Reel Life – There is this really simple guy who, who does a simple 9 – 5 job and one fine day he ends up marrying a girl in rather bizarre circumstances (Wake up Aditya – we are a country have moved way ahead in time). Then comes the real bits – i.e. making the marriage work. The girl tells her husband that she will be a great wife to him but can never love him. Interesting. He accepts, because our man truly loves her. Aaaawww. So the film is about he wins her over, so that she will love him. They do live happily ever after. Simple? That’s it – you ask me? Well, yeah, that is it!!!

Real Life – I really am not into this whole stuff about being able to see God in the one you love. Sorry, I know the meaning of God far to much to let it be abused on screen, or anywhere else for that matter. Knowing God and more importantly the love of God is a far more superior and beautiful feeling that trying to find God in any one. That’s my take. What is beautiful in the film is that the simple husband gives his wife the space and the pace to get comfortable in the marriage. He never once demands anything of her and that to me was a very beautiful thing. I wish upon you, if you are in demanding relationships to let go of expectations and control, and thus letting the other person grow into your love, rather than imposing your love on them. Secondly the lesson to take out is – never look for God in someone else. Find God within your own heart and that beauty, that devotion is on a different level.

Cinematically – ShahRukh Khan!!! Salutes to the man. There are those who say that he did nothing new, he is the same of SRK in this too. Yeah I agree to a point BUT – yeap a huge BUT. What SRK bring to RNBDJ is the magic called ShahRukh Khan!! There he is on screen, doing what he does best – being SRK and entertaining you with all his passion and all that he has done over the decades that has made him what he is today – the king khan. This now brings me to those who criticize ShahRukh. I have two questions for you lot – ‘Name me any other actor/star of our current lot that can act as a simple man in that role and make women fall in love with him. Who could do that role of a boring man and still get away as being a hero of a film?’. The answer my friends is – ShahRukh Khan!! Like it or not, it is SRK.

If Shahrukh Khan was not a part of this film, it would be a complete right-off. The story is weak and out-dated. The screenplay pathetic and the direction is ancient. The music is ok. The climax is just stupid. Sorry, though SRK did a good job dancing in that character, there was no way that dance would account for them winning the first prize. Wake up Aditya!!!!!

Finally – A one time watch for everyone, and a few times watch for all SRK fans. I really am astonished to see Aditya come up with this. What was he thinking? The Yash Raj Chopra films needs to look within themselves. For God’s sake I saw the trailer of their next film called ‘New York’. Opening scene John Abraham pointing to an American flag in adulation. Dear members of Yash Raj Films, we as Indians have moved away from the American dream a while ago and are more deeply in love with the colours of our own flag – now more than ever. Wake up.

Coming soon – Gajni. Oh yeah, and that will be it.

This is me bleeding about the reels looping on my television set, slapping my life with real visuals. These were real heroes, real mothers, real lost brothers, real bangs and destructions. Where were the reel life heroes? Where were the hypocrite leaders? Where were the self proclaimed celebrity ‘children of the soil?’, where was the control to make sure that certain media folk were not glorifying the incident?

Leave aside all of the above, my piece here is that tomorrow morning, are you and I going to wake up and still idolize the likes of the Khans, Kapoors, Bachchans or will we now wake up and actually look up to and forever make heroes in our lives, the likes of Hemant Karkare, Gajendra Singh, Sandeep Unnikrishnan? Wake up brother, wake up sister!! This is the moment that will make that connection within us to be real and not reel.

Real Life – a group of people came in and took over our homeland and held us to ransom. They killed our brothers and sisters and we watched in shock. The news channels put on priority exclusive footage, exclusive interviews and we watched – completely focused. Wow!!! ‘These guys are talking to a hostage in the hotel?’. ‘Oh my God, that hostage must be dead, as we cannot reach her anymore!!!’. Back to the studio – cut. ‘We have, we have managed to contact another hostage and we have him online’. The audience watch, wow! Somewhere is the son/husband/mother of this person, crying and praying that they come back to them. The audience though just watches, listens – like seeing another frame, like listening to another line. None of us even think about the actual hostage from their prospective.

Our very impressive and courageous troops arrive and risk their ‘real’ lives to rescue people they do not personally know, BUT they do it to rescue another brother / sister / mother or father. They do not know their names, but that does not matter. They never once look into the camera and show their own tears of leaving their own family, wives, parents or kids back. They are here to rescues to fight for what is RIGHT!!! We the audience do not see that, we do not connect to that. We connect with SRK and his colleagues, going out to ‘fight’, but the emphasis which is centred on their tears as they say bye to a glamorous doll is what we connect with. Our hearts soften for the ‘reel’ hero. In the ‘reel’ scripts, these so called heroes who we idolize go into a scenario and if they are killed (harf harf) we come out with heavy hearts, stating for hours and days that the ‘hero’ should not have died. We talk about that with friends, colleagues etc. Who has been talking about Hemant Karkare and Gajendra Singh?

Apparently the terrorist wanted to blow up the Taj hotel. The audience reaction is ‘really???’, the thought is ‘God what would that visual be like?’ and the hypocrite comment is ‘no please, it is such a landmark’.

Hemant Karkare and the other heroes who died are real, who fought a real war. The war was glorified by the new channels and once it was all over, the channels have new angels to keep this alive. Paying tribute to these people, they get our bollywood folk (yeah the same cowards who were no where in site to even make comments or come out to the street to help control the crowds, to help influence a peaceful environment) to come on talk shows to discuss ‘what next?’. Mr. Bachchan stated that he for the first time slept with a loaded gun under his pillow. This was new making material???? In the midst of Hemant-ji and his death, we were served this useless piece of information. Barkha Dutt (mrs. drama queen) went on TV and stated how she sms-ed him for an interview and the humble man said that he couldn’t talk about it as he was so disturbed. Barkha’s facial expression had more sadness that Amithab was feel this way than any other time she was reporting this entire incident. I love Mr. Bachchan, but who gives a damn about how he slept in the midst when a certain Hemant Karkare had died to protect the likes of you and I? Wake up India, and I mean this to you the audience and not to the greedy media and celebrities who come into the lime light putting on emotions for the camera.

I hate myself and I hate you all. Starting today let us stop giving any importance to these damn stars (who are not even actors most of the time) and teach our children to look up to real heroes.

The likes of the Khans and the Kapoors and the Roshans and the Bachchans get crores for faking an act, while the real heroes get merely tens of thousands. Wake up India, wake up. We need our products to be endorsed by the real heroes, not these bi-sexual, morally unethical folk. We need our children to be influenced by real heroes and not closet-gay folk who make movies which cannot even tell a real story of a gay couple, instead make one mocking a gay relationship. We have let these people influence our society and made them very rich on the way, and ofcourse never let them accountable for any of it. The time has come to look up to the real heroes, real men and women who will make a better society for us and our children.

The Security forces were brought to the site in BEST buses!!! While third rates actors dive in BMWs and Mercs on those very streets. Is this real? Also along with Raj Thackeray, where was SRK, Salman, Aamir, Akshay, Amithab and idiot film makers like Kunal, Farhan, Madhurkar etc?

Cinematically – the camera work was amazing wasn’t it, because the channels didn’t care about how they got it, but hey gave us great footage and we? We watched in awe. The dialogues? Never before emotions and reciting of dialogues but the reporters. They should all be dialogue writers? Sorry I cannot remember what the music was like, but yes very good and intelligent product placement in the form of advertisements here and there!!!

Finally – I have nothing against our cinema and our stars. I have the deepest sorrow that we are not looking up to the ‘real’ heroes. Come next week it will ALL be about SRK’s next film, Aamir’s next film etc (which is fine), but we will just flush out of our systems the ‘real’ people who rescued our bothers and sisters and our motherland. This is what this article is for – for us not to let that happen anymore. If we first get our own priorities right, we will create the right society, the right government etc.

I pray here for all those who died in that terrible incident, I pray for strength and prayer to the families, I pray for the men who gave their lives so that you and I can live without fear.

On a separate note, I once wrote a poem when I was innocently and stubbornly fighting with my precious God, and here is a modified line from there, so that we all realize that we need to pray, we need to connect.

And in this world of ours, where more children are killed than are born,
I have to ask you Lord, what are you and I doing to stop this from carrying on?

