Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and My Conundrum

I am wondering these days whether I can review movies. I have consistently held , even if not in written word in all my posts about everything written being my view, not review. I am not qualified enough to be a critic. Because for one, I liked “Mere Brother Ki dulhan” and loathed “That Girl in yellow Boots.”  If I were a critic, the adjectives used for these movies would have been opposite. Or I might have even loved That Girl…. So technically I am not a critic. Taran Adarsh is a critic, because he loved “That Girl in Yellow Boots” and gave it 4 stars. According to him, the finale hit him like a ton of bricks. Everybody I know of who were fateful enough to watch that -yes all three of us-  had guessed what the end is going to look like. But then , Taran Adarsh likes anything. He is the antithesis of Devil’s Advocate. He gave “Mere Brother ki Dulhan” 4 stars as well . Actually he gave “Do Knot Disturb” (you remember?)  3.5 stars. Actually Mark Zuckerberg told me that the Facebook  like button using which you can like statuses which condole somebody’s death as well was inspired by Taran Adarsh. Actually.. ok you get the point, right?

Sometimes I miss the point of Anuraag Kashyap’s movies. But in “That girl in yellow boots” I missed the whole game. I simply do not want to go to a movie to do brain exercise to deduce the various acts and scenes which are the supposed illustrations of various degrees of subtleties a film maker can achieve   . Was the massage parlour symbolising the greasing of palm one is required to do to get every governmental job done? Was the constant chattering of the owner of the parlour a connotation for the constant din in the protagonist’s life? Did the character of Naseeruddin Shah typified the father Ruth never had? Did  the yellow boots symbolise…Oh leave it. Did the yellow boots symbolise anything at all? I don’t want to find out. I wanted to get entertained when I spend my 200 bucks, which did not happen. I can find numerous “Find the difference” and “Find the similarities” games on internet for free. And in my honest opinion, Kalki is not that fine an actress either as she is touted to be. Does acting only comprise of a grim mood, dark environment, shrieks, and hysterics?  I am no fan of acting of Katrina Kaif, but for me she was good in MBKD. She gave good expressions importantly at the right times, rolled her eyes well and conveyed appropriate amount of devilry through them. I never imagined that I will ever write such lines for Katrina, but she was good. But still she has been panned by critics. Guess that is what it takes to be a critic. The usual reaction “That girl in yellow boots” elicits is that of shock. I mean that is what I have been told. And I wonder what is so shocking about it. Is it child molestation or incest? Now, do we need a movie to tell us that these exist in reality? So, why seeing reality on the big screen shocks them? Is it because anytime we go to see a movie, they expect to see escapist cinema? Then why does watching something like “Mere Brother Ki dulhan” which is escapist cinema at its core disappoints them? And if they do not expect that, why get shocked at seeing something like “That Girl In yellow Boots” ? I do not expect to get answers. May be it is the taste thing. Rom-coms are anyway panned universally by critics with rare exceptions. But then , why would someone go to a romcom expecting to be shocked? Or expect that one will have anything different from a “run –of-the-mill” good ending? Or expect that if two people are protagonists, somehow they will not end up together just to provide a different ending? Now did anyone really expect Katrina Kaif to get hitched to  Ali Zafar  movie when  Imran Khan with all his Bollywood connection is lurking around? Really? But for me , I do not go to watch movies for the sole purpose of expecting to get shocked. Better I will sit at home and search YouTube for shocking videos instead. I go to get entertained. Simply put, MBKD with all its flaws, entertained me .  That girl in Yellow Boots didn’t despite it’s several subtleties which the critics regularly found orgasmic. Besides what was left in That girl in Yellow Boots if you could guess the end and take away the “shock”  as happened to me , is pretty much still unclear to me. Was it this trailer which is doing the rounds these days? Ch***yappa and handshake? Please don’t tell me that this trailer has not been released just to lure the so- called “ front benchers” using lewd gestures and slang language. If that is the truth, then why carry the pretence of being an off-beat, classy movie?

