Poem 9: Happy New Year

Poem 9: Happy New Year. This poem is from me to you all.




















Happy New Year

Dreams fulfilled or the dreams shattered !
Absolute bliss or the painful depressions !
Relationships started or the relationships broken !
Harmony or the constant bickering !
Tranquillity or the labyrinth of emotions !

Time goes by! Present becomes the past
Future becomes the present
Let the bygones be bygones
No magic is going to change the past
Life never gives a rewind
It is time to move on

Loads of fun and frolic
Bundles of joy and warmth
Smiles all around
Let warmth and happiness surround
For all your wishes to come true
I wish you a happy new year.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

This is another bollywood masala flick starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anouska Sharma and Vinay Pathak and has lot of indigestible pills in store for you.
If you can ignore the big logical flaws in the movie, this movie will be good entertaining movie.

Anouska sharma who loses his lover in an accident on the marriage day just before the marriage, is emotionally made to accept Suri (SRK) as husband by his dying father as he feels she will land into safe hands.
But anouska just stays a stranger in the house with Suri as she says she can never love him. When anouska joins the dance classes, Suri joins the classes as Raj with make over as a cool dude and manages to bring smiles into anouska's life and wins her love. Anouska falls into odd dilemma on whether to choose Suri or Raj.

I wonder how on earth a gal can never recognise her own hubby just coz he has shaved his moustache and does not wear glasses! I did not like the last 15 mins of the movie where a gal who says she can never love Suri, falls in love with Raj and decides to run away but changes her mind in notime to stay with Suri and falls in love with Suri all of a sudden. Too dramatic :-)

SRK has given a polished performance and this movie has good entertaining scenes all around.



My rating: 8/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 to 8 - OK types, 8 to 9 - worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Fashion

Fashion- The lastest movie from Madhur Bhandarkar hits the bull's eye with its realistic view of the Fashion industry.

The performances from Kangana and Priyanka chopra are outstanding. I personally liked the kangana's acting in the way she shows her attitude on the ramp,
Drug scenes and the scenes where she talks to priyanka towards the climax. Her eyes and expressions speaks louder.

Overall this is a nice movie and the movie is almost close to reality.



My rating: 8/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 t0 8 - OK types, 8 to 9 - worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Bedtime Stories

This is a Walt Disney studios productions and is a fantasy/adventure comedy starring Adam Sandler , a hotel handyman whose life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true. He attempts to take advantage of the phenomenon, incorporating his own aspirations into one outlandish tale after another, but it's the kids' unexpected contributions that turn his life upside down.

There is light humour throughout the movie. This movie is a typical family film made keeping kids and teens as target. Adults can watch it once too but it is definitely not a must watch.



My rating: 7.5/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 t0 8 - OK types, 8 to 9 - worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire - Other side of India well shown

Slumdog Millionaire is movie from the cast of Fox Searchlight and directed by Danny Boyle (Director of Trainspotting, 28 Days later, Sunshine etc) and shot completely in India about an Indian story which is made out of Vikas Swarup's novel. It is an international production with music composed by none other than our very own AR Rahman.

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who goes on to win a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" TV show, with no motive of money but with soul intention of getting back his love 'Latika'. The movie is all about how destiny is written already with a fairy tale ending.

AR Rehman's music has given life and soul to this brilliant movie. The sound track of this movie is just awesome. I have totally fallen in love with the sound tracks 'O Saya', 'Latika Theme' , 'Boys on the train' and 'Dreams on fire' already and listening to them again and again. This movie is a masterpiece from Danny Boyle and the maestro 'AR Rehman'.



Just get hold of a good bass speakers before you listen to this ''O Saya'' track sung by AR Rehman featuring M.I.A.



I would definitely love to watch ARRehman's score being nominated for Oscar and this movie being nominated for this year's Oscar. I would not be surprised if any of these happens. This movie is a treat to watch for the way this movie shows the other side of India so realistically with ARRehman's score doing wonders on Boyle's brilliant direction along with wonderful acting by the actors, though you can leave alone the fairy tale ending. Simon Beaufoy's screenplay of the Vikas Swarup's novel is bloody brilliant.

