Review: Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna / Blue / All the Best
NO SPARKLERS, ONLY SQUIBS
The ear-splitting noise you heard this Diwali was thanks to three big bombs – at least creatively, if not commercially.
OCT 25, 2009 – THE OPENING SCENES OF PREM SONI’S Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna promise an engaging, ever-so-different romantic melodrama. The marriage of Raina (Kareena Kapoor) and Sameer (Salman Khan) is falling apart – and not because of the stock-cliché reasons like infidelity. In this age of the economic downturn, a Bollywood hero, perhaps for the first time, declares that love alone cannot sustain a marriage, and that money is equally (if not more) important. (Sameer should know. He’s just been fired after single-handedly bankrupting a stock exchange company in Melbourne.) With a better actor, Sameer might have evolved into a genuinely complex character – a man who really loves his woman, but who will not let that love come in the way of his survival – but even with the minimal shades that Salman imbues him with, there’s enough to suggest that, with this hero, this film isn’t going to be business as usual.
Sameer’s work permit expires. He looks towards greener pastures – Singapore, specifically. The small catch is that he wants to go alone. Raina, therefore, suffers for her husband’s sins. There’s a refreshingly grownup gravity in Kareena in these stretches, where she’s torn between asserting herself and accepting her lot. Sameer has rescued her from an orphanage, he has defied his parents and married her, he’s taken care of her every need without her having to eke out a living, so she doesn’t want to appear ungrateful – but she cannot see why Sameer won’t take her with him. These scenes are staged not elaborately but in a concise, cryptic manner, as if Soni were laying the groundwork for a monumental meditation on the modern-day marriage. We wait for these casual snapshots of Sameer and Raina to accrue into a warts-and-all wedding album.
And then Sohail Khan pees all over the wedding cake. Rarely has there been such a dreadful case of miscasting, and rarely has a film thundered off the rails with such a drastic change of mood and tone. As Akash, Sohail is supposed to function first as shoulder (for Raina to cry on) and later as suitor (completing the inevitable love triangle) – but his scenes play out as if he were starring in a leering bedroom farce. Soni loses all control over his material, and we’re treated to an endless parade of hot-cold emotional mashups. (Sameer returns to claim Raina; cut to Akash’s friend banging on the bathroom door because he really, really needs to go.) Even the so-called crisis – who will Raina choose: (a) the man who abandoned her, or (b) the man-child who saved her? – is a no-brainer. You keep wishing for an option (c), where Raina dumps both these losers and waltzes off into a glorious sunset.
THANK HEAVENS FOR LARA DUTTA. Her semi-clad sprints across the sands of the Bahamas go at least a small way towards alleviating the tedium of Blue – and the grateful mind reaches for florid epithets (Mediterranean mermaid? Callipygian Venus?) with which to garland the actress. Perhaps I overstate a tad – for there’s one other aspect of Anthony D’Souza’s snoozefest that prods you awake every now and then, and that’s the sea itself, serenely resplendent in turquoise and aquamarine and a few thousand other shades of blue yet to be named. If moviegoing is akin to pornography, in that we are reduced to lip-smacking voyeurs, then Blue is vacation-porn, the way Jodhaa-Akbar is jewellery-porn. D’Souza need have done little more than position his cameras underwater, and we’d have walked away becalmed, delivered of the tensions of existence.
Indeed, that’s the promise that the opening credits hold, as we’re plunged into a breathtaking Jacques Cousteau universe. Even the names of cast and crew (in blue, naturally) appear with a phosphorescent twinkle, as if shaped by luminous creatures of the deep – and AR Rahman’s Rehnuma forms the perfect accompaniment, the easy-jazz arrangements just free-floating enough to suggest a lazy afternoon spent in the wake of glittering shoals of fish. But a minute later, barely as we’ve sunk into our seats and begun to relax, the two-ton guitar licks kick in, James Bond-style, spiking us with the suggestion of adventure and intrigue lying ahead. We’re rudely yanked off to land, and what follows is the farthest thing from adventurous and intriguing – we’re asked to dive into the lives of the most boring characters, as they fill us in on their most banal backstories.
