V Uprising

   

 

 

 

 

Out comes the womanhood with a BANG and hits you harder than you can ever imagine. Shakes you, wakes you, jostles you, throws you up in the air and drops you, swirls you, twirls you, pushes you and pulls you, tickles you, slaps you, cuddles you, bruises you, heals you, disgusts you, soothes you, holds you, caresses you. Makes you love and respect the woman you are and the woman you know of.

V monologue is not about understanding the anatomy of woman or the injustice against women or about the male dominance in the society. V Monologue is to tell every woman to just be the woman you want to be. It is so important to know themselves before women talk of women’s liberation, sex education, gender equality and other such women oriented issues.

V Monologues is V Uprising, V conquering, V forging ahead for the forbidden pleasures. Mammas watch it and let your daughters be. Women watch it and explore what you have missed all this while. Men watch it and fall in love with woman in all her forms the mother, the sister, the daughter, the girl next door, the wife, the predator, the prey. Every woman is beautiful and respectable.

Just back after their 10th year stint at Prithvi Theatres, Juhu, Mumbai. Excellent performances by all but something that left lasting impression was Jayati Bhatias ‘Types of orgasmic sounds’, Mahabano Kotwals Parsi woman who has Kishore Kumar singing to her in her dreams and arousing her, Sonali Sachdeva’s Maharashtrian woman whose boyfriend loved to ‘look at her’ and Dolly Thakore’s women abused in war.

Celebrate womanhood with Vagina Monologue. (psst…Finally I did say the ‘V’ word with aplomb).

 

Barfi- Movie Review

I didn’t remember that the movie was releasing and was just flipping through the paper when my 4 yr old saw thead of Barfi in the newspaper and asked, “mom who are these girls with Ranbir Kapoor.?” I said “Ileana and Priyanka. She asked again “Both are his girlfriends? I looked at her and said “yes but do you know waht a girlfriend is?” For which she said “Someone you love but can u have two two girlfriends” She knew too much too soon. I couldn’t answer that but decided to watch Barfi. I did update FB briefly on how it was overall but here is a little more detail to the show I saw last night.

The movie by Anurag Basu is about a deaf and dumb, sweet and simple, naughty and mischievous, small town boy who falls in love with a rich girl Shruti (Illeana) who in turn chooses money over love and gets married to someone else. But by the time she realises it was a mistake he has moved on with his childhood autistic friend Jhilmil (Priyanka).

The plot is quite predictable. A soft love story with a lot of Raaj Kapoor, Charlie Chaplin type old time comedy, set in 1950s, in and around beautiful tea gardens, curving roads, sloping hills, wooden houses, trams of Darjeeling. Flashback in Falshback, Flashback in Flashback well that kind of almost took us off track sometimes but was simply and cleanly narrated so was easy to pick up the pieces and link it back again.

First thing everyone asked was ‘What is barfi?’. Yeah yeah, you guessed right that it is Ranbir Kapoor’s name but not the one his mom named. She named him ‘Murphy’.(Even I was called the Murphy Baby as a kid). It was the name he was fondly known as in his area. I loved the way he would say his name ‘Arfi’.

Ileana reminded me a lot of Aishwarya Rai at many places. She definitely is a promising actress. But as far as Bollywood goes, she will have to show the Masala side of her too to get into the big league. But definitely better than the latest launches like Diana Penty, Nargis Fakhri, Amy Jackson,Giselle Monteiro etc. etc.

Now coming to Priyanka Chopra. She does an excellent job as an autistic girl, but since the movie was about Barfi Kapoor…I mean Ranbir Kapoor. Barfi almost touched Radhika and Prathap starrer 1985 National Award winning Tamil Movie ‘Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai’ based on a love story of two autistics and Kamal Hasan and Sridevi Starrer ‘Moondram Pirai’ in Tamil and ‘Sadma’ in Hindi. Priyanka did not have the same performance space as a Sridevi in ‘Sadma’ (‘Moondram Pirai’ in Tamil) or Radhika in ‘Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai’.