 Phew… Ok, enough of ranting now. Now did I  give you the impression that MBKD is a hugely entertaining, sugar-sweet, “Four Wedding and a Funeral-esque” funny movie which attains the climactic heights any romcom can aspire to get to ? No, it is  not surely. It is actually a silly movie actually. So silly that it shows BEST buses outside IGI Airport , Delhi. Actually it was more silly that Billy trying to do a wheelie in the rush hour traffic in apni Dilli and it is more clichéd than the word “Clichéd” has becomes a cliché to describe romcom movies. And  the movie is more silly than the last sentence I framed. It has the leading pair who on the account of their last few misadventures are quite proven to be incapable of acting. And if it was not enough, there is John Abraham as well for a quick dekko with his non-existent expressions. I have a theory regarding why Bipasha dumped him. Because he couldn’t “express” his love for her.  It has Imran khan , who had he been an animal would have had 4 left feet trying to “ape” the dance steps of the three Khans.  Now that is only possible if one Khan is your Uncle and you can be relatively assured that he will not sue you for doing that. Now , what is stopping the other two Khans from suing him, I don’t know. They have a camp right in front of The Tajmahal . Surely, Mayawati will want to know more about that. May be we will se a 5 star hotel in just that place in the coming days. And if you want to do better video calls than as those shown in Reliance ads, you should consider acting in movies. I have always doubted Reliance’s ability to deliver but this movie removes all doubts that the best video calls happen in movies and movies only. And that is about its silliness. Additionally it is clichéd at innumerable places.

But you will enjoy the movie if you expect beforehand that it is going to be silly and clichéd like all romantic movies are. I mean which is the last actress you remember who married a books store owner in reality? But that did not stop Notting Hill from being what it was. Love Actually was actually full of stupidity. But it was also full of love. They were good because they made you feel good and they were not bad just because they were stupid and clichéd. Mere brother Ki Dulhan does that, though to only an extent. But then that is why it is not Notting Hill or Love Actually. But who says that film making can only be Sholay on one side and RGV ki Aag on other? 

It's The Man.. Movie Review: Dabangg

First Superman , then Batman , then Spiderman  ,then Iron Man then Shaktiman, and then came Sal-man. And then some more Salman , and some more Salman, and some more Salman , and then only Salman and Salman and Salman and Salman and a then bit of Sonakshi too. And then some more Salman and some more Salman and.....

 I will post the full review once my mid semesters get over. Hopefully.

In the mean time, you can read the Wanted review here. There won't be much difference anyways. 

P.S. - I can't fathom the fact that how these rugged machomen of yesteryear keep bringing out such beautiful girls!!!!! First Sonam Kapoor, and now Sonakshi Sinha.

Aieeeeeeeeeeshaaaaaaaa........

Chic chic Chiclet.  When I was growing up in terms of my height,  there used to be a very popular chewing gum called Chiclet. It was like any other gum available. I could not figure any reason why it was so popular as there were twenty more similar if not better tasting gums in the market. It was predictably bland, chewy, boring and if you could stick it in one place without getting your hands dirty, you could stretch it for as long as you please. But still I used to walk around with it in my mouth all day. Guess , I had nothing better to day at times than chew it. But, what a pity!

Then I grew up a bit . And I came across a term which sounded a lot like Chiclet but was told that it was certainly a lot different than a chewing gum. It was called Chick lit. Two or three Chick lit later, I was searching for the man who gave me that advice with an idea in my heart which was close to being of revenge and murder. They were girly, almost smelled pink , the boys were nothing more than props and in my opinion used to cast women in a demeaning light. All the women in them cared about was marriage. And as long it was any marriage , the world for them was nothing more than a wedding shamiana  or a church where you got to go and sign the attendance sheet as a bride or even better- as a bridesmaid.

And then I grew up a bit more. And then came Aisha.  And to know how it was, simply join the above two paragraphs and read them. That’s all…

