Yippeeeee!!!! So after the Flogger Award, I just won the Blog of the Day Award. Feels jubilant. But I think I should get back to my senses. So, here's the code to be pasted.

Lovely. This weekend it's gonna be Aaja Nach Le. Expect a longer post than my OSO review. Peace. Thanks for the love!!!

Apparently I've won the Flogger Award(some award for blogs...doesn't matter as long as its an award) courtesy Fattebaaz.com. So the badge is here.

And well, Congratulations to me, and thanks to Mum and Dad,SPC,all my dear friends, and of course to all the readers of Magnum Opus who have survived through the tension of my words here. Get ready for some more. This award has already given an effect of 300mg of Steroids. Shall be right back with some good reviews.

This is a protest image protesting the recent barbaric violence at Nandigram in West Bengal,India. The brutality caused innocent lives and homeless people. To quote Wordsworth:

Please join the Blog Protest campaign and let the world know. For more on it read this and this.
Spread the WORD!As a blogger, that's the least you can do.

I have "Ajab Si" playing in a loop for the 16th time now on my Creative 5.1 and no,I am not exaggerating. As I sit down to write on the movie Om Shanti Om, all I can remember is the ethereal eyes, the strategically placed dimple, the Goddess like smile and the beauty we all know by the name of Deepika Padukone. She has arrived and Bollywood,stand up and take notice. I went to see this movie not because of the much talked about sculpted physique of SRK, nor for the 31 guest starred Title Track, nor for Farah Khan's directorial skills. I went for only one reason-pretty obvious one, you do the math, my hormones are all over the place!! I paid 59 bucks for the ticket and I swear, the first glance made it all even-stevens and every scene that followed was a Diwali Bumper Lottery for me, which was striking the Jackpot and made me feel I was Gladstone eh! Take the scene when she lifts the veil, and my jaw dropped on the floor and all I could speak out was "FISHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" ( which is a jargon we used to say in our college, in lieu of the other famous F word, you know..).
Deepika is Vyjantimala meets the Diwali Pathaka-Cover South Indian beauty meets Vogue and Ralph Lauren meets non-plastic Aishwarya meets each and every friggin beautiful lady who knocks your socks off. It is like listening to Master of Puppets for the first time, except this one's heavier in a completely different way. OMFG!!! I am emotionally drained and I think I'm in love again. Last time was when I saw Malena, and the time before that was when I saw La Isla Bonita performed by Alizee. That's a different story.

The story here is Om Shanti Om. Farah Khan's second directorial venture comes from her own writing desk, but is a straight rip-off/tribute( whatever) to the Subhash Ghai retro-reincarnation magnum opus KARZ. We even get to see some reels of Rishi Kapoor in the original Om Shanti Om song. Only that, Simi Garewal is Arjun Rampal(they both share the same hairstyle,I swear) and SRK and Deepika play Rishi Kapoor(It takes two to fill a Kapoor's shoe-Quote of the Day).There's no Tina Munim Ambani here, yeah but a Ghai cameo indeed.The story begins in the late 70-early 80s era of Bollywood. I think Farah has a strong inclination to the era of Jawanee Diwanee, the bobby prints, the huge wigs, the badminton courts with white pants and pink salwars, and of course Extra Large Collars for extra protection( I donno from what!).The entire retro look could have been done much better which at parts was feeling like pieces of make up peeling off from a Ramsay flick Heroine. But then, all in all the special effects made it all up. The Sunil Dutt-Rajesh Khanna-Jeetendra morphed song was absolutely brilliant( reminded me of the first time I saw Forrest Gump). The lookalike party was ewww for me coz it freaks me out everytime to see a fake Dev Anand.( I mean one is enough,..I mean there can be only one Dev Anand, respect Dev Saab!!! )
I really don't know if making a Bollywood movie is as dysfunctional as it was shown here. You know the kind where the Director is dragged along and is manipulated by the Producer and probably a famous Lead Actor/Actress. SRK does a pretty well job, but hey! he has overdone it. I mean the gym regime. And it all shows on his face. He looks 10 years older, which means he looks 50. The abs are perfect no doubt! Coming back to the special effects, picture perfect. The fire sequences are one of the never seen before scenes in Bollywood and have been handled pretty amazingly. The art direction is also very commendable. The retro studio feel, the chandeliers , the stairs and all the candles shouted one and only one point ie. this is the Diwali movie of the year. And this is similar to the Thanksgivin' season of Movie releases in Hollywood. You know this is our LOTR. We got it all. The perfect masala in full throttle bay beh. Farah Khan knows how to do it just right. If it's masala, we make it Yummy. Featuring the biggest Guest Appearance Song with stars from the retro league to the now-Bollywood-A-league and well the sub-junior league comprising of Dino,Arbaaz,Aftab,Amrita,Malaika et al.
P.S.Shilpa Shetty is WHOA!!! TNT.

