Last year I had published just 1 (yep... One...) post on this blog. That was because I just couldn't not make my obligatory oscar post. With that sort of history, and my recent claim about reviving my blog, there is really no way out this time either. So, here goes... as usual a hurried post, but an oscar post nevertheless.
Only writing about the categories about what I have any opinion one way or another. Bold is for "probably going to win", italics are for "my choice among the ones I have seen" while * means "still have to see this movie".
Best Picture: The Artist, (The Descendants or Hugo could also win.. though The Artist is the frontrunner), Hugo (Loved it!), *Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best Lead Actor: Jean Dujardin (though I won't be surprised if Clooney wins... I'll actually be pleasantly surprised if Oldman wins, but perhaps that's not going to happen). *A Better Life
Best Lead Actress: Viola Davis (Streep might win it too.. I haven't seen 3 movies here, so no strong opinion anyway) *The Iron Lady, *My Week With Marilyn, *Albert Nobbs
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (I'm not sure if she is really the frontrunner, but she really elevated The Help by her performance.) *Albert Nobbs, *Bridesmaids
Best Director: Hugo (Perhaps The Artist is the frontrunner.. but i don't know... maybe they WILL give it to Scorsese.. if the do, I'll be happy.. I actually will also be pleasantly surprised if Terrence Malick gets it for The Tree of Life, but that is probably not going to happen)
Original Screenplay:A Separation (I don't know who will win. haven't seen Bridesmaids, and I didn't think Margin Call was THAT good.. any of the others won't be a big surprise but I REALLY want A separation to win, as you might've guessed by my last post :) ) *Bridesmaids
Adapted Screenplay: Moneyball (perhaps this will go to The Descendants, and I won't mind that too much. Though Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was pretty good too) *The Ides of March
Cinematography: All beautiful movies here! But I prefer The Tree of Life and War Horse over others. Maybe they'll give it to The Tree of Life.. or perhaps it is going to be the day of The Artist.
Original Score: The Artist had to breathe through its score, and it was really good. Though all the other contenders were really good too.
Foreign Language Film: A Separation(though I haven't seen any of the others.. still, a movie will have to be awesome to beat A Separation, and that can only be good! Another great movie to see! But I really do think that is probably not going to happen.) *In Darkness, *Footnote, *Bullhead, *Monsieur Lazhar
Animated Feature: Rango (not seen 3 of the contenders, but I'll be surprised if Puss in Boots beats Rango.. and mildly surprised if even Kung Fu Panda 2 wins.. no idea about the other two. They might actually be good enough to win) *Chico & Rita, *A Cat in Paris
Live Action Short: No personal favorites really. All were nice. Though perhaps Tuba Atlantic and The Shore might be more 'oscar like' and might win.
Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Though Pixar's La Luna was pretty cute too, and might win.. all the other 3 were nice enough actually.. but TFFBOMMLessmore (phew!) was easily my favorite among all 5.
I had almost completely given up on my blogs. Every once in a while something would make me think of writing a post, but the more time a blog is dead, stronger is the reason that is needed to revive it. After a while, almost nothing seems strong enough. Not even year-end lists. I actually did make a "best hindi songs of 2011" for my own amusement, but even that didn't get me to finally publish something here.
And then, I saw "A Separation".
I saw it on 18th (my birthday), but waited for some days because a) I wanted to give myself some time so that the initial euphoria can die down and b) GG has been asking me to start blogging again, so now this can also count as her birthday gift! :P (Happy B'day GG!) :)
Anyway, for those of you who don't know about this movie, A Separation is an Iranian movie about a couple in contemporary Iran and some extraordinary circumstances that they find themselves in. You can see the trailer below, and it will tell you enough about the movie's plot and genre etc for you to decide whether this sounds like something that you'd want to see.
I was quite looking forward to this movie because it was easily the best reviewed movie of the year (95 on metacritic! no. 1 on Roger Ebert's year-end list..). The trailer increased that excitement. This was obviously the kind of movie that I normally like. When we found out that it is releasing in St Louis the day before my birthday, we really didn't have to think twice about what we were going to do to celebrate my birthday - Go and see if "A Separation" really is as good as we were hoping it to be.
It was. It really was. A lot of times when I go to see a movie with high expectations, there is a danger of me underrating it just because it didn't live upto the expectations. This movie not only lived up to them, it surpassed them. I was quite excited after watching "Hugo" recently, and "Black Swan" last year, but I really don't remember feeling THIS good about a movie after watching it for the first time since, probably, "The Lives of Others".
The movie is quite verbose. And completely devoid of any background score (which made me think of Satyajit Rai.. apparently he didn't like using music to guide and enhance emotions in movies.. a sign of inadequate storytelling skills). If you look at the trailer, it essentially seems to be about a family's troubles. Perhaps a tragic family drama, one would think. But it is really about much more than that. At times, it plays like a mystery and keeps you hooked because you want to know what the truth is. Then again, it raises Rashomon-like questions about truth itself. About morality. About letter and spirit of the law. About right and wrong and most things that are neither. And it touches you because you really do care about all of these characters. You think about those big questions BECAUSE they impact the lives of these people who really are trying to do their best given the situation they are in. The overall feel of the movie also made me think of Dekalog. Perhaps because while the movie is about big questions, it never feels that way because those things are translated so incredibly well into the lives of simple, ordinary people with seemingly simple lives.
It really is a triumph of storytelling and performances. If the trailer makes this movie seems anything like the sort of movie that you like to watch, then DO NOT miss it whenever you get an opportunity to see it.
The nominations were announced about half an hour ago, so here is the obligatory 'reaction post' (even though the equally obligatory 'my wishlist post' never made it beyond my facebook status message).
Delighted:
- for A R Rahman, of course. Twin nominations, once again! And this time it feels even better than 2009 because that year those nominations were almost inevitable, unlike this year. 127 Hours lost a lot of steam because a lot of people just weren't interested in watching it (the theme/story doesn't really make it an audience magnet). Also, right at the fag end of the year True Grit released and sort of pushed around some of the not-so-sure nominees out. I was afraid that 127 Hours might've missed the bus. But it didn't!!! :) Now I'm getting greedy. I actually am hopeful that he'll WIN one of these. Perhaps not for original score, but If I Rise must stand a very good chance!
- for Pixar, as usual. Best picture and Best animated feature were a given but I didn't think the screenplay would get the recognition. Moreover, I had completely forgotten about Day&Night being in the run for the best animated short.. so that was a pleasant news!
- for Jackie Weaver. Animal Kingdom was a movie well worth watching, and Jackie Weaver's performance essentially carries the movie through the extremely engaging last hour or so of the movie. Ben Mendelsohn was actually really good too, but one can't have everything!
- for Winter's Bone. 4 of the biggest nomination categories!! Picture, actress, supporting actor and screenplay! It was a pleasant surprise to see that people remembered this small movie even though it was released way back in the summer. (unlike The Ghost Writer, which released pretty early in the year and was completely forgotten)
- for The Kids Are All Right. see 'Winter's Bone'. except that this actually did release closer to the oscar season, and hence wasn't really a surprise.