Image courtesy, http://www.yorkshirebiztalk.com

Rann & the other one

Ram Gopal Verma knows two ways of making movies. One is how to make a movie and other is that he does not know how to make a movie. The last time he was RGV was when he made Bhoot . I did not like Sarkar ; it was less likeable than the Godfather. And it was definitely far inferior than the book. Godfather the book was more about relationships, the aura , the undercurrent and human nature and its vagaries. Sarkar was more about Amitabh, the expressionless Abhishek , the mercurial Kay Kay and above all RGV, the middle name for which he presume was G for GOD not GOPAL. The actors became bigger than the characters and the movie for me ended up in sketches which were devoid of colours and life. Post that repeatedly our Darling RGV, tried to Phoonk away all his credentials for some entirely Agyaat reasons in his own RGV ki AAG. But when RGV decides to be RGV, few forces in world can join Company. Rann reminds you of all RGV is capable of . But when I entered the theatre , there were all of18 people inside it. Yes, I counted them. It reminded me of another aspect of RGV which he is capable of. He can scare people off theatres even without his darawane attempts. He will do well to remind himself that to keep his antics like GO and Shiva - to mention a few others - to himself , so that a genuine effort like Rann can generate viewership. Yes, Rann is good. And there are several reasons for that. One being his desperation to save a sinking ship. RGV that is. It is not in class of Company or Satya, but then a lot of movies we have been calling good were not there either. At least it is far better than classics like Darna mana hai and its sequel Aahat-Part2. (read:Darna jaroori hai.)

Moving on , I really do not remember the last time two ,movies as different as RGV and Vishal Bhardwaj released on the same day , and I walked out with the same heady feeling for the two. Ishqiya is like one of the dialogues in it,”Ishq mein sab bewajah hota hai.” A lot of things in Ishqiya is bewajah (illogical) , but still the movie is like Ishq- titillating, steamy, spicy, raunchy. To use another reference from the movie –the Ishq I am talking about is not like one feels for a Pari. But the type one nurtures for a Tawayaf. And for that very reason it falters . Like an elusive lover it occasionally and finally frustrates you. A sense of emptiness adds to that feeling of “What could have been”. Even though the film carries an unmistakeable watermark of Vishal Bhardwaj, the hands of a inexperienced director show up although a promising pair one must say.

Talking about watermark, let me return to Runn. The Film has got a distinct , almost opaque watermark of Sarkar. RGV could have easily named this movie Rannkar. Except for the fact that Kay Kay was better than Sudeep and Ritesh is far better than –ankhiyon se only goli mare- Abhishek Abhishek. And yes, did Sudeep put drugs in his cigarette and smoke? Please somebody take away cigarettes from the dude man. Cigarette chadhti hai us ko. Was not cigarette smoking banned on screen? On second thoughts, government should give out video of Jai smoking with every packet of cigarettes. More people will quit than they would if it was banned altogether. And talking of bans, why can’t Neetu Chandra be banned from Indian films? She is getting more irritating than when I get shut in room with friends watching stupid English sitcoms which are “Chandra-ishly” irritating specially so when they guffaw out loudly now and then and yours truly is left wondering what the big deal is.

Another reason I liked Rann was because how it surprised me. I had never expected this from RGV of AAg fame. And no I am not talking about the script. It is as predictable as Ekta Kapoor; I was able to guess almost every next scene. But still the movie retained its raciness for almost the entire length even for someone with a prejudiced mind like me. Now , that is an achievement and that is why it was a surprise. Another surprise was Mohnish Behl. Now do you remember him? Then you might remember when he did act as well as in Rann. May be before he jumped on the Rajshri bandwagon. Did he do any movies earlier? I really don’t remember , so please if anyone does, let me know. He just about manages to avoid being in your face, avoid being hysterical, in short just manages to avoid being Rajshri-ish. Another actor who is a surprise was Rajpal Yadav, but for entirely opposite reasons. In the performance of these two actors lies the maverick RGV. He can make Behl act as he has never ever had , and can make Rajpal Yadav a cringing force he has never been . All for the cause, but he comes a bit hard on senses. As for rest , Amitabh when he acts poorly is news and he has not done that since Lal Badhshah. He was passable even in Hum Kaun Hain. Apart from him , the movie has got a cast which is bigger than the one in even Kahani Ghar Ghar ki.And the best thing is that only Neetu Chandra is worse than Parvati Maiya. About the others, Gul Panag was gul for most of the movies, and anyway they all looked like cinematic version of Mayawati.

The talk of lady characters bring me back to Ishqiya. But first tell me that is there anyone, who writes dialogues better than Vishal Bhardwaj. and better than Guljar to weave songs around those dialogues? Of course we are presently discounting the dialogue writer of movie “Gunda” otherwise he will win hands down. You can’t ignore a person who gave gems like, “Main hoon Bulla , rakhta hoon sab kuch khulla” and “Mera naam hai Ibu Hatela, maan meri chudail ki beti, baap mera shaitan ka chela, khaega kela?” and “mera naam hai pote, jo apne baap ke bhi nahi hote.” But we will talk about that jab maine apne maathe se gunda nahi dekhne ka kalank dho diya hoga. I am getting senti here, so lets get back to the point.

