Yesterday cricket match [3rd ODI India vs Sri Lanka at Cuttack] was rather more pleasing to watch since it didn't go to the wire like the previous two matches. In the end Karthik hit the winning runs [a 4] and was quite crest fallen since he wanted to either defend it or send it for a single so that Tendulkar could take strike and finish his century [he was on 96] But Tendulkar was all smiles, one less century he will live with but not one more loss.

We saw the 6pm show of Wake Up Sid at Big Cinema. It was being shown on their smallest screen, #4, and only 2 shows a week. But we liked the movie. Very nicely directed, decent enough story, good music by Shankar Eshaan Loy, decent songs, and good performances by Konkana Sen, and Ranbir Kapoor. Remember here that Ranbir in the three movies he has acted in has a role in which he is a duh character. That he performs with aplomb. The duh-ness oozes through. Good cameos by Supriya Pathak and Anupam Kher.

There was this prediction moment when Konkana goes for a job interview. She has to be interviewed by the editor, who is not shown until the very last moment, till then he is just a name on a door. So I tell Suchitra "Now don't tell me that the editor is Rahul Khanna!" and sure enough like in Love Aj Kal it is Rahul Khanna in a special appearence. So Suchitra says who else will take him.

3 stars only for some cinematic licensed nitty gritties which you too will notice. Otherwise a fine movie.

We saw Kaminey yesterday. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Shahid does a double role, and the other Shahid has no heroine. Quite a unique story and you better go with someone attentive, so that you can discuss the confusing portions later on at leisure. Both Shahid and Priyanka have done roles that are new to them, and have done them quite well. The dhan tan de song sounds very well in the theatre. It carries an A certificate and so don't go along with a young Shahid Kapoor fan;-)

Both the Shahid's as you have heard so far play characters that have a speech impediment, one stammers and other says faa for saa. Shahid has done that job very well. The double acting is complicated since each character has a different hair style and facial hair. Not like in the old days when both the Dev Anands or Amitabhs where identical. Priyanka is a Marathi lass and speaks Marathi quite fluently, her Marathi teacher has been given credit in the end titles.

We saw Love Aaj Kal two days back and found it quite watchable. Except that unlike the director Imtiaz Ali's previous Jab We Met which was enjoyable from the moment the theatre dimmed their lights, here for the first quarter of an hour or so, the romance between Saif and Deepika is show in fits and starts with jerky screen movements. In the sense you have a scene in front of you before you know what is happening, it slides to one side, like in a power point presentation, and you have another scene. Till you start getting bewildered.

Their romance is not shown so much of a romance but more like a friendship [for obvious reasons which you will find out as the plot unravels] so that being the case you start getting rankled by the rather stupid romance going on. Till the time comes for Deepika to leave London for New Delhi. Which is when the restaurant owner an elderly Sardar comes and starts speaking with Saif. And he tells him about his first romance from years ago. Which is when the movie gets new life. The old Sardar's love is more of gentle just look a each other from afar without speaking to each other kind of a love. Played out in a Delhi and Calcutta of years ago. If not for this romance you too would think of leaving like Deepika. Except that you will think of leaving the theatre. Please don't leave, since what happens later really keeps you on.

You would have seen Saif as Sardar in the trailers. Saif is not a sardar in the movie per se! Except that the elderly Sardar tells him while narrating his story that "I was just like you when I was young!" and so in his story he just shows his younger self as the current Saif. So it was rather dumb for the movie makers to show Saif as a sardar, they could have surprised us. Not much of a spoiler here since all this happens quite early on.

So who is the Sardar's love interest? A very timid comely Punjabi girl whose screen name is Harleem Kaur. A new face. Who is she? Suchitra whispers in my ear "She is a Brazilian!" Her name is Giselle Monteiro, and she does look very much like an India. Very sorry to spoil this for you. But then there is nothing in the plot to tell you she is a Brazilian model, so strictly I am not spoiling anything.

But hey! I haven't told you who the elderly Sardar is played by. If you don't know you will be pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately I cannot tell you much more about the Sardar's romance since that will really spoil the plot. In the movie we keep getting to see their romance in stages, neatly inter spliced with the Saif Deepika on-off romance.

You will be astonished in the end. I was. No not the Deepia-Saif romance, but the Sardar's romance. The way it ends I mean. I am in the theatre wondering what will happen, and then suddenly I am "What!...", "She!..."


Only three for that 15 minute power point romance presentation in the beginning.

Movie is supposed to be a big hit, BUT there were only 10 people in screen 1 at Big Cinema! For the 7pm show!