- for Javier Bardem. Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm always delighted whenever a performance in a foreign language movie gets such attention. He missed out on a nomination for Mar Adentro, but perhaps this will be his year again (after Anton Chigurh got him a well deserved oscar). Then again, Colin Firth (or James Franco) might have something to say about that..
- for all the obvious nominations of The Social Network and Inception. There's no way they were going to miss out on the obvious ones like best picture, screenplay, music etc... Then again.....
Sad/Dejected/Disappointed
- for Nolan. now THIS I didn't see coming. He has never been nominated for direction before (actually, before today he had only 1 nomination.. for Memento's screenplay), but this should really have been his. The guy has had an astounding decade. I think they will soon give him a lifetime achievement award (at age 45!) to atone for all these sins.
- for Inception editing! If anything could be even more disappointing and puzzling than the Nolan snub, it had to this! Inception, NOT nominated for editing! I have no idea what to think. I REALLY need to see those other movies.
I have seen Inception only about an hour ago, so clearly this post will be unduly colored because of that. But that's ok.. we'll not consider this my "movies of first half of 2010" post, but a part of my "let me salute Inception" posts.. :) Note: the foreign Language movies are mostly of 2009, but got proper US releases only in 2010. so.... so..... Best Supporting Actor: John Hawkes (Winter's Bone), Guillermo Francella (The Secret in their Eyes), and Niels Arestrup (Un Prophete) special mentions: Pablo Rago (The Secret in their Eyes), Nana Patekar (Raajneeti) Best Supporting Actress: Priyamani (Raavan/Raavanan) and Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer) special mentions: Soledad Villamil (The Secret in their Eyes), Dale Dickey (Winter's Bone), Ellen Page (Inception) (well, she looked great.. and we KNOW she is a great actress... didn't have to do all that much here though.. still, they are my awards, aren't they? :P which reminds me.. I think I'll give one to Marion Cotillard too!!) Best Actor: Tahar Rahim (Un Prophete) special mentions: Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island/Inception), Filippo Timi (Vincere), Naseeruddin Shah (Ishqiya), Vikram (Raavanan) Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) and Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Vincere) special mentions: Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Vidya Balan (Ishqiya), Hye-Ja Kim (Mother) Best Screenplay: Christopher Nolan (Inception) special mentions: Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3), Park/Bong (Mother), Sacheri/Campanella (The Secret in their Eyes) Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Inception) special mentions: Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer), Debra Granik (Winter's Bone), Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon), Juan José Campanella (The Secret in their Eyes) Best Picture: Inception special mention: Toy Story 3 slightly less special mentions: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Secret in their Eyes, Vincere, The Secret of Kells ohh.. and some more: Mother, Winter's Bone, Ishqiya, The Ghost Writer, Shutter Island ohh.. wait.. Best Picture isn't the last award here.. I have another... Master of Rahul's Movie Universe: Christopher Nolan :) :)
Update:
After seeing Inception second time....
I'm replacing Ellen Page with Marion Cotillard in best supporting actress... :)
Also... needless to say, Inception takes all the technical awards... Best Editing, Best Sound Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Music Score (a very special mention to Toy Story 3 but, really, Inception's score is something else entirely), and maybe even Best Cinematography (with Shutter Island and The White Ribbon giving it tough competition... perhaps even sharing the award).
Some pretty good trailers of upcoming animated features. All of the movies might not turn out to be great, but definitely all of them do look promising to some extent.
Ok, this is a new series by me. I'll post, for the busy world's benefit, any trailers of upcoming movies that I find interesting. Some of these would be great trailers of movies that will eventually turn out to be crap. Some others will probably be crappy trailers of the movies that I have high hopes for. Hopefully there will be none that even I won't have an idea about why I posted them. Hopefully. We'll see.
So, here goes, sans any comment (and in no particular order of interest)...
By the time I went to catch a show of Raavan, it had already been mauled by almost everyone online. The good reviews, and I have seen many of them now, came much after I myself had seen the movie, one of them, from my favorite indian movie critic, Baradwaj Rangan. It is still easily one of Mani's worst reviewed movies yet. Dil Se had about as bad reviews as this, as I'm sure Thiruda Thiruda would've had. I don't remember how much I liked Thiruda Thiruda, but I really do like Dil Se even though the last half an hour or so is quite cringe-worthy. I have met some people who like Dil Se and don't know/remember that it got some pretty bad reviews; I've also met people who didn't see Dil Se when it released because of the universal jeers it seemed to be getting in the media at the time, but caught it on TV later and wondered why anyone would consider it to be so bad. That was the hope I was holding on to when I went to see Raavan. The hope that while some of the bad reviews might be from critics who really don't share my taste anyway, at least some of the others might be overcritical for the simple reason that this is a Mani Ratnam movie and you *do* expect him to do better than this. The rating at allbollywood was about 50% which doesn't make it the worst movie ever (it makes it about the 10th best movie of 2010 so far with reasonable number of reviews considered), it certainly is much lower than what I normally consider to be my threshold for being "worthy of a watch". Also, MNIK is 74% and Raajneeti 62%, and I considered the former to be just about watchable, the latter entirely forgettable, making Raavan sound like a horrible movie that would be unbearable to me.
All I'm saying is that I was hardly expecting that I'll be going to see this one twice.
Now, lest you assume that my watching the movie twice means that I really liked it, let me explain my "watching twice" philosophy to you. There was a time I watched almost every movie more than once before forming any stable opinion on it. But that time was long, long ago. Still, I found that there are some kind of movies that are likely to improve on second viewing - movies that are obviously "have to see it again to really get everything in it" type like The Usual Suspects, and the movies that seem annoying/awkward because of unexpected/unfamiliar/difficult stylistic choices. The latter includes films that are partially or fully slower than one expected (2001 A Space Oddysey, Dekalog etc), unfamiliar style (early kurosawa, Farewell My Concubine etc), off-putting yet intentional pace inconsistencies (Kill Bill, Rang De Basanti etc). What happens is that the first time these things happen, I'm not really prepared for them and they affect my overall enjoyment of other things that actually might've been better than I thought. Once you have already seen the movie, you know what is coming and it doesn't bother you that much. So, unlike Raajneeti where the bad parts were just bad content and not style and the good parts weren't good enough to merit a second watch, Raavan seemed a perfect candidate for being such a movie. Not that it improved to the level of being a really good movie, but certainly some of the worst things seemed much less bothersome. What were these things? Read on...
I am still to make up my mind as to what really killed this movie. There are many candidates.
A screeching Aishwarya in about 30% of her scenes that happen to be mostly in the first half. I can understand that it might've seemed a good thing to make Aish scream in a hoarse voice indicating her tortured and agitated state, but it certainly didn't translate on the screen as well as it might've been on paper. It just seemed annoying.
