Why Does Shit Always Happen To Us?

A comedy about friendship, Burqa-snogging and... shit.

Delhi Belly (2011)

Directed by Abhinay Deo | India

Written by Akshat Verma

★ Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur

    

Aamir Khan can today be called one of the trailblazers of the Hindi comedy film landscape. After the immediate and huge success of 3 Idiots (my very first post on this blog), Aamir decided to produce an even blacker comedy, this time starring his nephew Imran, among others.

Haiku-Poems About Six 2011-films I Watched Recently

Inspired by the Limerick Reviews Stevee did on a few films she recently saw, I decided to try out some filmic poetry, too. As I caught up with some 2011 hits or non-hits last week, I thought it was fitting to select these and show my reflections in the Haiku poems, because we learned about Haiku poems in school...

Haiku: Haiku is a japanese poem, consisting of three lines (in japanese, there have to be 5-7-5 syllables). The poems are concrete and do not show exact feelings.


Anyway, here we go, before I change my mind:

Carnage

„After the show

it must

go on“

Shor in the City

„In the end

there is

no excuse“

Elle s'appelait Sarah

„At the sea

I do

not find them“

The Dirty Picture

„A silky lotus

floats on

its own“

Limitless

„The balcony,

where your feet

no longer stand“

Delhi Belly

„A car

crashes against

a dustbin“ 

I hope you liked the poetry; I'm afraid it's not as concrete as genuine Haikus are supposed to be, because I tend to be more of a dreamy poet.

Different language, same film - or is it?

Read also: Raavan - A Wet Experience (review)

In 2010, Mani Ratnam was the first director to use the Shahrukh-Darr-phenomena* in a filmatization of the holy Ramayana. But why did he make the same film two times?

Raavanan (2010)

Directed by Mani Ratnam | India

Written by Mani Ratnam & Suhasini

★ Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj, Vikram

     

Mani Ratnam is what you may call an offbeat film maker, whose films sometimes happen to gain commercial success. Hearing the word "offbeat" scares a vast amount of people, which is why they are called the main stream, while others feel interested only when they hear this word.
There is one more group of people however, who think that the word offbeat is a label for many good films, but not a guarantee for that.

I belong to the latter group of people, and maybe that is the reason why Mani Ratnam is one of my favorite directors. His intention seems to be not to make offbeat films, but to make good films that are "difficult" and thought-awakening, and on the other hand comparatively easy to understand and get in to. Ratnam's latest two films, Raavan and Raavanan happen to be a fusion of all these factors. While the first one didn't do that well at neither box-office nor critics, the latter had quite some success and has been praised by many writers. If you remember my review of Raavan, you might now that I - unlike many others - very much liked Ratnam's new interpretation of the Ramayana.

People told me that the Tamil-version was much better, because it had Vikram as the main lead, and already then the thought crossed my mind that: why has Ratnam made two versions of this film, instead of just letting one be dubbed? I was about to find out...

More men who hate women

But still just one cyber-punk who hates men. Fincher is bringing Lisbeth back.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Directed by David Fincher | USA

Written by Steven Zaillian & Stieg Larsson (novel)

★ Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig

          

When I first heard that Hollywood had plans about producing its own version of the Swedish surprise hit, like many people my only thought was: "Why?". Is this about money, do they want to exploit the fame of the books and previous books? There is nothing you can improve, is there?
Moreover, I could not in the slightest imagine an other actress playing Lisbeth Salander than Noomi Rapace.

I then found out that it was Fincher, the creator of some of my favorite films of the past few years, who was going to direct the remake. Not fully convinced, I watched the leaked trailer some weeks later - and at that point I was finally hooked. Hooked by an unexpected amount of style, cool music and most surprisingly (seeming) originality. I was sure then, that I was going to love the film.

Mette's 2011 Retrospect - The Music

The retrospect series continue... this time, we've come to the world of melodies and stuff like quints that I neither understand nor want to understand. 

It's true: even though I love music, I don't know much about it, and I have never studied it as intensely as movies, fashion or the solar system.

