Aussies Vs Indians??..:D

Ist innings- aussies in the field

2nd innings..:D

Charlie Wilsons War

Why is Charlie Wilson's war such a good movie? Why should I go watch a movie which showcases a political situation created by the cold war that has in no way affected anybody whom I have never known? Those were the questions that at some unknown level to myself and some other random facts that kept me from seeing this sort of biopic.

I have always wondered why the Americans had to arm the mujahedeen in Afghanistan when their government was more than a thousand miles away... let alone share a border. Having never really bothered to even look at facts or having real interest in political history, I just assumed what every middle class Indian whom I have ever come across and conversed at an intellectual level has told me- it’s just their mother in law attitude. Somehow biased I never really questioned the soviet presence just because they shared borders or could even imagine any war crimes being committed in the region.

Coming back to why is Charlie Wilsons war such a good movie? It’s not only a good movie but a brilliant movie. Though told through an American perspective- it is a non biased perspective (unlike a movie called air force one- if you look at it as a neutral. Yes at some points of the film when they show the Russian atrocities that were being committed in the region-- it was just in saying that communism is evil. But then that much artistic leeway must be given to the filmmaker purely because he does not show the Americans as god sent heroes fighting that evil.

Tom Hanks certainly provides us with a powerhouse performance as usual. As Charlie Wilson you would think that Tom Hanks was brought up in Texas. I know it is difficult for folks back home to understand that but it is the same as watching a performance of say Aamir Khan as some iyer boy brought up in rural tamil nadu and pulling that off with the audience coming out of the theatre saying he must have been brought up there for sure. But overshadowing even Hanks performance was another brilliant actor who was stellar- Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I have seen three of his movies in the last three weeks- Before the devil knows you are dead, the savages and then this- all three performances magnificent. Mike Nichols direction and camera angles is as is his legendary sense. From an artistic stand point a scene that I loved was when Charlie talks to an important contributor from Texas regarding an issue. And the director shoots the scene from below the table. As hanks talks he lifts his legs onto the table and we see him wearing boots as does the contributor. And one character actor that I cannot miss mentioning is Om Puri as General Zia ul Haq- simply brilliant in what little role he has to play.

The movie based on real facts is taken as a movie and is not a documentary or one man’s struggle or anything like that. What keeps the audience on the edge of their seats is the quirky screenplay. You need to listen hard to get some of the sarcasm. For example- in one scene when Charlie is meeting Zia for the first time- Zia asks him what he would like. He says with his American\Texan swagger a glass of whisky and ice. Everybody around him is offended and Zia looks at him and says no alcoholic beverages are served in the presidential palace with a smile. Charlie says- of course, I am sorry I am sure a lot of people make that mistake. Om puri smiles at him and simply says- NO. It had me smiling alright. Cause in that it showed an American swagger or mentality when dealing with a different culture- not in an arrogant way but in a beseeching way. Om puri looks at him as the conversation continues and says – Mr.Wilson you are known to be a man with many character flaws ---- as the scene finishes and Charlie walks out he tells his assistant on being asked how the meeting went .. He says, “I was told I was a man with many character flaws from a man who killed his predecessor in a military coup...”

The ending was just as powerful to me. A realistic view/ an eye-opener in some ways. All in all a really good movie. Rating—4.5/5

Battle Royale

That the BCCI is rattled by ICL's moves is evident from its knee-jerk reactions. Not content with stunting the growth of the game for decades , it now wants to snuff out any competition fromits territory.Apart from mismanaging the sport and nipping many promising careers in the bud, the BCCI has dedicated itself only to mint money. If there is one institution that does not deserve the money it makes, it has to be the BCCI.Worse, it saves most of that money by leaving important decisions to the courts.

Subash Chandra promoted Zee is not an angel. It wants its share of the cake and it would be naive to believe that Zee has cricket development as its primary agenda.However,the very effort to challenge BCCI's monopoly is welcome and praiseworthy. How can a bunch of partisan selectors decide that only 11 are fit to play international cricket? If the BCCI thinks certain players are 'unfit' to play for the country, why should it ban them from playing for a rival league?





The BCCI's shameless double standards have hit a new low. It warns players joining ICL with a ban, but has no qualms in welcoming Brian Lara to its fold. When it can accept Lara, why can't it accept others?

The game thrives in competition not only on the field but also off it. No institution must be allowed to use its financial muscle to arm twist others into submission. The ICL has as much rights , if not more, as the BCCI to "develop" the game. By being a poor loser and whining aloud, the BCCI is only making a mockery of itself. Instead, it must try and stem the exodus by instilling a semblance of professionalism in running the sport in this cricket crazy country.