This film has already won lots of awards all around the world and nominated for 4 Golden Globe awards in different categories. Don't be surprised if this movie gets the Oscar for Best motion picture of the year and when AR Rahman gets the Oscar for Best original score for this movie. It has already won lots of awards around the world and nominated for 4 Golden globe awards which includes nomination for Best Original score by AR Rahman. Talks are that this film will be sweeping atleast 2 Oscars including one under category 'Best motion picture of the year' and 'Best Original Score'. Audience in Canada film festival gave standing ovation twice to this movie screening (once after the screening and another one after the credits) which is a rare thing in film festival. Check out the below link to see the list of awards and nominations for this movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/awards

My rating: 9.5/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 t0 8 - OK types, 8 to 9 - worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Ghajini (Hindi)

Ghajini (Hindi) - Upto the hype and expectations

Ever since I saw the promos of the Ghajini, I was waiting to watch it in theatre. I must say that the movie has lived up the expecations and the hype. People who have watched Christopher Nolan's 'Memento' and the tamil version of 'Ghajini' may not like this hindi version much like other versions, but they will also accept that this movie is good.

The director Murugadoss has delivered yet again and the recreated the same magic in direction and screenplay just like he delivered in the tamil version of 'Ghajini'. 'Hai Guzarish' , 'Becha' and 'yeh bachu' songs are nice. It has always been upto the directors to take the best out of A.R Rehman. Murugadoss has not succeded fully in that attempt. The background score in hindi version is not great compared to the tamil version.

Asin has performed really well and she remains in the audience mind even when the movie is over which speaks about her performance. Aamir looks young in his new outlook as Sunil singhania and is menacing with his 8 pack abs and his pumped up body in the revenge scenes. Aamir khan speaks loads through his body language and expression. This movie has blockbuster written all over it.



My rating: 8.5/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 t0 8 - OK types, 8 to 9 - worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

1920

1920 - Old wine in new bottle

1920 falls is a hindi movie which falls under the thriller/horror genre. Architects who comes to demolish the beautiful mansion to build a majestic hotel die mysteriously as little do they know that the majestic mansion is haunted by a spirit which is waiting for years to take its revenge.

The hero, who is an architect with big career dreams and his wife arrive at the mansion things turn horrible as heroin gets possessed by the spirit. What happens after that is the story?

This movie is an old wine in new bottle. Though some of the scenes are scary, the supposed to be scary scenes towards the climax are actually funny. You can watch this movie once if you don't have any other movie to watch.

My rating: 6/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 t0 8 - OK types, 8 to 9 - worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Dasvidaniya

Dasvidaniya - The Best Goodbye ever

The movie is about Amar kaul (Vinay Pathak), a 37 year old bachelor who is lost into his mundane life where people around him are oblivious to his existence. When Amar gets a report from doctor that he has only 3 months to live due to stomach cancer, he is devastated and ends up making a list of 1o things to do before he dies. What all does he list and how he executes them is what the story is about!

Though Dasvidaniya is claimed to be inspired by the hollywood movie 'Bucket List', the director of this movie claims that the script of this movie was written well before Bucket list. Well, apart the idea of making list of things to do before dying, Dasvidaniya is absolutely different. It is a bitter sweet comedy and Amar kaul has pulled it off nicely with his humour and brilliant acting. This movie is inspiring too to do things which one likes with the attitude as though today is the end of the world of one's life. The expressions of Vinay pathak in few of the scenes will make you laugh out loud for sure. After Bheja fry and Dasvidaniya, I have become a fan of Vinay Pathak.



My rating: 9/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 and above- OK types, 8 and above- worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Aamir

Aamir - Kaun Kehta Hai, Aadmi Apni Kismat Khud Likhta Hai? (Who says that man scripts his own destiny by himself?)

Aamir, a short and realistic movie, is a bold attempt made in the Bollywood director 'Rajkumar Gupta'. A NRI doctor who returns to India finds himself set up in a strange situation by a terror gang where he is made to receive and deliver something from few people by unknown people who keeps the lives of doctor's family's lives under threat. Who sets Aamir up, how they set him up, what is he made to receive and deliver, what happens in the end? Though the movie goes bit slow and you might be confused what is happening, it is worth watching till the climax. The climax is rivetting. I am sure you will exclaim as 'Oh My God' when you watch the climax. The story unflods in the climax.



