REVIEW 2009; TOP 10 MOVIES THIS YEAR

#10. LUCK BY CHANCE

ZoyaAkhtar's directorial debut, Luck By Chance, was a fine take on the dynamics of the Indian Film Industry and the life of a struggling actress played nicely by Konkona Sen Sharma. More importantly, it captures the growth of another struggling actor and how the touch of luck at every step in his growth soon removes the struggling tag from this actor. Farhan plays this effortlessly. With nice humor, good acting but a dullish screenplay and a lot of star guest appearances including those by Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan, Luck By Chance manages to be a very decent eye opener about a lot of issues revolving around life. Surprisingly, even though the movie had so many entertaining moments and also shared a brilliant critical reception, it was poorly recieved at the box office across the world and especially in India. So if you are one of those responsible for it being a flop, then please buy the DVD and watch it. Highly Recomended.

#9. PAA

Dealing with a very rare disease, progeria, where a person's body exhibits accelerated growth. This means that at the age of ten, a body looks like that of a fifty year old. Amitabh Bachchan plays this special child, Auro. Vidya Balan plays his mother. Abhishek Bachchan plays the role of a young and dynamic politician who has his own methods to bring change to the country. These "methods" were grossly unrealistic at times and can be regarded as the weak part of this movie. Paa is beautifully coupled by the amazing music by Illayaraja and R. Balki's soft direction resonates with the viewer's mind. The dialogues were very witty and humorous and more importantly relevant and fresh. Amitabh Bachchan's strong performance forms the major strength of the film. Paa did very well on the box office and the portrayal of the father-son relationship by son-father in real life has definitely been one of the key elements of curiosity amongst viewers.

#8. WAKE UP SID!

Ranbir Kapoor is certainly the essence of this film and his perfect portrayal of a lazy youngster with a rich dad and a mom who pampers a lot makes this film a winner. Konkona Sen plays a complete opposite of Ranbir's character. She is an independent and hardworking girl who has big dreams in her kitty and has set out to achieve them. Sid(Ranbir) on the other hand has dreams but enjoys watching them while asleep. The story is pretty cliche, the screenplay predictable and the cinematic elements would put you in a never ending sense of deja-vu. But still, débutante Ayan Mukherji proves that a story told before can be refreshing if told in a different way. Shankar Ehsaan Loy have done a great job with the music, but Amit Trivedi's Iktara stands out as the best track in the album. Also his unreleased tracks which were used as the background score are pretty nice. Wake Up Sid! topped box office collections in its first two weeks and had a pretty decent run thereafter. This is definately Ranbir Kapoor's first movie that proves his mettle as an actor. Performances by Anupam Kher and Supriya Pathak are also pretty commendable in shaping up the story line. Released on Gandhi Jayanti, this movie tries to signal to the youngsters to wake up! and does it pretty decently...

#7. QUICK GUN MURUGUN

One of the most off beat films ever made in Bollywood, Rajesh Devraj's brainchild, Quick Gun Murugun is an out and out entertainer. Certainly inspired by the heroics of a great south superstar which inspired a MTV promo character in the nineties, this film encompasses a hilariously unrealistic and an unrealistically hilarious story line which gets the better of you in terms of laughter. The villain Rice Plate Reddy wants to convert all vegetarian udipis to non vegetarian joints. Hero Quick Gun Murugun has to protect the world from this carnage and the adventures of his form the story of this fantastic screenplay. Dialogues will blow your mind and you think twice for whatever you see and keep wondering whether it is really happening! One may say that the plot got a little lost towards the ending parts but the short length of this flick saved it any major criticism on plot development. From names of characters ranging from Mango Dolly to Rowdy MBA and coconut tree climbing institutions which are recognised and with a Yumraj sitting in a busy office, QMR is the way to go when you want to completely forget what's happening in the real world and take a break into the world of humorous melodrama and crazy action. Shashanka Ghosh has brilliantly directed this flick which had a good enough reception at the box office. Amidst the crowd of seriousness and realities all around, this makes its own space and really owns such that the others would definately Mind It!

