Essential Hindi Films: Lagaan

Three of my various personalities discussing a milestone of Hindi film history.

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker | India

Written by Ashustosh Gowariker, Kumar Dave, Sanjay Dayma, K.P. Saxena

★ Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley

    

Current Treasure: Kun Faya Kun

If God sent a song to us, then his messenger was A. R. Rahman.

Kun Faya Kun/ Kun Fayakun/ Kun Faaya Kun

CLASSIFICATION: MUSIC

Album: Rockstar (soundtrack)

Composed by A. R. Rahman

Lyrics by Irshad Kamil

Artists: A. R. Rahman, Javed Ali, Mohit Chauhan

Length: 7:53

LISTEN HERE | LYRICS AND TRANSLATION

Dear Allah Rakha Rahman,

already your song Khwaja Mere Khwaja made me feel that you might have seen something that I have not. Not with your eyes, but with your heart. And that you want to show it to as many people as possible, with the help of instruments, voices and music sheets.

Mr. Rahman, I caught a glimpse of this something through all of your songs, even the disco song Fanaa – which is so much more than that – but it was never as clear as in the work/ creation/ gift from heaven you sent to us in 2011. 

The song Kun Faya Kun is, and I feel that I'm understating it, the most beautiful song I have heard in my life, with the exception of The Sound of Silence. 

I can not believe that I found my two favorite songs in the same year, I simply can't. How did this happen, and why? Is it true that 16 is the magic age?

By any means, there has never before been a year where I learnt and saw as much as I did this previous year. 

As I thought about your magic song, and the letter I was going to write about it, I realized that I didn't even know what "Kun Faya Kun" means. I found a wonderful website; rahman360.com, which has the most poetic english translations of your songs, and it said:

Kun Faaya Kun... (refrain): 

„Verily, when He intends a thing, His command is, "Be", and it is!“

You didn't write the lyrics of the song, I know, but it is clear to see, that Kun Faya Kun is a song about the belief in God. As this letter is going to published online, I will not write too much about religion, because this is one of the few subjects I find very private. 

...I am not a muslim, that is for sure, but on the other hand, maybe I am. Because I believe that all religions are the same. And to say it shortly: yes, I do believe in God, even though it is not a person in my eyes.

In an interview, you said that God is everywhere and that you too believe in religious equality. Thank you for speaking my mind. Maybe this is too personal for my readers, but I hope they stay with me and this rather philosophic letter.

A Qawwali is a religious islamic song, and Kun Faya Kun is a Qawwali. Yet it speaks to me on every level, and I can listen to it every day, all the time. However, the most beautiful thing is always, to listen to your favorite song, when you haven't listened to it for a long time.

I don't know why I am writing this to you, if there's one person who knows everything about music, it must be you. 

There also not much more I can write, to be honest, because I know that my words will never measure up to your incredible music, and because all these thoughts are getting mixed up in my head.

In the end, "thank you" is not enough to describe what I feel for your, let's call it song, but it is all I can say. Thank you.

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.

Spike Lee feat. Rahman

Recently (maybe a month ago, or so), I have officially become a member of LAMB (The Large Association of Movie Blogs). The idea of communities like that is something I appreciate very much, because that's what the internet really is: a community, society - made of smaller communities and societies. 
There are different "events" in the LAMB, and it says on the site, that they really like, when members participate in those events. I don't think the possibility that one of those events will revolve around Indian cinema is very big, and that's why I'll now publish my first post on a Hollywood movie. If you've read the "About"-page though, you'd know that I watch everything, every genre, every industry - everything that falls into my hands. This event that I'm participating in is "LAMBs in the Director's Chair - Spike Lee". I chose to write about his film "Inside Man" on this occasion... And you may guess, why...

INSIDE MAN (2006)


Director: Spike Lee

Starring: Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen

Please notice, that this review will be slightly different from "normal" reviews - it's going to be held as an interview with myself. I just thought, this is the first Hollywood review on Lime Reviews, so why not try something else than the usual stuff.

Just for fun, off course.

I hope you like it, if not, think about it as some sort of fancy project.

It is, somehow.


Why did you choose this film, instead of Lee's other known and acclaimed films, while this film is commonly called a Mainstream-production?
Well, I just... thought...

"Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya, Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya..."

And by the way, you should all have a look at the original song, everyone loves it, even non-Bollywood-enthusiastics. A shame it wasn't listed on the soundtrack (at least, wikipedia says so).

 - It's by my favorite composer, A. R. Rahman (just in case you didn't get my post title).

Did the song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" distract you at the beginning?

Yes, it did. I don't remember the start of the film... aside from Clive Owen telling us his name. Or saying, that he told us his name.

What about his (Owen's) performance - impressive?

If you call walking around with a poker-face impressive, then, yes. Personally, I think that only Marlon Brando can pull something like that off. I also didn't like that his character was such a anti-hero, that you're supposed to like - also this can be pulled off better by someone else, namely Hrithik Roshan. Off course, the bank robber had to tell the 8-year-old that he shouldn't play violent video-games. Audience is meant to laugh at that "funny" scene, and then think: "Hey, that guys actually cool.". However, I did like the scene where he tells us that he's told us his name.

