I’ve wanted to blog about a lot of things I’ve been up to recently such as publishing papers and contemplating a book and reading several books, including Ashok Banker’s Ramayana series and a bunch of mathematical experiments with the binomial distribution applied to nonlinear dynamics. I haven’t found the time for blogging about these things because of what keeps me occupied the rest of the time – work.

I made time today to blog about Paa – the new R Balakrishnan movie starring the Bachchan father-son duo and Vidya Balan. I saw the movie today and liked it immensely. Most of a movie’s impact is in the story, in its writing, and I think R Balki has written the script well, if not perfectly. The performances by both Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan are great and they’ve pulled off the role reversal very well indeed. Vidya does adequately well, if only a bit too schmaltzy in places. (Did I mention that she looked ravishing?) Paresh Raval is a comic genius but doesn’t fit into this movie too well – he neither plays the politician dad convincingly, nor is his humour used effectively. Amitabh really steals the show with his performance as a 12 year old with Progeria, a genetic disorder that causes accelerated aging, enough to rob a child’s youth and reduce life-expectancy to between ten and twenty years. Amitabh’s acting is excellent, although his juxtaposition with actual kids of his age makes him seem a tad out of place – and I don’t know how people couldn’ t find his make up hideous – but having said that, I find his performance praiseworthy.

A notable feature of the screenplay of this film is how the story is conveyed in breeze-through snippets – not because this is new, but because it is used effectively. Groups of these snippets are used to tell stories in parallel to the main narrative, but the director doesn’t take away from the narrative and confuse the audience in the process. Balki seems to respect the intelligence of his audience, and this is to be lauded. I have seen far too many Bollywood movies that are an insult to intelligence, these are like watching someone beating a dead horse (set to Punjabi music, of course, and throw in gaudy costumes).

Amitabh has managed to convey the infectious enthusiasm of a more-than-twelve-year-old and a sort of blunt, precocious manner – the scenes with the school kids are hilarious as are the moments between father and son spent at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The movie is endearing for its ability to showcase people who have made decisions with compassion – Vidya’s decision to have her baby out of wedlock, and her decsion to care for her child despite its condition are somewhat moving. The couple’s coming together because of their child is incredible but feels like poetic justice, except when it gets cheesy at the end with the couple performing a saptapadhi around the ailing child. Overall, I loved the true-to-life and frank feel of the movie although aspects of it were unconvincing – such as Amol’s complete incorruptibility and his dad’s pliability – and these are so perhaps because of my coloured perceptions of how politicians should be. Having said that, the media-bashing scenes in the movie are vindictive and more importantly, satisfying. A word about the soundtrack – I found an old Ilayaraja number in a Malayalam movie recycled into a song on this movie – anyone care to educate me on the track? I’ve heard it being performed by Balabhaskar (a well known violinist) too.

All in all, Paa is a good watch, worth my money and better than most recent Bollywood movies.

PAA REVIEW

Jigar Shah, Bollywood News Service

It irks the life out of you when a movie screening is delayed by two hours…but who would mind waiting for two hours to see the cute Auro of Paa on screen. As the movie was about to begin my Paa called up to ask ‘when are you coming home?’ some coincidence make you happy.

Paa is story of a mother (Vidya Balan), father (Abhishek Bachchan), grandmother (Anuradha Naag) and Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) .Vidya and Abhishek are Auro’s parents but Abhishek has no clue about his son being in this world. After Auro is born, Vidya comes to know that he suffers from Progeria; thankfully, progeria is treated like any other ailment, far away from gaining any sympathy for Auro.

Coming to performances, Amitabh Bachchan steals your heart as the adorable 12 year old. It amazes you how much has Mr. Bachchan observed kids on that age, he behaved exactly as kids that age would. He is intelligent and smart, check out scene where Auro tells him, it is bad manners to read someone else’s mails. It is very difficult to get a child like excitement but Mr. Bachchan gets it out effortlessly. His excitement to go to Rashtrapati Bhavan will make everyone remind of being excited about something or the other in his or her childhood. He also likes to show-off to his friends, when he speaks to MP Amol ( Abhishek), he walks to his friends with his head up and says ‘talk to me respectfully, I know the MP’, His monkey dance has already become famous. He looks every bit of Auro but there are certain gestures that tell you that Auro is Mr. Bachchan.

Vidya Balan is one of the strong pillars of the film, check her out in the song ‘Mudi Mudi’ she has never looked so fresh and desirable ever. Her scene when she tells her mom about her pregnancy before marriage shows why she is such a good actor. She plays mother to Auro to the T, she knows which buttons to press to make Auro come out of his room and to make sure he eats his khichdi. She looked exquisite in her cotton saris.

