More movies!!

                                         With exams fast approaching, I've still managed to watch some movies that I really liked, in this past month. Cannot really suppress from doing what I truly love, can I? :) I'll try being more specific this time around, cannot do a full blog post on a movie, unless it is really special eheh. All these movies fit perfectly into my favorite genre of 'Feel-good movies' :) Listing them in the order I watched:

*Warning - NO spoilers ahead :)*

Life of Pi - Big budget, big-name director, 3-D and surprisingly, it delivers too. Had got my expectations low after movies like Avatar and Avengers had failed to fully satisfy me. Having not read the book worked. A great story of survival and the bond between living beings. Old favorite Irrfan Khan and new face Suraj Sharma were exceptional. The best 3-D movie I've watched. Pleasing to the eyes, mind and soul, altogether. Taiwanese director Ang Lee has made us Asians proud :)

English Vinglish - Watched this by co-incidence. Just seemed to be another phony bollywood flick trying to draw masses at first glance. Proved me wrong, totally. Just shows how difficult it is to pick the good stuff among all the rubbish in bollywood these days. Spectacular tale of a less educated Indian house-wife, standing up for herself, in her family and in a foreign land. The first-time director does a good job. Its music too  has been on my playlist lately, have become a fan of Amit Trivedi already :) What a comeback by yesteryear's screen icon Sridevi. Didn't seem she's past 40, really.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Just watched it yesterday. Was still thinking about it this morning. I've always liked British accent, and this movie was full of it eheh. Based on a book once again, wonder how many movies are made every year based on adapted screenplay. Story of a group of British old-timers, who are having difficulty coming to terms with old age, how they end up in a 'exotic hotel' in Rajasthan, India and finally feel good about themselves. Didn't know much about the director but he surely has done well. Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire is in a similar role but the stand-out performance was by Judi Dench, that old lady who's always seen bossing James Bond around :)

                                         

Paan Singh Tomar, the movie!!

                                                            Watching movies is one of my favorite pastimes. I have a particular liking for movies based on real events. Watched a hindi movie 'Paan Singh Tomar' (2012) yesterday. Had been hearing a lot of good things about this movie since its release, which I guess was a few months back. But was not able to watch it due to other commitments. And I knew a movie which had Irrfan Khan in the lead OUGHT to be good. He is one of those actors who excels in no matter whatever role he portrays on screen. He even is awesome in those Vodafone ads he's seen doing on TV.
                                                              I had kind of forgotten about this movie until few weeks back when I came across news stories about how India had sent another movie 'Barfi' (2012), as its entrant for the 'Best foreign language movie' at the Oscars, and this movie was one of the contenders. I downloaded a dvdrip, it was not hard to find, as is the case for recently released movies. Finally watched it yesterday. And all I was left after watching it was Woww!! A huge respect for Paan Singh Tomar, the army man, the athlete and the dacoit or 'baghi' as he calls himself in the movie. Irrfan Khan does a great job once again. Even Mahie Gill, one of my personal favorite actresss in bollywood since 'Dev D' days, performs well in the small role she has as Tomar's wife.
                                                         I was really surprised to know that Tigmanshu Dhulia, who was brilliant as 'Ramadhir Singh' in the movie 'Gangs of Wasseypur' (Another awesome movie that I watched this year), is such a brilliant director too. Really liked the way the director has brought up this movie as a tribute to 'Paan Singh Tomar' and other similar unsung sports heroes, in a cricket-obsessed nation like India. Tomar's journey from his tiny village in Madhya Pradesh to Indian Army, to national steeplechase champion, to a dacoit is really touching. The land feud among brothers that led to Tomar turning into a dacoit can be found even today in rural India as well as Nepal. The movie shows 2 sides of Indian police in Tomar's story - the first being a futile cop, who doesn't want to interfere until someone has 'died' in the fights due to land feuds and the other being a competent cop, who traps and kills Tomar and his gang at the end, following a tip off from one of the villagers, where they were taking refuge.
                                                              Like 'Gangs of Wasseypur', 'Paan Singh Tomar' can also be seen as a story of one man's revenge against those that destroyed what he had. These 2 movies, both released in 2012, quite easily make into my list of best movies of 2012. Though I would personally prefer 'GoW' over 'Paan Singh Tomar', quite simply because of Anurag Kashyap, the director of 'GoW', of whom I am a big fan and have watched almost all his movies. And partly also because it is a longer story that keeps you entertained and busy for a longer time :) 'Paan Singh Tomar', highly recommended!!