Oscars 2006 Predictions

Only a few hours before the nominations for the 2006 Annual Academy awards are announced. So I figured I might as well lay out my predictions. Predicting the nominations for the oscars is not rocket science. Anyone who has been, even casually, following all or any of the other award shows can easily predict nominees and even winners. Also the oscars are quite favorable towards specifically made movies. There is no definite framework but you know when you see a movie whether it is Oscar-worthy or not.

Here are my list of nominees -

Best movie

1) Munich
2) Syriana
3) Brokeback mountain
4) Capote
5) Goodnight and Goodluck

Best Actor in a leading role -

1) Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
2) Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
3) Terrence Howard - Hustle N Flow
4) David Straitham - Goodnight and Good luck
5) Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line

Best Actress in a leading role -

1) Charlize Theron - North Country
2) Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
3) Gwyneth Paltrow - Proof
4) Joan Allen - Upside of Anger
5) Felicity Huffman - Tranamerica

Best Supporting Actor:

1) G.Clooney - Syriana
2) Matt Damon - Syriana
3) Jake Gyllenhall - Brokeback Mountain
4) Matt dillon - Crash
5) Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man

Best Supporting Actress:

1) R.Weisz - Constant Gardner
2) Shirley Mcclaine - In her shoes
3) Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain
4) Frances Mcdormand - North Country
5) Scarlett Johannson - Matchpoint

Best Director

1) Steven Spielberg -Munich
2) Ang lee - Brokeback Mountain
3) George Clooney - Goodnight and Good luck
4) Fernando Meirelles - Constant Gardener
5) Benett Miller - Capote

Rang De Basanti - Review

SPOILER ALERT - The following review contains brief and detailed references to certain plot twists in the movie Rang de Basanti. Prior knowledge of such plot twists may and will most likely lessen the overall impact of this movie.

Every so often, Bollywood unleashes a powerful movie which defies all expectations and compels the audiences to sit up and take notice. Rang De Basanti (RDB) is one such movie. Heaping accolades - "Great" and "It rocks" - would only sell it short, cos such accolades are most often associated with lesser quality movies and RDB deserves much more. It's Funny, Engaging, Stirring and Intelligent.

What is it that sparks a revolutionary? Regular people, who in ordinary cirumstances would've gone about leading their normal lives. driven by an almost indefinable rage or passion towards their cause at the risk of losing their own lives. Could there be any justifiable reason for such drastic actions? The movie focusses on these particular questions (amongst other themes) and the screenplay cleverly juxtaposes parallel tales of revolutionary Indian freedom fighters (Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad and co) and a present day disillusioned group of close college friends.
The story begins with Sue McKinley (Alice Patten), a british documentary film-maker who comes to India with hopes of making a documentary on those prominent freedom fighters (Bhaghat Singh and co) giving them the much deserved recognition to the western audiences. She is mostly inspired by her grandfather's journal who happened to be the jail warden at the facility where most of the prominent revolutionary freedom fighters were held. His journal provides for some of the conversations he had with these people and also functions as an informal guide to the history of Indian freedom movement. Sue's contact person in Delhi is Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) who assists Sue in her project. But things don't run so smoothly at first as both find it difficult to find the right people to essay the lead roles of the freedom fighters. Then Sue gets to meet some of Sonia's friends - DJ (Aamir Khan), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), Karan (Siddharth), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) - a group of wild, carefree, college buddies. And almost immediately Sue recognizes they are exactly the people she was looking for her documentary. Lakshman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni) the local student right-winged politician later joins in to complete the cast.

The group, initially find the concept absurd and would rather party than participate in the project but as they go about working on the documentary they find themselves questioning the rationale and ideals of the freedom fighters and in the process make several references to the hopelessness of present day India. Lt.Captain Ajay Rathod (Madhavan) Sonia's fiance' and an fighter pilot provides much of the positive, morally correct responses to group's skepticism and it's his tragic death in the second half, which shocks and ignites the group into seeking retributive action.

