This is a bit of an odd duck for a “classics” post. It came out only 25 years ago, and isn’t as well remembered as some other films from the same era (Saajan, Khalnayak). I hadn’t even heard of it until it came up in an article on Sanjay. And then I watched it and went “wow! This is a brilliant movie!” So I am here to sing its praises, just in case you haven’t run across it before.
I’m exhausted after yesterday, so I’m not coming up with new stories, instead I am lifting a ridiculous plot from a classic Hollywood film/British novel. A plot so ridiculous that it really belongs in India any way, it was wasted in Hollywood.
Don’t panic, I know it is two Tuesday reruns in a row, but I am hoping to sneak in Devadas sometime this week so there will be a random new Telugu review somewhere in there. I hope. Anyway, this movie is so special and amazing, it should be no misery to rewatch it. Or just comment again if you’ve already seen it.
I put up a post a week or so back asking if I should celebrate this year, and the answer was a resounding “you do whatever makes you happy”. So, okay! I will!
Happy Saturday! I am off taking a pier out of a lake in 50 degree weather after only a few hours of sleep because I had to stay up late and write my Sui Dhaaga reviews. Good times!
This is a nice pleasant pretty predictable movie, one of those that it is kind of hard to spoil because you can probably guess most of it. But just in case you really really don’t want to be spoiled, you can read my No Spoilers review instead of this one.
I am so tired. Forgive the (even more than usual) typos I will be making, it’s very late. But I have to get up early tomorrow and drive up to my parents, so I want to write the reviews tonight and be done with them.
It’s been overcast all day today here, and I am facing down a very long and difficult weekend, so I need things to smile about! If you also need things to smile about, I highly recommend this post. At least one, if not many, of these songs will make you smile.
This is such a good post, totally deserves to be updated and re-used. Especially so we can all prepare to compare these sword emotions with the Thugs sword emotions.
I didn’t really think about it, but each of the Sunday movies so far have been very different from each other. Poignant sprawling story of modern America, a little romance, a historical epic, and now a thriller. I’ll really have to struggle to think of a new option for next week!
Oops, I added this to the schedule but forgot to announce it. It’s a movie I’ve been meaning to review for a while, people probably won’t be that excited about it, but since I am planning to review it I thought I might as well make an announcement.
So glad I rewatched this movie! Especially after having seen October, so I can see what is unique to this film and what is just Shoojit Sircar. And, more importantly, what is just Deepika.
This is a really brilliant concept for a film. An intellectual exercise more than anything. I encourage you to watch it straight through once without knowing what is coming, but I also suspect it might turn out to be more entertaining when you know what is coming and can watch how it is built. If you want to maintain the surprise, you can read my No Spoilers review.
That was a very elaborate process! Getting to the theater from work, buying the ticket in advance so it wouldn’t be sold out, and on and on. But, worth it! Not as good as the best Ratnam film, but far better than the worst (Kadal).
This film in particular apparently went to a bunch of international film festivals? The end result being, it is easily available from my library, and on a bunch of streaming websites. I mean, it’s also a really really good movie, but the reason I picked it to watch next was based purely on convenience.
I watched this movie months and months ago when it first arrived on American Netflix, but that was before I was blogging seriously so I didn’t pay very close attention. I wanted to watch it again, now that the remake will be releasing soon (January 13th), and think about how this film could possibly be remade.
This is a strange review, because it’s a beautiful movie with a lot of strong elements that somehow fails to come together. But then on the other hand, the only version I was able to find was for some reason missing 8 or 20 minutes (depending on which source I see), so it’s possible it would have come together if I had seen the full version. But I still kind of doubt it somehow. It’s just an odd odd plot, a strange combination of Agneepath and Thalapathi and “Joote Bole” from Bobby expanded to full film length. And also Christian philosophy which is never quite defined.
This is Voter Registration week in America, so the perfect week to talk about Yuva! (yes yes, I know Aaytha Ezhuthu is better, I can’t find it, and I’ve already seen Yuva)
I’ve reviewed almost every film on this list, so I thought I might as well just write out them all and put in links to the ones I’ve seen, and then I can fill in the rest when I finally get around to reviewing them.
I finally watched Alai Payuthey! After putting it off for years and years and years and years and years. Because I love Saathiya, and I didn’t want to risk having it spoiled. But turns out, they are two distinctly different movies! Although still similar to Saathiya, so this is going to be kind of a combined review. I talked about some of these differences a little already when I reported on the OK Jaanu/OK Kanmani remake thing.
I was watching this movie so closely! So closely! I know the drill with Ratnam films, he just drops in these little bits and then moves on so you can’t look away for a second. And yet, I was still completely lost. But I don’t think it’s my fault! Or at least, not my fault because I wasn’t watching closely enough, but because I didn’t have the expected background.
It’s a Mani Ratnam movie, so the directing is just all around excellent. But more importantly, Rajnikanth! It’s my first Rajnikanth movie (not counting Ra.ONE, because why would you?) and I have to say, he does impress!
I finally sat down and watched Anjali, all set to sob and sob like I did for Kannathil Muthamittal, and it was a good movie, don’t get me wrong, but it just didn’t send me in the same way. Maybe because I’m not the intended audience?
Mani Ratnam strikes again! Another great romance with a complicated heroine and interesting supportive hero. Oh, and I am going to assume for this entire review that you at least know the big thing that is revealed 10 minutes into the film, so if you are obsessive about SPOILERS and don’t even want to know that, DON’T READ ANY MORE!!! But if you are fine with the 10 minute in reveal, but want to be protected from what happens in the remaining 113 minutes, keep going until the usual SPOILER marker.
Well, this is exciting!!!! Amitabh has a sword, Aamir does NOT have a beard (thank goodness), and Katrina has no dialogue. Nor does Fatima, so I guess it’s a woman thing.
dontcallitbollywood 