The saga began in 1982 with a Vietnam War veteran traveling to small town America in search of his old army buddy. Little did they know then, that “First Blood” was way beyond dealing issues of mercenaries . This was destined to spawn an entire explosive popcorn franchise, much like the Italian Boxer Balboa. Rambo became a one-man army, totally loaded and well-equipped to wipe out regiments and tyrant armies with his signature arrow shoots and explosives. It’s been 20 years since John Rambo showered his bullets in Afghanistan. But 2008’s “Rambo” brings in a hint of old-age, bigger muscles, the same killing stare, even lesser dialogues, the story of a nation ripped by civil war, insanely atrocious rulers, the local rebels and of course, more boom and bam. And yes, I loved it. This is Hollywood extreme action packed to the utmost density with body counts increasing, heads being exploded by snipers and guts being cut through. Read the rest of this post »

So Ashutosh Gowariker is back, with the same team of A.R.Rahman and Javed Akhtar who have tasted huge success before with Swades and of course Lagaan. And this being titled ” Jodhaa Akbar” expectations are obviously sky-high. The Hrithik-Ash Jodi, the budget from UTV breaking through the roof, and the stellar visuals shown in the trailer, of course , Gowariker promises all of that including good music. Only this time, it is not as good as it should sound. Jodhaa Akbar, the soundtrack, disappoints and can at best be termed as one of the most mediocre works of the creators- A.R.Rahman and Lyricist- Javed Akhtar. And no, no amount of good picturisation can save the utter drag of the OST. What you expect is of course, music that lives that period and yet has a contemporary appeal , something which Rahman isn’t new to. But forget the period part, it doesn’t appeal either.

Let’s deal with it one by one shall we? The soundtrack opens with a very predictable Opening theme of sorts. The kind you’d actually picturise to feature on a Mughal period movie. Azeem-o-shaan ShahenShah is heavy on percussions, is absolutely ambient and the grandeur comes across in the sound arrangements. The Chanan Chans and the sound of the courtesans at Akbar’s court, and the praise to the Emperor are all summed up in this song, but at almost 6 minutes, this is a never ending praise-tale, and all I can compare it to is an audio History lesson. The swords are clinging and the sounds of celebrations, I can see how Gowariker is going to put this down to celluloid. Read the rest of this post »

Juno was highly recommended to me by a friend of mine. He even praised it so much by going to the length of calling it “the Little Miss Sunshine of 2007”. I had my hopes high and my expectations were soaring. And Juno meets every single one of them, and even manages to excel at certain points. Love, life, romance –all of that, in a pregnant teenager, who loves to strum the six strings and is the smartest woman (Yes woman) I have ever seen onscreen: Juno is all of that. And the movie envelopes all these aspects in a wonderful feel-good way, which doesn’t seem at all artificial. Juno is all but real, and still somehow brings that innocent smile on your face, similar to the one when you watch Dexter’s Laboratory, not that this has anything to do with science, well anatomy yes. Ughh!! You’re making me confused.

I can just spend hours gushing about the “awesomeness” of the performances and the movie as a whole. But well that would put my writing skills to the test. I’d rather tell you that Juno puts a strange effect in you. Read the rest of this post »

Forget the FM channels. The magnetic audio tapes, with the wait time for rewinds are the thing when it comes to music for our buddy Auto-Drivers. And when you ask them why not FM, they say “Fuck the Big Red Mirchi”. That’s actually how you abuse three channels at one go. Of course, it’s not in English that they tell me so, and well, it’s just a figment of my imagination. Anyway, Auto-Rickshaw music is BIG in a country where Himmessh actually sells audio cassettes more than CDs. In a world where digital music (okay CDs you may call it) to us is primarily MP3, music in daily life is predominantly high on the tone equalizer, and resonating from the Big black soundbox in the backseat of an Auto-Rickshaw. And what is the possibility of you being subjected to listen to a Himmessh, (yeah the man’s creation, as in a Picasso, or a Vinci, or a Sujoy, whatever)-probably 99.999%. I shall confirm the numbers very soon. But quality is not at all governed by the sheer number of playtime, is it? So here I am, preparing a whole Top 10 list of the Favorite Songs of the Auto-Rickshaws. The criteria for judgment: my ears, my senses and my reasons, perhaps movie background scores at times, and well a little SPICE.

10. Chalo Bulawa Aaya Hai: (Avtaar) This is one of the sole reasons why Narendra Chanchal is still one of the top grossers at Sanskaar Channel and what actually pays for his monthly post paid bills. One of the original examples of Devotion meets pop culture. Listen to it on a very high tone, and Narendra Chanchal actually sounds like Asha Bhosle, who sang the female version. Money wasted!! Saare Bolo Jai Mata Di. Read the rest of this post »

And so, here we are. Season 7. Another Season filled with weirdos auditioning, the Idol Blue Censor flag shining over the swearing mouths and the essential Beeper, the Simon haters, the Simon Lovers, the Paula Stalkers, and the absolutely unthinkable. Yeah, no one follows Randy. Of course, there are the brilliant singers as well, who manage to shine even in a crowd of a hundred thousand people auditioning. American Idol Season 7 premiered this Jan 15^th, to almost a clean prime time slot, with almost no competition from rival networks, thanks to the Writers Strike. And with the two episodes a week, 2 hr long audition round episodes, it is pretty much clear; here we go for the roller coaster ride of American Weirdos and Dorks-one weirder and geekier than the other, and yeah! worse in singing. Read the rest of this post »

