Varun's Word

Talaash is the kind of movie which could have just been critically acclaimed and forgotten in a few weeks had the director Reema Kagti chosen to shoot with a bunch of freshers. But because she chose to cast three superstars despite a strong story, the movie is pitted to become a landmark in the supernatural thriller genres.

The movie needs to be taken seriously right from the opening scene. As small as a street’s dog’s howling will make sense once the suspense is revealed. The director has gone to the extent of mentioning the street dog in a dialogue.  We may think its just cheap comedy but its not. There are also a few shots where one might start feeling that Kareena is everywhere and listening to all the plots. This in no way is a flaw in the script. Everything would make sense once the suspense is revealed.

Aamir Khan is famous for his stint with experimentation. Although this movie may not be a huge revenue generator, but that should not deter his willingness to try new roles. He has portrayed the role of a depressed father with extreme sincerity. So much to the extent that he managed to roll out a few tears from the audiences towards the climax. One of them being a girl sitting next to me.

Rani appears with almost zero make-up and totally does justice to her role. Kareena looks dashing in this movie. All she does is smile and look pretty, but once the suspense is revealed, her role becomes even more important. Nawazuddin Siddique of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ fame comes up with a fine performance as the limping pimp.

Reema Katgi co-wrote the movie along with Zoya Akhtar. The dialogues were written by Farhan Akhtar. Its a great combination. Watch out for the scene where Aamir Khan repents the loss of his son and he keeps thinking of preventive alternatives that he could have taken to avoid his son’s death. Thats the director’s toast.

Ram Sampath is the unsung hero of this movie as he comes up with five songs and all five of them stand out and mesmerize. Usually Farhan Akhtar prefers Shankar Ehsan Loy but Ram Sampath has exceeded the stereotype.

Talaash has a unique story and is neatly executed. 4 stars !

–Varun Mannava Gowtham

Visual Ratings : 5 / 5

Overall Rating : 4 / 5

We know that the oceans look blue in color since they reflect the blue skies. In this movie, the same oceans look different in different shades of nature and different shades of life. To the extent that one might even get a feeling as if the ocean is a silent character in this movie. The ocean is calm and serene at times, vigorous and wild at other times. Dark and gloomy at times, bright and fluorescent at other times. Such is the cinematography by Claudio Miranda and the visual effects team.

The Titles introduce us to various zoo animals, being a life sciences student, i dint know 40% of the animals. Watch out for the mini surprises and creatives in the titles.

The movie proceeds as a narrative much to the delight of the book lovers. I haven’t read the book yet, so I will stay away from comparing the two. I don’t know how the book felt, but there is not a moment in the movie where the audiences feel unattached to the narrative. The movie is about Pi (Suraj Sharma) who survives a shipwreck and lives for months on a life boat with Richard Parkinson (Bengal Tiger).

Watch out for the territory marking scene between Pi and the Tiger on the life-boat, a major topic in animal behavior studies. The scene where Pi decides to teach the tiger who’s the alpha animal is pretty amusing.

The director Ang Lee has been shooting the movie for four years. It is justified in every single frame as to why he took so long to finish the movie. Suraj Sharma, the teenage Pi is the life and soul of this movie. He does look thinner and thinner as his days on the sea continue. Add to this there are amazing lines (I am guessing these must be from the book) that Pi delivers when his survival becomes hopeless. The line that says “I am unable to distinguish between day dreams and night dreams” is one such gem! The remaining cast portray their part very well.

Although the movie is a visual treat, it may not be suitable for kids. There are quite a few scenes which maybe disturbing or extremely depressing to watch. It makes one wonder that when 75% of the earth is covered with water, why hasn’t mankind evolved to survive on sea ?

The website is a treat to watch too ! http://www.lifeofpimovie.com/

–Varun Mannava Gowtham

Consciously or unconsciously A.R.Murugadoss has highlighted the all-round capabilities of the Indian Army in tackling a situation. Remember the confidence the nation witnessed when the commandos were air-dropped from a chopper on 26/11 in Mumbai? The army men can run, they can jump 6 feet walls, they can dive and swim away, they can shoot from a distance of 200 m accurately. Most importantly, they can plan and execute with exact precision. When it comes to saving the nation, nothing else forms the priority.