Going by the pre-release hype, Blue appeared to revolve around the excavation of a fabulous sunken treasure – but that development accounts for mere minutes of screen time, towards the end. The bulk of the film is ponderous buildup, about Aarav’s (Akshay Kumar, in unbearable cock-of-the-walk mode) attempts to conscript Sagar (Sanjay Dutt) into the treasure hunt. Despite being strapped for cash, why won’t Sagar join Aarav? What’s the tension between Sagar and his brat-brother Sameer (Zayed Khan)? Where does the mysterious villain (Rahul Dev) fit in? Each of these questions is answered before we get to the good stuff, the underwater quest – and that essentially means we’re looking at one endless fuse sputtering away before the final bang. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the Diwali metaphor.) Why not, instead, begin with the quest and then cut away to character-developing flashbacks, creating functional outlines at first and leisurely shading them with colour?
But then, other than the title, there’s very little colour in Blue. You see a film like Dr. No, set in the equally exotic Jamaica, and you take away the feel and flavour of the region, the strange and singular rhythms of a faraway paradise. With Blue, though, I cannot once recall hearing the sound of waves. Everything is drowned by the din of big-bucks Bollywood – the aggressive score, the money-shot mentality, and the big-name actors. (Couldn’t they have located a single role for a local?) Even the descent to the ghost ship – skirting some of the most benign sharks ever committed to film – is unmemorable. I came away thinking that, in the eighties, when Hindi cinema attempted similarly harebrained adventures like Samundar, there was at least the good sense (and, thankfully, the bad taste) to squeeze in an undersea catfight between Roshni and Poonam Dhillon, both in bikinis. It was completely gratuitous, of course, but did you catch anyone snoozing?
THE COMEDIES OF HRISHIKESH MUKHERJEE appear to hold some sort of talismanic sway over Rohit Shetty. Earlier, the director merely invoked a title (Golmaal). In All the Best, he incorporates entire clips from Chupke Chupke (Amitabh Bachchan explaining to a befuddled Dharmendra the mechanics of their place-switching) and Golmaal (Utpal Dutt ripping the moustache off Amol Palekar), suggesting that this film, too, has people switching places before fake identities are unmasked. Depending on your tolerance for hit-or-miss comedies that include stretches of spoken Swahili (I kid you not), you might periodically crack a watery smile. But the only portions that made me laugh were those involving the gloriously demented Johny Lever , armed with the antics of the mute Sir Judah from Karz. Forget the others (Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mugdha Godse), Lever is the real star of this show. Why don’t we see more of him on screen these days?
Copyright ©2009 The New Sunday Express. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
exactly!!! the opening title sequence with the classic jazz making us dive into the ocean and then the mood shift was a great but the rest was – oh sorry i slept off
Thank you for saving this weekend atleast! You are right, this Diwali all the 3 releases were duds. Haven’t had a Diwali like this for a while. MAMK was the one I chose to watch as the previews looked intersting – man, was I disappointed. It is basically a C grade movie made with A-list stars (Salman and Kareena). Sohail Khan should have made it with Arbaaz and Amrita Arora. It seems like an half-hearted attempt and you are right, confusion as to whether it should be a serious drama or a stupid comedy. And that item number by Preity Zinta! Less said the better. Well, atleast I had the guilty pleasure of being the only one in the movie hall – felt like a private screening for me (and this is in a multiplex). Just wished I was watching ‘Blue’ instead!
* great built-up
Yup, still happy I didn’t go for Blue or ATB, still repenting MAMK.
Really nice Rangan trademark reviews. These three films represent the worst state of mind Hindi cinema makers are in now.
It seems that your significant other does not read your reviews
Anyway..hope you enjoy this.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Satyajit+Ray:+liberalism+and+its+vicissitudes.-a0207643778
Kishor: Reg. “the worst state of mind Hindi cinema makers are in now” — I kinda agree. Actually, this year hasn’t been a total loss, in that we got Luck By Chance, Dev D, Delhi-6, Firaaq, Love Aaj Kal, Kaminey, Wake Up Sid, and even timepass larks like CC2C and Quick Gun Murugan. And yet, it feels like one of the worst cinematic years in recent memory. I wonder if it’s because there have been no huge films that were good in creative as well as commercial terms, as in 2006 where we had RDB and Lage Raho and so on. Plus, there was the strike, which seemed to go on and on…
“Blue is vacation-porn, the way Jodhaa-Akbar is jewellery-porn.” That line alone was worth this film getting made.
