I read ‘Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows’ with mixed feeling – so excited & amazed, couldn’t put the book down, or wait to turn the page, but with a sense of deep sadness, that this spelt curtains for my love affair with Harry Puthar, so wanted to prolong the experience & make it last a lifetime!
The near perfect Bollywood ending, appealed to my philmi mind (though the other Harry Potter fan in the house, my daughter disagrees violently!)! Hari Puthar, Ginny, Ron & Hermione, dropping off their kids to Hogwarts, for the first day of school is the yummy icing on the cake – sorry Shiksha!

What happens with books made into movies, is that a lotta times, you are disappointed, that a lot of scenes/chapters/events that you read, with such passion, are missing in the film & you feel cheated! Worry not, friends, because that ‘aint happening in this movie – it’s a sincere, chapter by chapter replication of the book, thanx to the luxury of splitting the book into two parts, a la Lord of the Rings!
So nothing’s missing ….. except the soul! Somewhere, in bringing every chapter to life, well, the 'jaan' is missing …
But some great visuals – the polyjuice creation of seven Harry Potters – wow! Special mention of Fleur turned Harry, in female underwear! Very cute!
The breaking into the Ministry of Magic cannot be described – either read JK Rowling, or watch the movie!
Ron getting stuck with a wife he doesn’t have & getting passionately kissed by her, all the while watched by a furious Hermione, is gr8 fun!
Daniel Radcliffe seems like a part of the family, across the many “HP” movies & has become Hari Puthar for me!
Hermione – that gal gets more gorgeous with every movie & looks stunning!
Ron provides the comic relief & his romance with Hermione is crackling with chemistry!
So many characters to mention, so little time, so won’t, but Dobby as usual stole my heart & his death made me cry!
And I said that something was missing from the movie!!! Famous last words!
Still a hugely enjoyable experience, but must say, JK Rowling’s writing (JKR - Tussi Great Ho!),somewhere got a little lost in translation!
HP7, fabulous effort, but ……
Yeh Dil Maangey More!!!

Itni si Guzaarish ...

There we were, after a leisurely walk, soaking up the crisp, sunny morning, bidding alvida to the last of the Eid holidays, tucking into one of the best breakfasts in the world – puri bhaji & kadak masala chai – when my friend, bless you Satya, called to say, ‘see Guzaarish!’
So we did & Sanjay Leela Bhansali, apologies, dear sir! I was quite the cynic, post a slightly over the top ‘black’, followed by the oddly hued, blue ‘saawariya!
Applause!
• For the gutsy, slightly cheeky, immensely likeable portrayal of a quadriplegic – Hrithik Roshan breathes life into “Ethan” – who, tongue-in-cheek, labels his ‘project euthanasia’ as “Ethanasia!”
• Your heart goes out to Ethan, who helplessly needs to ask his caretaker, to pick up a vase & smash it, to vent anger, on his behalf!
• Some heart-warming moments – the farewell toast by Hrithik, cheerful, irreverent, yet full of love; kudos to him, the director & the dialogue writer!
• But the piece-de-resistance is Madam Ashwariya Rai Bachchan! She proves that she is a director’s actor & saves her best for Bhansali!
• Looks like she also got SLB to remove the steamy love scene b/w her & Hrithik – all we got was a tiny leep2leep kiss!
• She is beautiful, understated, steely, calm & what’s amazing is that her eyes convey her love, loyalty, total commitment & adoration of her patient – my vote for the best caretaker ever!
• Some strong cameos – the faithful SLB camp loyalist – Shernaz Patel, playing the best friend everyone wishes they had, Nafisa Ali as the mother, surprise, surprise, Suhel Seth as the genial doc & not a bad job, Aditya Kapoor, as the protégé …
• Hrithik Roshan as ‘Merlin the Magician’ is magnificent! Oo la la, he does magic like Sorcar & moves like a dream!
• Bhansali’s music – maashaallah … pretty neat & spot on! The guy is one ‘Akshaya Paatra’ of talent!
• Some awesome dancing : Ash to the Sunidhi Chauhan sizzler & Hrithik, looking like a Juliard student or something, all pointed toes & graceful moves in a contemporary jazz, ballet kinda piece!
• Lots of feel good dialogues, the kind used as facebook posts of ‘live life fully, laugh uncontrollably, kiss slowly …’ type! You never get to see Ash’s long legs, but Ethan always dreams about them – rather cute!
Thodey flaws bhi hain:
• Which period is this movie set in – everyone looks contemporary, except Aishwariya, who seems like shez stuck in a time warp!
• Is Ethan rich, as the sprawling mansion, the swanky car & servants suggest, or is he on the brink of bankruptcy?
But all this, the towel dropping in Saawariya, sab-kuch maaf, because this is a sensitive, sincere, straight from the heart narrative about the right of a man to live with dignity …. & to die too!
Itni si ‘guzaarish’ hai … see it!