For those who might feel I've given away too much, there's no such cause for concern. What really propels the movie forward is the splendid combination of terrific, realistic performances and a well-written, multi-layered screenplay. Finally a script which bollywood can be proud of. If there were any messages the director wishes to convey, atleast it had the decency of allowing the audiences to draw their own intepretations rather than have it shove down our throats.
The direction by Rakeish OmPrakash Mehra is superb. Visually arresting, he carefully captures the natural progression of his characters. Mehra used to work as an ad-filmaker. And there is adequate proof of this in each and every frame. A lot of effort has obviously been taken to capture the right emotions and also in setting-up each scene. The five or more primary characters are usually seen together for most of the movie. Yet each scene is carefully crafted to allow for maximum interplay between the characters. This may sound trivial, but most bollywood movies fail to do this, focussing on one or two characters and the others are given the same importance as stage props. What Mehra has achieved is to ensure that each characters is seen contributing towards the scene.

Aamir Khan leads the ensemble cast with a tour-de-performance.He has proved he is one of the best actors around and that the ghosts of Mangal Pandey are well and truly behind him. His natural effervesence, the effortless natural Punjabi accent, subtle and powerful acting as the role demands (his breakdown scene in the 2nd half will be long remembered - a la Kamal Hassan). While he provides a strong performance he ensures he never overshadows the rest of the cast. Three revelatary, break-through performances by Soha Ali Khan (expect big things from her), Siddharth ( Tamil hero, darkhorse, provides a subtle performance with lasting impression) and Sharman Joshi (mostly seen in crass commercial movies, definitely has some acting talent). Atul Kulkarni also impressive but nothing dramatically different from his previous performances. Alice patten is probably the best foreign actress in a bollywood production. She provides a competent performance and thankfully does not murder her hindi speaking lines. Well done. Looking forward to watching more of her in the future.

The music of AR Rehman is impressive and probably deserves a seperate post for further review. The music has been cleverly inter-woven into the narrative (All directors should be sent a copy of this movie just to show it can be done). "Paathshaala" and "Khoon chala" are beautifully picturized and are equally haunting.

Brilliant.

-Nav

Back!

Guess who's back, back again?

There are plenty of reasons (or excuses) for not having updated for such an extended period of time, and paucity of suitable subjects for blogging is definitely not one of the reasons. Infact so many interesting topics of discussion have come and gone, that it's gonna be quite a task to plug them in my future posts without making it seem irrelevant (given the short interest spans for most readers).

The truth is, I felt my writing was getting rather...stale. Yes. Lost some of it's initial freshness. Repetitive rhythms. Not lucid and smooth enough. I could go on but I felt a break was needed.

Starting tomorrow, with my review of "Rang De Basanti", I'll be making a few, slight changes to my writing which should hopefully make my posts a more enjoyable reading experience.

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India-Pak:Day2- The Misery Continues...

Pakistan's power batting put them in a dominant position at the end of Day 2. They finished at 679/7d but in all fairness to the Indian bowling, this was an awesome batting track with sweet, even, tennis ball bounce and no signs of deteoriation yet. Indian batting should be reasonably optimistic of posting a huge total themselves, if possible as close to the Pakistan total, and then given the nature of the pitch, and amount of turn and such around the 4th day, attempt to spin themselves to a victory. But I wouldnt blame Dravid and Chappell if they just decide to bat till day 5 (and there's no reason why they cannot) and essentially bat pakistan out of the game and play for draws. It would make for good batting practice.

A call from a friend around 3 AM ET gave me access to a link to watch few overs before the lunch break. But all hell broke loose after lunch. Shahid Afridi was especially in a foul mood as though someone had stolen his chicken kebabs at lunch (Inzamam would look to be the guilty party) and he looked to take out his anger on the Indian bowlers by ferociously thumping them all over the ground. Harbhajan Singh was taken apart in one over conceeding 4 consecutive sixes and a total of 27 runs.