There are many people that know more about this, we conclude, and people who have found all the great tracks of 2011 that I haven't heard yet. I don't listen to a lot of new music.

That's why this post will not deal with say, the best albums or songs of 2011, but the wonderful songs that I discovered in 2011.

Mette's 2011 Retrospect - The Films

Like me, you might already have read many lists about the year that went by. 

Books, things that happened, people that died/ got married/ were born. And of course, lists of favored films. 

These lists, at least the film-based ones, often consist of ten motion pictures. I feel that listing my ten favorite films of the year is something I want to do, however I would also like to highlight the films that won't get the chance to be included in the list.

Therefore, my retrospect will look a little different than most. The list of my top 10 films of 2011 can be found at the end of this post, before that I will present you to all the films that I liked. 

Moreover, this retrospect includes eight "officially" 2010 films that I had no legal opportunity to watch in the year of their official release. Many of them are well-known, successful films, but I hope you still understand why I want to include them. The films are in the order I've seen them in. 

That was it then, let's go.

The name's Rango

Rango (2011)

Dir. Gore Verbinski

★ Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant

After the release of Jackson and Spielberg's TIN TIN, the odds that RANGO, like many cinegoers have previously predicted, is going to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature are descending. I haven't seen TIN TIN yet, for reasons that many of you know and that I want to overcome, but I can say that much: RANGO does not deserve an Oscar.

This year won't go down in history as belonging to the golden age of animated features (if there is one yet) – if that's Pixars fault is a question I don't want to discuss here. As both RANGO and TIN TIN are not part of the Disney/ Pixar group that has somewhat held a monopoly on the animated film sector, though, this year is very likely to down in history as the one in which Pixar didn't produce a winner.
Getting back to RANGO. The story of a lonely lizard who gets thrown into an unfamiliar, rural environment, where people don't like strangers, and realizes the opportunity to invent a new life for himself and be popular for a change. Except for a few adjurations, nothing new here. Applying human emotions, values and behaving onto animals is nothing new either, but most previous animated fables haven't pushed it as far as RANGO does – which, believe it or not, is one of this films biggest strengths. Furthermore, the animation is fabulous, every little detail being perfect to bits. This is especially seen on hand of the clothing, and the single scene in which a human appears (“the spirit of the west” to be precise, but let's call him a human). Only after a mentionable amount of seconds had passed, I realized that this wasn't a real actor but an animation, and it took me some time to convince my sister too: “Look there, you can see it's animated from that tiny detail...”. If there's anything Pixar can learn from here, this must be it.

There is a lot of situation comedy in RANGO, and I remember laughing out loud a few times. Mostly I was just smiling though, so you shouldn't expect a proper comedy. If you don't expect more than a little entertainment, you won't be disappointed, and maybe you'll be shocked by some of the scenes that are actually funny, because they're hilarious to be honest. And that's where Johnny Depp steps in. I know that many people say he's become a parody of himself lately, and I can understand why they feel that, but in my opinion all he needs is to play some more serious roles. Let's face it, he's great at comedy, but if he continues this way, his career is slowly going to drop down – even though, as I said, RANGO wouldn't be near as good without him.
A big weakness of the film is the development of the story and the final showdown/ ending. I don't want to spoil anything here, so let me just say: predictable and poor. I found myself slowly drifting away, and when I found my way back to the film again, I could tell what would happen so I drifted away again. Also, and I know Americans and people who watch the dubbed versions won't consider this a problem, but I found it extremely hard to understand Beans. That accent was really extreme – if I ever watch it a second time, I'll turn the subtitles on. And that's what I would recommend others like me to do.

Very authentic by the way... I've been to Mexico a few times.

So what is left to say, and what can I conclude about RANGO?Well, I think that RANGO is a decent film, but the only reason it got that much praise must be this years poor choice of animated features. Compared to the other animated films I've seen, RANGO does have strengths and improvisations that others can learn from, but the amount of things it can learn from other films is much larger. It won't hurt watching it, but it won't hurt not watching it either. In a few years, few people will remember RANGO, for it's neither mainstream nor childish nor ingenious enough to fully satisfy anyone.

