Mundane Musings

It's the last month of this trying year and a round up of my favourite movies that had helped me limp through 2020 is in order.  Below is a list of multi lingual movies that I enjoyed watching on Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar this year. Gotta warn you though, that some of the movies are old. Best Movies Watched Online in 2020 Patakha (2018)  1. Patakha (2018) - If like me you have somehow missed watching this movie in 2018, then do stream it on Amazon Prime and enjoy the tussle between two, might I say, patakha sisters. Vishal Baradwaj has directed this gritty comedy of two warring sisters who in their hurry for one up manship exasperate their loved ones and each other. Sanya Malhotra and Radhika Madan have delivered stellar performances which is aptly supported by Vijay Raaz and Sunil Grover. Must watch. Haraamkhor (2015) 2. Haraamkhor (2015) - Yes, I know I am listing movies this old, but the pickings are pretty slim among 2019 especially and 2020 movies in Hindi langua...

A few minutes into Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), and I wondered if this was a real portrayal of an urban Indian youth? Since I was seeing this movie on the heels of the very watchable web series Bang Baaja Baraat where the principal characters’ first date actually starts with a quickie, yes a quickie... in a bar (yes, this happens in insanely populated India where people can’t pee without being seen) and only then followed by any exchange of information, I had to quickly come to terms with what was unfolding before my eyes in ADHM. If you are wondering that this was surely a lift off from some Western movie, then like me you are probably of the other - older generation. This my friends is how the rich, urban youth of India are presumably dating these days. So here too, Alizeh and Ayan meet in a London bar where she is grooving rather prettily to techno music and minutes after she notices him, they get physical, or at least attempt to get physical. No worries that he is a co...

Now that I have found my Mr. Right and have our pyar ki nishani in my life, I don’t suppose I can hope to feel the rush of blood to my brain (or is it the heart? Is that even logical?), or feel a shopaholic’s urge to pick up gifts on Valentine’s Day. Because that was exactly what had happened on 14 th February. We were well aware of the special day, but were content with a good lunch a day earlier, at a favourite restaurant without the baby, and with chocolate doughnuts to sweeten the day. Over the years with S, there had been no doubt about how I wanted to celebrate this day. And before he entered my life, I was a romantic girl sitting in front of the TV watching movies like When Harry Met Sally or Pretty Woman or Bridget Jone’s Diary with a hand placed over my pulsating heart, thinking of the things I would do to celebrate the day if I had a loved one. Yes, it was bad. The hype consumed me, making it difficult to accept the banality of existence with no place for the love to flow....

Queen starts off with a scene that is rarely seen in Hindi cinemas these days. Rani (Queen), the protagonist, is dumped by her fiancé a mere two days before the wedding, that too at a coffee shop which advertises, “A lot can happen over coffee .” A lot does happen indeed, but not the way we expect – a tight slap on the guy’s smug face or with the girl walking off in a huff with the guilty guy walking behind her. Firstly, the guy is not smug; he is matter-of-fact and serious. Secondly, the girl is not the kind to slap people and make a scene. If anything, she is polite to a fault. Initially, Rani dismisses his words with an indulgent and shy smile; she thinks he is teasing her. But when she realizes that he is serious, we see how the news affects her. The camera lingers on Rani, on her pain and indecision, on her helplessness and probably having the black mark of a cancelled wedding. It’s all there on her face. There is no quick cut to the future, no background score to ...

After a long time I had the privilege of watching a movie without reading any reviews. For those who seem to think this rather unusual, you might want to step into my world. My fear of not enjoying a movie after parting with my hard earned money is so great, that I read a minimum of 3-4 reviews before I muster courage and step into a multiplex. And it has almost always worked for me in the past. But somehow in recent times I feel as if there is so much negative feedback going around, some even being too critical and offensive that I am rethinking this ‘strategy’ of mine. Forget someone else’s star ratings. The function of movie guides is to inform you who’s in a film and what it’s about, so that you can decide for yourself. http://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/between-reviews-farewell/ This line is from one of my favorite movie reviewer, Baradwaj Rangan’s, blog. Generally, his review alone is enough for me to make up my mind, but sometimes, just sometimes there re...