I wanted to write a post on Runn , but see what I am talking about. Some movies are like that. Like Gunda, Like Ishqiya. One can’t help when one is so fresh in mind. Ishqyia has its rough edges, but they seem to be carved in perfection. Has there ever been a bigger tharki than Arshad ? Has anybody been ever able to portray that swift transition from rouge to suave better than Naseer? And will not talk about Vidya. It will sour the memories. They are best left untouched, unshared. But the movie trudges slowly, and its twists do not appear like twists. But still it has got a fleeting spark within itself, right from the disclaimer, which says that the characters are imaginary to a large extent. . But the spark is the problem, coz it is too intermittent, more so under the air of huge expectations I carried with myself into the theatre.

For me this week the seasoned player trumped the debutante by a thin margin, but I suspect if Runn will do well. RGV has created such a market which is keener on not buying his product because of his antics which he translated into movies. Here is the proof. Abhishek Chaubey comes with no such baggage. That is an advantage, more so , if you happen to be from Vishal Bhardwaj stable .

Pichle Saat Dino Mein....

A few days back, it was in news that Shahid Kapoor was miffed at Utv for refusing to promote the movie citing the no-brand value of Shahid and Genelia “brand” . Shahid was going something like, “ Fab kaminey hain, Faale fab ke fab.” I saw it yesterday and half an hour into the movie, you realise that actually Ronnie Screwala is quite a businessman. He obviously had seen the movie and then wanted to save money and also wanted to earn money and he did not want to turn his viewers away so he did that whatever he did. Well, I started reading a business newspaper today and realized that it is as complicated a stuff as my last sentence, and Ronnie Srewvala is quite a businessman. So he tricked Shahid and me and my friends to do what he wanted. So, I went to watch the movie and quite soon realised that had Shahid actually seen the movie after acting in it, he might have saved his spleen for the scriptwriter and the music director instead of Ronnie. And this is supposed to be a musical . Kambakht Ishq was a better "musical", and considering it was from Anu "bebo main bebo" Malik, that is saying something. Shahid tries his best, hams as Srk does , dances as he usually does, but the people in charge contrive against him rather painfully. Reminds me of another bright talent Ranbir Kapoor who in my opinion is still waiting for the script to justify his abilities. Shahid has had Kaminey and Jab we met, but they have been disconcertingly interspersed with a kismat konnection , fool and final and now this. The last movie I watched before this was 3 Idiots and that was only 4 days back . Chance pe Dance doesn’t even tempts comparisons in even the remotest of the senses. I was called an idiot for about 15 days for having not seen 3 Idiots yet. I am again in danger of being called an idiot for having watched Chance pe Dance.

Last few days have been a bit interesting for me . Of course new year arrived , I came back to college, we played Sri Lanka again, and lost or won , I don’t know. Domestic cricket has been more interesting. Mumbai won while I wanted Karnataka to prevail , but importantly BCCI lost as well . And they say IPL is reviving domestic cricket. And also I watched these two movies. And talking of movies, these days there is a lot of autism and Khan on T.V. They have been promoting it all right. But to me it started in all earnest on 15th August 2009 . If I remember correctly, a certain soul was detained a few months back at an airport in US and he cried hoarsely for everyone to listen,” My name is Khan. My name is Khan”. And dear me, did everyone oblige . For me, that was the first look, and the first step. Anyways, by the looks of it, by the end of February it seems that I am going to have a enormously huge punching bag. But, sigh... I will have to wait for that. And by looking at the attempt of SRK to play both Darsheel and Hrithik of KMG rolled into one sprinkled with shades of New York, I know that the wait is going to be an impatient one. Just one doubt for now, no disrespect intended but can autistic people get it up to produce children?

