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The 2012 Must-Watch and Hear List

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The last week of 2012 makes one contemplate on all the crazy stories, the never-to-be-repeated secrets of the year and the scares but it remains incomplete without a pop culture list of all that should have been seen and heard in this year. If you’ve been under a rock for the last year, the following is a quick recap of all that you should catch up on.

 

MOVIES:

 

Barfi! – A film that can teach you about the power of silence and relate to you in the unbound joy and love it captures – A movie worth watching again and again. I could break it down in the elements of the performances, the costumes and the dialogues or just call it one of the finest films the mainstream Bollywood cinema can call its own. It wouldn’t be far from the truth.

The Dark Knight Rises – Fights still happen in campuses when people start pitting the last trilogy movie against the Dark Knight. The results are often inconclusive. Be it Bane, a weary Bruce Wayne who is forced out of retirement or Anne Hathaway as the Catwoman, the stellar cast of this film ensures that your popcorn is unfinished and your mouth is gaping wide open in the course of those two hours.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chobsky’s adaptation of his own novel details the story of a misfit who finds acceptance amongst a group of people in high school. Adventures, realizations and revelations follow. To the tunes of David Bowie and the Smiths.

Gangs of Wasseypur – An engaging film that scared professors and students alike by their vicarious enjoyment of the gory storytelling. A story set in Jharkhand is drenched in the rugged, earthy feeling of the villages and interiors of India captures all that is going wrong with the Indian system which often lies at the mercy of politicians and goons. A must watch for entertainment and information.

Hunger Games – The movie adaptation of the famous Suzanne Collins was much looked forward to, and did not disappoint. Gary Ross left no tool at his disposal unused to depict the savagery and brutality of a Capitol and a tale that was purely and beautifully just about survival.

The Avengers – Comic book fans were secretly cringing at the announcement of yet another multi-superhero film. The product surprised and left behind all expectancies.

 

MUSIC:

 

Gangnam Style – Not a personal favorite, but who are we to challenge the dominance of Korean pop or 950 million Youtube views?

Call Me Maybe – Any pop culture list of 2012 would find it hard to ignore the song that spawned thousands of Youtube covers, became a ringtone favorite and surpassed all languages and devices until it became a permanent fixture in our ears. This surprise hit from Carly Rae Jepsen is one that has to be heard despite musical sensibilities otherwise. (The writer promises to make this up with an indie music list later.)

Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye’s 2012 single put him on the map, made every person attempt to pronounce his name correctly and was often demanded to be played over and over again by wounded lovers at karaoke bars. A song that painfully details the breaking down of a relationship is one that was heard across the world.

Fun. (Some Nights) – The breakout 2012 album across all music critics’ lists is one that isn’t heard for lyrical depth, emotional catharsis but one that indubitably is ‘fun’. A pop-rock band which creates anthems for everyday inspiration and can be danced down to, is one that topped all music charts and is definitely a pop culture favorite that cannot be ignored.

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Arts & Culture

2012: It isn’t just about the Khans!

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If 2011 gave us record breaking films with mind boggling collections, plethora of biggies are lined up in this new year which have the potential to take the industry by storm. You don’t need to be a genius to predict who will rule the Box Office but the Khans, still there are plenty other films which ride high on promise and can provide us all a worthy time at the cinemas.

2012 can easily be called as the year of sequels with as many as 15 films like Jannat 2, Raaz 3, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2, 1920 Part 2, Dabangg 2, Jism 2 and Housefull 2 releasing this year. Then there is Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, a sequel to the 2005 hit Kya Kool Hain Hum as well.

Apart from these sequels and the Khans, there are few films that may do the trick for their producers as well as the audience. These may not have the hype currently but can certainly prove successful considering few key factors attached to them.

Here are my picks:

Heroine
I don’t need to tell you either the star cast or the man behind the film as it has already been on the top of the charts of controversies. This Madhur Bhandarkar film promises to be a blockbuster simply ‘coz it has the buzz and the name (Kareena Kapoor) that can help the film create history.

Student Of the Year
So, this is the first time Karan Johar helms direction without his buddy SRK. With three absolute newcomers, this campus film seems exciting and with Karan’s masterful storytelling, the film could well end up as one of the blockbusters of the year.

Kahaani
After the super success of The Dirty Picture, all eyes are on Vidya Balan. And her next, directed by Sujoy Ghosh, looks like an engrossing watch. Its teaser that was released just a few days back gave a glimpse of how Vidya can again run away with all the critical acclaim and the moolah.
P.S. If you haven’t seen the teaser yet, catch it and hold your breath before the last scene, it will blow you away!

