Just like Santhosh Subramaniam, I haven't seen the original Telugu version. But I couldn't believe that Selvaraghavan can get so damn boring with his screenplays.

The first half of YNM literally begs for a good screenplay writer. It just drags and drags and starts to sleep midway. The second half of this family-romance is where they teach audience the proven effective ways of kaalai kadan.

The trio, Dhanush, Karthik Kumar and Nayan are boring thanks to their bad characterization and pathetic dialogues. Udit Narayan's rendering of Yengeyo Paartha Nyabhagam and Nenjai Kasakki is sprinkled with bad Tamil pronunciation, though the songs are very tuneful.

The only good thing about the movie is that is starts very naturally and ends in a similar fashion. Everything in-between is a huge heap of mess. Tamil Cinema still awaits a realistic portrayal of a software engineer's life.

lazy geek | # | Comments (5)

Original script wins. Pollathavan too. Except for a bad unrelated title(just to get some more rajinikanth fans to watch it) and some teeny weeny issues in screenplay, Pollathavan is one of the best scripts of the year. Like Gilli, it had a simple so-called-knot and no big missions to complete. Hence the screenplay moves seamlessly. Hats off to Vetrimaran(whoever he is), the director of this film.

The movie makes me believe that first-person narration is the most easy way to grip audience. Kakka Kakka proved it for the first time. And even more, Vetri Maran plays with two first person narratives in this flick. The narration juggles between protagonist and the villain, again seamlessly, in a interesting fashion. Loved every bit of it.

Unassuming cast, actual shooting spots (no sets), down-to-earth slang in dialogues, a well made climax stunt(after a long long time in tamil cinema) are the biggest strengths. Dhanush does a cake-walk. Except for some cliched expressions, Dhanush does a Kathal Konden again.

One of the best films of this year, don't afford to miss it. Good luck to Vetrimaran !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (7)

Perfume is passionately made, vividly colorful, sinfully sensuous but slightly slow and terribly long. An authentic book-to-screen story, directed by Tom Tykwer(Run Lola Run) and originally written as a hugely popular novel[Das Parfum] by Patrick Suskind.

It talks about a French orphan boy with a superhuman sense for smell. As he grows, he meets a perfume maker, displays his sense of smell talent, learns the art of perfume making but unfortunately turns into a schizophrenic. The ending has to be seen to be enjoyed.

The whole movie is crowded with amazing frame compositions, great cinematography and lovely BGMs. But what's more attractive is the acute talent of the director to bring the sense of smell into the movie and still make the audience relate to it.

Ben Wishaw as Genouille, the passionate perfume maker is every man's dream of following ones passion. Passionate enough to even turn into a solid schizo. As he runs behind the chariot in the final scenes, with a handful of "special" perfumes, one would understand his perfume passion. A career high role for Ben and he has done an amazing job of making the best of it.

Dustin Hoffman does a cameo as the perfume master. I wish someone else played the role. It didn't fit him too well.

Even as the movie starts with the story ending, you know that it isn't going to be the actual one. After a long wait of 2 hours and 15 minutes, the final scenes arrive and they are totally unbelievable, conceived and captured on camera extremely well. The whole movie rests in that final sequence and you can clearly see, a normal psycho movie turning into a beautiful one right at that moment. Good Experience.

lazy geek | # | Comments (13)

Watched Superman Returns in the IMAX with selected scenes on 3D. It's an 85 foot screen with some fabulous sound system. And its probably the biggest screen a cinephile gets to watch in his lifetime. Still...Read ahead.

Kevin Spacey did disappoint. Why did he ever accepted to do the movie in first place ? That tells you I didn't expect too much out Brandon Routh, in the first place. He has the perfect nose of a superman and he fits into the role. Atleast physically. More than helping the plotpoint of the movie, he serves as Mr.Droolover for the chicks. You could hears Wows and Aahs in the theatre.

Didn't impress me much like Spidey 2.

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

How would write a two-minute review for a short film that only runs for six minutes and two seconds, to be exact ? You could. If the movie is well made. Not just because the maker is your friend. This isn't written because I know Arun for sometime now. Arun's The Seance is truly a good shortfilm. Like many other shortfilms, at the first viweing, there is a chance that you might not understand the story behind this movie. Any shortstory or shortfilm should considered as a slice of life. So there can't be a three act structure for a shorty. Even with a single act, you could bring in the formulaic movie structure. Arun does it convincingly well.

The Seance could be classified as a horror shorty. It has superb production values and it doesn't look or feel like an amateur film. Not even for a moment. The lighting and cinematography are just about immaculate. There is enough darkness as much as the available light. The music goes with the mood of the movie and is very scary at 'that' single moment. The actors are spot on. BTW, there are only two actors[Tom Cappadona and Rick Pisarro] in the whole movie. Bearing few shots where one would feel that the editor could have sliced just an extra frame, the editing puts up a neat show.

The execution of the script is the highlight. Honestly, superb direction. This is probably the best of Arun till date and it will go a long way in showcasing his talent. Having a great product on-hand, it's now with Arun and his team to take this movie to film festivals and see how it fares. For that's the only way for an independent movie can get noticed. The Seance is already getting rave reviews in Kevin Spacey's Triggerstreet. I think you could watch the movie online if you register there. I got a high quality version sent from Arun but that shouldn't matter. Do mail Arun[arun[dot]filmmaker[at]gmail.com] on your views. He is all ears now.

lazy geek | # | Comments (1)

Susi Ganesan strikes back with a simplistic thriller that proceeds as interesting as a Bhagyaraj screenplay. Once you are out of the theatre you can't avoid the feeling that the movie was mediocre but when you are at it, just like a pulp fiction, it interestingly thrills.

Thiruttu Payaley's screenplay has all twists of a Bhagyaraj screenplay except a family that would form a nucleus to the story. Instead it has a corrupted unemployed youth who makes blackmailing his profession. Given the latest fad for Gilliish movies, Thiruttu Payaley clearly treads clearly inthe opposite path. Wait a sec. Did I say different path ? Oh !! no. Not for the flashback piece. A classic flashback that details why the protagonist is pushed towards blackmailing. Anniyan stuff. Other than that and a couple of unnecessary songs, the film goes on pretty steadily.

And Jeevan plays his part, for the most part, very well. If only he was a little more spontaneous it would have been a big plus. I seem to have a soft corner for Sonia Agarwal and so I would say, she did her job fairly well. Vivek rocks after a long long time. This time he is against mega serials and he performs the thenali stuff. Amusing. Malavika tries to become a neelambari but her character doesn't help her ambition too much. Neverthless good job. Abhaas is also there. Just there.

