Some Good Movies-3

Tiltle: Swades
Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar

              Well, most of the people must have already seen this movie but still I wanted to write about it. Some movies just seem perfect in all aspects and touches your heart. One such for me is this gem of a movie.
               I have seen many movies which preach or deal with social themes. What I find stands out in this movie is the lead characters are very much real and relate able. The male protagonist is not some great-at-heart fellow whose only aim is to serve people. He is like any other highly educated Indian. He went abroad and was working for NASA. He comes back to India only to take back his childhood governess who is now in an old-age home. Having no family now, he feels lonely and wants to take her back to USA. He is uncomfortable back in India and prefers to stay in his air-conditioned caravan rather than in her house. The director slowly shows  re-invention of his self and his attachment to India. Half-way through the movie, we see him waking up in the backyard of his aaya(governess)'s house indicating his growing attachment and comfort level. All this while, a very beautiful love story runs parallel.
             When he sees that people are being ignorant, he doesn't start giving lectures. Instead, first he tries to bring children back to school, then he tries to bring electricity only after noticing people were of careless let-it-be attitude and he just wants to prove a point. The whole electricity episode was very believable and very real(The background music during the sequence is awesome). He doesn't revolutionize or anything. And when the time comes for him to leave, he leaves though he feels attached to the place. After going back only he realizes how much he loved the people there and comes back eventually.
             At no point does the director try to preach or anything. At the core, its just a drama movie about a man's inner realization. The whole movie seems perfect and especially Shahrukh Khan literally lived the role. I personally feel this is Rahman's best album(including the background). Overall, I rate this as one of the best made Indian films ever.

Some good movies-2

Title : Bridge To Terabithia
Director: Csupó Gábor



Though the title sounds like another fantasy film of HP kind, it is nothing like that. For people who love fantasy films and played a lot of adventurous, imaginary games in their childhood, this is the film.
I never saw any other film which captures our childhood fantasies and imaginations in such a wonderful way and also it has one of the best and most moving climaxes I have ever seen. The movie also uses animation exactly to the required extent.

I loved the action of that girl in the movie and also that kid from Narnia movies gave a terrific performance. After watching this movie I wondered why no one has ever made(atleast among movies I know of and believe me, I know a hell lot of movies) this kind of movie. This is one of the best movies to come out of Disney Pictures.

This will remain at the top of my list of fantasy/childhood films. I cried at the end of the movie and watched it twice so far. I rate this higher than Harry Potter movies(not books, ofcourse !) and highly recommend this.

Trivia: This movie is actually an adaptation of a book by the same name written by Katherine Paterson. I am looking forward to reading the book.

P.S : In this series of posts, I will not write anything about the story, just what I felt after watching those movies.

Some good movies-1

I realized recently that I watch too many movies. In fact I watched almost 350-400 movies after coming to IITM in these four years! So I thought maybe I can start a thread of entries where I can tell about movies that may not be very famous but which I feel are great and are must see for a movie buff. These threads will have movies of all genres. I will start this thread with a movie which will be almost at the very top in my favorite movies' list.

Title : Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella)
Director : Roberto Benigni ( also the main character)

This is a wonderful movie that moved me to tears. It is about optimism and the love of a person towards his family. The first half is like an excellent romantic comedy movie. The core of the movie is in the second half. It shows to what extent a normal person(book store owner) can go to protect his family in extreme conditions.

I especially loved the bonding between the father and son and the storyline between the two in the second half. The way he tries to protect the innocence of his son is heart-touching. The protagonist faces the worst conditions one can face in life (I don't want to give the story away. So, I will not say what they are). But his approach to life and his positive-attitude never changes.

The title makes one think that it is an art movie which has a lot of sad parts in the story. But the director who also happens to be the protagonist of the movie has dealt the whole movie with a lot of humor. I think he alone could have pulled off the role in such a great way. The script in the second half is one of the brilliant ones I have ever seen. This is aided by excellent art work and excellent acting skills especially from Benigni. The movie remained in my heart for at least a week after watching. There were tears in my eyes after the movie was over. Very few movies touch one's heart and this is one such for me.

Awards : 3 Oscars - Best actor, Best foriegn film and Best music,original dramatic score.
Trivia : The director later married the heroine of this film.
The oscar he got is the first for a male performer in a non-English-speaking role, and only the third overall acting Oscar for non-English-speaking roles.

1 idiot

I have recently watched a movie which I think atleast 15% India has watched(maybe, even more). Yes, I am referring to 3 Idiots. It so happened that this beautiful movie was "inspired" from a stupid book(dude, its my opinion) titled " Five point someone: What not to do in IIT". This created quite a controversy as the film-makers didn't acknowledge this 'truth' in the movie and the author got angry. He felt he didn't get what he deserved.

I agree that the story and the setting of the movie has a number of similarities to the book. But that is where the similarity ends. Infact, what I observed was the movie is the quite opposite of the book.

Both the book and movie are about 3 idiots. But, in the book they end up as losers where as in the movie they become successful.

If the 'hero' of the book doesn't like the education system, he became a loser in IIT and ended up with a five point something. But in the movie, the protaganist didn't go into a system hating mode and ended up a screwed-up dude. He kept his cool. He still stood first in the exams. He encouraged his friends to follow their heart.

The whole book goes in a negative mood. It is a story of losers where as the movie keeps on saying "All izz well". It is a tale of friendship. It is not about education system. It is the story of 3 friends one of whom completely changed the lives of other two for good.

The so called 'love-track' in the book is nothing but a couple of sex scenes and a couple of cry-baby scenes where as in the movie it is entirely different.

Even the death of lover's brother was a setting to get the girl cry always in the book, it was meant to bring a change in her father's attitude in the movie.

In the book, they stole the papers so that one of the idiots can put an A to impress his girl friend's father. In the movie it was to help his friend pass the exam so that he can get his job(though the friend doesn't agree to that).

In the book, not one of the three are happy with their lives in the cimax where as all the three got what they wanted and led a happy life in the movie.

Also the book's depiction of the now famous 'Silencer' is entirely different from the way the movie shows him.

You can see that the settings of all the above tracks are same in both the cases. But the way they were treated was the exact opposite.

I still wonder how the author demanded an acknowledgement given the differences in the two scripts.

P.S. : This is my opinion on the controversy and just to clarify, I am not Aamir Khan's fan. Infact, I like Shah Rukh Khan's as an actor. But, yes I hate the author called Chetan Bhagat.

P.P.S : You must have understood who the idiot the title refers to is.