Dear Zindagi !

Hola Amigos! It has been so long since I came to my blog. Haven't watched a movie in the past 3 months but finally I had a chance to watch one, and am very happy to tell you that I did not waste it away.

Dear Zindagi, on the face of it is the story of a girl who is talented and doing very well in her professional life. But then comes love!! And things change for the worse. What she discovers about herself after her boy friend dumps her is that it is not that one person, but her sort of dark  past which haunts her till date. The six year old who passively submitted to the fact that her parents cannot keep her with them hampered her emotional side badly for the coming years. In-spite of all that could be done the inevitable happens and she ends up staying with her parents for a month in Goa. What she thought would be the worst one month turns out to a life changing phase of her life when she meets a psychiatrist who has his own ways of dealing with patients.

I have in the initial days never really liked Alia Bhatt, not because of her performance but a very simple reason, she is a star kid. I somehow feel a little anguish towards her kind because they really don't do anything and get to work with the best of the director on the best of the script and still many of them after so much years of training cannot justify what they are doing. Also when she entered Bollywood rumors made the rounds that she was as dumb as she was beautiful. I made a mental image of her without actually watching any of her movies that she was also like others, making a film fortune on her Dad's repo in the industry.

But I was wrong. Kaira , played by Alia Bhatt in this movie is not just the story but a story. I believe everyone can relate to it in some way or the other if you have the patience to not call the film a slo-mo. I have always had this complaint with the Indian viewer that he goes for an entertainer rather than a story. This is the very reason a lot of people said " Yeah it was good par thodi bore thi" No, it wasn't. You need to broaden your perspective. Don't just go to the cinema hall with the idea that a song or two with some action packed with some romance makes a good film. A story like this, which gives you the time to reflect upon what you are watching is the best escape you can find in this speedy world. Look I know am emphasizing on this idea because it is too overwhelming for me.

Dr. Jehangir Khan played by Shahrukh Khan , is a character I felt we all need in some form in our lives. Many of us are lucky to have such a person, it may be our parents or a friend. Though I felt at some places there are some typical Bollywood flaws like unnecessarily showing Alia to be a messy character who likes to live in a dirty place and is reckless most of the time. This phase can come to anyone's life, however organised or disciplined you might be. All and all I am very happy to have used my chance of watching this movie.

P.S : This is by far the longest post but it was worth it! 

The NOTEBOOK

If someone had to name a few benchmark romantic movies, I bet this one will find a place in the list. So, is it only for hopeless romantics, people who are waiting to be in love or are already overwhelmed by its charm? I would have said that if I hadn't watched it as casually as I did, not having any preconceived notions as to what a romantic movie is like. There is something more than love which will make an average viewer's eyes too, glued to the screen, the purity.

There is never a point when the story tries to become a perfect tale of two lovers, never does it goes on to fix things between them. You will never have a feeling that it is a couple of coincidences which bring Allie and Noah together, again.It is their love which finds its way back into each other's lives and eventually they too, very naturally without any effort. It is out of question to question the conviction of the story which is capable of captivating an ordinary, non-romantic type of person also.It is one of those stories which makes you want to fall in love with all your heart and soul, makes you hope that a person will walk into your life out of nowhere and suddenly mean the world to you.

Usually, these notions may all seem vague and flawed and unconvincing at the cost of practicality but this movie somehow convinces you that beautiful miracles can happen. The end could have been a bit painful and against the general expectations of being happy. Allie could have gone with Lon, as in a lot of stories happens. She might have then, lived a happy life with him Noah could also have eventually met someone. But this story simply demands to have them stick together for a lifetime, like no one ever was.

"The heart wants what it wants. There is no logic to it, it's just, you meet someone and you fall in love and that's that." 
                              

                                                        

Raman Raghav 2.0

Even when you have a thousand pretty ideas to describe something, lack of a good beginning puts it all in vain. I really am out of words to place at the start of this review. Okay, it is a review it has to be like one but OMG  this was my first Anurag Kashyap movie ( yes, it was :D) and such an intense one, a totally gut wrenching tale it is. The movie is divided into eight chapters and not one fails to numb your heart, from the start till the end.