The title song thiruttu payaley based on MGR's chinna payaley sethi kelada seem to hit the nail on its head. Vairamuthu is still alive.Susi Ganesan continues to take the alternative path just like his mentor Mani Ratnam and thats a happy thing to notice. Couple of more films and he would become an 'established' hand.

lazy geek | # | Comments (18)

Was classy, slick and well executed. Intriguing [sometimes confusing] at the start, it goes on to become a fantastic message movie, something that one wouldn't expect from the Fernando Meirelles, the director of City of God[COG].

If this were to be a blurb on a poster, it would read, John le Carré's Tour-de-force. A perfect thriller told as docu-drama that unfolds completely only as you move to the second half of the movie. Just like City of God, it has super slick editing, great camerawork and interesting screenplay.

With those blue eyes and a verisimilitude visage, Ralph Fiennes cakewalks through the movie. The mummy girl, Rachel actually won an Oscarfor the best supporting actress despite her so-so performance.

Will be a very surprising movie if you haven't been seen the director's previous flick, COG. With the COG baggage, this movie stands good but certainly not as good as COG.

lazy geek | # | Comments (10)

Though being a silly romantic pot-boiler, Hitch was funny. Give it to Will Smith for making it an enjoyable fare and ofcourse Kevin James[who looks very much like Mr.Incredible] who managed to evoke some laughter. The screenplay couldn't sustain the interest it generated in the first few scenes.

The end seemed to drag like a yash johar flick. And yeah, I have to say I don't think I like Eva Mendes. Netflix it if you are bored on those action films. If only you could wait, some bollywood flick plagiarising the storyline, will be in the making.

lazy geek | # | Comments (7)

Thank You For Smoking takes a funny look at the lives of spin doctors, the truth they almost filter, the corporations that rest on their shoulders and the people the tackle on their everyday lives. It's certainly not great flick that one should raise up and give a Two thumbs way way up !! but it certainly provides enough thought and laughter on a Tuesday evening.

The spin doctors or the lobbyists as they are lovingly called, manage to be a firewall between the government and the corporations. In this process they also get burnt by the public angst. These guys talk their way through even the toughest of trials and save the corporations billions of dollars every year. Now if you couldn't make any sense of the previous statements, watch Thank You For Smoking. If you do, watch Thank You For Smoking.

Nick Naylor[Aaron Eckhart], the charming gentleman with a broad smile, is a lobbyist for tobacco. In short, he proves to be middleman between the cigarette companies and the public / government. His life is like standing on a landmine, from tackling the anti-smoking debates on a television show to arguing for pro-smoking in jury courts without giving the slightest of a doubt that he is for against anti-smoking. He dines with the Merchants of Death [MOD], a group of lobbyists who are in a league of their own. MOD consists of a lady lobbyist for alcohol, Nick Naylor for cigarettes and another gentleman for firearms. Not just that but he has a kid son who manages to dramatically change the way Nick thinks himself in general. Nick is ready to accept people calling him by names from Profiteer to a Pimp to blood sucker. Gracious performance by Aaron who carries the entire movie on him.

Nick's bed talk on lobbying tips & tricks to Heather [Katie Holmes], an aspiring journalist of The Washington Probe, starts the fun. The aftermath forms the rest of this 90 minute movie. TYFS moves along with funny dialogues and some interesting situations along way that lead to an expected climax.

As expected, not a single person smokes in the film except for the Captain[Robert Duvall] who holds a cigar on his hospital bed. The titles roll with the cast names printed on vintage cigarette boxes reminding us of the 70's. Other than that and the funny arguments [some of which are ture] there is not much on pro-smoking advices. In fact its all black humor, starting from the 15 year old guy on the morning show who was traced of lung cancer to the Marlboro model who accepts bribe to reduce his old-age cigarette bashings.

The writing is razor sharp with some funny quotes sprinkled all along. Made me think, when Nick Naylor tells his son, "You are never wrong, when you argue right". Jason Reitman as the writer and director of this movie, based on the book by Christopher Buckley, does a great job in making the best out of the screenplay. From the very idea of Space Smoking to the message, Smoking is Cool !! which Hollywood sends to the world, Jason makes enough satire on the industry he comes from and that's exciting.

If you are bored with sitcoms and reality shows on cable, this film is a great escapade.

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

Savadichuduvaen. He repeats and repeats and repeats that one would think the protagonist's characterization is a mock by the director. It may not be. Though the story works at various levels, the movie as a whole fails to impress. Chithiram Pesuthadi is full of good ideas that are badly executed. Like Azhagiya Theeye, it's very earnest but thats it. Nothing more.

And what's with re-releasing of this movie ? Oscar Ravichandran probably wants to be potrayed as the savior of tamil cinema. Looks like the very very mediocre ghaana, Vaala Meenukkum is a massive hit back in Tamil Nadu as one could see several people dancing to it during the success meet.

Sunil aka Narain could have played a role in a Adoor Gopalakrishnan's film but he doesn't shine too much with his acting skills. Sometimes his facial expressions are more pronounced and confuse the heck out of a viewer. It's even more funny that Rediff's Shobha Warrier calls him as Tamil cinema's next big thing. She could take some time-off before she writes S J Surya is the next Kamal Hassan of Kollywood. Couple of duets were truly mesmerizing and the theme music reminds me of a Mani Ratnam film. Though being an inspired theme, it aligns to the 'once-more' category.

Myshkin, the director has some neat ideas but due to various reasons, he wasn't able to pull them all together. The editing was pathetic. To cut a shot a the right frame is an exercise in style. One particular scene happens in the living room of the heroine's house. There are 5-6 people sitting in that room talking indistinctly. Once they complete talking, the camera slowly pans around the room. As everyone moves away from the scene, the camera cuts to a close-up of the blind woman, pauses for a couple of seconds and then the shot is cut. If you could visualise this scene, you would expect that there is a something related to the blind woman and hence we see a close-up of her. Me too. But unfortunately, nothing happens after that. Was that extra shot present to confuse the viewer or was it an editing loophole ?. There are also rapid editing cuts. I assume the director uses this to increase the pace of the screenplay. Good idea but bad execution.