So you prefer Denzel Washington?

I do. Well, first of all, I like men wearing hats. But forget about that; Denzel Washington is one of the actors that I'm quite fond of. He brings a impressive (here it is: impressive) realism into his characters, they actually seem to be real people. Many actors try to do this, but never truly success. Just that one scene where he lifts his voice saying "Pina Colada", which just makes you wake up again, because the rest of the dialogues and scenes is so monotone. That's also what I like about the film: When you just start to think it's boring, something changes, an interesting camera angle pops up or... well, Washington lifts his voice. There's also one scene, where he just coughs in the middle of a sentence, and I started thinking: "They don't cough. Most film characters don't cough, excluding they're sick or something. Or in a church.". Just very small details, that make you wonder, and I'm fascinated by that.

How about the flash-back investigations - did you like how they were... blurry?

Nothing against blurriness, but no, those scenes reminded me of the glitter-scene in Twilight - as I confessed already once, I like the Twilight-series, but that scene was too much (not to forget, that it was different in the book). And it's the same in this film - too much. Too cheap-looking.

Now, for the actors: What did you think about Jodie Foster?

Jodie... I've appreciated the way you act ever since "Silence of the Lambs", and you act different every time I see you. Different - but always as qualitative as the first time we met (your accent stays the same as well).

Did you know the "bank robbers" were talking Albanian?

I don't want to spoil anything, so let me just say: No, I did not, and I also didn't know, who it was, but I knew "where" he was talking, if you get me. And that was just too obvious.

Do you think the scene where the officers discuss the substations etc., while there are hostages in the bank, was macabre?

I think that scene was really good. First, I thought it was just what you proposed - macabre. But just for one split second. Then, my thoughts revolved about, how this was being realistic. It was. You need to think about, that there are people doing this every day, and how they just need to be calm, and get out of the situation sometimes. So, that was nicely done.

What was the most exciting part of the film?

The most exciting part was guessing what was going to happen. That's a common "trick" in hostage movies, and off course, it is working, though problem is: 1) it can grow boring very quickly and 2) when the end has come, you don't want to watch more of that movie, because the excitement has gone. Just what happens in this film - at the end, when the hostages have been released, you want to turn it off. Off course, the total solution comes just at the very end, but the time in between is a little boring. 

What did you think about the scene, where the hostages are released?

I thought: "There's a lot of people in blue painting suits here", and "I bet Cameron created the Na'vi after seeing this". 

And finally, what is your opinion?

"Inside Man" is very mainstream, but heading towards the positive corner of that section (so many mainstream movies - some of them have to be good). (Mostly) exciting plot (though well-known), without any big twists, but with two great actors and a fab soundtrack. That would be 2 1/2 stars, but it gets 1/2 more because of "Chaiyya".

Rating: 6.3

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Review: Jhootha Hi Sahi [The truth about JHS]

Getting back to the old fashioned "review:"... I can't really decide how to title my reviews, as you might have noticed. However, after watching the horrible "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" (2008) on TV yesterday (and it's so typical they send this kind of stuff - we have to maintain the "Bollywood image", right?: kitschy, unrealistic, naive + bad special effects), I needed something better. We have two Bollywood magazines in Germany, whereas one is just G-R-E-A-T and the other one is quite new and needs some improvement. However, the improvement-one published a review on "Jhoota Hi Sahi" and it was not very positive, so reading it, I thought: "No, you're getting this wrong - this is a good movie!". But then a voice in my head said: "Well, you haven't seen it, so how will you know?". I can't explain, but don't you sometimes have that feeling of knowledge, like you really know that a film is good? You don't hope so (as for Dhobi Ghat, I do), you just know. However, every thesis needs to be proved for becoming a theory. Read the results of this experiment, exclusively, right here at Lime Reviews.

JHOOTHA HI SAHI (2010) झूठा ही सही

Title-Translation: Part of a song from 1970's Hindi classic "Johnny Mera Naam". Means something like "True or false/ Even if it's false"

Director: Abbas Tyrewala
Authors: Pakhi Tyrewala & Abbas Tyrewala
Starring: John Abraham, Pakhi Tyrewala, Raghu Ram, Madhavan

Plot: Siddhart (Sid) owns a book shop in London, together with two of his friends. He stammers in front of beautiful women and his relationship to girlfriend Kurtika is going south. Then, one night, he gets called up by unknown people, all wanting to commit suicide, calling him "dost" (friend). A suicide helpline has by mistake published Sid's tlf. number as theirs, and they ask him to help out a little, if anyone calls. Sid agrees, and gets called up by Mishka, a beautiful girl that he will meet in real life too - after having told her about his great, exciting life...




