This week saw the release of Ananth Mahadevan directed movie 'Gour Hari Dastaan' starring Vinay Pathak, Ranveer Shoerey and Konkona Sen Sharma. The movie is based on the real life story of Gandhian Gour Hari Das who for 30 odd years fought against the corrupt and inefficient system of India to be recognized as a freedom fighter.
The movie moves back and forth between mid 70's, mid 2000's and 1946 when he fought for India's Freedom as a member of Vanar Sena and also imprisoned by Britishers for 90 days. The story is complex but Mahadevan and co-writer CP Surendran does a brilliant job conveying it in a simple manner to the audience.
Although there are few glitches but that can be put aside when you see the effort and performances put in by each member of cast and crew. Rare are such occasions in the history of Hindi cinema where a filmmaker goes against commerce and BO results to tell a beautiful simple story.
Vinay Pathak as Gour Hari Das puts in a subtle performance that touches your heart. He has come a long way from his Bheja Fry and Chalo Dilli days. Konkona Sen Sharma puts up a brilliant act portraying the role of Das' supporting wife. Ranveer Shoeroy as a 40 plus old journalist who comes across Das's story and tries to help him, has also put in a wonderful performance.
There are few moments in the film that will make you question the bureaucracy. You will definitely feel for Das's struggle to get that alluding Freedom Fighter Certificate and when he does you want to stand up and rejoice for him.
A huge salute to Ananth Mahadevan who has come up with another heart wrenching masterpiece after Mee Sindhutai Sapkal that won four National Awards.
On the whole the movie might not cater to the masses but as content driven movies are doing well at the BO, this movie will definitely find a place in the viewers heart.
Today the nation is celebrating 69 years of Independence from 150 years of British slavery. However how independent are we? Do we really feel independent in our country? What does Independence mean to everyone? This is one question I feel we should all think out loud.
For me independence means;
1) Freedom to live the way I want
2) Freedom to love / marry anyone I want
3) Freedom from corruption
4) Freedom from sexual discrimination
5) Freedom from social mindsets
6) Freedom to express
7) Freedom to make my own decisions
8) Freedom from dirt and garbage filled cities
9) Freedom from potholes
10) Freedom from racism
11) Freedom to follow any religion of my choice
12) Freedom from pollution
13) Freedom from poverty
14) Freedom to eat what I want, including beef
15) Freedom to surf any website
16) Freedom to watch any movie without the interference of censor boards / religious units
The list is endless...
So are we still independent enough to celebrate our FREEDOM today - 69 years later?
Are you tired of lousy 2G
or 3G connection? Then your dream to get uninterrupted high speed mobile
broadband connection has become a reality. What? Yes and this has been made
possible by the communications giant Airtel. Airtel has introduced their new 4G
connection to almost 296 towns in the country. Hurrah! Yup that's what I said
jumping into the air after reading the news. Move aside lousy connections and
welcome high speed mobile broadband to your life! Now you can stream and
upload HD videos, download music, movies and images within few minutes.
Apart from the above I have
few more benefits to list;
Airtel offers six months of
unlimited download and music streaming on Wynk Music along with free five movies per month for six months
with every 4G SIM Swap on the Eros Now channel of Wynk Movies
Airtel has introduced a new
range of Infinity Plans starting at
Rs.999/- with unlimited mobile voice calls, data benefits and uninterrupted
access to Wynk Movies & Music
If you have a 4G handset then you can get a free SIM
delivered to your doorstep within 4 hours like me after tweeting#GETAIRTEL4G. How? Once you tweet, you will get a reply from @AirtelIndia handle directing you to a link where you need to enter your details for SIM delivery.
Now if you are wondering if Airtel will charge you a ‘bomb’ for their
service then you will be happily surprised to know that the communications
giant is offering the service at 3G data prices starting from
Rs.25/-.
Got a 4G phone? Want Airtel4G? Then what are you waiting for? Log onto your system and tweet #GetAirtel4G
for a free SIM home delivery now!
It has been a long time that I wrote any movie reviews. However,
this week's releaseBajrangi
Bhaijaanhas dragged me
out of my hibernation to write a review.
First things
first,Bajrangi Bhaijaanis not an usualSalman Khanmovie. No cable hanging fights, no
stripping, no popular one-liners, no Munni type item songs and no villains that
we always associate his movies with. I think afterTere Naamthis is one movie where Salman
has actually experimented with a subject and he comes out a winner, winning not
only his loyal fan's hearts but also the so called nasty reviewers.
