good stuff.

I have watched two movies in this series at the theatre (Mission: Impossible II and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol)

Cruise makes sprinting and scaling the Burj Khalifa look jaw-droppingly good. At 49, this is impressive.

Jeremy Renner is immensely watchable, even when he shares screen space with Cruise. Watch the scene when both of them run alongside a train. Renner has intrigued me enough to want to watch “The Hurt Locker”.

Anil Kapoor should have said no to acting in this movie. His character is a buffoon, and he had hardly any screen time.

Samuli Edelmann, the actor who plays Wistrom, reminded me of the F1 racer Nick Heidfeld.

If you are a fan of the theme music used in the first movie of the series, you will be happy to know that this movie has interesting music too. It mirrors the mood in different locations, and features a track by Eminem.

Locations that feature in this movie include Budapest, Moscow, Dubai and Mumbai. I was scheduled to visit Moscow when I was in school, and the trip didn’t materialize.

The political backdrop in this movie doesn’t get much attention, however the ideas proposed are interesting. In reality, would the USA and Russia ever become friends? Which country would unleash the nuclear war, if at all?

A thought that was troubling me for the past three days miraculously left me when I watched the movie. Yes, cruise magic still works. Watch it unfold below.

The White Balloon (1995)

The sibling is away in Chennai for a long break and I find myself in the midst of an unmemorable sporting weekend – there is no F1 race, India lost in pathetic fashion to England in the third test, and Roger Federer lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the second time this year.

Last night, I was channel surfing while having dinner and landed on “The White Balloon”.

This is a story about a 7-year old girl and her brother. It takes you through her day on the eve of the Iranian New Year, and tells you what she does when she loses money that her mother has given her to buy a goldfish. What stands out is how the movie looks at everything from the child’s point of view, and the sensitivity. This could have been the story of any child who struggles to get what he/she wants. Other characters include snake charmers, shop owners, shoppers and a balloon boy from Afghanistan.

The scene I enjoyed the most is when she interacts with the soldier. When he tells her that she reminds him of his younger sister who is 5 years old, she jumps up and says that she is 7 and not 5, goes to school, gets straight A-grades and stands first in her class. The precise articulation by the child makes him smile, and I mirrored his reaction with a difference – I had a wider smile.

Watch it for the expressive girl – she is a delight.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

I had watched “Luck by Chance” over two years after its release and I was keen on not missing Zoya Akhtar’s second movie. One look at the trailer and I knew that I’d definitely watch this movie in the theatre.

One weekend, the sibling and I didn’t get tickets and so we watched "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2". I recommend the movie for Potter fans – the 3D movie is made very well. The next day, the sibling went and watched ZNMD with her friends. She asked me to come along, and I declined her offer.

She smiled and let it be.

As the week progressed, she reminded me that I am yet to watch the movie, and got my ticket online. I remind her for work that needs to get done, and she reminds me of my hobbies. She was feeling really bad that I was going on my own, despite knowing that I enjoy watching movies on my own as well.

I suspect it is because she wanted to watch the movie again.

It wasn’t raining when I left, and I collected the ticket without much ado. Among the families and couples, I noticed a lady who looked like a fellow movie buff. I stepped away to buy something to eat and on my return, she smiled at me. Like me, she was on her own. She sat through the entire movie – people had started walking away when the credits were rolling and the last song was playing. Did they see what Kabir (Abhay Deol) did?

The movie is about three friends – Kabir (as mentioned above -Abhay Deol), Imraan (Farhan Akthar) and Arjun (Hrithik Roshan). I liked the non-preachy tone of the movie. The colours are vibrant, the men are interesting and the story is well-told. Given my previous experience of watching Zoya’s work, I was prepared for a detailed and slow narrative. This movie is better paced.

The movie has four beautiful poems recited by Farhan as voiceovers. I am quoting one of them, the one that is meant for his character.