My rating: 8.5/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 and above- OK types, 8 and above- worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

My Best Friend's Girl

Alexis (Kate Hudson) is the girl of Dustins (Jason Biggs) dreams. Dumped by Alexis, devastated Dustin turns to his best friend, Tank (Dane cook) , the rebound specialist. A master at seducing and offending women, Tank gets hired by freshly dumped guys to take their ex-girlfriends out on the worst date of their lives an experience so horrible it sends them running gratefully back to their beaus.

But when Tank works his magic on Alexis, he ends up meeting the challenge of a lifetime and finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dustin and a strange new attraction to his best friends girl.

Watch this movie only if you like the adult comedy movies like Good luck chuck or A 40 year old virgin or Knocked up.



My rating: 6.5/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 and above- OK types, 8 and above- worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa

Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa (Lost in creativity)
After the first part of Madagascar which rocked in 2005 here comes the sequel to it - "Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa". The movie is good but not as good as the part 1. The voices to the characters and the expressions are so cute. The flight scene is the best of all and will definitely make you laugh.
I still remember the lines when the penguin announces about the flight crash as 'I got good news and bad news. Good news is we are landing now and the bad news is we are crash landing'.

The story line is boring and routine and that is where the movie loses edge to it is previous part as part 2 is lost in creativity.



My rating: 7.5/10. (6 or less- Avoid, 6 and above- OK types, 8 and above- worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Poem 8: Its you

New poem from me called as "Its you". It is a sweet poem with a lovely twist in the end.




















Its you

Out in the sunshine, so bright
Lake view, a lovely sight
Indeed it is lovely weather
I always cherish our times together

Our dances together in sync
Like I care what people think!
Breezy afternoon, our bike rides!
Together in beach sands, watching tides!

You add life to my soul
Together! how about a stroll?
I am nothing without you
We are one and not two
Isn't it true?

One wish, I wish could come true!
Together in the dark besides each other
and count stars one after another
I know it will never come true
As I am your shadow and I am you!

Just in case if you thought the poem is about a gal, please re-read the poem again after reading the last line of the poem :-).

Yes Man

A troubled man (Jim Carrey) who says NO to everything in life enrolls for a program called 'YES' where he promises to say YES to all opportunities in life. What happens after that ? A fun filled comedy movie with light message throughout. You will end up coming out of the theatre with all smiles and may be motivation to try new stuff which you always wanted to do. Jim carrey has pulled out another best performance in his own way.

It is a fun filled comedy movie and it is worth watching. Nice movie to watch over the weekend with lots of popcorn.



My rating: 8.5/10. (6.5 or less- avoid, 8 and above- worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Twilight

The novel 'Twilight' is made as a movie. Twilight is about a cute teenage gal who falls in love with another teenager in the college but the thing is, the teenage guy is a Vampire with some special powers and he has been 17 from last 90 years from the time he became a vampire.

The protagonist and his family of vampires try not to hurt humans in those 90 years n
survive only on animal blood. Story goes on with small twists and some usual villain stuff towards end and leaving ending for the sequel.

First thing i liked about the movie is that there are no bloody gory scenes like other vampire movies. The movie portrays nice romantic scenes between the hero and heroine. Though the first half is good, the movie is bit boring in the second half. Which dumb gal will fall in love with a vampire when the vampire says that his instincts wants to kill the gal though he loves the gal? :-) Teenage girls and those who have read Twilight series will love this movie but others will find this movie just about average.



My rating: 8/10. (6.5 or less- avoid, 8 and above- worth watching once, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

InkHeart

The latest fantasy adventure film starring Brendan Fraser which got released last weekend here in UK. The story is about a silver tongue dad (Brendan Fraser) who has ability to bring characters in a book into real life just by reading the words aloud and how one such incident affects his family.

The movie is just average and once watchable if you like fantasy and adventure films. The screenplay stirs up interest in the first half but gets predictable and bit boring towards end.



My rating:7.5/10 ( 6- avoid, 8 - worth watching, 9 and above- very good and must watch)

Dostana

The first time when I saw the trailer of this movie couple of months back, I thought this movie is commercialized remake of Adam Sandler's 'I now pronounce you as Chuck and Larry' and thought this movie will be a flop by considering the theme. After the movie release, I started hearing quite a lot of positive and good comments about this movie.

