Musing on Munich

Steven Spielberg's Munich is a compelling motion picture asking a lot of questions through its substantial length. It is easy to bracket the movie as a Jewish vindictive drama after the black September massacre , however that is an oversimplistic viewpoint passed by some casual observers. Spielberg asks many questions about terrorism , its impact and ramifications in the world which are as relevant today as they were in 1972. Throughout the movie works as a tightly paced thriller and still manages to be a noble piece on terrorism , more meaningful than countless editorials on the same topic.

The protagnist Avner (Eric Bana) gives a performance totally in sync with the need of the character. Avner is torn between loyalty to his country and his duty, as well his own intellect and subsequent need to question the ethical standpoint of his actions. The rest of the cast is competent with Daniel Craig being specially noteworthy as a firebrand South african Jew called Steve. Performance wise Munich does not have a shortcoming with Geofferey Rush being the standout in his role of Ephraim a Mossad Officer in constant touch with Avner.

The rest of the plot of the movie is best viewed and then analysed (if somebody wishes it) on whether the movie works on their expectations. Munich works for me as it asks some wonderful questions on whether repeat vengeance against terrorists is the best way to solve terrorism; or should other methods be employed. There is no answer in the movie and there in lies the greatness of Munich it gives no answers and is brilliant in its depiction of state policies and their intrinsicly flawed machinations.

P.S. Particularly loved Golda Meirs speech in the beginning when she says "every Civilization has to compromise on its values sometimes."

Checking out Vaastav

Was checking out Vastav on TV last night and although had seen the movie previously ,was still drawn to some aspects of this hitherto celebrated crime flick of 1999.One thing is clear from watching the movie it is no Goodfellas or departed just a crime drama coming after Satya which has its moments sometimes. Most of the movie follows the same formulaic hindi film scenario of vicious gangleaders, Bad guy with a heart of gold , Gold or silver hearted prostitutes, you decide after seeing the movie. The point is that the movie follows the same formula already seen but admittedly in a nuanced fashion.The movie certainly has its moments, some which were powerful enough to merit as best scenes considering the melodramatic "Hum Dil de chuke Sanam" and some other mediocre films which came out that year. Scenes where Sanjay Dutt explains the path of a local train with his life ,where the elder brother tells Sanjay to not come to his house since it was a locality of decent people and then looking at his wife out of the corner of his eyes. I find these scenes much more powerful than the ones where the mother shoots her son down which though certainly shocking was way over the top even for a Hindi commercial movie.Sanjay Dutt certainly is endearing to watch and gives a Good performance , the rest of the cast is Okayish; while Mahesh Manjrekar certainly showed a lot of talent with this movie it has faded out somewhat since then.

Confessions of a conceited mind

I have always wondered why people tend to take themselves too seriously. A colleague of mine had this devious habit of taking himself too seriously. There are a lot of things which can be said about such people , this particular colleague however always had the habit of denigrating other people and always used a vague terminology "Dealing" whenever people used to give their opinions. He was of the viewpoint that everything in the world is acheived through foul practices and used the Mantra Dealing whenever he used to CON people into accepting some of his suggestions which were never given for the benefit of Mankind or the Officekind in this case.Well this guy is well settled in life today, still the "Dealing Ghost" resides within him. Whenever he calls his conversation is always centered around who did what and how successful a particular homo sapien has become. Finally I had enough and told him to literally bugger off with his inane views.There is however one thing i have seen over time is it a common Delhi Trait to be a pompous exhibitionist.To most cerebral nuts I think it is yes.

Eklavya The Royal Guard

If there was a case of film technique taking precedence over creative moviemaking , Eklavya would have been a masterpiece. It still is in some parts , but feels like a drink you want more of for lack of satisfaction. Visual Imagery , breathtaking camera work and stunning depiction of a parched landscape notwithstanding there is little I can say about recommending Eklavya. The storyline itself is commonplace and confusing mutterings about the bard forces one to think whether quoting Shakespeare as a normal activity during the day passes off as good cinema. I fail to understand why confused recital of Shakespearen Sonnets in the situation as depicted in the film is worthy of praise . The film's storyline fails to catch the viewers attention , art takes precedence over cinema (The art by the way is itself open to criticism) but the purpose of the column is not to discuss literature or art but to review the merit of the movie , which in all sense is make believe. There is no such thing as best performance in the movie. Amitabh sleepwalks through the role of a Royal Guard as if someone is bored to death , Saif looks confused in a setting of unfamiliar proportions . We in India are quick to regard people as great even if something remotely close to good acting is done. Saif has been good in one movie so far "Omkara and the rest have been decent not earthshattering performances.The best performance is undoubtedly of Sanjay Dutt who shines as a lower caste DSP peppering crinkling humour with a morose melancholy. Jackie Shroff and Shergill are competent whereas Vidya Balan should seriously think of shedding the Parineeta image , her expressions are seriously limited on a scale where there was a scope for her character to display more emotions than a smile and sad longing.Boman Irani looks cartoonish in this movie for no fault of his , the director made the movie for satisfying some primeval urge at creativity not understood by mere mortals.Eklavya reminds me of the unbearable lightness of being which in itself was a great book though i was not convinced by the movie just as Vidhu Vinod Chopra fails to convince us with his epic.

KANK

Recently after much Cajoling , I was able to watch KANK that too after my brother had seen the film and had warned me about the side effects of watching this epic of absurdity. I saw Shahrukh Khan making Steven Seagal proud with the kind of expressions at the beginning of the film. Certain people were shouting at God knows what kind of a football match where an Indian posed for a supreme example of athletic superiority cocking a snook at caucasion muscle and fibre. The striker Khan strikes a mediocre goal which in Joharian expression must rank with Maradona's hand of God. Proceed further to Rani Mukherjee feeling perpetually depressed with a considerate husband and Preity Zinta being unusually bubbly in a deep neckline sitting in front of a drooling Rampal.I will give the bits and pieces a miss and hark on some points worth considering. Mr. Bachhan is probably having lots of chyawanprash for his libido is sure to give young men a run for their money. The Jr. Bachan is sexually frustrated with his otherwise frustrating wife.Everybody is frustrated or feeling depressed in the movie for no Rhyme or reason. Hey Folks ! if you are sick of the Mundane "run to the party Tonight down the road "with Miss Zinta in a tight Micro mini dancing awkwardly with a Tall gentleman clearly dwarfing her and we are supposed to enjoy this fare as one of the seriously made movies by Mr. Johar. Maybe the coffee Mr Johar had was cold or had too many beans in it ------