Special note regarding the commentary. After having the luxury of listening to high-quality commentary such as in a NBA or NFL game, it was quite a rude awakening listening to commentators like Arun Lal and Ramiz Raja talk. Has there been a more irritating and annoying commentator than Ramiz Raja? Perhaps Ranjit fernando, but Ramiz Raja makes my blood boil everytime he opens his big-mouth. He is openly biased towards his team and obviously takes great pleasure in pointing out whenever India struggles. Which other commentator would compare Afridi to Sehwag and Gilchrist. I agree they' could all be equally destructive, but is there any comparison between the three? Raja has made it very clear on several occasions that Afridi is Pakistan's answer to Sehwag or something along those lines. This by itself would qualify him as a bad commentator but his words and comments make him especially bad.
For instance on day 2 sometime in between Afridi on 97 and getting his century this is what Raja had to say.. " That 97 would look more impressive if 3 more were added to it" ?.. And not to be outdone, there's our own Arun lal. Why do all Indian commentators feel the need to be agreeable? Save perhaps Ravi Shastri none of the others have the confidence to hold their opinions and speak their mind. And his comments are cringe-worthy.

For instance - The over in which Afridi smacked Harbhajan for 4 sixes, one of those sixes travelled just outside the boundary lines and landed on a puddle of rainwater. This is how Lal had to describe the event - "That was the six which Afridi hit to find the water"

And it's only Day 2..

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India-Pak: Day one - A day of trials

Woke up on friday and quickly opened cricinfo.com to find out how things had turned out on Day 1 of India v Pakistan at lahore and was quite shocked at the turn of events. Firstly Pakistan had batted first and finished at 326/2 with Younis khan, who was such a thorn in the flesh for India when pakistan toured India last year, havin raced to an unbeaten 147 and Mohammed Yousuf unbeaten at 95. From the score it would seem that either the pitch is a batsman's paradise or the Indian bowling was rather poor. I suspect a liberal combination of both. Eitherway India should now be prepared to face a huge, daunting 1st innings total, definitely over 650 runs, unless the bowlers can perform a minor miracle and restrict Pakistan to a lower total. But as shocking as the scorecard read, what was equally baffling was the poor selection choices. Saurav Ganguly was brought in place of opener Gautham Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar was also given the nod ahead of Zaheer khan. What? Just when it seemed that under the guidance of Greg Chappell that this new look Indian team were ready to make some tough selection choices, they go ahead and commit a selection hara-kiri before a ball has even been bowled which may well influence the rest of the series and I daresay, looking at the 1st day's scorecard that it's not looking very good for India. It's of outmost importance that each team put their best foot forward in the beginning of any series and India it would seem was caught wearing non-matching pair of shoes.

Why would Dravid approve of a plan to drop an established opener, thus breaking a solid opening pair and bring in an extra middle-order player? Surely the middle-order is strong enough, it's always the Indian top order which looks fragile and which needed to be strenghtened. Afterall that was the reason to bring in three regular openers on this tour. But now there's only 1 regular opener in the playing eleven. Did Dravid expect Ganguly to open the Innings? There is no way that Ganguly would agree to open the innings. Even if he agreed, the chances of him succeeding are remote. He would prove far more useful in the middle-order. So the only logical alternative would be to push Yuvaraj Singh into the opener's slot. Afterall he was being groomed to open the innings before? But I feel that he is not equipped to open the innings and even if he did succeed in this test match and series he is Definitely NOT a long-term opening prospect. So why bother with uncertain short-term gains?

There are many who loathe the presence of Ajit Agarkar in the side and with the selectors misplaced confidence and persistence of Agarkar. I personally feel he is an excellent asset in ODI team but at the test level he lacks the required skills. His selection would surely only make the bowling less potent. Why is Zaheer khan, once the spearhead of the Indian bowling rotation now relegated to a second-string position?

Looking towards Day two for some answers.