#6. 3 IDIOTS

This certainly is a very forward movie with views very much necessary to be discussed especially in the context of the Indian education system. Raju Hirani's effortless direction with alternating humor and seriousness makes it one of the most entertaining movies this year. It follows a non linear narration which unfortunately brings in some minor errors in the continuity of the film. Also the demarcation of junior and senior students is not clear throughout the film and the age of the protagonists is not predictable at any point, may be its an intentional trick as the lead protagonist is double the average age of an engineering student. Also one may argue that many jokes were pretty old and predictable. But that did not stop it from being a laughter riot of sorts. Coming to performances, the lead protagonists(Aamir, Sharman and Madhavan) have done a great job but the winner is surely Boman Irani in his portrayal of the traditional disciplined teacher, Viru Sahasrabuddhe, aka. Virus. He is very well crafted as the symbol of the modern education system and how his methods and philosophies annihilate with his very own motto of creating good engineers. 3 Idiots makes a major mark on an important aspect that one should strive for excellence and not success, once we reach excellence, success will indeed run behind us. Though I am not entirely satisfied with the way Hirani has developed some scenes to express something, he has done a great job like the Munnabhai films to strike a chord with the audience.Aamir Khan has his way of promoting films and like his last few releases this too has had an amazing opening at the box office, registering 100% booking at most multiplexes across the country. So I dont really need to recommend this film to you, Aamir will take care of his film!

ONLY IDIOTS WONT WATCH THESE IDIOTS

MOVIE: 3 Idiots

DIRECTOR:Raju Hirani

CAST: Aamir Khan, Boman Irani, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, R Madhavan

Five Point Someone is certainly one of those rare books which flared both across the masses and classes of India. The masses loved it, the classes didn’t. The reason why the masses loved it was the intense drama, funny lines, simple expression and comic relief. The classes didn’t as the story got lost towards the end and you certainly feel that the story had a scope of developing in a better way. Hirani’s latest retains the masses loving element and the story developed is so well crafted that it hits exactly where intended; the viewers heart and the Indian education system.

We are at ICE, Imperial College of Engineering, which is under the traditional hands of Viru Sahasrabuddhe who believes that the very admission of the students at the institute is a process of eliminating competitors and setting your own foothold. Boman Irani plays him fantastically. And at this college have landed our three protagonists, Farhan(Madhavan), Raju(Sharman) and Rancho(Aamir). The campus at ICE can be a reference to any college really as most of the courses in the country have deviated from being “developers” to “trainers”! The usual college elements of an uncool geek (Chatur Ramalingam) and a chhotu type helper boy(Millimeter) and professors lost in themselves are all present here. The movie carries all its characters with complete ease and Hirani in his usual style of alternating humor and seriousness drives sensitive topics into people’s hearts without making them heavy with doses of advice but rather light and free.

With his third in a row Christmas release, Aamir Khan is probably looking at another blockbuster. With all cinematic elements in the correct place and in the correct proportion, All is certainly well with 3 Idiots and it should certainly take you to the new year with a positive feeling about Bollywood, which though happens, happens rarely.

A LOVELY AAJ & KAL COCKTAIL

As most people might have figured out this is a story of two generations. Most of the movie keeps telling us how different love was in both generations but in the end it tells us its "love" afterall and how can it be different in any generation in any time. People meet the same fate and consequences in love on any position in the timeline. This is the basic philosophy of the movie. The philosophy is beautiful. The movie....even more beautiful...

Even though he is closing on his forties, Saif is more youthful than any other so called young actors and I really believe even in his eighties he will be a teenager. This youthfulness adds a different colour to the already colourful cinematography of Love Aaj Kal. So the story basically goes like, Jai Vardhan Singh (Saif) is dating Meera Pandit (Deepika) from two years and believes that love forever is a ****matic nonsense. At a juncture when Meera has to leave for India and Jai has to work in London and has an aspiration to work for the Golden Gate in San Fransisco, the madly happy couple break up and actually throw a break up party.

Veer Singh(Rishi Kapoor) then enters the scene later and brings with him an astonishingly sweet story of his young days where Saif plays the young Veer, a Sikh who loves a girl in the neighbourhood called Harleen. His heart breaks when he knows that Harleen has left Delhi and gone to Calcutta as her family had shifted. Right from this point the two stories start appearing similar and most appealing is the climax where both the climaxes converge.