I also watched 3 Idiots , finally. But even before it was released, I knew that I would love it . Coz, one I am also an engineering student.. And two, I am also not doing engineering coz I love nuts and bolts, but because it provides me with the best chance to reserve a secure future for myself. And since I don’t want my college to hand me over a college leaving certificate before I am eligible to have one in case they come across this post, I will like to state that to study in a good college like mine , also gives me the luxury and leisure to pursue my hobbies which in my case happen to be only sleeping. Coming back to the movie, it was what I had expected. Hilarious, well scripted, superb , with punching dialogues, but still a bit jingoistic and melodramatic at places . But essentially the best thing about the movie is that it has its heart in place which is important for a flick like 3 Idoits which basically tries to be a heartwarming tale. There have been criticisms like the movie is far from reality and all that . But remember DCH? That was a movie which was far from reality. College is not all about fests, chicks , love stories , which is even more true in the case of an engineering college. But didn’t we all love DCH ? And who knows, If one has nothing to lose as in case of Rancho, one might end up giving a lecture to a professor as well. Criticisms remind me that the people who created this education system which is nothing but essentially an examination system were also human beings like us likes of which still exist.

Moving on, I returned to my college and also to Delhi in the process. It was cold in Bihar as well, my native place, but coming here makes me feel as if Delhi has never known summer. I have forgotten how it feels like to wear a thin shirt with a thin jeans and a pair of chappals. And everyday my classes start at 9 . Maybe my professor saw 3 Idiots and they felt it was high time to show that they are the one still in charge. Reverse inspiration, you see.

Back home , . I had a trip to my father's in laws, my naanighar that is. When on vacation, if you are married, a trip to your in-laws is mandatory, and if otherwise, a trip to your father's in-laws is mandatory. HaHa kanoon(law) ke haath bahut lambe hote hain. Sorry for the suicidal PJ. The trip was quite eventful as I met some quite quirky characters, quirkier than even me , so they stuck in memory. While I was there, they had another guest. He was a student who had come to give a scholarship test by Brilliant Tutorials, a coaching institute for IIT training. I had a chat with him

“To Bhai, kis class mein padhte ho?”( In Bihar, that is the standard line when you start a conversation with a young child. No wonder Patna has almost 1000 coaching institutes for IIT preparation. )

“ Eight going to Nine” Pat came the reply. Wonder why he was in such a hurry to grow up.

“ To IIt karna hai”

“Haan.”

“Kyun?”

A pregnant pause followed . Just that I thought that it was pregnant but it was followed by another long pause and then another till I realised it is not an artistic pregnant pause but just a detrimental, confused one. Had I seen 3 Idiots then , I might have tried playing Baba Ranchoddas, but I hadn’t . Maybe even if I had seen the flick, I still would not have tried coz I later came to know that the guy has been preparing for IIT since class VI and had already qualified in another scholarship test taken by Fiitjee , another factory for IIT students. His father was visibly proud of him. I just wondered whether the child is intelligent belying his age or his parents are foolish belying their ages. Class VI !!! Are they serious? When I was in one, only thing that was there was Science. Physics and Chemistry were when one slipped his tongue saying Patna and Calcutta. And a child there is trying for IIT!!! Don’t know whether expectations have gone up, competition has gone up, population has gone up or simply stupidity has gone up. I would much rather prefer somebody like my mausi’s daughter. She is also in VIII, and is quite vivacious, likes to talk and importantly behaves like her age and thinks that that father-son duo is nothing more than a walking hoarding for FIITJEE.

Another quirk I met was one astrologer. My uncle has great belief in him and took me there. He has predicted for one of my cousins that she will get into civil services. But there is a catch- she wants to get into engineering. So, being a highly knowledgeable person, he promptly replied that ok then, she might get into civil engineering. And my uncle took him word for word. Now even before she has passed her XIth examination she is told to study chapters like solid and fluid mechanics which might be beneficial for her “civil engineering.” He had also “examined” many other persons from my family as well like my father and my uncle as well.

I felt whatever shreds of belief I had evaporating when the man took out my kundali from a computer software. Then also I had a surge of hope that if not anything , I can at least be an astrologer. And I will definitely not be a dumb one like this . He had a look at that and declared that I will be a businessman when what I am doing is engineering. The amusement continued when he declared that as I grow up, my attachment towards my family will fade away. I had had enough and decided to get back at him . I asked, “You also examined my father. Was it there in his future that his son will leave him?”

He was stumped and tried his best to wriggle out which he eventually did with a little help from my uncle. But I decided not to give up so easily. He had told my Dad that in life everything he wishes comes true and things come easily to him. Now, this statement is as much an eyewash as the death in Ekta Kapoor’s serials is. So I tried to bounce back, “You said that my Father gets everything he wishes for. He won’t wish for his only son to leave him? Now. Will he ?”

