Playful Life

After a long hiatus, the movies were back. New plays were coming in too with regular gusto. So, surprising even myself, I decided to pull my well nourished body out of work to go and play, rather watch them. And of course, since I love donating money to bandits who charge a pocketful for a movie, I normally end up in the multiplexes. But first the theatre.

Chanakya was a play I was planning to watch for a long time now and was not disappointed at all. Extremely strong dialogues backed by some great performances Chanakya is a must watch for those who often wonder how a single person can make a difference to society and to government.

Pune Highway by Rage however was a disappointment. I guess it is all about the expectations you build up prior to a performance. Pune Highway was extremely shallow and wasted opportunities to delve into the human psyche and friendships. While the performances were good as always, it always felt that there was so much more that could have been done. One of the Rage productions I will perhaps never re-visit.

Angels and Demons was impressive but again it was one of those movies which ensured that I maintain that reading books is a better pastime than watching a movie. The spectacular special effects and the views of the Vatican were however state of the art. But then would you have missed much if you did not watch it? Perhaps not.

Wolverine however was another matter altogether. For the comic book fans, X Men origins are as important as sacred texts but the movies always have their shortcomings. You need to add “the movie angle” as I like to call it. So Sabretooth becomes a long estranged brother taking the sheen of their terrible animosity that forms such an important part of the X Men stories.

Ice Age 3 should be watched in 3-D. Else you will really feel upset at the domestication of Manny the Mammoth. Sid’s loneliness and Diego’s confusion at seeing his friend start a new life, all seem reminiscent of men and women in their late twenties where everyone they know is down with the “get married asap” syndrome. A guy typically can not handle multiple complex relationships. We are not as strong or sensible as women. As Manny says, guys don’t talk about stuff; they punch each other on the shoulders. We don’t understand when friends find someone and suddenly there is a lull in communication. We believe we are awesome enough to find new friends but we miss the old ones terribly till we all act grown up and restart the friendship as new people and often (someone please strangle me here) as new sets of couples.

Anyway, the movie is definitely worth it. The storyline is weak. There is nothing much to look forward to as the way everything will unfold is predictable. Scrat however, finds his life partner and loses her again. And yes, they invent the salsa together in the Ice Age :)

Bolt was the sequel I was eagerly awaiting. A true tribute to The Truman Show, Bolt was the life of Truman after he walked out of the set. Well, there were a few discrepancies. For example, bolt was a dog but I felt that made the movie all the more endearing. The kids in the Theatre were cheering and so were we.

The best movie of recent times has to be Kambakht Ishq. It sent home the message that study your medicine in India. You can’t be any worse off outside. Also do not teach to supplement your income. Become a model instead. The men might however want to go and watch Kareena Kapoor. Denise Richards looked old and disinterested and I watched the entire Rambo Series to atone for the sins committed by Stallone for agreeing to do this movie. But then do watch this movie. I should not be the only Kambakht.

But more than anything else I want to talk about a movie called Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha. It was a classic movie I had watched while in college. Salman Khan as the protagonist enacted a memorable role. He loved Preity Jinta dearly and when she passed away, he was grief striken. But then, as Indian medical miracle would have it, Preity’s heart was transplanted in Simran’s heart. And since her heart was of Preity’s the heart went out to Salman. And the movie was born. Hollywood copied this great concept and made another great movie - Terminator Salvation. So here in the movie a teenage boy struggled with untimely fatherhood, a machine was created with the heart of a man. A woman saw the benefit of having someone with steel muscles and human heart as her beau and finally, they transplanted that heart into the heart of John Conor. In the next movie, John will double time his babe and go out with the other babe whom his new heart had loved in the old days.

Awesome, I tell you.