Quick review: Munna Bhai Lage Raho

Wow what a movie. Clearly the best movie I’ve seen (this year) even better than Rang De Basanti. The comparison is apt… but I can’t explain without adding some spoilers (and so I won’t).

Lage Raho was genuinely funny. And appealled to the idealistic side in me… the side that believed there was something good and it is possible to achieve it. And in that sense, raised important social/even theological questions.

Of course there were cinematic problems. Like the part right after the intermission where they do an extended “help-drama” sequence… and the ending was a bit stretched and filmy. And the relationship between Munna and that girl… hmm… ok… not so overly done as I feared it could have been… but still a bit too stereotypical/flat for genuine cinema. I guess expecting a girl to fall for a professor premise was a bit far fetched in the manner it was portrayed.

But come-on. Compare these with the moments of sheer pleasure found sprinkled everywhere… Munna/Circuit relationship/conflict/resolution… psychological realism (when Munna realises what he sees! wow)… and also some moments where you actually feel the “solutions” are possible… were all beautiful.

I have so much more to say about the film and I might add to this review. But in conclusion I was to emphasis that this is clearly a must-see film. And certainly one of the best Hindi films of this decade.

Pixar’s next: The trail has begun

So I was just browsing AppleTrailers and happened to see this Trailer.

My first impressions of the Ratatouille (oh it’s so smart to give the phonetic hint rat-a-too-ee) was that I was intrigued and yet only mildly excited. I know it agrees with my view that Pixar should be a little more multi-ethnic… but then, France… hmmm… I guess that is a safe bet.

I was most surprised by the director credits: Brad Bird! I didn’t realise he was doing this. I thought they had another director on the helm. Thus, I guess it would be exciting, but the trailer just didn’t hit me. Maybe the marketting people wanted something like this to excite the audience, but I think a better ‘teaser’…

no, no… what I find most disconcerting is that ‘fat’ rat next to the main character. He seems so cliched/typical. And suddenly I can already predict some of the jokes of the movie. Hmmm…. even the father/son relationship depicted seems overblown and stereotyped.

So, Pixar’s supposed to be strong in story and character. I wonder what will come up. I just didn’t feel attracted to these characters or storyline.

Of course the animation quality looks great (and I saw the HD trailer). But still, I wonder if this was the best option.

I did feel the same thing about Cars though, when I first heard the concept, and it turned out to be an ok film. But I guess we expect more than ok from Pixar and of course Brad Bird!

Anyway… the following is the “official” synopsis of the movie taken from here.

“After taking audiences on incredible journeys to the worlds of cars, superheroes, fish and toys, only the amazing storytellers at Pixar Animation Studios (“Cars,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles”) could create an entirely new and original world where the unthinkable combination of 5-star restaurants and rats come together for the ultimate fish-out-of-water tale.

In the new animated-adventure, RATATOUILLE, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely – and certainly unwanted – visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy’s passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.

Remy finds himself torn between his calling and passion in life or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef. Directed by Academy Award™-winning Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”) and co-directed by Academy Award™-winning Jan Pinkava (“Geri’s Game”), RATATOUILLE is slated for release on June 29, 2007.”

Favourite Hindi Movies (by Era)

Partly in reponse to the previous post, and partly because I have been thinking about updating my own favourite Hindi movie list. I started by trying to make a top 10 but it was impossible, because the genres are so different. So instead, I’ve roughly classified my current list of favourites by eras. Recent era = 1990-current. Middle-era = movies made in the 70s-80s. And the early era are movies prior to the 70s. The dates are approximate, but they help me to fit in many more movies that I would like to see listed as my favourites.

Evidently, I display ingnorance about the arthouse movement of the 70s/80s as well as the classic movies of Indian cinema. I may not be able to overcome this lack, but at least this I can consider this list as a preliminary starting point.

Currently, I have not been able to put them in any particular order because the criteria for position is also too difficult. Still, this is a rough indicator of Hindi movies I like.