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India-Pak 2006

Everybody ready for round 3 of India- Pakistan cricket ?! Do I hear an unconvincing YES? Well you're not the only one. The cricketers, media and respective boards have gone all out to hype the event which in itself seems rather odd, cos when was the last time you had to work to generate excitment for an Indo-Pak clash? But as odd as it seems, or maybe it's just me, I'm just not "feeling" it on the eve of the 1st test at lahore. Maybe once the game gets underway I may be drawn into the contest. I suppose it's a case of familiarity leading to normality. And normal is not a word usually used to describe an Indo-Pak encounter. How could it? Given the political and social tensions between the two warring nations ever since the dawn of independence, cricket was just one of the arenas where the group of eleven players on the field represent the hopes on an entire nation with the sole desire to defeat and humble the enemy. The ground was the battlefield, the cricketers being soldiers and the game no less than a bloodless war. Acts of heroism and courage were richly rewarded and acts of failure would lead to heavy censure and punishment (just ask chetan sharma..chetan who?..exactly). So it's understandable if the players feel the need to bring their A-game often resulting in tense, edgy contests. A victory would spark of wild celebrations and fireworks and defeat could mean humiliation, bandhs, and sometimes even suicides.

India's 2004 tour of pakistan was an epic, historical moment. Historic, cos it was the 1st time India were touring their neighboring nation in over 15 years but more importantly it seemed this was almost the perfect occasion for the two nations to come closer. And how brilliantly they did. Suddenly all barriers were broken. New breakthroughs were made - promises of a new, peaceful future. Security was unprecedented, All matches were sold-out and ticket prices went up the roof. Floodgates were opened as 1000's of Indians travelled across the borders and almost immediately felt at home, feeling the warmth of the welcoming arms of a generous host and connecting with the generation X of pakistan. On the cricket field, the most exhilirating, exciting contests as if paying homage to all classic Indo-Pak clashes, played out in front of delirious, house full crowds- a rarity in Pakistan cricket, producing an almost carnival like atmosphere, with colorful sights and sounds. And unbelivably vocal. And none more so than the deafening screams of BALAJI! BALAJI! , when a tall, lanky, dark-skinned, long-haired Indian fast bowler, who captured the imagination of the whole of Pakistan, who's heart was as big and wide as his grin, clobbered the thundering shoaib Akhtar for two expansive sixes driving the crowds and audiences into a state of heightened frenzy. The games were so highly-charged that the crowds were often reluctant to leave once the games were completed and both nations let out a collective sigh when the series came to an end, expressing a sense of sadness that it ended so quickly...like a fantastic date..you just wish it wouldn't end.

The series was an unparallaled success with both boards making a killing with the telecast rights. The series also highlighted the power of cricket as an uniter and saw the emergence of a powerful tool - Cricketing Diplomacy. Top brass and influencial political leaders of both governments were invited to attend matches, providing an informal channel for negotiations, not to forget countless photo-ops.

India beat Pakistan in both the ODI's and test matches, for the first time in many, many years which made it even more delightful for the faithful Indian supporters, bringing to close probably India's best season performances in decades. The team was high in confidence after an amazing performance against the Australians in australia and it showed in the way they played. Infact I would recommend that the Indian team be sent over to the Australia every year to ensure they maintain high standards...something along the lines of Quality control measures.
However when Pakistan visited India the following year the tables and results were turned even though India started off, albeit slightly rusty, as strong favorites. In hindsight, much of this defeat could be blamed on poor planning. India seemed over-confident (for once), targetting one or two threats in the Pakistan line-up (Inzamam, Youhana, and perhaps Razzaq) and almost believing that once they were removed, the rest of the team would crumble under the pressure. That never happened. Case in point the 1st test at chandigarh were the perfect opportunity to win the game was let go cos India never capitalized on easy chances. That made a crucial difference between a series victory and a drawn series. Secondary players such as Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved kept coming up with the goods at the pressure situations. Now that the Indian team are more familiar with the present Pakistani lot I hope they won't be making the same errors in judgement.

And yes once again the familiarity between players is such a key. India and Pakistan have been playing a lot of cricket between each other especially since 2004 and reciprocal tour in 2005 and few a ODI tournaments and a champions trophy somewhere in between. So in a way the excitement levels are little bit down which admitedly is great for the players since they face less pressure. Infact a columnist wrote, I forget who, but I agree with him or her, that for the 1st time in an India-Pak series the focus in on the cricket and not on security. But one sincerely hopes that India-Pak matches never end up like say an India-Srilanka series..that would be end of cricket as I know it.