Lootera
Produced by Anurag Kashyap and group (Phantom Films) and Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane of Udaan fame, this Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha starrer grabs your attention with the names associated with it. A romantic saga set in the 1950s, Lootera could be a big surprise waiting this year.

Agent Vinod
Months and months were consumed to complete this Saif and Kareena starrer. But it is sure that once the release date of the film nears (March 23), the film will catch the spice and will become a hot property. Also because its Saif’s ambitious project which he co-produced as well.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Teri Meri Kahaani
These two films share the same spot because of their ‘not in love now’ star cast. While Ranbir and Deepika star in a Karan Johar production Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra join hands for Teri Meri Kahaani (tentative title), which marks Kunal Kohli’s return to direction after four years.

Rock the Shaadi
No-no, this isn’t the usual shaadi saaga but, believe it or not, India’s first Zombie film starring Genelia D’Souza and Abhay Deol and produced by Ekta Kapoor. I can’t say how good will this “zom-com” be, but one thing is for sure, it’s certain to generate ample curiosity by the time it releases.

Jodi Breakers
Starring R.Madhavan and Bipasha Basu, Jodi Breakers may well be the Tanu Weds Manu of this year. As the title suggests, the film is all about two divorce lawyers and their love story. Going by Madhavan’s track record and the unconventional jodi, the film may give Bipasha a much needed hit.

Shanghai
Dibakar Banerjee’s films have a certain air about them, which defies convention. And Shanghai starring Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi makes the fare seem even more exciting.

Barfi!
Like the unusual title, the film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra is a tale of two opposite personalities, with Priyanka enacting the role of a mentally challenged girl. Directed by Anurag Basu, Barfi! looks like an intriguing prospect.

That’s not it! Akshay Kumar comes up with as many as four films – Rowdy Rathore starring Sonakshi Sinha, OUTIM 2, Joker and Khiladi 786. Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardaar is highly anticipated in the trade and Hrithik Roshan’s Agneepath is already very hyped and is ready for release next week.

Are we missing something? Well, yes! The Khans! It will be a key year as all the three Khans have at least a single release this year. While Aamir Khan’s Talaash co-starring Rani and Kareena releases this June, Salman Khan has one release each for Eid and Christmas which are EK Tha Tiger and Dabangg 2 respectively.

But for me, the most awaited film has to be SRK’s next, directed by the legendary Yash Chopra. With Katrina and Anushka Sharma as leads, the film surely promises to be a grand cinematic experience.

It’s over to you, 2012!

Chaitanya Sharma
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

From Paper to Canvas

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Transitions from graphic novels to movies have one inherent difference as compared to those from novels. While written works leave directors with leeway in terms of visuals, a graphic novel already has set visuals. The director, then, has to grapple with balancing his own vision, the writer’s, and the view of fans. Graphic novel writers (and fans) can be an unforgiving lot, when it comes to judging on-screen adaptations of their work. That being said, such movies are quite a vision to behold with their other-worldly effects and at-times dystopian and disturbing storyboards.

Take for example, the James McTeigue-directed V for Vendetta, starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving of ‘Agent Smith’ fame. This 2006 film is a favourite of quite a significant number of people. The movie is set in a Britain of the future and deals with a political terrorist, known only as V, and how he goes about subverting a totalitarian government. However, inspite of being a well-made film, it seems inferior to the original. Alan Moore- the creator of V for Vendetta, a genius in his own right, disagreed with much of the movie, and, if one were to read his original, it is hard not to see why. It does not do justice at all to the theme of anarchy that is so central to the graphic novel. Instead, a revolution-like feeling seems to serve as a convenient substitute. The makers of the movie also seemed to take the story away from the original setting and place it in a time-frame conducive to present movie-goers’ tastes. They also took themes from war troubles involving the USA to put the film in a place that isn’t too far removed from the present. While all this made sense in the film itself, McTeigue’s work seems incomplete because of it. This is a perfect example of why film adaptations don’t always work out.

