House Full

Ya that is how I should describe my last week.
A week packed with watching some great movies. 3 movies at the theaters in 6 days amidst all the normal weekly schedule... Ya I haven’t counted the ones I watched on the small screen.

The opening…
On Tuesday or so I watched the Kannada movie "KallaraLi Hoovaagi" (Translation: A stone blossoms into a flower) at PVR.
Had gone with two of my friends with a lot of expectations from the promos... At the end of it I was exhilarated. It had excelled beyond my expectations!!

One of my fren Bhattu writes in his mail (It is a direct excerpt!!):
"If you are looking out for a patriotic movie (territorial patriotism) which combines the valor and courage of the then nayakas (Translation: rulers ) and one which upholds the cultural and traditional value system prevalent at that time of Madakari nayaka in Mysore (the then priestly state) .. its a very good movie..
There is very less to whistle (of course if u want u can on the patriotic and 'true love' type dialogues) and the film moves very fast….. Nowhere will u feel that its boring.."

Chitradurga fort has been captured at its raving best... Don’t miss the opening shot of the fort on a full moon day. Powerful performances by everyone in the movie. Director Nagabharana casts a story of the 18th century without giving even a small detail to say that it was shot in 2006. Thanks to the producers for this movie... Kannada movies have come off leaps n bounces.

The middle order…
Friday was the big day in Bollywood. The first big movie of 2007 “Guru” was releasing..
Watched it on the first day of the release with a gang of my frens at innovative… Thanks to those who booked the tickets in advance n got them :-)

Aish n Abhishek in the lead in a Maniratnam movie n that too with AR Rehman. A wonderfully done movie… great story (Picked up from one of the national tycoon’s bio) with superb background score…. It’s a full fledged AB Junior movie. One can see the commitment to give the role of Guru Bhai, his best. Aish rocks all across the time line…. The music is good .. The pics of rural India some 30-40 years ago is soothing for the eyes… The critics say that the director could have looked into some small things, But I aint complaining…. Was worth watching it on the first day of the release……

The tail end….
The last one was “Mungaaru MaLe” (Translation: Monsoon rain) on Sunday in Tumkur. Was there with my friends and sibling almost an hour before the show and the tickets were sold out. Tumkur, A movie not in its first week, afternoon show, I couldn’t believe the tickets were sold out. Had to buy it at other sources paying nearly two and a half times the price :-( . But even that was quite less than what I would have paid in Bangalore. So was it really worh?

I realized that having got used to the multiplexes in Bangalore it was quite a different experience to watch a movie in Tumkur at a theatre. U had background n foreground score all around you with all the whistles, legs were cramped by the end of the movie, there were some unwanted breaks at all the wrong times due to power shutdowns.

Movie was good… I mean decent.. A very practical movie. Some staunch movie buffs have gone gaga… But I wouldn’t join them. The best part of the movie which means Monsoon rains is the rain itself. The rains in the Western Ghats of Karnataka (I mean Malenaadu) have been extensively used and it is a treat to the eyes. The shot capturing Jog falls from its summit on the down fall is truly exotic. The hero is a local Kannada TV channel anchor, who has done well in a role which suits his personality. Songs sung my Sonu nigam, Shreya ghoshal are melodious. Comedy is light n timely. The story is realistic with no traditional movie twists in the climax. It is worth a watch.

So that brings to me the end of this cinematic blog of mine… the Indian cinema is growing technically and content wise only for the good :-)
If I were to rate these movies.. It would be in the same order as I have described….