non sequitur

Yamla Pagla Deewana - Movie Review

After watching the excellent trailer of the film for the last several weeks, I approached the film with enthusiasm to the effect that I asked for the ticket in a sing-song manner uttering the tune 'jat Yaaamlaa Pagla Dewaaanaaaa' generating sufficient amusement and wide grins on the faces of 4 people selling tickets behind the counter.

'Yamla Pagla Deewana' turned out to be one of those films – ‘Borat’ and ‘Quick Gun Murugun’ quickly come to my mind - where the only good scenes in the movie are packed into the trailer and they exist independently outside the film even as they appear in the movie. The first half of the movie is atrocious with nothing much happening. If one labours through it, the second half of the movie is good enough to make one forget that the first half is atrocious. From the time the story movies to Punjab it does pick up momentum. The second half movie goes in the lines of the Punjab-half of DDLJ but nevertheless has its own colour and feel to it. It is delightful to watch the NRI/Canada obsessed Anupam Kher and his band of brothers. The performances are very good across the board by the Deol troika and the supporting cast. The best performance of the movie comes from the girl playing the role similar to the one played by Mandira Bedi in DDLJ - with her lifetime ambition of marrying a NRI from Canada. She has great fun with her character - joyously sporting I-love-Caneda T-Shirts and being the flesh and blood version of Lonely Planet and Wikitravel rolled into one.

Did the movie amuse me as much as I amused my friends behind the ticket counter? I am doubtful.

2 Starts out of 5.

Post Script (not for family readers):
YPD is KLPD.

Tees Maar Khan - Movie Review

I mentioned to a friend of mine that on January 1^st I watched 'Tees Maar Khan', and he said 'Oh man! Not the right way to start the New Year'. Even as I agree with him on that point, a part of me tells me that if it inspires me to write about a movie, (well or otherwise is left to you judgment as always) it is a good start for the New Year.

I have a suspicion that the Loser (notice the L in capital) Shirish Kunder (who?) directed 'Tees Maar Khan' and knew that no one would care to watch the film if it were publicized as his film and hoodwinked his wife Farrah Khan to lend her name as the director of the film. After what we have seen of Farrah Khan in her past two outings we expect something light and entertaining from her and a fine departure, by the way, from the usual serious stuff that other women directors throw at us. And, she knows her Hindi Film History. I don’t imply for a minute that 'serious' is not entertaining, but it happens ever so frequently that women directors throw a lot of self-important, apparently intellectual stuff at us while Farrah on the other hand, throws joyous fluff at us. One thing the movie has definitely achieved is that anyone who victimises themselves into watching the film now knows the name and face of Shirish Kunder, thanks to the two being shoved down our throats at the beginning and the end of the film for about, say, 20 times. The fellow has credits in every department of the film and it is amusing and irritating - both at the same time - to watch the smug way in which he punches the air sideways while taking all those faux-Oscars during the end credits of the film. Watching the film makes one think if it is more his dream to win an Oscar than that of the character played by Akshaye Khanna. The only way to get something out of the film is to probably sit in the hall after getting sloshed-to-the-gills. The guy who sat a couple of seats away from me, reeking of alcohol for about a mile, was the only one laughing in the entire cinema hall (which was, by-the-way, houseful on Saturday, 01-Jan-2011) and he was so loud and boisterous that people were more amused by him than the film. I, personally, faced a conundrum. If there are people in the movie hall who disturb you with wailing babies in their arms or providing a running commentary to their friends, you can give a couple of dirty looks and try to silence them. How would you stop a person giving his 200 percent to the film distracting you from watching a film? 

The movie would have been something entirely different if it were half as good as the opening and end credits - which were definitely a class apart. The whole film runs like a college-level skit taken seriously only by the participants and their friends that doesn’t deserve an airtime of more than 20 minutes. What would you say of a movie that has jokes that run in the lines of Manoj 'Day' Ramlan, Danny Doyle, Day Ho! and such - and then they being repeated many times over.