Now when did I sit up and take notice of Amit Trivedi? (Amit who, you ask?). It definitely wasn't after listening to Dev D songs, I know. While I enjoyed the quirky, humourous and interestingly pictured ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ song, the other songs from the album were forgettable, even though ‘Nayan tarse’ and other songs were commended at that time and the movie won him a National Award for Best Music Director (now you know). Then there was Wake Up Sid! , which I privately designated as ‘the’ album of the year. However, at that time I did not realize that I would be doing this to all movies this guy composed music to. How does the Iktara song sound? It plays out like a forgotten, melancholy tune, arousing latent memories of rain drenched evenings and lost love, doesn't it? Kavitha Seth's strong vocals lend this song a superior quality. And not just this, but every song in the album is thoughtfully composed and set properly in to the story line.  And though I appreci...

I love the unpredictability of the songs thrown up by my iPod on any given day. One day I jog to Soni Di Nakaren (love the beats of the song - kudukku...kudukku) and on another, I work on my laptop to the soulful rendition of L ag ja gale.  When I gym, I tend to go for peppy songs that coax my lazy muscles to move and keep my mood upbeat. And oh how much I need that boost. So this morning, while I was on my way down to the gym, I clumsily started off a playlist that pulled off all the songs from the iPod - Hindi, Old Hindi, English - all of it. In addition to the randomness of one playlist, I was offered songs from other playlists too. So one moment I was running away on the treadmill to Frankie Vallie's Can't take my eyes off you, and at another I was crunching the weights (well, I would like to think that) to Tom Jones's Delilah. Yep, what a song to work with weights. The initial high note which reminded me of the background score from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho ...

A weekend spent slouching on the sofa and watching movies. Supposed to be fun, right? Not if one of the movies you are watching is about a dumb, grinning Sardar, whose idea of a fight is dribbling a guy (like basket ball) before throwing him away. Now wait a minute. Let me just back up. Did I just write that? Dribbling a guy??? I dropped off my comfortable sofa, startling S who was mercifully (for him, that is) making perfect dosas in the kitchen, when I actually saw that scene! No kidding. Did you guess the movie yet? It's Ashwani Dhir's (who is he?) moronic offering to unsuspecting viewers, "Son of Sardar". These movies should come with a statutory warning - Watch it only after disposing your brain, your sense of logic and your very sanity. Generally, generally I read reviews before watching these hair-pulling, eyes rolling, heights of absurdities. And so I stayed clear of this movie when it was released. But when they aired it last weekend on a Hindi channel, ...

My mother loved Rajesh Khanna's Aradhana movie. She gushes about it even now. Among the many reasons why she liked it so much, was that  this was one of the very few movies she had watched in the theater, where she had participated in the budding romance of Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna, had watched it with like minded relatives and then most importantly, because it had made her cry. Yup. That's right. She felt it was poora paisa vasool that she had walked out of the theater with many others, wiping their kohl lined eyes with the edge of their sari pallu, mulling over the courage of a young Sharmila who single-handedly brings up her child. A part of her trauma is depicted in the song "Saphal hogi teri Aradhana". Can you believe that? Well, if my reaction to Barfi! was anything to go by, I could believe it too. And it could be true if you see the success factor of earlier movies with similar paisa vasool factor - Mother India, Mughal-e-azam, Bandini, Guide, Anan...

‘To tell the truth, I wanted to make a film that my daughter could watch,’ explains Martin Scorsese, when interviewed about Hugo. This was the first 3-D movie he was directing, but he was quite sure that it was not the technology and special effects  that motivated him; it was the story of the little boy.  I felt as if history was unfolding in front of my eyes when I went to see The Amazing Spider-man - 3D. I felt very much like Martin Scorsese's 12 year old daughter, who is going to watch this movie as a grown up. It brought back memories of me growing excited watching ice creams coming close to me with my plastic 3-D glasses on, in "My dear Kutti Chattan."  But first things first.We do know that there's not much story to maneuver around as far as the "Spider man" series is concerned. The movies were beaten by the comics, which we have all grown up reading. We know the characters, we know Peter Parker's secret, his girlfriend and his enemies. So wh...