Recent Era: 1990 to today

Lagaan
Parinda (1989)
Dil Chahta Hai
Black
Rangeela
Lage Raho Munna Bhai
Rang De Basanti
Vaastav
Swades
Deewar (new)
Omkara
Munna Bhai MBBS
Bluffmaster
Jaaneman
Pukar (Anil Kapoor)
Lamhe
Ghulam
Viraasat
Dilwale Dulhanyia Le Jaayenge
Ghayal
Hum
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar
Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin

Middle Era: 70-80

Sholay
Chupke Chupke
Anand
Satte Pe Satta
Gol Maal
Aakrosh
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron
Khubsoorat
Ardh Satya
Trishul
Karz
Meri Jung
Karma
Amar Akbar Anthony
Hero
Kalicharan
Shaan
Arth
Saaransh
Ghulami

early Era: 70s and before

Jaal (1952)
CID (1956)
Padosan
Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 (1955)
Hum Dono
Guide
Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971)

Tribute (of sorts) to Hrishikesh Mukherjee

He died? I had actually thought that he had already passed on. For, what could possibly explain his departure from the public imagination long before he actually departed?

My list of top-10 Hindi movies includes Anand and Chupke Chupke; Gol Maal and Khubsoorat just miss out but are certainly among the movies that I could watch again and again… and again. His more serious movies have affected many I know, including my mother; like Abhimaan, Guddi, Milli and Sadma. Non of which I disliked.

Upon reading his filmography, I noticed that he had recently directed Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate (in 1998). I now vaguely remember something like that happening, but I ignored the news and the movie.

I didn’t like everything about Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies. I found many of his serious films depressing (Except for Anand, which I strangely find uplifting). And of course his song placement and picturisation lacked sophistication and was often jarring (to me). (NOTE that his music was almost always brilliant… but that is for the radio. I rarely enjoyed SEEING the songs on screen). I found even in Anand, some of his attempts at comedy, too forced (like the wrestling scenes etc). But still, I don’t think I have enjoyed the films of any Indian filmmaker as much as Hrishkesh Mukherjee.

So now, the light of one of Hindi cinema’s premier film directors has gone out. And I wonder whether his legacy has left with him. At many times I remember trying to compare films to Anand or Chupke Chupke, longing for the genuine human drama (both serious and not-so-serious) that is missing in many Hindi films. Sometimes the down-to-earth movies of Priyadarshan (copied from South Indian cinema) provide glimpses of what we have missed. But still, certainly an era has ended.

Review Notes: Cars

Backstory: The story of our (my wife and I) Cars viewing began with our desire to see Pirates Part II. We had gone to see Pirates but it was housefull. So we went and saw Cars instead. The shocker was the price of an admissions ticket: Rs 190 each! Whaaaat? I gave a Rs500 note and got back measely change. And suddenly, for an animation movie, it seemed too much. Looking back, I found myself strangely still believing that it must cost less to see animation than a live action feature-film. This mindset has plagued the animation industry in India, and I know logically it doesn’t make sense. But still somewhere the mindset continued. Anyway, we trudged to see the movie half telling ourselves that the movie would be good on the big-screen.

And it was. Cinematically, as I think about it, Cars was a good movie, with many interesting ideas. We really enjoyed watching it, and I revelled in the detail, the characters and the action. Most of the times I was engaged with the story. However, even as I found myself liking the movie I also eventually compared it to others. The following is the highlight of certain cinematic moments in relation to other CG films.

> The opening when Olsen’s character wants to “focus” in the beginning of the movie he imagines the track. There is a combination of silence and hard action. Some of the visuals were nice. But now if I were to go back to Incredibles’ opening tv interview footage; there we see a similar silent motif… and then the hard action. The Incredibles contrast was better and more fulfilling (and also more relevant to the plot)