Rating: 6.85

Soundtrack of the Month - November '11

The wonderful French romantic comedy I saw yesterday convinced me to have a soundtrack of the month this time, instead of just a song - a very special soundtrack, that is.

DIRTY DANCING. A film about music and coming-of-age, including a dash of 60s-nostalgia (those old enough to remember watching it on the silver screen might also say 80s-nostalgia). Countless teenage girls must have been introduced to it by their mothers when "the time was right" and fallen in love with not only the film, I'm sure. As for me, I didn't fall in love with Patrick Swayze for that matter, but the film initiated my chronic crush on dancing and the 60s - style, films, and especially music from that decade (or music inspired by it).

A night of celebrating international woman power

MIRCH - WO HU CANG LONG - VOLVER

Being all alone yesterday night, after one week of familial semi-claustrophobism ( we were testing out or new camper), was the perfect opportunity to go through my never ending stacks of yet unseen DVDs - many of them borrowed from various people - and eventually what started out as a not-at-all choosy night of light entertainment, turned into a legendary night of exotic power women. 

There are people saying one should start a film night with the "toughest", most demanding films, in order to not expect your sleepy brain to handle things it physically won't be able to handle at 2 AM. Other voices tell you not to commit the sinful act of a triple (or even more) film night. I didn't listen to anyone this time - and let me tell you, it was the best film experience I've had since being spellbound by THE TREE OF LIFE last month.

Who Wears Prada? – Shaitan (2011)

Directed by Bejoy Nambiar

Rajit Kapoor - Rajeev Khandelwal - Kalki Koechlin - Pawan Malhotra

Shaitan means devil, and the film itself is as fire-spitting, thunderous and capricious as only the devil hidden inside us humans can be. 

It tells the story of a group of more or less rich, chronically bored, rebellious young adults who slowly get absorbed in a slough of drugs and, eventually, violence and murder. 

The Tree of Life (2011) - A Bittersweet Symphony That's Life

After a long time now, I'm finding myself writing a non-Indian review again - only the second published on this blog. Many things are changing in my life at the moment, mostly mental things. I stopped learning Arabic, and I don't feel the urge to learn new languages (except French at school) anymore. 

I don't feel like watching Indian films, I'm tired of a lot of films that wasted my time.

Hence I felt I needed to review a film that meant a lot to me and has had a great influence on my thoughts for the past few days. 

In all my past reviews, I had a small section saying who the director, the authors and the actors were, and a short sentence about the plot. You won't be seeing that again. As I said, my mentality or however you may call it, is changing more than usually at the time, and I have also, in addition to many other things, thought about Lime Reviews. So this is one of the alterations I've made. 

Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) - Make Love Not War

I have the feeling I change the review layout every time I write a new one...

Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) बैंड बाजा बारात

Director: Maneesh Sharma – Authors: Maneesh Sharma, Habib Faisal

Starring: Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh

Plot: After college, Shruti and Bittoo build up a wedding agency - however, they break their personal ground rule: no love in business.

Hidden Plot: Classic Hindi cinema is reinvented in a fresh, modern way.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NB: May contain spoilers (though I'm sure you know them already, even if you haven't seen the film, so read on if you want to).

+ I wrote this review in the middle of the night, so it might not be linguistically perfect.

My Bollywood lean time is finally, finally over - it ended with a big BANG yesterday night (this review was written 2. August).

The "Bang" is also known as Band Baaja Baaraat, one of the most celebrated hits of the previous filmi year, that I have been literally dying to watch (!). 

After a sad misunderstanding with my father (I was sure he was going to give it to me as a birthday present), and my unsure-ness about ordering DVDs from India to Germany, the German Bollywood specialist label Rapid Eye Movies released the film here in Germany, so I ran out to the store to buy it. As I have watched the film with two cultivated German ladies, who otherwise love opera and similar, I can truly recommend it for convincing people that Bollywood is great. At least women, I don't know about men - and their filmic taste shouldn't be too elitist, however.