Abhishek Bachchan is the strongest pillar in the film. He plays an MP Amol Atre, who wants to do well for the society and does. Paa is an acid test for him because he has to stand tall against his own father, who is already creating waves for Auro. He does stand tall to the competition; you cannot miss his expression when he sees Auro for the first time. They way he loses his anger, when Auro refuses to enter Rashtrapati Bhavan, the first time he sees Auro’s room have been performed as an actor who has spent years honing his acting skills. His chemistry with Auro just lights put the screen check out the MP Bum Blast scene and the Potty Minister scenes they are too funny. Weight loss suits Abhishek and he has never looked so young, in any of his films. You cannot miss Abhishek’s performance in the scene where Vidya tells him she is pregnant and how he asks her to abort the child. Abhishek and Mr. Bachchan look father-son and you do not even think what they are doing is a role-reversal.

Balki had proved his talent as a director in ‘Cheeni Kum’, but here you need to pat him on back for a film like Paa. Not only for a unique concept but also for treating the film in a very refreshing manner. Some scenes were such that they take you by surprise, like when the media get to know about Amol and Vidya’s love affair and they have a kid in form of Auro, they come to question Amol about it. He says, “I should have used a condom but I’m thankful that I didn’t and that is why I have a son like Auro. Through your channel I want to ask Vidya, ‘will you marry me?’’. He presented the film in such a way that looks like I am peeping into my neighbor’s house to see what is happening. Being an ad film director he was fast with his narrative, he established the love between Abhishek and Vidya in exactly five minutes. However, in the beginning 30-35 minutes he does subconsciously give a touch Indian touch to the film, as far as visuals are concerned.

A big shout out to Kristen Timble and Domnique the make-up artist for Auro look, they have done a remarkable look for the film. You could see the brain nerves of Auro; such was the detailing of their make-up. . Music of Ilaiyaraja is good, especially ‘Mudi Mudi’, cinematography P C Sreeram is A-class. Balki also excels as the dialogue writer in the film; the way lines are written is amazing. Some of them are subtle; Paresh Rawal who plays Abhishek’s father is behind Abhishek to get married. Abhishek says he is not interested; suddenly Paresh turns around and ask ‘Are you gay? There were claps for a particular scene where Vishnu is comparing himself to his father and telling it to Auro, it is hilarious. In addition, when Abhishek comes to know that Auro is his son, he has a confrontation scene with Vidya, where he says ‘Auro is also my son’ to this Vidya replies “Just by lending your sperm doesn’t give the right to be his father’. Anuradha Naag and Paresh Rawal are effective in their parts.

The film is worth every penny of your ticket, popcorn and cola.

Sreesanth proved that aggression is not necessary for any bowler, however instinctive and unintentional it may be. And so is sledging. The best way is to prove yourself as a bowler is to take wickets like he did at Kanpur.

If he was a surprise and so was Jaya Bachchan raising concern in the Rajya Sabha about the public embarassment we are headed for with the way the Commonwealth Games are being planned. Calling for Suresh Kalmadi’s head would have been ideal, but ….

And then there was the unexpected announcement that the government is serious about age cheaters. That the tampering of school and birth certificates to ensure big fishes level in the pond meant for smaller players, will be considered as serious as doping was very heartening. Now if only intentions were horses.

Aladin Amitabh Bachchan bollywood international new hindi releases aladin indian upcoming movies 2009.Watch Video

What is there to say about an actor that has withstood the vagaries of time for over 40 years? Governments in India changed, the Indian economy metamorphosed, India went from being known as a country where westerners came to ‘soul-search’ and smoke Ganja with Sadhus to one having the best brains in IT, the tiny-tots of movie stars went on to follow their illustrious (and some not-so illustrious) fathers/mothers’ footsteps in Bombay and the regional film industries, the Indian film music scene was revolutionized by the advent of Mr. A.R. Rahman and later by being the first Indian-born musician to win an Oscar (and more importantly, still operating from India!)-but one man, only the one man, held most of the nation enthralled with his histrionics year after year, decade after decade. That this actor’s following just cuts across generations is proof enough that one might like or hate him, nobody—and I repeat, nobody—can touch him with a barge pole and say he isn’t an accomplished actor. Whether the person is a stead-fast loyalist of the old-world charm of the likes of Mr. Motilal or  Mr. Dilip Kumar; whether the person’s frame of reference is the new school of ‘acting’ dominated by 8-pack-abs- first- and-acting-later of the likes of Mr. Hrithik Roshan or Mr. Salman Khan, they all agree that Mr. Bachchan’s talent is indeed, unique. He didn’t take his audience or his star-status for granted; whether the movies he acted in were of trash-quality or gem-quality, his craft shone through them equally bright.

