Don - The Chase Begins ...

... to find SRK a role he can play outside of his stereotype. No wonder he desperately needs to sing "Main hoon Don..." because there's a good probability one may not have accepted him in the role. He's good with his Karate, but he doesn't give you the feeling that he's the sort of guy who could get out of tight situations, which is what the character called for. And don't even get me started on his rendition of Vijay. He's too 'pseud' to pull that off, as predicted by many.

The movie on the whole was a disappointment inspite of low expectations. The original Don didn't have too compelling a story anyways, but great screenplay (for that time) made it fun to watch. Now, fanboy Farhan Akhtar takes most of that story, convolutes it further, messes up the characters to the extent where none of them are defined well and then just polishes over the mess. There's just too many people coming 'back from the dead'.

Now, they've kept most of the plot the same, also the names of the characters. However, there are a couple of changes, which I just don't get.

[Spoiler Alert]: If you haven't seen the movie, don't read ahead. Well, you could, if you're smart and aren't going to see it anyway.

What's the deal with making DeSilva the bad guy, killing him, then bringing him back to life. There's one other character (Malik) made redundant and you just made the story a degree more complex. Not a good idea for a masala movie, where you're trying to rake in audiences with IQs as low as they come.

Also, the ending... I understand it's an interesting idea to try out, but not in this movie... You can't change the end if it impacts the earlier parts of the movie. If the dude was the real 'Don' all along, why would he keep impersonating after he got back to his base? Is he like really bored?
He gets away from the police by pretending he's Vijay and then reclaims his identity as Don. If there was a secret agenda for him not doing so, it wasn't easy to figure out.

[Spoiler End]

Thirdly, Jasjit or JJ, played brilliantly by Pran, was a crucial part of the original Don. The character, played by an incompetent Arjun Rampal, didn't really have much to do. There was assured laughter when Pran walking out of the prison gate tells the guard "Darwaaza khulla rakhna... Main jaldi waapis aaoonga..." and on many other occasions. Rampal is marginally better than a zombie.

And Piggy, baby, as much as I love you, you can't act for nuts!

All in all, the movie seems like an attempt to try out a couple of changes to the older version and to open doors for a sequel. Not great reasons for a new product.

In Hyding...

Updated: Oct 23rd 2006 10:20 AM

More than a month ago, Erimentha tagged me to name five things to do in my cities (not typical touristy stuff!), and then try to get five others to do the same.

Now, I've been in this city for close to three years and being the Barista loving person I am, I hardly do any touristy or non-touristy stuff. I live in a concrete jungle and engage in activities which would fall neatly under the category of western influence corrupting our generation and making it lethargic. However, I shall try...

1. Grilled Chicken at Dine Hill: The number of times we've been to this dingy source of the most succulent delight far surpasses any other eating place.
   
2. Go to Alhamdullah at 3 in the night for biryani. Observe the buzz of activity that the place is even at that hour of the night.
   
3. At about the same time of the night, go to Mumtaz College, looking for bhoots.
   
   Note: If you are stopped by the cops, just tell them what you were there for, looking for ghosts. They'll very probably be so amused, they'll let you go. (Tried and tested :))
   
4. At about 5 in the morning, get Irani Coffee at Diamond Cafe.
   
5. Pick up a beer at Kondapur Wine Spot and drive around. (Really, you can't do this in Delhi.)
   
6. Get out of the city..... it doesn't have enough non-touristy stuff to do ( as can be gauged from my limited success at listing these things).

Best Medicine...

Last weekend I saw three movies, all three comedies, all three I liked. Here's why...

Lage Raho Munna Bhai

Sequels are disappointing. The original movie is usually brilliant (which is why they considered making a sequel) and sets the expectations very high for the sequel. So you go for the movie expecting something at least as good as the original, but what you see is not even a patch on it.

Now consider the case where our viewer is a rational being and is informed that sequels are usually not as good as the original. He adjusts his expectation accordingly, but still goes for the movie. Imagine his surprise when the sequel turns out to be way better than the original. Even though his belief system is shattered (a sequel that's actually better.... what's happening to the world?), it doesn't take away from the enjoyment. That's what happened to me when I saw LRMB first day for $8.00 and it was sooo worth it.

From the word go, with the kidnapping scene, I just never stopped laughing. The quiz show, the Gandhigiri, the humor in the most emotional scene, Boman Irani at his usual, Arshad Warsi at his best.