eat weigh suffer

“Eat Pray Love” should have come with a statutory warning to the viewer; “Don’t try to do what happens in the movie, unless you are Julia Roberts!”
What do ‘aam janta’ do when they feel that life gets too tough to handle?

• Yours truly, yaaney ki me, simply releases toxins, by screaming, yelling & slanging at near & dear ones, currently represented by hapless hubby & disgusted daughter! I call it ‘tough love!’ There, I already feel better! Can’t say the same about my dukhi parivaar, but people, this is about me!

• You splash out on a girl’s nite out & have so much fun, that leads to problems, which help you forget the original one!

• For me, just peeping into my daughter’s room & watching her sleep, all cherubic, soft & baby-like, melts away any ‘gilaa-shikhwaa’ against life! It’s another story that, when she gets up, when we resume positions of hostility & the traditional ‘maa-beti’ war!

• For some it’s shopping, others books, calling up a friend ….

• Bottom line, when the going gets tough, the tough get going & fight their way back to sanity & peace!

But then, I'm not Julia … when she finds herself stuck in an incompatible marriage, she calmly walks out & voila, marches into the arms of James Franco (the Spiderman friend, who we should watch out for, in the next Danny Boyle movie)! But is that enough – of course not!

Every morning, when it’s nice & cozy, & sleep is your best friend, you wish you didn’t have to go to work. But if you are not Julia Roberts, you simply get up, pack dabbas for the phamily, get ready & drag yourself to work. The awesome part is, that once you get to the office, you actually have fun!

But Julia Roberts takes a break – from what, I am still trying to figure out & embarks on a journey of self-discovery – yawn!!!!

So she goes to the land of pasta 'n pizza, binges, oh-so-easily finds a wonderful gang of friends (what takes most folks a lifetime!) & makes peace with her expanding waist line … oh well, as I said, woh toh Julia Roberts hai!

Destination next, Mera Bharat Mahaan! Not so mahaan, when it is portrayed, as a land of slums, filth, beggars & ashrams filled with goras chanting & doing seva & the Indian girl, who is being married off, against her choice, at the age of 17! All this, for our phillum ki heroine to discover, that religion lies deep within all of us!

So off she trots to exotic Bali, where she finds spirituality, a guru of sorts, a night life & ….. the final hero of the film, Mr Penelope Cruz & mother of all hotties, Mr Bardem!

But don’t let my cynicism get to you:

Kaafi plus points too:

• The marvel called Ms Roberts, who despite the advancing years, marriage,three kids later, still has the ability to win your heart & charm the pants off you – the original “pretty woman!”

• A travel show spanning three exotic locales!

• Ladies: lotsa eye candy … Franco, Bardem …

So the movie sez: Eat Pray Love!

My life story: Eat Weigh Suffer!

Social Network - Gripping!