I ask you all to pray for the world and our children and to never forget the folk who died for us.

Allehluiah. Bismillah. Hare Hare!
Tagore Almeida

This article is not really a review, but my thoughts on the state of the films that come out of an industry we fondly call ‘Bollywood’.

Over the past few months I saw a few films (Kidnap, Drona, Hello and Roadside Romeo) and what I am going to cover here is what I felt of all those films, in a kind of combined review (Ah-ha!! The first of it’s kind). Before I proceed any further I would like to state that I never reviewed any of those films as I felt it to be a waste of my time, except I nearly got myself to review Kidnap, but then with a heavy heart I didn’t.

So what’s happening here guys? I mean after a mind blowing film like ‘A Wednesday’ we get these types of movies coming our way. One step forward and it’s back to Go?

Kidnap – Worked for me in some places. Imran was good, I felt it carried it well. The script wasn’t good at all. Sanju Baba looked like he was sleep walking the role (sorry but that’s what I saw). Minisha Lamba was NOT convincing as a teenage, and Vidya was NOT convincing as her mom. They should have reversed the roles that might have been convincing. The director took to many cinematic liberties (costumes, songs), it just hay-wire. If the director had to stay away from the Bollywood formula, this would have been a great film. I said Bollywood formulas, NOT Commercial ingredients, for those of you who do not know the difference yet.

DRONA – Was this actually made? God I hoped it was a dream, but alas no. We have actually made a film like this in today’s day and age. HHhhmmm. Someone has a lot of money to put on the table, when we have Jnr Bachchan as a superhero. Let’s face ti guys, the lad has not got it. The man’s father is something else and I always believed and hoped that this chap would inherit it, but I have been proven wrong. Anyways back to the film, my only disappointment worth crying about was ‘Mr. Kay Kay – what, why and how did you end up being in this film?’. Forgiven once sir, the second time might be costly. Finally, is it me going nuts, or did I really hear that Goldie wants to make a sequel to this film? That brings me to my next film….

Hello!!!! – Well I learnt a lesson or two here 1) Never make a film just because everyone in your family (specially extended – Amrita (God forgive me – this woman is a waste of reel life) Arora) wants to be in it, and 2) being a writer myself, never fantasize that I want my stories should be handed over to anyone to be transformed onto celluloid. This could have been much better, perhaps even amplifies the book, but this was a real let down. This film was average or below (depending on how you saw it). I am a Salmaan fan, but he doesn’t work in this film. Mr. Agnihotri – wake up and realize that you either are making a cliché film (and for that you can go back to the lost brothers formula) OR have the balls to take on something different and make it the way it should be.

Roadside Romeo – First of all kudos to the Yash Raj studios and a huge pat on the back for the collaboration with Walt Disney pictures. Great news. India is gaining the attention of the world, and this is another evidence of it Now the film itself? That’s something else, and before you folk start moaning, let me educate you ‘a Charlie Anna’ hangover of a character does NOT make a film. The story was so damn old, the screenplay stale and the consistency in the direction was not worth mentioning. Charlie Anna (Javed Jaffery) was just about average, with some (few) quirky lines here and there. Reference points to some Bollywood films was charming. The music score was average too. What the hell was a full blown kiss doing in that film. Was this a kids film or a non-kids film? Animation can be both. Look at The Simpsons – brilliant stuff for non-kids. Come on Yash Raj people, have some ethics towards your audience and this world we live in. You guys once represented sweet romance and the feel good films and in recent years you come up with not just dud films but questionable films (Laage chunari mein daag??????. What was that about and who thought of that subject?).

It’s been such a disappointment seeing these films specially after having watched ‘A Wednesday’ (Brilliant in every sense). A film that came out of ‘Bollywood’ too.

Going forward I am looking forward to the year – Gajni, Rab Ne Banaya Jodi and Chandni Chawk to China Town. In between I am sure that there will be small films that come out and rock our world, make us smile and make us laugh (intentionally), but looking at new India – I am quiet sure these will NOT come from the big production houses but from independent ones, and quiet possibly supported by UTV.

Till then, take care and relish the wonders of the medium called Cinema. Watch carefully, enjoy tremendously, learn silently and take the goodness of it all and share it with the world. BTW, Fashion is just released and the feedback is very encouraging, will see it this week and get back. Phew, finally (i hope).

My name is Tagore Almeida (www.tagorealmeida.com) and I am a technologist by profession, an inspiring film writer and a humanitarian. Read more about me at my site. Love, Light and ACTION!!

Reel Life – One fine morning a man makes a call to the top cop of the city and tells him that he has planted bombs all over Mumbai, and an evidence of this is a bomb planted at the town police station. He means business. His calls cannot be traced, his control on his demands, negotiations are impeccable. What does the man want? The release of ruthless and shameless terrorist who have been arrested with regard to various actual bomb blasts across India. The police have no choice but to let these guys free and all they have to do is send two policemen across with them to an unused runway and leave them near a bench and walk away. The man insist that two policemen MUST walk away and once they are back in their vehicle, he needs to know that the policemen have left the scene. Only then will he tell the top cop the location of the bombs. As requested the two policemen drop the terrorist at the specified location and leave. Everyone is happy, and without giving much of this away, Mumbai does not get blown up.

Real Life – this was a very thought provoking film. I perhaps do not agree with what the protagonist did, or his method, but a part within agreed with the man. A character in the film says that it takes our country “10 years to solve a case. Now a days, one does not know if it is safe to be able to wear a (Muslim) cap and/or grow a beard. He is scared that if were to start a business, the name of his business will subject him to be a victim of some people. He wants to know is it that some mother-f&^%er gets to end his life one fine day by simply pressing a button. Why is it that the common man stands for this?’. Honestly, very honestly ‘who has given these fanatics, ignorant people the right to turn the living into dead, and more importantly how can we allow these people to represent our religions?’. This question here is my message to my readers. We need to stand up, within our own families, friends, work-places and keep drilling it in, that these people who kill in the name of religions are NOT Christians, Muslims, Hindus or any other religions. Keep saying it, and in doing so, you will be contributing towards destroying the hatred that we have for these religions’.

Cinematically – Well shot. Anupam Kher was ok, I personally think he is a very over-rated actor. He does what is expected out of him. Nasser is on some other level. He excels with his dialogues, emotions and body language. I really loved this man in the film. There are no songs – Yaaay! Jimmy Shergill was wasted, but does justice to the small role- nothing great.

Finally – go watch it, go watch it, go watch it. A very good film. I do not encourage you to do what the characters do, but I ask you to understand that the terrorist do not belong to a religion. Switch on your TV, and look at any new channel who basically glorify these bombings and wars, and just tell yourself that these terrorist do not belong to any of OUR religions.

My name is Tagore Almeida. I live in Dubai, and am a part-time script writer, street-poet and humanitarian. Read more about my humanitarian group at The Uncultured Company

The film is NOT about the music, instead the film is about dreams, about fulfilling them, and about how sometimes life gives you a second chance. In some ways the movie also tells that life is not about the destination but about the journey itself.

Reel Life – four friends in their 20s are a part of a rock band, playing descent music and aspiring to make it big. An opportunity comes their way and they make it to step on the ladder which will supposedly take them onto everything they dreamt about. This is where differences come in, personal battles have to be won, and what seemed like a dream of a group, is actually dissected to make us realize that this dream is made up of individual challenges and struggles, of aspirations and to some the make-or-break situation that families rely on to survive. Give an opportunity, the dream however doesn’t get sour and worse still relationships are broken. 10 years later, the boys have moved on, so stuck in jobs they do not like, some struggling to let go while some have lost themselves so far away from the past and from life itself. However, a freak encounter and the boys have a chance to reform, but the question is why they should get back? Again, personal battles, dreams, insecurities and egos need to be mended and overcome, before that initial dream get glued together. In reality, the dream itself changes and it does not become about the destination anymore, but about the journey.

