sabsinha

The fundamental problem that i see with the critics of today is that they are too busy dissecting a movie with the same yardstick that they follow for all movies rather than actually looking at the perspective or angle from which the movie was meant to be made. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a perfect movie. The chemistry, the tongue and cheek humor, the sexiness and also the romance behind the aggression is brilliantly portrayed in this film. In fact I don't remember a film of a similar kind being made with such success for a long while now. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have simple mastered the script and worked wonders with the way they were supposed to remain understated as husband and wife and yet be so cold as assassins. Simply awesome. My movie of the year.

The rules have been set and the magic has begun (so to say). Swades, to me, started off a trend which the Indian movie-makers of today would be well-advised to follow. The treatment, the attention to detail and above all the ability to provide the audience with food-for-thought would eventually turn out to be the primary ingredients of successful films in the near future.

Now with Black a trend has been followed where the above prerequisites have been met to a T. The background score, the wonderful use of colours and the performances are flawless to say the least in spite of the movie being extremely straightforward and honest. There is however very little that is left to the audiences' imagination which I believe was a masterstroke as far as the director's approach was concerned. This is primarily because expecting the audience, who are slowly getting accustomed to a new form of niche movie making, to comprehend the inner meanings of films would have been a huge risk to take. So, unlike Swades Black has succeeded in directly communicating with the movie goers with a storyline that does not need to be debated or dwelt upon. However there could be a problem with the movie having too many dialogues in English which could create a communication gap (not that the director cares) of sorts.

On a different note I also believe that the Oscars should be given a taste of both the works as a living proof that Indian cinema has truly moved on from the claptrap that was once an intrinsic part of the film industry. Let the good times and more good movies roll.

Thank god for swades. Its been ever so often that as Indians we have lamblasted the mushy, one track nonsensical movies that were being churned out by bollywood and yearned for something slightly honest and celebral. And now it seems that the moment has arrived. Swades has finally reached the next level of Indian movie-making with the help of ashutosh, srk and rahman where the execution, the concept and the treatment of the film is at least (i can safely assume) close to world standards. There is no point comparing lagaan (the directors 1st movie) to this movie as his earlier venture was purely fiction with no semblance of realism in it. However this movie has so many ingredients of being a pathbreaker for Indian cinema that its almost scary. The feelings and expectations of an nri set aside, it tells the story of middle and upper class India losing touch with the harsh realities of the sufferings of the less fortunate ones all around us (and the fact that we can do very little to change the ongoing scenario is even more glaring and painful). Besides this the movie also deals with the desires and priorities of humans inspite of the trials and tribulations of daily living.

The maturity of the script, the actors and the score makes it a journey of epic proportions without it looking epic at all. The normalcy of the movie is something which might (and hopefully will) change the way cinema is seen and made in India in the future. One can only hope.