> The best part of the movie, and of course sentimentality comes into play, was the ending. It was different, and even uplifting. In fact I would rate it as one of the better CG animated endings, simply on the basis of what was being portrayed. Of all the CG movies… I think Finding Nemo’s “just keep swimming” climax tops Cars. (Hmmm, let me think more about this in more detail) Monsters’ Inc had too much action. Incredibles’ fight in the city was good, but not as good as what a fight in the jungle with all the Incredibles had promised. A Bugs Life had the ‘Bird on Fire’… yes, that was good; probably up with the best. Toy Story… dead toys to life… that was cool. Toy Story 2… fight in the airplane field… ok. Shrek 2… good “i want a hero” soundtrack. Shark Tale?… the sit-down and the car wash fight… ya, ok. OK… so best CG endings in my opinion…
1. Finding Nemo
2. Bugs Life
3. Cars

> The animated world of Cars as some reviewers remind us, is a world without human beings (a first for Pixar). Is this world convincing? I thought so, though of course the parallels between the human world and car world were so stark that we were often just looking at humans with different shapes. This is probably intentional, but the “carness” of the world is not consistent with the reality of a Car-filled world… ie pollution, smog, petrol shortage. Of course these are negative visions, but the idea that the real tragedy in life is being “bypassed” is realistic, but more in lines with economy driven mankind rather than fuel driven cars. Of course the Carness of the world was there; there was the Rust angle (which was not dealt with enough), the Nascar angle (being one of the most important event for Cars… though in Cars not enough b/c not everyone knows about it which is like Indians not knowing about cricket!) Also the idea of fixing the road is important, thought not pushed to its philosophical conclusion (that a fixed road brings Car customers… and allows people to leave as well). Plus, the Cars seemed indestructible (too easily repaired) and capable of doing anything… stretching the demands for viewers to connect. The Car-bugs were an abberation, seemingly played only for laughs. Of course this world was much better than Robots, a painful movie to watch. But because a movie set in an alternative universe without humans is scarce, there is not much to compare with. This is not to say that such alternative unverses should not be done. Rather the movie would have benefited with a bit more authenticity to the carness of Cars.

> Visually, I’m not a fan of the American outback. And so while they did an excellent job of reproducing the life on the wild-American side, still, it didn’t grab me as much as it could an “american”. And I guess it is difficult to top the visuals of Finding Nemo and Incredibles. I find myself wishing that Pixar would move towards the multi-ethnic story telling of the Disney 2D animation school (eg. Beauty and the Beast=France, Alladin=Arabia, Lion King=Africa, Lilo and Stich=Hawaii etc). Of course Pixar knows that the context is a character of its own, but somehow I find myself wanting more than the American context. One of the best regional movements was seen Marlin/Dorry travel to Sidney, Australia, and the accents of the ‘birds/fish’ change. Excellent, more please.

> Some cinematic moments like showing the backstory through an animated map of how Route 66(?) was bypassed was neither inspiring and played too long. In my opinion, the best backstory recollection was in the 2D animated Prince of Egypt… with the Egyptian hieroglyphics.

> Characters… Cars was excellent in this department. Pixar drew the Cars well, both in art and personality. I can imagine a long range of products resembling the characters coming out, but the cars were definitely fun to watch. Was it the best characterisation?… hmmm… I think Toy Story tops all films in characterisation. It’s almost impossible to view the toys as toys anymore… simply because they are so alive in our (my) imagination. The cars in Cars have today diminished from my memory… only LarryTheCableGuy’s car and a few others here and there stick.

> The romantic relationships in the movie was ok, the idea of “going for a drive” was a nice touch. But the Best Romantic Relationship in CG animation goes to Shrek. (Incredibles beats Shrek 2 in post-marital romance)

> Other relationships were also nice… but because of the number of characters, they were not entirely convincing. The army guy and the organic fuel guy were cliches. While the “friend” idea between Larry the Cable Guy’s character and Olson’s was quite nice. The Best on-screen Friendship… Finding Nemo between Marlin and Dorry. (Second place, Shrek and Donkey in Shrek 1)

Result: So evidently, while Cars was a fun movie (and I really enjoyed seeing it) even at its best it does stand on its own in comparison with the other CG classics. Ultimately, while I would recommend Cars anyday, but I would also say that if money is an issue, it’s ok to wait for the DVD or VCD.