Real Life – I think I have said it already. The film is very motivating. It’s inspires that we need to live the moment, to smile rather than to be slaves to corporate worlds. It shows how we sometimes live in the past glory. It shows how sometimes unaware we get comfortable in compromises and it also show how at times we are subjected to ear our living by doing what we have to. There is a clear message ‘it is about the journey, not the destination’. It is about wanting to take up the dreams that you have been blessed with, and giving it all you have. It is also about human relationships, about friendships and of course a damn good Rock soundtrack. I wish upon you all, that may you wake up and follow your heart, may you blow the dust of your dreams (from the smallest to the biggest) and do what you need to, in order to fulfill them, and above all, I hope that you smile and relish every bit of that journey. Rock On. May God bless you on this.

Cinematically – Well this is not great cinema per say. It isn’t. The screenplay has many loops in it and there are some elements that are just very cliché, like the Luke Kenny track and how it ended. Farhan’s relationship with his girlfriend and then with his wife were not convincing at all. There is also a spill-over of the Dil Chahta Hai texture within this film. I loved Farhan’s acting, his body language as rock musician is spot on. This guy is a talent house no doubt about it. He has written, directed, produced, acted and sang (damn well) too. Show me another person within the ‘Bollywood’ industry who has proven this to the world. We need to be proud of Farhan. Unfortunately I know he won’t go (and thankfully too) the typical hero/star way and instead will be an actual actor, the likes of a Rahul Bose. We could do with that, because then again Farhan does do mainstream cinema too (as a director – DON 2 is coming up – remember that!). Arjun Rampal is quiet good is most of the scenes, and he too is very convincing as a rock musician. Purab and Luke rock too. Luke’s scene at the end do touch you immensely, though I found that element unnecessary in an otherwise very chirpy film. The direction is good, but what really stands out for me are the on-screen chemistry of the 4 boys, the music (absolutely – soundtrack and background score) and most definite the photography. The way the film has been shot is very convincing that in parts it looks like a film (where needed), in parts like a rock concert and then in parts as a roadie documentary. Very good choice of technicians too.

Finally – The film will work in the metros and am not sure how it is doing outside of the city limits. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this film, my wish was that if the film was not about ROCK music and instead something else that the boys were doing, it would have reached a wider audience. Sad as it may sound, ROCK hasn’t touched the pulses of as many people as it should have done by now in India. In India, they still want the formulated Pop-Filmy music that has ripped-off loops, bad rap plugged in here and there, remixed like s#*t – all in the name of music. But then again, in this film the ROCK music is another element that glues this cool flick together. Is there a way we could take this film and motivate those living out of our city limits? Now that would really ROCK ON!!!

My name is Tagore Almeida. I live in Dubai, and am a part-time script writer, street-poet, humanitarian and all of these reminded by the film I have just written about. On the day job front, I am a senior technologist with one of the top 10 companies in the world. Was loosing my soul to the corporate world, and this film reminded me that I need to smile again. Read more about me at tagorealmeida.com and about my humanitarian group at The Uncultured Company

Reel Life – The film is about a young man, who truly foolishly doesn’t understand women. This guy is NOT a playboy (as the makers have been stating), instead he is a guy who really wants to look cool in front of his friends. So there he is, meeting 3 different women at different stages of his life and within different countries. He breaks the heart of two, while the third one puts him at the receiving end of what he had done in the past. The boy grows up, and very sweetly goes about not just making amends to his approach towards women, but also goes to do something else. I do not want to state what that is, because that would be giving away the plot of the film. The first half is very trendy and packs in a lot of laughs and beautiful women showing just how hot and/or cute they are.

Real Life – I guess the human message here is about realizing that we will never know what people go thru when he hurt them, until we ourselves go thru that pain at some later stage in our own lives. I guess when we do realize this, we kind of remember those who we hurt, but it stays at that. What this story does it goes the extra mile to go beyond just remembering those we hurt. I don’t know if this will sound dramatic here, but I hope that we all do atleast a bit of what Raj does in this film. More so ever, I hope we realize that we shouldn’t really be hurting people like we often do.

Cinematically – the film is very Yash Raj Filns – Europe, Euro-rail, aerial shots, bright colours and basically a fantasy that a lot of Indians in India look towards as being the ‘wow’ life. The music if OK-ish, nothing great. But yes this film has Yash Raj written all over it.

Finally – Go watch the film, specially if you are a fan of the Yash Raj genre of films. I did have a lot of reservations about Ranbir, but the boy oozes out confidence. He does not come across as being a wanna-be. The girls are good in their respective roles. I am not a big fan of Deepika, but she has this very elegant presence, which in my opinion goes down when she starts to speak English. Minsha (spelt right?) does come across as being the character she portrays (it is just me, but does this girl’s face remind anyone else of the very hot Terry hatcher?) Finally Bips, is HOT. Man! This girl just has it. She is very good as the hot model, the committed girls friend and the bitchy super diva. Seriously, the film is not great cinema, but it is very much a very good serving of what we desi-folk love – Masala film.

My names is Tagore Almeida, and you can read more about me at www.tagorealmeida.com

Reel Life – It’s about a guy who everyone thought would be the most successful guy in the next coming years. Truth is that he is struggling; no where near where he ought to be. Everything seems to be going wrong for him. Then one day he meets this girl, who seems to be his lucky charm. He doesn’t realize it at first, but when it does dawn upon him, he obviously wants to use her for his own success. Alas though he starts to fall in love with her, but she’s nearly hooked up with another man. This is Bollywood, so as per the rules, the man she is hooking up with turns out to be a cheating p*#^k AND our hero here puts all at stake now, because he doesn’t care about his success, as he really loves this girl and that is all he wants. The big Bollywood formula – he get them both. Yaaay!!

Real Life – Call me besotted with Vidya, but hey I wish upon you all a cute good luck charm like her. Nice to have one I guess. Then again you see, lucky mascots are nothing but God’s way of reaching out to us. So I wish you all, lovely mascots and hope that you in turn are one to the world.

Cinematically – well shot. Good visuals. The couple look good at times, though she does look older than him in certain scenes. Also, Vidya really isn’t really your hot and happening chick is she? Half of the guys I know, want to take her home and introduce her to their parents. The supporting cast are good, nothing great. All in all, the film is a cute idea, lacks substance in most places and that is primarily why is hasn’t worked. I did expect a lot more from Aziz Mirza. Do watch the film though when it’s out on DVD or on the tele.

My name is Tagore Almeida, read more about me at http://www.tagorealmeida.com

Reel Life – the film to me itself was not a story in itself, it was an idea which got made into a film. The treatment wasn’t a novelty either, and on these two fronts, I was slightly disappointed. I mean, this was an Aamir Khan production, so I expected some novelty (die-hard fan of the man, aren’t I?) BUT, the film works. The teenage girls in the cinema go totally weak in the knees and the parents wish of having their daughters finally marry a lad like that. Ha ha. Perhaps not that dramatic. Well the film is about a bunch of friends, two in particular who are the best of friends and never realize that they are actually soul mates. Not something new eh? I agree, but the film pulls this off very convincingly. The climax at the airport (cliché – I know), but you cannot help but forgive the makers, simply because something works for this film. Perhaps the fact that it’s a clean, pure and a simple film. Very youthful in every sense. Very urban Indian in many ways. Real characters in today’s India.

Real Life – I love this film, because it takes you back to an era when you are in college. You will relate to some of the incidents and /or characters for sure. I found the treatment very realistic. There’s so much of love around us, and we never realize it sometimes, so the ‘real life’ message here would be to look around you and realize the love that is around you.

Cinematically – I did feel that the film stretched a bit at times. Also as mentioned earlier, I feel that this was an idea and not a complete story. There was something missing, perhaps that’s how it should be. Nothing dramatic or unexpected happened, but it merely takes you on a ‘cute’ ride. Abbass does a good job as a first-time director. The music is good – Thank you A R Rehman-ji. I love the last scene, when they all were walking out of the airport and there is this guy sitting on the floor holding a message in his hand. I don’t think many people got it, but that was cool.

Finally – Yeah go watch it, 100%. Watch it over again. Not the greatest of films, but a good watch, time and again. Imran will make it. Hunch is that he will follow his uncle’s footsteps. Start of with this teeny love story kinda stuff and will move on to do a ‘Ghulam’ one day. Yeah, I reckon. In the past we have been subjected to star sons who don’t really have talent, but are getting big banners (shamefully the state of Bollywood), BUT here is someone who will be worth watching.

