Just Watched: RA.One After hearing so many mixed reactions, I finally went and watched the film last evening and I think I understand why the reactions are so varied. This is a pretty enterprising film in many respects but as a movie, there isn’t really much to it. The funny thing is that this is also it’s biggest strength, as you know after a particular point that the mindlessness is an integral part of the proceedings. While the film could have been much better, it isn’t too tough to accept the end-result despite the fact that I, personally, have a lot of complaints. Shah Rukh Khan plays a double role and while he is pretty good as G.One, the protector from the virtual world and the film’s hero, his role as Shekhar Subramaniam, the game designer has every South Indian stereotype packed in and is hence a little too much to take in. Kareena Kapoor was very good, and I’m not saying this because I’m a big fan of her’s, but because she  actually did a decent job, other than looking extremely pretty. A lot more could have been done to develop her character so that there was more depth to it. Armaan Verma, the kid who plays the son to Shah Rukh and Kareena in the film was passable, though he was a little irritating at times. I really don’t understand why Shahana Goswami had no more screen time. There was hardly any point to having her there. Arjun Rampal as the final form of the villain the movie is named after was menacing, and very effective. In fact, the G.One-RA.One clashes were what made most of the film worthwhile. The cameos made the film interesting, especially the brilliant one by Rajinikanth. That was simply brilliant. Sanjay Dutt was also pretty good in one of the opening scenes of the film. Priyanka Chopra, who is in the same sequence as Dutt, was only eye-candy, but extremely irritating. She should stick to cameos and item-numbers and do only one movie every two years only if it is made by a good director, I don’t think she can act otherwise. If you look at the main weakness of the film, it would easily be the wanton copying of ideas from Hollywood. I mean, H.A.R.T. was exactly like the arc reactor in the Iron Man films, while the main premise in itself is very similar to TRON: Legacy. There were a number of rip-offs but I don’t think I want to go into them. At least this was better than Krrish, which had completely ticked me off when I’d watched it. I expected a lot more from the action sequences but they sort of fizzled out, especially the climax, which could have been way better. But then again, two scenes are spectacular – the brilliant car chase involving Kareena Kapoor; and the superb sequence involving the train right before the climax. Overall, there isn’t much to expect from this film, but going by what it stands for, it deserves applause, not too loud though. Personal Rating: 6.9/10
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Just Watched: RA.One

After hearing so many mixed reactions, I finally went and watched the film last evening and I think I understand why the reactions are so varied. This is a pretty enterprising film in many respects but as a movie, there isn’t really much to it. The funny thing is that this is also it’s biggest strength, as you know after a particular point that the mindlessness is an integral part of the proceedings. While the film could have been much better, it isn’t too tough to accept the end-result despite the fact that I, personally, have a lot of complaints.

Shah Rukh Khan plays a double role and while he is pretty good as G.One, the protector from the virtual world and the film’s hero, his role as Shekhar Subramaniam, the game designer has every South Indian stereotype packed in and is hence a little too much to take in. Kareena Kapoor was very good, and I’m not saying this because I’m a big fan of her’s, but because she  actually did a decent job, other than looking extremely pretty. A lot more could have been done to develop her character so that there was more depth to it. Armaan Verma, the kid who plays the son to Shah Rukh and Kareena in the film was passable, though he was a little irritating at times. I really don’t understand why Shahana Goswami had no more screen time. There was hardly any point to having her there. Arjun Rampal as the final form of the villain the movie is named after was menacing, and very effective. In fact, the G.One-RA.One clashes were what made most of the film worthwhile.

The cameos made the film interesting, especially the brilliant one by Rajinikanth. That was simply brilliant. Sanjay Dutt was also pretty good in one of the opening scenes of the film. Priyanka Chopra, who is in the same sequence as Dutt, was only eye-candy, but extremely irritating. She should stick to cameos and item-numbers and do only one movie every two years only if it is made by a good director, I don’t think she can act otherwise.

If you look at the main weakness of the film, it would easily be the wanton copying of ideas from Hollywood. I mean, H.A.R.T. was exactly like the arc reactor in the Iron Man films, while the main premise in itself is very similar to TRON: Legacy. There were a number of rip-offs but I don’t think I want to go into them. At least this was better than Krrish, which had completely ticked me off when I’d watched it.

I expected a lot more from the action sequences but they sort of fizzled out, especially the climax, which could have been way better. But then again, two scenes are spectacular – the brilliant car chase involving Kareena Kapoor; and the superb sequence involving the train right before the climax.