Maybe with this success Myskhin come up with a better script and make some dabbu to rope a better team, next time around.

lazy geek | # | Comments (21)

[Pic - Aaton]

One word. Rocks. Ofcourse, Antartica has ice rocks and glaciers but this is about the Emperor Penguins. Most of us who know penguins only as symbols of Linux, would have a mind shift after watching this dazzling flick.

Luc Jacquet, the director and his crew spent around a year in the icy antartica to shoot this film, March of the Penguins, which chronicles a part of penguins' lifecycle. At the end of this hearty flick, not only would one fall in love with the penguin bird but also appreciate the risks taken by the crew, during the shoot. Though we all sub-consciously agree that this world has evolved and it's all about survival of the fittest, its tough to envison how emperor penguins evolved and survived the worst winters of the earth. Writer Ashokamitran once said, A flourishing life is one which is made up of small sacrifices. If one would agree with this, penguins nearly sacrifice their lives for their kids by sheltering them from the winter winds. Father Penguins go more than 4 months without food as they are busy keeping their kids warm. The unique role reversal of penguins is also shot and documented very convincingly.

The reason I am so damn thrilled is also because of the impeccable narration that fits the moving images. Morgan Freeman, my most favorite hollywooder, not only reads the script but also emotes it with his voice, so damn well. He gives life and soul with every stress and pause. Also, the add-on short film, Mens and Penguins which details the making of the film, is also a must watch. If you haven't watched, do watch atleast for the sheer effort of film-making. Do watch. Do watch.

P.S - If this one gets dubbed in Tamil, an apt title, Thavamai Thavamirundhu.

lazy geek | # | Comments (11)

I have no clue, why Michael Douglas wanted to produce, One Night at McCool's. It had nothing significant to it except it indirectly scans intentions behind people's every action. In a Aayitha Ezhuthu-like screenplay, the point of view of story shifts between three people. All these three people are at various levels of the society and cross each other's life by letching at a sexy girl. While it a good timepass on tuesday evening, it didn't come together very well at the end. Especially people shooting and killing themselves for a sexy chick was just hype at extreme level.

Liv Tyler's ravishing beauty is where the movie rests and she cake-walks through the vamp role. Still, she isn't the same natural beauty as we saw in Armageddon. Alicia Silverstone would have also made a good fit for this role. Michael Douglas does nothing but smoking on-screen(which is banned in India !!). Watch it for some silly fun on a boring evening.

lazy geek | # | Comments (4)

Not much to talk about the film. Didn't generally like it except for parts. With a Quentin Torrentino like start, I grabbed a bag of chips by my side but by the time it completed, I let out a deep breath. The focus of the story keeps changing and if you didn't know who Stephen Chow was, you would be scratching your head to spot the protagonist. First it seemed like the yuppy hair-cutter. Then it was those 3 sudden heroes in the village. Finally, it seemed like the landloards before the real hero emerges. Oh !! yeah it's fun but then it can turn into irritation as the movie proceeds. BTW, I knew who Stephen Chow was, atleast 2 years back.

Kung Fu Hustle is stylish and has an attitude but hasn't coherently been brought together. With a story like this Stephen Chow's expected humor isn't sparkling. Blame it on the not-so-interesting situations and expected twists at the end. I prefer watching Shaolin Soccer again !!

If you enjoy Stephen Chow's Kaathulla Poo stunts, you've got to enjoy Rajinikanth and Vijay doing their idiosyncratic dishum dishum. Both are derived from the theory magical realism. In fact, the Kung Fu fighters forgetting the force of gravity is a nerve tickling comedy-time than Vijay's Sivakasi stunt.

lazy geek | # | Comments (5)

Oh !! yeah. I just completed watching Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. Certainly this is not the first time. It was probably nth time but its been atleast 5 years ever since I watched it. When it was released, it was Superhit Muqabla that announced the arrival of HAHK to me. And all I saw was Salman trying to hit Madhuri's back with a catapult while chewing something very exaggeratedly. Cut. The guy in the audio store told me, "Sir, super paatu ellam. totally 14 songs sir.All top class". Cut. My philips recorder repeatedly plays HAHK casette which I bought for 20 bucks. I still have it. Madhuri and Salman in a black dress on yellow background, the costume they wear during the song, Dhiktana Dhiktana. Salman's leg raised upward and Madhuri to his left in a similar pose. Whoof !! What memory you should think. There are several movies, I couldn't forget. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is one of the topper in that list. Ask my sister and she would nod YES, alongwith me.

Noone could possibly write a review on HAHK. It isn't a movie. It's a musical and has all the ideal items to be packed in a commercial movie. It never pretended to be a movie elevating the artistry of cinema. It was just an hyperbolic version of a North Indian family. I had an ideal mom, ideal dad, ideal uncle, just a little not-so-ideal aunty and idealistic etcetras. The movie was idealistic to India. Indian films for many years have been hypocritical and idealistic to a large extent. We don't like to have an incest uncle or a gol-maal daddy. Everyone are just as expected. Sooraj Bharjatya just ensembled those idealistic characters in one movie and presented it. We loved it. There was no villain except the stairs and the bad aunty. The stairs make Renuka Shahaney slip and she eventually dies. The aunty keeps jumping to sky in ego until our maama gives her/us a surprise slap. She is silenced after that like a bharathiya naari. Not just ideal human, even Krishna(our lord krishna) makes a cameo. Except for the magical ray from Krishna's idol to the dog tuffy, they ring the bells and play a devotional BGM when the dog runs to collect courier from Madhuri which serves as the twist for the climax. These miraculous event knocks off the word kaun from Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and plesantly completes the movie as Hum Aapke Hain !!

Well, if you are thinking, I'm subtly mocking at the movie, I am. But I love it. I am pretty sure of my liking. Some people don't like to accept they like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. Its like reading Sidney Sheldon all along and concluding him to be a trashy writer within friends. Infact, I have no idea to write anything more about the movie. I have enough to boast of about my HAHK experiences than talking about what size of banian Salman was wearing in the song, Pehla Pehla Pyar Hi, when he was effortlessly lifting Madhuri from the billiards board.