Go India Go!
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Hostel - Review

Ahhhhhhh!!

Alright, so everyone knows there are basically two schools of horror in movies - The Omen + Exorcist school of horror which relies heavily on setting up an eerie & spooky aura, delivering effective BOO moments on cue, the supernatural element being the key to achieving the desired scare effect. Movies from the recent past such as The Ring, Skeleton Key, Grudge etc have cleverly adapted the tried and tested frameworks with success. But the problem with these movies is that..anybody who has watched a significant number of horror movies and with a little application of common sense can easily forecast the BOO moment. Its been a while since I've watched a horror movie and was blindsighted by a a clever scary sequence.
The Second school of horror movie-making follows the footsteps of movies such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil dead, slasher movies from the 80's which rely heavily on gore, mutilation, and lots and lots of blood. These movies are rarely scary as such but I find them personally disturbing on many occasions, purely because of the extent to which it is implied, how cruel and sadistic people can actually be.

Movies such as Wolf Creek find themselves neither here nor there and succeed merely in provoking a shake of the head and at some points even some laughter when not intended. But that's a subject for another post another day.

Hostel clearly falls in the latter category. Director Eli Roth aims for the jugular (quite literally) and never lets go. This is a BRUTAL, GRUESOME, GRAPHIC AND VERY VERY BLOODY movie. Trust me. Even Passion of the Christ or Saw seems tame compared to this one. While there was some reasonable justification for the brutality and graphic scenes in POTC, here the director merely seems eager to push the envelope to shock and numb the audience. It works..and it doesnt.

The film follows a pair of American college friends, Josh and Paxton, backpacking around Europe for one final fling before succumbing to the real world of jobs and committments. Somewhere along the way the duo met up with Icelandic party freak Oli and the trio roam freely in search of cheap drugs and sex. When they hear of a travellers hostel in Slovakia loaded with beautiful and (ahem) affectionate women the trio promptly set off. And the rumors are true. When they arrive they walk in on their hostel room mates - a pair of stunningly beautiful women - in a state of undress as they prepare to head for the hostel's spa. Yes, a spa in a hostel!! The boys join them there, breasts are exposed (quite a lot of breasts are exposed, really, the entire first act being a fairly non stop succession of perky, silicon-enhanced bosoms) - sex is had and the boys believe they've found heaven. That is, until the next morning, when Oli goes missing. And when Paxton finds himself all alone the morning after that something is clearly wrong. This is where things get dark and brutal and bloody, fast.

The film works partly cos it's able to create a distinct uneasiness, particularly in the torture scenes (and the build-up to those scenes) and manages to sustain such unease for long periods of time.The reason it doesnt work is cos the way the movie was marketed - the Big secret of the movie is clearly given away in all promos and anybody who has watched those promos will know what to expect. Where is the revelation? The element of learning a shocking truth? Besides the copious amounts of nudity and ridiculous violence the movie has very little thrills to offer, which makes it even more disappointing not to forget the presence of quite a few loop holes and convenient coincidences. So what was Quentin Tarantino's contribution to this project? Was it to offer some much needed credibility to the movie? I believe so, cos the story is quite mediocre (it's an unique idea but that's about it), a not-so well known director (Eli roth directed Cabin fever and may have a smal following but he's No QT) and no recognizable actor. I suppose if it had not been for QT's association, this movie may well have ended up direct to DVD.

Instead we have endure this torture on the big screen.

The one success the movie may boast would be it's vivid depiction of Europe as a very, very dark and unsafe place thus shattering all my euro-trip fantasies. Another reason to hate this movie.

-Nav


P.S: I've attached the least disturbing photo of Hostel I could find. So apologies for any unpleasantness.

10 best bollywood movies 2005

Ah, back to my blog. It's a crime to seperate a true blogger from his PC. Next time remind me never to travel without my laptop.

