Eklavya is a movie which I wanted to see eagerly. I liked the Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Munnabhai Sequel movie. The star cast was impressive. I had high expectation.

I didn’t know that the movie was releasing at this point of time, as I didn’t see any posters, ads or any kind of promotion. When my friend suggested we go to this movie on yesterday, it came as a sweet surprise. The seats weren’t available for the evening show, so we settled for the night show at 10:15 PM.

This time we wanted to go to Cine City at the Al Ghurair City. Earlier we had already been to Cinemas atAl Ghurair City and at Ajman Citi Centre.

My Impressions
Let me get into my impression on the movie.. I didn’t like it. The movie was slow and had a sombre (but the ending which was uplifting). Don’t get me wrong. There’s hardly any flaws, no unwanted naach-ganna, no unwanted hero-bashing-villains scenes, not lengthy, great acting by the actors, good cinematography, great direction and all that jazz.

But somehow I didn’t like it! The movie didn’t have substance. No great story nor screenplay. It was all about vengeance.

The acting was good. All the lead actors are pros and do the best what they’re doing. I dunno, I liked Sanjay Dutt (Munnabhai forever!), Vidya Balan (shes’ fresh and gorgeous) and Saif Ali Khan in this movie. Others also acted well. Sanjay Dutt stood apart. Now this performance made me wait for Munnabhai Chale Amerika! Became a huge fan of him now!

Excellent Cinematography
I just have two words to sum up the cinematography in this movie: Simply Superb! The lightings (the palaces look stunning in nights), the colors (such colors!), costumes were good to watch.

The locales and the area where the movie was shot was stunning. The locales in Rajasthan, the palaces, all are good to see and an treat to watch. The photogrpahy and the cinematography is par excellence. The scene where Amitabh shows off his skills is perfectly shot. I must say that it’s one of the best cinematography that I have seen in a Bollywood.

‘One time watch’ or is it?
I don’t know why I didn’t like this movie as much. I must admit thats it’s one of the ‘finest’ and ‘class’ movie that I have seen from Bollywood. But still we can watch movie for the class only. There must be some substance in it.Anyway it’s not that bad also…definitely not bad than branding it less than a ‘one time watch’.

Having said that, I might watch it for one more time. Maybe this movie requires multiple viewing. I might catch it in DVD and see if I liked it.

Just go and see the movie with an open mind in the cinemas (Cinematography can be enjoyed in Cinemas only), you might just like it.

5.5/10

Official Movie Website

Guru was my first movie for any language in the year. What a movie, it turned out to be! Myself and my friends went to Ajman (30-35 Kms from Dubai) at Cinestar, Ajman Citi Centre. 8 of us went, so drove in 2 Toyota Corolla.

Guru is a technically a great movie, good music & background score by A R Rahman, crisp direction from Mani Rathnam, awesome cinematography by Rajiv Menon, good editing and great performances by the lead artists.

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Last Friday I watched Dhoom 2 at the Grand Cinemas at Al Ghurair City, Dubai. We had a good time and I can’ forget that night as it was my first movie at Dubai.

The Midnight Show!

We went to the 12 midnight show (it was a holiday on Saturday)! For the first time, I’ve watched a movie so late, taking into the account, the innumerable movie I watched in my PC as well. We wanted to have a ride and roam around the place, and we started by 10:30 PM. We had tea in a restaurant at Bur Dubai (no where near to the Cinema).

Then we headed to the mall. That place has many things like Apartments, a shopping mall, Cinemas etc. The cinemas is in the 2nd floor of the building. It has a “floor type” car parking, where we park cars in “various levels”. I have read about this concept many times and is planned in Chennai also, but this was the time where I experienced it. I always thought it would be how difficult it would be for the cars to “navigate” around, but the system worked like a charm.

Other than that, the Cinemas are like our Cinemas back home only. Only that they have a four LCD TVs for the trailers of the movies that’ re showing / coming soon at the cinemas. The ticket price ranges from Dhs 20 to Dhs 30 in Dubai Cinemas. That’s around Rs. 250 to Rs. 365. It’s an irony that I felt that paying anything more than Rs. 50 for a movie is not worth when I was in Chennai. Of course, once if I get my lappy and net connection, then can watch movies and have DVDs for free.