Om Shanti Om intelligently makes a spoofy-tribute to the different genres of Indian filmmaking.Be it Quickgun Murugun-the Rajni-isque Cowboy who's tag line is -Mind It(thhh)! or the Sindoor dialogue, ,the Red Chaddi Mohabbat Man,the overacting, melodramatic mother-Kirron Kher , the rhyming acceptance speech or even the "tharkee" Producer.The mock Filmfare Award thing was a riot of laughter for the batch of girls who were sitting next to me who fainted just at the glimpse of AB Jr. Another thing worth mentioning is the RING inspired scene, when Deepika is busy combing her hair.That was awesome!!!LOL. I LOVED IT. ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY.
The music just uplifts me everytime I listen to it. Trivia time: Pyarelal of Laxmikant Pyarelal has done the arrangement of the Dhoom Tana Song in a very 80'ish style.You know the Sridevi in an Apsara costume with Jeetendra in his yellow pants and lots of Sarees and Pots and huge percussions kind of arrangement where you need 120 strings to play simultaneously when Sridevi 's chin touchers Jeetendra's chin. Dhoom Tana takes you to that era and it still doesn't feel out of the place. Dastaan-e-Om Shanti Om sung by Shaan is very very-Ek Hasina Thi. The recap song with the musical flashback. The background score by Sandeep Chowta is brilliant. The bass rhythm on this song is very heavy.\m/ .Jaag Soona Soona by Rahat Fateh and Richa Sharma is a sufi-isque song which is pretty decent, a good song individually, but then when the entire soundtrack is so brilliant, this qualifies as the out of focus song which everyone won't remember after the movie.Dard-e-Disco is signature Sukhwinder. The Deewangi-guest Item song is just one of those run-of-the-mill Bollywood bhangra songs you hear a DJ playing now and then and is just average. NOW READ CAREFULLY. While Ajab Si would remain my favorite track in the movie for the sole reason of where this song is featured, my vote for the best song of the album goes to Main Aggar Kahoo by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal. What a track!! Sonu takes the entire soundtrack to a level best described as zenith.That's it.
Finally,Ajab Si interestingly doesn't start( both the times) from the Mukhda. It begins with ..."Aayee aisi Raat Hai Jo bahut Khushnaseeb Hai..." in the first half and in the second half it begins with "...Tere Saath Saath aisa..koi Nuur aaya hai", and both are the intro songs of Deepika ( the rebirth thing, yeeah!). KK does a very good job and he could land up winning the Filmfare for this finally.The lyrics by Vishal is heartfelt and inspiring, as in he is the lead vocalist of Pentagram and he wrote Ajab Si-WHOA!!!

Now as I (am expecting to)recover slowly from the Deepika fever in the next few days, I can only say this. FORGET SAAWARIYA.I haven't seen it and I don't even care to give it a glance. This is the Diwali movie of the year by all means. Grab your popcorn because this reminds you what it used to be like being at the movies. SRK still rules at this age. DDLJ was released in 1995,12 years back and the girls still love him!! And Deepika,aaah!!!Sigh!
She came, I saw, she conquered.

FIN!