Written the 5th of February 2011

"Jhoota Hi Sahi" is one of those films that have been getting highly mixed responses. A large part 

Johnny-boy and Pakhi

of the bad opinions alludes to Pakhi Tyrewala, who portrays one of the two main persons - and who also wrote the screenplay. I consider this as a big accomplishment and think she made a really good job. Mishka, one of the two main characters, seems natural, if you look away from the fact that she was trying to kill herself and then gets happy so fast. This is though rather a fault of the screenplay, as the part when Mishka gets happy with time has not been given enough time. But never mind, everything else goes perfectly, and a few nice, unexpected twists are included in the screenplay (I don't want to spoil anything by telling them now). 
You could find your self asking: Why did they choose an end that everyone would expect? Well, if it was an art film or anything else that fits into the definition of "we-don't-want-anything-regular", this question would be qualified. But you can watch "LSD", if you want an indie-end.


I also must mention the supporting actors, who took a lot of the seriousness away by being serious (Nick? Well, he was serious about marrying Aliya). A small disappointment was that Anaitha Nair had such a tiny role, but Alishka Varde made a good female entertainer, too (did you know that my Danish guest family lives near a town called Varde?). As most newer films, "Jhoota Hi Sahi" tries to be open-minded concerning sexuality, and though there never actually are many sparks between John and Pakhi (also a small disappointment-factor), the film manages better than one of its concurrents, "Anjaana Anjaani", at least not insulting gay people. The two gay guys cater for some amusement, but never in an abusive way. Adjacent to Pakhi, John Abraham portrays the second main character, and he has never been more cute and lovable, ever. Not later than in the scene when he admits that he remembers Mishka "thodaa-saa…?" (a little…?), you really want to have a little Sid-bear that you can hug (maybe I should name on of my teddies "Sid" - it could be this Sid, the Ranbir-Sid and the real Sid, I mean the Telugu one).

And my Pakhi once more

The soundtrack of this film has been on my iPod for quite a long time now, because it's not possible that I miss a new soundtrack of my sabse-favorite composer & singer, Rahman. Some people call it boring, I call it a "1000-times-better-than-Blue-Soundtrack" that gently tiptoes into your heart. A little bit like the film, they are a good match, indeed. The credit for this also goes to Abbas Tyrewala, for he assembled all these people and made something cozy of it. Cozy is actually the perfect word for describing the film: It isn't the Blockbuster-type and it's not weird enough to be described as one of the ongoing experiments that are attacked to the silver (or laptop/ computer/ tv) screens at the moment. I already said that I like change and experiments, and that a good film always needs to include something fresh and new. So off course, this film has got something. But what is "Jhoota Hi Sahi" in the end?


The truth is: "Jhoota Hi Sahi" is, what many want to be, but only few are - a perfect rom-com (which is already imperfect by definition). 

Rating: 7.0

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Review: Delhi-6

DELHI-6 (2009)

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Screenplay: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Kamlesh Pandey

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi  Kapoor

Plot: The NRI Roshan comes to India (more specific: Delhi) for the first time in his life, together with his grandmother. While everyone in the city is afraid of the "Kaala Bandar", a human large monkey that causes trouble ,Roshan learns a lot about his roots - and falls in love, too...

Reviewed the 12th of August 2010

"Who would voluntarily leave the streets of Delhi?", asks a famous indian poet, and is often citet in "Delhi-6".  At the beginning only by the supporting characters, later also by main character Roshan, as he recognizes his love to the city. It is a love-hate- relationship, that somehow - although on a smaller scale - rubs off on the audience. Even people like me, that have never been to India, or for that matter Delhi, can get a rather realistic view on life in the capital of India. The movie probably shows only a fraction of the different groups of population, but masters it wonderfully by portraying the seemingly stereotypical characters in a more of a "grey-zone" way. In some ways, the film resembles "Rang De Basanti" - it plays in Delhi, shows the problems of young Indians and the political turmoil in India. Nevertheless, there are small aberrations; the political aspect isn't as extreme, as in "RDB", and even though, it in the beginning, Roshan (Abhishek) and Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) seem to be the most important characters, the many (and often older) minor characters are very important for the film, and surprisingly profound, too. Particulary surprising is Divya Dutta, who usually is known for small and rather unimportant roles. Here, she plays a woman from the lowest caste, who has got a lot more in her brain, then some of the more distinguished persons. A similar (but male) character is played by Atul Kulkarni, who also contributes much to the film. Sonam Kapoor is unexpectedly better, than in "Saawariya", after which many (including me) had already almost given up their hope for her. She convinces as a young, rebelling representative of the Indian middle class, who's on the search for her identity and wants to be free, instead of submitting herself to a man. We can be curious, if Sonam will master a bigger role too - however, she's very good in this one. The leading character of the movie is played by Abhishek Bachchan, and there could not be found a better one for this part. Firstly, he speaks with a real American accent, contrarily to many other NRI-mimes. Furthermore, he plays his part calmly and naturally and doesn't steal too much attention from the smaller roles. He's passionate too - after a while, most of the characters recognize, how narrow-minded and oldfashioned they act. 

All of this is accompanied by a wonderfully modern and multifaceted soundtrack from the pen of India's favourite composer, A. R. Rahman. The songs match Delhi perfectly - thoroughly Indian, but also very new and creative. 

With "Delhi-6", Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra succeeds in making a modern portrait of India, a little similar to "Rang De Basanti", but also with many new aspects, that "RDB" didn't come up with. 

Rating: 8.3

Thank you for reading my review,

Mette M. K.