Of the performances, Arya Babbar I thought has an assured screen-presence. I hope we get to see him more often. Katrina Kaif, not to be confused with the good and deserving Mohamed Kaif, turns in a inspired performance making one wonder if she can be a comedienne of Marilyn Monroe proportions (though she has a long way to go if considered only in terms of ‘proportions’) as seen in 'Some Like it Hot'. 'Sheela Ki Jawani' not withstanding, she comes up with an absolutely over-the-top and entertaining performance as an aspiring actress. Probably implying my Marilyn Monroe suggestion, the film has a scene featuring Katrina that mirrors Monroe's immortal photo/scene from 'The Seven Year Itch'. Complimenting her in the over-the-topness - if that is the expression I want - is Akshaye Khanna in a maniacal turn. One wonders how the energetic actor that he is here was responsible for the dullest portions of 'Dil Chahta Hai' as the perpetually morose Sid. Here we have a versatile actor who is arguably the most underutilised star in Bollywood. Speaking of Akshay Kumar – Yawn! Haven’t we seen it all?

After the end credits rolled, I craned my head once to confirm if Shirish Kunder was the fellow sitting those couple of seats away from me - I am confident that he too would need a couple of drinks to endure what he Produced, Edited, Background Scored, Screenplayed and what not!

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Shirish Kunder

Toy Story 3 - Movie Review

My Dear Vishnu,

Yesterday you and I, along with your 3 year old brother and non-movie-going parents, watched Toy Story 3, 1stDay2ndShow. 1stDay2ndShow is a tradition in our whole friend's circle for many years now and last night you were a new recruit into the tradition. Sitting beside you and watching the movie has entered into the list of my most memorable movie-going experiences.

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are two of my all time favorite movies and probably my most favorite animation movies. The 'When She Loved Me' song in Toy Story 2 was one of the rare occasions in animation movies where I cried. Toy Story 3 has at least two scenes that choked me up and made me cry. The first scenes featuring the recording of Andy's childhood days made me choke with emotion and the last scene where Andy, just before leaving to college, becomes a child again playing with all his toys made tears stream down my eyes.

From the beginning of the short film 'Day and Night' preceding the movie, you were completely involved in what was going on. You had the urgency to grasp and comprehend everything that comes up on the screen immediately. Sitting beside me you were a bit confused about what was showing up and you asked why something else other than 'Toy Story' was being played. Then you were a bit confused about the movie that was playing and asked me what was going on up there. Frankly, I was as confused as you were and being one of the slower types, it took a while for me to 'get' it. By the time I got it, I realised that your question had passed and you were having fun - you seemed to have comprehended it yourself.

Finally 'Toy Story' came up on screen and within 5 minutes into the movie, you said something that made me recognise that you are a very intelligent moviegoer. The movie begins with a long drawn out chase sequence set in the West between the good Sheriff Woody and his friends and the bad Mr. Potato Head and his gang. They have hijacked a train with the other toys in it and Woody is fighting with the villains to save their lives. Further down, the railway track has been blasted and Mr. Potato Head makes his escape leaving the hapless passengers and the train to fall off the gorge. The whole chase held your silent attention. Woody has failed in his mission to save the toys. A moment later the train is thrown up in the air and we see that the passengers are saved. As the train popped into the air, you shouted 'Buzz'. It indeed was the introduction scene of Buzz Lightyear. I am still in awe of it and that moment is what has encouraged me to write this whole letter to you.

But that was not the only moment that you gave me. Time and again in passages of suspense and thrill you were asking me 'What will happen now?' and I had to tell you that I am also watching it for the first time and we need to wait a moment to know what happens next. Your excited laughs were contagious all through. By the way, I observed that your mother was a bit worried that you were especially amused during the love scenes between Barbie and Ken and Jessie the cowgirl and Buzz Lightyear. I was thoroughly enjoying that bit.

Towards the end of the movie all the toys are thrown into a dump and are on the verge of being burnt up in a smoldering furnace. In one of the most emotional scenes in the movie, the toys are facing death a few inches in front of them and Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mr. Potato head, Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Bullseye and others hold eachother’s hands to be together in their final moments. Out of nowhere a claw crane comes down and picks all of them up and all is well in the best of all possible worlds. You asked me again 'who saved them?' I made a wrong guess by saying 'maybe it is the Green Soldiers who abandoned them in the early scenes of the movie'. Then in all sagacity, you said 'Aliens'. I wondered 'who aliens?' and as it turned out in the next few seconds, it was indeed the three Squeeze Toy Aliens who were operating the claw crane. A few minutes before they were crushed beneath a dump truck and I had forgotten the possibility that they could be the ones who survived and saved their friends.