And then, was ‘What’s Your Rahsee’ a hair-wig porn?
Hi Baradwaj,
A very Happy Diwali to you. What’s with this obsession with english titles for Hindi films. All the Best, Blue, Acid Factory, Wake up Sid, Luck, Kidnap etc. I wish Mumbai had its PMK equivalent, who will prevent the screening of all these pseudo-hollywood films. This drift from Indian culture is one of the biggest negative effect of multiplex cinema.
@ Mr.Raj (though the name has some thaakam in Bombay ; like u want it to be) and what has the chaste tamil named films in tamil nadu done to showcase indian culture?
ur point is right but your reason is wrong.
Raj/Harish: Actually, I don’t have a problem with English titles if they reflect the ethos of the film. “Wake Up Sid” sets the mood of the film, which is a mix of the desi and western. It also sums up the premise. It’s perfect.
But yes, “Blue” did make me think about the “drift from Indian culture,” and it’s what I’ve written about in my column for next week. It’s getting to be scary, this sync-ness of readers with my column ideas (Happened with UPO too)
BR: We have been so used to you that sometimes we readers achieve that sync-ness! Is it really scary?
Just imagine the situation Raja and Kamal must be in!!
And what a lousy year for Tamil cinema!! Apart from Kanchivaram, UPO, Pasanga and Earam to some extent, there was nothing worthwhile.
but why “Blue” what did it to do to cross d indian culture?
A damp diwali in more ways than one.And having to watch three in a row makes me less envious of your job!!(and having to scrape the writers bowl to churn out something…!!)
It is amazing the effect cinema does have on mindsets.A friends son ,believing in the technicolored version of Karan johars newyork and american campus life was in for a rude shock when he landed and discovered ,yes-New york has garbage on its roads and yes,yes-you have to actually study for your grades!!
and posting an idea- How about all of us organising some kind of face to face interaction with cinemaphiles,I.E followers of BR articles!!Part of building a culture around cinema is those conversation jam sessions …or would you prefer to remain incognito!!-Would make a great addition to the december season.
your views…
cheers,
a
Mr.Anand:
what about Naan Kadavul or for that matter Venila Kabadi Kuzhu or Yavarum nalam … and if u r considering Eram y not Newtonin moondram vidhi for its screenplay?
Mr. A
i second u … but we ll be treading on a dangerous path if its going to be one on one – i feel v could have a online chat room or a more specific forum than the comments section 1st n if it works move on to the next level …
Anand: I’d add Gulaal and Naan Kadavul. Also 13-B to an extent.
a/Harish: The comments section here isn’t restricted to discussion about a specific film. You can pretty much discuss what you want. There are a lot of people here who are really into cinema, and not just on an “entertainment” level. So why restrict discussions to people in one location?
If you go drive across Mumbai or Delhi and see the intrusive hoardings, you will find that most of the hoardings for Television Shows or Movies, even though in Hindi are written in English. Having the names too in English has been the next step. I feel that the very act of giving the movie an English name alienates a large section of audience, unconscioulsy. Unless, consciously, it is an attempt to actually keep a section of audience out because they don’t belong to the same category as the intended audience. To elaborate, probably the makers do not want people from say Meerut to see the movie but only people from Gurgaon. If people see this logic as warped, it is a standard exercise in branding and marketing an actor and his image. To use an analogy, a magazine like Cosmopolitan or even Femina would not accept an ad from Lux underwear or Ghadi detergent (or even Surf for that matter). They would rather have no ad. This is because they see it as hurting their brand and the price they can get per CC. Similarly, the image of the multiplex actors would be hurt by having people from Muzaffarpur see the movie. If they did, their endorsements would come from Ghadi detergent, while if they don’t they can endorse Garnier Light.