My name is Tagore Almeida. Read more about me at http://www.tagorealmeida.com

Having lived in the UK for a decade and then moved to the Middle East, I am very aware of how much the world is trying to overcome discrimination. The entire world is disgusted with how some racist throw abuse and violence at people simply because they are have a different skin colour. Then there are those, who fight, kill and destroy in the name of races and religions. So many divides, so many barriers, all created by us. Shame, real shame.

In the west, and even all over – many ‘real’ celebrities make a conscious attempt at what they endorse, the roles they play etc. They feel, and correctly so, that they are responsible to their thousands and millions of fans. We then have the hard-core personalities who will not do certain things, such as endorse smoking, or endorse alcohol, or never act in scenes that has any sort of cruelty to animals, or not do any scenes that will disrespect any religious sentiments. I have tremendous respect for such people, because 1) they never let money buy them and 2) they are aware that they have some ethics in life and will not compromise on them.

A few weeks back, I saw a TV commercial. It had the very much in demand Priyanca Chopra as a very simple (but still so pretty) girl who is in love with Saif. He looks at her with so much love in his eyes, but then has to go away, and he hates that moment too. Years later, she is holding a magazine and it has a picture of Saif making it big with some other girl in his arms. Priyanca is heart broken. Saif has supposedly become a star. He comes back to the village with his new woman and has obviously forgotten about his past love. When he comes into town with all the attention and paparazzi, he notices Priyanca on the sidelines, with tears in her eyes. He looks at her and then realizes who she is, but walks past with his new chick. What a beautiful but sad story yeah? Well that’s what I thought. Then the camera goes into another angle and as such it shows a close up side profile of Priyanca going left of the screen and behind her, the side close up profile of the other woman (Neha Dupia) going right of the screen. With both their faces clear on the screen, they freeze frame. Well to my disgust, this was a commercial for ‘Ponds’ cream stating that one needs to be fair, as Neha is shown as being fair than Priyanca. What the f*&k is going on here?

Seriously speaking, are we – Indian? The potential next super country of the world? The economically strong country, that is ‘thanks be to God Almighty’ progressing so well, actually watching this? Are we allowing this on our screen? In our houses? In the mindsets of our children? Is this what we want our children to be exposed to? That discrimination is a way of life? That it is ok to be put down, or worse to put down by others based on the colour of their skin? Come on India wake up.

I am disgusted with Saif. The man lived in the west. He is educated. So are these two women. What were they thinking when they signed up for this? It is clear that they have no ethics, but is that how much money can influence these disgusting greedy individuals? How would they like it, if one day their own loved ones get discriminated against in real life? Will ponds pay to mend the soul of their loved ones at that time? Do not get me wrong, I am not here to put down Ponds or any corporate, I am here to fix us – my beloved people. Saif, Priyanca, Niha and so many of our so called stars have stooped so low, BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO. You can shun the advert, and you can mend the heart, the soul and above all the mind of our young ones.

We have always seen discrimination in our films. Discrimination against races, rich and poor, fat and thin and so called ugly people. Who are these people to draw a line between us. I am sure that we all look at our children, our spouses, our loved ones as being attractive, then how would we feel if some unknown, mindless piece of shit one days comments that our loved one is either ugly, dark or poor. WE ARE GODS CHILDREN, CREATED WITH THE SPICES CALLED LIFE. WE ARE CREATED WITH THE SAME BLOOD AND FLESH, THE SAME SOUL AND WE ARE A REFLECTION OF GOD ALMIGHTY’S PASSION.

Shame on those brutes, uneducated, money hungry, greedy, shallow superficial stars who influence us in the name of cinema, comedy and product endorsement. That is them, and they are not you and me. So please my beloved people, let us make a conscious effort to not allow such idiotic snippets influence us in real life. More importantly let us celebrate this one world, our own one personal faith, being aware that we are part of this one beautiful and equal race. Let us look at our one colour called life, celebrating it all thru merely our own individual and beautiful face. God bless you all.

‘I might not be be able to change the world, but i will definitely touch the lives of the people that I meet’ – Tagore Almeida

My name is Tagore Almeida. I am a technologist by profession and an aspiring film maker by night. Read more about me and my humanitarian work at http://www.tagorealmeida.com

However last night, on the same show was another man, anchoring this nail biting show. My entire family, old and young sat there glued to the television. They smiles, they blushed, basically they gave in to the charm of this anchor. The man – Mr. Shahrukh Khan. I sat there, shaking my head in disbelief, admitting to every thought that came to my mind. Yeap, there are only two big boys who can truly represent Bollywood cinema on their individual shoulders – Mr. Amithab Bachcha and Mr. Shahrukh Khan. The two ‘biggies’, and then there is ‘us’ – you and me. Who instead of looking at these two in the way we should, we either fuel hatred towards them separately or desperately look for more news on how they are at war with each other.

THEY ARE NOT AT WAR!!!! How do I know this? Do I know them personally? Did they tell me this personally? Well the answer is a honest NO, but then again how do you know that they are at war? Do you know them personally? Did they tell you this personally? That’s my point.

What I do know is that these two great men, have worked very hard to get where they are. Mind you there is just them two in a very special position. They have not had god-fathers within the industry, they were not born in this industry and yet today they rule this same industry. Everyone else is a distant second. Mr. Bachchan came in to the industry and worked like crazy to get to where he is, at a time when a certain Mr. Rajesh Khanna was supposedly the ‘top’ man. Then again that wasn’t much of a challenge, and Mr. Bachchan was easily mentioned in the same breath as Mr, Rajesh Khanna. But then Mr. Bachchan reached a level where no other star had reached. He was up there. I remember people used to say that he was in spot 1 to 10, and the next person was in position 11. Where ever you went everyone talked about Mr. Bachchan. He got up there for many reasons like his hard work, focus, luck, prayers, etc. He ruled and still rules. Talk to anyone in the industry and they will talk about their colleagues referring to them by their first name, however the man himself is referred to as Mr. Bachchan. That’s the towering influence this man has amongst his colleagues.

Then, decades later came a man, again with no god-father, not born within the film industry. He too wasn’t considered to be good looking, couldn’t dance to save his life, didn’t have a a great body. Sounds familiar? Like a certain Mr. Bachchan decades ago? Yeah, I thought so too. So there comes along this man, struggles, works hard, just like Mr. Bachchan did decades ago. This new chap, perhaps wanted to be like Mr, Bachchan (like all of us wanted to be like). Guess what? Amongst all of us in the entire universe, this new chap got his dream fulfilled, because today when we speak, we do refer to Mr. Bachchan and Mr. Shahrukh Khan in the same breath. Except it wasn’t easy for Mr. Shahrukh Khan, his target was not a Mr. Rajesh Khanna (all due respect sir), but his was the Mr. Amithab Bachchan who had achieved a lot more stardom and respect world-wide. Truth of the matter is, that Mr. Shahrukh Khan did come to par with Mr. Bachchan in terms of recognition and power within this industry. Take a bow Mr. Shahrukh Khan.

They got along too, like a house on fire at some stage, and then perhaps they drifted apart, and so what? Haven’t colleagues been closer and then moved on their different ways? That does not mean it is war? On what ground were the public expecting them to be family? I mean K3G, was merely a film you know that yeah? There is also a huge generation gap between these two men, they mindset is different. One might be more elegant than the other, but the other is a lot more trendier than the older. Take into consideration that their fan following too belong to different generations, different exposures and different expectations out of life, let alone cinema.

Now, can I humbly request you to remember this and not make ridiculous comparisons between these two great achievers? Trust me, when you do such comparisons it does not get to them, because they know who they are, they know what they have achieved and they know the levels of respect they have for each other, and we do not know those things. Instead of comparisons now, instead of hating one and loving the other (which is the most stupid thing you can do), I suggest that even though, you have your favourite, do not hate the other one. Instead, be proud of the achievements of both these biggies and look up to them, and dream of becoming like they did – should you require. I hope and pray that when you achieve your own dreams and get to the top, your fans and the media will not ruin your success by fuelling unnecessary stories about you and one of your colleagues. Instead I hope that your fans and the media, praise and respect your efforts and of course your success.

What do you reckon? Makes sense huh? I used to compare Mr. Shahrukh Khan to my dearest Mr. Amithab Bachchan, but that was unfair. Both of these men, deserve the respect for what they are, for what they have achieved and for being an example of success. So remember, let’s not make fools of our ownselves by either looking to or aggravating stories about a war between these two, and lets not look for stories that state such stories too. Yeah that would be nice.