Dhoom 2 Disappoints

Dhoom 2 was a big let down for me. I expected so much from movie was desperate to watch it. They’ve paid more attention to cheap publicity, costumes and girls. There’re are so much goofs in the movie. Most of them could have been avoided. The double role of Bipasa can’t be explained in any possible way. I still have no clue what was the purpose in that move. None of the scenes in the movie has any logic.. and don’t get carried away by the action scenes that you see in the trailers.. they look childish in the movie.

What did Aishwarya do?

All that she did worth talking about is that she’s a great ramp walker. I can still remember those two scenes. Other than that..this is the worst performance by Aishwarya. Period. I admit I like drooling over girls, but not everyone can look good glamourous. Looking good and being glamorous is totally different. People like Catherine Zeta-Jones can be glamorous and she’s great normally as well. Others like Penelope Cruz & Aiswarya are beautiful but they wont look good in half naked costumes. Aiswarya seemed take on this role as a change from those period movie types and try to show others that she can be glamorous and cool in modern roles too. Sadly, it just backfired and her ventures at trying to be hot were just pathetic. She seemed not to be interested in kissing also!

An interview with the cast!

I saw this review at IMDb and likked it very much. So thought of sharing it here.

Hritik:- I’m a clever thief Mr. A, who always love to steel priceless things around the world, though neither do I know nor does the director know what I do with those loot. I love to use futuristic sci-fi gadgets in all my operations, But please don’t sit and wonder where I get funded for it. Well the story of the movie is “Humnnnn……AAAAAAA…Actually it’s……..Humnnnnn……….Wait I’ll ask the director, probably he would be knowing it”

Abhishek:- Well I loved the movie, Coz Ash loved it. As far as my role goes, I’m a intelligent cop whose job is to stop Mr. A and arrest him. I have some super natural powers where in I can stay for hours together under water in a Water glider and then pop out of water from no where and kill all the Roughs. I also have to take care of my pregnant wife, Oh no, I’m not speaking of Ash, it’s too early to think of that, Rather I was speaking of Rimi sen who plays the role of exasperating spouse of mine in the movie.

Uday Chopra:- I’m a portraying a role of a assistant cop who is guaranteed to irk you with his deadly PJ’s and broken English. I have put every effort to act well, and I have faith that one day I’ll act like Sharukh Khan (The Interviewer Faints). Till then daddy please give me roles in your movies. Bolo Papaji Ki Jai.

Aishwarya:- So like I play the role of Sunaihri, a supposedly wise and ultra sexy thief to whom even a stud like Hritik can drool for. Like, I loved acting with Abhishek. Like I wear all this micro mini skirts, long enough to cover my overacting and short enough to avoid obstructing you guys perverted views. Like, you guys will forget your popcorn looking at my Ultra gorgeous 36-24-36 curves, just the way I forgot how to act, in this movie. Also I smooch in the movie along with Hrithik, to check out how much green Abhishek can get.

Bipasha:- Hi I’m Bipasha Basu. Bule tho Nahin Mujhe. Nobody has a clue what I’m doing in this movie. Even John Abraham is trying to figure it out, and in the process of finding it out he’s losing all his Hairs. My role in the movie is to wear a two piece (Bikini) and walk along the shores of Brazilian Sea, and make Uday dream of him having kids with me.

You can see the full review by Sreeraj Arasa here: Waste some buck only if you are a avid Hritik Fan or if you want to see the sexy Aish.

It’s a pity that I saw the movie in the 12 midnight show spoiling my sleep patterns.. even though the time other than the movie was well spent.

All that Dhoom has is good acting and dancing by Hrithik, 2-3 action sequence (which didn’t impress me, Dhoom action sequences was way better), no plot whatsoever, Aishwarya - Hrithik kissing scene (which is lame), 2X zoom on Bipasha’s bikini, Uday’s boring and irritating one liners (how can anyone find it funny?), good locales at the Brazil and Namibia Desert. Hrithik Roshan is the only good thing in this movie… I was disappointed. After seeing the trailers, I thought it would match up to the standards set up Dhoom.

6/10
Dhoom 2 @ IMDb

We’re planning to see Kabul Express on December, 15th at Ajman (35-40 Kms from Dubai). I’ll write about the movie and our visit if it’s worth your time.

Of late, we see a lot of advertisements about Online Movie Rental and Movie on Demand (with DTH). I’m always interested in such stuffs, so decided to do dig and research on this subject.