Mr. Amitabh Bachchan has been entertaining the Indian film audiences – TV audiences too— with his acting prowess and skills with the same zeal and passion that he had in 1969. And it’s 2009 now. He gave us DEEWAR, SHAKTI, DON, etc., then. He has now given us SARKAR, CHEENI KUM, KHAKEE, and BLACK. And his mastery over the medium just blasts through the screen every time his frame appears on-screen.

Agreed that as a person born during the mid-70’s and a cinema-loving child that endlessly imitated Mr. Bachchan’s mannerisms from movies like SHAAN or DON, I am a fanatic follower of the actor. But I have tried to be as objective as possible. Reams of paper cannot do justice to describe this phenomenon called Amitabh Bachchan. And on his 67^th birthday, this is just a tiny effort to explain why Mr. Bachchan means what he means to his plethora of fans. I am picking just 4 of his brilliant performances, which I feel were somehow under-rated. Rock on Mr. Bachchan, and just keep on rocking.

SILSILA (1981) –

By 1981, Mr. Bachchan had already patented the emotions of raw fury and anger in his portrayals. Then came along Kabhie Kabhie, and later, Silsila, a movie way, way ahead of its times—a movie that showed the director Mr. Yash Chopra’s mastery over the depiction of romance on the silver-screen (which sadly deteriorated post-Lamhe into all gloss but no soul). Mr. Bachchan displayed another side to his powerhouse talent in his portrayal of the infidel husband. The sensitivity in his depiction of a die-hard romantic/poet/philosopher is really hard to beat. Just watch him flirt unabashedly with Rekha in the song ‘Rang Barse’ or even better, when he decides to leave his wife and has a sit-down with her to explain to her his decision to leave. His expressions convey a multitude of objectives; that of the guilt on deceiving his wife, that of an escapist in trying to give reasons to his wife for the decision; and, that of helplessness. So powerful is his portrayal that in that particular scene, the audience has no choice but to believe him when he says that it is ‘destiny’s’ fault and not his, for the situation involving him, his wife, and his lover. So heart-rending is the way he infuses life into those beautifully written lines, that the audience almost agrees that it is not the man’s fault, but destiny’s that he turns out to be unfaithful!

SAUDAGAR (1973)—

This is one gem of a movie, rooted in Indian soil so deep that one could almost smell the fragrance. I guess Mr. Bachchan took on this film before the star-dust of stardom yanked him away from such realistic gems. And that is a complaint I will always have. Watch him in this movie and you can realize what he, us, and directors like Mr. Shyam Benegal or Mr. Satyajit Ray missed by not having him star in their movies. It is a complete anti-thesis to his ‘macho’ and angst-ridden persona he embodied later in his commercial madness. I watched this movie a few years back and do not remember exactly each and every scene. But I remember being just awe-struck after watching his performance in this movie. He plays a character so human and to such perfection that never once, and never ever once, during the entire length of this movie do you remember him to be the ‘super-star’ that he is. And remember, I watched this movie only 6-7 years back, after being privy to enjoying all the Hrishikesh Mukherjee-Chopra-Prakash Mehra-Desai-Ram Gopal Varma movies. His perfect portrayal completely wiped out all the hang-over I had of his ‘super-star’ movies! He plays a simple gurd-selling villager who has all the insecurities and selfishness—and maybe more— of the ordinary man. So deftly he portrays the emotions of angst, jealousy, selfishness, and helplessness that one is just stunned and mesmerized by the range that this man possesses when it comes to his craft. It covers a gamut of emotions from lust, to connivance, to greed, to selfishness, to insecurity, to anger, to helplessness, and to redemption. He just nails it, spot-on.

NISHABDH (2007) –

The film begins with Mr. Bachchan standing on the precipice of a hill attempting  suicide. But he doesn’t have the guts. He is weak, emotionally very, very, weak. And his name is Vijay. Vijay? Weak? Thinking of suicide? Yes, it’s the same name; the same Vijay who fought—and killed if he had to— to live his life the way he wanted to in all his other movies. In one cinematic moment, Mr. Ram Gopal Varma, and definitely more so, Mr. Bachchan, successfully blow to smithereens the image of a strong and unyielding Vijay of yore who was always above his emotions, not beneath them. The closest he came to this stage was in KAALA PATTHAR, but again, that weakness was channeled into a brilliant portrayal of latent anger. Mr. Bachchan is just extraordinarily effective as a man caught between the societal morals and that hidden, free-wheeling emotional dynamite in any human being-particularly if that being happens to be of an introverted character. The emotional graph that the actor draws on screen when a matchstick in the form of an 18-year old girl lights up the dormant dynamite is unconquerable—and just impossible for any other actor to better. This is a portrayal so superlative that it just makes weaknesses and emotional instability in life so very appealing to the audience. One just feels compelled to tell the character of Vijay to throw away all obligations and run along with the brazen carelessness of the 18 year old Jiah. The pitch of his performance is more than perfect. Even when he raises his voice, there is mellowness and a subdued nature to his dialogue delivery and demeanor that never ever let the audience forget that this is an introverted man, and will remain so, even if he were to be occasionally stirred by the storm of passion. Isn’t that the hallmark of great performers? This ability to use the same emotions, and then peel different layers off of them?

