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Tamasha (2015)
Timeless, Grows on You
This movie has everything - beautiful locations and cinematography, stellar performances, catchy music, quirkiness, modern sensibilities, and a beautiful message at its core. The story and theme is not novel, yet it is a timeless one - the need to be loved, to discover the deeper reasons for one's existence, and to have the courage to follow one's heart. Merits rewatch. Bravo Imtiaz Ali!!
Andhadhun (2018)
Overrated
Overly convoluted and disjointed story, full of fortuitous turns (for the director), mediocre performances (except Ayushmann's), pedestrian dialogues, story writers trying too hard to script a 'dark comedy'.
Genius of the Ancient World (2015)
Bogus
Watched the episode on Buddha and found it thoroughly unenlightening. The Western mind is steeped in the notion of breakthrough conceptual thinking, so Buddha's story is presented in that framework, completely disregarding the various soteriological philosophies and paths of India that pre-date Buddhism and intimately informed and influenced its development. Brahminism is the usual villain, reduced to priests performing rituals, as if that's all to Hinduism, as if before Buddha there were no methods and teaching for liberation, as if the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras etc did not exist. It is clear the presenter neither understands Hinduism nor Buddhism, else she would have known that the paths of Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism are similar to the extent of being almost same, differing only in the ultimate nature of Brahman/Nothingness. The multi-layered story of Buddhism is dumbed down to an extent that may have been forgiven for a movie maker, but not for a historian. Those who really want to learn about the history and development of Buddhism and comparative with Hinduism should go to serious scholars like Edward Conze, Anand Coomaraswamy, Ram Swarup etc rather than waste time with a bogus history and historian here.
Ugly (2013)
Too Many Loose Ends and Unanswered Questions
Typical AK movie focusing on the dark and the ugly in the world, yet gripping to watch. However, I was disappointed with a number of unanswered questions and illogical events.
Spoilers Ahead*
The mask seller who died had to be the prime suspect all along. Yet the police are so inept that they never mount a serious investigation into his and his aunt's antecedents till the end of the movie. The police even mount a nationwide hunt and recover many abducted children, yet they choose not to pursue the most logical line of investigation till the end. How convenient for the director!
Rahul and Chaitanya commit several serious crimes such as armed robbery and assault and buying illegal arms. Yet they walk around free. The robbed jeweler presumably did not lodge any FIR, in order to not make things difficult for the director!
It is not clear why Chaitanya had been such a help to Rahul earlier but now wants to help himself to ransom money? He is a prime suspect in the eyes of the police after his first ransom bid, yet the police allow him to walk away, and then make a second bid. The police does not put him under surveillance or confiscate his computer or search his office immediately after the second ransom bid, even though they know he had attempted this earlier. How convenient for the director!
Shalini gives away the ransom money but makes no attempt to secure the child in exchange or even convince herself that the child is alive and she will be returned. Who behaves like that?
Her father is shown to be well off and loving. She is herself educated and from a good family. Yet she endures ill-treatment from her husbands for herself and her child but does not seek her dad's help.
Rahul kills Chaitanya in a rage supposedly because he realizes that Chaitanya has been lying to him about Bose abducting the child. Yet he does not ask himself why would Bose do this for ransom and assuming he did so, why would he release the child later, because his motive is supposedly to frame Rahul and not lay his hands on money.
There are many other illogical details such as these. This is the main grouse I have with films and directors that purport to be realistic and intelligent, yet assume that their audience does not have a brain and will accept anything. And looking at the critics raving about this movie and its ratings, who would blame them?
Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)
Good but Not Great
What's Good - Superb cast, costumes, sets, and dialogues. Opens a window into a bygone, unhurried era. Amjad Khan shines as Wajid Ali Shah. Shows extraordinary range as an actor who had played Gabbar Singh so recently. Sanjeev Kumar and Saeed Jaffrey are good, but act in their typical styles.
What's Not - The tedium of having to listen to literal translations of all English/Urdu dialogues without exception, with Tom Alter playing the role of the most sincere translator in movies ever! And this goes on for a good 20-25 minutes of the movie. Also, a couple of scenes in the middle of the film with Amjad Khan and Richard Attenborough separately are too long drawn and could have done with some editing.
Atonement (2007)
Movie that Beautifully Depicts Two Important Themes of Life
I liked this movie because of the telling manner in which it highlights two important themes of life in the world. The first is the danger that is fraught in being judgmental, more so from a moral or religious standpoint. That was the mistake Briony made in being too hasty to judge Robbie. The second is how the beliefs and actions of one person can alter the lives of so many others. Briony ruined two innocent lives by her deficient understanding and action. Come to think of it, how many lives are altered by the stupid actions of parents, relatives, teachers and even people we do not know personally, such as politicians! By the same token, actions performed in the light of good understanding benefit so many others. This goes to show how intimately the mass of humanity is interconnected and why it is so important to encourage wisdom and truth in the world.