Now and Then.

Who the...?

Harendra Kapur.
Kyra Mathews.
Tejas Menon.


I just saw ‘Revolutionary Road’ last night. It was really sad, and by that I mean very heartbreaking. But Beautiful. Also Depressing. Great performances by actors who seem to change into different people each time I see them on screen. It also was the type of story where you really need to be drawn into the characters lives, or else it’s really hard to find a message or a moral. I saw ‘The Reader’ last week which was a similar case; all thinky-emotional types. But in all this I realised that I had enough of all the drama and really wanted to see an action film, and an Indian action film, that (here are the key words) DOES NOT DISAPPOINT, and man is it hard to find one of those.

So everyone knows that the only place in the nothern hemisphere that has its summer a couple of months early is the sub-continent. And though the heat had started pouring on our heads since Feb, our summer is now: April, May and part of June. So I decided to look up some of India’s upcoming summer flicks. I think of the past few years I’ve become really attached to our Indian Film Industry and genuinly interested in the movies that we churn out. I want them to succeed; I can’t belong to the sect of people who are too damn snobbish to watch an Indian film because they are too bloody prejudiced against it. “
Yeah dude hindi movies suck man, whatever”. I have no problem in going for a Hindi movie, realise it sucks, and THEN criticise the shit out of it, and god knows we have enough of those. In the recent past ‘Race’, ‘Ghajini’ and ‘Drona’ have all proven to be big disasters. But it just makes the good ones all the more sweeter, and understand this, that I compare movies in India to movies from India, and not hollywood, because that’s what everyone does and then they proceed to become conceited and stuck up noone wants to watch them anymore.

Which is balls, but I digress.

The first bunch of films for the summer that I missed were apparently worth missing (I listen to critics, not idiots). Funnily enough many films this summer have a sci-fi element that has to do with either seeing the future or past! I think sci-fi in india is a long-freakin-overdue subject and personally I’m glad they’re taking a step into the fray.


13B: For most part this got trashed for being an all horror film about a television set that tells the main character what his future will be. Why? Because once again they managed to squeeze in two songs, in what people called a long, and ineffective movie. Interestingly though, foreign press have given it decent reviews.


Aa Dekhen Zara: Neil Nithin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu star in a movie where the lead character inherits a camera that takes pictures of the future! A daring attempt in storytelling by debut director Jehangir Surti, but apparently ultimately a loose, inconsistent screenplay wins the day. Again that's what others said.

The movie I am really looking forward to this summer is ‘
8x10 Tasveer’. Stars Akshay Kumar (who IS a hardworking, awesome presence on screen) in another time-bending plot. I know, I know, the plots are all repetitive but here’s why this has the best chance out of the three: first of all the trailer (Apart from the 'I have a secret' bit) is lookin pretty A, man. Secondly, its directed by Nagesh Kukunoor who has previously made Hyderabad Blues, Dor and Iqbal; all of them being good movies with solid plots. Also to note that Kukunoor is also one of the few people who writes all his movies himself. It’s so rare when you can judge how good a movie will be, by the past credentials of its crew, because writers just seem to up and leave, never to be seen again. That’s the industry, I guess. And thirdly, man, its time we got a good sci-fi movie here; we DESERVE it. Yes there is a 'rap' song for the promos, Yes the plot is probably wafer-thin, and Yes Indian movies tend to over-exaggerate and and over-state the obvious in a lame kinda way, but know that I will be very liberal with the review for this movie, just because someone had the stones to actually make an interesting sci-fi paranormal flick, and if it is even half-decent; flaws, lame-ness and all, I will be satisfied.

Here’s the trailer:




Next week:
Incredible Love – The first movie in history to pair Stallone and Schwarzenneger will be…A Bollywood Rom-Com?!

P.S. Pray for this movie to be good! and for
Michael Sullivan. Also I like this poster better.

2 responses to "Summer Flicks in India"

  1. Ah Tejas. Sweet innocent Tejas. When will you learn, cynicism is the way man?
    Honestly though, the reason I don't bother with most Hindi films is because they make me feel like a stereotypical white trailer trash single mother. I keep looking for love but these drunk bastards keep hitting me with kegs and broken bottles.
    Thing is, generally, the good Hindi movies are the Mumbai meri Jaans and to be very very leniant, the Delhi 6s, and word spreads that Hey! There's a film that actually makes sense.
    I love Akshay Kumar, I really do. But lately it's just shitty films revolving around his awesomeness which doesn't really motivate me to pay 50-100 bucks.
    I sincerely hope the film is good, and I sincerely hope Kukunoor has made the film to be a good sci fi film, not another get rich quick scheme, because, man, this country fucking deserves it.
    Great post, let's hope the films are half as good to sit through.
    Oh and by the way- Gulaal...
    From what I hear anyway.
    Oh and also, watch out for shameless product placement for Godrej security systems.
    Oh and one last thing,
    Dude these Hindi movies suck!
    Last thing- verification word of the day is 'Coutorra'.

    Harry

  2. Dude...don't bullshit me with the 50-100 bucks thing cause the real deal is that you can go for movies twice in the cinema (because its good) but you can't a decent director a chance at seeing his movie?
    truth is it always can go either way in a very large spectrum.
    to be honest, watchmen could have sucked bad as well, thank god it didnt. Always remember that there are still joel schumachers in this world.
    you should be motivated, because we need to encourage it. they deserve us as much as we deserve them. Call me naive or innocent, i think i'm just more hopeful is all. i'm waiting for that next awesome hindi movie we can be proud of.

    But dude...your bigger than this!
    i guess it wasnt about golf eh?

    Tejas

The All of us.

The All of us.