Top 5 Movies of 2007

After seeing too many top 5s & top 10s, I thought its my turn to rate the "My Top 5 Movies of 2007". This is purely based on the movies that I watched in the year 2007 and I must say it was a tough call to make the top 5. What an year it was and here you go...

1. Taare Zameen Par - An out of the world movie experience. Hats off to Aamir, Amol & Darsheel.
2. Guru - Who else can make a bio-pic as interesting as Mani Sir could do in the Indian film industry.
3. Mozhi - A movie that told the outside world that even Tamil film industry can stand up to the likes of Munnabhai's.
4. Chak De India - An inspiring movie that proved the world that Shahrukh Khan is NOT all about stammering & lover boy. Given a chance King Khan will never miss an opportunity to ROCK!
5. Om Shanti Om & Sivaji for their "no-nonsense-only-pure-entertainment" value.

And here is wishing you all a very happy, safe & prosperous new year!!!

Billa 2007 - I'm tired of walking!!!

I should have stopped with Taare Zameen Par - as the last movie of this year. But the relentless movie freak in me pushed me to see Billa 2007.

If you look at the movies that I have seen this year (all have been reviewed in this blog), Billa comes right down the list in the last position. I'm not going to write more about Billa.

To sum it up - Billa walks & walks & walks - making the viewers to feel as if they came into the theatre in a sleep walking mode.

Taare Zameen Par - Review

Year 2007 was packed with pleasant surprises as far as movies are concerned. I guess this is a land mark year where the quality of Indian cinema has raised by few feet and Taare Zameen Par glitters like a Kohinoor diamond in the impressive list of movies.

IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) TZP is the BEST film to be released in 2007 and it will take years together for anyone to move it out of the top 5 films of Hindi Cinema.

The movie is about a Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) with dyslexic disorder and how he manages to overcome the disorder with the help of his teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan). At the outset, it may look like a regular “under dog-overcoming-the-obstacles” kind of a movie. But what makes it stand out and shine is the way in which the script (by Amole Gupte) is treated by the director (Aamir Khan) – and I must say that both Amol and Aamir are the pillars of this movie. It’s not easy for anyone to come up like a script like this – and it’s not an everyday affair where a director can make full justice to the script. And by doing this, the clear winner is the producer (Aamir again) – where his name will certainly be in the history of cinema for having un-doubted faith in such a script and producing a classic. And Taare Zameen Par will surely tell the world loud and clear that Indian Cinema can compete with world classics that come from countries like Italy, Iran, China & Korea.

Darsheel Safary as Ishaan Awasthi will find his place in the ”top 10 performers” of Indian Cinema (mind you I’m not even considering him as a child actor). Only very few actors can shoulder a complete movie and Darsheel is a “blessed” & “gifted” actor who got this opportunity at such a young age. It’s been such a long time that I saw such an out-of-world performance and believe me, he is a genius and child prodigy. The only other child actor who can come a bit closer is Shamli for performing the mentally retarded child in Anjali. And I have no doubts that Aamir had given his heart & soul to get this soul-stirring performance from Darhseel. And here I must mention the camera work by Setu – he is remarkable in capturing even the minute expression from the gifted-boy Darsheel. Though I don’t have a dyslexic disorder, I saw myself in Ishaan in many shots – and that’s the true victory of this script. And I guess it’s true with everyone who watched TZP – the script will easily make you related to the world of Ishaan.

Aamir Khan as an actor only finishes last – for he is beaten hollow by the director & producer. Aamir as Ram Shankar Nikumbh is awesome – but honestly speaking this is a role tailor made for SRK and there were a few scenes I could see SRK in Aamir (especially the one where he talks about various personalities having dyslexic disorder).

Tisca Chopra (Mrs. Awasthi) as Ishaan’s mother is outstanding. Watch out the climax where she comes to know that Ishaan is indeed doing well and she has just lived that character. It is an extremely honest performance and it will not be possible unless you relate to the child honestly!!!!

IMHO, the only sore thumb is in the way in which Mr. Awasthi’s (Vipin Sharma) character is presented. Vipin seems to have overacted a bit in certain shots and I wish we could have had a much better performance – for this is a character that will make an impact in the minds of parents.