This movie is about two guys (Abhishek Bacchan and John Abraham) who are not gay but pretend to be gay to get a house for rent who end up falling in love with Priyanka. Priyanka is in love with her boss (Sunny deol). The movie does make you laugh louder in couple of scenes. Overall dostana is a good entertainer.



My rating: 8/10 (6.5 or less - avoid, 8 and above worth watching, 9 and above very good and must watch)

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The movie is just OK compared to the other good science fiction movies. An alien comes to earth in human form (Keanu Reaves) and with protection, to warn the UNO leaders about damages to earth caused by human race and how earth is on the brink of collapse. As he does not get a chance to convey his message, he ends up initiating the process of destruction of human race. What happens after that is the rest of the story! The movie scores only in the special effects part. Some of the logics in the movie were dumb. This movie is a remake of a movie made in 1951.



My rating: 7/10 (6.5 or less - Avoid, 8 or above - Worth watching, 9 or above- Very good and must watch)

Quantum of Solace

The apt line for this movie would be NOT NOT 7. Definitely nothing bond in this movie. The director has deliberately made sure that QOS does not have anything bond like in this movie. No gadgets.. No 'bond.James bond' dialogues! No grace or charisma of previous bond! No shake and stir of martinis! No Mr.Q for gadgets! Quantum of Solace is just another action movie with high octane action sequences but without a gripping story line. QOS is worth watching once if you like action movies or if you like Daniel Craig.



My rating: 8/10 (6.5 or less - Avoid, 8 or above - Worth watching, 9 or above- Very good and must watch)

Poem 7: Reflection

This is the recent poem from me called as 'Reflection'. It is about how and what the world reflects to one's thoughts.

Reflection

Smile and the world smiles with you
So they say which is true
Cry and you cry alone
Is that also known?

World is like a mirror
Reflects what is in you clearer
You only see what you want
So don't let the consequences taunt

What you see is not what you see
Unless your mind is set free
It is not in it
Its in you

Aladdin - Experience of watching a professional pantomime

Though I have never been to a professional pantomime before, I always wanted to watch one sometime. Not that I didn't have a chance but it is just that I am not much into pantomimes and dramas.

Once I heard about the pantomime 'Aladdin' which will be performed at Ipswich Regent Theatre (UK) for the Christmas and new year season, I booked the tickets along with couple of my colleagues for saturday evening performance of 'Aladdin' to watch a professional pantomime for the first time ever. Though I was excited about the pantomime as I already knew the Aladdin story, I must admit that I had bit of apprehension that the show should not be serious and boring. The theatre was packed with almost 60% plus crowd with most of them being families.

From the moment the pantomime started it was absolute entertainment. The crowd was loving every bit of it. So did I. The pantomime was scripted in an entertaining way to keep the spectators participating with loads of jokes and dialogues. The children were cheering loudly whenever Aladdin and the comedians (Harper brothers) as chinese policeman showed up on the stage. The kids were booing whenever the villian (Abanaazar) showed up on the screen. I noticed only after sometime that I was also clapping along with everyone whenever a scene got over. I found it bit strange when I noticed that the protagonist role of Aladdin was being played by a beautiful and versatile UK actress and singer - Debra stephenson. A lady playing a male role? Weird isn't it? But she was very entertaining and did full justice to the lead role.

The performance was having lot of dances for catchy tunes throughout. The dances by the students (including kids) of suffolk academy of dance and perfoming arts with nice costumes were good. The UK TV legendary fox (Stuffed fox) character 'Basil Brush' was playing the role of the chinese emperor and he was splendid with its jokes and 'Boom boom' catch phrase. Kids absolutely loved him. I saw so many kids buying the Basil brush stuff toys and dancing with it during the interval. There was a high speed car chase scene where Aladdin and the princess were goibng in a car on roads in the video projected on the screen. It was just brilliant. The setup of flying magic carpet on which Aladdin literally was flying on the stage, was the highlight of the pantomime. Full kudos to the arrangements.

The stage setup, flying palace setup, background screens, strobe lights, sound effects, specatular costumes and were all brilliant. I was thrilled to see the kids and parents standing up and dancing to the last dance number of the show. It was a lovely sight. After giving a standing ovation at the end, I walked out of the pantomime with smiles and thoughts that I should definitely recommend 'Aladdin' to all my colleagues and friends as I don't want them to miss this joyous experience.