In respect and admiration to you sirs – Mr. Amithab Bachchan and Mr. Shahrukh Khan.

My name is Tagore Almeida, and I am a technologist by profession and a part-time film writer and peace seeker. Read more about me at http://www.tagorealmeida.com

I’ve been a columnist of this cool site for quiet a while now, and I do review films that I wish to watch and then review those that i think are worth my time and specially the time of my audience – which I hope is You!!!

Being a kind of man of the world (Yes the one outside of Bollywood) I do read a lot about cinema (my passion) and technology (my daily source of income). But I am also a peace-seeker, a humanitarian and what ever I do, I try to connect it with mankind.

This brings me to why my column is called ‘Reel Life, Real Life’, because in this column i have two specific sections, and the important one is ‘real life’, because in here i try to tell people what they can take from the film in review, outside of the cinema hall, and pass it on as human beings. Cinema is a powerful medium and in between the ‘item songs’ and dishum-dushum, i do see lots of good messages that we as humans sometimes forget. messages of friendship, of romance, of loyalty, friendship etc.

Cinematically, i talk about what i feel about the film, from the little knowledge that I have about the making of films. I am no guru on this, but yes i do have the little knowledge to voice an opinion on the technicalities of the films in my review. So i talk about how the camera, sound, visuals, acting worked for me.

In the ‘Reel Life’, i give a short para about the film, and NOT the entire story, like most film reviewers in India do. giving out the story, is NOT what reviewing a film is about. Infact that spoils for the film for the audience and more importantly is disrespectful to the film maker. giving out a film story, and that too specially in the name of ‘reviewing a film’ is infact a very ignorant thing to do. I DO NOT mean to disrespect my colleagues who do that, but i humbly ask them to ‘review’ a film and NOT ‘outline the story of the film’. Films are made so that people can watch them, and not read the reviewer’s version of the story.

Finally, I would like to make a small comment about some very sad comments that are left as comments on our reviews. there are those who disagree with my reviews, and I have the top most respect for these people, coz they teach me something new and more importantly share their opinion on something (a film) that I shared an opinion on. But, what is sad is that there are those who write rude, ignorant and bad words in response. What does it say about those people? their up-bringing? Does it mean that everything that they do not agree with, they oppose with such third class bad words? Is that really all they have to show case their ’strength’? If it is, then I do plea with these folks to look deep within, they are so much beautiful than what they beleive they are. I am part of the same soil that you are made of, and as much as I might not agree with something I am allowed to voice my opinion, as I am ‘Janta / Public’ but at the same time, I have to know that I am an equal to the rest of my brothers and sisters. So, wake up, my beautiful audience and wake up to appreciate NOT only a review of a film, BUT to appreciate the rest of the world around you.

My name is Tagore Almeida, and I am a humanitarian first, a citizen of the world, an equal creation like you, of the Almighty. then I am a technologist (not a technician as some think I am, and there is nothing wrong in being one, as that too is a descent job to bring food home to my family. BTW I am a technolgy person for a fortune 500 company, looking after the entire Middle east region). Last but not least, I write. I have two ‘Commercial’ films under my belt and God willing another one or two in the next year. But more than anything else, I am happy that above all of these, I am a messenger to You, bringing you ‘Real’ messages from within the ‘Reel’ world, as I review films and not write out their story lines. For that, you need to go and experience the magic called ‘Cinema’ and more specifically here, called ‘Bollywood’. http://www.tagorealmeida.com

Tagore reviews Sarkar Raj

Firstly – reviewing anything that has my dada (Mr. Amithab Bachchan – yes the very towering, larger than the rest of us person) is very emotional for me. He is my Mr. Bachchan, has always been and I hope always will be. I watched Sarkar Raj a few days ago and it’s taken me this long to put down my review in writing. My sincere message to Mr. Bachchan “please sir, please. Stop working with Mr. Ram Gopal Verma’. To you my readers “No, Sarkar Raj is NOT A BAD FILM, it is just a half made film by a man who is full of himself, and arrogantly cannot see beyond his self desires and selfishly doesn’t give a shit about how this will effect his cast and crew”.

Reel Life – This is not a sequel. It is, as Mr. RGV said, a different chapter in the lives of the Nagre household. Yes but it does pick up from where the pervious film (a near to classic product) left. Shekar Nagre has taken over from his very convincingly powerful father – the Sarkar! He has married the girl we assumed he was going to marry. He has killed his brother and that does ripple across in this film too. Anyways the film is about a certain Mrs. Rai-Bachchan who comes to India (hold your breath – she is the daughter of a ‘huge’ company from London that wants to set up a electricity plant in Maharashtra. Sarkar isn’t convinced about this, and image this, it’s not someone normal, but ‘the’ Sarkar not liking the idea, BUT he never says why (which is ok), but when his son says that he wants to, Sarkar just gives in (Out goes the well being of people philosophy). This turns into a dirty political game amongst Sarkar’s enemies and it leads to drastic measures. Sarkar himself has to take control again and put forth what is right and punish those who have seriously caused him loss. In the end, Sarkar rules his domain.

Real Life – If you do wrong, if you kill, it will all come back to you. What you do onto others, the world will do back to you. So trust me, this message is loud and clear here. Another message in the film is that, in politics, no matter what you see, it surely doesn’t mean that it is just that. So to all you young men and women out there, who want to take short cuts in life, by cheating, killing etc, beware, it will come back to haunt you.

Cinematically – RGV does carry the ‘Visual’ texture of Sarkar into Sarkar Raj. Visually the film does keep up to mark with the first installment. The acting is good. I won’t say excellent, simply because the script and the direction does not allow them to make their acting skill excellent. Here, whenever a lame dialogue was said, the background score took over so loudly with “Govinda, Govinda, Govinda”. Something that worked amazingly good in the first film but here it just tries to cover up for the lack of impact in the writing and in the delivery. The story is absolutely crap. RGV made the biggest mistake of his life by remaking Sholay, and here he does the same mistake by sort of making an extension to Sarkar. The characters that were so well defined and real in Sarkar, have been completely f&^ked up in this film, by none other than Mr. RGV himself. I mean, Abhishek’s character is very introvert but strong within. He was intelligent but more importantly he was no where near like his elder brother’s (Kay Kay) character. Here in this film when his wife dies, he is saddened and angry and all, BUT within minutes he is ready to start a relationship with Mrs. Rai Bachchan.!! What? Hello? Then you have Sarkar himself, who is such a towering character, he knows his friends but knows his enemies better. Here he is, confiding and letting into his inner world Mrs. Rai Bachchan’s character. On what grounds? What did she do to earn the trust of Sarkar? Infact everything that she represented led to the loss of Sarkar. What? Hello? Finally, Chander, ‘the’ right hand man of Sarkar, who stood up to even Kay Kay, in the previous film when Kay Kay speaks loudly to Sarkar, is made out to be a traitor and someone who wanted to overthrow Sarkar. God it was pathetic. The bad boys in this film were really cheap third grade actors who make the bad boys in a cheap Ramsay brother’s film look more convincing. I mean the shooter who came in was so stupid with his finger action and all that you just wanted to puke. Best of it was that there is a 5 minute (felt like that long) dialogue between Sarkar and this phirangi returned chick (Mrs. Rai Bachchan) wherein Sarkar has all the time to explain to her what had happened, who had done the bad and what and how he got his revenge. Eh, looks like the director realized that there was a huge missing gap here, that he just got the lines thrown in to explain some missing stuff. Mr. RGV is infatuated with the Bachchans, and is disrespecting his association with them. He really is. Mrs. Rai Bachchan was in frames only coz she was..well one the Bachchans. And he needs to show that off, doesn’t he?

