Jodhaa Akbar: An Emperor learns to love, and then to rule!

The movie goes at quite a nice pace in the first half. I found myself waiting for what is gonna happen next scene. Each and every character adds color to the film, which already quite colorful, considering the fact that it is the splendor of the Mughal and Rajput Empire being protrayed. Each and every scene is so natural that you would believe you were actually in those times. The shades are not too gawdy, nor too simple. They're just perfect. For sheer eye candy, I wouldn't go far than this movie. Hrithick and Aishwarya as King and Queen of Hindustan is a sight to behold.

I coudln't single out any character as having a special role, apart from the lead pair themselves, who are two pillars of strength, and stamp their dominance on the movie like the Twin Towers do to the Kuala Lampur landscape. Hrithick Roshan as Emperor Akbar the Great is astounding that you start believing that even the real Akbar would have approved from the heavens. He is near perfect sounding like a King whenever he has to (that's something new I've seen in him- his commanding voice is an asset), looks, walks and loves like one. Aishwarya Rai as Jodha is very good, but once or twice, she is too artificial. Otherwise she is perfect as well.

And since when is Hindi cinema gonna learn the art of subtlety? Why is it that for every song sequence someone has to be portrayed as singing the lines? Why cant the lines ever reverbrate in the air for once? I had loved listening to the Azeem O Shan Shahenshah, and was eager to see how it had been picturised, and the first sight that greeted me turned me off.I had expected the song to be singing in the background while Akbar rode majestically on his horse flanked by his army.
Sadly, I had forgotten this was Bollywood.

After all how good is a bollywood film if it didn't have some people singing sentimentally of the hero as their saviour et al. This is exactly what that differentiates a Hollywood movie from Bollywood (Kollywood is an entirely different issue- it is a class in itself, and lets refrain from talking about it here). It is very well understood that the reforms brought about by Akbar are well received by the people. There was no need for a group of people singing in praise of him- in the most sentimental manner (typical of Bollywood), with a beaming Hrithick Roshan sitting in the centre of a dias. For once such a scene could be warranted here, but after having seen countless such sequences in other Bollywood films in the most irrelevant of times, this one is also taken in the same vein.

The story is thin- after all, there's little evidence of an epic love story betwixt Akbar and Jodha (yet they justify the movie by saying history forgot their love, and that they created history in silence. Somehow, you are bound to believe it, after the way Akbar was shown in Mughal-e-Azam as a King who pays more importance to royal matters, than matters of love. Of course- why should the Emperor leave traces about his private affairs?), so the writers had to concoct a lot of scenes to make it screen-worthy. However, they are going far when they seem to say that Jodha was the reason Akbar began to show more concern towards his subjects, something like a fatherly concern than a King's. Ridiculous!

While the idea looks fine for a fictional movie, it is an insult to Akbar's greatness by saying Jodha was the prime reason behind it. Although it is true that Akbar was the first King to rule by love, and not by force- like his illustrious grandfather Babar (Humayun was always too ill to actually rule), it is blasphemous to say that Jodha changed his mindset. Why the movie makers could as well as have said "You people can start calling Jodhabai as Jodha the great and start idolising her instead of Akbar". I know writers have some liberty, but this is pushing it.

The fact that she was one of Akbar's chief queens, and that Akbar's heir Jehangir (The Salim of the Salim-Anarkali romance) was her progeny shows that he loved her deeply, or had utmost respect for Rajputs, and their power, and hence wanted to appease them at all costs. But that is no reason to say that Akbar would listen to every whim and fancy of hers, or that she was the mastermind behind Akbar. Akbar was surrounded by great contemporaries- the likes of Birbal, Man Singh, Todar Mal, Tansen etc. and from constant association with such intelligentsia Akbar became cognisant with the intricacies of ruling a land as diverse as the mighty India. He himself thought of such great ideas like a unified religion Din-e-lahi which was far ahead of its time.

Also, the movie seems to say that Akbar's most important contribution was to remove the tax levied to Hindus as virtue of their religion, and that he was called Akbar the Great after that. Such indifference to matters of history do not go unnoticed, and it's a heinous lie if the producers ever mention that a lot of research had gone into the making. Bah Humbug!The movie is cluttered with so many research flaws. I've never heard of a woman of royal lineage making a public appearence anywhere, let alone in a battlefield. And of course, even if they did ever come to public meetings they always had to wear the purdah to cover their face.