Abhishek's way over-the-top "mad Raavan" act in about a similar fraction of his act that was just plain annoying and unintentionally funny. Again, it probably seemed a good idea to justify the title "Raavan" by making it "ten heads.. as in ten different ideas running in the mind simultaneously" thing, but things like that are very hard to show on screen, unless you have a really charismatic performer to carry them through. Expecting Abhishek to do a Gabbar, a Joker or a Jack Torrence is hardly fair on the guy.. that sort of thing is just not his strength. I can see a Manoj Bajpai do wonders with this role.. even Madhavan would've probably made this work.... Anyway, I hear Vikram is able to bring much more physicality to the role much more convincingly in Raavanan. That itself should make the movie better by some margin for me.
Almost complete lack of "action" in the first half, and by action I mean worthwhile forward motion of the story... it is completely replaced by what we normally consider "action" sequences.. they just don't go anywhere. The way these action scenes are shot, it makes one think (and expect) that things are moving very fast but when you think about it, all that we are being shown are glimpses of a random "search in the jungle" with all the important parts of the story happening off the screen where Ragini must've done some seriously impressive stuff to muddle Beera's mind so much. I know that everyone can imagine their own effective stories about how exactly did things change in the minds of Beera and Ragini, but surely you can't blame the audience to not feel for your characters if they don't really see them doing much. This is even more frustrating because this is exactly the sort of thing that I love about Mani - two characters interacting.. playing with each other with just dialogue. As wonderful as all those jungle scenes with Dev running around look, all that time could easily have been used to use 10 pages of interesting lines for Ragini and Beera to speak.
Speaking of which, the lines that WERE spoken had hardly anything engaging about them. And this, I think, might be the single biggest factor in making the movie such a bland experience. Look at any Quentin Tarantino movie and you know that a scene doesn't necessarily HAVE to move the overall story forward for it to be interesting. All you need is some wonderful writing, and I don't mind one bit what it might be adding to the overall picture. The dialogue is one of the best things about Mani's movies. Even if some of the charm probably gets lost in subtitles, they are still pretty good. Dil Se and Yuva had some interesting writing by Tigmanshu Dhulia and Anurag Kashyap respectively and even Guru (with Hindi dialogue by the same Vijay Krishna Acharya who worked on Raavan) was actually pretty engaging througout (other than the silly climax, of course). Raavan, on the other hand, is full of simplistic, banal dialogue. It is perhaps difficult to separate banal acting with banal dialogue, and perhaps the same words would've worked had the performances worked, but I do think that they really needed some better lines here.
Phew!! Ok, so much for things that didn't work. Why did I go to see it again, then? Well... mainly because the second half seemed so much better than the first half. The first half just seemed so uneven, that I thought maybe the unevenness will be less bothersome the second time and it will make for an overall better feeling. More importantly, there were some truly good things going on. Like I said, the good things in Raajneeti were not good enough for me to want to see them again.. unlike that, the good things here were actually really good and I really wanted to see them again. So, the good stuff....
The beginning!! The 4-5 min long sequence that comes before the opening credits is a really, REALLY great piece of cinema. It reminded me of Godfather at times, and that can never be a bad thing. Perhaps it helped that VKAcharya didn't have anything to do in that sequence as it is almost entirely devoid of spoken words. This is as good an opening to the movie as one could've expected.
The photography! This one is a seriously good looking movie, even from Ratnam/Sivan standards. Ratnam has set almost the entire movie in and around jungles and waterfalls and that makes for some truly wonderful frames right from the first scene to the last. So much so that I think I would've enjoyed this movie more if it had been on mute! :D
The songs. This isn't even close to being one of Rahman/Ratnam's best collaboration, and for once Mani seems quite uninterested in spending too much time on songs. But, in this case, even a less-than-interested Mani is good enough to give some good songs/picturizations. The album itself is good enough, specially if you add the "Jaa, ud jaa re" to it, but most of the songs actually seem that much better on screen. Kata Kata, Behne De and Khili Re all worked pretty well for me... Khili Re, specially, is really well choreographed. Surprisingly, I didn't even mind "Thhok De Killi" in the movie. The song hadn't really worked for me before.. the trailer actually made it worse, but, for some reason, it doesn't seem bad at all during the movie. Perhaps it is positioned well. Or perhaps it just seemed better in comparison with some things in the first half. :D "Jaa, ud jaa re" is a pretty haunting song and it is used pretty well in the movie too.
Some memorable scenes which are vintage Mani. One scene, in particular, reminded me of something from Dil Se.. Abhi and Ash talking while he is on a boat, rotating all the while.. There are scenes in Dil Se where a similar thing happens. The actors are talking, and something goes on in the background that doesn't really have to. You could have Amar and Meghna saying the same lines without that woman continuing to pound whatever it is she was trying to pound in the background... or when they are talking in the AIR office when people are walking past and the door in the background keeps opening and closing... these things dont have to be there at all.. and are perhaps pretty distracting for some people... but the effect is memorable.. I might not remember anything about what they were talking about in those scenes, but I will never forget the visuals that were quite beautiful and distinctive...
The whole flashback with Priyamani works really well. The credit should probably go to her charming and convincing performance. That part of the movie is probably the only part where I actually cared for the characters on screen.
Govinda in some of his scenes, and Ravi Kishan throughout are quite good. Even the guy who plays the other brother of Raavan (Vibhishan?) was good, even though he only had 2 notable scenes. I think Ravi Kishan's convincing portrayal actually makes you realize even more how much better Raavan's role could've been done. While Abhishek seems adequate in most of the scenes where he doesn't have to do the 'mad Raavan' bit, you still find it hard to believe that he and Ravi Kishan's character are brothers. Ravi Kishan brings a certain earthy/rustic quality to his role that is just not there in Abhishek's performance. As for Govinda, they really could've done without the referencing Hanuman bit in his intro scene but I don't quite mind that as much as many people seem to have.
Which brings me to another point. I think some people were turned off by what they think were "literal adaptations" of Ramayana scenes, just like the Hanuman scene, but it didn't seem all that bad to me. I felt most of those things were actually tongue-in-cheek references to the epic rather than trying to force some direct references to remind people that it is Ramayana after all. Surely, it seemed to bother me to during the first watch, but something changed the second time round. And it wasn't just that I already knew that they were there. (Now what follows in this paragraph is full of big SPOILERS, so please don't read it if you havent seen the movie... ) I think that by the time this movie ended, it seemed pretty clear to me that Raavan is not a typical anti-hero here. There is nothing that they show Raavan doing which would make you think that he is the bad guy (well, almost nothing) and there is nothing that Dev does that might make him a hero. You sort of go in with those expectations because you know your Ramayana, and because Ratnam seems to confirm those assumptions by making Dev a cop and Raavan an outlaw. But, really, this is a movie where Dev really is the villain and Raavan is the hero. Seeing the movie again from this perspective actually made things much better, including the fact that I now wasn't thinking that I am watching an "adaptation of Ramayan", but more like a normal hero-villain story with some tongue-in-cheek story and character references to Ramayan thrown in. While Hanuman jumping around in the trees and the 14 days/14hours/14 min thing are direct references, almost every other reference is actually twisted around to make them interesting, rather than boring. The polygraph test reference that just seems horribly forced the first time around actually seems rather clever way of using audience expectations to hide what the real meaning of the scene is. Every other time when one sees the Ramayan parallel, Ratnam twists your expectations to make things unpredictable. Hanuman goes to meet Sita and gets caught? Next must be him giving them a slip by something like "burning the Lanka"? Nope... Ram finds an injured Jatayu on the way? He'll tend to him.. be nice to him? Nope... Vibhishan goes to meet Ram? He'll probably join them or help them in any way? Nope... Ram, the villain of this story, is never more villainous as in that scene.. Even the Surpanakha's nose thing was put in quite convincingly with her mocking the cops by saying "police ke kutte" and sniffing pointedly...
