Call it writer's block, call it 'Busy, busy, busy', call it that the 'gripe whine' is getting smaller, call it 'LG- life is good', call it just plain lazy, whatever it is, the reality is that I have not been writing recently!
As in previous years, the crescendo of Deepavali celebrations will eventually wane down after watching Indian movies. This time the family watched 'Action Replayy' (Hindi) and 'Enthiran-The Robot'. So, I thought of writing a review of these two new releases.
'Action Replayy' is spelt correctly. Releasing a new movie is a big gamble. Many foreseen and unforeseen circumstances may interplay to decide its eventual fate at the box office. Sprouting of disgruntled junior writer accusing screenwriters of plagiarism (in the case of 'Enthiran'), publicity yearning politicians making inappropriate statements about movie (like about Sharukh Khan's 'My name is Khan') or even a freak monsoon storm may all potentially jeopardize the collection at the end of the day. Hence, that is where our friendly enterprising numerologists and priests spring into action and stunts like addition of certain letters to the title (like Singh is KKing') manifest! Director and producer, Rakesh Roshan, have been naming his movies with the letter 'K' from 1987 till date [Khudgarz, Khoon Bhari Maang, Kala Bazaar, Kishan Kanhaiya, Khel,King Uncle, Karan Arjun, Koyla, Karobaar, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, Kaamchor, Krazzy 4, Kites].
And South Indian producers will appease the divine powers by performing prayers in mammoth proportions on the master reel of films. Rajnikanth, once, got a helicopter to sprinkle flowers onto the temple koppuram for blessings.
Talking about 'Action Replay', its storyline was a rip-off from the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Minus, the believability component and the excitement of the latter. Boy (young adult) goes to past' matter-of-fact'ly to correct his often squabbling parents and his nerdy father without enough emotion, does his cupid work and propels back to the future seamlessly with the broken down time machine which was repaired by the Professor whom he located easily (and the Professor obliged willingly) whilst he was gone! And the set dances and masala in between! Minus the excitement of finding the adequate energy finding mission by Christopher Lloyd, the heart wrenching cliff hanging adrenaline rushing excitement of wiring of energy from the lighting-struck clock tower at a specified time and the phone call conversation of Chuck Berry's cousin about his finding of a tune for his next song, Johnny B. Goode! I remember all these because 'Back to the Future' remains one of my all time favourite movie.
'Enthiran' was a bore to me as well. A Rajnikanth movie minus his punch dialogues? No good! Somehow, I went in with too high of an expectation, comparing it to movies like 'Muthu', 'Ejamaan', 'Padaiappa' and 'Badsha'. It was a wee bit too long and editing is much to be desired. Many scenes could have been deleted. And the songs all sound alike and way too many! (Sorry A.R. Rahman). For best selection of songs in a single movie, one should listen to the soundtracks of movies 'Athey Kangal' (1967) with songs ranging from a-go-go (">Ho ho ethanai alagu) to traditional matalam beat (Boom boom matthukaran) and 'Punnagai Mannan' (1986) which boasts of Maestro Illayara's award winning composition which incorporated ">fusion of Indian and neo-classical modern rythms . I actually was yawning, glancing at my watch way too often and even managed a short snooze at the tale end of the movie!
And, hence ended Deepavali 2010! Soi!
As in previous years, the crescendo of Deepavali celebrations will eventually wane down after watching Indian movies. This time the family watched 'Action Replayy' (Hindi) and 'Enthiran-The Robot'. So, I thought of writing a review of these two new releases.'Action Replayy' is spelt correctly. Releasing a new movie is a big gamble. Many foreseen and unforeseen circumstances may interplay to decide its eventual fate at the box office. Sprouting of disgruntled junior writer accusing screenwriters of plagiarism (in the case of 'Enthiran'), publicity yearning politicians making inappropriate statements about movie (like about Sharukh Khan's 'My name is Khan') or even a freak monsoon storm may all potentially jeopardize the collection at the end of the day. Hence, that is where our friendly enterprising numerologists and priests spring into action and stunts like addition of certain letters to the title (like Singh is KKing') manifest! Director and producer, Rakesh Roshan, have been naming his movies with the letter 'K' from 1987 till date [Khudgarz, Khoon Bhari Maang, Kala Bazaar, Kishan Kanhaiya, Khel,King Uncle, Karan Arjun, Koyla, Karobaar, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, Kaamchor, Krazzy 4, Kites].
And South Indian producers will appease the divine powers by performing prayers in mammoth proportions on the master reel of films. Rajnikanth, once, got a helicopter to sprinkle flowers onto the temple koppuram for blessings.
Talking about 'Action Replay', its storyline was a rip-off from the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Minus, the believability component and the excitement of the latter. Boy (young adult) goes to past' matter-of-fact'ly to correct his often squabbling parents and his nerdy father without enough emotion, does his cupid work and propels back to the future seamlessly with the broken down time machine which was repaired by the Professor whom he located easily (and the Professor obliged willingly) whilst he was gone! And the set dances and masala in between! Minus the excitement of finding the adequate energy finding mission by Christopher Lloyd, the heart wrenching cliff hanging adrenaline rushing excitement of wiring of energy from the lighting-struck clock tower at a specified time and the phone call conversation of Chuck Berry's cousin about his finding of a tune for his next song, Johnny B. Goode! I remember all these because 'Back to the Future' remains one of my all time favourite movie.
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| Rajnikanth without make-up |
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| Rajnikanth -after makeup |
'Enthiran' was a bore to me as well. A Rajnikanth movie minus his punch dialogues? No good! Somehow, I went in with too high of an expectation, comparing it to movies like 'Muthu', 'Ejamaan', 'Padaiappa' and 'Badsha'. It was a wee bit too long and editing is much to be desired. Many scenes could have been deleted. And the songs all sound alike and way too many! (Sorry A.R. Rahman). For best selection of songs in a single movie, one should listen to the soundtracks of movies 'Athey Kangal' (1967) with songs ranging from a-go-go (">Ho ho ethanai alagu) to traditional matalam beat (Boom boom matthukaran) and 'Punnagai Mannan' (1986) which boasts of Maestro Illayara's award winning composition which incorporated ">fusion of Indian and neo-classical modern rythms . I actually was yawning, glancing at my watch way too often and even managed a short snooze at the tale end of the movie!And, hence ended Deepavali 2010! Soi!
Still celebrating Deepavali the same way.. going for movies . Of course minus the murukku as titbits.
ReplyDeleteLucky me I missed the movie...
Best of luck on your 11K run on Wednesday and over the weekend. All that Deepavali calories should be torched by Sunday. It should!
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, if you take requests for articles - would you consider writing on food in and around Riffle Range Flats or Penang. It must be quite different from the rest of the country. Has it changed much over the years?
Regards.
Thanks. Actually, there is a big one coming this Sunday morning in the form of Penang Bridge Run 21km! So, this week is slowing down time - to rest the muscles before the major grill at 3 o'clock in the morning (such unearthly).
ReplyDeleteYeah, I did write about food around RRF....see below:
http://asokan63.blogspot.com/2010/04/food-for-thought-thoughts-of-food.html
Sure, maybe I will write about hawker stalls around RRF and Penang one day!