BBB is at the same time just as good as I had expected and also maybe even better. It's hard to decide, honestly. It is at any rate a fantastic film that has been needed badly.

I have personally "grown up" (first "met" Bollywood when I was 9) with the classic 90s and early 2000 blockbusters like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Main Hoon Na, Yes Boss etc., all of them very colourful, funny in a cute way and of course, romantic. Today, the times have changed, and a film like KKHH wouldn't work today as it did in 1998. But that doesn't mean we have to forget those old times, or leave them behind - BBB is the proof. 

Yash Raj is back on track - but this time, everything is a little more realistic.

The film is just as colourful, funny, cute and romantic as my childhood classics, and the story is similarly easy to see through. This description may turn a lot of people off, especially the ones with the very elitist taste, that I mentioned before. I do have traces of that elitist taste in myself, probably because I taught myself to be like that - read avantgarde or very classic books and watch a lot of arthouse films. However, there is a part of me, the part that loved the films when she was young, that longs for those films, makes me re-watch the "old" favorites every year and enjoy them so much. 

This part of me does not have a brain in the common sense. Yes, she can turn the brain off. Isn't that just wonderful? And practical? It was she, who made me watch Band Baaja Baaraat. And I am forever thankful to her. 

A scene that truly impressed my fellow audience was the kiss scene. "How natural, how tasteful, how magical!" - those were their words. And I can only agree. That kiss might be the best kiss ever made in Indian cinema. 

"Ainvayi Ainvayi" - already a classic amongst Fans.
Did I mention that BBB is colourful?

So far, I think that Anushka Sharma delivered her best performance yet in BBB. Her character does have many layers, which is unusual in romantic comedies - at the beginning, she just seems like a business-minded power woman without any feelings, but as the film goes on, we can see more and more of who she really is. The kiss is a wonderful example for that. Shruti leans to Bittoos shoulders, which shows her being herself the first time - tired, vulnerable and searching for someone to lean on, literally. We also see how afraid and inexperienced she is, when the kiss is approaching, and how long she has kept many of her feelings locked inside. I can only say it again: the kiss scene is incredible. Not only because it really makes you blush (the only other scene [in an Indian film] that made this happen to me, was the famous Kaminey one), but also because it is so essential for the whole film and the characters. We also get to know Bittoo a little better, somehow. Well, I'll stop now - maybe I am interpreting too much into films.

The soundtrack of BBB is also similar to my childhood favorites - a mixture of songs for different moods and occasions, one or two really haunting melodies, and some forgettable ones. Important is, how the songs are realized on screen - "Ainvayi Ainvayi", the Shaadi Mubarak song, "Aadha Ishq", the sometimes happy sometimes sad love song, "Tarkeebein", the background song" and "Dum Dum", the Item number/ mega Bollywood song. And not to forget the Theme Song, "Band Baaja Baaraat", which also only appears in the background. I was especially impressed by the choreography for "Dum Dum", even though it is incredibly unrealistic, especially in context.

Kudos to Maneesh Sharma and Yash Raj Films! I wish the former mentioned good luck with his further career in Mumbai, and to YR I'd like to say: welcome back!

BBB is already a favorite, and I want to recommend it to every living soul - though I do know that not everyone is going to love it as much as I do. If you do love the film, and maybe interpret as (too) much as I do into it, then Cheers!

(A lot of exclamation marks in this review - I'm sure F. Scott Fitzgerald would only shake his head at me).

Rating: 8.7

PS: Yes, BBB does have faults - but child-me didn't see them.

----------------------------

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Song of this Summer, 2011

Beera Beera

by

Vijay Prakash, Kuotane (additional vocals by Keerthi Sargathia & A. R. Rahman)

Soundtrack of "Raavan" (2010)

Of course, music needs to be listened to before one may couch it:

Click me to listen

or

Click me to listen

Beware, this song is addictive. Big time. It's one of the best songs that have ever sprung from Rahman's magic fingers or brain, or whatever makes him do what he does. 