So... so many good things and bad things.. where does the balance lie? I think probably towards negatives. Raja Sen, at the end of his review, says something that I agree with.. "Raavan's deadliest sin, however, isn't in the clumsy dialogue, hammy acting or lame, oversimplified adaptation. All of that can be forgiven if the tale engages us". And that is very true. For all of the good things going on, I really was just sitting there are watching things quite passively. If only the Raavan-Ragini-Dev trio could generate in me any sort of emotion at all, this would've been a pretty good movie. But they didn't, so it isn't. I've heard good things about Raavanan, so I'm looking forward to it. But this one will be added to the list of disappointments. What else can a movie like this be, coming from the people who made Iruvar?? Does that make it a bad movie? Nope. Not even close. There are quite a few redeeming features that are way better than most other one-tone banal movies around.
I haven't seen "Robin Hood", so that part excepted, my feelings about Raavan are exactly what Richard Corliss says at the end of his review in Time: As a showcase for some of Indian cinema's most renowned talents,Raavanhas to be considered a disappointment. But as a big summer epic about a forest bandit, hey — it's better than the Russell CroweRobin Hood. And, thanks to A.R. Rahman's infectious songs, this one you can dance to.
Summer, to me, meant three movies. Two of them released on the same day and, in a flash, 2/3rd of the summer is over. Verdict? Mixed, so far... Read on...
Toy Story 3 (and Day & Night) :
Out of the three movies, this one I was least excited about. I know I shouldn't have been. It is Pixar, after all. Still, a part of me was never quite convinced that Pixar could do what Godfather and Star Wars couldn't - come back after decade(s) to make a worthy sequel. Specially, because this TS3 seemed to be a consequence of Disney taking over Pixar. One could never be sure of what direction things will be going. Is is just Disney forcing Pixar into their usual 'make box-office-hay while the sequel-sun shines' model or did the Pixar wizards REALLY have something Pixar-worthy to offer? After all, the other sequel in the pipeline is Cars 2!!! What other reason can they have to go back and make a sequel to the only Pixar movie that seems to be less than adored by everyone other than model-car loving toddlers and the merchandizing-loving Disney execs. If that is not a Disney finance-driven decision, I don't know what is. And yet, isn't this exactly what I had thought when Miramax had announced that "Quentin Tarantino's Fourth Film Kill Bill" was actually going to be "Quentin Tarantino's New Films Kill Bill Vol 1 & Vol 2". We were all cynical about it and chuckled when Quentin said "it really makes complete sense. This is a creative decision." Turned out, they were right all along. How can anyone even imagine combining KB1 and KB2 now? We learned that there are some things we should take on faith. When QT says something, listen. And if there is one thing you can have full faith in, it is that Pixar never fails. It just does not. Nope. Not possible. Having said that I am still apprehensive about Cars 2, but if TS3 is anything to go by, I need not be.
One of the reasons I was apprehensive about TS3 was that I have never really been as much a fan of the Toy Story movies as almost every other Pixar movie (other than Cars, and perhaps A Bug's Life). And I have never really understood why that is so. Every time I see TS or TS2, I end up thinking "hmm.. this was really entertaining.. why do I not seem to love this as much as the others"? I think the reason is that as good as they are, they are still probably the closest Pixar comes to making a Dreamworks' like movie. You know, an action/adventure/comedy movie targeted mainly to kids that seems to be full of pop culture references a la Shrek. The problem with that is that as great as you might make it, you can perhaps give me full paisa-vasool entertainment for my money, but you are never really going to touch the greatness reached by things like the "Carl and Ellie's life together" sequence in Up or the entire cute, touching, astounding first hour of WALL-E.. or the scarcely believable decision to make "critique of critics" sequence the climax of Ratatouille. Now, THAT is what Pixar can do. To me, the least impressive parts of Pixar movies are those fast paced action/adventure parts that they do as well as anyone else, but doesn't make them stand out in any manner. The "run from the pack of dogs" sequence in Up, the "malfunctioning robots spreading chaos in Axiom" in WALL-E.. the "chase among the thousand doors" in Monsters Inc.. the climactic battle in The Incredibles, etc. And Toy Story movies, as well as they are made, seem to always leave the impression in my mind that they are almost entirely full of just these sequences. And I find that I am wrong every time I see them again. Perhaps the other things aren't as memorable in them as in other movies. Anyway, the bottomline is, Pixar has made another Toy Story movie and it has done it as well as the first two.. maybe even better. This one is, again, just a REALLY well made and entertaining action/adventure/fun movie for about 70% of its length but it ends on a note that makes it entirely worthy of those other great Pixar movies. For about 70% of its length it seems another great Toy Story movie (and that itself isn't something easy to do... how many movies do we know where the essential charm doesn't completely vanish after the first sequel?), but what they do with the last 15-20 minutes took my breath away. And I came out of the theater entirely satisfied, and appropriately ashamed of my lack of faith in Pixar.
This isn't a review. It wasn't meant to be. It doesn't have to be. After all, all of you are going to see it anyway, aren't you? :) Rest assured that if you liked the first two, there is absolutely no way that you aren't going to love this one too.
Oh... and there is also the small matter of catching one of their cutest short films. Day & Night is as good as most other Pixar shorts (which makes it a masterpiece :P). Go, watch NOW!
Coming up next... How Mani made a disconcerting movie that seemed bad enough for me not to recommend it to others and yet intriguing enough for me to want to go and see it again....
New trailer for Raavan. This is actually surprisingly good. Surprisingly, because I was apprehensive about this song picturization.I was thinking something on the lines of "Ek lo ek muft", but this is actually pretty well done.
Roger Ebert has been tweeting (and blogging) from Cannes, and I'm reading every word that he types, trying to fool myself into thinking that I am at Cannes myself. :) This post (and hopefully some other upcoming ones) is to suggest everyone else who might be interested and lukkha enough that following Ebert might be a pretty good way of keeping an eye on Cannes.
For those, who are interested but not lukkha, this post and others in the series will point to whatever I find interesting. If I am able to pique your curiosity about any particular movie etc, you can always head on to Ebert's blog later.
