Rang De Basanti

There are two kinds of movies-those which have something new to say and those which vaguely attempts to say the things that have already been said and done to death by many.Then there is the third or in other words, there is "Rang De Basanti".

From the catchy subtext accompanying the title of the movie,"a generation awakens", a viewer is compelled to expect what is in store for him.But living up to that expectation and that too in such a novel fashion is no easy task.And to consider the fact that the director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra is only two movies old adds more colour to it.His directorial debut,'aks' came out at a time when Bollywood was beginning to experience a wind of change and hence its flaws seem excusable. A lot of things have changed in Bollywood in the last four and a half years,and its heartening to know that the director has come a long way.It's the treatment of the subject and not the novelty of it is what that keeps the viewer intrigued and leaves him spellbound.

The plot unveils slowly weaving bits and pieces of events from different periods of time together into a single thread.And simply yet magically it tells us how history can repeat itself.The editing,background score and cinematography falls into place with the storyline.Though age has added a few creases on his face,Aamir still can give the young actors a run for their money.The rest of the cast too comes up with memorable performances.Barring a few glitches the movie is a fine piece of work.Towards the end of the film it might seem a bit melodramatic (no eye-witness for a murder committed in daylight,intrusion to the AIR studio,no one attempting to interrupt the broadcast etc) but then there is no other way to put it through.A 'copy-and -paste shot' from 'the gladiator should have been avoided and so are some of the frequent hugs between the characters.Even then,these days you wont be able to watch too many movies which could leave you contented and that's where 'RDB' scores.The chants keep echoing in your ears even after leaving the cinemas,"Sarfarosh ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai....."

Zinda

"Zinda hoon main....." is what the average moviegoer hums with relief while walking out from cinema halls showing the latest Sunjay Dutt starer directed by the master of "Hollywood-inspired" bollywood movies,Sunjay Gupta.But this time,the word is out that he has looked up to a korean movie titled "oldboy" for "inspiration".I haven't seen the original(unlike in the case of 'sarkar' or 'musafir') and eventually missed the chance for inevitable comparison.From the promos thrown out through TV i had expected an out and out thriller only to find out that i had to sit through the first twenty minutes watching a helpless Dutt holed up in a dark and dingy room(yes,ever since bollywood learned to adjust the tone of a frame there's no dearth for dark shades in the movies).As one wonders whether this is a low budget movie shot entirely inside a room supposed to be in bangkok,the hero walks out in pursuit of his captors later to be armed with a hammer with which he chops several nameless characters(once again,there are only five or six characters who has names).Several body doubles(or dead-body doubles maybe) are used as skins are cut,teeth are pulled out and wounds are stitched without much conviction.
This isn't to say that its a bad movie.Like many of the new-age Bollywood movies 'zinda' does not have any song and dance sequences shot in Switzerland or the maa-beta,insaaf,farz,khaandaan etc, stuff which used to be the essential ingredients of an Indian movie.What seems to be lacking is a convincing motive behind the actions of the suave bad guy John Abraham.
Anyhow,the best part of watching this movie at Sridar theater at Cochin came during the interval in the form of a trailer of the much awaited movie of the year "rang de basanti".Watch this space for more as Aamir Khan,the true individualist of Indian cinema, soars in the skies in an attempt to touch a Mig-21.