By this point I was sure that in the next few minutes I was going to be murdered by either my uncle or by jyotishi baba. May be even he would have not envisaged such a swift end for me . Possibly to keep the sanctity of his predictions intact, he refrained from doing so. Anyways I had already realised that it is time to choose between my spite and my life and in spite of everything , the decision was not overly tough. So I decided to purse my lips for the next hour or so.

One more thing happened in the last few days. I became a member of Indibloggies where I registered my blog as a personal one. So I wrote such a long personal post in case they come checking. Though going by the frequency of visits my blog records by somebody other than me surely no one will bother.

P.S.- First day back in college I had a lab of metallurgy , the teacher asked us , “What is brittleness?”

“Sir, it is the property by which a metal breaks easily.” Almost everyone answered coz this has been standard question in every semester since the time I entered this college.

“Par definition kya hai definition?” He mocked us.

As usual a silence prevailed. And then he replied.

“ It is the property by the virtue of which , a material has got an appreciable length between its yield point and the facture point in its stress-strain graph.” He replied with a mixture of a winning and mocking smile.

So much for the breaking . Clearly somebody has not seen something which he should have.

Wanted- Movie Review

A question for you,

"How did Salman manage to complete Wanted?"

" Kyunki ek baar jo commitment maine kar li, fir to main khud ki bhi nahi sunta."

About a month earlier, I took a pledge after watching a trailer ," Come what may, I shall save myself from the ignominy of watching Wanted ."

A month later I take another pledge- " I will never challenge Bollywood. And I will never try to act God to decide my future ." Both have funny ways to pinch you at the backside.

One of the rare movies to have been made in Bollywood not to have it's title featured in even a single dialog (Even Badhti ka naam Dadhi had a tilte song) , rides on a simple cliche- Love it , hate it, but can't ignore it. And generally not being ignored suffices to be a hit in Bollywood. Here, when Vinod Khanna was exhorting Salman to be a one-man-army, he was merely echoing the producer's sentiments. Ayesha Takia will find difficult to sell even a flap of Shilpa Bindi if with it a life size poster with a prominent mention of her bosom is not doled out for free. And regarding the saleability of director Prabhudeva, hmmm.

We went to watch Hrtihik in Lakshya, but then he was a choreographer. But, when he comes up with an action flick , which is a remake of a south Indian super action movie, sniggers are more commonplace than expectant sniffs.

There has always been a North-South divide in Indian movies. For e.g. with all due respect to Rajini Sir, a lot of north-Indians fail to grasp the significance of the act in which he tosses up a cigarette in the air , and then force of gravity becomes so miniscule on it that it lands well after he has finished playing with all the bad guys. Likewise, a lot of my south Indian friends can't seem to understand how SRK manages to woo scores of girls , when he wouldn't be able to sustain a punch from even a gali ka goonda which are blown away by a mere breath from Rajini Sir. So our esteemed director invented a new pharmoola- that is to make a pharmoola movie. And the pharmoola tells him to amalgamate what he knows sells in South and what he is being told that sells in Bollywood. And his goodness lies in the fact that he sticks to his pharmoola . In the recent past the Ghazini director also tried the same. I didn't particularly like the movie apart from the sugar-coated love story and the sugar herself ( Asin that is). But Wanted has no Amir and Ayesha Takia is no Asin. So does that set the film back? No, not a bit.

Coz, it has Salman. The Khan with a man in even in his name chooses to play the man and quite naturally lives up to it. Earlier, he chose to play a prince and act weird in Yuvvraj ( did I miss a v there?) He turned pauper instead. He chose to play a God in God tussi great ho and act weird. As it happened the Gods didn't turn out to be in such a good mood. He chose to play Salman Khan and act weird in Hello . Nobody turned up to say even a hi. Now he chooses to play the other Salman Khan in Wanted and though he still acts weird, we suddenly discover that we actually like the bad boys. Hmmmm...That's my man. And maybe Salman realizes that as well. He has gone from Wanted to Veer with full abandon , which is quite visible in Wanted as well, with most of the songs apparently shot later with his Veer hairstyle.

