Apocryphal Stories !!!

Are you a person who likes to go back into the past, to know why the present is so? Are you a person who wants to know how Bollywood movies are inspired from the one’s made in the southern part of India? Anurag Kashyap, in an interview mentioned that the genesis for ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ lay in a few Tamil movies he saw when he was in Chennai, the reason for him crediting the ‘Madurai Triumvirate’ of Bala, Ameer, and Sasikumar. The movie set in Wasseypur, talks about the rise of a selfish capitalist, and the exploitation of workers. The movie also talks about the Qureishi-Pathan clash in the town and how the capitalist uses the situation to his advantage. The magic of the movie is in the characterisation, rather than the story line. For instance, Richa Chaddha needn’t have such a lengthy role, but portraying her as a strong and a forgiving lady adds to the character of Manoj Bajpayee The movie, undoubtedly, belongs to Manoj Bajpayee. Every single scene that he is in, is...

When I heard the songs of Yendukante Premanta, I wanted to see the movie for one song- Nee Choopule. I learned later that it was a source of huge relief to see it in the initial frames itself. Job done, I sat through the movie and couldn’t find a single thing I would remember after two days, bar the song The initial scenes set the tone for the narrative. A narrative that refuses to move, and be linear. Karunakaran has a set pattern for his narrative. A motherless heroine, good in character, focussed, and morally on a higher plane. The goalless hero, whose life takes a turn after he meets the heroine and pining with unrequited love. And before we forget, the hero has a strict father (not in darling) who is made to look comical So the story has nothing new to offer, but for a twist(!) in the tale. The twist here is, that everything is going to be good at the end and that’s announced about fifty minutes into the movie. Well, it is that sort of a movie. Every movie, especially...