The film starts
off with a Pakistani village household cheering for Pakistan while watching its
nail biting crucial cricket match with India on television. Inspired by the ace
Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi, a to be mother from the household names her
daughter as Shahida (Harshaali
Malhotra). The girl despite being beautiful and expressive does not speak a
word, which worries her parents day after day. On the advice of an elderly
person in the family, Shahida's mother decides to take Shahida to a
wish-fulfilling holy dargah in Delhi,
India. On their way back to Pakistan, their train halts due to a technical
failure. That's when the innocent and animal loving Shahida sees a helpless
lamb fallen in a pit. She gets down from the train and just when she rescues
the lamb, the train starts moving, thus leaving her behind in an unknown
country all alone. She quickly boards the next immediate train and reaches
Delhi. It is here when she meets the extremely God fearing and a devout
Hanuman bhaktPavan Kumar Chaturvedi aka Bajrangi (Salman
Khan). With the intention of helping the little girl who cannot talk,
Bajrangi takes her home, only to be ridiculed by his family members. The only
person who stands by him is his to-be-wife Rasika
(Kareena Kapoor). Pavan and Rasika try their level best to 'decode' the
identity of the child by dropping names of almost all the Indian states, but in
vain. Havoc strikes their family household when they discover that Munni (aka Shahida) not only eats meat,
but is also a Muslim and above all… a Pakistani! That's when Pavan decides to
brave all the odds (visa issues, passport problems etc). Despite all the odds,
when Bajrangi manages to cross the Indo-Pak border, but gets caught by the
Pakistan police, who label him off as an Indian spy. That's when Bajrangi
encounters a freelance news reporter Chaand
Nawab (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who shoots the whole Pavan-Munni 'adventures'
on his handycam, hoping this will be his big ticket to name and fame as a
journalist. However, as he discovers their Pavan's good intentions, he too
joins the duo in their journey and helps them out. Does Chaand Nawab manage to
'encash' on the Pavan-Munni story in order to be taken seriously as a
journalist, does Pavan succeed in uniting Munni with her parents, does the
ever-truthful Pavan manage to prove his innocence of him not being a spy before
the Pakistani police and how does the simpleton Bajrangi gets transformed into Bajrangi
Bhaijaan is what forms the rest of the story.
Actingwise this is Salman Khan’s best performance till date.
Newcomer Harshali Malhotra is a revelation. With no dialogues to mouth, she
does a wonderful job with expressions. Kareena Kapoor in a cameo is okay.
Nawazuddin Siddique as always is endearing.
Kabir Khan after his previous movies viz. Kabul Express, New York
and Ek
Tha Tiger again proves his metal. The story by V. Vijayendra Prasadand dialogues by Kausar Munir are perfect and the movie is set to motion right at
the beginning with no space for boredom setting in. The visuals of POK is
wonderfully captured. The music is average.
Overall it’s worth every penny you spend. Go for it!
On the advent of International Women's Day I along with my friends Chaya Goswami and Pranay Parekh went asking few men if they knew what International Women's Day was all about... watch to find out quite hilarious...
The awards season are here and so are my reviews of the latest movies that are receiving some wonderful accolades at these functions. So today I am going to start the series with Tim Burton produced and directed real life story of Margaret Keane - Big Eyes. The movie stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz who have been winning one award after the other.
The story tells the turbulent relationship between Walter Keane (Waltz) and Margaret Keane (Adams). Margaret is a good artist who paints children with big eyes. Her work go majorly unnoticed in the early 1950's and soon she falls in love and marries Walter Keane a fellow artist who promises to give her and her daughter Jane (Delaney Raye) security and protection from her ex-husband.
Walter soon starts showcasing her and his creations at every gallery and influential people unless a tiff in a bar makes him a national figure and mistakes Margaret's paintings to be his. Soon people start noticing his work (originally made by his wife) and he becomes a national celebrity and the big eyes kids paintings become a sensation. Using his marketing savvy, he sells the prints cheaply in hardware stores and gas stations across the United States while Margaret is relegated to the background.
Slowly the tensions between the couple heighten when an intoxicated and infuriated Walter tries to set fire Margaret and Jane who escape to Hawaii. Margaret lodges a complaint against Walter claiming the ownership of the paintings ending up in an ugly court fight.
Performances by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz is outstanding. Both the actors fit the role to the 'T' and bring to life the celebrity couple onscreen. The story, screenplay and dialogues are quite gripping. The period setup looks authentic. Tim Burton has done justice to the subject and comes up triumphant.
On the whole its a wonderful movie and therefore every accolade coming its way is well deserved.
My Verdict: **** Poor - *, Average - **, Good - ***, Very Good - ****, Excellent - *****