RAMAN
The character Ramanna or Raman played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui will make you love him as much as hate him, for doing it so perfectly horrible. I can state him to be a serial killer in very simple words but I won't. When you hear all these stories of killers and murderers, they have some motive, some pattern in their doing but Ramanna is a simple guy, beaten by hunger and poverty since his childhood and diverted on to a path from where there is no coming back. It is not about one's senses which make him question that is this the right thing to do or not but, that unsatiated hunger and unquenched thirst which material things can never account to. For some it is meditation, for some gymming, swimming or any other form of exercise, some fulfill it by indulging in any art form, but for him, it is killing, plain simple killing which completes him. He does not kill for a living, neither for taking revenge nor for getting attention but just for the sake of it, the pleasure of it.

Understanding the science of this character can be a bit tricky but that is the trick, you don't make any effort, let him surprise you, terrorize you by his vicious moves. This film made me regret a little that I should have been a psychology student :p

RAGHAV
ACP Raghavendra Singh, a cop who is addicted to drugs and smoking, confounded by his own lifestyle finds himself struck in a trap of anger and low self-control. This unleashes the beast within him, chained till now by the job he is into. And once this happens, his impulsive nature leads him to kill his girl friend because of a small altercation. This killing follows one more, of a girl who saw him murder her (his gf).What is shocking is that these were not his first two murders, but one more man was killed by him a few years back and that is the point from where on Raman keeps an eye on all of Raghav's activities.

RAMAN RAGHAV 
Raman, a psychopath chases ACP Raghav for a reason, because he thinks he is his soulmate, one to find whom his life was destined and upon finding him the purpose has been fulfilled.Where Raman kills for the sheer pleasure of it, Raghav does it out of rage. Overall the story is not for the weak hearted, it is not easy to handle and not everyone can and should watch. The average audience can fail to understand the simple complexity of the nature of the film but it is not their fault. It a typical Anurag Kashyap movie, shot in the slums of Mumbai with the best of the team and it demands your attention and sense to go near to what one can call a basic understanding of the script.

Udta Punjab

Helllllloooooooo readerssss!! What a horribly long time it's been away from my blog. I don't know I could blame it on exams or college or other stuff but to be truthful, I lost the will to write, to review. With me it is like when am watching a movie, a story of my own starts forming up in my mind, obviously it's about the film I am watching but with my perspective. Like what good and bad I find about a character, what less or more could there be to a story , where could the words in a song be altered to something better. And if I find it anything next to perfect the time just goes in appreciating the beauty of all the above. So anyway, it is Udta Punjab, which I want to share my views about with you today (tonight :p)


The plot is set in the state of Punjab and revolves around three independent, shorter yet significantly stronger stories, fighting one common enemy, drugs. The first, Tommy Singh played extra ordinarily by Shahid Kapoor, a pop-star doomed by the influence of drugs, only realizing it when he is faced by the stark reality of two teenagers being ill-inspired by him. This proves to be a turning point in Tommy's life and yet strengthened by his meeting with Alia Bhatt, the unnamed Bihari girl.

Alia, who initially hails from Bihar,comes to Punjab in search of a job and a better future, gets struck in life threatening, emotionally disastrous situations, wretched both physically and mentally, lands in a drug trap but she finally escapes showing immense courage and hope, not only believing in herself but making the audience believe that even though this is a scripted drama, things will go to better from worse one day.This character of her is by far the best I have witnessed of Alia, done with such beautiful a conviction that you can't help but fall for her, again. And in spite of the dirt and dust she is covered in you want to tear the screen and kiss her lovingly.

Diljit Doasanjh, a debutante or I should say the debutante. The super star of Punjabi movies left no stone unturned to make his Bollywood debut a big success. Punjabi people are very sweet and the same sweetness his character reflected. Shaken up by a family trauma he carries on the fight against drugs with Dr.Preet Sahni aka Kareena. The duo looks adorable on screen and represents two very strong characters.

A very sensitive issue like this one couldn't be brought up with any less or more humor, sincerity and propriety. Still it saddens me that our censor board asked for 89 cuts and such a difficult launch of this movie.