Infact, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun wasn't released in parallel at Chennai. It came after 7 or 8 weeks and you know what, it saw more than 2 Diwalis in Chennai, meaning nearly 2 years. I was just completing my schooling and I went the first time to watch HAHK. All I know then about Surat Bharjaathiya was that he was the director. With violence occupying the bollywood scene at that season, HAHK was a breath of fresh air. It was like heaven to many. Pay 10 bucks, go inside watch a peaceful family. No big fights, no big aderanline pumping suspense, no gyrating manmatha raasa hips and ofcourse no big tearjerker story. Before I saw the movie the first time, I heard all the 14 songs, more than atleast 100 times, saw enough clips on TV and so I was expecting a treat. I got it. Though I felt, which bloody family has a swimming pool and a fountain inside the house, SPB and Madhuri took me by a storm. I couldn't resist watching it again and again. In the 2+ years it ran, me and my friends used to go for a movie theatre to watch a new flick. Luckily we had some cousin's friend or some landlord's brother-in-law's sister working in every theatre. So we got tickets we wanted. If not, NO PROBLEM. We came back to watch Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. I think it was more than 10 times in 2 years that I watched the movie just in theatre. Its more than 10 times, I'm positive because we counted. On my thoughts, I've seen Thalapathi more than 14-15 times in theatre. The last time, me and my friend couldn't sit through Thalapathi. We knew every single shot, every single syllable uttered, every camera movement and the Mani Ratnam flick had nothing more to offer us. So we came out even before the intermission and handed over the tickets to two rag-picker boys and sent them inside the theatre for free. I saw Roja 8 times, Bombay 6-7 times, Alai Payuthey 6 times, Thiruda Thiruda 10 times[10 weeks; 10 times] and Gentleman 12 times. Why all that, I even saw Evanaairundhaa Enakenna 3 days in a row, in the same Sangam theatre and worse, same seat. I ain't bragging. I'm positive. I was such a movie freak. Even before friends, I went to movies with noone. I went alone even during my 8th grade. 5 rupees in my pocket and I'm waiting first in the queue from 9:30 am in Shakthi Abirami to watch Anjali. Next day, same 5 rupees, Kizhakku Vaasal. Anjali again the very next day. Thanks to my mom who shed 5 bucks a day and cursed herself for unable to make me stop watching films. Neverthless, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun was something that I could never forget.

Sitting for a matinee inside a hot chennai movie theatre, with atleast 500-600 people, it was only in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, I think I understood the essence of movie making. There are no technical lessons to learn. But I think I consciously started to loose myself for cinema with HAHK. It absorbed me. Transported me to the dreamy world. Threw me out of the teenage worries of school and college. And I owe Sooraj Bharjatya for that. The last few times, we started when Renuka was still rolling down from the stairs. If you always why do people start after the final song is over, they are the repeat audience and I was one with HAHK. HAHK was the talk of the day. Salman and Madhuri were teenage icons and if couldn't sound the perfect 'huh huh !!' to a girl, you are a loser. I never could. But after the 5th time, when every single line of the song lyrics was on my mind, I started watching the other actors in a scene. Lets say in a scene, Madhuri is getting dressed and is the focus of the shot, I would be watching the girl sitting next to her. Because I knew what Madhuri was doing and wanted to know what the rest of the cast was upto in this largely over-populated movie that was a succes in a over-populated country.

My friend used to say, nearly everyone in Delhi saw Hum Aapke Hain Kaun twice. And I think it could be true. Even today when comparing to DDLJ which was another commercial potpourri with the legendary Shahrukh and Kajol, I think the songs and the entire spirit of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is simply unbeatable. A movie, a classic, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is.

Selected Reading -

Official Website of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun

IMDB entry for HAHK

Memoirs on HAHK - Sooraj Bharjatya

HAHK Box Office - Did 2,341 shows in 847 days of its run at Mumbai's Liberty cinema. It ran 105 weeks in regular shows and 16 weeks in noon shows.

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun Soundtrack -
Maye Ni Maye - Lata Mangeshkar
Didi Tera Devar Deewana - Lata Mangeshkar, SP Balasubramaniam
Mausam Ka Jaadu - Lata Mangeshkar, SP Balasubramaniam
Chocolate Lime Juice - Lata Mangeshkar
Joote Dedo Paise Lelo - Lata Mangeshkar, SP Balasubramaniam
Pehla Pehla Pyar - SP Balasubramaniam
Dhiktana - 1 - SP Balasubramaniam
Mujhse Juda Hokar - Lata Mangeshkar, SP Balasubramaniam
Samdhi Samdhan - Lata Mangeshkar, Kumar Sanu
Hum Aapke Hain Koun - Lata Mangeshkar, SP Balasubramaniam
Wah Wah Ramji - Lata Mangeshkar, SP Balasubramania
Lo Chali Main - Lata Mangeshkar

Cast (in credits order) -
Madhuri Dixit as Nisha Choudhury
Salman Khan as Prem
Mohnish Bahl as Rajesh
Renuka Shahane as Pooja Choudhury
Anupam Kher as Prof. Siddharth Choudhury
Reema Lagoo as Mrs. Choudhury (as Rima)
Alok Nath as Kailashnath (as Aloknath)
Bindu as Aunt
Ajit Vachani as Aunt's Husband (as Ajit Vachhani)
Satish Shah as Doctor
Himani Shivpuri as Razia (Doc's wife)
Sahila Chaddha as Rita
Dilip Joshi as Bhola Prasad
Laxmikant Berde as Lalloo Prasad
Priya Arun as Chanda'
and
Tuffy as Tuffy (The Dog)

lazy geek | # | Comments (25)

Parineeta isn't what one would think it would be. Its worser than what you could imagine. Not only it reminds of many period flicks you have seen before but also makes you feel a copycatwill unleash itself without others needing to point out. Parineeta fails to evoke any emotions with the adapted version of the Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra.

Parineeta has loosely tied characters, a chewing-gum screenplay, fantastic BGMs, superb songs and of course real classy cinematography. It's probably the cinematography and the art direction that makes people think it's 'classy'. Except both camera and theart, it sucks. Just production values and picture postcard shots cannot elevate a film if it fails to invoke any emotion at all. Just because there is an element of love triangle, Parineeta doesn't become a Saajan. Infact it doesn't even come close to Minsara Kanavu or KB's Duet(which was a copycat stuff of Saajan).

The suspense starts right from the beginning when the audience start to figure out what kind of relationship the 'married woman' a.ka. Parineeta has on the just-to-be-married Saif. We are confused if parineeta hugs our hero with just lust as the motive or is there an ulterior intention for that. As the suspense unleashes, it's starts to feel like Sense and Sensibility and reminds us of Kandukondain Kandukondain. The only difference is that the savior Sanjay Dutt is stinking rich whereas Mamooty of KK was just a limping war veteran. While the story takes an interesting turn, if you were to watch it till the end, nothing much happens. It all ends up in a loud 'n' lousy climax thats crowns the entire movie, its actual worth. The oldie Rekha is still a vamp and that song clearly was sounding like Hello Mr.Ethirkatchi of Iruvar.