Jab jab dard ka baadal chaya
Jab ghum ka saya lehraya
Jab aansoo palkon tak aya
Jab yeh tanha dil ghabraya
Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai
Duniya mein yunhi hota hai
Yeh jo gehre sannate hain
Waqt ne sabko hi baante hain
Thoda ghum hai sabka qissa
Thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa
Aankh teri bekaar hi nam hai
Har pal ek naya mausam hai
Kyun tu aise pal khota hai
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai

Imraan would be pleased to know that Hermes is present in India. His love for bagwati is touching.

The sibling liked Farhan and Katrina. Both of us are fans of Hrithik and while he didn’t surprise me the way he did in “Luck by Chance”, his performance as Arjun is competent. I liked the way his character reacted to the experience of deep sea diving - tears gently rolled down his eyes. The absence of melodrama was soothing. On the other hand, his exuberance at the sky diving experience and the tongue-in-cheek reference to “Top Gun” were both welcome.

I loved Abhay Deol’s Kabir. He has been given the role that holds the movie and the friendship between the three men together. In real life, he comes from a family that is known for its macho men. He has two things evidently in common with his family – he is good looking, and he can’t dance for nuts.

There is a gem of a scene when the character called Salman tells Kabir, “Kya aap itni sharafat se hamesha pesh aate hain?” I find Kabir’s attitude infectious. He thinks of people other than himself, is secure and has a relaxed attitude to life. He seems to have an interest in psychology and knows how to say the right thing at the right time. One can say that his life has been easier (Kabir has one uncomfortable truth to deal with and Arjun has several of them), but I’d say that even if he faced those situations, his attitude would have made him deal with them differently.

Another nice scene is how he resolves the long-standing fight between Imraan and Arjun. He doesn’t hesitate to hit the nail on the head. I think it came with the clarity associated with wanting to enjoy his bachelor trip with his close friends. Having fun can be more rewarding than moping around?

Kabir also faces a realistic challenge towards the end of the movie. Watch the movie to see what it is. For now, I am going to leave you with this.

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

No One Killed Jessica (2011)

Watched the movie?

The movie is based on the Jessica Lall case. This is how the case progressed. Put briefly, Jessica Lall was shot dead in April 1999 because she refused to serve a drink to the hotheaded Manu Sharma, the son of a politician. Manu Sharma was arrested and later released on bail. Media intervention began much after the case was declared as shut. The case was reopened and Manu Sharma was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Jessica was killed and Manu is going to spend his life behind bars - all for a drink.

I found the movie to be a good mix of reality and fiction. Vidya Balan does a competent job as Sabrina Lall, and I liked the way the investigating officer and Shayan Munshi were portrayed by Rajesh Sharma and Neil Bhoopalam respectively.

Who has delivered a knock-out performance? It is Rani Mukerji (her surname reads this way now?). She is awesome in her role as the foul-mouthed investigative journalist. She swears in English mostly, prompting laughter from me when my father remarked in a perplexed fashion, “The censor board allows language like this in movies now?”

I reminded him of “Omkara”.

It is an odd proposition to play the character of a woman lacking pluck – you mouth dialogues that might make you cringe, and then perhaps you start believing in them? If Rani had not played that silly character in “KANK” (or “Baabul” for that matter), my feeling is that this talented actress would not have lost track. “No One Killed Jessica” is exactly what she needs, and she is wonderful. “Yuva” had given me an indication of the strength that she is capable of bringing to her character, and this movie reemphasizes that.

Amit Trivedi has come up with an engaging composition. I had noticed the title song when it first started playing on channels because Delhi features prominently in it.

The movie makes a reference to the lecherous behavior of the average Delhi man on the road (or perhaps the difference in attitude of the two sisters). Sabrina and Jessica are walking down their street in broad daylight, when a pillion rider on a bicycle pushes Sabrina and she almost falls. Sabrina doesn’t object to the behavior, and Jessica does. She runs behind the cycle, pulls the man off the cycle and hits him.

