mere funde

There is a huge difference between other boxing movies like “Rocky” and “Cinderella Man“, and “Raging Bull“.  While Rocky and James Braddock are shown to be entirely white characters, Raging Bull portrays Jake LaMotta as a failable human being. Somewhat like a Shakespearean character, with a mix of black and white, a grey character.

The movie opens with a tragic soliloquy of Jake’s fears, sexual anxiety and confusion, and from then on we are taken into the down the hill journey that is Jake’s life. We are introduced to him when he is almost at the peak of his career, and are shown how he is made to suffer and his life becomes a horrid mess.

He is a self made man who doesn’t want to take any favours from the mafia because he knows that they would come at a big price. However, his brother Joey, played brilliantly by Joe Pesci, convinces him to throw a match once to get a title shot. He does that and from then on, loses respect for himself. He weeps bitterly in the arms of his trainer after the fight. Though he gets his title shot, and also wins it, his fears turn more violent. He doesn’t trust his wife or his brother any more. He takes himself on a path of self destruction and ends up in a jail. The last scene is a poignant one  with Jake reciting the famous lines from “On the Waterfront”. He blames his brother for making him throw the match that changes the course of his life. His life completes a circle from dizzying heights to near obscurity, where he has to do stand-up routine at shady bars.

It wasn’t him, Charley. It was you. You remember that night at the Garden you came down in my dressing room and you said, ‘Kid, this ain’t your night; we’re going for the price on Wilson?’ ‘remember that? ‘This ain’t your night?’ My night. I could’ve taken Wilson apart that night. So what happens? He gets a title shot outdoors in the ballpark, and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palookaville. I was never no good after that night, Charley. It was like a peak you reach, and then it’s downhill. It was you, Charley. You was my brother. You should’ve looked out for me a little bit. You should’ve looked out for me just a little bit. You should’ve taken care of me just a little bit instead o’ making me take them dives for the short-end money. You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am. Let’s face it. It was you, Charley. It was you, Charley.

Robert De Niro is brilliant as Jake and his acting is top notch. It doesn’t come as any surprise that he bagged the Oscar for this one. His physical transformation within the movie had been carefully manipulated by him. He gained around 60 pounds for second half of the movie when he plays the older Jake with a huge belly. Joe Pesci plays the part of his younger brother to perfection and the facial similarity they share add to the character. The direction by Martin Scorsese is top notch and everything is perfect, including the Italian accent. The black and white composition gives the movie an authentic era look. All in all, a wonderful movie. Must watch!!

So gimme a stage
Where this bull here can rage

Worst movie in my memory. Even Yaadein was better. The 7.5 rating on IMDB is a joke and I personally think that it does not even deserve a 2!

Some brilliant scenes -

• Kills a villain by stabbing in the eye with a carrot. Yes, you read that right, a carrot.
• Hurts 4 people by two bullets, in a trick that would make even Rajni cringe!

Some spoilers ahead.

So I am finally done with Deathly Hallows and my verdict. Awesome.

There were so many questions in my mind before reading this book that I thought that all of them could not be answered in a single book. However, I must say that Ms. Rowling has done a fantastic job and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one of the best books of the series.

The shocker first. The book does not belong to Harry Potter. It is all about Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore. Yes, Harry does most of the job, but it is Dumbledore and Snape that provide the real meat to the entire story. This is not to take anything away from Harry, Ron, and Hermoine.

The entire story of the brilliant yet enigmatic Dumbledore is poignant. He is a genius, yet human. He is perhaps the best wizard but even he falls to the philosophy of “greater good” for a wrong purpose and his desire for glory. I had this writing on the walls of my school once, “The greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.” And that is what makes him so great. He learns from his mistakes and becomes the champion of people (Muggle) he once scorned. Equally touching is the story f his family.

Snape is altogether a different story. I had almost killed myself thinking why would Dumbledore trust this fellow. But Rowling provides perhaps the most convincing reason. Love. His undying love for Lily and his dedication to saving her last belonging moved me to tears. That one mistake of calling her a Mudblood, him begging Dumbledore to save her, and his insistence that Harry never knows the truth. Very believable and incredibly sad. Would things have turned out different had he been in Gryiffindor? Maybe. It is about choices. Between love for Lily and hatred for James. Between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Between Voldermort and Dumbledore. He sure made some wrong ones initially. But in the end he made the correct choice, a tad bit late though.

The book moves at an incredibly fast pace and still there are a very few loose ends. Rowling almost magically weaves the different threads together that you believe most of what is happening. The wandlore is a slight disappointment to me though. Also, I think I expected a lot more from Prof McGonagall and the Order of the Phoenix.

All in all a very well written piece. One complaint though, Albus Severus, very bad. As rahul said, have two kids instead.

Quote of the book:

You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon. . .