Jab We Met-what a silly title!- what a cool movie!Fast, heartfelt, sincere and real dialogues, no fake melodramas and wonderful. Shahid and Kareena really make it work. But much of the credit goes to the el-capitano Dir:Imitaz Ali who has infused the movie with the dew freshness ( I wish Fa was one of the sponsors and they had a shower scene..lol) which is hardly seen in Bollywood romance.It is finally done. Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor never looked "the Made for each other" couple until this movie happened. Trust me, it's written in stone now. It is a brilliant follow up to Diro Imtiaz Ali's bubbly and fresh romantic film-Socha Na Tha, which I loved and you know what,this one's even better.
The story is pretty predictable, the sequences and dialogues aren't, in a very good way. The story gives me a kind of dejavu' of earlier forgotten flicks like the Abhi-Ash bummer "Dhai Akshar Prem Ke" which was inspired from "A Walk in the Clouds", and well, the Govinda Urmilla starrer-Kunwara. It somehow also reminded me of the recent Cameron Crowe film"Elizabethtown" in a very special way. Uncanny!! But yeah, I started comparing Kareena with Kirsten Dunst and she ended up doing a pretty good job. Full of life,zeal and enthusiasm and equally childish-childlike ideas. Kareena is brilliant as the big mouth,no-brainer chic(no offense), is absolutely credible and fun to watch. The story is of Aditya (Shahid), son of a late business tycoon,who's entire business empire starts to fall because of his father's demise, and his girlfriend dumps him to get married to someone else. Frustrated by life, Aditya steps into a random train, and sets off aimlessly, attempting suicide and saved by Geet(Kareena). What happens next is a journey that brings Aditya and Geet closer and in the process, Aditya finds a new life and hope in it. Aditya goes on with Geet to Bhatinda, only to be confused as his boyfriend and this results in a whole bunch of confusion which occupies the entire movie. But its fun right!
Some portions could be omitted easily, and I did feel the drag in the second half . I mean,it was going great,dude! what just happened. But the final act catches up again and we are back in the game. Throw in some real groovy Bhangra number-Nagara..and we are swaying to it. Yeah, but they could have done without the Shaan -road travel song. I mean, they could have just made it play in the background. The entire script just comes to a halt when you make the lead lipsync after that fast-paced real talk. I really haven't seen a Bollywood flick in a long time it seems!
All's well in the end and the Hero gets his HEROINe....hahaha GOTCHA. Hehe. And add to that, the spice of the item song.Mauja Mauja! Mika yeah! You say Mika-who? The one who kissed-forget it. This one's really great and I was tapping my feet throughout this number. Awesome Pritam!!! But is it another arabic song inspirado result? One question though-Why can't you just reduce a few item girls in the Mauja Mauja song, and well shoot a real Taxi Drive Outdoor Scene or a real Night Train on the tracks scene,instead of using Hot Friggin Wheel Models. I was really pissed off. Reminded me of the Turning Brain-I mean,the Burning Train!!

All in all, what you take back home is some very well written lines, and excellent scenes,perfectly executed by the Kapoor duo. Especially Shahid who has come of age. He has come a long way from Ishk Vishk to Jab We Met. Bravo. 3.5 on 5!!!