It is not a coincidence that the Rani of Jhansi hailed from the North.

Watch the movie.

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.

Guzaarish (2010)

When I first saw the trailer of “Guzaarish”, I made up my mind not to watch the movie. The colours used in the movie were putting me off, for they spread a sense of unnecessary gloom. I remarked to the sibling that Sanjay Leela Bhansali must start making use of lighter shades in his movies – “Black”, “Saawariya” and “Guzaarish” are all dripping in black, dark blue, grey and to some extent in maroon and red.

The sibling arrived in Delhi in the middle of the month, and insisted that we watch the movie. Given the way things were, we had one weekend with us when movie-watching looked a possibility.

I was in no mood to shed tears on my birthday, and with the sole exception of “Saawariya”, I have shed copious tears while watching all of Bhansali’s films. The sibling’s insistence made me watch this movie on my birthday in the theatre. Did I cry? Of course I did. I also experienced a sense of lightness I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

The movie is reportedly based on The Sea Inside starring Javier Bardem, the lead actor of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I am curious to watch this movie now – the lead character in this movie battled his condition for 28 years, and Bardem is shown to age significantly.

Clearly, making the expressive and handsome Hrithik age so significantly would not have worked, so his character fights his battle for 14 years instead of 28. Hrithik plays Ethan Mascarenhas, a magician based in Goa who becomes a quadriplegic after an accident during his magic show. After undergoing multiple surgeries and battling his largely immobile body for 14 years, he decides that he has had enough and wants to be granted euthanasia. Euthanasia becomes “Ethanasia” – his own battle to die with dignity.

Aishwarya plays Sofia D’Souza, his nurse of 12 years. She is married to an abusive man, and receives her divorce towards the end of the movie. She loves Ethan silently.

Aditya Roy Kapur (brother of Siddharth Roy Kapur, UTV) plays Omar Siddiqui, a young magician who comes to Ethan to learn the tricks of the trade. He introduces a light-heartedness that Ethan’s home has forgotten.

There are flaws in the story-telling. Ash Chandler didn’t fit the character he played – he didn’t look the part of the father of a grown-up son. Bhansali also introduces an unreal world – women in Goa who dress as though they belong to Spain (or a place I don’t quite know), courtroom scenes where lawyers make utterly unconvincing and extremely emotional arguments, and a radio programme that first acts as a lifeline to others and is then used to campaign for “Ethanasia”.

Why am I still writing about this movie then?

My legs can move and I can run if I want to. I can move away from dripping rain water. I can turn the pages of a book while reading. I can give a warm hug to people. Gifts that I have taken for granted, repeatedly.

I liked the interpretation of love in this movie. There is sensitivity and maturity. Sofia’s silent love is selfish to the extent that she wants Ethan to live – when he wishes to end his suffering and die. She forgets what it is like to have a life without taking care of Ethan (a gem of a scene is when she finds herself thinking over Omar’s suggestion of taking half-a-day off – he tells her to spend time with her family, go to a play etc). She enjoys breaking into an unexpected dance (Ethan and Omar are left in raptures after seeing her move oh so gracefully), she tries hard to smoke to give him company and ends up coughing, she plays along and makes sexual sounds when he suggests that he is aroused by her rubbing of his (immobile, sensation-less) legs.

The dance is etched in my mind too.



Her silent love is selfless because she is able to put Ethan before herself, take care of him for 12 years without expecting anything in return. It is also selfless because she is able to take the extreme step of putting an end to his suffering herself – she is a trained nurse.

Spoiler alert: a moment of magic is when Ethan proposes marriage to her. Sofia didn’t expect it. Neither did I.

English was liberally used in this movie, and a wry sense of humour is evident.

Omar: “Can I give you a hug?”
Ethan: “I already have enough attachments.” He is surrounded by machines that take care of his bodily functions.

There is magic if you keep your eyes open.

For a tongue-in-cheek review, visit this link. For a well-written review, visit this link. For more photographs, go here.

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.