That particular observation of yours convinced me that thought you are all of six years old, you could possibly enjoy with equal enthusiasm a 'Last Year in Marienbad ' or a ‘Rashomon’.

After the movie got over, on the way back, your parents and I were discussing about the first part and we were searching for the name of the bad kid who agonises his toys and you offered a very helpful hand by telling us that he is Sid.

I thank you for giving me this wonderful experience and I wish you a great movie watching future.

Lots of love from a friend and fellow moviegoer,
Aneen/Arvind Uncle

PS: 'Toy Story 3' is the best Pixar film after 'Cars'. 'Ratatouille' and 'Up' were just about average and bearable. The only memorable scene in 'Ratatouille' was the last monologue on critics by the critic Anton Ego voiced by Peter O Toole. The only memorable scene in 'Up' was the section 'Carl and Elle' which shows their life story with just music in the background. Of course, that 'Carl and Elle' scene finds place in my list of all time great movie moments. 'Wall-E' was at best pedestrian and boring. With 'Toy Story 3', Pixar has hit vintage form. An absolute must watch.

4.5 out of 5 Toys.

Chak De! India - Movie Review

‘Chak De, India’ is a 2007 film starring Shah Rukh Khan and about a dozen other girls in one of the most understated performances of his career. In a stubble-ridden role of the humiliated former Indian Hockey captain, Kabir Khan - now the coach of the girl's hockey team, he crosses his arms across his chest in silent dignity and allows the girls to take over the proceedings. Take for instance, the scene where he kicks Bindiya out of the team. She is taking long strides of anger in the football field and the camera is focused on her while SRK is relegated to the background. It is not about his heroism and one-upmanship over her – it is always about the girls.

I think ‘Chak De, India’, is one of the most cliché-defying Hindi movies even while it operates in the regular moorings of a sports movie genre; viz. an ensemble team of underdogs coming together to win against stronger opponents. Reasons are quite a few. Can you imagine a SRK movie without a heroine/love-interest? There are about a dozen girls in the film but no heroine. SRK sporting a stubble in a movie? A Yash Raj Film that is not a love story? The central point of a Muslim being called a traitor and needing to do always a little more than his fellow citizens to prove himself a patriot is touched upon and then the whole plot is handled so subtly that it is not brought up again while the undercurrent is always there. In the midst of this, the director veers away from glorifying the only Muslim girl in the team as a form of visual vindication.

The movie is filled with many stand-out scenes one better than the other.

Consider the scene where the girls’ team has to defeat the men’s team to get an entry to the world cup - they actually don’t win it but still win the respect of the men’s team and the selectors. That is definitely the single most moving scene in the film - the girls are to themselves, down and out and packing up to leave or something to that effect and then they notice all the boys saluting the girls with their hockey sticks after they win the match.

Take another example of the scene where that rowdy girl (Bindiya) in the group tries to compromise herself to Kabir Khan for exchange of captaincy. It is a very easy scene to be spoilt but here it is handled in a very dignified manner.

Then there is this scene where each of the girls is registering for the team. The entire scene systematically exposes the national stereotypes – when the fellow says 'telugu aur tamil mein kya farak hai', Netra Reddy coolly replies 'itna farak hai jitna bihari aur panjabi mein hai'. I am sure every South Indian would have nodded and smiled knowingly to that line. It follows up with calling the girls from North East as 'chinkis' (apne he desh mein hum mehman kaha jaate hai or something like that) and the girls from Jharkand being mistaken for 'ramleela' girls.

In a film replete with scenes that are memorable, there comes this song 'Baadal Pe Paon Hai'. It appears at a point when the entire team is on their way to the world cup in Australia. The picturisation of that song is the best visual representation in Film about the 'Enigma of Arrival'. The wonderment in the eyes of the girls as they are on their virgin voyage, the tentativeness while standing in a queue in a foreign land to pick strange food served on the buffet, the excitement in seeing places never seen before; It is something each one of us middle-class small-town folks - or may be all of us - go through in life when we travel abroad for the first time. Even as I type these lines, tears of emotion well up my eyes with the thoughts that crossed my mind when I was on my first international trip.

That one scene, being well in the flow of the narrative of the film, seamlessly detaches itself and exists in it own plane to represent something universal, thus transforming itself into one of the great Cinematic moments.