Just when I thought that my Sunday would turn out to be yet another pathetic day in the long week I had, I decided to give a thenga ( it's an Indian PG13 version of the Middle Finger) to the strenuous week and go to the movies all by myself. I had heard all the praise and adulation about the adult, potty-mouthed comedy hit of the summer -Superbad, and I knew what to expect. Only that I also knew, it being released at the cinemas meant skipping,editing of certain vital portions. And I wasn't disappointed by the movie as well my dear Indian censors. Lemme tell you, if you are the kind who gets offended easily by the mere mention of FUCK, go grab a cup of Lemon tea, and watch this movie. You'll be changed for life( as in, you'll start to feel how cool it is , or how relieving it is to prefix,suffix your speech with the F word). Anyway, coming back to Superbad.
Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are best friends who will soon be graduating and going off to different colleges. The mission:Not to arrive at college as virgins. As expected, there is an utter frustration in these main protagonists of being unpopular at High School. Seth is the chubby, curly haired guy, absolutely foul-mouthed and with a clear vision: to be the drunken mistake of Jules! Evan on the other hand is the shy, reserved and has a huge thing about Becca, his high school crush and wants to make things special with her. This is their chance as High School's coming to a close and tonite is "the Jules' party! "(Jules' is Seth's culinary class mate, absolutely hot,cute and perfect ass.Sorry couldn't help mentioning about the tushy!). Of course Seth overheard about it, and asked Jules if she wanted booze for the party as they could get a Fake ID and bring in alcohol for the party;Seth of course hoping to make her get drunk and you know what next. (Let's not get all judgemental about underage drinking, and drunken mistakes and shallow hooking ups. Just enjoy this comedy).
Enter Fogell, aka McLovin' with the Fake ID who saves the day. The Fake ID here is of an organ donor from Hawaii.LOL. Christopher Mintz-Plasse as McLovin' is absolutely brilliant and plays it with the utter geekiness of a high school Bill Gates and with a mouth filled with saliva.He is the THING of the movie, just like Stifler was the THING of American Pie and not Jim. Many would debate it was Stifler's mom,anyway! Writers Seth Rogan( from Knocked Up, and who also con-stars as a rookie cop) and Evan Goldberg have infused the right spirit and perfect dialogues for the movie( I really don't know if it can get more foul-mouthed and funnier than this!). Many would agree that there is so much raunch in it than all the three American Pie movies. The entire raunch factor has been handled in a no -classy way, just because it is a teen flick,if you don't know about sex, how can you be classy eh! LOL.
The best part though(if there is any, coz this one whole huge chunk of cinema's best comedy, for this year at least) is that Dir: Greg Mottola and comedy films capitano: Judd Apatow as producer have somehow managed efficiently to bind all the raunch with an extremely sincere heart, and that is the friendship of Seth and Evan, and the insecurity of losing each other after all these years from childhood to High School.
Who am I kiddin'? That's not the best part. I love the raunch-a-rama more .From the period stains, the booze pukes, sniffin coke, shooting stop signs, random party fights, emptying detergent gallons to fill beer, to just the mere sight of refrigerator filled with golden Beer( sigh!), the utterly eww BJ jokes, and McLovin' telling-I'm in! ,balls to the walls, the list is just endless. Superbad is one big party you wanna be at.Just because it is so chaotic and there is so much booze! Woo hoo. I just wish I could see a sight of a chicken roasted on a barbecue.I love it.I love it . I read somewhere about this caption and it sounds so cool-Superbad is American Pie meets South Park. Beat that! American Park or South Pie? I got a better one (may be). Superbad is SUPERDOPE! Hell Yeah! Miss it and you miss IT.

P.S. Sources inform that there are already T-Shirts available reading: I'm McLovin'

Movie Reviews of Movies I missed: For all the reasons

GO:
Okay what's the deal with short names in Hindi Movies. That too attached with some kinda actions. Take Daud,Run and now the recent bomber at the B.O.-GO. What is the tiny-winy thing that relates all of them?They all suck, equally in every degree possible.While RGV's Daud was enjoyable in parts which revealed Sanjay Dutt's characters name in the movie was Daya-Parvati, and Urmila's was UmaShanker.
Coming back to GO-its got someone called Gautam as the male lead,if you may say so,flexing his muscles and trying to fill each frame with more stunts than the amazing videos you get to see on Youtube. Nisha Kothari as the female lead, shows more skin than a green viper shedding on Animal Planet(both are equally fascinating in their own rights and well the latter gets more viewership). Story-Yeah,right. Another one of those 1950-60-70-80-ish cheap Bollywood flicks from Factory right in the year 2007. Is time being bent or RGV has something missing in his cranium?
What would I prefer to see instead: Any of the Ramsay Bros flicks. The music is class, the female leads have no problem shedding their saris even if they have been fighting a losing battle against obesity. (There exists a word in Webster's for this league of Actresses-Power thighs). And yeah, there is Shakti Kapoor.


Factoid: When India TV was launched it had Tarun 'Tehelka' Tejpal in the editorial team, and among others, Nalini Singh and Menaka Gandhi too, until Shakti Kapoor happened. That's how you screw it all up.

What would I prefer to see instead: Any Late Night show on India TV.



What would I prefer to see instead: Anything but Rakhi Sawant.


What would I prefer to see instead: Kambaqht Ishq ,Khallas and Dilbara Dilbara(the song from Dhoom, yeah the one which has a lot of Esha..if you know..I know you know)