Jagadish is an army man, who is also part of DIA, goes home for a 40 day vacation. He witnesses a bomb blast. To him this is anti-national. He reacts to anti-nationals in a manner humans react to pests. No lock-up, no-trials, no explanations. Termination! He resorts to 3rd degree torture on anti-nationals, the kind of torture that is usually seen in RGV movies.

The major distraction to the movie is the track where the director wants vijay to get married to Kajal Agarwal. He is dealing with a grave situation in Mumbai, and how can anyone think of falling in love and running around trees. Tamil cinema needs to come out of this commercial scare and start making movies that are pure and focus on the plot. In recent times Billa 2 was one such mainstream movie which stuck to the plot without deviating too much. Thuppakki is a major let down in this segment. However considering Vijay’s larger than life image in action movies, this movie is the closest to logic.

Vidyut Jamal is a major strength to the movie. He hardly speaks, but his presence is imminent. His role as an antagonist will remain in audiences memory for a long time to come.

Santhosh Sivan’s cinematography is very effective. The background score by Harris Jayaraj provides the much needed energy to this movie.

And by taking a national topic such as terrorism, Murugadoss is now thinking big. There are all possibilities that this movie would be remade in Bollywood.

Repeat watching is highly recommended, not for the house-hold Jagdish, but for the army-man Jagdish (with the back-ground score running).

–Varun Mannava Gowtham

Quantum of Solace released first in India last year. None of the Indians understood it. It bombed in India. So this time they released Skyfall in the UK first. Got the UK critics to give it some 4 stars rating and then released it worldwide with larger than life expectations.

The movie does open up to the expectations and exceed it for the first 30 minutes. Then its all melody and old fashioned. Bond movies have a tradition of opening with action packed chase sequences in the first 20 mins. Casino Royale set the trend for this. Now every bond movie has to start the same way. This movie takes it to another level where they decide to shoot the bond. Adele’s skyfall track starts off and titles match up to the depth in her voice.

Watch out for the realistic action sequences on the train top. Jaguars and Range Rovers are the vehicles used by bond in the first half. Bond manages to deliver his punches with style but they were not as effective in the movie as they were in the trailer. Bond says “Everyone should have a hobby” ; Silva (the villain) says “So whats yours” ; Bond says “Resurrection!”. One of the best lines written in this movie.

There aren’t many of the fancy gadgets that bond uses in this movie other than a custom made pistol that can fire only by reading Bond’s palm. Signature statement pistol which bond never uses in the movie. He has an old fashioned radio detector.

Performance wise, it is Silva (Javier Bardem) who surpasses any of the Bond Villains till date. As a matter of fact, he creates a market for Bond Villains who can act apart from just playing the baddies. The story around him is nicely told and even nicely portrayed by Mr. Silva. His characteristics are as edgy as the Joker.

Sam Mendes, seems to be highly inspired by the Dark Knight series. There are a couple of instances that reminds us of Dark Knight, like the scene where Silva gets caught on purpose for a higher mission. Also the scene where M addresses the British Parliament on why the world still needs secret agents. Christopher Nolan written all over it.

Skyfall is apparently the house where Bond grew up and doesn’t like it too much. He was orphaned there. “Orphans make the best agents” says M. Unfortunately for Bond and for the audiences too, the events that happen in Skyfall (house) are the dullest and most old fashioned. You have to keep reminding yourself that you are watching a Bond movie and something will happen now. But that something never happens and everyone is more than happen to see the credits that says “Bond will return again!”. Ya and this time he better return with some nice gadgets, else the american secret service Agent Ethan Hunt would take a greater lead in this section.

Bond girls keep up to their reputation, especially Berenice Marlohe. So does Daniel Craig as the rustic bond.