A sense of surreal & eerie engulfs me as I try to review my take on ‘social network’ – a movie chronicling the life and times of the genius who created a platform called facebook – like it, hate it, think its voyeuristic, whatever … but u can’t be indifferent to this awesome phenomenon!
Yours truly is an unabashed facebook fan – c’mon people – it connects you to your world of friends & you get wished on your birthday, by people who probably didn’t even realize you were alive, till they noticed the left side of their facebook screen & were alerted to the fact that u were born this day, a zillion years (no specifics pls!) ago!
“Social Network” narrates the story of how Mark Zuckerberg, played brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg, created facebook. Not such a simple tale, given the layers of complex emotions; betrayal of a best friend ( Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin), that too, the kind of dosti everyone craves to have at least once in a lifetime; whether he did or did not technically cheat the trio, (cheap thrills that one of ‘em was an Indian!) who claimed to be the original inventors of facebook; and the million dollar question which is what the movie is all about – WHY he did what he did & what made him tick?
Like facebook, Mark is someone you’ll either love, hate, misunderstand … but you can’t be indifferent to the guy. Even at his obnoxious worst, you still feel a sense of loyalty to the guy who is almost family to you today, given that facebook is part of my extended parivaar.
Justin Timberlake, as the sly, sleazy, ruthless & ambitious creator of napster is surprisingly good! More ct’s from the fact that he was the one who suggested dropping of the ‘the’ & that’s how ‘the facebook’ came to be simply known as ‘facebook!’
Given my dismal academic track record, the movie offered my only possible peep into the hallowed portals of Harvard!
Some gyaan too – despite all his wealth, fame, success … the closing image is of Mark, lonely & insecure, desperately waiting for a girl, to accept his ‘friend request!’
Haunting, gripping, ‘social network’ is a story well told, about a life quite extraordinary!

action replay

Public warning:
*Would advise a healthy state of intoxication before you head for Action Replay
*Wearing your designer glares maybe a good idea too, because the colors of the movie & the sets blind you – some scenes looked like kids in playschool went crayon crazy!
*You may need some soothing eye lotion 2, to deal with constantly having to look at a very ugly Akshay Kumar, in his nerd avatar! I apologized to my ‘do aankhein’ & spectacles at the end of the movie!
Breaking News!
Everyone ages, even Abhishek & more important, Amit ji’s dahling Ash!
Don’t get me wrong! Humaari Ms World of fake accent fame, is still drop dead gorgeous! But now, the 37years show & she looks like a beautiful 30+++++++ babe!
Dances like a dream, as usual & looks hawtt in the ‘zor ka jhatka’ number – kya gaana hai! I wanted to get up in the near empty theatre & dance to the foot-tapping Daler Paa-ji (wot amazing pipes!) & Richa Sharma number!
The oldies of the Kapoor Khandaan are suddenly cropping up like mushrooms everywhere – this time Randhir Kapoor – he looks old anyway, so why the grotesque budhha scientist wig & ponytail? Just in case we are too dumb to understand who he is, his grand-daughter (I think she is the babe from the original Diwali Damas ads) insists on calling her grandpa, well, ‘grandpa!’
For all you ‘Back to the Future’ fans, here’s the desi version – not bad, but could have been better!
This rewind to the 70’s doesn’t have the passion & insanity of Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om!’ A brave effort at the most, ok time pass, but total paisa vasool – won’t go that far!
Akshay Kumar – 100 out of 100 for effort, but there was kuch missing tha – was it that he was trying too hard?
Ash Rai Bachhan – goes through the motions, dresses the part, but looks distracted & distant – probably wondering whether she should hold Abhishek or Pa’s hand, or both, to walk the red carpet at the next Bollywood event!
Will take my cue from the reloaded, recharged & renewed Akshay Kumar’s signature line – will keep my ‘awaaz neechey’ about liking “Action Replay”
Sorry Daler Paa-ji, but no ‘zor ka jhatka’ here!