Overall, there isn’t much to expect from this film, but going by what it stands for, it deserves applause, not too loud though.

Personal Rating: 6.9/10

Just Watched: 3 Idiots Finally managed to grab this flick and amidst all the recent controversy, I was all the more keen to watch it. First things first, the film is basically ‘Five Point Someone’ at heart, and hence, all the points made by Chetan Bhagat are valid. The producers need to handle this with a little grace. Coming to the movie, well, I had my apprehensions, one of them was Aamir Khan essaying the role of a college student. Only after watching the film I realised what a fool I was. Aamir, being the perfectionist that he is, plays the role of the free-spirited Rancho with ease. This man has to be the best among the current crop. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi are wonderful too as they give consistent performances throughout the film and have fantastic comic timing which perfectly compliments Aamir’s role. Kareena Kapoor does very well in all the scenes she has. In fact, her role has shades of her performance in Jab We Met, in which she was fantastic. Boman Irani is superb has the college director and Omi Vaidya (the guy who played Chatur Ramalingam) is hilarious. This is one of the better movies to have come out this year and is a must-watch. Go for it! ‘Aal izz well’ indeed. Personal Rating: 8.4/10
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Just Watched: 3 Idiots

Finally managed to grab this flick and amidst all the recent controversy, I was all the more keen to watch it. First things first, the film is basically ‘Five Point Someone’ at heart, and hence, all the points made by Chetan Bhagat are valid. The producers need to handle this with a little grace.

Coming to the movie, well, I had my apprehensions, one of them was Aamir Khan essaying the role of a college student. Only after watching the film I realised what a fool I was. Aamir, being the perfectionist that he is, plays the role of the free-spirited Rancho with ease. This man has to be the best among the current crop. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi are wonderful too as they give consistent performances throughout the film and have fantastic comic timing which perfectly compliments Aamir’s role. Kareena Kapoor does very well in all the scenes she has. In fact, her role has shades of her performance in Jab We Met, in which she was fantastic. Boman Irani is superb has the college director and Omi Vaidya (the guy who played Chatur Ramalingam) is hilarious.

This is one of the better movies to have come out this year and is a must-watch. Go for it! ‘Aal izz well’ indeed.

Personal Rating: 8.4/10

Just Watched: Kurbaan Came back to Dehradun late last night and managed to catch this flick a while back. Stuti had written a good review for it to publish in the forthcoming online issue of Off The Record… (OTR). Shruti, too, had said that it was good. After being in awe of the soundtrack (especially the amazaing title track, which you can listen to here), I decided to watch the movie in one of the theaters here (no multiplexes here, you see; and this theatre Payal is horrible!) For a Hindi movie dealing with terrorism, this one is a great watch that has wonderful performances by the cast especially Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi (Yes, Yes. Exactly, Exactly), Om Puri and Kirron Kher. The cinematography and background score (Salim-Sulaiman) are top-notch. While there are quite a few glitches (Karan Johar is the producer, after all), they can be forgiven. The screenplay is superb and this makes the film a gripping watch. The issue of terrorism is dealt with neutrally. Watch out for the brilliant classroom interaction scene. The dialogues too are very well written by Anurag Kashyap (Yes, the same Anurag Kashyap) and Niranjan Iyengar. In this way, it betters Fanaa, which was the last movie with a similar plot. Rensil D’Silva, take a bow! Personal Rating: 8.3/10
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Just Watched: Kurbaan

Came back to Dehradun late last night and managed to catch this flick a while back. Stuti had written a good review for it to publish in the forthcoming online issue of Off The Record… (OTR). Shruti, too, had said that it was good. After being in awe of the soundtrack (especially the amazaing title track, which you can listen to here), I decided to watch the movie in one of the theaters here (no multiplexes here, you see; and this theatre Payal is horrible!)

For a Hindi movie dealing with terrorism, this one is a great watch that has wonderful performances by the cast especially Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi (Yes, Yes. Exactly, Exactly), Om Puri and Kirron Kher. The cinematography and background score (Salim-Sulaiman) are top-notch. While there are quite a few glitches (Karan Johar is the producer, after all), they can be forgiven. The screenplay is superb and this makes the film a gripping watch. The issue of terrorism is dealt with neutrally. Watch out for the brilliant classroom interaction scene. The dialogues too are very well written by Anurag Kashyap (Yes, the same Anurag Kashyap) and Niranjan Iyengar. In this way, it betters Fanaa, which was the last movie with a similar plot. Rensil D’Silva, take a bow!

Personal Rating: 8.3/10