The duration of about 3 minutes has been described as "tantalizingly short", and I though I have never heard that word before (looked it up in a dictionary), I know that it's true. The song isn't exactly short, actually, about the length of a typical western pop song, but you never want it to stop, you want those holy tunes to go on and on and on. 

Many of Rahman's best songs commence in a quite "strange" sounding way, which in my eyes is a clever step, as the brilliancy of the song shows off even more in that contrast. A rough voice sings "Aankhon mein jaan... oooo..." ("In his eyes his beloved", I believe), quickly followed by some "jungle tunes", as I call them - evoking pictures of a jungle and its strange residents in your mind. 

And now comes my favorite, favorite part... I am mad about this part. After I went crazy about this song, I kept hearing this part all the time, wherever I went, just - always. It doesn't even have any lyrics. Basically, and objectively, it's Rahman (the God!), singing "e-e-e-o, e-e-e-o-o, o-o-o-o-o...". Twice... oh, I must keep listening to it! It is... pure, pure magic, pure inspiration - pure music.

Then it's over, and the song begins for sure.

This is probably the addictive part for most of the people who love this song, and it is addictive, though not as much as my favorite part. Eh bien, qu'est-ce que c'est? Le refrain, évidemment. Basically consisting of... one word. A name. Ah, names with power - one word, one name is enough to awaken your senses... Better than "Main Hoon Don", way better, much more simple, just "Beera". 

"Beera ke das maathe, Beera ke sau naam,

chede jo Beera ko... dhamadhamdhamdham"

("Beera has ten heads, a hundred names - if someone taunts at Beera... dhamadhamdhamdham!")

He doesn't even have the coolest name on earth, he is also a God (like Rahman), immortal probably - and don't'u dare touch'm.  Ah, let's praise him even more by singing his name. (Vijay Prakash is a rrrrockstar, by the way).

I really like how they bring in the "jungle tunes" as the song goes by. You feel like you're standing in the middle of a jungle, and all those natives are dancing around you singing weird songs and playing weird instruments. In the middle of them Vijay Prakash, praising "Beera", the man who kidnapped you. Sorry, not the man - the God, who is frightening, brutal and above all that, well, plain awesome.

"Arey Beera udhti aandhi, Beera ek toofan,

saans mein uble agni - Beera jalti jaan, jaalti jaan..."

("Beera is a rising storm, Beera is a tornado, in his breath the fire is burning - Beera burning lives...")

I told you, he's awesome. I mean, he's kind of a human dragon, too, as we just found out. "Beera burning lives, burning lives, burning lives... Beera...".

"Janam naa poocho, jaat naa poocho,

poocho jo pehchan - Beera ka abhimaan hai, abhimaan hai..."

("Don't ask about his birth, don't ask about his caste, 'cause if you do ask, you'll realize - Beera's got ego...")

Maybe he doesn't wear suits, isn't well-groomed and he doesn't have a smoky voice - but Beera is a strict business person. He doesn't talk privacy with anyone, he's the Godfather of the jungle... 

I actually also love those verses... This song is just rock around the... ah, not clock... jungle. I think we should invent a new genre, "Jungle Rock". I mean, what else would "Beera Beera" be? Okay, "Rahman", most certainly, a genre that already contains many other Rahman songs unable to be put into the cupboard of genres... Most likely his best ones...

The rest of the song is not new in terms of lyrics. There's a repetition of the first verse and a lot of singing "Beera". Addictive, by the way. 

And then, it's over. It's just over. And you want to cry, cry your heart out, because this wasn't supposed to end - this was heaven! Heaven!

Hm... wait a minute... I once heard of the so-called "re-play" button... 

Oh, thank God! Thank you, Rahman and Beera (well, I called them "God", so...)! Oh, there it is again...

"Aankhon mein jaan... ooo..."

And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And a...

gain.