Its hard to find a flaw leaving a few in this movie. Imtiaz Ali has grown ten folds as a director and has certainly improved from his last(Jab We Met) which was also a good enough movie. The screenplay is amazing and presents a fresh narration pattern, not much dared in Bollywood. This movie lacks the pompous expenditure like a Bhansali or Johar flick but the fact that the production was prudent and perfect made it have an amazing look. So thumbs up to Saif the producer too. Illuminati films certainly has a long way to go. Performances by the actors are amazing too. Saif the crazy '09 guy is excellent and so is the Saif the Sikh in the sixties and manages his Punjabi very well. Deepika brings a fantastic craziness yet maturity into her role and the unknown and under the wraps girl who plays the role of Harleen Kaur is the height of cuteness and beauty..

With lots of catchy phrases and dialogues, Love Aaj Kal is definately a fun ride but it would teach you a nice lesson on love with some mature thoughts too. The music is amazing and fresh and the track Dooriyan stands out and Mohit Chauhan's voice has a certain pain which makes this the theme of the film. So as I said its really hard to find a fault in this movie. Hats off to every member of the film and all I got to say is Aaj Kal you wont find such films too often....that certainly makes you Love this one!

WHERES THE SCISSOR??

MOVIE: Transformers- Revenge of the Fallen

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

CAST: Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox

Lets be clear about something before you read further; This movie is just a display of how good the special effects in Hollywood is and how good Megan Fox looks. If you are looking for something logical or something with some substance, then this is not the movie to watch. Its a sequel to the first part as most might know.

The first part saw the death of the Megatron; but in this part Megatron is revived by Skorpinox's spark after the latter steals his dead body from the safest US Military naval base. But before this and after this is a mad race of unreal machines fighting, firing, cracking jokes, some with toilet humor and along with their story runs the story of a special guy, Sam(LeBeouf) and his girlfriend Mikaela(Fox) who run around purposelessly(dare I say this to the screenplay writer)

The worst part of the movie is its editing(even with four editors, probably because of that). Zero stars to the editor. Its too long. Then further zero stars to the screenplay as the person has strived very hard to keep the viewers engaged. So in the end, rather being engaged, you just realise that someones making efforts to keep you engaged.

The only appreciable thing in the movie is the SFX, undoubtedly. Bringing such an unreal world into reality is the credit of the SFX team. Also some of the funny scenes in the first half were good, but you feel bad later on as they have little relevance then.

The movie surely costs a lot. Hats off to the producer who in the demand of this third grade script was ready to fund for the most impossible locations, from creating artificial US Military Bases to roaming around in Egypt to breaking several cars and also a pyramid, lot of million USDs have gone into this no brainer , pseudo-entertainer.... If people have so much money to throw(including those who are watching this movie, including me!), then why doesnt the condition of people in Sudan improve!

UNBELIEVABLY STRIKING!

MOVIE: Bolt

DIRECTORS: Byron Howard & Chris Williams

VOICES: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus

Now this one has got elements from various previously acclaimed animation flicks. Its got a 102 Dalmations in some part and its got Stuart Little in some, but in the end it comes out being a totally new and fresh roller coaster ride. And like most animation movies it comes with a message. And the one here is pretty beautiful too.

Basically, BOLT is a super dog with some serious super powers and takes on some seriously con enemies in a world of high gadgets and cybots all around. But all this is a part of a popular TV show and unfortunately BOLT feels its all real. The unit of the show makes sure that the dog doesnt realise that all this is unreal and hence they keep him aloof from the real world.

The movie is a 3D movie and the experience is just awesome as the grade of animation is above excellence and the voice overs of Travolta, Cyrus and others are nothing but excellent. My favourite voice over though was of the Hampster, Rhino done by Mark Walton.

The movie then deals with the event that BOLT goes missing and faces the "real" world and with the company of a Cat (Mittens) and a Hampster (Rhino) realises his true powers. The story line and direction and the dialogues are so strong that it actually goes on to convincingly explain that even though super powers exist only in comic books, the determination we have to solve problems with our capabilities and presence of mind is the real super power. This forms the high point of the movie.

So Bolt is a fun ride really with lots of special effects and special thoughts. A must watch for children, but I guess parents accompany them so that they are made to understand the crucial noble messages of the movie. Watch this, it will make your day for sure...