In Conclusion – Never again. Never again will I want to watch another RGV film. Sarkar Raj just reminded me that this was the arrogant fool who made AAG, a supposedly remake of the classic Sholay. Once bitten twice shy – Mr. Bachchan, please protect yourself and your family members from falling flat on their faces. Do that, by not making films with this man called RGV. One question though, forget RGV’s pathethic state of mind right now, and the arrogance pouring out of his backside, what happened to the Bachchan’s? Didn’t they read the script? Are they not capable of seeing a stupid, pathetic, foolish script when they see one? Sarkar Raj, is not a film, it was just an idea, suggested perhaps to a director who can think of NOTHNG and NOBODY else but his ego and his arrogance. I do not think that he is dumb and stupid, after all, look back the years and some of his films will prove that. Sorry Sir, but Mr RGV I cannot believe that you are the same guy who made, Rangeela, Bhoot, Company, Kaun, etc? Infact I cannot believe that you are the same man, who made Sarkar.

My name is Tagore Almeida, and I am based out of Dubai. I am a technologist by profession and I guess a disheartened film critic by birth. I run a peace and humanitarian site. Read more about me at www.tagorealmeida.com

Well, I know that I choose to watch what I do, and then review those which I choose to review. So I had decided that I was going to watch ‘Woodstock Villa’ for one reason only – there was a buzz about Anupam and Kiron Kher’s son Sikander Kher making his debut. With all fairness, I said to myself ‘it is in his genes. It is running in his blood, he is worth watching’. So I set off to watch the film. I have always maintained that Sanjay Gupta is all style and no substance, so I was sure that this watch was purely to go and see the potentially new ‘gift’ to the Bollywood film industry. There are plus points and there are negatives. The plus point of the experience was that the film was just about 90 minutes long. For the rest, read on.

Reel Life – A man (Sikander) comes to India from the US, for action and spice. He lives in a fancy apartment with a great view, but is running low on cash – literally counts the coins on a table (yeah and he lives in this fancy apartment). He is constantly being nagged by his Landlord to pay up the rent. Hhhhmmm!!! Very convincing. Then comes the money lender, who lends funds to the guy and is constantly beating him up as a reminder, that the guys owes him money. Our man is seen in every night club, dressed swanky and drinking (those coins go a long way in India I guess). Then one fine day, in walks a girl into his life. He tries hitting on her, she doesn’t care, tells him to not even think about it. She drops him home on the first day she meets him and then what do you know? A few days later, she turns up at his door with a proposal, and that is to kidnap her, only so that she can find out if her husband really loves her and would be willing to pay up the ransom money (aaahh!! Stupidity, 70s thinking re-packaged by Mr. Gupta). So this kid does just that and when he goes out to get the money, he comes home to find his victim murdered. All hell breaks loose and he wants to flea the city after getting rid of the body. So there he is, at the Mumbai airport ready to board a flight to Bangalore. While waiting in the lounge, he realizes that there is a music video being played on the TVs and the girl in the video is the girl who is supposedly dead. Here’s the fun bit. The girl just died like a day ago or perhaps that same day, and he is so shocked to see her in a music video that he doesn’t board the flight and instead goes to see if the body is still there where he hid it!!!!! What was he thinking? That she became alive and did the music video after she was murdered? Can someone please tell the writer, the director and the producer, that a music video is usually shot over a few days, then there is the post production period and then the actual air dates. In no way is it to be assumed that the person in the video must have acted in it, the day before or morning of it being aired. Some serious intelligence there. Anyway, that is the interval part, which supposedly is meant to shock you. Eh some people left the theater and never came back. After interval there are very predictable twist and turns, typical of a Bollywood thriller going wrong.

Real Life – I was struggling to find human messages in this film. Whenever I write this section of my review, I am very passionate and high. I love to use this medium to remind people of simple ‘real life’ messages too. With this one, I sound rather bored when I say, ‘oh yeah, do not cheat on your spouses’ (though I really mean that, this film is the worst example to use on that). More interestingly I would like to tell my NRI readers, that ‘hey if you want to leave the west and go to India, please note that you need to make sure that you have enough money, else you might end up borrowing from bad people’. (yawn)

Cinematically – Sikander is NOT happening. Sorry to say this. Atleast based on this film, he is NOT. His introduction, though meant to be lavish, had absolutely NO relevance to the film or the character. This is where I blame Sanjay Gupta. He has all the toys in the world and thinks he can take us for granted. Remember the pathetic last story in Dus Kahaniyaan? The Sunil Shetty and Sunjay Dutt story? All good technical stuff and that was it. Someone has a new toy, uses it stupidly and subjects us to it. This is the same for Sikander’s entry. I wish he had not chosen this as his debut film. Bad, bad choice. The girl reminds me of one other actress – Nisha Kothari. Sorry, but she is that bad too. The direction was way to wrong, blame it on the director or on Sikander, but the scenes were handled badly, there was plastic emotions, man this was really bad. Predictable edits, very predictable story line. My only serious question about this is to Anupam and Kiron Kher “Did you guys not care enough to make sure that Sikander was choosing the right film as a debut?”. In today’s age when so much is being made to launch new people, why didn’t you guys take care of this? I have no idea of what Harry Baweja is going to be. Will he be a Hrithik? I personally do not think so, but look at the canvas of his launch? I am not talking money here, I am talking about an impact, and very unfortunately, Woodstock Villa has left a negative impact on Sikander’s career. If at all you are interested in seeing Sikander, watch this film on DVD.

Tagore Almeida is based out of lovely Dubai. He is a technologist by day, and a peace-seeker too. Read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com.

Reel Life – The story of a rich yuppie doctor and his rich friends on an ‘expensive’ cruise liner. Dr Ajay being the only single person in the gang, he obviously gets chosen by cupid and vola, he’s in love with a girl that serves him his drinks. This is real love folks (Bollywood style 100%). He learns about her dreams and her liking and declares then, that he has the same. He learns Salsa all night long, just so that he can teach the girl salsa at dawn. However at the one chance that he gets to Salsa with her, eh…he doesn’t really Salsa with her, instead he watches from the side-lines and cheers her on (no, no. There is no significance of this to the film, except it happens because our actor ‘Ajay Devgan’ cannot really set the dance floor on fire can he?). Anyway they fall in love, clear a misunderstanding and there you have it. They get married. Just before the intermission, there is a moment, where the husband nearly drives into his wife in the pouring rain and could have knocked her over. Don’t worry that doesn’t happen. He brakes on time, but when he gets out of the car, she tells him something. She tells him that she’s lost, that she couldn’t remember where they lived; she couldn’t remember his mobile number and even his name. A moment very well enacted by Kajol. Ok, then we come to the other half which really splashes a beautiful love story showcasing how much the husband does to keep alive the relationship and promises that he made to his wife, when she was in perfect health. There is an incident when an infant nearly dies due to this illness, but still the husband never lets go. It’s not all about him though, even the wife, in her moments of reality, realizes that she is a burden to her husband and child and wants to stay away from them, BUT, what really goes on is a story on how the marriage is held on to, about how the love is kept alive. Alas, though, we have to remember that this is a ‘non-daring’ Bollywood film, made by a veteran actor, so the climax is basically – well – all is well that ends well. Sob, Sob. Tears and tears.

Real Life – Firstly, the reason I said earlier on that this was a beautiful love story is exactly for this reason. Many of us have been brain-washed by our film makers to believe that the greatest love stories were when a boy met a girl and fought the world to win her over and eventually marry her – all bruised and all. Well wake up, there’s a love story after the marriage too, a love story wherein the biggest obstacles come from within the couple itself, due to illness or even to moments that are not really handled well. I really liked the love story that was showcased, when the couple were faced with challenges. I also liked the chemistry between the three guys who were friends all along. Yeah that’s really it, from a ‘real-life’ perspective. I would say, it’s a wonderful reminder to see how couples should stick it out as much as possible. It’s a matter of commitment, when you make a promise to be with each other forever, this is a nice reminder of what that means and how to never give up. I’m very big on friends and I really liked the chemistry between them. No matter what they were going thru, they were there always. I liked that. I wish upon you all good relationships, deeper commitments with your spouses and family. I also wish upon you all, good friends.