My Observation

It is a tale of finding love, falling in love, falling out of love and falling in love again and falling out of love again and still being in love all through. It is a story of human emotions that are strong but subtly expressed.

Worth watching numerous times. I cried, I laughed, I cried some more but I laughed at the end. Everybody did. Dont miss it. A very good movie after a very long time. Two things that went against it are – poor old-age makeup and not a single catchy number. The songs were good as a pleasant backdrop songs but none of them that I really remember after coming out of that hall. But superb performances from younger lot of our B-Town (after Manoj Bajpai and Nawazuddin in Wasseypur).

Don’t Miss the Fatafati-exclusively for youtube song and Picture Shuru song-Played during the credits initially.

My Rating ****1/2 out of 5

 

Gangs of Wasseypur 2- Movie Review

What happens when one tries to make a sequel to an excellent subject? I would not call it a movie as GOW1 was more about story telling than movie making. Well the result is that either the team fails or fails badly. Luckily Gangs of Wasseypur 2  (GOW2) met with neither of the two fates. While it is natural that we draw parallels between the GOW1 and GOW2 but they both are two different feels. GOW2 is more of cinematic excellence than a story told well.

My Observations:

While the story of GOW 2 takes on exactly from where they left in GOW 1, the only things that remained ageless between the two revenge sagas were the racy language, the rampant killing, and ‘Sonu Band’ — Enne to kamaal kar ditta. Just can’t forget the song ‘Yaad Teri Aayegi’ especially his counting the beats on his fingers between the stanzas.

GOW1 built on the characters so I was expecting a lot more on them evolving from small time ‘galli ke gunde’ to ‘mafias’ but GOW 2 gave us more characters and the ones central to GOW1, just stood aside. Unfortunately the new ones were too many to digest and were nipped at the bud before they could blossom like the stuttering ‘palpendiculal’, his friend tangent (who almost had no substantial role) and definite…yeah…this one was definitely good. Good not exactly in terms of his acting skills but good for the amount of time dedicated to his character. This guy Zeishan Quadri also happens to be co-writer of the script.

Too much of ‘cheecha ledar’ in this movie though. It had to be because it is a very dark movie. While Faizal took over the legacy of his father Sardar Khan but somehow Nawazuddin could not carry the acting prowess of Manoj Bajpai…bade hi ‘patle’ reh gaye is mamle me.But undoubtedly he was the soul of the movie. May be some more of his skills other than his straight-face-hoarse-voice should have been explored.

Piyush Misra’s background narration of course caught everyone’s attention just the way Huma Khan’s beauty did. Richa Chaddha’s sadness was very realistic when she was singing at the sangeet.

Overall the movie is a good watch for all but more from the movie maker’s angle rather than the movie-goer’s perspective. Too heavy towards the end but quite predictable.

I managed to doze off for a while….less than a minute though…

My Rating – ****1/2 out of 5

 

Fulor Storm – The Indian Garbage Music Boys to watch out for

From Left to Right:- Keyur Barve, Hari Bhusal, Sameer mahavir, Omkar Salunkhe

What do I call them, the garbage boyz, the recyclists, the ‘trash can men’ of course with lots of music fun and entertainment. These boys with great sense of beat, just rocked the evening with the audience craving for more.

Well the story goes like this. I took my kids out for a Sunday Evening outing to Infinity Mall Versova on the 5th of August which also happened to be the friendship day, and saw these plastic and tin trash cans and drums lined up on the stage with mike positioned with precision over them. Being a musically inclined soul myself I didn’t want to miss. I took my kids to the game zone and  them up in the maze. Half an hour said the attendant and I knew where I was rushing to immediately. I could hear the storm coming. There was a roar in the mall. I ran down the escalator expecting to see some bearded bespectacled long haired men in 40s in their denims and some long black kurtas…well that’s how most of the Indian man-bands look like. Finally when I landed there the first thing I saw was everyone in the crowd had their arms extended high up with camera phones firmly positioned between their palms. Nobody wanted to miss it. They also probably wanted to show it to family and friends. Such was the frenzy. I smiled when I saw these 20 something kids sitting on the stage going crazy with their sticks banging on these Plastic and Tin drums. Looked like a child’s play for them. Everybody was completely mesmerized and glued.