If you think that the match commentaries during the last act of the movie are downright silly and implausible, remember the commentaries in Hindi in Doordarshan during, say, the Olympic games and think again.

I think 'Chak De, India' is the best Hindi movie of 2007 and probably the best sports movie in Hindi - even ahead of Lagaan and alongside 'Jo Jeetha Wohi Sikandar'. 'Tare Zameen Par' was more decorated that year, but this is a better film. I was singularly disappointed when Shimit Amin did not win the best director award at the Filmfare Awards that year.

4.5 out of 5 Goals. (Half goal knocked off for the melodramatic background song/music that pops up frequently)

Up in the Air - Movie Review

Spoilers Ahead:

Tonight most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs and squealing kids. Their spouses will ask about their day and tonight they'll sleep. The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places. And one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wing tip passing over.
-Ryan Bingham

You know what! I would like to think that Ryan will be fine. All of us have these moments of self-pity when we yearn for company and wistfully wonder about the bliss in the lives of people who are welcomed home by the jumping dogs, squealing kids and spouses. I believe that it is like those moments when these people wistfully wonder about the joys of being alone and without the weight of relationships in their backpacks. Ryan is intelligent and mature enough to come out of his heart break and enjoy the life and backpack philosophy he has created for himself.

There is a scene towards the end of the film where the to-be husband of Ryan's sister gets cold feet on the day of his wedding and Ryan talks him out of it and makes him go back to the girl. The scene shows this guy going back to the girl and then cuts to Ryan and the older sister happy about it. Ryan is a confirmed bachelor who does not believe in marriage and the older sister, at the time of the scene, is going through a separation. And the two are happy about bringing the young couple together - almost implying that all said and done, marriage is a necessary evil.

Ryan is a self-confessed shark - and towards the end of the movie we see him sharing 500 thousand miles of his with his newly-wed sister and her husband. It is not that the events preceding this made him into a more loving human being. This is not a coming-of-age movie. We see that all through the movie, he is going around all the cities with the cut-out of his little sister and her husband to-be taking pictures in front of all those Patel Points. Without thinking twice, he jumps to protect fetch the cut-out from water when it falls into the water and starts drifting away. Ryan is, by nature, a nice man.

I could be saying something very far fetched, but the structure of the movie and the adventures of Ryan across the United States reminded me of adventures of Marcello in the city of Rome in La Dolce Vita. A party on the ship, a wedding, Ryan and Alex, his work taking him to various places - Natalie playing Paparazzo to Ryan's Marcello etc.

I was almost groaning during the scene where Ryan abandons the motivational speech midway and runs to Chicago to find his girl and be with her - the scene follows the grand tradition of the climaxes of rom-coms (Pretty Woman instantly came to mind) bringing the movie to an apparently dissatisfactory ending. What follows is refreshingly different.

Up in the Air is the second best movie of the year - only behind Inglourious Basterds and George Clooney has probably given the performance of his career.

4 out of 5 Air miles.

Martin Scorsese - Cecil B. DeMille Award

For the first 20 years or so of our careers Marty and I made movie after movie together. For the last 10 we have been presenting each other with awards. We are like an old married couple. We built a life together, we have great memories, we just don’t sleep together anymore... and I can’t help thinking that if the times were a little different, how proud Cicil DeMille would have been to be honoured with the Martin Scorcese award.
-Robert De Niro's tribute to Martin Scorcese

It is hard to believe we've only been watching movies for the last one hundred years; while other art forms have been around for thousands. As we look back in history, there are those names that truly define their own medium. Picasso, Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven - to name a few. And a thousand years from now, as the history of film unfolds, there will surely be one name for future generations that is synonymous with master film making and the word cinema and that name is Mr. Martin Scorcese.
Leonardo DiCaprio's tribute to Martin Scorcese

Don't miss the acceptance speech of Marty Scorcese. It is a tribute to cinema and Cicil DeMille himself.

3 Idiots - Movie Review

Professor: How does an induction motor start?
Student: Dhurrrrrrrrr

Professor: Stop It
Student: rrrrrrrrrh!

Every engineering college has a super-senior (a senior who takes 8 years to finish his 4 years course) to whom this joke is attributed.

