Author : Janhavi Archarekar Publishers: Harper Collins, India Cost: Rs . 250 A crucible of thirty short stories, Janhavi Archerkar’s debut book Window Seat provides one an interesting contemplation of life in aamchi Mumbai. This relatively recent Harper Collins publication has been appreciation from critics and readers alike “Providing rush hour stories of the city” Window Seat attempts to portray the captured reality of the bustling city of dreams. Acharekar’s stories invest in the daily life and experiences of ordinary people. While a few stories may come across as overtly simplistic and slightly abrupt the incredibly flesh and blood characters and pithy diction make it an enjoyable read. The variety of narrative voices employed in telling the equally versatile anecdotes creative a colourful mosaic of Indian life . Great attention is paid to detail, which rather than making her stories boringly verbose provide an authentic and often hilarious note to them. Divided in two parts, Mumbai Montage and Mumbai Medley, her stories range from the introspective, poignant to the breezy. A harassed school teacher, a child of the twilight zone, cyberspace courtships, the bride with the distended nose, the weary jostled train commuters all manage to weave their way in her narration. Traversing the ground between fantasy and reality ,Window Seat, is an amalgam of imagined reality and lived experiences. Though she successfully captures the pneuma of Mumbai , her tales have an element of universality; some or the other sentiment that any reader who has lived in an Indian metro can relate to. A must read for those who appreciate short stories. For those who are not big fans of this form of writing, Acharekar’s novel could be a good start. Crisp but engagingly so The Window Seat should by no means be dismissed as “literature in a hurry”. Personal favourites: China, Freedom at Midnight, Miss! , Nose Job [email protected]]]>
Directed by: Imtiaz Ali Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna Music by: Pritam I am rather confused as to whether I should recommend Love Aaj Kal to people or not. It’s not as if I don’t know how I feel about the movie, I just feel that this particular film is likely to produce rather different reactions in different people. Imtiaz Ali is an interesting director who has earlier provided us with the well directed Socha Na Tha and more recently the very entertaining and highly acclaimed film Jab We Met. However for me Love Aaj kal fails simply because it tries too hard. Perhaps the film crew too should have taken the leading lady’s advice in the movie where she advocates looking cool precisely by not trying too hard. The movie begins with the lead couple breaking up, which is quite the departure from Bollywood tradition. Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (Deepika Padukone) throw a break- up party prior to her moving to India for her work dealing with art restoration. All is peachy and light when suddenly an emotional Sardarji insists that Jai is committing the biggest mistake of his life by letting Meera go to India. Enter Veer Singh’s (Rishi Kapoor) own love story which runs parallel to the Saif- Deepika saga giving cues at every love realization junction. The parallel track is a sepia version of Calcutta which is infinitely more fascinating and charming than the done to death locales of London. A Sikh Saif Ali Khan plays the role of young Veer Singh, which is rather interesting as Veer points out that Jai reminded him of himself in his youth. We see an innocent (but not much else) love story where boy paddles behind girl in a rickshaw, travels a thousand miles to see her and stands below her balcony hoping to catch a glimpse. The two stories unfold side by side keeping the movie from turning utterly insipid. What begins as a decidedly different movie soon turns into an age old offering of bottled romance peppered with humour. The most bothersome aspect of the movie is the dialogue delivery which is in such a mish mash of English and Hindi that the viewer finds it difficult to relate. Deepika Padukone is hilarious in the most dramatic moments of the movie- “Galti ho gayi” while her accent is just plain annoying. Saif Ali Khan acts well as the gabru jawan Veer Singh, but his horrendous command over Punjabi makes his character a little comical. The actress portraying the love interest of Veer Singh, Harleen Kaur, seems to be only capable of one wide eyed expression throughout the movie, giving her a perpetually surprised look. Rishi Kapoor is adorable as ever though he seriously needs a change of track in his recent character repertoire. Rahul Khanna has the most unfair cut of all; his character had a lot more potential and he could certainly be given more screen time than the Swiss Joe that is seen hanging off Saif’s arm. The songs are immensely enjoyable but their timing is haphazard. This movie is a long roll of potential good moments. Rating: 2/5]]>