Cinematically – Ok, I was very disappointed with Ajay Devgan as the actor. He just isn’t convincing as a rich yuppie romantic, flamboyant, blah blah, call it what you want, that he was trying to be in the first half. Seriously. He was also looking a bit lost when he had to pull of being a romantic. Shame really, coz I expected a lot more chemistry between him and his real wife – Kajol. Now coming to Kajol, I cannot help but say that this woman is amazing. She is so natural. Man!! We used to compare the likes of Rani and Priety to this woman!! Wake up India, Kajol is in a league far ahead of many of the people in this industry. She pulls of those scenes, especially after interval with such ease and grace that you don’t even realize she is acting. Playing the love interest in the first half wasn’t that great by her too, I think because she didn’t have much to do in the first half and secondly the chemistry with Ajay just did not come across. Put it this way, unlike when he acts with SRK, you just didn’t feel like you wanted her to get hooked up with Ajay. Shame. The cinematography is good, the edits were good too. The screenplay is brave, because the way the flashback was done was quiet daring, i.e. you knew from the beginning who the film was about – watch it, you’ll know what I mean. I cannot remember a single tune from the film, neither did I enjoy the music when it was there on screen. Finally, as a first time director, Ajay needs a pat on the back. He has good potential as a director, though maybe he should realize that he should not act in a film, simply coz he is directing it. I would have loved to see Salman Khan in this film, doing the role that Ajay did. He would have made you laugh and fall in love in the first half and taken you on an emotional roller-coaster in the second half along with Kajol.

Finally - So the verdict? Yeah I mean do go and see it. It’s watchable. Go watch it for the love story AND for Kajol. Ok, I guess AND to see Ajay Devgan’s work as a director. If you watched it on DVD, that would be fine too. On the “Uncultured” scale, I’d say it’s a 5 or 6 out of 10. My opinion, my column – made with a lot of love, patience, pop-corn, diet coke and chocolates. Just for You, by Me and now that’s really HUM.

My name is Tagore Almeida, and I am based out of lovely Dubai. I am a technologist in my day job, and a film-writer by night. I run a humanitarian group called ‘The Uncultured Company’ too, read more about me and my work at www.tagorealmeida.com.

Alright my fellow cine-goers, pop-corn eating, cola sipping folks, who so well keep alive the business of cinema. Thank you. Nope, I’m not being corny in the slightest. I started this review with the above line because I had about another 30 people with me in the cinema when I went to watch the film I’m about to review. I’m sad that we as ‘desi’-folk (that includes all Bollywood speaking people) are still not throwing in a lot more appreciation to the new breed of film-makers, making more sensible cinema that has been long over-due. Instead, I know the houses will be packed when another ’stale’ film comes out with a huge NRI wedding, set across India, the UK and America. The story will be the same, the emotions the same, the music just techno and ‘bhangra’ beats married together, looped in one major orgasm that we ‘janta’ will end up calling a ’solid-hit’!!. So in the midst of all those ‘Bollywood’ bright colours, are we going to notice the ‘Black’ & the ‘white’? Read on…

Reel Life – The film is about a guy, who is very sure about what he represents. He represents his interpretation of Islam with all his sincerity. He dislikes those followers of Islam who follow it hypocritically as much as he dislikes those who do not follow Islam. In his world, he believes that this is the right attitude. Somewhere along, he becomes a member of a group that feels that creating destruction amongst ‘their’ non-believers is their right, in the name of religion. So the lad comes over to India to carry out a mission. He lives in Delhi’s ‘Chandani Chowk’, which boast of being one of the most secular places in the country. Though he sees life in all her glorious colours and meets fellow Muslims who are secular in their lives and other Muslims who in his opinion are hypocrites, he is extremely focused on his mission. He has no time for romance, no time for emotions and no time to be nice to the man and woman who want to teach him to smile. In the end, the man doesn’t go thru with his mission, which comes across as a real shocker, but he escapes and goes back to the world of fundamentalism that he came from. He however sends across a message on the lines that he learnt something about life, while he was in this country for a short while. Also one of the closing dialogues really stands out and that is when a innocent man is being held responsible for helping this guy escape, and when he is asked why, the man says “They (the fundamentalist) sent one of their own from their world into ours with their message, and we sent him back to them from our world with our message”. I quiet liked that.

Real Life – Oh there is a lot of stuff that we must take from this film. First of all, we have been created by God, and we as this creation will never be able to understand the entire beauty and love of our God. We never seem to understand, we never want to even look at all the colours that our God has bestowed upon us, instead we throw aside ALL those colours and set to war holding in our stupid visions what is black and what is white. Pathetic!! And I know, that you agree with me on this. We have stooped so low, that we have raped our own spirituality by using the name of religions, and in that we set to war, we instigate hatred and ofcourse our politicians fill their pockets. This is not about those politicians though, is it? It never has been, this my brothers and sisters is about the likes of YOU and ME, about ALL of US. Secondly, this film beautifully reminds us of the fact that every sect of people, be is races, colours, communities and specially religions have the odd ‘are-holes’ who abuse the beauty that we were given in the first place. That’s what discrimination, racism; sexism is all about, isn’t it? I recently did a ‘peace show’ in my hometown Goa and in there I said something that I would like to share with you here – Every time we see a rainbow we smile, now could there be a possibility that we are God’s own rainbow here on earth? So if we are, and lets just kid ourselves that we are, so if we are then I would like to believe that HE smiles too when he looks at us. In that case, why are we wiping out / destroying the colour of this rainbow, by killing in the name of colors, sexes, caste and religions? And since when has the colour of blood been a colour of this rainbow? Wake up my most beloved fellow human beings, call me naive, call me what you want, BUT take this message with you and ponder on it. I pray that you are touched by it and then pass it on to your world, and specially the children. They are the reason why we need to make this world a better place. Cool?

Cinematically – Oh well, now this is a different story all together. Though I must say, that I truly and humbly ‘Salute’ our very own Mr. Ghai. Come on. He is ‘the’ showman. He has made some of the biggest films of recent decades. He has worked with the biggest stars and canvases. He has ‘fueled’ Bollywood to take her to the status where she is today, i.e. the big stars. The huge canvases, the great music scores etc. Here he is with a strong ‘realistic’ story, a new discovery, a favourite actor and a canvas much smaller in comparison. Subhash-ji has boldly stepped into the off-beat and realistic world of Indian cinema, and man to do that, at that stature, you need to have the guts, and this man has it. Thank you Mr. Ghai. The film itself is well paced, but there seem to be to many short-cuts. The end of the film was a let down, not because of the turn it took, but there was no build-up towards it and that made it non-convincing. That’s a real shame. Also the end scenes of the film really lacked good direction and acting. Even though he wanted to play certain scenes subtle, they were just not convincing. Don’t get me wrong I liked the subtle approach, but neither the acting and/or direction was convincing. From the acting perspective, Shefali Shah was really good. I think it’s probably her best work that I have seen. Anil Kapoor does carry a few scenes well, but I think he has let himself down in the scenes that mattered the most. Sorry Anil-ji, I do believe that you could have pulled those scenes off much better. Now this new kid – Anurag Sinha. What a debut? The guy is good. I do not want to praise him yet, but yes he is good. He sends a chill down your spine, just using his expressions at times. There are actors and there are stars in our industry. Let’s see his next film to see if he is an actor. On the whole, I would like the entire world to see this film. I think if you look beyond the few cinematic flaws, it’s a great message of human victory. Do go and watch it, it’s not that long. But yes, Subhash-ji could have done this a lot better, and I say that not as a negative statement, but truly knowing that this man could have done a lot more with this.

My name is Tagore Almeida, and I am based out of lovely Dubai. I am a technologist in my day job, and a film-writer by night. I run a humanitarian group called ‘The Uncultured Company’ too, read more about me and my work at www.tagorealmeida.com.

Ok here it is, the year’s first big release. And when I say big, trust me I mean BIG. The canvas is humongous, specially the first war scenes within the first half hour. Very sleek, never seen before visuals in Bollywood. Think on the lines of TROY. Yes every frame is straight out of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, in terms of visuals. Ah, but before I start my review, let me tell you one thing.. I have a major problem with the length of the film.

Reel Life – The film is a story of India in the 1550s. The time of the Mogul rulers when, kings walked the soil and fought battles to expand their kingdom. In the midst of this, is an Emperor who has been raised to conquer, with the elders around him making all his decisions. Then one fine day when he decides to make his own decisions, he decides to accept a proposal to marry a Rajput princess. No big deal you say, except the man is a Mogul king, a Muslim. Now don’t expect a modern day drama about how this is un-acceptable. Instead what we get here is a nice story about how secularism was so much more evident in that era than it is now. The story resolves around how betrayal and greed, and also a small dose of fanaticism is overcome by love and secularism.