When the NASA astronauts discovered that their pens did not work in space, they spent a million dollars to create a pen that could write perfectly well in space. The Russians used a pencil. The movie has a reworking of this joke - though I must admit the real punch line doesn’t end there; it comes towards the end of the film.

How many times have you not entertained your friends by replacing the word chamatkar with balatkar to great effect?

If nothing is impossible why cant you just put the paste back into the toothpaste tube once it is out? (yawn)

'3 Idiots' is surfeit with such I-have-heard-them-all-before gags.

Every post-Lagaan Aamir Khan film, I ignore all the hype and sometimes end up watching it without any expectation except that it turns out to be a wash-out. Most movies turn out to be hits - even blockbusters. '3 Idiots' is probably the most entertaining Hindi movie of the year.

This film, though skeletally resembles a Munnabhai Movie, is not one - it is an imposter. The credo of a Munnabhai Movie is to take the viewer genuinely to the brink of tears and then leave him in splits inspite of himself and vice versa. The makers forget the truism in Frank Capra's homily that tragedy is not when the actors cry but when the audience cries. You see almost all the main characters in the film crying copiously at least once - almost breaking the fourth wall and begging you to cry along with them. The movie tries too hard to make you cry and goes overboard in trying to make you laugh (with the likes of the aforementioned stale jokes) eventually failing in doing either. Even I, being a sucker for emotional stuff was left largely unmoved.

The movie has a lot of predictable scenes. For instance, the twist during the intermission albeit interesting, turns out to be quite figureoutable. It is at least 15 minutes longer expressly because of the delivery-on-the-TT-table scene - which I understand has a purpose which could have been achieved in probably far lesser time. The purpose of the entire movie is to question the education system in India and encourage the teachers, parents and students to teach and learn the right way - which is a long term goal. Of course, the short term goal of the movie is to make good money, which it definitely will succeed in achieving.

Here are a few things that I really liked about the movie:

Newcomer Omi Vaidya's performance as Chatur Ramalingam is best thing about the movie. He comes up with the most convincing performance in the entire film. I expressly recommend you to watch this movie for him. He features in the centerpiece scene of the movie and brings the house down with his histrionics as he addresses the entire college - the Indian cinematic equivalent of the iconic chapter in English literature where Gussie Fink-Nottle distributes the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. I wish he gets the Filmfare best supporting actor award for this performance.

The scene where Madhavan convinces his father that he wants to become a wildlife photographer (this scene is strongly reminiscent of the scene is one of the Munnabhai movies where Jimmy Shergill confesses to his father about blowing-up his (father's) money. The deja vu is even more intense because in both the cases the father is Parikshat Sahni) crosscut with Sharman Joshi's job interview is one of the highlights of the movie.

The scene towards the end where Boaman Irani hands it (both literally and figuratively) to Aamir Khan works very well.

Also, there is a scene involving Javed Jafrey, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan that is a hat-tip to Andaz Apna Apna. It is very close to the 'Amar! Goli' scene.

As for the mid-forties Aamir Khar playing a college going lad - trust me, I have seen classmates in engineering college who could pass off as fathers and uncles. If someone is telling you that the 40+ Aamir playing college going guy doesn't make the cut, they are lying. Aamir Khan has found a way to fight his age and that smile with both eyebrows raised is going to keep him in good stead for a few years to come.

After watching the movie, I have added Ladhak in one of my must-see places.

All in all, I highly recommend this movie. Something about it could remind you of your own college days.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Idiots.

50 Memorable Movie Moments

"I want everything I've ever seen in the movies!"
-The Producers

I hope you are not imagining that I sat and typed out these personal favorite movie moments at one stretch, say, in a couple of hours or something to that effect - in the lines of some 19th century Russian novelists who typed out entire books in a span of few weeks. This is a list that took a lot of years of patient movie watching, notes taking, revisiting the list from time to time adding something new, removing something - if the scene is a passing fancy. There are scenes that are unique looking - like the end credits of West Side Story, scenes that made me cry sometimes out of joy, sometimes with emotion - sobbing, sitting alone in front of my TV screen and sometimes swallowing a lump in my throat in some corner of a cinema hall, scenes that made laugh out loud, scenes that gave me gooseflesh - knotted and combined locks to part and each particular hair to stand on end, like quills upon the fretful porpentine; some movie watching memories are a mood that is evoked by the whole film. If I can think of one common thread that ties all these scenes - they made me feel alive.