The biggest crib is on the backdrop of the movie. The city Calcutta has got nothing to with this female Parineeta except that the original novel had Calcutta as the city. Just because you can shoot a wide angle focus and blurred shot on the hooghly bridge and just because you show random shots from Calcutta, the movie in no way is concerned with Calcutta's people. Its just a way of extrapolating a simple girl love story to the city for which there is no relationship. Once you do that, at the end one can give a voiceover, As Parineeta gets married, the city of Calcutta was in a joyous mood. What nonsense !! Now that the director just made the backdrop of the story as 1960's and Calcutta, what else could he do. Get all DVDs of 1960s and Calcutta relatedflicks and flick the shots. From Hey Ram to Devdas to even our Iruvar, there are tributes to many movies.

Even if you are as objective as possible, Parineeta is a pretentious film and let the Chopras try and make more Munnabhais than these stuff.

lazy geek | # | Comments (17)

Both Rajas, Bharathiraja and Illayaraja at their height of performance. One Raja setting the village scene for what seems like to be finest piece of storytelling effort while other Raja enriching the whole experience with the soul-searching flute. All this along with a wonderful cast that includes one of India's all-time greatest actors, Sivaji Ganesan. I don't know who steals the show and thats one reason why this film, watched nearly after a decade, blew me away. Despite shot with a shoe string budget which limits the story to a small village and a knee-deep pond, Muthal Mariyathai re-enforces storytelling capabilities and proves beyond doubt that storyline is a true hero.

A middle aged man falling in love with a girl who is younger than his daughter can't be told more refined than this. The perfect setting of a village cast and an exotic romantic interlude of Ranjani form the rest of the film. Even when one would fail to notice the actual point in story when Malaichaami falls in love with Kuyilu, its Bharathiraja's deft storytelling skills that makes you buy the middle aged man's romance. Of course, the story gets a little twisted to still be politically correct that Malaichaami never shared bed with his original wife. I couldn't overlook this defect yet I can understand the 'thaaimaargal' reason why Bharathiraja had to introduce this in the movie. I would have celebrated this as finest piece of cinema if only it was that way. But we know the limitations of film making in Tamil Nadu.

Bharathiraja paying a fine tribute to the university of acting, Sivaji, with the characterization Malaichaami gets him to under-play his role. One could not easily spot Sivaji's best films for there are much more than what our memories can hold. Be it Uttama Puthiran or Bhaagapirivinai or Bale Paandiya or Kappalotiya Thamizhan, it tough to talk about Sivaji in less than 5 minutes. His role in Muthal Mariyaadhai is defintely a gem in the long list of best sivaji films. Raadha as Kuyilu and Vadivukarasi as Ponnatha share the accolades alongwith Sivaji. Without them in respective roles, I can't imagine Muthal Mariyaadhai to be as perfect as now.

This is by far the one of best BGMs in Tamil film history. I ain't exaggerating here. Just one shot, if you notice, you know why I'm so happy about Illayaraja's BGM. The scene as the villagers start searching for Ranjani as she is killed by drowning in water. That flute just pierces you. Small pieces of BGM like these are all over the movie and I have to saw that this is Illayaraja's finest. His second best is for Naadodi Thendral, again for Bharathiraja. If it is Muthal Mariyaadhai for Illayaraja it's Swades for Rahman. These movies clearly show that the musician is excited about the project as there is always a special care in the BGM of every single shot. Malayasia Vasudevan and Illayaraja also kalaasifying the songs. Every song better than one another and it reaches the peak in andha nilaava thaan song where Illayaraja utters in husky voice, adi podi pulla, ellam duppu !!

Now that I've refreshed myself with Muthal Mariyathai, the next time when my mallu friends yap about mallu movies, I would hand them a recording of Muthal Mariyadhai and walk out. Rest understood.

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It's becoming colder in Seattle. Its raining, windy and pleasantly cold. The kind of iira nilam that one would love to live. They have been telling me that as winter coses it, you would be terrible out of mood, blame it on the absence of sun. But for me it's becoming the other way. I do enjoy the sun but the cold weather combined with semi-frequent coming of the rains. This evening it was so windy with rain drizzles that I had my spirits uplifted. A different kind of feeling, that for a moment, makes you forget projects, go-lives, status reports, MOMs and what not.

Offlate, I'm voraciously reading and unexpectedly all the books that were in a long library queue are just pouring in. Besides Ashokamitran's Katuraigal Part 1, I'm having Rusdhie's Shalimar the Clown on my left hand, Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat on my right hand and a lovely book that I wouldn't disclose now. I want to certainly write a post on that special book.

Saw SJ Surya's Ah Aha and namma Surya's Ghajini. Ah Aha was loud, ugly and a sick movie. I'm planning to protest against Rahman tuning music for this dude. He has literally screwed up all the songs with crass creativity and glaring colors. The wide angle close-up shot is an overkill. The completely unrelated sentiment scenes seems to be targeted the thaaikulams while he was busy exploring the midriff of Nila. Does he think we are a bunch of idiots, watching his movie ? Ellyei !!

Satyaraj's Englishkaran is one good movie in the recent times with some common sense. It's typically a late 80's flick with a storyline that we have seen a million times, Satyaraj's satirical comedy rocks. If you can mock at the several happenings of Kollywood and Tamil Nadu politics, with a rehashed storyline, you could cast Satyaraj and make it into a hit, like this. Though we have seen similar movies from Satyaraj, watching truly crappy films from kollywood this year, this was a good time pass. The voluptuous Namitha portrayed as an athlete and she actually runs 100 meters in a tar road before she dies of the kollywood classic poison, arali vedhai. Though I'm not for this nuisance, I'm holding from cursing too much as Namitha Fans Association might actually protest to burn printouts of lazygeek.net. I ain't ready for all that !!

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[click to enlarge]

Watching K Balachander's Nizhal Nijamakirathu, few things cleared up. One - this is one of those movies that truly exploited Kamal's bharathanatyam talent. Two - We probably miss natural talents like Hanumanthu and Mouli in Kollywood, these days. Three - Other than the dancing part, Kamal smokes in every damn scene.

