Agneepath

Agneepath celebrates the revenge dramas of Bachchan Era. A bit unapologetically ..........and totally Bollywood way.

Despite being a remake it has a feel of its own. The best aspect about the movie is that it never compels you to compare with the original.

The film has got rid off many scenes and characters from the original but The Iconic dialogue, Vijay Dinanath Chauhan...Poora Naam,  stays. It is well delivered in an original style. And It works.

It has all the cliches of revenge dramas of 80s & 90s. An Anti Hero, An Ideal Mother,  An Exploited Sister,  A Psychic Over the top Villain, An Item Number in Villain's Den. Lots of Gore and Violence. The kind of Cinema we have grown up with.

As a Kid we used to love these stories.

Hrithik does a good job with his intense act. But at some point you  miss the elegance of Mr Bachchan in his white suits. As promos showed, Sanjay Dutt is menacing, even with an over the top performance. He will be among all the awards next year.  Its a refreshing experience to see him doing SOMETHING rather than being wasted in the recent senseless comedies. But the surprise package of the film is Bollywood's ever Romantic Rishi Kapoor with Mean act of Rauf Lala. He has been showing some class act recently with Do Doni Char, Chintuji, etc.

The film is bit long with some yawn moments here and there but it is a good watch if you loved the revenge dramas we grew up on. A good attempt from a debut director who never competes with Original Cult Movie.

Sanjay Gupta's Chronicles of Plagiarism !!

Recently a Bollywood Award function (read Entertainment Function) got into another controversy. Yeah, that's what these awards functions have become these day, entertainment shows for some TV Channel. More the controversies, better are the TRPs. And awards, who remembers them. They ain't Oscars or Golden Globes !!!

But this time it wasn't any insensitively passed comment  or any onstage antics that caused the controversy. This time the so called 'Awards Functions' hit a new low. It was the selection of the Best Film that sparked the controversy and two members of the Jury accused each other for favoring different movies for their own interests.Everyone knew these things happen but it was out in public for first time.

It is well know fact that in the last two decades every award functions is manipulated and favors a certain lobby. Most of people win award for onstage performance rather than the one onscreen. So it was no surprise when Screen Awards Jury ended up giving award for Best Film to two movies.

The surprising aspect of the Controversy was the comment by Sanjay Gupta, one of the Jury Member (Yes, He was a Member of panel to judge movies. Reflects badly on our state of films). He favored "The Dirty Picture" because he thought/learnt/heard that "Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara" is a copy of Hollywood film "Fandango". Weather or not ZNMD is a copy is an another debate.

The other Jury member involved here was Kunal Kohli. Well, not many people know that Kunal Kohli started his career as a Film Critic , anchoring a program 'Hello Cinema' for Lucknow Doordarshan in mid nineties. I used to follow that show. He seemed to be fine critic, at least in his Doordarshan days. Later on he moved to Zee and Star. Its sad to see that even his films are not very original !!!

But Sanjay Gupta accusing anyone of Plagiarism !!

This is certainly 'Kalyug' !!

As far as I have known Bollywood , Abbas Mastan, Vikram Bhatt & Sanjay Gupta have been Torch Bearer of "Inspiration" Brigade. They love the Hollywood originals so much that most of the time they don't even change the scenes and dialogues in their rip-offs.

Here a list of movies by Sanjay Gupta that have been blatantly copied from all over the world !!

Acid Factory [2010]                                      Unknown [2006]

Woodtock Villa [2008]                                     Chaos [1999]

Zinda [2005]                                                 Old Boy [2003]

Musafir [2004]                                        U Turn [1997] 

Plan [2004]                                             Suicide Kings [1997]

Kaante [2002]                                   Reservoir Dogs [1992]

Jung [2000]                                       Desperate Measures [1998]

Khauff [2000]                                         The Juror [1996]

Ram Shastra [1995]                                  Hard To Kill [1990]

Aatish [1994]                                            A Better Tomorrow [1986]

From A Frustrated Indian Cricket Fan

This was supposed to be India's best chance to win a Test series in Australia. A series every cricket fan has been waiting for. Just like they did for the Ind Vs Eng last summer. And here we are. In just 8 days of Cricket , Australia have demolished India. Its not the 2-0 scoreline that hurts. It is the cricket that India has offered. That's more disheartening.

Being an Avid Cricket Fan, here are the Action Items that I would suggest for Team India.

1. Abort The Current Tour: There is no point of continuing this one. Even Australian will get bored of humiliating us on this long tour as we have earned this 2-0 score line just in 8 days of cricket.
2. Make a Quick Tour to Bangladesh : Closer we get to home, better we are. And a Weak Opponent would be the right tonic we need now. Nothing personal, I just want them to get back that winning feeling. This one was suggested by one of my Friend. I didn't agree with him then. But I guess that's the solution we have right now.
3. Let Sachin make that Hundred: The Rashtriya Intezaar. That's what his fans are now calling this hundred. We would have loved it against this Australian Side. Based on current form I am sure he can get that on this Australian tour. But when is he going to do that, NOBODY knows. And I think rest of the Team is getting impatient too. Especially Openers. They just want Sachin to be on crease and score that hundred. So lets just get over it . His highest score is against Bangladesh  then why not 100th Century !!!
4. Leave Dhoni & Kohli there to Play Bangladesh Premier League : Trust me this is going help in great deal. In test matches Dhoni has been liability especially overseas. Not a single hundred outside Asia. Its a takes more than scoring runs in T20 Leagues to become Sachin , Dravid or even Laxman. Sooner they realize this better it is for them. Based on current form we can’t let them play IPL too.
5. Book a Ticket to Zimbabwe for Duncun Fletcher: I am not sure what this Grand Old Man is doing in this Indian Team. 4-0 in England. 2-0 already in Aus. He is almost 65 Years old. Rahane, Ishant, Rohit, Mithun , etc are just 23. Almost like his Grand Kids. Huge generation GAP. Let him live in Zimbabwe to play Cricket with his real Grand Kids . May be that will help Zimbabwe Cricket in long run.
6. Fly back to Australia with Test Specialists. : Get some technically correct batsman . Call Pujara. Call Babrinath. Call Karthick. Sad that we dont have any Pace bowlers to replace the current ones. Kick Ishant on his back. Kick More. But make sure he doesn't get injured. Ask him to take some wickets. I am sure he is better than what he has been doing in Australia.
7. Play Better Cricket: I never believed in the No. 1 Test Ranking that we got. How can we become No. 1 without ever winning a series in Australia & South Africa. We haven't even won a series in Sri Lanka in almost 2 Decades. I am sure this Team can play better. Like they have been doing couple of years ago.

Hope this helps !!!

At-least it helped me to take out some frustration.