I got the book yesterday and read for 5 hours at a stretch, and again got up in the morning and read for another hour and a half. I am more than half way through the book and expect to complete the entire book by sometime around midnight today, and will then post a full review.

Meanwhile, Misra has completed reading the book and you might head over to his blog and read his review. Beware though, it contains spoilers. Also, though I had laid my hands on the ebook on Saturday itself, I waited for the actual book to arrive. Did not want to spoil the fun, and thankfully none of my friends messaged any spoilers.

The good things first - Helena Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange - devious, evil and totally believable. Imelda Staunton as that old hag, Dolores Umbridge. The dark side of the novel has been brought out brilliantly. The fight in the Ministry of Secrets.

The bad - is not as good as the book, which itself was not great. The book was long, and even though the movie tries to capture as much as it can, it misses out a lot and there is a lot of discontinuity.

Radcliffe plays his part as a frustrated Harry really well and Rupert Grint is loveable as ever. Emma Watson is cute as (swoons) Hermoine, but she does not play that significant a role in the movie. For that matter, no one does. And that is the entire problem. Other than Harry, no on else has a beefy role and it shows on the movie. I used to love Richard Harris as Dumbledore and the Michael Gambon, though he tries hard, does not match up. I think Gandalf from Lord of the Rings would have been a better replacement.

The kiss between Cho Chang and Potter isn’t worth all the hype and Ginny Weasly’s character has been built up slowly but solidly. The look in her eyes before Cho and Harry get “snoggy” is priceless. You can just feel her love for Harry.

If you are a Potter fan you will like the movie, even though you feel that many important parts have been paid less attention to. Go watch it. I would rate it 7 on 10.

PS: I am again in love with Nauheed Cyrusi. Watched Anwar partly last night.

Fans of American History X would know this line - “… someone else has already said it best. So if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong.”

I took the advice and here is the review. All hail GB!! All hail HR!! Jai Prabhuji!!

The first question that comes to your mind after watching the movie is - why the hell is Chitrangada Singh not acting in any more movies? Damn - she is right up on my list after Scarlett Johansson.

Anyways, the movie is based on the Indian society and the revolution and Emergency in the 1970s. The film is centered around the lives of three DU students Vikram (Shiney Ahuja), Shiddharth (Kay Kay Menon) and Geeta (Chitrangada). I already have a very high opinion of Shiney and Kay Kay and to me they represent the best of Indian actors, ahead of the Khans and the Bacchans, well at least one Bacchan.

The movie weaves through their lives, while in college and then outside it, and is interlaced with the political upheaval in India in the 70s with Emergency, and Communism just about finding it roots. Siddharth, son of a judge, is attracted to the extreme Communist ideology and swears by the Naxalite movement. Geeta is initially reluctant about the movement but joins in later and starts working in a village. Vikram uses his networking skills to move up the social ladder. He is the man who can get things done. Though Vikram is manipulative and a political figure, he remains good at the bottom of his heart, and his love for Geeta is unending. Siddharth, though committed to the revolution, loses focus as the movie progresses. Geeta, initially not so optimistic about the revolution, works whole heartedly once she starts working, and in the course of her faces every possible misfortune and even gets raped by the autocratic police. Siddharht too suffers a lot at the end of the movie and is mentally disabled in a police beating. However, it ends on an optimistic note with him and Geeta coming together at the end.

The movie is very well directed and very well paced, and the actors give brilliant performances. In all, a must watch movie. I dont know how I missed the movie when it was released. The movie draws its name from a Mirza Ghalib ghazal quoted below:

हज़ारों ख़्वाहिशें ऐसी की हर ख़्वाहिश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले
मुहब्बत में नही है फ़र्क जीने और मरने का
उसी को देख कर जीते हैं जिस काफ़िर पर दम निकले

Another couple of lines from Rahim, which I really like and believe in are used once in the movie.

रहिमन धागा प्रीत का मत तोड़ो चटकाए
टूटे सो फिर ना जुड़े, जुड़े गाँठ पड़ जाये

I have been watching a lot of movies with blood and gore lately. City of God is no exception. Directed by Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles (of The Constant Gardener fame).

Based on the real life story of journalist Wilson Rodrigues, it is based in one of Brazil’s biggest ghettos, Cidade de Deus, and is a story of a young boy Rocket and Ze. Rocket is a honest boy while, Ze is a pshycopath who wants to become the City’s biggest gangster and loves bloodshed. The movie is narrated in reverse fashion and is directed impeccably. Though Wiki tells me that most of the cast were rookies and many from the City itself, it seems hard to believe given the awesome performances of most of the cast. The movie gripped my attention, despite the subtitles which were bad at the best and pathetic generally.

