Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Movie Buff or Maniac?

Hmm..My last post on Kabul Express got a comment and as I became excited to see who it was, then I found to my surprise a comment from chakpak.com. I couldnt dismiss it as a spam comment as I have word verification and this line <"It looks like you are a movie buff, and frequently blog about movies"> made me understand that someone had actually gone through the post either fully or partially!
The title "Movie buff" certainly delighted me and took me into the sojourn of my all time favorite movies. I always wanted to have my favorite movies written and kept somewhere and thought why not I write them here and perhaps even update this often.
So here I am trying to make an inventory of my all time favourite movies and putting them under different genres. Of course, a movie in a particular genre may fit into other as well but in order to avoid redundancy I am trying to put them into the genre that I feel they suit the best. The idea is to pull out the maximum movies without duplication. Please do drop in your favorite ones as well to these categories and perhaps also those that I missed in the form of comments to this post.

1. War/ Bravery/ Courage/ Sacrifice: Brave Heart, Gladiator, Troy, Border, The Independence day, The patriot and though slightly deviated but still Kaaka Kaaka and Gilli (Courage) qualify
2. Classic: The GodFather, Mera Naam Joker, Sholay, Lagaan
3. Contemporary: Kabul Express, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Hyderabad Blues,
4. Emotion & more: Children of the heaven, The terminal, Finding Nemo, Anbe Sivam, Dor, Roja, Vetham Puthuithu, 16 vayuthuniley, Pitamagan, Sethu, Veyil, Kadal
5. Soft Romance: Aradhna, Ye Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar, Mouna Ragam, Godavari, Anand, Alai Payuthey, HDDCS, HAHK,
6. Family subject: Parichay, Seetha Ramayya gaari Manamaraalu, Manmathudu, Nuvostanante Nenodantana, Santhosham, more....
7. New Age ones: Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho na Ho, Rang de Basanti, Salaam Namaste, Gangster,
8. Comedy: Liar Liar, Khel, Andaz Apna Apna, Thillu Mullu or Golmaal, No Entry, Hum Tum, Panchatantiram, Tenali, Michael Madana Kamaraj, Winner (for Vadivelu), Rajendra Prasad's old Telegu movies and the recent Pyar Ke Side Effects.
9. Suspense/ Mystery: Snegithiye, 100 Days, Yaar aval, thagadu thagadu (forgot name, but this is the movie's pick of the dialogue),
10. Sci Fi: The Matrix (1,2 and 3), The Paycheck, Hollowman, Mr. India, Aditya 369 (telegu)

PS:
1. My knowledge to English Classic movies and contemporary themes is limited and hence the shrinked list in #2. As and when I remember one or I ll see a new one, I shall try to update them.
2. I didnt include a genre called Masala because if I do, the list would become unending given that I certainly do have a self proclaimed enclopediac gyan in them - especially with Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
3. As it is conspicious from the list, I havent included much of Rajini's movies as I brand them as a different genre altogether!
So folks, pls pls pls provide me more inputs from your comments. I need to update the above genre and the list of movies.

KABUL EXPRESS

Last week I saw Kabul Express, man it was awesome. Hats off to Kabir Bedi, the director of the movie for taking such a contemporary theme and for bringing an international flavour to the Hindi cinema.The movie's tagline goes like this - the journey of 2 Indians, an American, an Afghan and a Taliban in a jeep in Afganisthan.
The movie has made a deep impact in me by its fine picturisation of Afganishan, the deserts, the lives lost because of the war, innocent children, the trauma caused by the war troops, sentiments, destruction et. al. The movie didnt deviate like any other bollywood movie into masala or item number. The subtle humour and Arshad Warsi's comic sense of dialogue delivery rocked all the way and kept the movie going on and on...
The movie gained momentum with the entry of the American lady journalist. John Abraham- Arshad Warsi duo gave some realistic and fabulous performances. Many scenes were surely touching, the one where John sees a handicapped child while doing his push-up's and the one where the Taliban militant meets his daughter in the later half showed the deep feelings inside...
There was no lack of humour and it went along with the movie without disturbing the flow of the screenplay. In fact, the movie intrigued me to come back, google and wiki about the Taliban and Afghanistan.
It sure was enlightening and seeing Kabul Express was an exhilarating experience here at the Six Degrees Movie hall in the Sathyam Cinemas.