Monday, September 26, 2005

Surprise(s)!

- Paheli is India’s entry for the Oscars. I saw only about half hour of the film. So I'm not exactly in the position to comment on its selection. It was definitely original and quite colorful though. But my surprise is more on the other contestants for the entry. The Tamil entries were Kaadhal and Sachein. Sachein??!! What in God’s name did the judges find in Sachein that prompted them to even consider it as an entry for the Oscars?

But looking back on the 2005 releases so far, I realized that I would have a hard time picking even one movie as a nominee for any award. 2005’s not exactly been a good year for Tamil films, has it?

- A Aa is supposedly a hit. Who are these viewers that are going to the movie in enough numbers to make it a hit? I am yet to come across even a single positive review of the movie and the comments to this post mirrored my own opinion of it.

If New’s success prompted SJS to make A Aa, I shudder to think what this success is going to make him come up with next. The good news is that his next directorial venture(Puli) is with Vijay. So after Kalvanin Kaadhali, we may be spared from seeing him on the screen for a while.

- Ghajini’s advance booking is on the same range as the advance bookings for Chandramukhi and Anniyan. It has a hero who hasn’t had a genuine solo hit (I read somewhere that Kakka Kakka was a hit only in the metros), a new heroine and a director who, inspite of two hits, isn’t exactly a household name. So what has contributed to the advance buzz on the movie? Is it the possibilities afforded by the Memento storyline? Is it the slick promos? Or just good PR?

Whatever the reason, I’ve succumbed to the hype too and am eagerly looking forward to it. All that’s left is to show up at the theater on Friday :-)

- Ghajini’s the first of 4 big releases for Asin. But she apparently has no movies signed after these 4 and the Sify article strangely says that none of the 4 heroes would pair up with her again. Why not? Our heroes are not averse to having the same heroine twice (or more) are they? After all, Vijay’s Aadhi will see him with Trisha for the third time.

The competition between Asin and Nayanthara seems to have spilled over to Andhra too though Nayan seems to have the edge there with movies with top heroes.

- Dhoom 2 is really revving up the star power. Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai are gonna play the bad guys! Quite a casting coup. Aish has played a negative character before but I was pleasantly surprised that Hrithik is not succumbing to the image game and is OK with playing a baddie.

12 Comments:

At 11:33 PM, Blogger Sriram said...

What happened to BLACK?!

I have not seen Paheli, but i don't think it is a better movie than Black.

Sachien to oscars...disgrace!

 
At 11:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

//What in God’s name did the judges find in Sachein that prompted them to even consider it as an entry for the Oscars?//

Remember Lagaan? its connection with cricket. Remember Sachin (Tendulkar)? Ippa puriyudhaa?

yennala idhukku mela logic yosikka mudiyala for Sachein's selection)

 
At 12:05 AM, Blogger Sriram said...

i can't get over this. 'sachien' what the heck were they thinking..

 
At 1:53 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

lol, ghajini is not memento,though its a striking resembalance of memento

well,the director very very creative is manipulating the story ..go watch your self...and even if it in your view...lets welcome a change...there is nothing wrong to get inspired from a hollywood flick ..at least someone is trying to reverse the trend

and how do i know this??because i've watched the movie!!!

and please...dear blogger stop giving fake infos about surya,kakkha kakha was evergreeen hit and it made big big business...

and i seriously wonder what even made you give it 2.5 stars..

are you saying that it is on par with masala flicks like ponniyan selvan and mahanadigan

 
At 3:37 AM, Blogger Sriram said...

babs,

Point noted. I'll watch Paheli. Thx for the info :)

 
At 8:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw Paheli last week. Though it was different, nothing much to write about. Black was performance-wise a much better movie than Paheli.

 
At 9:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

An article on why Paheli deserves being chosen over Black
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2005/sep/27paheli.htm

I havent seen Paheli yet but Sanjay Leela is a terribly overrated director in my opinion, to whom subtlety is an alien concept.

 
At 10:09 AM, Blogger Kaps said...

Balaji,
Your link on Ah Aah leads to an interview with Namitha. Didn't know that u r a Namitha fan too. So what happened to the Jo affinity?

 
At 10:50 AM, Blogger Balaji said...

mav, LOL. nalla imagination! 'six degrees' game thaan nyabagam varudhu :)

zero, sure it is. i would say about 45 mins - 1 hr depending on where in san mateo...

nattamai, thats a very interesting take. the fact that his movies r actually low budget but made to appear like big budget movies. i think thats true of both 'new' and 'a aa'.

sriram, babs is right. though i loved 'black', i was hoping they wouldn't nominate it after learning that it was inspired from a hollywood flick. i think thats probably the reason why 'naayagan' wasn't nominated either.

imec, lucky u for having seen 'ghajini'. i have no problem with being inspired by hollywood flicks as long as it is done tastefully and well and the end result suits our local sensibilities.

i thot 'kakka kakka' was a huge hit too until i read somewhere that it was a hit only in the A centres. as i mentioned, that was just hearsay and i defly wasnt giving false info :)
i don't wanna go into the whole rating scheme here but having only a few rating levels puts a constraint and requires grouping movies that may be at different levels. i do think KK is a better movie than Ponniyin Selvan or Mahanadigan. The 2 1/2 stars just indicates that I didnt think it was as good as the 3 star movies. I'd rate it one of the best 2 1/2 star movies in my collection :)

raju, true. but i think the movie as a whole needs to be considered when entering it for oscars and the fact that it was inspired would've gone against it.

vijay, read that article. can't say i agree with all the negatives about 'black'. but the positives about 'paheli' could all be true :)

kaps. apdiya? i linked to SJS' interview. namitha interview wasn't even listed when i wrote the post yesterday night. will c if i can update it :)

 
At 12:27 PM, Blogger mitr_bayarea said...

balaji-thanks for the note on ghajini. Will wait to read your review after you've watched the movie and then decide to watch it in the theatre or wait for the DVD.

 
At 10:42 AM, Blogger Munimma said...

There are so many regional movies that are better than paheli. I liked the movie, except that the ending was too simplistic. It is vibrant, colorful, Rajasthan in glory. But considering the movie as a whole, there are better ones around. All committees are rigged?
SJSkku permanent acting ban podanum! urichu vecha kozhi!

 
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