Movies ‘R’ Us: #4-2008

1. Amadeus – An English film on the life of Mozart

Elegant Austrian court settings. Though the character of Mozart does not do a great job of piano-playing and I have my sneaking suspicions that as opera conductor too, he is more swayed by pseudo-histrionics than solid research.

Why of all the ‘Western’ movies I have seen on real characters, these folks always seem to have an ‘other’ side to them: womanizing, adultery, power-politics etc.etc. Don’t they have more ascetic characters or characters with integrity in their history, in the West? I know, I know……….and I don’t like the sound of that statement of mine either. But let it stay.

Antonio Salieri – F. Murray Abraham
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Tom Hulce



2. Disha (Direction) (Hindi movie)

Starring:

Shabana Azmi
Nana Patekar
Raghuvir Yadav
Rajashree Sawant
Nilu Phule
Om Puri

Story, Screenplay, Dialogues and songs: Sai Paranjpe
Music: Anand Modak
Playback: Ravindra Sathe, Uttara Kelkar, Vinay Mandke, Thyagaraj Khadilkar, Arun Joglekar
Director: Sai Paranjpe

A simple tale of migrants and migration (from rural to urban areas) simply told in the unique style of Sai Paranjpe. A very strong set of actors here.

The poignancy of the tale is brought alive by clear delineated characterization

These are stories about real-life characters from the lower class. The ones that Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra are totally alienated from. And that’s precisely why their stories need to be told.

Some pretty competent editing throughout the movie and one delightfully picturised song: Bumbai Bumbai Bumbai Bumbai Bum

A nice watch



3. A Beautiful Mind (2001) (English Movie)

The one thing that never fails to amaze (and scare) me about Hollywood films is the absence of an extended family in these biopics. In this movie we don’t even see any reference to John Nash’s parents, leave alone a scene involving them. Did the earth swallow them up?

The movie is about the Nobel laureate, John Forbes Nash Jr., the mathematical genius who had a long struggle with schizophrenia.

A great movie



4. Muqaddar ka Sikandar (1978) (Hindi movie)

Producer & Director: Prakash Mehra
Music: Kalyanji-Anandji
Lyrics: Anjaan, Prakash Mehra
Story: Laxmikant Sharma
Screenplay: Vijay Kaul
Dialogues: Kader Khan

Starring
Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha
Vinod Khanna and Rakhee

Outwardly a very silly tale. But 2 pairs of couples give it such a strong backbone that it is one of the minor classics of Hindi cinema.

But the saccharine sweetness of AB’s friendship with VK did drive me giddy at times.
Rekha stars in a courtesan’s (tawaif’s) role that she has so naturally made her own.

The noteworthy songs are

* O Saathi Re



* Rote Huye Aate hai sab



* Dil to hai dil, dil ka aitbaar kya kije



* Pyar Zindagi Hai, Ya Allah: accompanied by some pretty bad dancing by Rakhee and VK