Offlate, I've been watching KB movies in a row. It all started with Jaathi Malli. I have questions on why Balachander directed the movie in the first place.. The movie sucked in very other aspect except for the interesting MadanBob /Dhamu sequences and Maragadamani's music. Then it was Kamal's Manmadaleelai, which was a mediocre effort by KB and Kamal, keeping in mind the classy films they were delivering at that time.

The storyline seems cliched now but in yesteryears it must have been a decently interesting one. More than the rape you-marry you story, it was the cast ensemble that elevated the pleasure of watching this flick. It had Kamal as a smoking communist with intelligent dialogues just like Sujatha's protagonist. Sarathbabu playing as usual, the sucker friend. Sumitra as the feminist and the classy Shoba playing her debut as a rich-dreams-poor-girl. These four characters alongwith Hanumanthu, Mouli and Oru veral Krishnarao make the entire movie cast. Its truly KB's talent to blend these characters in a fashion that makes the movie interesting.

Hanumanthu is a gem of an actor. Natural talent. Not a single shot he seemed to 'act'. The expression, body language and dialogue delivery was just perfect. I've seen him in other Mouli 's films but this was probably his finest performance. I've heard people talk about him but I'm not sure he was regarded as a classy actor in his time.

Though the entire film looks just like a stage drama, it was fun to watch Kamal play a semi-baddy. Kamal's characterisation reminded me of Prashant 'reverse-talking' role in Agathiyan's Kaathal Kavithai. If you could grab you hands on the video, you are certainly not wasting your time.

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It was Moondraampirai played in a loop. It was 50 First Dates. It had Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore starring. It had some pathetic dialogues like You are the girl for me and I'm the man for you. Still, it wasn't boring. It was a light-hearted comedy. And above all it would make a great tamil film, if made without introducing anymore thaali sentiment.

The E.T kid is now a babe and she does the role with a perfect ease and full of grace. Though annoyingly loud, Adam Sandler does his Waterboy thing again. They only thing that didn't gel with the movie is the Hawaiian backdrop for the movie. Its evident that the director chose a background like that to make the audience believe that the girl really didn't have a chance to knwo the truth. On a city like Manhattan or even SFO, she could easily bump onto the truth of dates with the TV or the people around. Making her world smaller in this small countryside village, he was able to convince the audience. But the truth is that we aren't used for a countryside romance from Hollywood. The last movie that I enjoyed with a similar setup was A Walk in the Clouds and it was nice then.

Not the kind of movie I would love to watch everytime but certainly more laughs per hour. Taking a guess on who would be flicking this movie in Tamil, I would say Charan(from his Jay Jay - Serendipity combo). And you ?

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Hemanth recommended Crash as we were sipping mocha at bucks. I went straight and added it to the top of my flix queue. Took it over to Ram's place to project it over a big screen and watched the crash happening one after another.

Crash has a fascinating screenplay. It isn't unique. But still fascinating. 13 peoples' life come in and go out of each others life on an unassuming day in LA. Most of the 'come in and go out' happen unexpectedly and that's the screenwriter's skill. Even as the movie runs as bits and pieces of incidents, its put together with absolute continuity and perfect harmony with other scenes such that no single incident seems better/worse than the other. These people who crash onto each other's life are perfect strangers and belong to different races.

The movie talks about racism and post 9/11 anxiety issues which common people face in everyday life. An old meticulous Farsi shopkeeper who wants a gun to safeguard, a powerful attorney's paranoid wife, a perfectly loving father who is victimized just because of his race, a chinaman caught under a truck for no reason and many more such good and bad people bump onto each others life. Scripting this movie could have been a tight rope walk. It's easy with so much happening at the same time, the movie could seem like a collection of trailers. Paul Haggis, the writer-director of Crash seems to be a reputed TV series guy. I found that while reading about him after I watched the movie.

All the characters seem as important as the other and each one's life changing event has been dramatised enough for the audience to relate with. The dialogues are provocative and blatant as required. With a studio producing the movie, these dialogues would have been dumped even during the pre-production. But it's the same dialogues that makes one relate to the movie better. Independent films like these ensures a hope that movies can also be used for better purposes than entertainment. Movies needn't propogate social 'messages' only through dialogues. They can be strong, subtle and might end-up on you as some kind of revelation. Someone watching the movie heart-of-heart will walk around their neighborhood looking for positives within people. And that's a success for Paul Haggis.

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** There are no spoilers here or in any other review of Mangal Pandey. Whats written below as story is just history. So cool off and read ahead even if you haven't seen the movie.**

Either they exaggerated a dude called Mangal Pandey, in my high school history textbooks or they just minisculed a great warrior in Ketan's Mehta's flick. Mangal Pandey falls short in every other area and gets sandwiched between classifications of mainstream masala flick and a artistic period movie. Rahman and Ketan Mehta fighting to walk away as weakest link of the movie title alongwith a host of other technical crew who have supported them in pulling down a movie of high expectations.

Or the whole of previous paragraph is an outcome of the arm chair critic in me, trying too hard in stopping me from enjoying this typical masala movie. Whichever be the answer, without Aamir Khan the movie wouldn't have even deserved a mention. And we know that a fort called Aamir Khan can carry the weight of a movie effortlessly.

I'm surprised how the movie which was called The Rising throughout the production of the movie suddenly became to called as Mangal Pandey - The Rising. That's probably when Ketan Mehta clearly saw he wasn't making a movie on The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. He was just trying to document the history of a warrior called Mangal Pandey whose death triggered the Sepoy Mutiny. It was a personal account of Sepoy Mutiny's trigger from the view of the man who kick started it with a handful of gunpowder and infinite dhill.

I completely upset not even by the movie but by A R Rahman's background score. Nearly non-existing. While some songs were great to listen, they were not-so-well-picturised. Himman Dammija's camera angles didn't bring in the required grandeur. You might have to search for sensational sequences and be happy if you find a couple of them along the way.

With the Brits talking hindi more fluently that they wouldn't have problem in repeating, Ek Ghaav Mein Ek Kisan Rahta Tha, like many southies. I have to admit the movie wasn't boring at all. The screenplay was clean, the characterization however lacked depth. It had a potpourri of sentiments that a typical Indian movie need to be successful. From the mangal sutra, friendship, betrayal, romance and even a item number. If only it wasn't called Mangal Pandey, I would have enjoyed it more. The yearning to enjoy a patriotic hero's history stopped all that. Who's to be blamed for that. Me, who drove 10 miles to watch it or someone who made it over the last few years.

