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Reviews
Era ora (2022)
Small Movie with a Large Heart
A beautiful movie that starts as a comedy and keeps getting more real with time. Well that's the central theme of the movie - time. A workaholic man, who is desperately seeking time jumps 1 year into the future every hour. 1 hour is one year, and he doesn't remember a thing that happened in the past year. The world around him keeps changing, and he can't do anything to 'undo' the permanent changes his life keeps going through.
Reminds you of that English movie that they based the Siddharth Malhotra - Katrina Kaif starrer on, but this is so real and authentic.
It is one of those chance movies you find on OTT that make you reflect upon life.
It's a small movie with a big heart. Let me just say it is an apt representation of 'mid life crisis'.
Pyaasa (1957)
Not a movie review
Saw this movie recently - Pyaasa (1957). I know I should have seen it earlier, but just happened to watch it now. While the beauty of the movie lies in its making, direction, acting, music, lyrics and all other departments, the soul of the movie focuses on the human thirst 'Pyaas' (trivia tells me they intended to name the Pyaas previously). When a man (or woman) has nothing with him, then everybody may dessert him. Friends, to lover, to family member, to society at large, everybody show this man his 'place in society' - a good for nothing being who nobody cares about. And the few who do feel for him, can't do much for him, because invariably they are also weak (at least that's what they tried to show in the film).
After hitting absolute rock bottom, this man thinks he has seen all the betrayals, every dejection, the last bit of cruelty by the world around him, but ironically and unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. It is when this man perhaps decides to die, and the world believes about his (fake) death, that reality eventually strikes. His one true love stakes everything she has to get his poetry published, which turns him into an overnight posthumous sensation. What follows then is surreal. The estranged brothers have never been prouder, the friend ready to 'sell' their friendship for money, the people who never believed in him making a fortune off his life, and the public at large lapping up legendary poetry that they rejected with dismay earlier.
Never have I seen a more beautiful climax of a movie, with Guru Dutt starting to sing on his death anniversary celebration "Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai" - a song that anybody who even indulges in an iota of introspection will readily relate with. The movie finally ends on a 'happy note', with the poet giving up all the fame and success that he craved all his life, only to start afresh, realizing this 'duniya' isn't meant for him.
Now I don't know what got me talking so far, and I didn't mean this to be a movie review. But this movie, tells and teaches you a whole lot about the world around you. Through its exaggerated account, it explains to you how politicians function, how relationships change, why money matters, how 'pyaar is also a vyapaar', the class divide in society, the cost of fame, the feeling of success and then the true meaning of success.
The answers to life's biggest questions are often found in movies. If you, unfortunately like me didn't get a chance to watch this masterpiece so far, then do check it out online. A movie made in 1957 is just as relevant today, and will remain one forever, because of its timelessness.
Powder (2010)
Best Indian TV Mini Series Ever
Powder was made sometime before 2010, a time when the Netflix / Amazon Primes weren't even around. For a Movie banner like Yash Raj Films to invest and make such an amazing show just for a TV Audience is quite remarkable. In most TV shows, there is a hero and a nemesis, with many side characters. Powder may fall in the same category, but the attention, detailing and depth of all associated in this show is quite remarkable. By the end, you are feeling for so many people that you are totally engrossed in the show.
Story writer and Director Atul Sabharwal has kept things so real and subdued, that you almost can't believe this show coming from an Indian production house. The bureaus look real, the officers look real, the gangsters are normal people and even the outdoor scenes are as real as real can be.
There is a certain endearing quality of the show that puts it ahead of its time, which should have ideally propelled the careers of many actors and technicians who are part of the show, but it is still nice to see some of those people making it big in their acting career.
A 10/10 is not only well deserved, but is a signal that more and more, many more people need to watch this smashing show. The best part is that it will not feel like you are coming late to the party.
The Office (2005)
My Tribute for The Office
In all these years of watching TV shows, I never thought I will come across a show I love as much as I love F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Then I discovered The Office. A simple story of a small office in a insignificant city in America, this show is a beautiful take on office pals, their friendship and personal life. A dry comedy sketch, spread across 9 long seasons, it is filled with some of the most wonderful comic performances you will ever watch on television. With producers and writers doubling up as actors in the series, this show has given birth to multiple 'stars' in the years after it aired. I can't quite pin down one or some of the aspects that makes me feel warm in the heart after watching the show, but I do know this is a brilliant masterpiece, a work of art, that will only increasingly reach a cult status multiple years after its airing. Not the most perfect looking show you will ever watch, the rawness of the production is what makes it click.
Shows like The Office are made once in a lifetime. Cheers to the many many creative individuals, whose collective efforts would have made this happen.
Ófærð (2015)
Wow is the word! A Perfect 10!
Having seen multiple shows like Fargo, Stranger Things, Dark, with all of them being set in small towns where everybody knows everybody, I got interested in watching Trapped. The story, production, locations and the element of mystery just sweeps you away! Has to be one of the most non hyped tv shows in the past couple of years, more and more people should check it out.