mere funde

Author: Amit Goyal

  • Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi – A Review

    The first question that comes to your mind after watching the movie is – why the hell is Chitrangada Singh not acting in any more movies? Damn – she is right up on my list after Scarlett Johansson.

    Anyways, the movie is based on the Indian society and the revolution and Emergency in the 1970s. The film is centered around the lives of three DU students Vikram (Shiney Ahuja), Shiddharth (Kay Kay Menon) and Geeta (Chitrangada). I already have a very high opinion of Shiney and Kay Kay and to me they represent the best of Indian actors, ahead of the Khans and the Bacchans, well at least one Bacchan.

    The movie weaves through their lives, while in college and then outside it, and is interlaced with the political upheaval in India in the 70s with Emergency, and Communism just about finding it roots. Siddharth, son of a judge, is attracted to the extreme Communist ideology and swears by the Naxalite movement. Geeta is initially reluctant about the movement but joins in later and starts working in a village. Vikram uses his networking skills to move up the social ladder. He is the man who can get things done. Though Vikram is manipulative and a political figure, he remains good at the bottom of his heart, and his love for Geeta is unending. Siddharth, though committed to the revolution, loses focus as the movie progresses. Geeta, initially not so optimistic about the revolution, works whole heartedly once she starts working, and in the course of her faces every possible misfortune and even gets raped by the autocratic police. Siddharht too suffers a lot at the end of the movie and is mentally disabled in a police beating. However, it ends on an optimistic note with him and Geeta coming together at the end.

    The movie is very well directed and very well paced, and the actors give brilliant performances. In all, a must watch movie. I dont know how I missed the movie when it was released. The movie draws its name from a Mirza Ghalib ghazal quoted below:

    हज़ारों ख़्वाहिशें ऐसी की हर ख़्वाहिश पे दम निकले
    बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले
    मुहब्बत में नही है फ़र्क जीने और मरने का
    उसी को देख कर जीते हैं जिस काफ़िर पर दम निकले

    Another couple of lines from Rahim, which I really like and believe in are used once in the movie.

    रहिमन धागा प्रीत का मत तोड़ो चटकाए
    टूटे सो फिर ना जुड़े, जुड़े गाँठ पड़ जाये

  • Thanks Steve

    From the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates talk together (must watch video):

    You and I have memories
    Longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

    From the Beatles song – Two of us.

    Incidentally, I was at Bercos today. Reminded me of an afternoon.

  • The Horror – 2

    Its been almost a week since I saw Apocalypse Now. But it keeps coming back to me. This one line in particular.

    Kurtz: I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That’s my dream. That’s my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight… razor… and surviving.

    The next line is in because I was watching a documentary on the word “Fuck” yesterday, with Tera Patrick in it (Hell Yeah), and all I could think of was this line from Brando. Am I going insane?

    Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!

  • City of God

    I have been watching a lot of movies with blood and gore lately. City of God is no exception. Directed by Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles (of The Constant Gardener fame).

    Based on the real life story of journalist Wilson Rodrigues, it is based in one of Brazil’s biggest ghettos, Cidade de Deus, and is a story of a young boy Rocket and Ze. Rocket is a honest boy while, Ze is a pshycopath who wants to become the City’s biggest gangster and loves bloodshed. The movie is narrated in reverse fashion and is directed impeccably. Though Wiki tells me that most of the cast were rookies and many from the City itself, it seems hard to believe given the awesome performances of most of the cast. The movie gripped my attention, despite the subtitles which were bad at the best and pathetic generally.

    The most disturbing scene was at the end when you see a group of kids, the Shorties, killing Ze and proclaiming themselves as the new bosses. Remind me of Blood Diamond and the children soldiers, and how they get sucked in to the entire thing without really knowing the consequence. Also, the scene where Steak dies and you see Knockout Ned remembering how he says:

    “Listen man, I smoke, I snort… I’ve been begging on the street since I was just a baby. I’ve cleaned windshields at stop lights. I’ve polished shoes, I’ve robbed, I’ve killed… I ain’t no kid, no way. I’m a real man.”

    Insane. A definite must watch for everyone, though you need to tolerate a lot of blood.

    PS: Alice Braga is so hot!!

  • May the force be with you!

    30 years have passed since the day the first Star Wars movie was released. Rediff asks you about your favourite scene. I am listing down mine.

    • Princess Leia in the gold bikini – Hell yeah!!
    • Dooku vs Yoda
    • Vader vs Skywalker
    • Darth Sidious (Chancellor Palpatine) talking about good and evil and the Sith in the “Revenge of the Sith”