Saturday, February 23, 2013

Kai Po Che!

Kai po che! (2013) on IMDb
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Note 1: This post is going to be short, like the movie, and sweet, like Amrita Puri.

Note 2: What a weekend this is going to be for cinema! Kai Po Che! here, 85th Academy Awards there.
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1) I hereby resolve to never bash Chetan Bhagat. Curse him all you like, but his work formed the basis of 3 Idiots earlier, and Kai Po Che now. If anything, his work is atleast giving film-makers a skeletal plot to make brilliant, original movies. And delight for people like us when we see "Based on a novel" in the opening credits (of an Indian movie). Also, gives us hope about writing being taken seriously in our country.

2) Detailing. It is true to the time and place it has been set in, and (almost) none of it looks cheap. Way better than the half-assed attempt in Special 26. Also, they took a source material and made it shine. Unlike Matru ki Bijli ka Mandola or Special 26 where potential was thrown into the toilet and flushed. Twice.

3) Music and score. Amit Trivedi. Need I say more?

4) Raj Kumar Yadav. Sheer brilliance as an actor, stands out in a film filled with good performances (brilliant casting choices) all over the place.

5) Abhishek Kapoor. Also gave us Rock On, knows how to make a movie with a tight running time (125 minutes for this one), brilliantly pacing the story, without introducing unnecessary song-and-dance sequences, as is typical with movie-making in our country.

6) Avoids the obvious pitfalls for such a movie. Deals with the parallel events spectacularly.

7) Amrita Puri! Boy is she cute! If I do a '7 girls...' post like I did last year, she is definitely going to be on it.


Kai Po Che...

Friday, February 15, 2013

most beautiful

I
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I will say that you are the most beautiful girl in the world, and it will not be true.


In an absolute sense, that is. For one, to call you the most beautiful girl in the world, I would have to see (meet?) all the girls in this world. Not that I don't like this idea, but it would be an impossible thing to do. And that is not the only problem. I mean, you could easily dismiss it as me talking in hyperbole, not that you would have a problem with it, would you? And even otherwise, it could be dismissed as me being cheesy, albeit in a good way, cheesy still. Or, it could be challenged by anyone, no?


II
--

What songs, what words, sentences should I write?
She walks with unsaid words and unshed eyes;
A few steps behind me in the moonlight.
She knows, and that I know not, yet she shies.
Behind me, even the moonlight cries;
So her lips unseal, eyes weep, wrong made right.
She knows, and that I know not, yet she shies.
Doth mystery revealed make romance bright?
Her silence I hear and away I glide.
Romance be mystery, and mystery tries
the truth of my heart, healing from hurt pride.
The shadow remains still, the water dries...
Songs, words, sentences I could never write
A few steps behind me in the moonlight.


III
---

"I love you."

Heh, saying it even in front of the mirror is seeming so ridiculous, and I can only imagine how ridiculous it would be in front of her. Maybe I could put it differently.

"Jab se tumse milaa hoon, bas tumhaare hi khayaalo mai khoya rehta hoon. Tumhaare bina mera naa aar hai naa paar. Mai tumse aur sirf tumse pyaar kartaa hoon." Yeah, right. Bollywood would be such a perfect way to go. Damn you, Bollywood! Real cinema, please?


I have to get every expression, every gesture right. It has to be perfect. I will put on a smile first, give an elegant pause, look into her eyes, and just say it. If only I had some practice before! How, I know not, this mirror thing is surely not helping me.

I should also be prepared for everything that she could say. I have to play every scenario in my head, and have an appropriate response for her every response, so that I do not look like a fool after saying it. She could say "Huh?! What?!", and then maybe leave or something. I am a little scared of this scenario, I wouldn't know what to do or say. Well, I kind of know what to say.

I know that I have to tell her. She must know.

On an off-chance, she could also say, "I love you too." And that would make me the happiest person on this planet, not that it is going to happen. But if I am getting prepared for everything, I might as well do an exhaustive job.

We think that a number coming on a dice is a random event. It is not. It is a direct function of how a dice is thrown, and we could come up with a perfect model which could exactly predict the outcome on the dice. This, on the other hand, is a completely random event for me. For I have absolutely no control over it, nor am I in a position to predict the outcome. It has to be lived through to know.


I met her in the evening. She looked beautiful, like always. It is amazing how when I meet her even today, I still feel like how I felt when I met her for the first time. It is such an amazing feeling, something one would want to hold on to for life.

