Alloz again !!
Over the past two weeks, I have had the occassion to watch Sarkar Raaj, Aamir and The Happening ... a classic indie switched between almost two box office disasters, well I did say almost :-).
1) Sarkaar Raaj was watched in Patna with Mom and Bhai for 70
bucks a ticket (can you believe that !!) and it was quite alright. Well, lemme take a minute here on Patnaz, especially thanks to a friend who keeps peppering me with security questions on Patna since his job takes him there quite a lot these days ... the latest in line being - "Can I hire airport cabs in Patna without the fear of being kidnapped ?" and sometimes, this just exasperates me because of the following reasons:A - My parents and lakhs of parents like that (with tons of them being parents to IITians, IIMites and what not) have lived their lives in this "dangerous" place and continue to do so (btw, did you know in Gaya, near the birthplace of Lord Buddha, there is a small village which churned out 100 IITians this year, a success rate of 100% !!).
B - All Bihar is not Laloo at all, if we do not change our viewpoint, who else will ? We are supposed to be the educated lot nahin ? But, then, why would educated people be terrorists, right ?
Anyways, coming to Sarkaar Raj, I would say it is an out-and-out Aby's Baby movie (he came of age in Bluffmaster, and here he showcases the extra mile he is going to walk in his career for sure !, btw did you notice, the teeka image on SR's posters have Abhishek Bachhan's front profile in them, I saw that only yesterday !). Till the point, Mr. Small B is incharge, everybody else is just in a supporting role, and after he hands the charge over, the movie loses its zing (remember Cheeni Kum ?, And why did both of them have Big B ?), the last 10-20 minutes just motor on, and you end up wondering what could have been ? But, anyways, after Aag and Darling, lets just hope RGV is back and will only walk up in Phoonk and Contract, please lets all hope. And on SR, do watch it, if you have to, but it will be totally awright to wait for the DVD to happen, did I say wait ? I really meant, whenever that happens :).
2) Aamir: Priceless, that's what most indie movies are, made on original concepts, they are the
real path-breakers, from minds untainted by the lure of money, with thoughts of doctoring masala for maximal impact - a la El Mariarchi (The original Desperado by the Indie-Rodriguez) or the recent No Country for Old Men by those venerated oldies - The Coens. Produced by UTV Spotboy (a la Fox Searchlight, so much for originality !!), its a small gem which needs to be appreciated in the same vein as Bheja Fry & Mr. Khosla's Ghosla :). Capturing a single epochal day in a common man's life, it runs on a terrorist theme which keeps you edgy for all of its 2 hours, no songs, no shenanigans, its plain simple pot-boiling - its intelligent and most importantly, it treats you intelligently and yes, if Mr. Khandelwaal keeps his head firmly on his shoulders, he might be the next man-next-door of Bollywood, but lets watch out :). Do watch it, its better than any other Indian fare of 2008 till now.3) The Happening: Tom-tomed as Shyamalan's Sarkar Raaj (redemption vehicle post - Lady in the water & The Village - What was he thinking ?? - He called
Lady in the Water spiritual, maybe I am the dense one here :-(), The Happening also disappoints, sad but true. Another apocalypso movie (What's happening to the World - The day after tomorrow, Cloverfield, I am Legend, Resident Evils, 28 series - Are we really gonna crash to extinction soon ?), this one takes a slightly different route as the gentile plant kingdom decides to give it back to humans, triggering off our self-preservation mechanism - but this one is caught in that sad no-man's land between documentary and entertainment, simply avoid. But, Mr. Wahlberg (The Departed anyone :-)) only enhances his reputation with a great portrayal of a fallen hero, who knows its his destiny to save the world, but has no super-powers really. I am bitter about this one - so much promise, such a bad output, let me not get started.I have wanted to write more, but somehow will close for now - will try to come back sooner and later. Btw, other ones I need to watch are 21 and Dasavataram (The K Hassan one) - hope to do that soon.
Are any of you guys in Delhi ? Lets catch up with a movie whenever you have time :). Mail me at ronjan@gmail.com.
Take care,
'Ranjan
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