Friday, April 25, 2014

Rainman: Hoffman prevails over Cruise gun.

This movie is special for me or various reasons. Though you can say that Tom Cruise was in one of the leading roles, his role was overshadowed by the performance of Dustin Hoffman, playing the character of an autistic savant. His performance makes everyone either laugh or cry. Being a very emotional movie, this movie touches heart of everyone.
The music given by Hans Zimmer sets a good theme for the entire movie. He has the art to thrill the audience (as done in M:I:2 or Gladiator or The Dark Knight, or Inception) as well as to make the audience cry in emotion as shown by this movie.
Surprisingly, very few people have seen this masterpiece. It will be better to watch it for Mr. Hoffman's performance. 
It bagged 4 Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a leading role for Dustin Hoffman.
This movie has been inspiration for the plot and characters of the Subhash Ghai directed year 2008 movie Yuvraaj.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Notable Role (8/1000): K K Menon (Shaurya).

The year 2008 movie Shaurya is based on the theme of AFSPA misuse in Jammu and Kashmire and is inspired from the 1992 Hollywood flick A Few Good Men. The difference between these two movies is that while the later one was known for the performance of the Hero, the former one will always be remembered for the role of Major Pratap played by K K Menon. 
The best scene from the movie, according to me, is the entry of K K Menon and his subsequent meeting with Rahul Bose, (who is our desi Cruise of this movie) is humiliated by Menon for his conduct over breakfast table. 
The other best scene was the climax, showing the cross-examination of Brigadier Pratap. In both the scenes, K K Menon proves to be better villain than Jack Nicholson (the Hollywood counterpart in A Few Good Men).
We have seen his mind blowing performances in Gulaal  and Black Friday. He is one actor who needs the focus of the eminent movie-makers like Anurag Kashyap, Shujit Sarkar and Tigmanshu Dhulia. Because only such eminent producers can tap the talent of actors like Menon. The best scenes of this movie include the flamboyant presence of Menon. These scenes are:

First meeting with Major Chaudhary.


Cross-examination of Pratap.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Black Friday: Opening the true files of 1993 blasts.

I have already mentioned, India has history of low grade movies. But few producers like Anurag Kashyap have given a new motivation and a new ray of hope to us. With his movies like Gulaal, Gangs of Wasseypur (I and II), Girl in Yellow Boots, Shaitaan, he told us what a good movie is all about.
This movie- Black Friday (2004)- is not just a movie but a documentary, which explains the causes, consequences and inquiry of the 1993 Mumbai blasts that ripped apart the financial capital of our country.
This movie is equipped with true artists like KK Menon, Pawan Malhotra, Aaditya Srivastav and Nawazud din Siddiqui. They have time and again proved that Indians are also good at acting and still there are some emerging talents that need the focus of good movie-makers.
It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and was a nominee for the Best Film (Golden Leopard) award at the Locarno International Film Festival. The film was so controversial that the Indian Censor Board did not allow it to be released in India for two years. 
It has given a good opportunity to the band Indian Ocean to contribute its musical magic in this movie. I love the song Arre Ruk Ja Re Bande.

Behind the Screen Facts:    

  • The film was banned in India and was released theatrically only 2 years after it's actual planned release date.  
  • The film is based on true facts regarding the Mumbai Blasts in 1993.  
  • Anurag Kashayap cast Aditya Shrivastav and KayKay again after the banned Paanch and Gulaal.

    Sunday, April 6, 2014

    Queen: If SRK is King Khan, Kangana Ranaut is Queen Ranaut.

    We must admire the trend of Bollywood that it is delivering such hat-ke (different) movies for fast few years. Lat year it showed us the hopes in the wraps of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Madras Cafe, D-day, Lootera. This year too it has kept our hopes pristine and all-time high. This hype is evident after we come across the movies like Queen.
    Watching the dedicated performance of Kangana Ranaut, it can be said that our film industry has no more restricted entry for the male dominant stars. If there can be a King Khan, there can be a Queen Ranaut.
    No other actress can emulate her performance in the movie. Her performance suits the theme of women empowerment through this movie. No doubt, she deserves a National Award for what she did to her role.
    Lastly, the music by Amit Trivedi is in sync with the situation of the scenes of the movie and best suited to it. If Bollywood can open the doors for the cheaters like Anu Malik and Pritam, Trivedi is going to be last nail of their coffins.

    Thursday, April 3, 2014

    Notable Role (7/1000): Mahesh Manjarekar (Kaante)

    He was not the lead actor of the movie, but without him Kaante, (2002 year remake of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs1992) would have been a worthless movie. In fact, he was best as an actor in this movie. It was through this movie, that he garnered the fame of an actor better than a director (though he directed and produced great movies like Vaastav).

    The scenes of the movie are as follows:
    Cops arresting Bali.

    Bali Crying.


    Interrogation by Bali.