Directed by: Shawn Levy Staring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Robin Williams Produced by: Shawn Levy, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan There is something about sequels, something that makes you cross your fingers and send silent prayers to the heaven. There are not a great number of sequels which are better than their predecessors and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is sadly no different. There is little novelty in the follow- up and the plot could do with a little more semblance. Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now a successful albeit an unhappy entrepreneur. Larry discovers that his old exhibit friends are being moved to the Smithsonian Institution in light of budget costs. Teddy (Robin Williams) tells Larry that the exhibits will be leaving without The Tablet, thereby ending their nightly shenanigans forever. On receiving a call from Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Larry finds out that Dexter, the mischievous capuchin monkey stole The Tablet and an evil Pharaoh Kahmunrah is attacking them. What follows is a journey through Federal Archives, meeting with the moxie- inducing Amelia Earhart, conversing with a marble Abraham Lincoln, flying ancient planes and rescuing Jed from an hour glass. Throw in an assortment of oddball characters like the card- dealing Al Capone, small man Bonaparte, Darth Vader, Oscar the Grouch, and voila, you have a battle at hand! Night at the Museum 2 is by no means great entertainment. The concept, exhibits coming to life at night, which was interesting the first time does not amaze anymore. The gags are forced and there are unnecessary corny conversations. However the movie’s redemption lies in the lisping Hank Azaria, who is amusing as the evil Pharaoh. Amy Adams is spunky but Stiller falls short of expected standards. Robin Williams is wasted in a large and chaotic cast, though the three cherubs (voiced by Jonas Brothers) singing love ballads are refreshingly enjoyable. The special effects are brilliant, especially the touchy feely pink octopus. On the whole the movie is pleasant but hardly riveting. Rating: 2/5]]>
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
]]>Written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris and directed by McG, Terminator Salvation is one for the history books, to be listed under major fiascos of the film industry. It seems to have set itself to compete with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in terms of busted potential.
The plot is set in 2018, after the occurrence of Judgment Day, during which the software Skynet destroyed most humans in a Nuclear Holocaust until only ragged scraps of humanity, called the Resistance, remain fighting the machines.
The story begins with John Conner (Christian Bale) discovering plans for creating a new terminator using living tissue during an attack led by him on a Skynet base. As he returns to the Resistance headquarters- a nuclear submarine- to report the matter he is told of the discovery of a frequency of waves that can disable the Skynet machines. He is also informed that he has been blacklisted by Skynet and is being hunted by terminators. However the person that figures topmost among the people Skynet wishes to eradicate is not him but a human named Kyle Reese. The tapes left to him by his deceased mother Sarah Conner had already revealed to John that Kyle Reese was his father, and that he sends him back in time himself to save his mother. Realizing the importance of keeping Reese alive Conner thwarts authority and attempts to save him from the Skynet base where he is kept prisoner. To this end he enlists the help of a bio-machine Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) for whom he initially entertained deep suspicions which are nevertheless overridden by Marcus’s assertion that he believes himself to be human. The culminating scene is the clichéd escape from mad killer machines and the movie itself ends with John Conner telling the Resistance that though the battle may be won, the war was far from over; a chilling threat of more Terminator flicks to come.
The plot is shallow, vague and full of inconsistencies. The form of narration doesn’t spark interest and the sequence of events is cluttered and confusing. For those unfamiliar with the Terminator series the story remains entirely incomprehensible while for Terminator fans it is an insult. The brief appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger as homage to the previous movies only causes the disparity between them to be felt more strongly. The only saving grace of the movie would be the cinematic and sound effects. The movie packs a punch in terms of violence alone, since rarely a minute goes by without some spectacular explosion. However although the resounding booms and showers of fire are entertaining in themselves, without a strong storyline to pull them together they become meaningless and ridiculous. Hence the violence and action sequences seem to lack the zest and intensity of the first two movies and seem washed out by comparison.