----------------------------

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

When You're Speechless

Speechless-review:

Dhobi Ghat [Mumbai Diaries] (2011)

directed by Kiran Rao

Watch. This. Movie.

NOW.

Raavan (2010) - A Wet Experience

I've made some changes to the reviews, just some slight ones, but I like them more now. I also checked, if there were some "faults" in the old posts, like pictures that aren't showing.

Raavan (2010) रावन

Director: Mani Ratnam

Authors: Mani Ratnam, Vijay Krishna Acharya

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Govinda, Vikram

Plot: When a new police inspector comes to "their" village, the people living in the woods kidnap his wife, their leader being the animal-like Beera. However, Beera is not able to kill Ragini, the wife, and takes her to the home of the wood-people, where he finds himself falling in love with her.

Hidden Plot: Mani Ratnam tries to interpretate the Ramayana in a revolutionary way, discovering the good side of Raavan/ Beera.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd been wanting so watch Raavan for such a long time now, and it has (as always) been wonderful to be satisfied by a film that you've had high expectations to. After reading some reviews, I had feared a Saawariya-vu, but no, my Mani didn't let me down - he never does. 

The film starts out perfectly already, with the genial "Beera", which was the only track I listened to before watching the film. Nothing unusual - I often can't relate to a soundtrack without having seen the film, even if the music is Rahman. Funnily, I'd say the soundtrack is one of the best 2010-BW-soundtracks, after having seen the movie now... I've listened to it the whole day. Every song is magical in its own way, the only one I don't like that much is "Kata Kata".

Wet, more wet, Raavan... Almost felt like a two-hour-shower.

Moreover, almost everything about Raavan is magical - which obviously is quite beneficial for a film inspired by an old religious tale. Never does anything definitely magical happen, but the interaction of Santosh Sivan & Manikandan's camera work, Rahmans music and Ratnam's concise but playful direction creates a sensation of mystery that captives the viewer.

Abhishek Bachchan said that he lost confidence after Raavan flopped, and criticized the editing on twitter, as soon as it was clear that the film was a flop. To me, the flaws are not to be found in the very fitting editing, but in Abhishek's performance, which admittedly was bumpy in parts. He did gain the sympathies of the audience, but on the other side, many of his reactions are hard to relate to, for example him being unable to kill Ragini, or the sudden love that he develops towards her. Of course, this is written in the screenplay - and I actually like these rather un-realistic reactions, as it is supposed to be some kind of a dark fairy tale, or at least a mythology-inspired film, but Abhishek fails in portraying this in the right way - at least sometimes. After hearing a lot of praise on Vikram (who plays the inspector in this one) 's portrayal of Beera in the Tamil version Raavanan, I'm eager to watch that one.

Yes, it was also raining in that scene... or something else... at least there was water...

Aishwarya Rai (yes, I know: Rai-Bachchan, but there's no melody in that), however, does not have these problems, being perfectly cast for the role of the bewitching, fearless-seaming Ragini. I think it was a good choice to cast her in the Tamil version as well. Even though there's not much room for real romance, the on-screen chemistry between Aishwarya and Abhishek is very nice, even though many people don't think so and find they shouldn't continue doing films together, "just because they're married". I also cannot imagine Mani Ratnam would cast two actors in the same film just because they're married. 

As in every other Mani Ratnam film, everything seems to be thought-out to the smallest details, and the best is just good enough. For example, Aishwarya's costumes were designed by sophisticated designer Sabyasachi, which indeed added to the magic of the film, and the film was shot at various outdoor locations all over the country. 

Only little frustration was the lack of depth in the characters - we never really get to know them or their backgrounds, so it's hard to relate and build a bond to the main characters.

Otherwise, Raavan included all I had expected: art, magic, great music, entertainment and new-wave-flair. Thumbs up.

