mOVIe STUb : Movie : “Jodhaa Akbar” (Hindi)

Take a rubber band and stretch it,  stretch it until it is so taunt that any further it will snap -  In time limits, that would be 3hrs and 30 minutes, the duration of this movie. I once read somewhere,  “the length of a film is directly related to the endurance of the human bladder”. With due respects to the director ( I quite loved his work in Swades), I wasn’t entirely convinced with the treatment of the subject. Firstly, the story is not a work of imagination, but a part of history which, a good number of us have already been fed with.  Therefore, the focus should be the presentation. Secondly, we all know history is replete with details and to attempt to capture every bit of it is unnecessary and wasteful, in a span of a movie.

Lets talk about the execution. This is an epic of war and love . Recent times have seen a horde of such films and its natural that the mind tries to compare.  Battles that look farcical …. trust me, a bunch of meek clowns running aimlessly at each other ?? Its a war !!, for heavens sake at least show some aggression and a hostile fervor. Costumes were ok but repeated. We have grown to expect some grandeur when it comes to such movies, but believe me, claiming to cast a 1000 dancers is just not it. There is so much that could have been done and Bollywood has the money.

I am a great fan of Aish and when I look at her, I look at her eyes. But sadly though, this time, there is only so much a make up can do to defy age.

Coming to the music, AR Rahman , my demigod . Seriously, his music is not for the casually curious coffee break listener, but it grows onto you.  If you do accept that, you would love his work in the movie and Choreography wasn’t bad either. Hrithik does a good job, and his presence is a huge plus for the female crowd !

CarbonRipples rating : 2.5 Stubs

mOVIe STUb : Movie : “There will be blood” (English)

Back home at six in the morn..a long day it was, with the better part of the night spent on a movie and hanging out with a bunch of friends and coffee @ Mc D. While my Java trip is still under edit, I am thinking of having a section in my blog to talk about movies I watched and the books I read. Would be cool to have an opinion about things and share it with the world for, thats all a blog is for. I am getting no sleep at this odd hr, so here we go, the first one.

1.”There will be blood”

Frankly from the title, I was expecting a lot of blood and gore and even prepared myself mentally for the worse to come, but then, I was pleasantly overjoyed as the movie unfolded. Set in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the film is about oil discovery and the rise of an oil baron. Having said that, its not just about the black gold, but deeply woven into the plot are strong emotions, so dramatically brought to the fore by the extremely talented cast. The unconditional love of a father towards his son, the passion to succeed (at any cost) and religious fervor (The film makes quite a mockery out of evangelists) have been intricately set into the plot and junctures were they come into conflict with each other……Wow! kudos, a job well done. I did find the music a little repetitive though (monotonous with little variety), but baring this,which I am certain you will fail to notice as you immerse into the movie, the film is a must watch!!

CarbonRipples rating : 4 Stubs