The Wild Wild West

The Searchers

A movie I saw recently -The man who shot Liberty Valence piqued or rather rekindled my interest in westerns. I then saw another timeless classic – High Noon mesmerised by a constrained performance of Gary Cooper and a concept of the movie happening in real time. Extremely fast paced and not the typical good versus evil movie High noon kept my interest in a movie marathon going. And perhaps as fate would have it the best movie was reserved for the last- The Searchers.
The Searchers like many of the movies I like to review was not considered by the critics at the time of release (1956) to be a John ford classic. Indeed it was overlooked by the academy at the time. But as time has progressed it has found its way into the twenty greatest movies ever made almost every decade since. The searchers is again not the typical western where in the characters are either good or evil. There is a deep conviction in character portrayal and Ford shows us why he is considered to be one of the greatest directors of the century.
The plot outline is as follows- Ethan Edwards, returned from the Civil War to the Texas ranch of his brother, hopes to find a home with his family and to be near the woman he obviously but secretly loves. But a Comanche raid destroys these plans, and Ethan sets out, along with his 1/8 Indian nephew Martin, on a years-long journey to find the niece kidnapped by the Indians under Chief Scar. But as the quest goes on, Martin begins to realize that his uncle's hatred for the Indians is beginning to spill over onto his now-assimilated niece. Martin becomes uncertain whether Ethan plans to rescue Debbie...or kill her
The movie examines the deep racism at different levels that was/Is imbibed in the American society. John Wayne ( I must say here another one of style icons having watched him Hatari all those years ago and having grown up on his black and white westerns on Star tv every Sunday in third standard) as Ethan Edwards is outstanding and it is a pity that it was not recognized at the time of release. The conviction with which he played the role almost made me think as to what the character was going through. The movie achieves greatness not because it was a breakthrough movie to even adress the issues of racism but to have shown what the west was at the time and sheer blunt way of putting it forward. Unlike High noon- in where the movie takes place between 11am and 12.15 pm of a day the searchers takes place over 5 years. Its one of those movies that you feel you grow with ( the first movie that I felt this emotion with a movie was James Cameroon’s- the abyss).
Another reason that I would put this movie at such a high pedestal is that in showing the blatant racism Ford does not try to justify his characters heroes or for that matter “the Villains” which I feel is what progressive cinema should be about- Cinema that makes you think of an issue that you have never thought about before and to form an opinion on that issue without being guided to the opinion of the maker of the film. All of these issues aren't dealt in a conventional way of film making as being part of the mainstream story but is inherent which again just adds to the shear brilliance of the movie. A five star rating in all departments of film making!

There’s no news such as bad news!

I have been watching a lot of movies lately. It’s not something new some might say. But circumstances are such that my only refuge has been good movies that help me take my mind of things. For as always whenever I have let my mind wander on things that weigh heavily on my mind I find better ways of feeling sorrow and sympathy at a self that basically does not need that. The movie I chose to write up from all these movies I have been watching is- Ace in the hole

Kirk Douglas is one of my favorite style icons from the fifties. Having watched Spartacus all those years ago (probably when I was in second standard) I had become an instant fan. And hence when I found ace in the hole playing on turner classic movies.. having nothing else pressing to do .. I decided to park my hyde on me sofa and started to be enthralled by an age gone. The movie was written and directed by Billy Wilder known more so for a number of academy award winning movies. This though wasn’t one. The movie when it was released had such a poor response that the movie studio re-released the movie with a new name- The big Carnival in order to create more mass appeal. It was one of those movies that isn’t talked of as a classic that has even played a number of times on television. It was apparently gathering dust till TCM picked it to screen.

The story and screenplay seems way ahead of its time and probably a reason as to not appeal to the public. The story goes like this- there is reporter who comes and offers his services to a small town newspaper because he has been kicked out of large newspapers and media bigwigs for one reason or the other. The owner of the newspaper who is an idealist in a sense hires him to give him a chance under a few regulations that he believe in the ideals on which his newspaper was founded. Douglas agrees. He is soon sent to a neighboring town to report on a certain local event of standing. He has a rookie kid that is his acting photographer. They stop on the way at a gas station which happens to be in the summit of an old Indian ( native American) mountain tomb. On not getting service they look around and find the few people who are there buzzing at a cave-in in the tomb. The owner of the gas station they find out to be trapped in a cave-in. Douglas volunteers to find his way through the cave in to check on the trapped individual and give him a blanket and hope that he is going to be eventually rescued. He smells a story in it that would help resurrect his career. Though his manipulation of reporting by the next day the whole nation knows of the fate that he individual trapped in the cave-in under a headlines that reads- exclusive- the curse of the Indian tomb strikes!

What follows is a story of media manipulation and attention .that you could compare to the –“the big carnival”. The ending I thought was predictable and not as bold as the movie itself. But then to think that 55 years ago somebody could already see what the media was degrading into! The characterization and “how manipulative a reporter can get” is shown in brilliant light. A must watch – wouldn’t hesitate to give it a five star rating for ingenuity!

On Sandy’s special request

I saw this movie Stardust recently. I was feeling a bit blue and wanted something to perk me up. For once all of my other friends had seen this highly rated movie before I had. So I decided to spend another lonely Friday night at the theatre watching Stardust. The movie was excellently made with a great production value. The story though simple and probably based of so many fairytales put together ( I sure a lot of you will end up saying it is copied from hindi or tam cinema) but it was refreshing all the same. The movie had Claire Dane in the lead role with Michelle Pfieffer playing a witch, At 50 you couldn’t tell her apart from a blossoming 25 yr old. The surprise element in the movie for me was Robert Di Nero for I did not know he was in the movie. He was a touch brilliant ( as usual!!) playing an eccentric hip captain. The movie was so cleanly taken with no swear words or even a nipple shown and yet managed to keep me enthralled. All in all a mut watch at a theatre near you!

Seriously you must be Joking!

Been following this story for the fun of it over the last few days. I know by now all you guys must know what I am going to say but here goes.How much more can the media stoop to. Its like they are "breaking barriers" each day! For those few of you wondering it turns out that the "sting reporter" and the "traficked girl" were both hired by a person who had some grudge against the poor teacher. In the meantime the damage has been done and her reputation is not comin back and neither is the fact that she was beaten brutally in public. Really even if there was a case which there dosnt seem to be whatevr happened to Innocent until proven guilty? The police seem to have acted on media reports rather than do their job which is carry out an "in-ves-ti-ga-tion". Their policy in most of this seems to " abhey saale angraze mat jadho"... Really even if she was traficking women and she might be .. she might be no paragon of virtue.. I dont know .. but its a democracy for godsake.. why dont ppl go to Laloo prasad yadav or "K" s house and beat them up! Now I am just day dreaming.. but seriously do any of you guys see a way out of this hole we have dug ourselves into or are we just tunneling to china!