So far he has talked about a possible animated movie nomination for next year's oscar, a french movie by the maker of "The Triplets of Belleville" called The Illusionist; an english movie with a rather intriguing concept directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of "The Ring", called Chatroom; the "Wall Street" sequel by Oliver Stone, called Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and a korean movie called The Housemaid.
Out of these The Housemaid seemed pretty interesting to me. Ebert mentions that some people are already speculating that it might be a frontrunner for Palme d'Or, though it is still quite early in the festival. Ebert's synopsis -
It takes place almost entirely within the huge modern house of a very rich man, and centers on the young woman he has hired as a nanny. It involves the man, his wife, his daughter, the older woman who runs his household, and the mothers of the wife and the nanny.
This is a house where living is an expensive form of art. The couple are smooth, calm, sophisticated. They value themselves very highly. The nanny forms a bind with their 7-year-old daughter, and assists the wife during a pregnancy with twins. More than that I choose not to specify.
But look at the mastery of the film's construction. The nuanced performances. The implacable deliberation of the plot. The way the house acts as a hothouse to force the growth of anger. And the film's unforgiving portrait of people damaged by great wealth. This is a thriller about the ideas people have of themselves.
The trailer is pretty exciting too. Thrilling, as the movie promises to be, with some pretty good music and interesting look.
This is another South Korean movie that seems exciting, after Mother that released earlier in the year and is one of the best movies that I have seen in 2010 so far. Hmmm... I should write about Mother one of these days...
I started the summer with Inception and Raavan being my top 2 most anticipated movies. But with Raavan trailers decreasing my excitement a little, and with this trailer being so exciting, Inception is now officially the most anticipated movie of the summer for me.
My friends on the other blog were posting some classic english song videos. So I decided to post the one old classic song I always think of when I think of old classic songs.. :) presenting... Gene Kelly.. Singin' in the Rain.
And while looking for that I ran into another amazing video from this movie. What physical talent, this O'Connor!! see this if you haven't seen the movie (starting from about 2 min, I think, if you don't have those extra 2 min to spare).
Last week, in one of those free moments when I think about movies that I am waiting to watch, I began thinking of, well, the movies that I am waiting to watch. Specifically the movies that come out this summer. More specifically, the BIG movies that come out this summer (i.e., excluding all those smaller, independent/foreign language movies that I am more likely to see and like than most summer blockbusters). There are some like Iron Man-2, Robin Hood, Shrek- Forever After, Despicable Me etc that might turn out to be good, but I'm not really anticipating them nearly as much as the three listed below.
Toy Story - 3: Pixar. Probably no need to say more. :) Still, for some reason I'm not nearly as excited about this as I have been for every Pixar movie over last decade. Perhaps some part of me thinks that Pixar might compromise with their high standards in order to just continue the franchise. Then again, it's Pixar.. how bad can it be? :)
Raavan: Mani Ratnam. He hasn't really touched his erstwhile heights after Kannathil Mutthamittal, but Yuva/Ayitha Ezhuthu and Guru definitely had enough Mani moments to make them very good movies nevertheless. And, if nothing else, the music can't be anything less than phenomenal, can it? :)
No trailers yet. I heard that the first look promo will release this week (and the music within 2 weeks from now). If so, you'll find it here as soon as possible. :D
Inception: "What's the most resilient parasite? An idea". Christopher Nolan. two of his movies were part of my top 10 of the last decade. and Memento made it to the "just missed the top 10" list. His last movie is perhaps one of my all time favorites. The fact that it stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page and Michael Caine is merely delicious icing on what is without doubt a Christopher Nolan cake. Can't Wait!
PS: the title of this post refers to this, in case someone was wondering.
I completely relate with this sentiment on Brangan's blog today..
"I wonder ... if it’s a mere accident of profession that I’m able to easily endure — and be enlightened by– difficultmovies, but fall into impatience with embarrassing quickness in the case of not-so-easy books. Would book critics feel the reverse, embracing artybooks over art movies?"
For those who don't know who Brangan is - Baradwaj Rangan is easily my favorite movie critic from India. He is a writes reviews more as just a member of audience who is writing down his thoughts/feelings rather than an expert handing down movie-enlightenment to readers. This is exactly how it should be, IMO. But, more importantly, he is a superb writer.. so, it hardly ever matters whether you agree with his opinion of a particular movie or scene etc. It actually doesn't even matter whether you are interested in the movie at all, because the these reviews are pretty good pieces of writing in themselves. Again, that is exactly how it should be with any review IMO. So, to those who don't know rangan, and might be interested in movies etc, I introduce his blog Blogical Conclusion.
It is pretty obvious that making a top-10 list for a whole decade is about an order of magnitude more difficult than doing it for a year. There are so many great movies that it hurts to leave some of them out, more than it feels good to acknowledge the best ones. There is, of course, no question of ranking among those that, for whatever reason, make the cut to the top list.
Any 'favorites' list is always highly time dependent anyway. If you ask me to make a list today, it will very likely look at least somewhat different than the same list made on any other day. Usually the difference lies near the bottom of the lists while the top is pretty robust. The problem with a decade-spanning list is that 20-30 movies probably deserve to be part of the robust top-list! That didn't stop me from going ahead and chopping the list at 10, anyway!
So, what I'll do today is to list those 10 movies that got chopped away just because I chose to stop the top list at 10. Every single one of these movies would probably have figured in one of those alternative top-1o lists that would've resulted had I chosen some other day to do the chopping.
The Just-Missed-The-Top-10 List (in alphabetical order)
2046: It doesn't look (or sound) nearly half as good on TV as it did on the big screen. But the impact of that one screening still lingers. When I see some of the most beautiful scenes of this movie on DVD, my mind instantly gets transported to that first viewing! Add in the little cameo by the brilliant Gong Li, and the coquettish turn by Zhang Ziyi, and the movie becomes all but irresistible for me. Such a beautiful, beautiful film!
Atonement: Another movie that had me completely due to its beautifully shot frames and wonderful soundtrack. The way the screenplay plays around with time and narration makes you enjoy the movie every time you see it. Does the book do that too? Saoirse Ronan is the standout in a great ensemble cast, but this really is Joe Wright's show all the way. (Maybe it has a lot to do with Ian McEwan's book, but I haven't read that yet).
Catch Me if You Can: Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in one of Spielberg's most entertaining recent effort. I caught it in my gym twice over last year and both the times I couldn't switch to any other channel for next hour and half.
Crash : It crashed Brokeback Mountain's expected party at the oscars and deservedly so. Some people called it contrived, which it might've been, but it is engrossing throughout. Some great stories, great acting ensemble, and a message that really resonates with me. Some of the gasp-inducing moments haven't lost any of their power even after so many viewings.