The results were interesting…
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Let’s talk about Hera Pheri Trilogies, Priyadarshan and Plagiarism.

Phir Hera Pheri:

Plot Outline: Four London working class stiffs pool their money to put one in a high stakes card game, but things go wrong and they end up owing half a million pounds and having one week to come up with the cash.

Does it ring any bell? It’s the plot of the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Incidently, this is almost the plot of Phir Hera Pheri as well. 70% of the movie was copied. The pity that it didn’t live up to the standards of Lock stock.. The movie starts of as one movie and soon after the interval it becomes another movie (a copy of lock stock). This means that the movie is 2hrs 45mins long!!

I recently saw this movie and couldn’t help thinking about the original classic movie by Guy Ritchie. Even though the movie was good in parts and comedy scenes actually make you laugh, there are so many good comedy movie (even in Hindi) that you can watch in lieu of this flick.

There are so many actors, but the movie revolves around Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and to some extent Rajpal Yadav. The music by Himesh Reshammiya was bad. At one song he copied, the “Western music” which featured in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

Some say that the ending/climax was rip off from 1928 Charlie Chaplin movie: The Circus. I have not seen The Circus, but even if it’s copied, it’s kinda Ok. But the Gorilla scenes made me think: “What the fuck!”

Incase you’re yet to check out Phir Hera Pheri, then do yourself a favour and watch Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Phir Hera Pheri will suck in front of Lock, stock..

Hera Pheri:

I dint even bother to see the movie fully. It’s a “remake” of the Malayalam movie directed by Fazil Siddique Lal and the name of the movie is Ramoji Rao Speaking. Thanks to Riyaz for pointing out my mistake. Fazil directed the tamil remake: Arangetra Velai.The movie was so good and the Hindi remake sucked in front of it.

The music was also bad. No cookies for guessing who the Music director is! Anu Malik!! Compared to the Tamil remake, Illaiyaraja give his one of his best songs and music was top notch.

Hera Pheri Ek Aur Baar:

Hera Pheri Ek Aur Baar or International Hera Pheri is supposed to be the title for the next installment in the Hera Pheri. Ohh god! I don’t like crap comedies like this. Airplane and Dumb and Dumber were also in the same league. Although many would like these kinda of comedies, I’ll be least impressed.

I wonder which movie they’re going to remake (read: copy). Maybe Snatch. Snatch. was written and directed by Guy Ritchie (Madonna’s Husband) who also Directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The movie was kind of be a sequel to Lock, Stock.. It has the same cast from Lock, Stock.. and an addition Brad Pitt. I guess they’ll rip this flick and make the third Hera Pheri movie out of this!

Priyadarshan is a Plagiarist

I actually don’t like Priyadarshan, who made his living by remaking popular Malayalam movies in Hindi and Tamil. The movie (Hera Pheri) was copied frame by frame from Arangetra Velai. You can put the subtitle from Arangetra Velai to Hera Pheri. It would sync perfectly! I was kinda amused to know when Priyadarshan was angry when Neeraj Vora is making a sequel to *his original movie* which will loose it’s sheen! So he released Chup Chup Ke the same date as Phir Hera Pheri, which was a disaster at the Box Office and for your information it’s a remake of a Malayalam movie: Punjabi House!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest - Review

After the ruckus that I created here:Pirates of the Caribbean: How it makes me a Pirate , I finally got to see Pirates loot the Box Office Collections. Yeah.. the movie was Über cool. It’s one of the very few sequels which don’t cash on the previous success and has quality content and a vibrant plot to keep the audience glued to the edge of the seat.

In the spirit of second acts, this installment is darker, both in terms of ambiance and character twists. Dead Mans Chest far surpassed my wildest expectations. I don’t think I have ever had so much fun at the movies. It may start off slow but once it picks up it rarely slows down. It is one wild ride. It’s called Pirates of Caribbean!

As “Savvy!” and witty as the first movie!

Depp’s Oscar-nominated performance as Captain Jack is still a marvel in slovenly pirate behavior, with his slurred speech, swaying swagger and slack, waving arms and..drinking RUM.

I had a great time in the Cinemas watching Jack Sparrow and his antics. Never had such fun and laughed in the cinema ever. We were actually clapping to many of the scenes.