Some scenes get into the list because their reputation precedes them - which makes one look at the scene in awe the first time when it comes up in the context of the movie. Most of them are, as the title simply suggests, memorable. For instance, one can never look at a picture of the Trevi Fountain - or the Trevi Fountain itself, if one happens to be in Rome - without remembering Anita Ekberg wading in the waters and Marcello Mastroianni following her. Ah, women! What allure you possess.

I am one of those soppy sentimentalists who sometimes choke up while watching an advertisement on television. 'Analyze This' changed it all. Every time I now come across a rather touching ad, Paul Vitti, the-gangster-losing-his-nerve, sobbing bitterly, sitting on his bed while watching an insurance ad invariably springs to my mind and I burst out laughing.

And then there is the baseball treatment given to the copier machine in 'Office Space' in a Joe Pesci-isque fashion. Have you watched the movie? If yes, don’t you, with desperate frustration want to take the baseball bat to the printer or copier and shatter it to pieces? Why can’t it be simple enough to be operated? I am sure you know what I mean. That is what I call an iconic scene.

There are movie quotes that just can be universally used in everyday contexts. These are but a few examples. Voltaire said 'The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.' So I shall allow you to sit back and enjoy these great movie moments if you can recollect them. I have attached helpful links wherever I could.

Reservoir Dogs: Why am I Mr. Pink? watch the hilarious scene here.

Schindler's list: last scene when Schindler speaks to his Jews.

Saving Private Ryan - Tom Hanks in his dying moments saying "James... Earn this. Earn it." Moving.

Apocalypse Now - You can never listen to Richard Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' without thinking of the squadron of helicopters, the water and the coconut tress. watch it here.

The 'When She Loved Me' song in 'Toy Story 2' - this was the first of the only two times I cried in an animation film. Read along to find the second one.

Paths of Glory: The last scene where a captive German girl sings a song to the French army in a bar. This also is on number 1 spot on the list of greatest final scenes of all time. watch the touching scene here.

Amelie: the scene where Amelie helps a blind man cross the road and then describes the entire whole world around him and showing it to him in words. That sudden burst of energy the moment lends to the movie is enchanting. We are as much shocked and happy as is the blind man. watch it here.

Analyze This: Robert De Niro sobbing uncontrollably while watching an insurance ad.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi: the scene when one of the teddy bear people dies in the blast and another teddy bear stops to take care of it.

The Apartment: look at Jack Lemon's expression when the doctor slap's the girl he loves on her face.

Nosferatu: the haunting background music as Hutter  leaves his wife.

Children of Men: the silence of the gunfire and the joy and awe in the faces of the people as they discover the cries of baby coming down the staircase.

Ikiru - The Happy Birthday song sung by the girls to someone walking up the stairs when the dying protagonist (nicknamed, The Mummy) walks down after he finds a purpose to his life.

It's a Wonderful Life: Clarence showing George Bailey what the world would have been like if he were not born.

The African Queen: the best scene of the movie is the one in which Humphrey Bogart makes faces at the hippos and monkeys while moving on the river in the boat with Katharine Hepburn laughing out heartily watching the funny antics. It sums-up the universal phenomenon of a guy going to the extent of making a fool of himself to put a smile on the face of his girl. To watch these two superstars at middle-age perform this great romantic scene is just mind-blasting. Do I mean mind-blowing? No, I don't mean mind-blowing. Anything can blow your mind. This is just mind-blasting. Ok Ok. I know that you recognize this bit as a Russell Peters routine.

Finding Neverland:
George: It's Grandm    other, isn't it? She's run you off, hasn't she? Oh, she's absolutely tried with great effort. And perhaps with good reason. It isn't you, Uncle Jim. She just... She just doesn't want to see Mother hurt anymore.
James: Look at that. How magnificent. The boy's gone. Somewhere during the last 30 seconds, you've become a grown-up.

Godfather 2: The fresh-off-the boat Young Vito Carlione looking out of a window at the Statue of Liberty. In this scene, one can see the Statue's reflection on the glass of the window. That one-second frame on film poetically immortalizes the dreams and aspirations of immigrants coming to America.

