Judging Movies?

I’ll carry on from the previous post and say that I’m not a person who can claim to be a good judge of movies, partly because I haven’t seen too many of them. For me a good movie is simply one after watching which I keep getting reminded and haunted of scenes from it, and when I’m not able to recall dialogues, go back to it and watch it again and again. But more than that, a good movie almost must have good music, great acting, and of course brilliant direction, dialogue-writing and story.
Actually simply, a good movie is one which I wouldn’t mind watching anytime, a movie which I would never get tired of watching.
A recent conversation made me wonder which my five favourite Hindi movies are. Determined, I set out to work almost immediately, deciding to shortlist ten favourite, and then choosing five out of those. I could eliminate three at most, after pondering on the list for three hours (I could’ve watched any of these movies in that time). Be that as it may, here are the remaining seven favourite movies, each of them which I would watch regardless of my mood or the time.

1. Aandhi – For Sampooran Singh’s genius.
2. Anand – For Babu Moshai.
3. Golmaal – For its stunning English translation ‘Hanky Panky’ and for its sequel.
4. Mili – For being the only movie I’ve cried while watching.
5. Masoom – For involving a nice but pompous Mr. Suri and this.
6. Parineeta – For <in Amitabh Bachchan's voice:> "Shekhar and Lolita".
7. Dil Se... – For being the only movie in this list with a multi-word title and for AIR.

I was supposed to rank them in an order as well, but couldn’t have possibly expended any more time. It’s supposed to be exam-time.
And I want my own TV and I hate football. It is absolutely foolish to argue that a random football match is either more important or more entertaining than a World Cup semi-final between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Nonsense!

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.

April and Google

April is supposed to be a fun month. Partly because it brings with it most of vernal happiness and joy, maybe which is why the first day of the month is supposed to be a day to have fun, to fool people with stupid hoaxes. Google.com is probably the most notable when one talks of April 1.

Google!

Associating itself regularly with All Fools' Day for over seven years now, Page and Brin's successful corporate venture shows how being light-hearted and creative helps. All the google April Fool's day hoaxes, Google MentalPlex (2000), PigeonRank (2002), Lunar Jobs (2004), Gulp (2005), Romance (2006), Paper (2007) and TISP (2007) are hilarious. My personal favourite has to be Google Pigeon Rank.
Hoping Google keeps coming with better ones every year.
I don't feel like staying in Law School anymore!