The thing for all these directors to note is that the two brightest auteurs in Hindi cinema – Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bharadwaj – are steeped in Hindi cowbelt literature and culture and they have not been any less successful on account of that.
I am looking forward to Baradwaj’s article next week. It is a favourite topic of mine.
-Vamshi
+1 to the on-line commentary jam session with some sort of broad topic to centre it on.
With regards to the “drift from Indian culture” surely that depends on the demographics of who is watching.
As an analogy take MTV. You have multiple MTV channels each channel catering to a different constituency and you do feel completely out of sync if you jump to the one not-catering to you. Isn’t this “shift from Indian culture” just that and all we have this year is a surfiet
continued from above:
of such films.
Vamshi: That’s a sociological way of looking at it, while what I’ve written about is the cinematic aspect. But yes, what you say is a 100% true. Image is everything. About the auteurs you mention, there’s also the level of success, right? What Dev.D earned in all its run would be a third of Akshay’s salary. It’s a hit, sure, but is Mahi Gill getting any endorsements — or even roles for that matter? That’s not the kind of cinema that fosters “stars.”
Venkatesh: Yeah, it is about demographics. But the Indian culture aspect *is* relevant because some of these movies (like Blue) are so wannabe — “look how kewl I am” kind of thing. They would have been better off making an English movie. I’d better stop before I write out my column here.
@BR : That is my point, “Look how kewl i am” is in-fact a valid demographic, haven’t you come across them in India , may be it caters to that demographic even if the makers are not conscious of the fact
Will wait for the article.
@Vamshi: Excellent point , i think i was making a similar point with my MTV analogy – what demographic are you aiming for ? Additionally, BR is correct success is a very relative and sometimes tricky term.
Here’s a question:
What sort of cinema would the NRI audience prefer ? Going by the box-office receipts and the releases in U.K and U.S – star driven vapid vehicles are in, anything remotely progressive a Dev D for example is not. I would have thought it would be the other way round , due to the easier exposure to world-cinema but clearly is not.
baradwaj – do you have any idea of the kind of social service you are doing here.
3 dud movies, approx. 5 hours (door-door) each is 15 hours more time to spend with the family or watch more sensible movies at home.
with the busy lives we lead, and the multiple options vying for our time, your website is a great filter…even if by chance you trash a good movie, there are so many good ones we miss anyway…so how does it matter.
i have the same appreciation for karthik and his milliblog…he does the exact same service for music.
THANK YOU.
p.s. the only downside (for both movies and music) is explaining to the wife why a certain movie/album is a no-no. she’s totally bemused by who baradwaj and karthik are and their impact on our choices! she’s more unhappy about the movies you said were good which she hated (the biggest culprit was no smoking!)
Baradwaj,
Looking forward to your column. This drift away from Indian culture and the english titles are only to attract Middle East/Pakistani/South Asian audience living in the west. But what these pseudo-cool morons do not understand is that in the past DDLJ and Kuch Kuch have been very popular with the non-Indian audience despite not having these ‘oh so cool’ english titles.
Venkatesh,
It is just not the NRI audience alone who are responsible for the overseas collection figures, the South Asian diaspora, and sometimes other nationalities, also play a large part. I remember seeing Waqt – The race against time (LOL!), in a cinema hall in Kuwait. We (me and my wife) were the only Indians – the hall was packed with local arabs!
hrishi: I’m glad you mention the downside. It makes me very nervous when people say they base their viewing decisions on my reviews. There are other reviewers who specifically recommend readers to watch (or not watch) films, and I don’t aspire to do that at all
As for Karthik, I wish he’d stop with the self-imposed 100-word limit and give us more to chew on. Come on, Karthik — be adventurous, take the plunge
I remember Karthik asking if you are on Twitter yet, Baradwaj. Such a silly question although I myself am guilty of asking it to you. “A 140 characters limit?? You must be kidding!!”
Karthik has gone on to write blog posts longer than my attention span now. You must check out his nostalgic musings on his discovery of music.
Harish,
Tamil movies, though generally awful, are more rooted to Indian-Tamil culture. I cannot relate to most of the Bollywood movies. The protagonists are based in the US / UK / Australia/Canada. Entire movies are shot overseas – for instance Race, what was the point in setting the movie in South Africa. When was the last time you saw a Hindu temple in these ‘Hindi’ movies. I can go on but I have to stop – my blood pressure is shooting up.
