Was watching the movie Don yesterday, the one with Amitabh as Don. Couldn’t resist the temptation to compare Big B’s Don and that of SRK. The makers of the new one ask viewers to avoid comparisons but when you dare attempt a remake of a classic, cult movie you can’t escape the comparisons.
When engrossed in the original Don one tends to believe it’s a rehash of some English movie but the biggest surprise is that it’s an absolute original script by Salim-Javed. Unfortunately they both parted ways and the gap they left is still open today. I wonder if the director of Don Chandra Barot made another movie after the resounding success of Don. But in this venture he was in awesome control.
Let’s get into the comparisons then,
The script of the original is absolutely tight and moves so fluidly, the pace of the movie is superb. Farhan Akhtar reworked on the script and gave it a lot of twists and turns. But the pace of the new Don was so slow that it felt the director was stuck between 2 modes. While this concept worked well with Dil Chahta Hai where Akshaye Khanna and Dimple Kapadia had those slow moving scenes, this just did not work with Don.
The background music of both the movies is extremely good but Farhan missed a trick by ignoring a great piece of music where the syndicate moves the unconscious Don from the hospital by dodging the police. That was one hell of a scene in the original movie and the music added to the pace of the scene.
Songs from both the movies were good and I feel the song Main Hoon Don from the new movie scores over the old one. Another scoring point was Khaike Paan. SRK knew he would be under the scanner for this particular song but he did a fabulous job.
The biggest mistake I believe was the casting. The character artists were not correctly chosen as audiences couldn’t identify with most of the characters like in the old Don for e.g.: Shakal, Mac etc. And how can one give the role of Pran’s JJ to Arjun Rampal?? Rampal hasn’t yet proved his mettle as an actor and he’s given this job.
Big B and SRK, too much has been said about them but SRK did a good job trying to live up to Big B’s image. But it’s tough to imagine SRK as Don like it’s impossible to imagine anybody else as Gabbar. So Big B get ready to face the music!!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Movie Review - Saheb
I always wanted to write movie reviews. I was enormously impressed by the movie reviews which are published in The Times Of India. The idea was more appealing than anything else, watch movies for free, write about them and also get paid for it. Being a movie buff, this seemed liked the best job.
I didn’t really think that this would be my first review, but I came across one of the songs from this movie today and felt I had to express my thoughts about it. The movie I am talking about is “Saheb”. This movie was a remake of a Bengali movie. It was later remade in several other languages owing to the popularity of the Hindi version. Anil Kapoor, then a budding star and ready to take on all kinds of role, portrayed Saheb.He really did an impressive job portraying such a sensitive role of an aspiring goalkeeper and an unsuccessful son. The story line was pretty simple and was one of the biggest scoring points of the movie. The cast was talented to the hilt with Utpal Dutt (taking a detour from his image of a comedian) playing a brooding father, Rakhee as the doting sister-in-law, Amrita Singh as the bubbly girlfriend, Deven Varma as the unsuccessful and funny scriptwriter. The other characters were also finely etched and well performed.
The story dealt with the day-to-day problems of a lower middle class joint family. It also brought out the economic divide between the rich and poor, which existed in the 80’s in a commendable manner. The crux of the story was the struggle of a person trying to choose an alternate career i.e. sports when all his family wanted him to do is get through his graduation and get a decent job. The story depicted a lot of pathos before coming to a happy ending. Saheb sacrifices his ambition to become a goalkeeper (and also one of his kidneys) to save the day for his father. The bonding between Saheb and his father is understated which works beautifully. The movie has all the shades required by a typical commercial movie but it stands out. A special mention for the music and the rocking number, “Yaar Bina Chain Kaha Re” (its still being remixed by the new age DJ’s). Bappi Lahiri has done a fabulous job as was expected as he was in supreme form those days. If you’ve not seen the movie rent the DVD today.
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Rakhee, Amrita Singh, Utpal Dutt, Deven VarmaDirector: Anil Ganguly Music Director: Bappi Lahiri Year: 1985
I didn’t really think that this would be my first review, but I came across one of the songs from this movie today and felt I had to express my thoughts about it. The movie I am talking about is “Saheb”. This movie was a remake of a Bengali movie. It was later remade in several other languages owing to the popularity of the Hindi version. Anil Kapoor, then a budding star and ready to take on all kinds of role, portrayed Saheb.He really did an impressive job portraying such a sensitive role of an aspiring goalkeeper and an unsuccessful son. The story line was pretty simple and was one of the biggest scoring points of the movie. The cast was talented to the hilt with Utpal Dutt (taking a detour from his image of a comedian) playing a brooding father, Rakhee as the doting sister-in-law, Amrita Singh as the bubbly girlfriend, Deven Varma as the unsuccessful and funny scriptwriter. The other characters were also finely etched and well performed.