I fail to understand why some people say it’s not as witty as it was in the first movie. We get to see goofy chases, comic references and witty dialogs. The theater was resounding with laughter..a small kid sitting next to us laughing all the time! If you liked the first movie, then you’ll like this one as well.

Visually stunning

The CGI graphics was great. It’s evident from Davy Jones and his crew look–all water logged and crustacean-like. We get to octopus faced and shark fish faced beings. Looks little gross but done to perfection.

The sets and the Cinematography was excellent. I thought in this regard it’s definitely better than the first movie. The special effect, costumes and make-up are visually appealing.

Watch Pirates loot box office collections

You got to see this movie to understand why this movie is a huge box office hit. A Damn funny movie, with a amazing star cast, lavish budget, amazing special effects, fantastic locations, a interesting plot and of course Keira Knightley… can’t make it bad. So it bring us to the question: Is it better than the first movie? As far as I’m concerned, it comes close to being as good as the first one but just not better than it.

The ending was a bit of a surprise and it leaves us all craving for more…just like what happened in the case of Lord of the Rings first movie and the second movie. And it’s disappointing to know that we need to wait for another year to see the pirates in action.

I’d have to say POTC lives up to the hype. Everything we’ve loved about the first one is brought back and improved upon.The best movie that I have seen in this year 2006.. better than V For Vendetta and Inside Man.On the way to becoming one of the greatest trilogies! Can’t wait for the next movie!

8/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest @ IMDb

Heave! Heave like you’re being paid for it!
Lift it! Lift it like it were a lady’s skirt!

Pirates Of Carribean - Dead Man’s Chest isn’t releasing in the same day as they release in other Indian Cities at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai. I dunno about other theatres but sathyam guys said it was distribution problems. Screw their “distribution” problems.

It always happens in Chennai. So much movies are released late here. Brokeback Mountain, Munich and V For Vendetta (yet to be released!). They cook some story or the other. The movies hit here late with reference to other cities in India.

I’m little disappointed. I was looking for the release of the movie. I liked the first installment in this trilogy. As newspaper report, Keira Knightley is a beauty with a backbone. Keira looks stunning and absolutely gorgeous. Any man would fall for her. Johnny Depp is also cool and portray a man with an attitude.

This drives piracy. Already it’s hitting 2 weeks after it released world wide and now we dunno how long it’ll take to release. I might not watch the movies in cinemas if it had any other actor than Keira. After all if they take me for a ride, I’ll also do the same. Who is the loser here? Not me!

Check the Variety and Choices available at the moment in the “Internet”

Check the various releases of this movie which we can snatch for free:

Pirates.of.the.Carribean.The.Dead.Mans.Chest.CAM.XViD-dsF
Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.TS.XViD-XanaX
Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.TELECINE.XviD-DaNK
Pirates.Of.The.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.CAM.XViD-BatPoO
Pirates.of.the.Caribbean.Dead.Mans.Chest.TELESYNC.XViD.INTERNAL.READNFO-PUKKA
Pirates Of The Caribbean The Dead Mans Chest French Ts Repack 1cd Xvid Cobra
Pirates Of The Caribbean Deadman S Chest 2006 Maven Telesync Kvcd By Hockney
Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Man S Chest With Chinaese Subs
Pirates Of The Carribean The Dead Mans Chest Tc Prevail
Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Man S Chest By Fragg (DVD-R)
Pirates Of The Caribbean Dead Mans Chest Telecine Xvid Dank Brandnew Webseed

As you can see, we have choice and variety. We have copies with chinese subs, French source, KVCD, SVCD, Telesync (TS), Camera (CAM), Telecine (TC), XViD versions, DVD-R and more! We have the choice to select from 700 MB (single CD) or 1.36 GB (double CD) some copies with 6.1 AC3 surround sound.

Soon, we’ll have the DVD-R and DVD Rips floating around. No one will be truly interested in watching the movie in the cinemas, after we get the DVD versions for free and that too faster than it hit the cinemas! Brokeback Mountain also met with the same fate. The movie was released recently and it hardly ran for a week. V For Vendetta is also slated for release soon. Even I guess it won’t run as they might expect. After all most of the English movie watching juntas might know how-to-get-movies-for-free.

Still if they take another fortnight, it’s DVD-R or DVD Rip for me. Even if I want to watch in the cinemas, they make me a “pirate”.