7.5/ 10

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Review: Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji [3 Idiots and... Love]

DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI (2011) दिल तो बच्चा है जी

Title-translation: "The heart is still a child"
Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Author: Madhur Bhandarkar, Anil Pandey, Neeraj Udhwani, Sanjay Chhel
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya

Plot: Naren moves back to his child home - his parents are dead. Because the house is so big, he searches for some tenants and finds them in a shaadi.com employee, who'd like to be a poet - Milind - and the unemployed fitness teacher/ toy boy Abhay. All three of them have problems concerning love: Naren is attracted to a 17-years younger intern, while Milind falls in love with a radio VJane, interviewing him after a poet contest. Meanwhile, Abhay indulges in the luxury of being toy boy an ex-Miss-India, when suddenly he falls in love with her (grown-up) step daughter.



Written the 13th of March 2011
Madhur Bhandarkar is known for experimenting in his films, trying out unusual tactics, and establishing his actors welll (I'm talking about Fashion, Traffic Signal, Page 3 and the only film I'd seen from him until now: Corporate). With DTBHJ, he's jumping into the genre of rom-com for the very first time, this time with two well-known actors plus Omi Vaidya, who could already bring home the bacon in 3 Idiots. Besides, we have three until now rather unknown ladies. The male cast is one of the evident powers of the film, while it's possible to discuss the female part: In a unusual role for him, Ajay Devgn earns sympathy as charming pencil pusher/ male Naina (the one from Kal Ho Naa Ho). He also proves, that his otherwise nice voice isn't exactly adequate for singing.

Take a look at Emraan's trousers... 

Can't have everything. Shazahn Padamsee plays his "Object of Desire" - and here's the first crossroad we have; she's looking sweet, she's charming, her acting is all right, and I might be able to get used to her squeaking voice. Sadly, I also know, that most people won't be able to do that, and also they won't be able to accept her (current) lack of "X-factor". That's why I can already see her undergoing the same destiny as Kim Sharma and Esha Deol . That is, unless people are so attached to her, like for example to Deepika Padukone (and I'd rather see Sharma or Deol instead of her), that she can make it somehow. If that is what'll happen, I hope she takes that chance and get's it right.

Rumour has it, that Madhuri Dixit has been thrilled by Emraan Hashmi's portrayal of the usual Casanova-role, and as always, I agree. It's especially nice that he's able to portray this character in a slightly different filmic level than otherwise, and I think I'm not alone with that thought. Even though the main theme of the film is sex (and not love, though I bet the makers wanted it to be love), the level isn't drowning as much as it uses to in similar films, but stays near Sex & the City (a show/ film that I like, but don't idolize). Only huge minus is caused by the distinct discrimination of homosexual persons, which is much more conspicuous than in Anjaana Anjaani for instance. A "reputable" filmmaker does not need this, especially with a film, that's quite entertaining otherwise. Then there's one sentence at the beginning, about the life of Emraan's character Abhay, which should have been edited away quickly - just like the rest of those "introducing" sentences. Not working here; the audience doesn't like to be treated as if it's totally dumb or stupid.

I also wasn't very fond of Abhay's big love, Nikki: She pitches herself as a big charity-lady, and talks about original Indian qualities - in born-and-bred Hinglish?! Face covered with make-up, wearing an outfit that doesn't even have a touch of traditional Indian clothes? Furthermore, we never get to know her very well, which is why the sudden falling-in-love also lacks a fundamental credibility.

Somehow, I also don't have big problem with the age
difference. Reason: It's mentioned (!).

The "Hinglish-source-of-irritation" shows up in a different situation as well, namely when Milind recites his poems, which seem to be "good" only because they're in Hinglish. Not a patch on Hinglish, I don't see a big problem in using it, but however there are circumstances, under which its usage is rather semi-optimal. Apart from that, Omi Vaidya is adorable and cute - by the way, I was surprised that I liked his "Dream Girl" Gungun, played by Shraddha Das, somehow. She was indeed both honest and fake, and very capricious against him, but she just had something. Perhaps Shraddha Das just comes with a bigger portion of talent than the rest of that female guard, but I'm not able to tell after one film only.