Otherwise, the other characters in the movies are very realistic (the principal, teachers, Ishaans elder brother, Ishaans desk mate in the boarding school) and have done complete justice to the script.

Even if you haven’t watched movies for years together, I would strongly recommend watching TZP – for it will definitely provide a different perspective towards kids and their lives. I could see that so evident in the theatre where almost everyone stood in the theatre till end credits rolled out completely and I could see most of the people going out of the theatre moist-eye, kissing & hugging their kids.

And finally to Aamir Khan:

Yours truly is “yet-to-become-a-parent” – and this movie will be in my mind forever as a reference when I bring up my kid. I owe you a lot for coming up with such a classic and I’m sure the same will be the case with others who watched Taare Zameen Par! Keep up the good work and get ready for the awards & adulations that will shower on you & Darsheel Safary in 2008.

Evano Oruvan - Review

Evano Oruvan captures your attention from the very first frame till the very end – with some power-packed performance by Madhavan and Sangeetha.

At the outset it may look like a usual story – where the protagonist takes into violence to cleanse the system. But if you get into the detail you will find that it’s not in the league of films like Gentleman, Anniyan or Ramana. That is the plus and minus of Evano Oruvan from a commercial success point of view. Most people might tend to put this into the Anniyan kind of movies and outright reject it. And there can other section of crowd that may understand that it deals with the emotional side of an individual and appreciate the movie and even call it a classic. And "yours truly" certainly belongs to the latter crowd.

The movie is about an individual (or should I call it “You”) who leads a mechanical life and is frustrated about the system – where anything and everything is tied to money. Though all of us would have undergone one such humiliation or frustration – we don’t end up taking it too personally – rather try to put up with the system and keep moving forward with some “hope”. Sridhar Vasudevan is also one such individual – but the continuous push from the system makes him “out-of-mind” – where in from the state of having just unanswered questions in mind – he moves to a state where he vents out his anger. Imagine if all of us get into such a state of mind!!! As the movie progresses – you too get engrossed into the emotional journey of Sridhar Vasudevan. In specific watch out for the emotional out burst of Sridhar Vasudevan in the middle of the night – where he talks about the greediness and why majority of the people are willing to go against the rulebook – or rather why very few individuals tend to go by the rulebook – there by alienated from the society and seen as jokers. Nishikanth Kamath (Director) made a smart move by having the police officer (Seeman) character as general public’s conscience – by making him go through the pain & agony of Sridhar Vasudevan. What makes this movie a classic is that by the end of the movie the police officer kills Sridhar Vasudevan in an encounter attack and then comes to know that the pistol carried by Sridhar Vasudevan didn’t even have a single bullet – thereby making a strong statement that society will always try to curb the ones who asks fundamental questions and fight for ones fundamental right – even though he/she didn’t intend to do anything wrong!!!!

Madhavan as Sridhar Vasudevan has given a fantastic performance and he is surely one of the actors who could make you cry. Watch out the scene where Sridhar Vasudevan calls his wife (Sangeetha as Vatsala). And you have to give it to Sangeetha – all I could say is Tamil cinema has missed out to capitalize on her talents. If she was a revelation in Pitha magan – she has now proved that it’s not a flash in the pan.

Seeman as the police officer is not too convincing. There are far more actors who could have done a great job in this role.

And the key thing to mention here are the dialogues. It’s mind-blowing and I was really surprised to see Madhavan has the dialogue writer – with supervision from Seeman. It’s simple yet powerful.

Nishikanth Kamath is the director of the movie – who did Dombilivi Fast (the original) in Marathi. A special thanks to him – for providing one of the best movies in Tamil Cinema. And hats off for his guts to make a movie without even a single song or comedy track or any other masala items – and yet making it very short and racy.

Evano Oruvan will certainly be a milestone in Tamil cinema and let’s give a warm welcome to Madhavan for getting into the league where we have the likes of Balachandar, Kamal Hassan, Prakash Raj, Bala, Radha Mohan, Ram (Katrathu Tamizh).