A huge bunch of deceived souls eagerly await the next patriotic experiment. Why shouldn't it be him ?

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Arindum Ariyaamalum - Hugely inspired from Mani Ratnam Flicks. Arya shines. Heroine couldn't act. Yet again, Yuvan delivers. If only the climax wasn't cliched...good watch.

Rear Window - A Photographer, a broken leg, a rear window and a homicide. Hitchcockian thriller. Engrossing.

The Ring - Urban Legend. Happens in Seattle. Good Screenplay, reminds me of a Stephen King book.

Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat is hanging on the stand. Yet to see !!

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Sachein was horrendous. When the movie was announced, from the posters, I sensed that it was a going to be a 3 hour long advertisement like Minsara Kanavu. It ended up just as expected and was also hugely non-interesting. Yet another good example of how a movie can bore you to the core because of bad/no screenplay.

With the screenplay nearly non-existing and the ghost of 'Khushi' wavering around, one couldn't expect much than this. Though the characters talk naturally like the college crowd, it's the characterisation and the predictable story that's irritating. The movie seems better as it nears the end, or probably I felt happy as it was about to end. Why whould someone want to direct his debut movie which is a out-right rehash of a earlier movie done by the same star ? That just says how the producer and the director 'believes' a tamil movie fan. Forget Johan, the debutant director doing the mistake. Imagine Vijay himself, who wants to do Kushi again. Clearly shows how Vijay cares-a-damn about his audience and his belief that his fan following would make this movie a super-hit.

While Vijay, like other characters in movie, starts artificially, he goes on to carry the light-weight movie upon him to the end. Vijay has a long way to go in acquiring dialogue delivery skills. As he starts to talk at the camera after every 5 minutes, it seems like a movie shot strictly for his fans. I couldn't believe Harini can act so bad. While she did a good debut in Boys, she is intolerable with her performance. Her inspirations drawn from the well-performed Jyothika hasn't helped at all. Bipasha Basu could very well stay polluting the bollywood with her vamp looks. The bloated Vadivelu with his paunch and overdone powder makeup, seems out-of-place.

In a movie, where everthing except photography[Jeeva] is overdone, the smoke machine operator walks away with the credit for the 'best overdone component' of the movie. As every single character walks into/out-of a room/scene, the smoke seems to follow them sacredly. This starts to irritate right from the first shot when Vijay walks into the airport. With two ghanna songs asking to tap foot, I'm still googling for the BGMs.

Though it was partly my mistake to expect Johan to perform like his father, Mahendran, his story/screenplay has been the biggest villain. Lastly, if only Vijay wants to take over kollywood by talking to the camera and by rehashing his older flicks with newer heroines, he is having a bad dream.

P.S : Johan has a long way to go before he could be compared on the sames lines as his dad. Being an avid Mahendran fan, I only hope Johan 'delivers' a good show, next time.

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I had no idea what Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi was until I watched it. Srihari had written a review which I comfortably forgot to read. I heard him comment elsewhere about HKA being a good film and hence I wanted to watch it. Turned out to be sweet.

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi a.k.a Thousand Dreams Like These, has Che Guevara, Beatles, Bob Marley, naxal movement, sex, politics and love in widely varying proportions. All these described and experienced through three people who lived in the post-independent India during 70's. HKA can just me defined as Sudhir Mishra's tribute to the 70's generation. With Subha Mudgal's opening song and those explicit politically charged lines on screen, I was certainly suprised that it wasn't the kind of film that I expected it to be from the DVD cover.

Delhi. St Stephen's College. Three people who meet here as friends, with just their emotional attachment in a triangular fashion, see the extremes of life by living life they choose too. After a decade, their lives changed beyond recovery, their love undying. Delhi was intellectually charged up at 70's. Voices in need of reformation ended up being naxal movements. Many rich class college yuppies were moved by idealistic ideas and moved to villages for reformation. Sidharth is one such. With the corrupt political cloud over Delhi, one could just talk his way-up the career. Check-out Vikram. Then we have the girl. For the 70's she is the educated, independent but emotional Indian woman. So we have Geeta. They follow life and it's dark corridors only to finally end up with thousand dreams like these.

Sudhir Mishra's portrayal of India at the politically charged 70's era is something that I couldn't relate to. Not many movies have tried to tread this way. With the cry for true freedom, political imbalances and the times of emergency forms the canvas of HKA. Without harping too much on the political issues, Mishra takes a tight-rope walk. He wins. He wins first for his intriguing, non-boring and highly charged narattive of HKA. Then for his casting skills. Kay Kay Menon as Sidharth, Shiney Ahuja as Vikram and Chitrangada Singh as Geeta are great finds for theie respective roles. Chitrangada Singh looks and smiles like Smita Patil. The kind of dark beauty we see in Balu Mahendra's flicks. Kay Kay has a role that needs downplay. He does that with grace. Shiney Ahuja as the vivacious Vikram out performs others. The talkative role adds up to the personality. If only Mishra would have mixed the english/hindi in proportion, it would have been a rational move. There was excessive english even after the characters live in the deepest villages of Bihar, for nearly a decade. Could have been handled better.

Yet another gem among the heap of half-baked nonsensical hindi films made these days. If you get some leisure movie-watching time, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi is a good watch.

BTW, I also wanted to comment on Madhur Bhandrarkar PAGE 3 which was dubbed as a rare film of the year. All I wanted to say is that Page 3 is one among the heap that is mentioned in previous paragraph. It should have been directed by Shobha De. She has probably lived and written more about Page 3 people of Bollywood than anyone. What starts as good idea ends up as a pretentious movie that canont convert the original idea on-screen. The whole movie is sprinkled with skin-deep characterisation, party clips, neon lighted dance floors and low/no hip culture of the 'happening' bollywood. Madhur Bhandarkar's earlier flick Chandini Bar was laudable. He should probably be highlighting Chandini Bar in his filmography. Page 3 is yet another sample of hazaaron bad films aisi.

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It was probably 19 years since I watched E.T on screen. Obviously, I was a kid then. My orientation towards ET had different dimensions. My eyes were filled with tears when the lonely alien lies there in the middle of a hall in Planet Earth and weepingly utters,"Mom Mom!!". Since then I believe(!!) I've grown up. I have discovered my liking towards movies. I've watched hundreds of films since then. Have watched the T-Rex walking mightly in Jurassic Park. Have enjoyed the gigantic space ship on the skies on an Independence Day. Have seen Titanic go down, Apollo 13 getting stuck in the space, Robots getting away with Artificial Intelligence and Darth Vader fighting Star Wars. Having this huge line-up of graphical wonders lined up, ET still seems to a wonder of movies. As I watched it yesterday, I still had tears running on the same shot. I don't call it empathy for an alien. I prefer to call it as the magic of E.T.