Cloaked in ambiguity and trying to make up for plot holes with meaningless violence, the movie is rendered even more unbearable due to uninspired acting. Christian Bale is boring even when wrestling with berserk terminators and the supporting cast is inconsequential. The only actor to make his presence felt is Sam Worthington though even he is hampered by a poor script and insipid co-actors.
The movie doesn’t even have the panache to be BAD, it is merely annoying. Only people crazed by the Terminator franchisee will have something good to say about it. Perhaps the fact that it is a Terminator movie is good enough for some viewers, but for those who value sense over sentimental hysteria it would be best to give the latest addition to the Terminator Saga a wide berth.
]]>-Jonathan Daniel Luther
Why! Oh God! Did he have to DIE?After Heath Ledger’s stunningly brilliant performance in The Dark Knight it just seems too unfair to have lost him to the great movie set in the sky. I’ve always had apprehensions about Batman as a super Hero. Compare him to Superman, Spidey, X-men and the rest of the Marvel entourage he’s just kinda blah! All he does is wear a sexy black suit that shoots ropes and stylized little bat things. But after Batman Returns and then The Dark Knight, there remain no illusions as to his pure twisted genius. Fine’s he’s a bit of a bat freak, but then pulling of miraculous stunts and fencing with one of the most viciously portrayed evil geniuses of all time has left him a little more respectable in my eyes. It is with regards to this brilliant evil genius, a.k.a the Joker, that The Dark Knight really makes one marvel! If dementia were a skill there would have been no prizes for guessing who should own Arkham Asylum. Fact of the matter is as the movie winded to an end I found my self bitterly regretting Heath Ledger’s untimely death. Of the actor’s history of stunning characterizations this one has undoubtedly got to be his most awe inspiring work. The sheer menace of the Man behind the clown face has me worshipping! If not for anything else Heath Ledger’s portrayal of Joker requires you to get up and go watch The Dark knight. Of the movie itself all I’ll say is that I wish there had been no damned Interval! If I scribble another ill-mannered word here’s I’ll end up with too many curses so let’s just say – GO WATCH! ]]>
‘Project Smoke’-Blue Frog records
Ashutosh Phatak and Dhruv Ghanekar, celebrated names in the fashion music circles and ad jingle world have put their collective music talent together for Smoke Signals, the debut album of the duo’s Project Smoke.
Smoking Signals boasts of music that is beyond boundaries. It successfully and aesthetically brings together a very bohemian fusion of western symphonies, Sufi rock, Indian classical, electronica and even traditional Indian thumri. The diagonally opposite music interests of Ashu and Dhruv have resulted in this exceptionally interesting album.
For the uninitiated, they are the same duo which composed music for offbeat movies like Bombay Boys and White Noise. Ashu, a graduate in Western Classical Music Theory from University of Pennsylvania has been professionally composing music for the last 15 years. Dhruv began studying Indian Classical Music at the age of nine with Suresh Wadkar and also continued his study under great sarangi exponent Sultan Khan. He has performed and worked with great musicians like Karl Peters, Louis Banks and Adrian D’souza and continues to compose music in virtually all genres.
Interestingly, this album was actually made for a fashion designer’s show 5 years back and when their dues weren’t cleared, the duo came up with this idea of releasing the album and saving the effort of writing new songs.
There are nine tracks in the album. The opening track Windy is a nice soothing song and surely gives positive vibes about things to come. Another interesting track is Tsunami which sounds like an intoxicated Sufi rhythm and not like someone cashing in on the agony of the victims. There’s something for jazz lovers and even gothic metal fans.
All in all, its a contemporary album with all the right elements thrown in. So, if you need a break from the ear deafening hard rock and the dreamy Bollywood music, this is the album to look up to.