Of Rahul and Guru Bhai

I generally don’t find movies worth writing reviews about, because I don’t have the capability to judge a movie as being either splendid or ordinary.

But Masoom has to be one of the most splendidly-made movies I’ve ever seen. Although it does not credit Eric Segal for the story, it is based on his novel Man, Woman and Child. Be that as it may, the movie has some very chilling scenes – scenes that haunt you for a long time – the cricket scene, the photo-cube scene, the song Tujhse Naraaz Nahin Zindagi (male version).

Beginning on a sombre note, it picks up with Saeed Jaffrey’s party which includes an all-time romantic favourite song Huzur is Kadar. Jaffrey plays a typical pompous-Delhi-Punjabi Mr. Suri showing off his London-bought cutlery, although a loyal friend.
Everybody’s acting is brilliant and simple. Shekhar Kapur is a genius for a directorial debut like this, and Gulzar (screenplay, dialogue and lyrics) and RD are as usual immaculate.
Deserves 9.5 out of 10.

I also watched Guru day before, which has been generally dubbed as ‘just okay’. Both Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai leave impressions with very good acting. This is the best I’ve seen of Madhavan and Mithun Chakraborty.
However, the movie doesn’t leave you with scenes which keep recurring in your mind, like other Mani Ratnam movies, say Dil Se. By Mani Ratnam standards, it is possibly ‘just okay’. Both dialogues and the music are nothing to ride home about. The crucial oration by Abhishek Bachchan to the tribunal at the end of the movie is very ordinary in terms of dialogue writing.
6 out of 10, mostly for good acting.

Eastern Music and Dance (EMD) yesterday was more than enjoyable and with a couple of incidents (which will be retained in my memory and treasured for life) I felt overjoyed and elated. No, actually euphoric.