Steven Spielberg's ET The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) brings out the child in you. As Spielberg says, ET is like a good quality wine. The more the age the better it gets. What a genuine storyteller we have in Steven Spielberg. After E.T, he has a share of heaven reserved for him. He has soothened so many souls with ET just like what Illayaraja and SPB did to millions of tamilians.

When I finished watching the movie, this is what I felt - If only...If only I get to make a movie and If I can weave a story as profoundly imaginative and strikingly humane as ET, I would feel accomplished.

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Well, I'm late. But it is never too late to watch a good movie. Especially to discover a good movie when you watch it with no expectations. Ab Tak 56 could be Ab Tak 156 by now but it's only today I got to see Nana Patekar lighten up the screens. Ab Tak Chhappan released more than a year back but would be talked about for the years to come.

It's not a cop's saga nor some brave attempt of a single man fighting against all odds. Sadhu Aghase is a normal no-nonsense-cop and if you try to brag him with sentiments, he might not budge. Though he is special. He has mastered the art of encounters and can make great South Indian sambhar. Not just that but he demands grammatically right English. In the life of a cop, he gets into a special crime branch and heads a special division thats is formulated to wipe out long-time criminals by encounters. Though he doesn't keep count of his encounters, someone keeps reminding him of the count. When things go hayward, things change drastically, but for him it is Ab Tak 56 and still counting....

I hated Ram Gopal Varma's hyped-up movies. I certainly loved Satya. More than liking it terrorised me about a city called Mumbai. But the so-called on-the-road movies that followed were nothing but hype. Even Company wasn't great. But with a debutant director, Shimit Amin, Ram Gopal Varma produces a movie that more classier and more stylistic than his earlier movies. I wonder how cop movies are made slicker than the romantic ones. Both Kakkha Kakkha and Ab Tak 56 have great BGMs, camera and more importantly some great piece of editing. Not only Shimit Amin gets us into the plot very soon, he also manages to take the movie without a drag. Until the final 20 minutes, I never felt a need to getup and get myself a cup of coffee. The cop story also encompasses the affairs of internal politics in the police department.

Even with a bad supporting cast, the movie would have survived. Shoulder courtesy; Nana Patekar. As Sadhu Aghase, Nana Patekar is at an all-time ease. He isn't roaming around like someone dipped in starch like most of the cop movies, smokes too many cigarettes than all the Rajini movie put together and utters Saala and Chutiyaa more number of times than any other hindi movie. Performs like a true spirited actor. Nana Patekar has immense talent thats been under-utilized by stuffing him with pyscho roles with an alto voice. I am unable to stop comparing him to Prakash Raj in Tamil film industry. He can also be on the likes of Nasser if used appropriately.

While I was assuming that Revathi was in there because there was a huge role ahead of her in the movie, her miniscule character gets a bullet in the midway. She was probably there to represent the South Indian wife of Sadhu Aghase. Ram Gopal Varma could have probably gone with the humpteen stand-like-a-doll actresses available in dozens in the Bollywood. Kunal Vijaykar gets a role that demands enough eating as much as acting. A role that he would have waited for a long time. Great show.

What a theme of Ab Tak 56 that was. Salim and Sulaiman well known as Salim Sulaiman just took Ab Tak 56 to great heights. With no songs and pelvic-3D-thrust dances, they have used their music positively in the BGM that grips. If only I was worried that I missed the movie in theatres, it was because of the background score. The titles read Murad Siddiqi as the editor. I don't know anything about him but his job in the movie is a commendable effort.

Shimit Amin chooses to take the reality path in movie making and emerges as a winner. With no unwanted situations and scenes, the movie has a tight screenplay. Except for the lastpart when the movie begins to loose away from the track and treads on the revenge mode, it has been well made. All these exceptions are however handled in the final conversation that ends by saying, Once a Cop, Always a Cop. Watch it, if you haven't yet for it's just 56 as of now.

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[Pic: sprout.org]

The moment anything is reported or written, truth suffers. This is one of the most fundamental points in reporting news. The eye witness narrative is the most sought out at such times. At all possibility, the eye witness brings his perspective of the news. The moment a perspective is brought in, subjectivity creeps in. He selects which part of the news has to be told, which part of the news he remembers, which part he forgets and which part he compels himself to hide. Thus selection of the scene from eye witness becomes inevitable. Finally, the truth suffers. So what happens when truth suffers?

I copy pasted the above paragraph from my Virumandi movie review without any changed. And that suits Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. Rather it's the other way. But blame it on me watching Rashomon only now. Rashomon can be celebrated as one of the best all-time movies. I would personally say it's the most simplest movie ever taken. With the story, screenplay, camera, sets, costumes and all being so simple, the movie was terrific. It was a quaintly gripping. Rashomon is certainly a tour-de-france in it's own way. For a B &W movie, it had elements of international cinema which could be referenced and debated even now.

Rashmon, a place of workship which was once a building of faith is in shambles. Three men discuss on a extra-ordinary event which two of them witnessed. Eachone has a version of the story. Where the heck is truth. It's said that the story of Rashomon was built from a shortstory called, In the Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. But it was Kurosawa's dealing with it made it a evergreen classic. Even in such a negative thread that runs throughout the movie it's Kurosawa's brilliance that made all them seem positive at the end. The last scene where the wood cutter walks with
the newborn talks volumes about the gist of the movie. The woodcutter with his heads raised, walks away from Rashomon, carrying the kid in his hand and the sun shining behind him. Metaphorically, the promise for a better future lies only with such altruistic random acts of people, at times of emergency. Class act !!.

I am not sure if the building Rashomon was an erected set or not but it was completely realistic and the rain was perfect. It brought in the required tension without any 360 degree panned jimmy-jip angles. The chasing scenes had some amazing shots with the camera rushing down a bushy slope. Something I got to see for the first time only in Mani Ratnam's Pagal Nilavu song. Akira Kurosawa must have been an expert even before he shot Rashomon to have such clarity in the scene sequencing techniques. The protagonist Toshirô Mifune as Tajomoru just walked with best actor award.

For those who haven't seen, watch it without expectations. You can be positive that you will be rewarded in the end.

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