What I liked about the film was, that it never became "uncomfortable", you were (almost) never ashamed, and that despite this... well, not very fancy story. Just one scene at the end got one or two soap-opera-splashes too much. I don't want to tell you to much, but to the makers: a little less dharamdham, when someone tells his/her girl/boy friend, that he/she has fallen in love with someone else. Better let the still piano go on. Apropos music: The soundtrack is okay, nothing special, but nice.

Then what is my conclusion, now... Let's put it this way: You can see this film, but you don't have to. In the field of films-named-after-great-songs, it delivers a much better performance than many others, like for example Aashayein (2010).

Rating: 5.0

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Review: Tere Bin Laden ["Habibi, George Bush!"]

As an exception, there's no fun post or anything like that between this and the last review (expect for the Lime-Stars notification), and that's because I wanted to share my view on TBL with you so badly. And if you'd rather watch a non-indian film at the moment, my advice to you is: Don't watch "Nowhere Boy", especially not

before putting down your expectations. 

TERE BIN LADEN (2010) तेरे बिन लादेन

Title-Translation: "Without you, Bin Laden"/ "Your Bin Laden"

Director: Abhishek Sharma
Author: Abhishek Sharma
Producers: Aarti Shetty, Pooja Shetty Deora
Starring: Ali Zafar, Pradhuman Singh, Piyush Mishra

Plot: A TV reporter from Pakistan has been in love with "Amreeka" (America) since he was a child, but after a terrible misunderstanding, he can't go to the USA anymore, if he doesn't get a lot of money very quickly. Luckily, he and his friend meet a man that looks almost exactly like Osama Bin Laden. They decide to make a fake Osama-video and then sell it to the press.When the video becomes public, the fear of terrorism from the middle-east increases even further.

Written the 8th of February 2011
In culture and media, it's easy to get to the point when a topic is simply outdrawn like an old chewing gum and you just think, that this is it. No more about this topic for me, I've had enough of it. An example for it is World War II: As interesting and diversified the cultural references to it are, and no matter how many fantastic films and books it has been giving inspiration to, I simply don't want to hear about it any longer. Maybe it's the worst in Germany, but we just get overloaded with that kind of literature and films. However, 9/11 and the whole Middle-East vs. America situation is a much more up-to-date difficulty, but there has also been made tons of rubbish about this topic, so how strike the right note in order to make it juicy and sapid?

That's money, honey

"Tere Bin Laden" demonstrates one of the possibilities that can get it right. Spoofing everything that is in any way connected to the
topic - aside from the USA of course, TBL catches a sarcastic eye on terrorism itself (yes, that is possible), the "popularity" of emigration (especially to the US), flight attendants, and much more from CSI and saving-the-country films to Pakistani television and wannabes.
I was reminded of "The President Is Coming" at several moments, and I'm sure the makers have been inspired by it - which is meant as a compliment. Relying on qualitative cultural material is always a good idea, though we first need to ask the question "What's qualitative cultural material". If every second sentence is a cite from one of the director's or production companies films, that's not what I call qualitative.

Good for TBL, this could possibly never have happened to the film, as it draws advantage from a mint fresh director and a Pakistani singer debuting. Ali Zafar is as great an actor as he's a singer. Charming, convincing… and… not looking bad. He should definitely stay in the acting business - but also singing. As for Abhishek Sharma, that guy seems to be one of the new talents the Hindi Film Industry should focus on. He's got some big chances, I think.

Don't be greedy!

TBL doesn't place much emphasis on music, though Ali is allowed to rock the show at the end (always with a humorous wink), but in contrary to that, editing and cinematography are some of the fundamental strengths of the film. Supporting actors are of "mixed quality" - most of them overacting - they had to, of course - but they were not bad. Sugandha Garg was the one that I noticed most, I'm curious to see more of her.

2010 had more gems, than I thought and I'll continue looking for them. "Tere Bin Laden" is one of them, short and good, as we say in Germany and Denmark. This is the kind of humour I want to see concerning a topic like that - and not just in late night satire shows, but on the Big Screen. Hollywood/ America: take a leaf of this book.

Rating: 7.7

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.