life of Pi is all about Life

                                                         Life of pi is all about life

What is life? Is it the mere existence in the most mechanical and stereotyped way? Or is it a cluster of phases that knots love, hatred, fear, dare, anger, happiness, sadness, helplessness, peace, hard work, ignorance, family, satisfaction, ideas and never ending threads of hope in a living being? The topic begins with lots of questions that will remain unanswered due to the lack of philosophy behind life. If someone questions “what is this shit all about?” then yes this is the only shit that you have been living with and will thrive to live further in the so called journey of life. Watching the movie “life of pi” one shall definitely be thank full to the director for polishing the sensibilities of life, god and existence in the life of people. If one watches this as a movie then one will definitely relish its depiction that has lots of beautiful colours, reflections, ripples and camouflage. But apart from considering it as the movie, if one realizes the soul of it then it will surely wakes you up, keeps you on a side for a moment and discuses the laws of life that are ignored in actual sense. This movie remains typical and hard to understand unless you get yourselves on the board, unleashed from all the worries around and get connected as one of the characters in the movie. It’s a worthy lecture that remains visually stupendous and emotionally arresting.

The movie starts off with different animals beautifully grooming on screen, traditional Carnatic music playing and the titles getting camouflaged in the scenic backgrounds. Life of pi is the story of a boy “Piscine Molitor Patel” (gautham belur/ ayush tendon/Suraj Sharma/ Irfan Khan) who is named after the famous swimming pool in Paris. The name that sounds like “pissing” embarrasses the little one throughout his schooling. It actually forces this vegetarian, timid boy who lives in a zoo keeping family in Pondicherry to cut it short to “pi”. The story starts with a novelist who approaches pi in his late thirties and asks him about his life story to make it as a plot for his next book. The narration swaps back and forth unlacing the adventurous and meaningful journey that pi faces in his late teenage.

The story deals with lots of analysis about the things that everyone will certainly come across in daily routine. Rather than making its decisions and being judgmental  it makes us to think and allows us to flow with the things that comfy us. One can say it has the best path shown towards the approach of almighty, particularly the scene when pi thanks lord Krishna for introducing him to Jesus.  It opens up our thoughts and fills some meaning full stuff for a better living. The story doesn't stay on the lines of divinity either; it fairly supports the modern science with its engrossing and sensible dialogues.  The story has a perfectly cooked, unbiased touch to the rushing currents of life. It has the characters of pi’s parents played by Tabu and Adil hussain who evolve to build up the character of pi in a brighter way that helps him to survive his cast-away period. Though the roles of Tabu, adil Hussain and Sravanthi Sainath were very brief to portray they had lots of intentions and philosophy to speak about. The Bengal tiger which is accidentally named Richard Parker by some flawed records is literally engrossing. The scenes depicting his survival intentions are magnificently made. The cast-away period of pi remains the heart and soul of the film that teaches the sensitivity and philosophy behind living. The best part of the movie is one can easily correlate every intention behind a scene to one’s life. So it remains to be the part of the game throughout its duration with pi’s instance as an example. Coming to the technicalities it is just marvelous  The sets, cinematography, editing, visual effects are so good that any positive adjective will be a step behind in comparing them.

Audience go speechless in the scenes of jelly fishes floating all around, the sequence of floating islands and the mighty blue whale magnanimously flying over the little boat goes on par with the standards of James Cameron’s magnum opus Avatar.  They were visually stunning. Director Ang lee has no special mention in this little piece of review as it is not a sufficient credit to his superficial view in crafting the cinema. A piece of writing isn't sufficient to appreciate him perhaps a standing ovation is worthy of it. The very little flaw that one easily ignores in this movie is pi arguing with his father at an instance and slips out suddenly that “Columbus discovered India”. Sorry I am afraid it’s the Cape of Good Hope after all where he landed.

But on a whole the movie gives you a life time experience and sincerely speaking it’s just not a movie but it’s all about life. 

Four stars for this deeply engrossing tale.

Ps:

Uncountable cheers to Ang lee, the director who redefined the status of life and cinema.

A ROTTEN LOVE STORY

                                                  A ROTTEN LOVE STORY

The very first day of college, a boy happens to see a girl, he gets attracted, their looks meet, the boy who stays conserved around the girl  finally gets introduced to her, a cute friendly relationship blossoms, of course it doesn’t stay longer after all “love” comes into the scenario. The girl remains confused and keeps him struggling in the line. These are the few steps that have been happening around in any “routine love story” that we have been tolerating past few years. This so called routine love story is nothing special from the above said lines. The movie which holds the title “routine” as a part of it definitely remains eccentric in another way which I will be telling you in a moment.