That the audience and the media alike killed the movie even before its release has been and will always remain my bone of contention. Before the release, it was portrayed as a voyeuristic, Lolita-esque movie; and after, it was a slow, boring movie. Agreed, that cinematically, this one could have been a more fluidly made movie. But it was never, ever, given a fair judgment. It was analyzed for what it was supposed to be, but not for what it was. This is definitely a way above-average movie from Mr. Ram Gopal Varma. Thank you RGV—and thank you Hrishida for balancing a YAARANA with your BEMISAL and many alike before RGV. We –at least I—owe you one for capturing this incomparable actor in an outstanding performance. I rate this performance of his as THE best; better than SARKAR, KHAKEE, and all the other appreciated ones in his post KBC phase.

Mr. Spacey, you were wonderful in AMERICAN BEAUTY, but then, in 1999, NISHABDH wasn’t made yet, and Mr. Bachchan doesn’t act in Hollywood movies, and Hollywood (read the Oscars) didn’t know (want to?) know of an actor named Amitabh Bachchan from India. It still doesn’t recognize this non-English actor; and will probably never know what it is missing.

BOOM (2003)

I know I am going to face huge flak for considering this to be one of his under-rated ones. Say what you will about the movie, but do try to look at Mr. Bachchan’s performance objectively. I was shocked that on the first day of the movie release, there were countless ‘fans’ of Mr. Bachchan outside cinema theaters protesting against the fact that he was playing an offensive, profane character mouthing double entendre-ridden dialogues. And I couldn’t help but sigh thinking,’ Here’s another facet to this man’s acting portfolio that will never again be given a chance to be explored.’ Nevertheless, I saw the movie, and just loved his free-wheeling performance. And I just could not help but remember Mr. Naseeruddin Shah’s statement that the only actor in this world who is better than his movies is Mr. Bachchan. Seeing him play a psychotic retard was such a joy and he so successfully negated his suave and charismatic image of a learned, classy host on KBC with this portrayal. He played an offensive man to the hilt. He was crass and crude, just what the character expected him to be. Watch him read a comic book, lust after models, or ride a kiddies’ car with gay abandon, and you will just be repulsed by his character. But wasn’t that the point?

=====Aneesh (An Jo)

(This is a very old post of mine, that suddenly went missing from my blog. After a lot of searching…..I have unearthed it from somewhere. I cannot backdate it, and so I have no other alternative than post it right up here. Read it, if you already haven’t.)

Mr Amitabh,

Give me the real Bachchan.

I admit that you are one of the few actors to have evolved so finely. But I cannot help but miss the Bachchan who walked into theatres amidst deafening whistles.

The Bachchan who triggered a frenzy even before the censor certificate appeared. The Bachchan who kicked us out of bed to rush to the theatres and join a snake long queue. The Bachchan who made us sacrifice the popcorn during intervals. The Bachchan who kept us glued onto the seat even if our bladders were bursting. The Bachchan who’s films were reserved to only be screened during Diwali on Doordarshan. The Bachchan that made us aware of theatres we never knew existed. The Bachchan who made us grin and bear the shaky lines that appeared and reappeared in the rented VHS tapes.  The Bachchan where nothing else mattered as long as it was Bachchan.

If I had to pick up a poster of you to adorn my walls, it would still be from the pile of your earlier films.

If a Rajni can still do a Sivaji, why not you?

How can you enter the screen without background music anymore? Why is there no grand revelation to the God on screen? Why does the camera not take it’s time to scan you from toe to head?Why is there even an inch of space between you and the edge of the screen? Why are your opening lines not drowned in the din of the audience? Why is there no reverb to your baritone voice when you utter those first golden words? Why do you not do things that a Naseer or Om Puri can never dream of doing?

There are a hundred actors for us to go ‘wah wah’ about their acting skills. But there is still only one Bachchan to imitate in front of the mirror. So why have you stepped into those easily replaceable meaningful roles? Why have you retraced your steps to being an actor again?