Looking forward to the article next week.I think what todays film culture lacks is a sense of permanence.I mean ten years or even ten minutes from now, would we talk about “wake up sid” or even a Dev D with the same sensory-memory association we had with films like “sholay”(can still remember the blue vinyl seats and the way the crowd was spouting dialogues)perhaps less media exposure helped.These days, it is a challenge to go to a film without knowing everything about it.I kind of stay away from the promos…and enjoy reading your reviews after I have seen the film myself!!(the yardstick being how in sync I am with your cinematic sensibility!!)
I guess somehow cinematic grammar(bolly and hollywood) works on filling in the screen with so much visual noise…and I yearn for some kind of poetic sensibility.
I guess the fact that most regional films have not gone global helps.So nice to dip into a bengali or malayalam film-kind of makes you feel safe and rooted again.
my three cents worth!
a
Do directors when writing a script make up their mind which audience they are going to cater to? i mean the geographic location and not the class of people – isn’t every story in some way a universal subject? we still like City of God even without understanding single word of what they say or a Babel for that matter which is a clear example of everywhere the emotions are the same… shouldn’t the location be taken only as a milieu and not as a pre-requisite for a movie? As long as we could connect to the character in the film i feel nothing is wrong – aren’t we in a global village now where if we try we can get into the frame of mind of any set of people if we wanna? Isn’t love aaj kal a good example that even when the pair is placed in London we feel they are Indians
I do view Karthik’s blog and Baddy’s blog in two different lights. Baddy goes into certain aspects of the movie and discusses it from a technical plane (screenplay, characterization etc). As you all point out, the 100 word limit does not allow Karthik to delve into such details. So, it’s more of a good song/bad song review. Besides, as Karthik has himself admitted in his recent post, he does not base his opinions (which I feel sometimes are based on just one listen) on any technical expertise which might make it a little more difficult in analyzing music.
Again, both Baddy’s and Kathik’s blogs are just their opinions on art and if we take it in that spirit & context…we should be just fine.
and to ans Mr. Raj its got nothing to do with multiplex or english title- the people who make the movies have changed – if i were to make a film i ll be comfortable in a city based subject as am not accustomed with the happenings in the village to a great level … let every1 make the film they wanna see as this is a personal medium not a public medium in directors point of view. and for the success angle haven’t Rab de or a Namastey London ( this example because it has this 70’s cliches or sentiments thrown in) worked, didnt Oye lucky lucky oye work? i feel Abhay deol is sphere heading the success of these kinda cross culture (half city half village) based films.
For an industry that doesn’t even mind calling itself “Bollywood”(clearly wearing the lack of self-esteem on its sleeve) why this hullabaloo about English titles?.
BR, generally speaking, I think at least you should take a stance to not use “Bollywood” or “Kollywood ” in your articles even if its usage is more prevalent these days and all of us have used it at one point of time or another and take it for granted.
I think both Amitabh and Kamal are vehemently against this too as a matter of policy. For any true desi film lover this has got to be humiliating.
By the way, I wonder how come Gautam Menon has’nt yet made it to Bollywood? He’d fit right in, with the Hollywood-wannabe films and inglepees titles.Him and Sanjay Gupta should team up.
Raj Balakrishnan: I understand your point about the SouthAsian, Kuwaiti,Arab diaspora but i was being specific to NRI’s in UK and U.S simply because i am more familiar with them and if i am not wrong those two are the major profit centres.
Harish S Ram: Your point of people making the movie having changed is correct but i think more importantly the people being targetted by the movies have changed.
The South Asian plus US,UK audiences are low-hanging fruits – on one end you have the South Asian diaspora which is more comfortable with the “Not indian culture” bias and the other extreme is the “pseudo-totally Indian” culture, a prime example being Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham – the largest grossing Hindi movie in UK and U.S.
In contrast, i suspect the real-Indian audience is much more fragmented and harder to target plus they also have more choices in-terms of Indian entertainment.