On the other hand, there is the 2009 screen adaptation of another of Moore’s works, Watchmen. The original is a huge vision of a world with an alternate version to ours, including the end of the Vietnam War, and consequently, a completely different setting. The graphic novel is full of dystopian themes, but ends with hope; similar, in a sense, to V for Vendetta. There is a Cold War on the brink of turning hot; there are murders, rapes and conspiracies; megalomania reigns supreme. While Moore himself is critical of any attempts to translate graphic novels onto the cinema screen, I think this one is a pretty good effort. Directed by Zack Snyder, the movie to a large extent is faithful to much of the original. Additionally, the makers released an animated feature of Tales of the Black Freighter, a comic book within the original that serves as a counterpoint to much of what is happening in the story. The danger of such a movie is that it does not do much by itself in terms of creativity, an issue that is completely opposite to the one posed by V.

For a sample of what imagination can do to real events, there is 300, written originally by Frank Miller in the ’80s. The story is based on the Battle of Thermopylae, fought between the Persian and the Spartan armies. A heroic tale of epic proportions, it tells the story of how 300 brave Spartans fought against a million invading Persians. Honour, valour, treachery, political intrigue, hubris – all find their place within the story. Extremely macho and in parts full of clichés, the graphic novel, and Zack Snyder’s 2007 movie version, are not for the peace loving or the politically correct. Persians have been treated as pretty much barbarians, and the Athenians are referred disparagingly as ‘boy-lovers’. With Miller as an advisor aboard the project, the movie is surprisingly loyal to the original in form and style: the movie was shot using blue-screens to stay as stylistically true to the original as possible. The results are at times breath-taking, with some scenes replicated exactly as in the graphic novel.

So, what exactly is the point of such comparisons? First, Alan Moore is a disturbed genius. Second, graphic novels are grossly underrated works of art. Third, making movies out of graphic novels definitely isn’t the easiest job in the world. You’ll either end up making the artist unhappy, or the critics will pan it for being a copy job, or it’ll end up being a flop. If all this didn’t deter the above three movies, and more, from being made, I don’t see why that should stop directors from going ahead anyway.

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Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

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Perhaps the fact that this is one of the most highly awaited and anticipated movies of the year will make any review of it redundant, since most people would have made up their minds to watch it irrespective of what the reviewers have to say. Hence the job of the reviewer, already difficult in the face of the hysterical fanaticism surrounding the Harry Potter franchisee, will be made even more challenging as a result of the insular audience. Moreover, in the event of a less than obsequious review, the reviewer shall almost certainly be torn apart by a furious fandom.

However be that as it may, it needs must be said that the movie based on the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series fails to meet up to expectations. Directed by David Yates and produced by Warner Bros., the film seems to have set out to create a story all of its own, merely borrowing a few characters from the original book in the process. To those familiar with the Harry Potter books the events as they unfold in the movie shall come as quite an unpleasant surprise. Although movies traditionally do diverge from the original plot in the novel to make it shorter or more visually appealing, the gross elimination of absolutely essential points in the book and its replacement with trivial frivolities will be a thorn in the flesh of every true Harry Potter fan. Gone are the detailed memories of Voldemort’s past that Harry explores during his sojourns in the penseive. Characters crucial to the story of the seventh book have completely failed to make an appearance while the culminating and highly anticipated fight between the death eaters and the students within the Hogwarts castle is entirely and inexplicably absent.

What results is a tame and insipid story full of school girlish romance and little else. Almost the whole of the movie focuses on the trials of the heart faced by the main characters, and while this was indeed touched upon in the original book, it seems to have assumed centre stage in the movie. The producers may have been trying to cash in on the massive Twilight craze with this cheap stunt, but the result is that the plot is a gigantic failure.

Not so the cinematic effects. While the corrupted storyline might cause it to be voted the worst Harry Potter movie plot wise, the breathtaking cinematic effects are sure to raise its stock sky high. Brilliant direction and exquisite animation and special effects make the movie an intensely wonderful visual experience. Harry Potter’s world, albeit the twisted one of the movie, comes alive with this motion picture. Truly, magic never looked so real.

The acting again is mixed. Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange is simply breathtaking in the short while that she occupies the screen, while Rupert Grint playing Ron Weasely does a creditable performance. Michael Gambon is an imposing albeit slightly over the top Dumbledore while Alan Rickman as usual plays Snape to perfection. Jim Broadbent too, very well portrays the newly introduced character of Horace Slughorn. Daniel Radcliff and Emma Watson however are again disappointing with their amateurish acting and unconvincing manner of expression.

Overall, the superb cinematic effects manage to make up for both the weak plot and tiresome lead actors, saving this movie from becoming the utter fiasco to be added to the list of failed book adaptations that it was otherwise headed to be.

My Rating:

Plot/Story: 1/5

Special Effects: 5/5

Overall: 2.5/5

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