If all this is an attempt to cater to the new generation that wants ‘Bollywood’ to resemble ‘Hollywood’, then what happens to the crores of front benchers like me? Who do we turn to? How long do we rerun those pirated dvds? How many more dvds will you make us buy, by just changing the cover? When do we see you with DTS put to full use? When do we see the seats of multiplexes ripped apart? When do we buy in black again? When will you give us new fodder with which we could spend a few more years happily trying to imitate? When will you stop breaking the formula? When will you surprise us with a cliche that’s now rare?

‘Vijay Dinanath Chauhan…gaon Mandwa……’,

“line wahin se shuru hoti hai, jahaan hum khade hote hai’

‘Ae kancha, bandookh bhi dikhatha hai aur peeche bhi hat tha hai?’

‘Aadmi aisa do heech time bhaagtha hai, olympic ka race ho ya police ka case’……

Don’t you miss saying those lines anymore than competing with mere mortals who are hiding in the shadow of realism? Specially, when you’ve unanimously been granted the license to leap far out of it.

Don’t worry about the New Gen. After all, they are a giggly lot, laughing at silly MTV spoofs of your masterpieces, with no impact of the original on them. Moreover, there are sufficient people who’ve been put in the business to keep them happy. There are enough ‘thinking directors’ catering to them, engaged in remaking foreign flicks or inspired renditions of them. That should keep them busy in comparing it with the original. They have a good understanding going on between themselves. Leave them alone to enjoy that nonsense.

In the meanwhile, please spare a thought to forgotten front benchers like me and wake up the sleeping Salim Javeds, Kader Khans and Tinnu Anands, and let’s start from where we left off last….

Was it Hum?

Bhaktavar…Mein aaaa raha hoon…….tan tan tan tadang taaaaaaaaaannnnnnng…

Now go.

Hi,

I am very happy to hear about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being called with her hubby for the Oprah Winfrey show.

Here is a photo tribute to one of the most beautiful woman on the planet.

In the form of a slide show

let me know if you like this, so I could make a few more

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s next film Action Replay, with Akshay Kumar in the lead, is underway with the film’s director Vipul Shah signing up Oscar winning make up artist Paul Pattison to create a new look for Ash and Akshay in the film.

Despite having signed up the best in the industry, Vipul could not get the actors and the make up artist together, as Ash is busy with Mani Ratnam’s Ravan, Pattison couldn’t make it having committed himself to two projects in Hollywood – Chicane and The Waiting City.

However, things turned out well with Ash taking a short break from Ravan and the director immediately contacted Pattison’s producers in Hollywood to have him released for a few days to work in his project. Sources say that Paul has worked out a new look for both the lead actors in Action Replay.

ramgopal varma’s latest movie arouses no interest in me at all. i feel that he has lost the touch, somehow. i haven’t enjoyed any of his movies in the last 5 years. i did like the odd sarkar, but that was more due to the star factor of coming together of bachchans under one umbrella etc.

anyways, as expected this movie too falls under the same bracket of ‘plz avoid’ and ’save time, save money’. it will soon be telecast on tv, for sure.

nevertheless, lemme dish out a fe of the choicest words that critics have used, to describe this movie

Ram Gopal Varma’s thriller is seriously, decidedly, indisputably funny — in the ridiculous dialogues recycled by the characters (seems the writers ran out of words), in the forced, schmaltzy romantic interludes, and even the way almost all the characters in this ensemble cast are hurriedly bumped off or turn suicidal so that the lead pair can carry on with their lives.

if the above quote was not enough read this

You want to know what a reputed director does in his spare time with his spare group of lackeys and technicians. Well, he goes to a jungle and makes his characters play Ringa-Ringa-Roses around the same spot, dunks them in water and bumps them off. The more irrelevant you are, the earlier you die.

i could go on placing more sinppets, but i would rather recommend u to read the review yourself. click here to read the entire review.

there is yet another review which is a little more considerate towards the movie. check this out

Agyaat is neither The Blair Witch Project nor Cloverfield which may be obvious inspirations but were different because of the real-time, documentary feel that both films had. Agyaat reminds you more of the early seasons of the hit TV series Lost, where even the audience has no clue what it is exactly that is attacking the characters.

here are some more reassuring words that the movie is quite bearable

It’s not great cinema, it isn’t intended to be; Agyaat is an event picture which delivers a few good thrills. With a tighter first-half and a slicker pace and minus those two redundant item songs, this might have been a more compelling ride.

read the full review by clicking here.

i shall skip this movie, and maybe not even watch it on dvd or tv premiere. just waiting for rgv’s rann