The most disturbing scene was at the end when you see a group of kids, the Shorties, killing Ze and proclaiming themselves as the new bosses. Remind me of Blood Diamond and the children soldiers, and how they get sucked in to the entire thing without really knowing the consequence. Also, the scene where Steak dies and you see Knockout Ned remembering how he says:

“Listen man, I smoke, I snort… I’ve been begging on the street since I was just a baby. I’ve cleaned windshields at stop lights. I’ve polished shoes, I’ve robbed, I’ve killed… I ain’t no kid, no way. I’m a real man.”

Insane. A definite must watch for everyone, though you need to tolerate a lot of blood.

PS: Alice Braga is so hot!!

“We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane.” - Francis Ford Coppola on Apocalypse Now.

When I had watched The Deer Hunter I was convinced that it was the ultimate war movie ever made beating Saving Private Ryan. That movie was so real. Apocalypse Now, however, is surreal. You journey in the movie not just through a river, but a gamut of feelings, begininng from aversion to war which slowly but convincingly changes to hatred for war and the related insanity. It is the darkest movie I have ever watched. You know Colonel Kurtz is evil. You pity him. You love him. You want to forgive him. As it is said in the movie, he is a broken man. Yet he acts as if he is God. A genius. A flawed genius.

The actors are outstanding. Martin Sheen as Captain Willard captures your imagination right from the word go. Robert Duvall is exceptional as Colonel Kilgore with his now immortal lines.

You smell that? Do you smell that? …Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn’t find one of ‘em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like… victory. Someday this war’s gonna end…

But for me Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz is a tuor de force. He blows away all the previous performances, and from when he enters the movie, its only him, till the end. His monologues. The look in his eyes. “The horror.”

Col. Kurtz: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command?
Cap. Willard: I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
Col. Kurtz: It’s no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?
Cap. Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Col. Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Cap. Willard: I don’t see any method at all, sir.
Col. Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? …Are you an assassin?
Cap. Willard: I’m a soldier.
Col. Kurtz: You’re neither. You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

And the best lines of the movie according to me.

I’ve seen the horrors, horrors that you’ve seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me - you have a right to do that - but you have no right to judge me.

It’s impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies.

We’d left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn’t say. We went back there, and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile, a pile of little arms, and I remember, I…I…I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized like I was shot, like I was shot with a diamond, a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, ‘My God, the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure! And then I realized they were stronger than me because they could stand it. These were not monsters. These were men — trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts who have families, who have children, who are filled with love - that they had the strength, the strength to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, then our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill - without feeling, without passion, without judgment - without judgment. Because it’s judgment that defeats us.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, watch it. Rating 10/10.

Sometimes I think that humans are born for doing one thing - crib. We are never satisfied. And I am a shining example.

When I have work, which has been the case for the past one and a half months, I crib. In fact, the last month or two have been crazy, but extremely pleasing also. We have immense amount of work and a very very narrow deadline to meet. But then, there is the satisfaction of seeing our group at the top again. Right where it belongs. The entire team (minus me) has been working very very hard and I am so grateful that they are on the project, which makes my work so damn easy. Though I have not complimented them on their faces, I think (hope at least!!) they know that I appreciate their work a lot and that they have been great. Thanks guys, would not have been possible without your help and hard work!

When I don’t have work, like the last couple of days (due to shifting of places), I crib. I was almost bored to death today. Kuch nahi kiya din bhar and I was reminded of how horrible life would be without work. I mean weekends are fun because the week is hectic. So here I am writing a post to describe the extreme state of vettiness I am in, which might drastically change within a couple of days depending on a pending approval from one of the clients.

Anyways, I have also been doing a lot of other things. Watching Heroes, Studio 60,  Southpark, and a lot of movies.

Heroes is a series about normal guys with superpowers and their mission to save the world. However, it is only reccomended if you are a comic book fan. It is extremely well made and very engrossing. I watched close to 12, 40 mins, episodes over a span of two days. And now I need to download newer episodes Oh, by the way, Ali Larter is so damn sexy!!!

Studio 60, is a nice comedy series, starring Matt (Matthew Perry) and Jordan (Amanda Peet). Other major characters are Danny (Bradley Whitford) , Harriet (Sarah Paulson) and Simon Stiles (DL Hughley). Now Perry is at his sarcastic best and romance is brewing (once again) between him and Harriet. Meanwhile Jordan is the head of a broadcasting network and is a very nice person and Danny is in love with her. Man, you should check out the scene where he proposes to her (I saw it last night), very chic!!

Southpark is a totally kick ass comedy cartoon series, making fun of the American pop culture. Must watch!!

Coming to movies. I have finally seen Apocalypto - short review, nothing great. I have also seen The Last King of Scotland - awesome. Also, I saw this wierd movie called A Scanner Darkly, nice but wierd, and the rotoscoping is awesome.

All the movies and TV series courtesy Akshat, an awesome bloke in my group.