Grapes of Wrath: there is a moment in 'Grapes of Wrath' which reminds one that movies directly connect to the emotions. You see the smile on the faces of Ma and Tom Joad when they are at the dance at the end of the movie. The smile on their faces, probably the first and only time you see them smile in the grim-all-through movie automatically cut a smile across my face. It was like a blast of fresh air for someone gasping for breath after feeling suffocated by the grim mood of the movie thus far.

Grave of Fireflies: the glimpses of a day in the life of Seita with poignant music in the background after she dies. I couldn't help the tears running down my face when I saw that scene. This is the only second time I cried in an animation movie uptil now.

Taxi Driver: Travis Bickle - "you talking to me?"

Al Pacino in 'Dog Day Afternoon': "Kiss me. When I'm being fucked, I like to get kissed a lot." As an aside, 'Dog Day Afternoon' is my favorite Al Pacino film.

Al Pacino Scarface: "I'm Tony Montana! You fuck with me, you fuckin' with the best!"

Rules of the Game: the h(a)unting scene. A very sad scene. This one reminded me of the Odessa Steps scene in 'Battleship Potemkin'.

West Side Story: End Credits.

Woody Allen and his wife naming the baby in 'Mighty Aphrodite'

The World's Fastest Indian: the bikers giving Burt Munro a guard of honour when he leaves to USA for the biking competition.

Mr. Smith goes to Washington: The scene where Mr. Smith tours Washington when he first lands in Washington.

The Italian Job - 'On Days Like These'. I'd like to drive like that.

The insane intensity in the eyes of Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's 'Aguirre: The Wrath of God'.

Ben-Hur: the chariot race

The progressive descent of Fred C. Dobbs in 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'.

Shawshank Redemption: Morgan Freeman's voice over.

Amadeus: Salieri describing Mozart's music

Before Sunset: The expression of careless joy on Ethan Hawke's face in the closing frame of the movie.

Office Space: The three guys giving the copier machine the Joe Pesci-treatment with the baseball bat.

Casablanca: The scene involving Rick Blane and the young girl Annina, Rick helping her husband to win at the roulette table and the scene following that. This film has a lot of great scenes but I pick this as my top favorite. As another aside here, 'Casablanca' is also my favorite movie of all-time.

A Fish Called Wanda: John Cleese talking in Russian and stripping himself naked and the residents of the house walking in.

2001 - A Space Odyssey: the flash-forward, jump cut match cut of the bone turning into a spaceship.

The Truman Show: Truman dodging the traffic set-up in the process of discovering that there is something funny about his life.

Sunset Blvd.: the opening scene with a dead body floating in the water.

Strangers on a Train: the scene where the villain loses the lighter in the iron-manhole and struggles hard to get it out.

Psycho: The shower scene

To Kill a Mockingbird: Scout disperses the crowd that comes to attack Atticus outside the jail.

The Searchers: John Wayne lifting grown up Debbie in his arms and saying 'Let's go home, Debbie'.

Blow Up: the first photo shoot that runs more like a sex scene than a photo shoot, ending in an orgasmic way.

The Night of the Hunter: the river journey.

La Dolce Vita: Anita Ekbert wading through the waters of the fountain of Trivi.

Matrix: There is no spoon

Enter the Dragon: last fight in the hall of mirrors.

This one's not just one movie. It is the style - the fantastic choreography of stunts in Jackie Chan movies.

That is all for the moment, folks. Thank you - I hope you enjoyed reading it. Await the vol2 to complete the list of 100 memorable movie moments. Then there is a separate list that has my favorite Indian movie moments. If you find links for any of the above scenes please do share them with me.

Here's a list of 10 Great Movie Monologues and here are some Unforgettable Bollywood Movie Characters that I compiled in the past.

Kaminey - Movie Review

Consider a Indian food dish like a Biryani or a curry which tastes great with all the ingredients, bringing to life your taste buds and as you are wolfing into it with gay abandon and great relish, you bite a cardamom - you bite a full bloody cardamom that breaks between your teeth as you chew the food and leaves the flavour lingering in your mouth. Well, I am not aware about you, but such an experience screws up the entire eating experience and you are not happy with the dish until you wipe the taste away with the next morsel sans the cardamom. The movie Kaminey reminds of that experience.