The Departed : I remember liking Infernal Affairs a lot, but it is The Departed that stayed with me longer. Perhaps because I ended up seeing it many times as compared to just once for Infernal Affairs. Still, I don't think you can keep a movie with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlburg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin out of many top movies lists even if it was directed by me. This, on the other hand, was one of Scorsese's better recent works.. so... :)
In the Mood for Love : Slow motion was discovered/invented for this movie. Wong Kar Wai invaded my imagination with this movie (and continued with 2046!). I don't think I still have a clue about the ending, but that really doesn't matter. Every time I see it, I marvel at the clever screenplay. Yet, at the end of the day the thing that I can't get out of my mind are those slow motion scenes and that awesome soundtrack!
Lage Raho Munnabhai : Munnabhai M.B.B.S was good, but all the things that reminded me of old Hollywood movies always stopped me from holding it in very high esteem. What Hirani (and Abhijat Joshi) did with Lago Raho was astounding though! This was as original, and as indian as I have seen anyone get in bollywood with something as entertaining. Hirani kept talking about Hrishida and Frank Capra, but I don't think anyone would've expected him to make a movie that wouldn't have looked out of place in either of those directors' filmographies. While everyone was laughing at the jokes, I kept marveling at how they had managed to write something THIS entertaining starting with the idea of Munnabhai and Gandhigiri! This is the closest I have felt any movie has come to making me feel the way I did when I saw Dekalog.
No Country for Old Men : My roommate didn't see what was so great about this movie, and I DO think that it makes things difficult for us in the last 5-10 min by that long contemplative ending about Tommy Lee Jones. But then, I guess, there is a reason it is called No Country for Old Men. What makes it such a great movie for me is those nearly perfect scenes of cat-and-mouse and the performances of nearly everyone in the movie. There is a constant sense of anticipation throughout the movie even when hardly anything action-y is happening on screen. Javier Bardem elevates it to another level, but, really, it is the Coens that just had the perfect day in office with this movie. (or maybe it is McCarthy.. I haven't read the book).
Memento : What an entrance to the public consciousness by Chris Nolan! And then he followed it up with all those awesome movies. Easily one of the directors of the decade. How exactly DOES one write a movie like Memento?? Aamir might have found this boring and incomprehensible, but I think this really is flawless.
Million Dollar Baby : When I saw Gran Torino, I liked it more than Million Dollar Baby. The theme of GTorino was certainly closer to my heart than MDBaby. Yet, today, I must say that MDB stays with me more. It might have something to do with the amazing work by Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank, or maybe it's just that I happened to see MDB again recently. Hard to separate, those two movies.
So.... these were the movies that lost out just because today is today. Up next, the part 2 of the list with the top-10.
Happy new year to you all! 2010 is here, so I guess I need to get my act together otherwise I'll still be publishing my 2009 lists in march 2010!! (Which is not as rare as it should be, because there is always some potentially good movie from previous year that I don't get to see till well into the next year). Anyway... moving on to this list..
As I mentioned earlier, once I had made a long-ish list of all the more important songs of the year, the statistician in me couldn't NOT do at least a little meta-analysis to see whether the list data could be churned to come up with a top albums/top composers list that might sound reasonable when compared to my own vague impression of the year. This turned out to be more or less correct, except some little surprises. In retrospect, I could've done a better job than the highly simplistic [-rank ∝ rating points] but who cares? :) The ranks don't really matter anyway. This is just an opportunity to write about some of the good stuff of the year gone by. So, here you go...
Top 5 albums of 2009
5. Gulaal by Piyush Mishra.
An album that probably takes some time to grow on you because it is so unlike most other songs that we get to hear nowadays. I don't know why Anurag Kashyap thought of Piyush Mishra, but it definitely turned out great. How many times do we see a movie set in either the past or the not-so-urban india whose music, even if good, sounds exactly like any other movie (Asoka, I'm looking at you!)? Gulaal sounds exactly like it should. raw, rustic, and perhaps most importantly, violent! I haven't yet seen the movie, but I am told that the movie actually fails to live up to the power of the songs.
'Ranaji' was probably always going to gain early attention of music channels due to its lyrics, but it is the all-male songs of the album that give it its real flavor. Although 'Aisi saza' is a great song, you don't really think of it first when you are thinking of Gulaal's music. It is the Rahul Ram tracks (Raat ke musaafir, and Yaara maula) and the Piyush Mishra tracks (Sheher, Duniya and Aarambh) that really make this album a must-hear.
4. Blue by A R Rahman.
This was a little surprising, actually. While I really like some of the songs in Blue, I'd have thought that Gulaal would've come higher than Blue, whereas Blue actually just edged ahead in the results (a very thin edge, admittedly). On second thoughts, perhaps it was always going to come out this way because, individually I like Blue's songs better though Gulaal just has a higher overall impact due to the theme. Blue is, after all, just a fun album. Till end of 2007, Rahman hadn't done a 'fun' album in hindi for a long time. Most of his projects used to be prestige projects of major directors that were based on some serious theme or were period/costume projects. His 'fun' projects seemed to be confined to tamil movies. Since then, however, we have had 'Jaane Tu Ya.. Jaane na', 'Ghajini', 'Yuvvraaj' and now 'Blue'. It really is a pleasure to hear these songs that sound normal everyday songs when you hear them for the first time and yet, the more you listen to them the more clear it is that they have ARR class written all over them. :)
Well, most of them, anyway. 'Chiggy Wiggy' seems to be one of the exceptions. The english part sung by Kylie Minogue is catchy enough, and some of the hindi part by Sonu Nigam is foot tapping too, but the transition between them is just plain pedestrian. Thankfully, the rest of the album is worthy of ARR. I've written about 'Aaj Dil Gustaakh', 'Fikraana' and 'Bhoola Tujhe', but even the other three songs have a lot going for them. 'Blue theme' is quite fun and exciting. 'Rehnumaa' took a long time to grow on me, but it never seemed skip-worthy. 'Yaar Mila Tha' seemed the most unusual on first hearing, but after getting used to its rhythms it also is quite a fun song, perhaps mainly due to the lyrics.
I was afraid ARR might've signed a sure-shot turkey when I heard about Blue, but I forgot that he has done that a hundred times in Tamil and the end-result is only that the turkey gains class, rather than ARR doing any substandard work.. :)
3. Dev.D by Amit Trivedi.
After Aamir, most people were probably waiting for the next album by Amit Trivedi. Not many, however, would've expected an album with 18 songs most of which probably get a pass grade from most people. Regardless of what your taste in music is, you'll probably find SOMETHING to admire in this mega album. From pure desi sound of "Dhol yaara dhol" to punjabi-dance numbers like "Hikknal"/"Mahi Mannu" to the absolutely wonderful modernize, yet carnatic-evoking "Paayaliya" to an insane mix of pop/rock (and even 'wedding orchestra') sprinkled throughout the rest of the album, it has everything. I have written about my favorites from the album - Paayaliya, Dhol yaara dhol, and the themes - but most of the rest of the songs (except the punjabi ones IMO) are more than just hum-along nice. Not many songs were so great that I'll probably be singing them 2 years from now (except Paayaliya, nothing approaches the heights of Iktaara, for example), but the sheer range of reasonably good songs throughout the album is absolutely stunning. On any given day you can easily find me hearing to any of "Yahi Meri Zindagi", "Saali Khushi", "Pardesi", "Dil Mein Jaagi", "Nayan Tarse", "Ek Hulchul Si" etc and fully enjoying the experience.