The climactic duel between Akbar and Shareefuddin is so cinematic that children who watch the movie would think Akbar was another fairy tale character like Krish. Its so quintessentially bollywood- with Jodha and Banu (Akbar's sister and Shareefuddin's wife) watching their husbands joust, that it stinks of unrealism (royal women in the battlefield??). Oh for crying out loud! The whole second half rings out loud in the ears with such serious flaws. I've never heard of an assassination attempt at Akbar's life. But I may not know (being an avid reader of history), and the producers may know better :)

The songs bear the mark of a master artist- AR Rahman. Each one is worth a separate post. Azeem O Shan is the inspiring kind of number with powerful drum beats that are part of the welcome party for kings. Its quite versatile too, and never sags. It takes my No.1 slot because its been quite some time since such a power ballad came to the Hindi film industry that has been strewn with love songs. Khwaja is an exotic number, a typical ghazal rendition by AR Rahman himself. The rest of the songs are good as well, and all are melodies.

Verdict: Should be watched once, could be watched more if you like flicks on royal matters, maybe watched many times if you like Hrithick or Aishwarya.

Nostradamus, the Oscars and I

Well, the nominations for the Academy Awards for 2008 are out and what you can expect in the coming weeks everywhere in country- from local bars to five star restaurants, from golf courses to corporate canteens is the debate of who is going to bag which. Here's a list of some of my predictions:

I've not seen most of the nominated films, so I can't comment on those categories. But in some categories it is blatantly clear as to who will win- like for example the best makeup award- surely you would find no better makeup than in the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

There is another curious fact in this year's nominees- we find Cate Blanchett (Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator) in the verge of a first in Oscars- the chance to win the award for an actress in a leading as well as a supporting role (for different movies, of course). Suffice enough to say that that would be the ultimate certificate for your acting talent. The very fact that she has been the first to have been nominated such shows her versatility. Let us see if she is able to pull it off (I've no predictions to make regarding this as I've not heard about, let alone watched those movies).

The best animated film and associated categories might be swept by Ratatouille because funny movies for children usually appeal to the committee more than others. And Ratatouille was as good a movie as Shrek etc. and with its old style graphics- it was a refreshing experience to watch.

Although Ratatouille may do well in its own den (animated films), it wouldn't stand a chance against the biggies, where it has been nominated for the best original musical score (general category). It's true that it had a good musical score, but it wasn't so good enough to be noticeable. Besides, selection committee in this category don't like funny themes for music. They expect scores to be emotional, passionate etc.

Anyway- this year's Oscars is expected to spring a lot of surprises, especially with none of the films nominated have struck big at the Box Office internationally, and so that leaves the competition wide open (except for the above predictions I made). So let's see how the drama unfolds.

Advent of Indian Motifs in Hollywood

India has always influenced West in a lot of ways. India has been a perennial theme in Hollywood films from times of yore- what with epic movies like The Discovery of India, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Octopussy etc. But these were movies that heavily revolved around Indian settings and characters, and I wouldn't call them an influence in the actual films.

They were Indian because they had to be.

But, there has been a noticeable trend in the mainstream films- like Dirty Harry, Scarface, Matrix etc where despite of their clearly Western themes, they are heavily dosed with Indian motifs.

Here's a list:

1. Scarface:
This movie needs little introduction- Al Pacino's bete noir film that set the trend for the many movies that followed with the bad-man-with-a-heart theme.
As much as the movie was famous- it's flagship song "Push it to the limit"
http://hardshipalarmnot.blogspot.com/2007/10/push-it-to-limit-ultimate-song-to.html
was phenomenally popular (in fact the whole soundtrack is a classic in 80's music). In what is primarily a Rock song, you find a short Veena interlude in the song to slow down the tempo of the song once it reaches a peak. Veena as we all know is a variant of a traditional Indian instrument.

2.Dirty Harry (Magnum Force):
In what is considered to be a quintessential American cop film, it is surprising to find that the background score is a medley of Western instruments with a dominating tabla score. The music is used to portray suspense and from the success of the film you can be assured that it was a good combination.

3. A Little Princess (Ramayan: Morning Raga):
This is a highly emotional film involving an orphaned little girl as the central character, and it's score derives itself from many Indian themes, one being the Ramayan. This musical piece- a flute rendition depicting sunrise is a lilting and soothing number, one which can be found only from Indian songs.

4. Matrix Revolutions (Navras):
The most famous of all Indian themes in Western films- the Navras song from Matrix Revolutions- a strong and powerful completely Indian song in a western movie. It was a revelation that shook the world as much as it pleasantly surprised India. The song was more talked about than the whole movie.

