New York masala

This is one of the best films ever made! I watched it a few days ago and i still have the movie running through my head. It is so amazing that it has a lasting impression.

Once again, Shah Rukh Khan steals the spotlight and does a magnificent performance as the beautiful and sweet Aman Mathur.

By the way, i was thinking "What a funny movie" until the end...it just gets sad. And me being a really sensitive person, wow...it just blows you away. Shah Rukh Khan's brilliant performance will stay with you forever.

I was up at 2.30 in the morning, tissues strewn all around me with tears just pouring down my face. The moment you try to stop crying, another scene comes on and you start again. Seriously, i'm really sensitive so no surprise but i reckon this film was the first film that actually made me cry that much. I just couldn't stop!! This is a must for everyone..including you sensitive people out there! Everyone must watch this film! It's just beautiful and it was actually an eye-opener for me! You've got to cherish whatever you have because who knows...tomorrow may never come.

Watching Indian movies outside of India is something very impossible, everybody speaks about "the famous bollywood movies", but nobody want to release this jewels in Europe. I am so lucky I could see this supermasterpiece at the oriental cinema festival in Barcelon, I couldn't believe what I was watching. The script is stunning, the choreography crazy, the actors are superlative, the music is impressive, the plot turns you on...you can keep inside the characters as I never did. The sound is also impressive. It was like watching Mary Poppins when I was 6 yeras old, during 3 hours I lost the total terms of reality!!!! As the movie has never been exhibited in Spain and there is not copy on DVD we are so "lucky" We could find a pirate copy in a Pakistan supermarket in Barcelon, with perfect sound and image!!!! Well, I hope this message will amaze you to get this movie from....where?

What can you say about this movie? The makers have ensured that they have greased the wheels properly before the turkey was served.

Lets look at the few aspects of the movie::

01. Story: Nothing new but well-presented. And obviously the "Anand" factor was a diversion.

02. Characters: All of them etched out well. Be it talented Jaya Bachchan, Sushma Seth, Lillette Dubey, Sweetu, Rajpal Yadav or the highlight Kantaben. Simone Singh was good as well - she attempts a bit of skin-show, desperately wanting to break-free from the Heena image.

03. Comedy: Comedy tracks have been really worked upon. There are many pokings at Gujju's directly (the audience on both my sides appeared threatening!) - but in spite of that the G.U.J.J.U. song makes up for all the damage. Clever, very clever. Kantaben was good and so was Satish Shah (and his English).

04. Location: The movie is a proper New York Darshan bus. The trivial mistakes about jogging to Central Park from Queens can be easily overlooked in the age where the scripts have crater sized holes.

05. Music: S-E-L have given one of their best compositions to date. Be it the title song or Mahi Ve - all of them stay with you for a long time. My favourite is Its the time to disco, Vasundhara Das rocks (she bring out the voice of Nazia Hassan).

06. Lyrics: The title song is definitely Javed Akhtar caliber. For the rest he should give the credit to a pseudonym.

07. Spl. Appearances: Sonali Bendre and Sanjay Kapoor have extended special appearances. And in blink-an-miss appearances by Kajol & Rani (lucky mascots of Karan Johar), Uday Chopra and Jugal Hansraj.

08. Protagonists: SRK plays his part extremely well in the author backed role as "the good Samaritan", however does succumb to a bit of his usual hamming. Saif proves yet again that he is a dependable actor and at times can steal the show right under the nose. His performance at the restaurant (proposing scene) is wonderful. Preity does full justice to her character (Kareena - sour grapes! sour grapes!).

09. Tracks: In fact the movie is full of tracks but interesting ones. Be it Kantaben, Simone Singh, the wrong house, 7-day proposing, Sweetu, revamping of the restaurant or Gia's adoption track. The director has just done a good copy-paste of it.

The makers have ensured that there is maximum utilisation of resources at all fronts. For a first-timer Nikhil Advani has done a commendable job, obviously under the baton of Karan Johar who ensured that Yash Johar films flag remains high and rising.

Definitely worth a watch.... with family.

PS: Its interesting to see that from time to time, SRK acknowledges Aamir Khan in his movies (here the Lagaan song and in K3G the Ghulam matchstick).

Well, it is always a bit difficult in Western countries to get to see Bollywood movies with English subtitles, and though I have made a bit of an effort to spot them in the last few years I wouldn't call myself a Bollywood expert - and of course I've grown up with Western rather than Indian aesthetic standards ingrained. Although as a fan of Baroque Opera, I don't really have much difficulty with the basic premises of the Bollywood style!

Having said that, this was possibly the most interesting Bollywood movie I've seen to date - especially in its attempt to incorporate elements of Western pop culture, including several blatant references to American movies, from Grease and a spoofed James Bond to Brad Silberling's City of Angels, which evidently contributed a lot to the way Shahruk Khan's character is handled (including him starting to see things in black and white when he is near dying - that one goes back all the way to Wim Wenders!).

The soundtrack is stunning, and again it's great to see the way the New York setting gives opportunity to mix in some Western elements in an intelligent way. The dance and song numbers are a true joy, and it doesn't hurt that they are better integrated into the plot than in most Indian movies I've seen.

Shahruk Khan is nicely parodying himself - at least, I thought he was... maybe I'm wrong??? :-o - I also particularly enjoyed the running joke about Aman and Rohit being a homosexual couple - one could indeed ask oneself who is really in love with who here? And why exactly does Aman prefer to love vicariously rather than going for the girl himself? It's also perhaps significant that it is Rohit rather than Naina who stays with Aman to the last. I am sure the filmmakers are intelligent enough to be aware of these undercurrents, even if perhaps most audiences aren't!

In any case, watching this movie (with a very sympathetic audience at a foreign film showcase here in Wellington, people who actually laughed in most of the *right* places!) was a pure joy and it makes me happy to see how Indian cinema is finally beginning to be perceived as a legitimate part of international film culture even by Western audiences, rather than just an exotic oddity - something that Chinese and Japanese movies, for instance, have already achieved to a much greater degree!

And now I'm off to buy the soundtrack...

Almost by mistake we found this movie in Netflix and for the first time ever my wife and I spent 3 hours laughing, crying, and enjoying an old story told in a different way. This is no Oscar material, but certainly entertaining and visually rich. Great simple humor.