We ordered something to eat, while I was still trying to figure out the perfect time to pop the words. I was nervous. No matter how much prepared one is, when the time comes, it seems like an impossible thing to do. I decided to say it between the food and the dessert, that way, atleast the evening would surely end on a sweet note. And while I made this decision, a part of me hoped that the food never finishes.

Time passed quickly, as is always the case when I am with her, and we ordered dessert. I now had a small window within which I had to say it. How?! My heart was racing! I think I let my nervousness show, even. "I love you", I said. The world around me moved in slow motion, and it seemed like there she was, in front of me, in suspended animation.

Phew, here comes the dessert.


IV
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When I met you for the first time, I remember the electricity. You looked beautiful. Enchanting, really. I don't really remember the major parts from that evening, what we talked about etc. But I remember such minor details that I amaze myself. Details which would never matter otherwise. I remember the sounds of your laughter. I remember the heating up of my ears when I embarrassed myself because of something really stupid I said, and you giggled still. And how I kept on going about something so obvious and trivial, and you looked and smiled. And how you kept going about something so obvious and trivial, while your hands rolled a chocolate-wrapper, which we had had then and there, before finishing up the whole box. I remember how you said that you needed to leave in another 5 minutes, and then stayed on for half-n-hour. And then before leaving, gently added, "So when do I see you again?". I remember how the entire evening felt like 2 minutes. The minor things about that encounter were the major parts of the evening, really.

And then so many other times.

People say that love is nothing more than a bunch of chemical reactions in our head. But isn't it amazing, that this other person could cause such strong feelings? I mean, if we were to dismiss love like this, then we should also dismiss having good food, coffee, chocolates, life, us, because even those are just a set of chemical reactions.


I remember when we met one afternoon, and we were just walking along the street. It was just you between me and the setting sun. The sun-rays trickled through your hair, glistening. I couldn't look away. It seemed like nothing else in the world really mattered in that moment. And in that moment, in that one, single moment, you were the most beautiful girl in the world, in an absolute sense. And then several such times, again.

I'll tell you every day of my life, that you are the most beautiful girl in the world. And when I do, I do not mean right then. I would really mean the moment in which you really were, and I would mean that because I have seen you in those moments, and so many such moments we would have spent together in which you would have been.


I will say that you are the most beautiful girl in the world, and it will be true.

Saturday, February 09, 2013

85th Academy Awards

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Note 1: This is probably for the first time that I have watched almost all the movies in contention for the Oscars before the Oscar ceremony, so I might as well do a prediction post, with a healthy 2 weeks till the event. Just for the kicks, and maybe some "pre-Oscar discussion", not that it matters.

Note 2: In every category, I will list one name if my prediction is same as my vote, two otherwise.
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CategoryPredictionPickHit / Miss
Best Motion Picture of the YearArgoAmourHit! Yay! \m/
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading RoleDaniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hit!
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading RoleJessica Chastain, Zero Dark ThirtyEmmanuelle Riva, AmourMiss. JLaw, oh well. :|
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting RoleChristoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Hit! Waltz, aww yeah!
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting RoleAnne HathawayLes Misérables
Hit! Hathaway! ♥
Best Achievement in DirectingSteven Spielberg, LincolnAng Lee, Life of PiWoohoo! Ang Lee for Life of Pi! \m/
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the ScreenQuentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Hit! T.A.R.A.N.T.I.N.O. \m/
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or PublishedTony Kushner, LincolnDavid Magee, Life of PiMiss. But Argo, deserved!
Best Animated Feature Film of the YearBrave
Hit! Pixar FTW!
Best Foreign Language Film of the YearAmour
Hit!
Best Achievement in CinematographyClaudio Miranda, Life of Pi
Hit!
Best Achievement in EditingWilliam GoldenbergArgo
Hit!
Best Achievement in Production DesignLife of Pi
Miss. Lincoln, seriously? :|
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original ScoreMychael DannaLife of Pi
Hit! \m/
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original SongAdeleSkyfall
Hit!
Best Achievement in Sound MixingSkyfall
Miss. Les Misérables - deserved.
Best Achievement in Sound EditingDjango Unchained
Oh well, a tie! And both misses. (ZDT and Skyfall)
Best Achievement in Visual EffectsLife of Pi
Hit! 
Best Documentary, FeaturesSearching for Sugar Man
Hit!
Best Short film, AnimatedPaperman
Hit!


Total:
 14 hits ( + 1 woohoo/ 20


85th Academy Awards...