It was a mixed bag for bollywood in 2005..some creative movies showing signs that bollywood is slowly maturing although there was plenty of garbage released to ensure that some would continue to view bollywood with skepticism.

So here are, according to me the top 10 movies in 2005 (not in any particular order):-

1) Shabd - A complex, multi-layered, abstract movie which requires the audience to
pay attention.Versatile performance by Sanjay Dutt subtly depicting signs of mental deteoriation, unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Aishwarya is a miscast and the annoying presence of Zayed Khan drags the movie down.

2) Page 3 - Director Madhur Bhandarkar's "Shock and awe" effort, a cold, unflinching look through the eyes of an idealistic journalistic leading viewers down the dark underbelly of mumbai and the shameful lives lead by celebrities who populate the popular Page 3 section of newspapers. Celluloid equivalent of sensational journalism which on 2nd viewing one may well wonder what all the fuss was about? Good effort anyway.

3) Seher - The first of many small budget, story based,independent productions which leaves an lasting impression. Good ensemble cast lead by Arshad Warsi in a serious role.

4) Yahaan - Another movie with less hype and more substance. A credible storyline, gorgeous cinematography, tight direction and editing, topped with finely nuanced performances by Jimmy Shergill (one of the under-rated actor in bollywood) and minisha Lambda.

5) Black - let's for once set aside the astonishing psychological methods of treatment such as yelling, shaking and throwing kids around etc shown on screen and instead relish the richness and finese of the movie. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is an artist and his movies are often his canvas- a stunning dash of vivid colors and lush settings, punctuated with lucid dialogue compels the viewers to get involved. Powerful performance by Amitabh Bachchan lifts the movie to higher levels.

6) Socha Na tha - A light, entertaining story with finely sketched realistic characters and a believable story line. Abhay deol shines as the confused guy in love with two beautiful women. Engrossing from start to finish. Excellent.

7) D - Another look at the mumbai underworld from the Ram gopal Varma factory. This movie seems almost like a hybrid derivate of RGV's Company, Satya, and Sarkar. Yet the movie comes out on top and manages to hold it's own amongst the other movies cos of it's relentless tension and superb breakthrough performance by Randeep Honda.

8) Salaam Namaste - This is an entertaining movie. Some moralists may disapprove of the basic storyline and others may cringe at some parts of the movie but overall I was thoroughly entertained by this story - An intelligent, humorous movie which tries to raise above the mundance bollywood productions. Delightful performances by Saif Ali Khan, Priety Zinta, Arshad Warsi and ofcourse Javed Jaffery who steals the show everytime he's on screen, his dead-on fake Aussie-American-bihari accent had the audiences in splits. Good fun.

9) Parineeta - Why? cos of the same reason black is in the list. It's a beautifully crafted movie, a period piece replete with music, and production values richly describing Calcutta in the 60's. It has a pretty decent storyline and Saif Ali Khan once again impresses with a moderated performance. Debuntant Vidya Balan looked assured and looked the part and it's a walk in the park for Sanjay Dutt.

10) Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Mara - To be completely honest I was disappointed with this movie. Why? Cos I guess I had high expectations. I expected a compelling, captivating drama. But that being said I cannot take anything away from the movie. It sticks to it's fairly unique story and Anupam Kher and Urmila Matondkar get into the skin of their characters and dish out fantastic performances. Expect awards for this one. A pat in the back for the director..a fine effort showing bollywood the way.

Also supposedly good movies are : - Hazaron khawhish aisin, Iqbal, Antarmahal.

Disappointments of 2005 - Sarkar, The Rising-Mangal Pandey, Virrudh, Paheli.

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End of 2005, Beginning of 2006...

Happy new year everybody!!!!

It's funny how time seems to fly by so quickly..It's like only yesterday I was welcoming the new year, praying for bigger and better things. Taking stock at the end of the year..I feel there are lots of things yet to be done and more to be achieved.

So here's wishing that 2006 would be a year of new experiences, seeing and visiting new places, new faces, new friends, new books and movies yet at the same time not forgetting or letting go of our past and close ones.

Also read the My daily blog for more details.

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