Movie Review: Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom

A movie that had me rethinking the future of tamil movie..

A movie that had me in splits through the hours... 

A movie that gave me hope that small movies were here to stay...

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Am talking about "Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom [NKPK]" . I had heard of this few months ago when my friend announced that her student was doing the music. Few days later, i got to hear the songs in her CD and fell in love with them instantly. The lyrics, the style and the tunes were all so catchy. Esp the Oh Crazy minnal song by Andrea. 

And finally, the movie had hit the theaters and was getting good reviews. The only thing that stuck in my head was that none of the reviews mentioned the music, the songs... Anyways, paying no head, few weeks ago, I booked 2 tickets, dragged mom and went for the movie [ we watched it in Sangam cinemas, PH Road]. 

NKPK is a story about Prem Kumar (Vijay Sethupathi) who has a small accident while playing cricket with his friends Bagavathy aka Bugs (Bagavathi himself), Saras (Vigneshwaran) and Bajji aka Balaji (Raj Kumar) and loses his memory[the last one year] 

Enna achchu? Oh, namma cricket vilayidinom..

Nee ball potta 

Nee thaane bat panina?

Naa pidikka ponein.. 

Oh.. vitutena??

Kal thavari keezha vizhundutein.. 

Inga thaan adi padiduchu.. anga thaan medula oblongeta irukku

Shockla short term memory loss aayirukum

its ok, athuva sariya poyidum..
Watch: Trailer

This is a dialogue you will hear atleast a million times, well, i exaggerate, but atleast 30-40times through the movie. But, you are not wondering why they are saying the same thing!! You are completely tuned in gasping and watching intently.

 Vijay Sethupathi [Prem] is brilliant throughout. But his three friends have acted just as well, they have kept the plot going, had us all guessing what is going to happen next...   The brilliant casting and acting is the highlight of this movie. Agreed, some scenes seemed weak, but they all tie together beautifully. We were in splits through the movie, we understood why the dialogues were repeated, and we wondered what will happen to Prem and his wedding, will he be able to go through with it? Oh and this is the 2nd most amazing scene in the movie- the wedding scene...Vigneswaran [Saras] simply rocked.... The entire theater was howling with laughter and it dint stop till the very end...

Another amazing dialogue -
avan kulla irutha suppression, depression, uppression, fobia, anxiety, disorder, complex, kastam, nastam, soham, bayam... ellam pidingitu velia vandirchi...

 

Even though i missed the Oh Crazy minnal song, it made sense to have kept it off, the movie dint need songs at all.. The 4 guys stole the show.... Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom was a pleasant surprise, and it is a huge success, even though none of the cast are popular, nor did it have any item numbers or masala. Shows that different genres also work, especially when directed well..  

A must watch for tamil movie fans.... 

I would rate it 4.9/5 :-)

Movie review: The Magic of Belle Isle

Every now and then comes a movie that makes you cry; feel so warm and smile.. One such movie is the new Morgan Freeman starrer "The Magic of Belle Isle".

A movie about a writer who had put his pen away and about a woman with 3girls stuck in a messy divorce in a small obscure town in the middle of nowhere..

When Monty(Morgan freeman) is dropped off at the old rickety house an told this is where he'll be spending his summer in and that he'll have to dog air he is none too happy! Armed with an endless supply of Scotch and sharp tongue he goes about the day..

Things change when his neighbors recognise him, and a little 9yr old comes to him with $34.18cents asking him to teach her to bring out her imagination..

This is an endearing movie-
Showcases the battles of the mother Mrs O'Neil (Madison) with 3girls, includes a teenager who resents her and thinks the mom is the reason for the divorce

A writer who is inspired by a tiny toy and the mom to write once again, who falls in love with the town, and it's people, even the dog.

It's about reinventing oneself.. Rekindling what you once had..

As always, Morgan Freeman blows you away with his acting, especially the scenes where he tries to teach the dog to fetch; shoots his revolver when Twed the clown yells at Carl and his way of tellin Fannigan that if he ever had a little girl, she'd be just like Fannigan..

Do watch or let me know and I shall loan he DVD..

Starring - Morgan Freeman, Virginia Madsen and Emma Fuhrmann. Directed by Rob Reiner

[Movie] Delhi in a day

 

I was itching to watch a movie, not because it had been a while, but because the last movie i watched left a terrible taste in my mouth and just about every other cell on me... No, dont ask me what it was.... i might throw up.... :-)

So, the movie i chose to watch this time was "Delhi in a day", the plot seemed interesting, actors were the ones who are featured in off beat movies, and it had a certain "non masala" feel to it. And it was made by Prashant Nair [who was making his directorial debut] 

The movie is a very real, sweet at times and disturbing and sad at other times. It shows the glaring differences between the upper class and lower class [ Dont think the story is confined to just Delhi, it is true of any city across the world]  This mix of worlds is seen by an outsider, a British guest who comes visiting, Jasper (Lee Williams).  

The story..