It was high energy, power packed, stunning, controlled, crisp performance that stormed the mall that evening.

What a STORNING ( Stunning+Storming ) performance….Way to go Boyz..

 

Pushpa I hate Tears Re… RIP Rajesh Khanna

Remembering his lines in ‘Amar Prem’ with Sharmila Tagore, and many more such dialogues he mouthed in so many movies the numero uno ‘loverboy’ of Indian Cinema, Rajesh Khanna was the guy next door everyone wanted to take home. Women cutting veins in frenzy, kissing his car leaving lipstick marks all over it,queuing up for hours to get a glimpse of the man who made ‘Babu Moshai’ a common acronym for Monsieur, he was the first to give the Indian Cine Star the ‘Superstar’ status.Fondly known as kaka, he was a phenomena nobody can deny or replace ever

Can’t forget the simplistic smile, the tilted head shake and the kite flying hand actions in songs like ‘Jai Jai Shiv Shankar’ from ‘Aap ki Kasam’ with Mumtaz or ‘Aaj na chodenge bas hamjoli’ from Kati Patang with Asha Parekh, or ‘Ye shaam mastani’ from Anand.

He will be dearly missed by many fans of yesteryears and of course the others in the middle and of coming ages.

Some of my favorite dialogues from his movies as a tribute:

Are o Pushpa, I hate tears re : Amar Prem

It is so simple to be happy but so difficult to be simple : Bawarchi

Zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahi: Anand

Main marne se pehle marna nahin chahta : Safar

Babumoshai, Zindagi aur maut uparwale ke haath hai Jahanpanah, jise na aap badal sakte hai na mein. Hum sab toh rangmanch ki kathputlian hain, jiski door uparwale ke haath bandhi hai. Kab, Kaun, Kaise uthega, yeh koi nahi janta.Ha Ha Ha : Anand

 

 

Desi Daru, Bidesi Bottle… Cocktail Movie Review

I was keen on watching the movie more because my friend Shalmali Kholgade (go ahead an like her fan page) sang the song ‘Daru Desi’. I expected some real today movie but somehow not every director has the guts to do a Karan Johar or Yash Chopra on an adulterous relationship. Yash Chopra’s Lamhe took a subject so daring of its times where a girl romances a man of her father’s age and Karan Johar explored the subject of extramarital affair in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and still become a commercial success. While movies like ‘Chini Kum’ and ‘Nishabd’ too had similar stories but one had a comical angle and the other had a lot of lust.

Cocktail deals with the subject of no strings attached relationships where they show two professionally successful individuals, Saif Ali and Deepika Padukone working hard (they edited out those scenes) and partying harder (it was all about this). Enter Mother India (Dimple Kapadia) and Sati Savitri (Diana Penty) and the movie is one of the regular bollywood story.

My observations

1. They could have shown a bit more on the professional ethics of the three of them. Saif is shown a software engineer but mostly as a flirting at workplace. Deepika Padukone is a photographer but except for one scene where she is capturing someone monkeying on a trampoline, she is all the time partying and sleeping with strangers. Diana Penty gets a great job but she’s always shown messed up in personal life.
2. Boman Irani was a Wasted Resource: The character was supposedly ideated to help Saif in his misgivings but did almost nothing except for act as a filler when the story went flat.
3. Saif was trying too hard to look like a 25 year old. He could have acted like a successful, suave 33 year old flirt. There are plenty of them in the society.
4. There are some funny moments, flat moments, high moments, flat moments, one cocktail moment(discussed in detail below), flat moments, predictable moments, flat moment, flat moments, flat moments and some more flat moments. So over all a ‘thanda drink’. Dont watch if you have a sore throat…ha ha just kidding.
5. Two DPs (Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty) with D Padukone at her hottest best and D Penty at her saddest best. In fact I was confused many a time is she was crying or smiling. And there is a stark resemblance between the two too.