BR: Saar, I promise not to abuse your comment section, again
“It makes me very nervous when people say they base their viewing decisions on my reviews.”
Unfortunately that’s what most end up doing whether you intend it or not. They latch onto the singular opinion of a reviewer they regularly follow. Namma makkalsa thiruththa mudiyaadhu. And with music, it gets even more dangerous.Especially when a guy like Karthik gives it a hasty listen and rushes in to register his 100 words and maintain the hit rate in his blog. How could you do that to a soundtrack like Delhi-6?
At least for Hollywood flicks there is a consolidated site like rottentomatoes, where the consensus of a set of reviewers is likely to be more on the mark and can act as some sort of a filter.Even there, I have disagreed a lot.
@Vijay,
The Gautam Menon and Sanjay Gupta comment is almost spot on. But if we look back at the titles of Gautam Menon’s films, they arent too inglepees, are they?
this topic is really getting very complicated … if directors plan of making movies only 4 the NRI’s the “pseudo – totatlly indian” culture wrapped in foreign soil is what we get which looks so artifical – but the same director then made a movie more realistic more hard hitting in the form of KANK which can’t be classified just for NRI – it still had its roots here though not deep down the mind of a common man who will be shocked to see the infedelity even though its predominated here too … so directors sometimes do venture into the select sect movies but have evolved with that experience – the best example being KJo … even the films he produced later were getting more watchable even after many years which K3G or K2H2 couldn’t …
Harish S Ram: “shouldn’t the location be taken only as a milieu and not as a pre-requisite for a movie?” Absolutely. The problem isn’t that Blue is set in the Bahamas as opposed to the Andamans. The problem is in the other areas, like scripting.
vijay: There is a site that aggregates reviews of Hindi films: allbollywood.com.
Vijay/Lakshman,
Come on guys, you can’t compare Gautham Menon with Sanjay Gupta. Menon does not rip-off b-grade Hollywood movies, his movies are more rooted and realistic. People don’t wear dark shades and walk in slow motion towards the camera throughout the film.
Yes BR … thats what i was trying to say … films like Blue placed all the indians in a foreign land and made them interact with each other with out showing a single foreigh soul having any importance to the script – it was like they had a land for themselves with the best diver there being a fat OLD indain guy … but the point is these films didnt affect any1 it only made us cringe … it would be valid if some very impacting movie that depicts the wrong ethos are given as example ( i cant remember any this moment) – another film i feel was badly casted (though not related to the topic we are discussing here) was pichumani in Kandasamy – man it was hilarious …
Vacation-porn, Jewelry-porn.. amazing line.. i think you should start a post to add to this collection. Will be serious timepass
Currently, in the name of being global, there is, I feel , too much of an anxiety to conform to a sameness..almost like a mcdonaldization of films.Barrage of visuals,noise,ad-like images and something about films today leaves you feeling dead inside.
the other day I was watching amelie again and felt how beautifully the universal love story archetype was woven into a narrative that was french but also global(without trying so hard)
hopefully this is a transition to better things.
“Vijay/Lakshman,
Come on guys, you can’t compare Gautham Menon with Sanjay Gupta. Menon does not rip-off b-grade Hollywood movies, his movies are more rooted and realistic. People don’t wear dark shades and walk in slow motion towards the camera throughout the film.”
Well I have heard that many are pissed off with his portrayal of Surya’s family in VA where dad, mom and son sing Hindi songs or have antayakshari. Also Simran and he talk in English many times.
Gautam Menon does not represent tamil culture in any strong way.
Vijay, agree on karthik. He doesn’t give music the respect it deserves – one listen, hasty opinions, half-baked “this is. 80’s music” , “this is 50’s style” etc judgements(enna carbon dating mechanism edhaavadhu vechurukkaara?).
No comparison to b.conclusion.
Kodumai – ppl just make random comparisons.
Tambi Dude: Ah, but what is “Tamil culture?” There’s no such uniform thing. Even within Chennai, the “Tamil culture” varies across, say, North Madras and South Madras, so how can you extrapolate commonalities across a state?
