Friday, November 17, 2006

Skiving Off and Other Stories

I haven't felt the urge to blog is a while, and even when I have it has been fairly inconsequential ( I am aware I blaspheme), of movies and telly and football. While some of this was down to the emotional exhaustion of Michael Schumacher's retirement (and no one need comment on just how ridiculous that sounds), most of it was due to that basic reason for most things people fail to do, laziness. With its friend, Procastination.In an attempt to set that right (so now you can lay off me, S) I shall recap in probably unwanted detail my weekends past. And the vaguely horrifying thoughts that pass through my head.

I have not yet managed to watch The Departed, what with trying to go on Sunday but not getting tickets. Hopefully this weekend will work out better, but I do have tickets to Casino Royale anyway, so there's definitely one movie off my list. Another grouse to get out of my system is the fact that Volver opens IFFI and Babel closes it, and frakking IFFI has moved to Goa. Grrr.

I have caught up with some films though: watched Don, Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, Omkara, A Place in the Sun, The Big Sleep and The Philadelphia Story, all of which I hadn't seen before. Some disconnected ramblings:

1. I liked Don. In many ways I detest the 'remake' tag (even though I use it) because it almost automatically reduces a film's worthiness in the eyes of the public, what with yearning for the older versions. The 'homage' tag is somewhat better, because expectations are reduced, but in this case I don't think it was really applicable. However comparing this Don to the Amitabh Bachchan Don is like apples and oranges. The bare outlines of the plot and some songs (which rankled at very many people, for some reason) are the same, but the twist at the end more than makes up for it. Farhan Akhtar is uninterested in exploring the duality of our (anti)hero's character(s) as either 'role' spilling over into what they were before, or even a re-invention. But he provides a film high on style, and it is a sleek, well-made, well-acted Hollywood-type thriller. Even if the exposition fairy visits one time too many (have I mentioned my deep dislike for exposition? But that's for another post). I also loved Boman Irani.

2. Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna or KANK as it is so lovingly known, was not half as bad as I expected. However, I am an unabashed SRK fan, so that is not so surprising. Beneath the helplessly over the top nature of Karan Johar's direction, there are actually some good moments. But for me the most mystifying thing was the Incredible Colours of Rani Mukherjee's Eyeshadows. What was up with that? Truly, truly strange. Oh, right, the good moments. Contrary to what most people had to say, I actually liked SRK's interactions with his screen son. That was how bitter a man he had become - incapable of being kind to someone he clearly loved. It explains his attraction to Rani as well - with her he feels like a better person, like he's someone more than who he is - not just the husband of so-and-so but a person in his own right. Many people told me that they didn't understand why Rani would be attracted to SRK, though. And that is harder to get at. But I think the movie does a pretty good job of outlining her feelings of inferiority and most-importantly her lack of self-worth as a woman. She seems to believe that since she can't have children, there is no reason to have sex. And the fact that she isn't sexually attracted to her husband deepens her insecurity. With SRK, she recognizes that he has so many flaws in himself, that she doesn't have to feel guilty about her own. And ofcourse there is the lure of illicit for them both. I shall stop fanwanking now. Oh, I forgot to mention how hysterical the Sexy Sam stuff was, and not in a good way .

3. Omkara was brilliantly made and brilliantly adapted. I absolutely loved Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan. The music was great. The screenplay was great. Movie nirvana.

4. A Place in the Sun was based on An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. The experience of having had to read Sister Carrie made me dislike the film before I even saw it, though it raises some interesting moral and ethical issues. They are also not fully explored in the movie, and the central romance so important to the plot feels rushed and not very plausible.

5. The Big Sleep and The Philadelphia Story had fabulous casts, repartee, chemistry between the leads, the bestest leading men..... sigh. No, this was movie nirvana.

In other random news, I have discovered The Clash and they are indeed very good. I'm also very interested in purchasing several things: the TwoP book, the Michael Schumacher Biography, TwoP shirts and most importantly, an illustrated history of rock music. Maybe then I can get all these genres sorted in my head. Not to mention the timelines.

Football is still exciting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store opened bizarrely above Mango and has just as bizarrely closed in the wake of sealing. And they had a beautiful Van Gogh reproduction that I was hell-bent on buying.

2 comments:

Ridhima said...

good to see a blog from you!

Loved your take on KANK.. didnt the thik the movie was as bad as everyone else.. but I still found SRK incredibly irritating in the movie..

Rani could have cried a lil less..

But overall I dont think the movie was half as bad as the world made it sound..

Yamini said...

You found SRK irritating! The foundations of my belief are shaken... but then I factor in that you were always a Abhishek girl anyway.