So to the movie. It is actually quite decent. I didn't picture myself writing this a month back , but life takes strange turns. Two years back I didn't picture myself writing a blog either. Anyways, to a neo-generation for which a single screen theatre is nothing but a macchi bazaar sans any macchi , Wanted can be a wee bit surprising. When in theater Salman made his entry on the screen , there were a lot of whistles from some section. Now, the one I go in ,I have never heard any such things earlier and one of my friends muttered under his breath," Bloody Biharis" . By the time I left , I was thanking those bloody biharis. They created an ambiance in which Wanted deserved to be watched. It is not LOTR to be watched in PVRs among muted appreciation and mild claps. It is supposed to be watched with a lot of seetees, inane remarks , lewd jokes and infectious laughter. And if you don't know how to whistle, go watch the movie. Salman will teach you even that.

I was almost waiting through the movie to watch Salman criss-cross the air with fire a la Garv style . But he didn't. And that is the best thing about the movie. It is crude, but it has no place for histrionics. Another good thing about the movie is that it doesn't take itself seriously. Even the villain Ghani Bhai is more like Crime master Gogo than a Mogambo . Thus what could have turned into a Bam Bam Bigelow , manages to keep its feet together.

The support cast turns out to be a large one , given that Salman is the only major lead here. Ayesha Takia, flaunts her charbi-waala gosht, her charbi-waale lips and manages to do what she was required to do. Mahesh Manjrekar excels in the eternal kutti cheez act and as Vishal Bhardwaj would have us believe that ," Har kutte ka bas ek hi jawaab hota hai-Kaminey" , Salman promptly turns Kamina to get rid of him.

The movie projects Salman as he has been projected by media since ages- bad boy, cool dude, sweet at heart blah..blah..blah. It almost seems that it was made to cash on the media image of Salman. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of Salman, you will love the movie. And if you are not, still watch it ; you might find reasons to like him or the movie.

I have been waiting for this a very long time. Now, everybody who is not from Mars, or hasn't been a serial killer 12 years back and has been in solitary confinement since knows who Harry Potter is . Even my friend's grandmother knows that he is certainly not her next door potter who comes to her every diwali with diyas and all. But who is the Half- BLood Prince? More importantly , why is he here? And most importantly, why is he sharing the dais with the usual protagonist?

Well, if you have read the book, you know the answers inside out. If you have seen the movie, you might actually remember who the Half-Blood Prince is , but the rest of the questions, might sound Greek to you. Why? Well, if you have done both, you know the answer to the "Why?". I was earlier worried, that I might be providing spoilers on the movie through the post.But , I realised....spoilers..hmmm...the book is enough of a spoiler anyway. Wll, since the 3rd part, it has been the other way around; the movie has been spoiling the book. Anyways , if you haven't been able to read the book, the chances of you getting through this post are as bright as Indian team qualifying for the next world cup. Football , that is.

But, wait , don't get me wrong. The movie is quite good actualy . I have a slightly different perspective than the usual reader-watchers coz i watched the first 3 before I read them. And I believe that since part2 this installment is the one whcih stays most true to the book., To subscribe to this view, one has to agree to the fact the purpose of the sixth part is not merely to fond the true identity of Half-BLood Prince, but to discover more about Voldermort. I choose to discount parts 1& 2 as they were so short on volume that that movie scriptwriter was actually a scriptwriter then , not a mere trimmer he has been in parts since.

As expected, the movie does trims away quite a few scenes like it shows only two memories, but still manages to convey a dark look attributed to the presence of young Tom Riddle( played by the nephew of Ralph Fiennes) . The haunted look of his face really make the two memories spectaculary watchable. And at last the cave scene. I have been longing to see it on the celluloid ever sinve I read about it. It has been trimmed, but it still lived upto my expectations. More crucially in the movie, it underlines the indispensablity of Dumbledore. This feeling is omnipresent in the book as an undercurrent and has been found missing in the movie.

The acting from the grey characters like Malfoy, Snape and Bellatrix is specially good. Helena Carter as Bella, gets only a few scenes, but...phew...one can't look more evil. Umbridge can take lessons. Rest also pass muster.

It is definately worth a watch. But one strict warning, Don't watch it dubbed in anything other than english if you don't want to hear rubbish like udanchoh for apparition and ojhal tahkhana for vanishing cabinet.