Billa Movie on the net for Free Download

I'm not one to encourage piracy, but sooner or later this is gonna be out on all forums that I had better put it up on my site as well.
Billa 2007 movie is available for download in the following website. But, beware- you must tread carefully. Use the second option for each part. It downloads faster- but it starts a pop-up, just wait for it to start and immediately close the pop-up. Then wade through the process of downloading- you don't need to register. Just type the verification code and voila- you've started downloading the file.
Each part is 82.4 MB. I haven't checked out the quality though- mine is being downloaded even as I type.

Billa Movie Film Free Download Rapidshare Megaupload
http://tinyurl.com/2lofmp

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2lofmp

Note: Tinyurl is just a masked version of Rapidshare links. Its perfectly safe. It will redirect you to the rapidshare link in a moment. If you still don't believe me- click on the preview link posted below to verify.

October Sky: An Inspiring Real Life Experience

Background
When it was announced this movie was gonna be screened in college, my first thoughts were-"October Sky? Never heard of it. Is this some sort of advertisement feature?(Remember the Gandhi play last year?) Or is this some landmark movie with amazing performances from great stars? Or does this movie have a plot closely related to college students like us?
Well, the first possibility was turned down once I found that this was a 1999 film. The 2nd possibility too was off- coz we would've surely heard bout it if it had been a watershed.
Actually, it turned out to be a simple feel-good movie (much like our very own "Chennai 600028"), with an inspiring plot.

The movie is an adaptation of the Book Rocket Boys http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_boys by NASA scientist Homer Hickam. The book is his auto-biography, and so the moment I looked it up in wiki, I knew the basic plot of the movie.
I felt there'd nothing new to watch and learn from the movie. But, then again, a rating of 93% in Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/october_sky/ (if u don't know what that site is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_tomatoes ) tickled my curiousity. I had to watch this one! So I was at the screening hall well in time, found a nice spot and spent some time watching the "birds" until it started.

Not as predictable as it seems
The movie starts off in 1957, with the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1 and Homer Hickam (played by Jake Gyllenhaal, an average school going guy in a town called Coalwood is fascinated by the sight of it streaking through the sky. He is determined to create a rocket, but he must make sacrifices (like giving up his social life to get assistance from school weirdo Quentin), face challenges (He ain't in a town where rocket equipment are dime a dozen, and his dad's attitude doesn't help) and work harder than ever (His math is bad, and as his mentor Miss Riley says "You can't just dream your way into making a rocket Homer!"). We expect the "hero" (as we say in India) to do all this by the end of the movie, and the movie lives upto its reviews (that its very predictable).

But, its only as much predictable as this. There're twists and turns that catch you napping so often, that you begin to think whether these things ever really happened. One example is Ms.Riley's Hogdkin's disease. The fact that these things are true to the hilt and the vital fact that Homer doesn't know a thing about rockets when he sets out to make one reminds us of the old saying "Where there's a will, there's a way".

Balanced casting
The film's characters are well made, but I felt the whole movie is centred around Homer, paying less attention to the other Rocket Boys (so much so that one of them- O'Dell, almost goes unnoticed, except when discussing his late dad). Almost everybody else gets his/her share of our attention and empathy. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the lead for the first time, and he does a great job of it, although I felt he smiled unnecessarily sometimes.
The town thrives on the production and employment offered by the eponymous coal-mine. Homer's dad John is The Top Guy of the mine, and he prides himself on his work. This type of negative character is often found in such movies, playing the natural deterrent- that seemingly inexorable force which the protagonist must overcome in his goal to do something hitherto unheard of. A perfect foil to his character is Homer's mom. She loves her family very much and holds it from breaking apart when the rift between Homer and his dad widens. She can't tolerate her husband's unfair treating of Homer, and finally dares a face-off with John, thereby changing him for good.

Short and sweet
Altogether, the movie does nothing in excess- there're no sentimental melodrama, nor an overdose of happiness at the end. Its all very subtle and understated and thats where the movie is different, where it earned its rating. Homer doesn't get too depressed when he has to suspend his research on rockets and goto the mine, nor does he go over the moon when he wins the most coveted prize at the National Science Fair. In fact, he doesn't know that the man awarding him is the famous scientist Werner von Braun whom he admires.

The whole movie has all sorts of moments- moments for the slight grins and chuckles and for the tear out of the corner of the eye. It is a very balanced feel-good movie that leaves you feeling the same way you started, only a bit more inspired, a bit more happy.
I say inspiring, becoz I could identify myself as the main protagonist, and could empathise with him. In fact, I'm in a situation very much like him, and the way he approached it makes me feel-"If he can, why can't I?"

Final Verdict: Recommended, especially if you are a student.