2. Delhi-6 by A R Rahman.
2008 was Rahman's year all the way. For someone who was averaging about 2-3 albums a year over last 2-3 years, 2008 was a veritable deluge of albums! Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Ada, Sakkarakatti, Slumdog Millionaire, Yuvvraaj and Ghajini! I don't think anyone could then have expected 2009 to begin with an album that was as good as the best of previous year, if not better than all of them!
Delhi-6 was one of those albums that makes a well-trained ARR fan, after the first hearing, say to himself "ok... some songs are nice enough, but most of them aren't all that catchy really. This means this is going to be a great album!" :) And great it turned out to be! There are a lot of things here that seemed 'strange' to me in the first hearing but turned out to be exactly the things that make me love those songs now - the continuum keyboard ending of "Rehna Tu", the dreamy soundscape of "Dil Gira Dafatan", the rustic/urban duality of "Genda Phool", the trying-too-hard-to-be-modern off-beat rhythms of "Delhi 6", the nice-but-perhaps-too-long simplicity of "Arziyan" etc. In fact, "Masakkali" is probably the only instantly likeable song (and it stays likeable after many hearings). Yet, over last year, I have not heard any other album nearly a tenth as many times as Delhi-6. So much so that some friends had started to detest having to sit in my car because all they could ever hear in my car were Delhi-6 songs! :) Perhaps the fact that ARR hasn't come up with many albums this year has something to do with it. Still, I had a lot of recent choices that I used to put in the CD player every once in a while (all those 2008 albums mentioned above), yet I ALWAYS used to come back to Delhi-6 because of a sudden craving for Rehna Tu or Arziyaan or Genda Phool or Delhi 6. :) All of which makes it quite evident why I myself felt quite shocked to see Delhi-6 ending up a close (verrry close) second to....
1. Kaminey by Vishal Bhardwaj
Hmm... how did this happen? How can I ever explain this?? Kaminey is of course great, but above Delhi-6?? Perhaps, in retrospect, had I rated the songs rather than just simply ranking them, then Rehna Tu and Arziyaan would've been enough to pull Delhi-6 higher (after all, it really was THAT close between 1 and 2). But I think there is more to it. Kaminey songs gained much more from the movie itself (I have written about their great use in the movie whenever I discussed any song of Kaminey) as compared to Delhi-6. I started loving Raat Ke Dhhai Baje, Go Charlie Go, and Kaminey after I saw them in the movie. Also, I find every single song in Kaminey much more impressive than at least two Delhi 6 songs (Dil Gira Dafatan and Kaala Bandar...). So, while Delhi-6 attains loftier heights with Rehna Tu and Arziyaan, overall Kaminey probably DOES deserve to be called the better album.
As I mentioned before, it is probably impossible for any composer to have this sort of synergy between songs and the movie unless he/she is also the director! Any album that doesn't turn out to be a weak link of a movie as good as Kaminey HAS to be a great album. And Kaminey's songs are actually part of its strengths. Extra points to Vishal for including a message song about AIDS without making it sound (or look) out of place in the movie (even though it IS the weakest song in the album). In a movie that is so much like a rollercoaster ride, not a single song breaks the flow or, indeed, seems less than welcome. For that fact itself, Kaminey is my album of the year!
(er... one of the top 2 anyway :P )
As for composers, I think the list above makes it pretty clear who the top 4 are. Rahman easily trumps Vishal for the top spot when Blue (and Connections) are added to Delhi-6. Vishal, Amit Trivedi, and Piyush Mishra follow in that order, with Amit Trivedi running Vishal pretty close when the awesome "Iktaara" is added to Dev.D. The last slot is easily picked up by Pritam, who had some really good songs in Love Aaj Kal and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahaani (and maybe New York and Tum Mile, which I haven't heard). Then again, perhaps other duds like Billu, Dil Bole Hadippa and De Dana Dan should've pulled him down. :) If that were the case, Shankar Ehsaan Loy would take his place in an year when they were particularly lacking in inspiration. As things stand, I think Pritam deserves his place at 5 for some really good songs.
The top 5. This will probably feel more like a countdown unlike the 6-songs-crowded-on-the-podium feel of previous 3 posts. I still can't separate the top 2 songs (and the next 2), but then there is no reason to! Who says one HAS to choose between songs that bring you equal pleasure.
First, a recap... full list till now...
#24. Aaj Din Chadhheya and Dev-Chanda themes
#18. Dhhol Yaara Dhhol; Himalaya Theme; Rahi Re; Sheher; Tu Jaane Na and Ye Dooriyaan
#16. Chor Bazaari and Fikraana
#12. Aaj Dil Gustaakh Hai; Aisi Sazaa; Bhoola Tujhe and Raat Ke Dhhaai Baje
#6. Delhi 6; Genda Phool; Go Charlie Go; Kaminey; Man Chandre and Pehli Baar Mohabbat
Phew! So.. ladies and gentlemen... I give you... my top 5 hindi songs of 2009
#5. Dhan Te Nan from Kaminey.
Remember that first promo of Kaminey? The one that instantly made Kaminey the most awaited movie of the year for everyone? Well, it worked for a lot of reasons, specially the dialogue - "तीन फ़ाल फ़े... फ़कल भी नहीं देखी मैंने उफ़्की", "अब कहाँ गयी तुम्हारी स.... स.... साइंस! होम साइंस!", "तो क्या rape किया मैंने तुम्हारा?!!", "मैं फ़ को फ़ बोलता हूँ...", "अबे फ़ को फ़ नहीं तो क्या ल बोलेगा?" - but not the least of those reasons was the PulpFictionesque trumpet in the background that explodes at the perfect moment with the song that must surely be a shoo-in for the most popular song of the year!
What an idea it was to take that quintessential bollywood action movie sound "Dhan Te Nan" and turn it into such a wonderful song for the dance floor! And, with Kaminey, it goes without saying (I'll say it nevertheless :P ) that the way it is used in the movie is purrrrfect! High on drugs and anticipation of a gloriously fun-filled life ahead, celebrating the biggest success of their lives on a dance floor, what will the two friends sing BUT "Dhan Te Nan!" :)
Sukhwinder does what he normally does with such songs, but he actually doesn't get into the mood nearly as well as Vishal Dadlani does! As for lyrics, Gulzar does his usual Gulzargiri, of course..
"आजा आजा दिल निचोडें
रात की मटकी तोडें
कोई goodluck निकालें
आज गुल्लक तो फोडें!"
