Dil Dosti etc. - review

One thing is for sure, the answer to love, sex and everything is not 42!

The one word I can come up with, that completely explains how I feel about the movie, is ‘Intriguing’. The movie is not about telling something in 3 hours and concluding it. It is more like, telling a lot of stuff in just 3 hours and leaving you to think and think and think.

There is a clash of ideals, a bouquet of personalities, some emotions and a lot of intrigue. For once, it seems that the story is getting nowhere, and the movie should have been called ‘a week in the life of a Delhi university boy’, but as one reel feeds into another, the story starts clearing up, and your head begins to muddle.

There is Shreyas Talpade as Sanjay Mishra, the Bihari guy who has a set of fixed ideals and thinks of love to be pure and divine; but this does not essentially make him a puritan. Imaad Shah, as the rich and confused Apurv, who does not think of love, he does not think of sex; he does it; apparently he has no ideals, but by the end of the movie, you’re not too sure. Then there is Kintu (Ishitaa Sharma), the very natural school-girl who knows the rights and wrongs of life, or atleast she thinks so; Prerna(Nikita Anand), the very normal girlfriend, and Vaishali(Smriti Mishra) the prostitute; All of them adding numerous dimensions to the one single question of love, sex and everything. Or dil dosti etc. as the director would like to put it.

Sanjay Tiwari turns a very strange script ( if I may call it that) into what one might call, an excellent movie. Produced by Prakash Jha, who is famed with making ‘real’ films, this one is real indeed. Excellent camera work and an almost perfect execution of scenes make the movie a pleasure to watch, the story just flows. But I won’t extend the accolades to the music, which is pretty ordinary. A couple of more scenes could have built the story stronger foundations, but I guess the shaky base was intended.

Imaad Shah merits special appreciation, because he’s not the novice actor he’s supposed to be. He fits into character as it is himself he’s playing and not a scripted role. Shreyas Talpade continues to impress with his flawless acting, and the same goes for Smriti Mishra. They’re naturals.

Puritans will reject the movie with sneers of the tone ‘Dekha, the young generation is going to the dogs, we told you!’, the ‘youth’ will hail the movie as their real story; but the audience the director is looking for will be few.
Neverthless, go for the movie, to see great acting, a very novel storyline, and to find out if you are one of those audiences the director is trying to address.



PS: respect the A tag of the movie :)

Ratatouille [ rat-aa-too-ee] - review

First toys, then monsters, fishes, cars, bugs and now it is a rat. Pixar’s love for uncanny things talking on the screen continues with its latest animation flick - Ratatouille.
Produced under the Disney banner and directed by Brad Bird, Ratatouille is pure delight to watch.
A rat who cooks! Whoa, what could be more unlikely than that? But the brilliantly written screenplay and excellent animation makes you doubt your own surprise. By the end of the movie, you, like all others in the theatre, are convinced that some rats can cook and that they all live in organized colonies, and speak English. This is the beauty of animation: it does stretch your imagination, but not to the extent of disbelief.

Enter Remy, the gourmet rat. He hates eating out from the garbage can, loves watching cookery shows, is a big fan of Gusteau- the famous cook and can tell the difference between saffron and coriander. A bit of a rebel who wants to make his mark, Remy lands in Paris, the world’s food capital and from there starts the story of the rat, the loser and food.
The movie does not just make the audience laugh and cry with it, but drives some important lessons home as well, like the importance of the freedom of choice and loving what you do.
The animation is flawless and the characterization amazing. The loser boy is lanky and disoriented, the villain, squat and cunning dripping from his eyes; and then there is the rat, performing unbelievable antics, but not once does his body defy any physical laws nor does any of his actions look out of place.
The dialogue is implicitly humorous, the screenplay more so. And if the viewer makes a conscious effort, he will be able to understand the nuances of expressions and appreciate how well they have been executed in the movie.
Pixar hence adds another feather to its cap and shows that perfection can actually be improved upon. Though the movie has a completely different storyline and setting from any of the previous pixar movie, it strikes a similar chord as it’s predecessors did. It’s an uncanny emotion, and you feel it just as you did after the father finds nemo, or the car finally wins the race of life. And if I may not be wrong, this subconscious similarity might be intended. Just another example of how movie making is evolving. It’s not just about what is apparent, but also what is not.
A must watch for all. It’s a 110 minutes well spent.