While the Bhatia family is upstairs battling with a broken down Air conditioner, their household help [Raghu, Chottu, Udai Singh, and Rohini] are already up and about. They are having some fun of their own in the kitchen, imitating the man & woman of the house, and generally unwinding before work takes over their lives. Kalpana Bhatia[ Lilette Dubey]  is rudely awakened as the AC has broken down and she is feeling hot & sweaty, she calls out to the household help, but gets no response. As she marches towards the kitchen, she pauses upon hearing their chatter. Barges into the room and gives them all a earful, and orders to kick them into action. She runs them through instructions given earlier on occasion of Jasper visiting them.

Jasper says he is staying with them just for a day, and is off to Banaras starting off his "explore India". He has quit his job, cashed in his savings, packed a backpack and landed at their doorstep.  

Kalpana insists her maid and cook pay extra attention, belting out specific orders- food, room, transport etc... Their drivers are tamilians, and one guy, Nataraj in particular is so afraid he keeps saying "i dont want this job, i shall go back home".  Jasper wants to roam around Delhi on foot and local transport, but Kalpana will not hear of it. Rohini [Anjali Patel] is a village girl with dreams in her eyes, she aspires to become a movie actress [dances and performs in the kitchen and whenever they are away from work] Raghu Kaka, is almost like her father, an old frail man who's been with the Bhatia family for generations.

Towards evening when Jasper returns to the Bhatia home, he discovers his money envelope completely empty, nearly 4000 pounds gone missing. He expresses concern to Kalpana who instantly calls to Rohini & Raghu Kaka asking them if they took the money. 

A discussion with Mukund [Kulbhushan Kharbanda] and they decide that no matter what the money has to be returned- she points a finger at Raghu kaka saying he must have taken it, tempted and with desire to get Rohini married off. Her husband says "else,we will have to repay the money to Jasper, cant have our name tarnished because of someone's misdeed"

  

While the Bhatia's have come to a concensus on this, it is the household help who are in a mess. Rohini is worried for her kaka, a man who has been more than a father to her. She decides to raise some money, going off into the narrow shady alleys of the village nearby only to return empty handed. Jasper on seeing her crying near their hut, understands the position and makes matters right. 

Even when Kalpana comes to know of the truth, she continues to muddle over what is the right thing to do... Reveal the true culprit or pray that Kaka manages to round up the money and return it to Jasper. It comes as a surprise when Jasper does what he does before bidding them adieu. 

Victor Banerjee as the recluse grandfather, Kalpana's father and his interactions with Jasper were scenes that were few and far between, but beautiful. I did wish there was more of him...

 Delhi in a Day is a movie that gives you a reality check into the lives of our domestic help- what they go through, their struggles, fears, hopes, anger and how they fall pray to upper class thrashings for no fault of theirs.  They work hard, are polite and mannered, taking on whatever words thrown at them, but in privacy do make fun of their employers and have their own kind of fun. 

Kulbhushan Kharbanda & Lilette Dubey are perfect as the Delhi-Punjabi  family heads, with no cliches or over the top dramas.  Anjali Patil stood out among the other set of actors, she was so expressive with her eyes and innocent smile. Being the only girl among the all male household help, it is beautiful to see how the others care about her and protect her. Jasper too in the movie is smitten by her beauty and innocence. 

The movie was good, showing off the parallel lives between the elite and the poor, but i wish the director had gone a bit deeper.. It felt abrupt and as if he dint know what to do and decided to end the story. Or was he scared to take it further being his 1st movie? but good attempt for a 1st timer...

Overall 7/10

The Landmark Sale....

The Landmark Sale..

"Books Books and More Books.. all of this at a discounted price!" is the song that plays in my head everytime i read about a Sale or offer. And so with all the eagerness of a child going Toy shopping, i headed to Landmark, Apex Plaza, Nungambakkam Saturday evening...

Landmark is a store i used to frequent, almost daily during my college days. So much so that almost every staff knew/recognised me. And then, i saw the other outlets [Citi center & Ampa Mall] come up, and i began visiting them as well. So, this sale was like opening doors to a Treasure chest....

Was i excited? Yes
Was i eager to grab a few books? Yes

But within minutes of scrounging through the tables and mounts of books across the tables, i was disappointed... to say the least...

I then began browsing through the shelves looking for a few books i had been wanting to pick up/read, but couldnt find any. And the shelves seemed empty, almost, there were very few books, and most of them were old and seemed like they had been left there to be sold during the sale.

I was looking for A Brief history of time by Stephen Hawking, and after much searching, couldnt find it. One of the staff pointed me to the Science section, but alas, there was just one book by Hawking. The same story for almost all the other authors but for the Romance and Humour section. They were full...

I did notice they were selling Sherlock Holmes at Rs199/volume. Which was tempting, but i knew my cousin had the entire collection....

There was also the cool 3 for the price of 2 offer going on. And the good thing about this offer was it wasnt restricted to a particular genre, you could pick any book from across the store that had the 3 for 2 sticker and ta da... you were in for a treat.... 

I spent a few more minutes, picked up a few books- one for me, few for friends' kids and none of them had any offer. It was then off to the stationery section, where i picked up the 2 very sad worn out Stamp albums[albums to store stamps], and quite a few VZ India postcards [ which was the highlight of the visit] and headed over to the billing counter.

Walking out i wondered if this sale should be renamed "Clearance sale" or maybe i should visit one of the other outlets before jumping to conclusions....