The story dealt with the day-to-day problems of a lower middle class joint family. It also brought out the economic divide between the rich and poor, which existed in the 80’s in a commendable manner. The crux of the story was the struggle of a person trying to choose an alternate career i.e. sports when all his family wanted him to do is get through his graduation and get a decent job. The story depicted a lot of pathos before coming to a happy ending. Saheb sacrifices his ambition to become a goalkeeper (and also one of his kidneys) to save the day for his father. The bonding between Saheb and his father is understated which works beautifully. The movie has all the shades required by a typical commercial movie but it stands out. A special mention for the music and the rocking number, “Yaar Bina Chain Kaha Re” (its still being remixed by the new age DJ’s). Bappi Lahiri has done a fabulous job as was expected as he was in supreme form those days. If you’ve not seen the movie rent the DVD today.
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Rakhee, Amrita Singh, Utpal Dutt, Deven VarmaDirector: Anil Ganguly Music Director: Bappi Lahiri Year: 1985
A Winner...........
Well let’s start this with some good news then.....I travel 3 hours everyday to and from my place of work (I enjoy the ride more often than not). The best company I’ve got is my fone (I luv my N-72). It has sufficient features but the one I use most is the FM radio. I tirelessly listen to all the songs, ads, RJ’s giving out free gyaan, people confessing their love, people participating in contests, news, weather forecasts etc etc. Frankly speaking this is a decent medium of entertainment (and its absolutely free). On one such fateful evenings when I was returning home in a packed bus (luckily I had a seat by the window) one of the FM stations was running a contest asking people their fundas on tattoos. The best part was the prize, they were giving away an I pod. I was more interested in this contest as this triggered my creative brain (I strongly believe I am pretty creative and I am yet to meet a person who has proved me otherwise). I took out my notebook and started scribbling. As soon as I was done I was sure this I pod would be mine. I came up with these lines……….
Permanent ink and your body is the page!
Tattoos are such a rage!
Tattoos are attitude, your style statement!
Tattoos are fun, naughty, and an expression of excitement!
Tattoos are chill, coooooooooool…………..thanda!
For tattoos that’s my funda!
I mailed my thoughts and forgot about it. Later that night I got a call from a female (which is usually rare) telling me she is the RJ from that particular radio station and I had won the contest. She prepared me before we could go on air (yes they prepare you, so that you are not startled and make a fool out of yourself on air). Few minutes later I was on air reading out my creation. The RJ confirmed that I was the winner and also that I was creative. Obviously I was overjoyed and started spreading the news. Some congratulated me, some were cynical warning me this was only a publicity stunt. But I believed and waited. I fought my doubts and those of others and this made me send the radio guys a reminder about their winner. Promptly I got a call telling me to collect my prize. Today I’ll be laying my hands on the I pod, I hope it’s a decent version (Human beings and their cravings…it never ends, does it!).
Permanent ink and your body is the page!
Tattoos are such a rage!
Tattoos are attitude, your style statement!
Tattoos are fun, naughty, and an expression of excitement!
Tattoos are chill, coooooooooool…………..thanda!
For tattoos that’s my funda!
I mailed my thoughts and forgot about it. Later that night I got a call from a female (which is usually rare) telling me she is the RJ from that particular radio station and I had won the contest. She prepared me before we could go on air (yes they prepare you, so that you are not startled and make a fool out of yourself on air). Few minutes later I was on air reading out my creation. The RJ confirmed that I was the winner and also that I was creative. Obviously I was overjoyed and started spreading the news. Some congratulated me, some were cynical warning me this was only a publicity stunt. But I believed and waited. I fought my doubts and those of others and this made me send the radio guys a reminder about their winner. Promptly I got a call telling me to collect my prize. Today I’ll be laying my hands on the I pod, I hope it’s a decent version (Human beings and their cravings…it never ends, does it!).
Welcome to my world....
Welcome to my crazy and insane side.
I am moving some of my blogs from another site to this one.
So for a few days enjoy my old creations.
Happy Reading
I am moving some of my blogs from another site to this one.
So for a few days enjoy my old creations.
Happy Reading
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