 As of now, this story casts Sundeep Kishan, Regina in the leads and some veterans for the roles of hardly- supporting cast. Of course for any movie there will be a take off point for sure, it might be 10 min from the start, 20 min or at least after the boring first half. But here it keeps us waiting till 120 minutes (total run) and finally “takes us off” to the mood of relief as the movie ends. The movie clutches many flaws till its end. It starts with a dull notion keeping you lethargic to the seats and never amuses you. The director tries to alter the mood of the audience with the old tonics like the “routine” college tours where the hero gains sufficient sympathy points, never ending cat fights between the love-leads, the routine friends who concentrate more on the lead’s love problems rather than on anything else. But nothing keeps us in sync with the narration. From the first day the movie has been publicising that it’s entirely a novel story but titled as a “routine love story” for fun reason. Sadly they were true, it had nothing new to offer on the silver canvas. The irony is the title suits the story much better. It justifies perfectly. 

Sudeep kishan who had been damn promising in Prasthanam is just ok in this tedious script. Somewhere the shades of Prasthanam were still entangled around his looks and dialogue delivery, it looks odd at times. Probably we need to see him in lot many movies to get acquainted to the “lovable-boy” appeal on the screen. Heroine did what she was allotted neatly. The characters are not deep rooted and not at all intense so it doesn’t make an impact of any of the characters walking out of the hall. Music isn’t that good. Mickey delivered average tunes. Perhaps it was the narration that made it much weaker and rather instigated us to neglect it. Cinematography and editing were just normal. Director Praveen Sattaru who delivered a stunning debut with the cheerfully acclaimed “LBW”, stammers a lot this time with his poor story, screenplay and dialogues. Heavy expectations about the director will badly ruin our watch for this one. Nothing is good enough.

 Performances from Tagubothu Ramesh, Ms Narayana were just average and we never expand our lips giggling to their awful comic sense. Scenes depicting Ms Narayana in the second half are stupid, logic less and annoying. The movie ends over an amateurish note that delivers nothing relishing rather than few lines on “misogyny” and a moral “to buy something for the girl you love to make up your little fights and keep her happy”.

After the tiresome 2 hrs of effort rather than being a routine love story it turns out to be a “rotten” one. Ultimately we come out of the theatres wiping off the foreheads, playing our hands through the scalp for the relief, sighing heavily and finally realising that we have seen a “rotten love story”.

Giving one and a half stars makes me a Good Samaritan.

Ps:

 Don’t waste your money, time and good mood rather hit a “like” here for enlightening you...hahaha

POINT-BLANK THRILLER

                                             PERFECT POINT –BLANK THRILLER

What makes a good cinema....? Whether a good story or a tough screenplay or a grandeur presentation?  A sensible cinema should be a perfect gourmet with all the above ingredients cooked up in balancing proportions. Vijay starrer Thupakki is made up with the similar recipe which ultimately stands out to be a perfect meal for the cine goers.  Movies on the Indian Army, terrorism are not novel in their way of depiction in the Indian cinema; but what makes Thupakki a preferable watch?  There were many things that kept the pace of the movie pushing throughout its length. Every craft was just more than being perfect.

                          Thupakki is the story of a captain Jagadish (Vijay) of the Indian army. The story sets up in Mumbai while the protagonist visits his family for a vacation.  Story races up when the hero suspects some terrorist activities happening around; and finally the movie wraps up with the good winning over the bad. Though the story has no novelty on a whole the director injects the concept of “sleeper cells” into the script which appeals to be fresh.

                          From the beginning the director ensures to keep his narration crisp and taut enough. After the debacle of his previous (7am arivu) Murugadoss seems to be back to his senses and handled the project with utmost care. Not forgetting the havoc created at the box office by the poor screenplay of 7am arivu, this time he tightened up the laces of the screenplay and weaved it tight with a couple of knots (twists). His effort made the narration nail biting for the audience to glue their asses to the cushions for 165 minutes.

                        In spite of being introduced by a stalwart like Shankar, Vijay couldn't establish himself in Tollywood with his former film. But this time he ensures to make a better market for himself. As a young and charming army officer he did a convincing job. Kajal was restricted to a pool of scenes and songs that added humour and glamour respectively. Vidyuth Jamwal who played the role of clever antagonist is just ok. He hasn’t much to offer. The important aspect of the film is its high technicalities. Icons like Santhosh Sivan (cinematography) and Sreekar Prasad (editor) cultivated the movie to look more grand and gripping enough.