The icing on the cake of course was Vidya Balan, oooh la la....!!!! I hear she's a Mallu, but doesn't look like it. Seems like I need to plan a trip to Kerala very soon ;).

This movie is a must watch if you haven't seen it yet. If you have, go watch it again!

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Pyar Ke Side Effects

I had written off this movie at the first mention of the name "Mallika Sherawat". I was forced to reconsider by the strong recommendations I received and I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie is a showcase of one of the biggest strengths of Indian Cinema, reuse of content. Don't get me wrong, I mean this in a good way. If there is good content out there, which a large part of your audience may not have seen, you adapt it to local tastes, throw in some other relevant content and Voila! You actually have something interesting.

PKSE is an interesting mix of the TV series Coupling, parts of Meet the Parents, knit together into a decently interesting story. The humour is cheesy at times, but fits the context for the most part. There was one part where Rahul Bose gets the exact same sarcy tone as Steve from Coupling when they're out shopping for furniture.

Decent watch but only if you're with friends. Alone, I think it might get onto one's nerves. On the other hand, if you haven't seen Coupling, that is a must must see.

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Khosla ka Ghosla

If you've lived in Delhi and have lived elsewhere, you'll love this movie.

The characters are brilliantly sketched, with the typical Pitampura middle-class family down to their accents, the 'mata-ka-bhakt' builder, the software engineer who just doesn't associate with the culture at home anymore and has commitment issues inspite of an oh-so-cute girlfriend. The typical dehaati Jaat, the cops... all very life-like and so Dilli!

The movie weaves an engrossing plot and on the whole a good way of spending a couple of hours.

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Next week is Don - The Chase Begins Again. Not expecting too much from a boringly monotonous SRK, but I loved the purana Don, so let's see...

Uttaranchal Trip: The Fellowship of the Hills

A nine day vacation. First in years for me. Four people with differing opinions on the ideal vacation. No plan.

Day Zero (07/28) - The Journey Begins

This was the status when we set out for Delhi at 9 AM. G picked me up and we reached SMA's place, where the two dudes were busy packing. GG for a 9 day trip, SMA for a 2 year trip to the 'land of opportunities'. Amidst extreme chaos, we managed to get out of the house barely in time for us to catch our flight, after bidding good bye to G, who was very likely to get bored back here with all us interesting people away.

Two hours of taking GG's trip finds us at Delhi airport, where we try to plan the next step. Where do we go? Gangotri? Ajmer? Manali? Landsdowne?

An hour later and we're still at the airport waiting for the fourth member of the Fellowship to join us and a little clearer on the direction of travel. Rishikesh! The plan is take a train to Haridwar, a bus from there to Rishikesh and then figure out the next step.

I'll take a moment here to introduce you to the Fellowship of the Hills:

AB Baby (aka me): Yours truly, whom you already know by now, if you've been reading this blog. If you haven't been reading, please start at the beginning. There is no short-cut to finding out what a cool person I am :).

SMA Annihilator (aka Bulla): That's what he calls himself inside the Age of Empires. Politician turned philosopher turned geek turned economist turned student, many would say he's living his life backwards. Runs half-marathons, is frequently funny, and less frequently blogs here.

GauGupta(DPM) (aka Gaurav): A teenaged brain in a 20-something body, full of enthu, butt of most jokes, this guy makes any gathering fun.

Jitu (aka Jitu): Oil rig dude, is a friend of SMA's from college. Chilled out, no hassles, this is the guy who made us wait an hour at the airport.

So where were we... Right, Delhi airport. Gaurav left to visit a relative and after some more waiting, Jitu arrives and we head to our pitstop in Noida. Dumping our bags there, we hit a mall and decide to watch Pirates of the Carribean, only to realise, after we'd bought the tickets, that the movie is longer than the average English movie and would not leave us enough time to catch our train to Haridwar. We watch it anyways.

Sacrificing the last 10 minutes of the movie we rush to pick up our bags and head to the station. Dealing with auto-rickshaw negotiations and misplaced tickets, we manage to make it to the train, where Gaurav awaits us with take-away food.

After the chaos that has been, everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief, that for the next few hours, someone else is in the driving seat. Gaurav and Jitu are introduced and the Fellowship is complete for the first time.

The train moves...

[AB: Stay tuned as the Fellowship of the Hills continues on their unplanned adventure, facing monsters who bore their victims to death, cunning elves who seek to delay them with intoxicants and promises of merriment, savoring what meagre offerings the strange land has for their palate, waging on towards their unseen goal.]