–Varun Mannava Gowtham

Do you ever get a funny feeling when you see a person holding a camera in a photo or when you see a TV inside a TV or wallet inside a wallet ? Well this is a movie inside a movie. But it ain’t funny.

ARGO (Greek word for Swift) draws a very thin line between being a documentary vs being a mainstream movie. And it is mainstream enough to engage you for a good 120 minutes.

The movie is set in period backdrop of 1980’s where IRAN declares war on the united states embassy. Don’t miss the first five minutes which walks you through Iran history through a mini animation feature. All hell is set loose when Iranians capture the US embassy and the entire embassy staff are taken hostage except for 6 who manage to escape through the back door and get shelter in a Canadian embassy.

Ben Affleck plays the lead in the movie and also directs the movie. Quite a handful and he executes both roles with great ease. You get that intense feel when Ben Affleck lands in Iran and is awaiting Iranians buy his fake movie. The roles of 6 US citizens who escape are well portrayed especially Scoot McNairy. Watch him explain the plot of ARGO when theres a gun pointed in front of his face.

Why should anyone watch this movie? #1. It is very well thought out and very well executed. There is quite a good amount of humor thrown in (Argo F*** yourself is one such funny line). #2. It has got a unique script that not many would try to experiment in mainstream movies. The script has various challenges like espionage theme, 1980’s backdrop so an entire mob needs to be dressed in bell-bottoms but all these have been overcome convincingly. #3. This is how a movie should be made. Wannabe directors and film school students please take notes. #4. This is one movie in recent times, where the movie is as engaging and promising as the trailer. Need i say more ?

So next time you see a Swift pass by on the street, greet them saying Argo F*** yourself! They’ll understand if they have watched the movie + have read my enlightening review. Show them my review ok.

–Varun Mannava Gowtham

First things first! What makes Shekhar Kammula’s movies so like-able? The simple language used in dialogues and simple diction. The background scores and extremely enjoyable songs. In todays language we could call it “in-loop” songs. Lively locations, bright surroundings used in his movies. Freshers form part of his main cast. This may be because its easy for him to steer the movie in the right direction. In this season where a megastar can make or break a movie, a super-star director like Shekhar Kammula is the sole bet in Andhra Pradesh on which the film is betting. He kind of gets that Novelistic touch to his movies. Its like people waiting for minimum 2 years patiently for his next novel to come out. Although we have seen films based on cancer patients, its his treatment of the characters that makes this film more memorable than others.

All said and done, humans do get stale and redundant. Great geniuses come to a halt at some point in their life. Shekhar Kammula, the genius behind films like Anand, Godavari, Happy Days has reached the saturation point. Unless he takes up a genre and attacks it from his point of view, its seems more like a de-ja-vu scenario. There are numerous scenes in the movie that reminds us of scenarios from “Happy Days” movie. Was it intentional or overlooked? Thats when we realize that the director may have become redundant and may have ran out of ideas.

Although it looks more of a “Happy Days Chronicles” viewers are not complaining. Given the adulation and violence we see in movies these days, one director comes out with a movie where I can sit alongside my family and watch. And the movie touches the hearts of kids and adults alike. You walk out of the theater feeling fresh and promising about the life you have in hand.

Performances wise, the newcomers did a decent job. Apart from being attracted to hot women wearing traditional sarees and occasional brawls with the super rich bad guys, the three leading men don’t have major challenge to portray. The leading ladies are more than happy to flaunt around. Credit should go to the director in portraying the leading women in sarees and reminding the viewers that its cool too. Strong views towards usage of Telugu language too. The director is singing out a mild cultural message without being too preachy and boring. And it is for this intention that we should support his movie.

Mickey.J.Meyer, the music director, is almost like a tag team partner for Shekhar Kammula. This is their 3rd film in which music is a major box office hit.

“Life is beautiful” when you have money or when you have heart? Its for you to decide. Looking at the directors take on the super rich characters in the movie, his answer is clear.

–Varun Mannava Gowtham.