                       Harris jayaraj rather delivered some peppy numbers this time than sticking himself to melody. Except a couple of songs most of them were party numbers. They were just average. Choreography was not extra ordinary. It just filled in the space. But Harris offered a hair raising BGM for the movie. Throughout the movie the BGM constantly evokes our interest and easily pulls our attention into the happenings of the story. Exceptional work it was.

Despite being a perfect watch the movie has a couple of flaws of its own. To be candid;

1)      The climax appears to be unpleasing when the ruthless terrorist asks the hero to share his “last wish” before killing him and proceeds to drag on sometime with an unnecessary fight. In comparison with the wit and intelligence of the narration from the initial stage, the climax appears stupid.

2)      The movie lacks good music. Songs are mere waste. For a power packed thriller like this one a couple of songs can be freely chopped off.

In spite of its minor misfits the movie still remains to be a point-blank action thriller which out stands one’s expectations. It’s certainly a tribute to the Indian army. To deliver the ending note I would say “I am waiting.....” for more sensible and gripping thrillers yet to come in the Indian cinema like Thupakki.

Three and a half stars for the point-blank thriller.

P.S:

Paisa vasool is an understatement here, go find some time and watch this flick.....

YASH CHOPRA'S ROMANCE

                                                    YASH CHOPRA’S ROMANCE

Romance.......people perceive it in many ways. Everyone has their version to define it but very few of them remain universally accepted and relished. Yash chopra’s romance is just one of them. Romance and emotions were always the cast of his fables. Though there were lots of things happening around the world which could probably be an amazing subject for a story, he strangely opts to portray simple stories that bore human relations and their emotions. It became his iconic style over decades. After a gap of 8 years yash ji might have found that the romance is mislead in the Indian cinema and probably now he comes forth with a story to put it back on to its tracks with his magical way of storytelling.

                                               Jab tak hai jaan is a simple story that depicts a love triangle between three people named Samar, Meera and Akira. Coming to the story line, Samar Anand (SRK) who is a cheerful youth in London happens to meet Meera (Katrina) and apparently falls in love with her. As every love story has its own problems even this story has one. The rest of the story deals with how they overcome those issues and come together. The movie remains gripping in the first half with sensible narration, effective emotions and magnificent taking. It’s just what we expect from Yash raj. Nothing lowers our hope. The movie gets even more complicated in the later half with some unexpected turns in the story and finally lands on a soothing note.

                                              Yash chopra who is a stalwart was very careful in depicting this story on the silver canvas. He doesn’t make the atmosphere of the film crowded with too many characters to speak and enact the script. On a whole we hardly come across five to six people carrying the story on their back till the end, this makes us claustrophobic but works very well in elevating the melodrama. Cameo performances from Rishi kapoor and Neetu kapoor were neatly weaved. Their presence made a typical positive impact on the narration.

                                              The story definitely takes us back to the times of Lamhe and Veer- Zaara which had a great drama in them. The approximate 180 min run is clichéd by some lines but it ensures us to stick on to the emotional drama thoroughly. Performances wise there was absolute perfection all over. SRK was splendid in his character; both as an angry major and a lovable boy in his late twenties.  A couple of scenes where he wore a hat resembled Indiana Jones ( inshallah lets hope he tries to attempt that in future). Anushka needs praise on a whole. Her character though remains as a supporting one to the female lead; it has lots of scope to act. Her role was perfectly satisfying. To cut short her presence ensures that we smile, touched and become emotional at times. Katrina justified her part with decent action and good dances. Cinematography and dialogues has nothing to complain. They were perfect.

                                               Though the movie has lots of emotionally dragging places it stays trimmed to subsequent levels. It never appeals to be sentimental but rather tickles our emotional instinct. It was apt to the present scenario. Songs were visually good. Saans and Jiya re were absolute treat. Though Ishq shaava tried to appeal like a “STEP UP” song; it couldn’t reach that level completely but it was okay. Rahman did a decent job overall. His BGM remains significant and carries all the emotion. It was convincing.

The movie suffers from its long run which could have been trimmed by 20 min at least. But keeping that aside it’s definitely a feast for the ones who are desperately waiting for a pleasant romantic story. It works that way.

                                              An actor in a movie says “it’s just not a love story..... It’s a saga”; similarly jab tak hai jaan remains to be a pleasant watch for this festive season.  Yash ji delivered his final and memorable romantic saga that will remain in our hearts........JAB TAK HAI JAAN........ JAB TAK HA JAAN.

THREE AND A HALF CHEERS FOR THE YASH JI’S ROMANCE