We saw Night at the Museum:Battle of the Smithsonian yesterday evening. The girls loved it, while both of us found it to be a bit slow. Also Ben Stiller can always be grating on your nerves you know. He is the grown up version of Shia LeBouf always whining in the movie.

The sequel has most of the stars from the previous movie, plus a few more. The special effects are as good as in the previous movie. There are as many plot holes in this one as in the previous, but that didn't bother our girls one bit;-)

I finished reading Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup yesterday. Who Vikas Swarup? Slum Dog Millionaire Vikas Swarup.

Book is some what similar but written in a different style. Also it seems to be deeply inspired by The White Tiger too. This one thought is written in the style of a suspense thriller in which there are yes six suspects, who stories are narrated separately until the merge together in the end. A very good read.

I watched the movie 21 yesterday on one of the movie channels. While checking IMDP today it turns out that it was based on a real story. What is 21? 21 is the number you get in Blackjack. And this story is about MIT students who lead by their professor [Kevin Spacey] learn and train to count cards and so win the game. And make a huge amount of money in the bargain. Very nice.

I couldn't understand the character of Ben Campbell in it. He is shown to be an expert mathematician at MIT but wants to go to Harvard Med school! Wouldn't he have been a better engineer or mathematician instead?

Outsourced is a 2006 movie starring Josh Hamilton, and the expected Ayesha Dharker. Dharker as you know is required in every Hollywood movie that required an Indian lady, just like Tzi Ma is required in every Hollywood movie that requires a Chinese man.

I saw this movie in two parts, first I saw the second part, and then yesterday I saw the first half. Besides Hamilton almost all the characters are Indians. His character is sent to India after his entire department is Bangalored. His job is to train his replacement. You probably will see him on in this movie, his wiki entry has just 4 lines, compared to about two pages for Dharker.

You would think he will head to Bangalore, or the other metros, instead when he lands in India, he has to take a train to a village called Gorakhpur. At the Bombay airport he misses the taxi arranged for him since the driver held a sign which said Mr Toad, whereas he is Todd! Heh! The call centre is not some shiny glass tower, it is an unpainted semi finished shed which the manager says was built just for this centre since no other place was available.

I cannot understand why he travels in the rear seat of the car [twice] when the manager played by Asif Basra is driving.

Very humorous and nice to watch.

The Associate is yet another lawyer story from by John Grisham. If you have read his other books you can see the hatred he has towards big lawyer firms in the US. This book is no exception.

This one is about a young law student who is going to pass out soon, being contacted by an outside agency in the most vile fashion ever. Their intention is to get him into a big firm so that they can use him as an insider for more vile purposes.

We saw Slumdog Millionaire yesterday. By choice we would have preferred to see the Hindi version. But that had already left the theatres, and it looked as if this was the last day for the English version. Turns out we were wrong, they are repeating Slumdog Crorepati from today.

Preferably watch the Hindi version since the English version sounds a little unnatural. Imagine a slum kid speaking with a Brit accent with his brother. Even veteran actor Anil Kapoor doesn't sound very natural in English, even though his English otherwise [in interviews etc] sound perfectly fine.

The little kid actors have done a fine job, and so also the slightly older kid actors. Dev Patel's portrayal I felt was quite okay and so also that of Frieda Pinto. There is some cinematic licensing where KBC [in the movie it is called Who Wants to be a Millionaire] is being shown as broadcast live and not recorded. Also you will understand why Amitabh Bachchan and SRK both refused the role of Prem Kumar the KBC host, in the movie [and also the book] the KBC host is shown to be a slime dog;-)

As for the Oscars they should feel thankful they have got it and keep quiet. Since quite frankly I am surprised that while a brilliant movie like Tare Zameen Par is turned down for the Oscar nomination for foreign language entry, Slumdog gets 10. If you ask me it is a mix of the slum portrayal, the awareness Mumbai attacks of November and sheer luck.

Just like Aravind Adiga got a Booker for his book The White Tiger, while Amitav Ghosh's brilliant Sea of Poppies only gets a nomination. Both books were about Indian poverty, but the British era poverty one is conveniently rewarded with just a nomination.

But as far as I am concerned getting recognition one way or the other is better than getting none. And this is just the beginning. There is more to come I feel.

Going just by Slumdog I feel at least 10 Indian movies in the past one decade could have got at least one nomination each if shot in English for an overseas audience.

Bit apart from that the movie is quite watchable, and Suchitra says she wants the DVD when it comes out.

The book [Q & A by Vikas Swaroop] Suchitra says is far far better.


Shared rating by Suchitra and me.


Suchitra's rating for the book, I have not read it yet.