500 feet above ground! And I am not talking about any altitude. See 500 feet above ground, jumping to a song called “Opportunity Denied”, and think no further. Just let yourself react to the Metal of Brute Force. I thought of writing this article for a Wikipedia page. But then, thinking of the number of times of the appearance of words such as fuck and fucking awesome, and… you know the words, I realized this article wouldn’t make it to wikipedia anyway. So I had to settle down for my own small blog, again. And well, also for the fact that I really don’t have much hard facts about Brute Force either, coz I don’t know them personally, neither do I have a written track record(I don’t believe you actually need to meet the guys to know their music). But I have been a witness to the growth of a band which has stepped out of that norm of covering the yesteryears’ Metal anthems and adopted such a monstrous form of their own, which can only be expressed best by the euphoria that you get to see when Brute Force takes centre stage. Read the rest of this post »

Before the envelopes are opened and the Screen Awards are being awarded tomorrow, Jan 10^th 2008, to the best movies of Bollywood, here I am with my list of the best movies of Bollywood 2007. To follow a year with movies like Rang de Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai with even more hits and great stories has been a great feat for the Bollywood movies in 2007. But there has been a clear divide between the blockbuster hits and movies which brought in great stories, intelligent filmmaking and more than that, the edginess. With movies like Welcome, Partner, Hey Baby and Namaste London among the top grosser, they fail to make this list, for one because I didn’t watch them, secondly because they didn’t inspire me enough to sit through the 2 hours in a cinema paying a 100 bucks. Other exclusions are Dharm, Blue Umbrella ,Eklavya (which I heard is also another piece of crap pushed by extreme publicity) and Gandhi My Father-all because I failed to watch them. Water, Namesake and Loins of Punjab do not feature here as well, because they are not Bollywood movies. So then, here we go.

10. Om Shanti Om – Bheja Fry- Manorama Six Feet Under

The first has Vyjantimala meets Vogue, the second has Bharat Bhushan explaining the meaning of “Tharkee”, and the third has our very own Chinatown set in the backdrop of dry deserts of Rajasthan. Read the rest of this post »

I have already announced the Bollywood Razzies for this year, but my heart refuses to stop at this. C’mon, it’s January and time for the Bollywood awards season. As the Screens,Filmfares and Zee Awards get ready to roll out the nominees, I have the opportunity to squeeze out every “unconventional” and “special” award for this year’s Bollywood releases. The first category is the Bollywood Special Awards, ones which can also be called The Good Ones. Read on to know the Bad ones, and of course don’t miss the Ugly ones. So here they are-

THE GOOD :

Duniya Jaaye Tel Bechne( Let the world sell oil, I mean no holds barred) Dance:
Undisputed Winner:-Kay Kay Menon, high and stoned, grooves to the foot-thumping Sajanaji Vari Vari, and even does a Naagin Dance. We all loved it.

Acapella Vocals:
Contenders-Krishna: Maula Mere Le Le Meri Jaan (Chak De India)
Kailash Kher: Ya Rabba (Salaam-e-Ishq)
WINNER:Sonu Nigam: O Re Paakhi(Khoya Khoya Chand) Read the rest of this post »

Also published at: Wordsutra.com

How do you just outdo yourself once you’ve made a movie like “Fargo” or “The Big Lebowski”? The answer is, not make a sequel. The answer is, translate Cormac McCarthy’s novel about the relationship between the hunter and the hunted and take it to a totally elevated dimension with riveting performances, groundbreaking shooting moments and most importantly fill it with spine-chilling silence, coz nothing works as good as plain simple silence when it comes to “thrills”. And that is what the Coens have done with “No Country for Old Men”. Not only have they explored the characters of the three main protagonists with so much ease and detail, but have also managed to paint a perfect depiction of the “West” replete with Sheriffs on horses and the Cow Boy hats, the leather boots, the gas stations owned by some old guy, and the cheap motels. But wait, am I forgetting something here? This is a movie totally owned by Javier Bardem, which is actually how the Coens would’ve planned and hell yeah, they have succeeded.Never been a better and stronger onscreen depiction of evil since “Silence of the Lambs”. Read the rest of this post »

Also published on Wordsutra.com

How often do you feel changed after watching a movie? Trust me on this, “Once” is one of those. And if you do NOT, may be your heart just went cold two hours back. It is amazing that a cheese-less story about a young Irish busker, his torn guitar and an immigrant flower selling lady and their combined passion for music can transcend all the glitter and gleam of High Budget Hollywood musicals with so much ease, you almost forget what was the last musical movie that was so musically as well as cinematically perfect. Amazingly made in 17 days for a shoestring budget of $150K, this can beat all the multi-million ad campaigns of Hollywood summer blockbusters filled with special effects in every frame, with just a single stroke of the acoustic guitar. Pitch perfect!

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