Making 'Hissss'tory

Hello Friends,
Its been a long time that I wrote anything on my blog. There has been multiple reasons for not updating my blog on a regular basis. 1) Too many events and writing work that is taking a lot of my time. and 2) Travelling - yes travelling ... I have been travelling extensively these days from Pune to Trivandrum, from Trivandrum to Bangalore, from Bangalore to Coorg and then back to Bangalore only to go back to Trivandrum and later move on to Pune and Mumbai uffff....

In between all these travelling and busy schedules I got some time to see few movies that released in the last few weeks. Being an avid movie lover I have been watching all the major releases every week untill the last few weeks.

I started with Anjaana Anjaani which I wanted to watch for 3 reasons, one it was written by a fellow writer and friend Advaita Kala, second it was Siddharth Anand and Sajid Nadiadwala's movie and finally because of Ranbir, Priyanka and the music (Soul stirring music by Vishal-Shekhar - especially Tu na Jaane Aas Pass hai Khuda). To begin with many of my friends didn't like the movie and adviced me against watching it but I went ahead and watched it. Although certain parts of the movie were slow and boring, overall I loved the movie and the concept (may be many of the critics and my friends would like to strangulate me for liking it....however I never go on other people's word)

Then I moved onto watch 'HISSS' the Mallika Sherawat movie to hit the town directed by another director friend of my Jennifer Lynch. I went with a lot of expectations eventhough Jen had told me that the movie was taken away from her mid-way by the production team. However I wanted to see how it  had into and also I wanted to see the interpretation of a British Director about the much explored snake theme in the Hindi movies. I was surprised to see my friend and I sitting alone in the theater with few movie ushers trying to gape at the skin show dished out by Mallika. The movie was one of the most 'shittiest' movie I have ever seen (sorry to use that word but thats what came into my mind). I vent out my feelings to my dear friend Jen who was upset with my criticism but she hadn't watched the entire movie after it had made it to the theatres. I would say to her 'BEWARE' dont watch the movie or you yourself will be 'HISSSSS'tory.

'Cry Cry itna Cry' John sang out to the director's wife and co-star Pakhi in the movie, but it was us the audience who needed the consolation for watching a bore fare from Abbas Tyrewala and AR Rahman who had earlier made the immensely popular youth centric movie 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na'. We cannot deny the fact that JTYJN was from the stables of the highly talented Aamir Khan. After watching 'Jhoota Hi Saahi' even I want to believe  that Aamir would have personally supervised or 'ghost directed' it as most of the Bollywood dignitaries always belived. I took AR Rahman's name above because there was not even a good song that would stay in our mind for long. Off late ARR has been churning out mediocre songs which doesnt justify his great talent eg: Raavan, JHS and yes Robot too. After watching the movie I felt like calling up Abbas Tyrewala and telling him to go back to his lyric and dialogue writing than making any more blunders like 'Jhoota Hi Sahi'.

Then I saw 'Robot' wow what a movie...seriously I am not saying it sarcastically but truly. The special effects and the direction was par with any Hollywood production although the story was not that great shakes but there was novelty. Rajni Sir was awesome...no wonder he is called the 'Super Star' of the Centuary. He was wonderful although Aishwarya has nothing much to do apart from looking beautiful and she definitely scores high points for her looks and clothing in the movie. AR Rahman as usual was mediocre with his music (God knows when we can hear the original ARR). I am not surprised that Robot has made more than 350 crores on the box office worldwide. A super thrilling movie and I quite enjoyed it and would look forward to more Rajni movies....

Hope the Diwali brings in more good movies at the box office that will put back my regular smile while watching them...Heres looking forward to Golmaal 3, Action Replay and Guzaarish....



Till then Chao...

Book to Movie...A different view point

These days I get a lot of inquiry about converting 'Knocked Up' into a movie. I do understand that most of the books have always found a special place in a readers heart and mind and they want to see the same being translated onto the silver screen. However, after watching 'Eat Love Pray' I have a different view point altogether.

'Eat Love Pray' - The book written by Elizabeth Gilbert found a special place in the readers heart which in turn made the book one of the bestsellers of this decade. The book connected with the readers because everyone at one point of time in life has faced similar situations or dilemmas like trouble in finding what we actually want in life and difficulty in understanding who we really are. Our quest for deeper meanings in life keeps us going but there comes a stage when nothing seems satiable. We identified with Liz's character.

The movie although adapted from the book looses the heart and falls flat on the face. The story that germinated in Elizabeth Gilberts brain and the story that Ryan Murphy interpreted in his own style and understanding doesn't match at all.

Eat Pray Love the film, on the contrary, fails miserably at conveying the emotional turmoil of Liz, the turmoil that forces her to leave everything behind and romance loneliness instead. The cause of her mental upheaval that forces her to disconnect from her familiar world stays mysterious and so do her woes.

Liz (Julia Roberts) in her mid 30's is unhappy. She is unhappy with a husband who loves her deeply. She is unhappy with her successful career as a travel writer. She is unhappy in the company of good friends who've always supported her. She is unhappy in her post-marital relationship with a younger David (James Franco) who's crazy about her. Liz is basically unhappy with herself as she longs to find 'balance' in her life. She thus sets for Italy-India-Bali voyage to find herself.

You fail to understand what Liz lacks in life in the first place. As said before, Murphy's poor script only makes Liz's woes look pointless. Her 12 month voyage to three different countries in order to find her 'balance' thus seems futile. The horrid script also fails to establish the other characters, let alone the central character. Most of the back stories have been chopped off. The scenes have no connect with each other, story struggles when it shuttles between past-present and absurd is what this makes the film look like in the end. You feel nothing for the protagonist or anybody you see onscreen.

Loads of stereotypes further disappoint you. Italians are always happy and love to indulge in animated conversations, Buffaloes, cows and elephants need to be in every frame of the film's picturisation in India (wonder how they forgot snakes) and love has to happen with the man who rammed you off the road.

Italy chapter seems clichéd, India further clichéd and the only chapter of the film that works to a certain extent is Bali, thanks to a gorgeous Javier Bardem and the beautiful green locales of Bali. Perhaps Murphy should have chosen just the 'love' section of the book for his film!

Julia Roberts apparently chose to play Elizabeth Gilbert without meeting the author as she didn't want to imitate her. Somehow the actor's experiment doesn't work as she seems disconnected from the character she portrays. The 43 year old superstar also looks a tad too old to play Liz who is in her early 30's. Javier Bardem does his job well as Liz's Bali lover and seems to have established an expertise at wooing American women abroad. He did the same in Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona, the later being a hugely superior film. Richard Jenkins as Liz's spiritual advisor in India, impresses too.

Considering, a film based on 'Soul searching' and 'self discovery', Eat Pray Love is extremely shallow and absurd. You rack your brain throughout the never-ending film wondering whys and hows of Liz's life, answers for which you never get. Pizza, Javier, Bali are the only things that make a drag like Eat Pray Love bearable.

So if ever my book gets converted into a movie I would see to it that I am totally involved with the creative process to keep a check on the understanding part between the director and the author; in this case 'I'. So that the fans and readers who have liked my book shouldn't feel cheated or disappointed....