As for the Anglicisation, the Tamil writer Rajesh Kumar has a series going under the caption “Crime.com.” The story installments are titled along the lines of “Tik Tik Lipstick” and “Million Dollar Kelvi.” (Why not “Latcha Rooba Kelvi?”) Now, you’d expect such a thing to be published in, say, Kungumam, right? But it’s published in Kalki, that bastion of high-minded magazine literature. What does one make of this? Sure, you could label the phenomenon what you want — “wannabe” or whatever. But that doesn’t change the fact that the phenomenon exists. There *are* pockets that easily straddle English and Tamil. You can’t generalise.
vijay/raj: Here’s where I stand. I think Karthik provides a great service in informing us about *each* new album that hits the market. Few of us have the time and energy to keep track. He does.
As for his reviews, music is such an abstract art that a song might fully “reveal” itself only after years. Sometimes the “click” happens instantly, sometimes not. (And in general, in my experience rather, the insta-click songs usually diminish in value after a while.) So whether you review after a couple of listens or after a week’s (or month’s) worth of listening, there’s no “fixed” evaluation possible.
That’s what I’ve always said about movie reviews (i.e., my reviews are just my thoughts after a one-time watch, and that subsequent viewings may or may not yield the same thoughts or evaluations). And that’s even truer of music reviews.
Of his type, I think Karthik provides a good yardstick. The rest is up to personal taste (and inclination to invest in the music).
I think Kamal, in this video, sums up all that Tamil Culture accusations pretty well. And super sarcastically!
Rangan – You misunderstood me. Those were not *my* words, but that of others who were pissed off with VA and other GM’s movies. I think few of them were vocal in this blog too.
Baradwaj, I have no problems with the instantness of the review. But you can’t compre to yourself because you still invest thought and analysis in your reviewsa. With karthik, that is not so. That’s my opinion atleast. I find some random urgent hasty judgements regularly. No inkling of any ‘thought having gone into the writing’.
Yes, he does spend. And let us know what albums have come into the market – for that, one salutes him but a knowledgeable critic, he is not.
I’d rather red vijayr herr on music.
Off topic.
Br : Look what I found when I was going through the archives on your older site :
“.. He creates a context for it by making his hero wonder what Jahnvi would look like; Bole to bole to kaisi hogi hai, Munnabhai muses, as each girl he comes across is a potential Jahnvi look-alike. (If you want to get all film-geeky, you could trace this situation back to something like Rakesh Roshan on a horse in Paraya Dhan, going Aaj unse pehli mulaqat hogi as he imagines his bride-to-be.).. ”
Hahaha!
Pradyumna M: Oh crap! With such eagle-eyed readers, I have to be really careful
But I’ll tell you why this film has stayed so strongly in mind. It’s not a great film by any means, but I found the climax pretty startling . Rakesh and Hema are beset by a bunch of goons. Rakesh gets hit on the head and faints. It’s Hema who fights off the villains and saves the day.
Paraya Dhan is not a comedy like Seeta Aur Geeta, and this is one of the rare instances where I’ve seen the heroine walk away with the climax. I hope they don’t remake this with Katrina Kaif
Haha! I hope all of Katrina’s upcoming films bomb and they stop seeing her as some “lucky mascot” in the industry.I can’t stand her!
Actually I can’t stand any of the newer “heroines” except maybe a Kareena or a Priyanka.
Btw,looks like two good stories on paper gone all wrong on screen this week.
BR, glad you mentioned Paraya Dhan. Not only does Hema have the climax all to herself, but throughtout the movie she functions as the *hero* who is at the center of the action, while Rakesh plays the *heroine* who just shows up for the songs and romance bits! I agree – not great cinema by any means, but this subversion of traditional Hindi film roles is enough to earn Paraya Dhan a spot in my heart.
Pazhassi raja, saar?
Atleast the music?
Tamil version?
(But watching in tamil is pointless, though)
Aditya , thats some biting sarcasm and some very good points he raises
I heard he also give a very angry interview to Madan during that time .
Does anyone have the link to that video
Totally depressed after watching the much hyped London Dreams..what is happening,thought the curse of bollywood maata would be over after diwali!!
oops..will not hijack your review of it..!!
a