"कोई चाल ऐसी चलो यार अबके,
समंदर भी पुल पे चले
फिर तू चले उसपे, या मैं चलूँ,
शहर हो अपने पैरों तले!
कहीं खबरें हैं, कहीं कबरें हैं,
जो भी सोये हैं कबरों में, उनको जगाना नहीं"
All I can say is that Gulzar only needs to be kept away from Subhash Ghai! He writes some of the most enjoyable lyrics in hindi movies almost effortlessly.
#3. Paayaliya> from Dev.D and Rehna Tu from Delhi-6.
Dev.D isn't an easy album to like on the first hearing. A lot of the songs are just so unlike "movie songs" that one gets a little uneasy listening to the first 4-5 songs of the album. And then comes "Paayaliya". You don't know what to make of it what with all the "अरज अरज करी, करज करजवा को करे हर पल बेचैन", "नींदें बिसर कर दे" etc lyrics and the voice that sings the first line giving it a rustic feeling, yet the instruments and the actual singing voice and style (not to speak of the backing vocals saying "By God" etc) make it sound so modern. And yet, nothing really sounds 'inconsistent'. You might not know what to make of it, but you like it nevertheless. This is one song where lyrics just don't matter to me at all! She could've sung this in aramaic and I'd still have liked it! Amit Trivedi got everyone's attention with Aamir last year and amazed people with the sheer range of music in Dev.D, but it took THIS song to convince me that we really are looking at someone special. The songs starts well, but it is really the tune of the stanzas that make me love this song so much. I mean the tunes for "अरज अरज करी, करज करजवा को करे हर पल बेचैन" and then later for "हो! जिया पे छाये, जिया पे छाये, छाये छाये छाये छाये रे!" The lyrics, as I said, are there just as convenient space-fillers. The might mean something, but honestly, I really never feel like thinking about them when the song is going on. And if I try to think about the lyrics later, I invariably get sucked into listening to the voice in my head that is singing the song and forget all about the lyrics again! What a song! :)
ARR seems to always keep the best (or one of the best) song of the album for himself to sing, doesn't he? :) Or perhaps it is something to do with the combination of his singing AND the genre of songs that he sings that just makes me love them.
It is a sign of a great album that your favorite song of the album keeps changing for a long time before possibly settling in on one (sometimes that stage never arrives. Every time I listen to a song from Dil Se, THAT song suddenly seems to be the best in the album). Delhi-6 is one of ARR's better albums of last 5-6 years, and yet, it took me a long time to look beyond 'Rehna Tu' when I thought about my favorite song of the album. ARR's soothing vocals, SUCH a nice melodious tune and Prasoon Joshi's romantic lyrics, wow! All we needed was a great video to go with it, but Rakesh Mehra let us down. :( I think they were going for the same thing that they did with Rang De Basanti - using the songs in completely unexpected places (no one would've expected Luka Chhupi and Roobaroo to be used the way they were). It sort of worked for a lot of people in RDB (Roobaroo didn't work for me though... I mean the picturization, not the song), but it just didn't work at ALL for Rehna Tu and Dil Gira Dafatan here. Sigh! अब क्या कर सकते हैं? We can keep listening to the song and try to keep the accompanying visuals away from our mind. That isn't all that difficult actually. Specially when the song ends with that long continuum keyboard piece, one doesn't think of any visual at all, and just listens! If I had to choose one piece of instrumental magic for this year, it has got the be the last 1 min of Rehna Tu!
Which brings us to my two songs of 2009!
#1-2. Arziyaan from Delhi-6 and Iktaara from Wake Up Sid.
Last year all year-end reports mentioned Benny Dayal as the newcomer singer of the year, whereas the REAL find was the voice of Javed Ali. Smooth as - pardon the cliché - silk. Had you asked me before I listened to 'Arziyaan' whether a song of qawwali/sufi genre would suit Kailash Kher's voice or Javed Ali's I'd have chosen Kher. Yet, every time I hear any part of this unusually long song in my mind, it is ALWAYS in Javed Ali's voice, not Kailash Kher's. Not to say that Kher doesn't do justice to his lines. Just that Javed Ali absolutely OWNS this song.
Did I say Javed Ali owns this song? That's just in terms of singing, of course. As for the rest, I don't think I even need to talk about ARR here because, after all, we anyway expect him to do wonders in this genre. Forget doing wonders, has anyone else even composed anything in that genre in last 5-10 years? The fast paced, dance floor friendly qawwali songs, yes, but not anything with a slow, soothing, sufi touch.
So, there you go, Rahman did what Rahman does - be a genius. Nothing new there. Actually, it is Prasoon Joshi who REALLY owns the song. This is a long song and the lyrics are good throughout, but seriously speaking he didn't really need to write anything beyond "दरारें दरारें हैं माथे पे मौला, मरम्मत मुकद्दर की कर दो मौला " and I'd have been sold anyway.
"प्यास लेके आया था, दरिया वो भर लाया,
नूर की बारिश में भीगता सा तर आया "
"एक खुशबू आती थी, मैं भटकता जाता था,
रेशमी सी माया थी, और मैं तकता जाता था....
जब तेरी गली आया, सच तभी नज़र आया,
मुझमें ही वो खुशबू थी, जिससे तूने मिलवाया..."
As I mentioned, it was actually 'Rehna Tu' that was my favorite song of the album for the longest time and while that song didn't go down in my estimation over time, Arziyaan went through all the familiar stages of those songs of ARR that stay with you the longest. From "hmm... nice sounding song, but perhaps a bit too generic" to "hmmm.. this is actually pretty nice.. Javed Ali sounds so good!" to "that maula-maula bit is pretty addictive, though perhaps the song goes on for too long" to "WOW! what lyrics! marammat muqaddar ki and all!!" to, finally, "too long? I could listen to this for hours!!! How long have I been continuously singing this for, again? 2 days perhaps!" :) Song of the year, without doubt.
It's that voice. Kavita Seth's voice has something in it that gives Iktaara that extra punch. From the first line of the song "ओ रे मनवा तू तो बांवरा है... तू ही जाने तू क्या सोचता है, बाँवरे" to the way she pronounces बूँद-बूँद and मूँद-मूँद... she just elevates the song so much!
As for the song itself, Amit Trivedi has outdone himself here! He thought of this song for a background piece in the movie?! THIS song?? It carries the whole album! In an year when Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy were particularly lacking in inspiration, I'm sure this song from Amit Trivedi got played more times than all S-E-L songs from this year, let along from this whole album. I think I'll wait for one more album from Amit Trivedi, and if it is nearly as good as Aamir, Dev.D or this song, I'll probably start saying that he is to hindi film music what Vishal Bhardwaj and Raju Hirani are to hindi films! :) Meaning, I'll wait for every album by Amit Trivedi as much as I now wait for Vishal's and Hirani's movies. There is always the danger of a new composer running out of all of the great songs in his mind after the first few albums, but we shall keep hoping.
That concludes this list. Up next, albums and composers of the year. And then the usual list of movies of the year (and maybe decade).
