Gorosthan e Sabhdhan

One city, two families, one diary, few letters and a perigal repeater. Somehow like most from our generation Feluda was an integral part of my growing years. I still remember how I wished to have the entire work of Feluda in my house and when I could buy my own books I bought that. Still remember it was the first time the Kolkata Book Fair was shifter from Maidan and the only year perhapse it was organized in the Saltlake Stadium enclosure. It was a office day and me and Ananya went out from office took a cab and went in. I went to only one shop a bought the complete collections of Feluda and Prof Shanku, two of the immortal creations of Satyajit Ray.

All the preface is just to emphasis on the habit that anything related to Feluda is a must for me. I may wait for the review or comments from friends before I go to watch any other movie but for Feluda this process doesn't exist.

Coming back to this particular installment the speciality of this one is I think this is the first one of Feluda movies completely set in Kolkata. So we got to see a lot of the city in this one. Also I'm sure people will now start to flock the South Park Street cemetery as that is the crime location for this story. The movie was good apart from a few things which I don't like. First somehow

Satyajit Ray turned the two movies into two classics which people still love to see. But somehow Sandip Ray's Feluda movies are regular crime thrillers with Feluda's story. The next thing is yes Sabyasachi is getting older. Although he's still the best actor for the role but the age factor is working against him.

Overall a nice movie.

Knight and Days

Watched Knight and Days *ing Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Another attempt from Tom Cruise to prove himself as a superhero. CIA agent gone rouge running to save the world. in this case trying to save a battery with eternal source of energy and it's creator. Apart from the objective everything is cliche. Cameron Diaz comes back with toned body and showing quite of it :) but I somehow never liked her in movies post Mask.

Final verdict it's a hollywood masala flick which I'll not watch again.

The Truman Show

Wow! What a movie. I mean not the movie but the concept. What a brilliant sattire mocking the desperate attempt of the TV channels' to feed us the overdoze of reality show. If you think of it then you'll realize how since Kaun Banega Crorepati the indian satelite televison arena has been flooded with reality shows. It was new to the bucolic audience here and they just gobbled it in. Cash started raining and everyone followed. Now we have shows to make marriage, break marriage, parenting kids, living in jungle etcetera etcetera.

Truman Burbank was conceived in national television. He was auditioned and casted in the biggest reality TV show when he was in the womb. His eagerness to come out in the real world earned him the edge over the other embroys. And since then he was living in the largest set ever inside hollywood. His life was broadcasted around the globe 24X7. His home was the largest set ever created on Earth insde the Hollwood studios. Nothing around him was real except he himself. His life was a script and people around him were actors constantly creating a world where he never realize that who he is. Little Truman wanted to be an explorer(What an irony) but was prevented by amazing means. The director of the show played by Chris Harris was the god in Truman's world. But however hard man tries he is yet to become full machine and that's what happens in Truman's life. One girl who was meant to be just another extra fell in love with the man and tried to give him the hints of the humungous setup. Though Truman falied to understand this massive plot at first but during his life and his quest for his lost love he realized the facts around him.
I simply salute the writer and director for creating such an apt motion picture in the recent time. Jim Carey was the perfect Truman and as they say it nobody can do the characters which are meant for Jim Carey.
Overall an enriching experience to see such an amazing movie.

Chalo Let's Go

Saw Chalo Let's Go by Anjan Dutta. This time the audience was me and my parents. A sort of travelogue with four frnds' and a bus full of characters. Four frnds takes a bus full of individuals to a tour of picturesque Dooars. Very urban characters but nicely weaved together to portray the complexity of adult life. There was a typical central kolkatan bourgeois who just complains about everything on the tour. There was a professor reading sleazy magazines wrapped in brown cover and claiming it to be his research papers. The cast was wonderful as was the panoramic locals of North Bengal. But best thing about the movie was the music. There was the song 'Chupi Chupi' by Rupankar and Ujjyani which I've been looking for a long time. I heard it in some reality talent hunt show and ever since I'm looking for it. Its an wonderful composition and brilliantly rendered by Rupankar. Hat's off to Neel Dutta. Listen to it if you've not yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZxugKl2MI

Adios........

Julie & Julia

Yesterday I watched a movie named Jule and Julia *ing Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The movie is based on Julie Powel's book with the similar title. I got the name from a list at IMDB and decided to give it a try.

It was based on the life and passion of two women from different era with one common interest cooking. But more than cooking it was how they overcame the boredom of their regular life with the same passion. Cooking gave them the purpose in life and helped their true identity. They both connected with the world through cooking and reinvented their true identity.

It was a fare chronicle of the two lives separated by time and place. But the movie didn't raised any emotions and seemed quite blant probably because of the dull script. It was more of an docufeature to me.

I won't watch this movie if i get another chance.

December 19th 2009

Rashomon

Its raining all over. One old broken samurai temple. Three poor man waiting inside to take cover from the rain. A priest, a woodcutter and a commoner. Between them they discuss a recent scandal where a girl was raped, her husband was killed and a famous bandit was arrested. Then the woodcutter narrated stories told by each of the witnesses in the court.
It was a movie that defined a genre. It was a movie inspired Satyajit Ray, who is like god in cinema for me. It has the same kind of effect in Japanese cinema what Pather Panchali did for Indian cinema. It is a masterpiece by one of greatest movie maker of all time Akira Kurosawa.
I started to watch the movie with so much to look for. I felt quite similar when I watched the legendary The Bicycle Thief. I loved this movie. I may not a great critic of movies but I quite an ardent follower. The simplicity with which the story moves and the amazing performance of the artists kept me in awe. Each of the characters were speaking lie to a point that the protagonists priest lost his all belief in goodness and humanity. But the movie isn't about pessimism. In the end it raises the hope to believe hope to love. It depicts the inner villain in everyone of us. We all see life as the way we want to see it and its possible for us to interpret the same thing in variable manner. This simple message was conveyed so beautifully through the movie.

Moral of my story if you get a chance please watch this movie.

Once - something fresh

Today me n my roomie saw a movie named 'Once'. As usual it was me who ordered this unusual movie from netflix and quite suspicious about it till I watched the movie. 5 Mins into the movie and Soumya turned at me and said impishly ''Great Movie''. But myself and even he managed to stick around till the end. And it was worth sticking around.

The movie is a modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin. As the first scenes rolled out I thought it to be a documentary. I mean u don't find the gloss and glamour u associate with Hollywood. But then again its not a Hollywood product per se. It is an Irish movie written and directed by John Carney. The protagonists were an talented musician who used to sing by the road with his rug in front of him begging and a very ordinary girl who used to sell roses in the street. The amazing part of the movie for me was the simplicity of the visuals. You never feel like watching a movie. Sometime it may remind u of the bollywood musicals as the film has a song probably in every 5 mins. The first interaction between the lead pair happens when the girl listens to the singer and gives him 10 cents. Can u b've it? And then they meet again when the girl brings her vacuum cleaner to get fixed in his dad's shop. During this musical journey they feel each others voidness. The boy lost his beloved when she ran away with someone else. The girl is married with a kid but her husband doesn't stay with them. She is a brilliant piano player but her husband never saw that in her. Together they spent some wonderful time together and if u r expecting something saucy then u r wrong, they don't even kiss in the film. They get together because of music and together with some more street singers they create a record for the guy. But after the recording they both return to their life without any further touch killing all the emotions for the right.

The movie is a simple story told very simply but with utmost honesty. And the most beautiful part of the movie is its songs. They are wonderful and moving.

Well that's about it and will be back with some other movie.