Delhi 6 **** (The journey within)

Movie Details Drama

Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Om Puri, Waheeda Rahman,  Rishi Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni
Divya Dutta, Deepak Dobriyal, Cyrus Sahukar

Release Date February 20, 2009

Screenwriter
Producer Ronnie Screwvala
Music A.R. Rahman
Cinematography Binod Pradhan

Runtime 138 minutes
Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Writers Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Kamlesh Pandey

Website http://www.delhi6.co.in/

Review

The first few minutes into the movie and I am thinking : PSYCHEDELIC

It takes you from normal to very high powered activity and then some dull moments and then a thoughtful climax.

I think people who are very close to Delhi and know Delhi very well will find a connection with the movie. But the social message with the inimitable brand of Indian humor will not go un-noticed.

You will be blasted with the musical and theatrical display of the characters, sometimes it would be too much. I liked it as I like musicals of any kind. But I could see that many did not.

So anyway,  the story could be woven from someone’s daily life and the first half of the story makes you think where is it leading upto ? Is it a la Nukkad ( an old TV serial ) or Ek Chaabi Hai Pados mein ( another TV serial on the same lines) but then as we move with the characters and the story, its like looking inside ourselves and that too not so comfortably.  I liked the way it went from silly to really serious. It was a magnified and a detructive form of Cinese Whisper game where religion, politics, superstitions and whole social framework gets exploited into this grizzly drama where no one is recognizable. Only our fear and guilt rules. But like the law of nature, the flip side of the coin also is shown where the result of this outburst also removes all layers and ilusions and forces us to face the fact that we could be led anywhere and its our choice as to what and where we want to be. Also the fact that we do not need to be outside the system to make the system work. We need to do it from inside and it starts from us individuals. I like the message that inspite of everything India Works !!!

So maybe the movie has too much of music. You might not have the patience for it if you do not enjoy plays or nautankis. But otherwise, its cool. I love all the songs. The Genda Phool song is stuck to my head.

Characters are very well placed. I liked the fact that each character has a story for you to weave. I love the sense of humor in very droll scenes.

Romance between Abhishek and Sonam : ZILCH

I don’t know if it was deliberate or the movie was trying to be subtle about the romantic angle. I thought it was too subtle and was invisible.

Anyway if you want to read about the music check this

I would also recommend this review. I liked the way it was written. I felt that she connected with the story well.

Valkyrie ** (Many saw evil. They dared to stop it.)

Movie Details Drama

Release date December 25, 2008 (US)

Starring Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Eddie Izzard
Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson
Music John Ottman
Cinematography Newton Thomas Sigel
Editing John Ottman
Distributed MGM

Running time 120 min
Director Bryan Singer
Writer Christopher McQuarrie, Nathan Alexander
Producer Christopher McQuarrie, Bryan Singer, Gilbert Adler

Review

Well, having seen some good true stories made like Schindler’s List and I did expect some good watch time.. but then this movie has been predictable and somewhat boring to the end.

It was as if you could walk through the script and even predict who will do what..

Mind you, I did not know the story of Stauffenberg in detail. However, I remember some mention of it in the mini series by Hitler.

I did think that the cinematography was good and the editing was also decent. But I would expect that the writer would keep you on the edge of the story given how explosive the plot was.

There were many scenes where the emotion and the suspense could have been explored further to keep the audience thrilled. But then it just did not work for me.

Maybe it will work for you. 

Pink Panther 2 ** ( Inspect the unexpected)

Movie Details Adventure | Comedy | Family | Mystery

Release date 6 February 2009 (USA)

Starring Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Alfred Molina, Emily Mortimer, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Andy García, Yuki Matsuzaki, Johnny Halliday

Running time 92 min

Producer Robert Simonds
Writer Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber

Director Harald Zwart

Review

This movie had a mixed reaction from me. Steve Martin is funny but not great. I did like the Pink Panther 1 better though. The entry of Ash just did not add that zing which you can feel when a slinky character comes in. Someone like Uma Thurman or like Catherine Zeta Zones. She only made the movie droller, if possible.

I still maintain that there are very few sequels that have held the same power as the main story. Like most sequels, it did fall flat.  There are moments of humor but then we have seen that before and it was no longer as funny as to have a good laugh.

Watch it in the DVD or watch the first one if you have not seen it already. You might enjoy that.

A very forgettable movie !