SALVATION!

MOVIE: Terminator Salvation

DIRECTOR: McG

CAST: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington

From a long time you might not have seen a review on this blog. I was actually keeping myself inactive during the time movies were not releasing and even though I caught up with some disasters like Kal Kissne Dekha and X Men Origins: Wolverine , I did not write their reviews because I had vowed that the comeback review I would write would be of a really dashing movie. Well that says it all, Terminator Salvation is a thumbs up!

Coming straight to the plot, Its 2003 when Dr. Serena Kogan convinces Marcus Wright(Worthington) to donate his body for a "noble cause" of medical research. Trust me, you do not want me to reveal what that cause exactly is. The plot moves on to 2018 where John Connor(Bale) is the leader of the Resistance attack and fights the Machines. He gets off an island assuming he is the lone survivor but the remains reveal that Marcus has released himself from the Skynet base. What follows is his adventure when he meets two more humans in the form of Kyle and Star.

The strongest point in Terminator Salvation is surely the impeccable special effects and the humane touch to the Sci Fi script. The experience of Bale and the amazing promise of Worthington heightens the level of cinema completely. Though Christian Bale is the hero of the movie on paper it is Worthington's role which has maximum meat and it leaves an ever lasting impression on the memory of the viewer.

As in the Terminator 3: Rise of Machines, this too follows, infact elevates the unthinkable level of special effects in the form of cool robots and their fight scenes. So, the movie is basically about the clash between Machines and the Resistance(handful humans post the Judgement Day). One of the most catchy dialogues is when Connor motivates the remnant humans via radio as he says, "If you are listening to this, You are the Resistance." Similarly I can assume , If you are reading this, you are going to watch TS this Sunday....Go ahead, its worth it..

A TEN FOLD CHAOS!

MOVIE: Dasavathaaram
CAST: Kamal Hasan, Asin, Mallika Sherawat
DIRECTOR: K.S Ravikumar




The script of the movie is based on the popular mathematical idea of the west; the Chaos Theory. The Chaos theory believes that even though a particular event is deterministic, its fate is described by its initial state, it occurs through a random and unpredictable series of events. And as a further corollary to this theory, it goes on to say, that all events in this world is a part of the chaos theory. The initial state of the earth has determined its fate and whatever happens in between is a random, unpredictable juggle of events.

On the other hand, our Hindu mythology speaks of a multitude of Gods looking at earth and living with terrestrial beings in form of incarnations. The Hindu mythology supports the idea that even the biggest of disasters happen to overcome a bigger disaster and that everything is being controlled by the Gods.

The genius of the script writer of Dasavathaaram lies in the fact that he has collaborated both these distant ideas into one and has actually brought out the essence of these ideas in an entertainment packed manner. As a thought, this movie is a sheer winner, but it does not really translate as an equal wonder on screen.

The movie travels many generations ranging from the Cholas in the 12th century to George Bush, from Biotechnological Weapons to the Tsunami of 2004. Hasan plays 10 roles in the movie and like most of his movies, there is only he all around. I dont think theres a single shot without him on the screen. I saw the movies dubbed version, so many comedy scenes might have lost their wit. Asin overacted throughout but looked great. Sherawat's brief stint was good enough. All the 10 avatars of Kamal Hasan are brilliantly carried by him. No doubt, the make up job was brilliant.

Himesh Reshammiya surprised me with two tracks in this movie. While Mukunda Mukunda was a sweet portrayal of Vishnu's incarnations, Kallai Mattum was deep and very beautifully sung by Hariharan. The other tracks were very average. The movie towards the end had some stupid scenes. We were made to believe that a bullet hitting a cancer patients throat can do a miracle of taking the cancer away with itself......Also Asin's overacting was taking a toll on the viewers patience and more so because of the dubbing, until another version of Hasan, Khalifullah came to the rescue.

The beautiful correlation of the ten forms of Hasan and appropriate pattern of narration make Dasavathaaram an out and out entertainer. Though the style of filmmaking could be a little more mature than the typical Tamil action flicks, this movie is an intellectual treat if you put efforts to think about it. Though the movie is a few hours of entertainment, its idea, endless.