Okay. Now to ‘The Cocktail Moment’ : When a Drunk Deepika padukone tells Diana Penty something like ‘Chalo hum dono usko share kar lete hai, tu biwi ban jaa aur mai rakhail…meri image ko suit bhi karega..kyun itna bhi nahi kar sakti? akele hi rakhna chahti hai.‘ Wish they could have actually done something on these lines where they all live happily ever after.That would have been revolutionary. But Homi Adjania somehow pulled back his original idea it seems and preferred to stick back to the regular success formula. (I doubt this thought never crossed his mind)

There are so many instances, India and Worldwide, said-unsaid, of successful people and commoners with multiple partners such as:

Musicians : Pandit Ravishankar(Annapurna Devi,Kamala Shastri, Sue Jones and Sukanya Rajan )

Dancers: Raja Reddy (Radha and Kaushalya Reddy)

Actors : Dharmendra, Amir Khan, Saif Ali, Dimple Kapadia and so many of them.

Players: Vivian Richards

Politicians: Karunanidhi

The movie actually wanted to show some of the issues of the current Indian Society such as:

1. Career is primary and relationships are secondary for the current crop of youngsters.
2. Being settled in life is about financial independence and not just about getting married and having kids.
3. The current crop has moved over the cliched mentality- ‘marriage stuffs are only the Sati Savitri types others are good just a s one night stands‘. Women look good when they are hot and sexy and can be taken home to mom.
4. DPs are carefully chosen to show the two sides of every girl today. Each one of us has an outrageously bold and subtly sacrosanct personalities.

Relationships become a burden when an old school, dearest to heart, elderly family member, emotionally pressurizes you to get married. That is their idea of settling down. While they are all okay with the fact that their child is in and out of relationships but the one they marry should be financially stable in case of grooms and homely and cultured in case of brides. Even today the parents protect a 30+ year son/daughter and feel societal pressures if they are not married. And this is what leads to conflicts of interests and such marriages are more prone to break as compared to the ones which are between like minded people. Anyone can still have a life if they have been through a broken relationship, and not just once but as many times till they find someone who matches up to their personalities. One break-up should never be a deterrent to live life to its fullest. Remember you have just one life. Cocktail is an eye-opener to the way kids today want to lead their lives. Do watch it.

Rating: ***1/2 on a scale of 5

They should have

 

Gangs of Wasseypur – Movie Review

A whole movie made as a prequel to the actual movie (Gangs of Wasseypur – 2).Whoa! That’s how I would put it. The concept is so pathbreaking. The narrative is long and can also act as a history lesson to understand the rise of the coal mafias in Wasseypur. Piyush Misra’s voice at the background gives it the exact Wasseypuriya touch. The story is simple – Manoj Bajpais journey of revenge of his father’s killing, handed over safely in the hands of his younger son played by Nawazuddin and all other games people play to stay on the top.

My Observations

1. Cinemas like this also gives actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who otherwise would have got lost in the oblivion, an opportunity to make a mark and carve a niche for himself in the parallel-realistic-dark-cold-sudhir misra/vishal bharadwaj/anurag kashyap type of story telling, just like the other successful ones in this league – Irrfan Khan and KK Menon.
2. Unique marketing tactics for part 2 via banners installed all over the city of the Wasseypur elections. Movie making itself is redifined now with such marketing gimmicks. Reminds me of Amir Khan’s  ‘buzz-cut’ technique for Ghajini.But we are yet to match up to the best viral campaign ever of ‘The Dark Knight’

Scenes that were ‘Oh So Cute and funny’ – Manoj Bajpai imitating Reema Sen while she washes clothes and Huma Qureshi telling Nawazuddin ‘its ok to hold my hand but permission lena chahiye’ and a scenes that was really gross – the buffalo slaughter area from where the policeman discovers a finger of the dead, yuk yuk puke puke….

In fact this is the type of movie ‘lesser you speak about and more you want to watch’. Cant wait to see Gangs of Wasseypur-2 releasing on 8th August.

My Rating – ****1/2 out of 5