The movie is not a regular entertainer but an entertainer nevertheless. It provides with a very satisfying movie watching experience. The movie has all the elements that are needed for a movie of its genre in place - the MacGuffin, multiple double crossings, seedy gangsters, and a plot that that keeps taking the serpentine twists and turns - and then settles for a placid Bollywood movie ending. As the movie reaches its closing scenes we really don’t care for the fate of any the characters - which is very good place for a movie of this genre to arrive at - and then reverts back to a traditional happy ending. This and the unnecessary flashback with an entirely pointless backstory of the twins bring the story down by a few notches and increases the viewing time by a few minutes.

The movie takes it's time to establish the characters - and that is putting it very mildly. The first half-an-hour almost frustrated me and at some points it desperately demanded subtitles in English. It takes around 20 minutes to half-an-hour to get a hang of the tone of the movie and the style and language of the characters and you suddenly see yourself involved in the proceedings.

I think the biggest flaw of the movie occurs in the end. Charlie sees his lover's (well, Charlie and Mikhail are not 'just friends'; There is a definite homosexual relationship implied in every scene between the two of them) dead body in the jeep and this acts as a trigger to empty the entire contents of the guitar into the fire building up below him. If I remember the movie correctly(I have watched it just once and the structure is a bit difficult to remember), his partner was shot in front of his eyes in an earlier scene in the mock shoot out that ends in a 'Satya'isque bang that leaves the fellow dead. Then why the 'naheee...' kind of shock and late wisdom on Charlie's part that works as a completely unconvincing trigger for the closing scenes. For all the respecting-the-intelligence-of-the-audience theme that everyone is mentioning to me, this is an unforgivable mistake. Of course, as I mentioned, I have watched the movie just once and tell me if I got this scene entirely wrong.

I seem to be giving an impression that I haven't liked the movie. On the contrary. I immensely enjoyed the movie and these are just a few areas where the film fell short of my expectations – the cardamoms in the curry, as I like to call them. Kaminey is a very good movie that falls short of being a great movie. Go watch it in the theatres.

Final Note: Everyone and his uncle are comparing the movie’s ‘Dhan Te Nan’ to the theme song of Pulp Fiction. I say, it is a huge load of horseshit. If at all it resembles anything from Pulp Fiction, it resembles the background score during the scene where Zed sodomizes Marsellus Wallace.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Kaminey

The Importance of Being Michael Jackson

Today morning when I woke up, I saw a missed call on my phone. I know that I do not get calls that early in the morning unless it is something urgent or important. I return the call to find out that break-dancer and singer Michael Jackson is dead. I come to office and when I login to gtalk, the first message I receive shares the news that Michael Jackson has passed into the ages.

Of course, no coffee corner conversation with a colleague or a call with a friend is complete today without the mandatory reference to this news. As you see, even the thought I am sharing with you today refers to the news of his death.

For a lot of English-educated Indians western music began and sometimes ended with Michael Jackson. Well, let me even proceed to knock off 'English' from the previous sentence. Michael Jackson is probably the most popular western music icon in India - in a Democratic, Socialist, pan-Indian way. The coincidence that the only other international star to probably enjoy such popularity is another Jack is trivial- the fast-action-entertainer, Jackie Chan. Young adolescents found Michael Jackson as a window to foreign music and it gave one a great deal of confidence to share a seat in the council of the musically literate.

If you jog through your memory of Indian movie songs of the 80s, you would find his name in the lyrics of many a bizarre dance numbers. The tunes of his songs were ruthlessly recycled by enterprising music directors in movies of all languages. Making a more personal reference, any blue-blooded fan of Chiranjeevi, as is the case with me - and probably the entire state of Andhra Pradesh, his recent electoral debacle notwithstanding - is inseparable from his knowledge of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson practically invented the break-dance which established the megastar a dancing sensation - Chiranjeevi virtually moon-walked his way into the hearts of thousands of young Telugu people. I can take the Pepsi-Challenge on this - you would not find a kid growing up in the mid-eighties who would not have demonstrated his own skills in the rope-walk or moon-walk to his parents and relatives in the way of family-talent-shows.

Mithun Chakraborthy, Govinda, Prabhu Deva, Hrithik Roshan – these are only a few names in Indian showbiz who owe something to Michael Jackson.

These are a few thoughts that come to my mind upon the news his death. You can share your own thoughts if you have any and it would, I am sure, be very interesting to hear your memories of Michael Jackson.

May his soul dance is peace.