Real Life – ‘And let it be known that every person in my kingdom is free to worship in however way they wish to’ – one of the closing lines of the film, says it all for me. I really wish the world today, after all these centuries, was more secular than it is now. There are so many lessons here, of loyalty, of love, of power, but more importantly it’s about how people’s faith is what is one of the coolest things mankind can keep alive.

Cinematically – The canvas is amazing, very elegant, very lavish and above all very apt for the frame it is set back against. The background score is good. A.R. Rehman’s songs are good too. The cinematography is really exceptional. The sets fabulous, and the special effects as never seen before. The acting is good, but Hrithik is the person who walks away with the cake. It’s a pleasure to see the guy. Finally with the film we see the debut of a certain Mrs Bachchan. She was good in some scenes and just about ok in the rest. On the whole, cinematically all I can say is summed in one word – Take a bow Ashutosh. I don’t know how it will fare at the box-office but yes this is a must watch at the theatre. Finally, the narration of the film is provided by non other than Amitabh Bachchan and all I can say is ‘dada, only you have that voice and the style to narrate something so amazingly’

My name is Tagore Almeida (www.tagorealmeida.com ) and I am a full time IT professional and a part time film-maker/writer(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2291443/). I am the guardian of a humanitarian group called ‘The Uncultured Company’ (www.theunculturedcompany.com). I believe that there is just ‘One World, One Faith and Once Race. We are all one colour called life, and we have merely a different face’.

Hope you enjoy it.

Click here to download and listen to the Audio Review of Halla Bol by Tagore Almeida

My name is Tagore Almeida (www.tagorealmeida.com ) and I am a full time IT professional and a part time film-maker/writer(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2291443/). I am the guardian of a humanitarian group called ‘The Uncultured Company’ (www.theunculturedcompany.com). I believe that there is just ‘One World, One Faith and Once Race. We are all one colour called life, and we have merely a different face’. I wish you peace and love.

I saw this film a few days ago, and I have not been able to write it’s review. I mean how do I do this? Do I review a film that is so good when the human side in me just seems to be filled with some beautiful flow of love, of soul searching? I watched the late night show and then when I got home, I had to watch a stand up comedy, simply because I didn’t want to get into bed and sleep with whatever I was feeling within me. I wanted to call my parents, my sister, her kids, my best friends, their kids and tell them how much they meant to me, and how much I wanted them to go and see this film. Call me an emotional fool, I accept that completely. But yes go and see this film. What came to mind was a beautiful thought that I heard many a times and that is that GOD works miracles in our lives thru his people here on earth. Amole Gupte and Aamir Khan were chosen to make this film. You will hear a million people say that children are our teachers. Watch this film, watch this film, watch this film.

Reel Life – The film is about a kid who is dyslexic. Keep that aside though, because the film travels thru the kids soul and mind, and takes you on this ride. In doing so, you actually find your own self somewhere in this kid. The kid finds it hard to read and write and as you can imagine, his performance at school isn’t something to write home about, instead it raises a series of alerts. His parents do not understand it. His mother, who tries everything and ofcourse with a typical mother’s heart wants to fix whatever is in his life. On the other hand you have a father whose only vision is that his kids are the best in the completion. Many parents today want their kids to achieve success in life, trying to find comfort in their own failures that have gone by in their growing years. Shame. The boy gets sent to boarding school where upon he looses himself emotionally and sinks into a world of silence. His new arts teacher notices this and then starts the journey of educating his parents, working with the boy and coming out a winner.

Real Life – This is a story of human victory, of human connections and the miracles that GOD has for each one of us, it’s about us being aware of this and surrendering to it, so that God can work his miracle. If an external human being can connect with a child, then why is it that so many of us cannot connect with our own? Not just children, but with our own human relationships? Why is it that so many people want their children to live their life (the parents) instead of letting the children live their own? Every child (for that matter every human being) has their own God given talent, and so why is it that so many of those talents never get noticed and thus get killed? Why is it that when a child cries, we only know about it when tears roll down their cheeks, and we never hear the more painful cries of a child and even another human being, when they are just in silence? But I re-assured myself, that in moments like that, GOD never leaves us. There are angels all around us, and this is the great testimony to show how close God is to us all, SPECIALLY children. It is such a shame that we abuse them, control them and never see the messages of life that they bring to us. What’s in the past, is in the past. It’s time for a change, and I pray that this change comes to you today. Go watch this film, with nothing but your open heart. This is not a ‘Bollywood’ masala film with superstars and item girls, this is a film about life, and most importantly it is a film about you – somehow or the other.

Cinematically – Well this is a film that you just do not get a chance to judge cinematically. Atleast not for the first time. I intend to see it again to do that. From what I can recall is what I write here. The film has Aamir Khan written ALL over it. The kid carries the film on his shoulders and even there you can see an Aamir Khan in that kid. The acting, the expressions – all of him. Aamir Khan gives top credit to the little kid and then follows that with his own name!!! Can you imagine that? But yes, this is true in this film. The direction is top notch, and I say this because the film takes you and puts you in every frame on an emotional level. I really do not know who is better, Aamir as an actor, or Aamir as a director, because at both of these he is what he is – Amazing. In a class of his own. Please do not compare him to the superstars we have today, I am taking about Aamir – the actor! The film-maker! The music is very different and is great. It’s perhaps Bollywood’s first ‘easy-listening’ western feel album, some of the stuff reminds me of the Eagle’s early work. I specially loved, yes love the title track and the song ‘Maa’. The words, the music and the voices just fit in perfect. The film did slow down in paces, but I really think it was needed just to balance your emotions.

Thank you Amole and thanks you Aamir for touching lives. You might not be able to change this world, but you will surely touch the lives of the people that will see this film.

In Conclusion – If this film was made in any other country, the kid in the film would be nominated and possibly win in the best actor category. But! We in India give these awards not to actors but the stars of our country, and leave such talent in categories like ‘best child actor’. Wake up ‘Bollywood’ and wake up India. When we’ve had some really good films this year like ‘Chak De India’, ‘Gandhi My Father’ and ofcourse ‘Taare Zameen Pe’, are we that vain and shallow to consider films like ‘Welcome’, ‘Partner’ and ‘Heyy Babby’ (yeap spelt like that) to be the best films of the year? Someone needs an education, someone needs to wake up. ‘Om Shanti Om’ was a really good entertaining film, but seriously folk, ‘Welcome’, ‘Partner’ and ‘Heyy Babby’?

The Coming Year – I’m looking forward to 2008 cinematically too. Come on Shahrukh, Aamir, Hrithik, even Salman and ofcourse Akshaye Khanna. Akshay Kumar will continue rocking, but please – no more ‘welcome’(s). I am still very disappointed with Mr. Bachchan Senior for doing RGV’s AAG. Can you beat the fact that I brought the DVD to just make sure that it was that bad and my hero (mr. Bachchan senior) actually did that film, and in that way? Then what the hell was he doing in JBJ? Gosh it makes be mad and sad, to see a great man like this do such things. Abhishek Bachchan, well we will see him doing so called ‘cool’ cameos and that’s it. I am hoping (read as desperately hoping) that Sarkar 2 rocks. Finally, I have to say this, that today’s Superstar (not actor, but Super star) is someone who came from nowhere (i.e. non filmy connections), and not only stood up to the so called greatest superstar of Bollywood (Mr. Bachchan) but has taken over. Yes, Mr. Bachchan is no longer the greatest Superstar of ‘Bollywood’. The king of Superstardom, the hysteria of the masses, the representation of Bollywood cinema to the rest of the globe, the icon of superstardom and what success means in the film world, belongs to someone else. The man – Mr. Shahrukh Khan. You can laugh at me, you can hate me. That though my friends is what reality is. Well done Shahrukh.

Ok I shall end here wishing all of you and your loved one a very happy, safe and blessed new year 2008. May you looking within your pure selves and find your purity, and in doing so I pray that you will find the freedom of life and the love of GOD, to go out and become one with the rest of creation. Please, no more hatred, no more fights, no more anger in the name of religions, classes, caste and colours. We are how we were made, and remember we are like a RAINBOW, that GOD looks at and smiles all the time, just like when we smile when we see GOD’s rainbow in the sky.

My name is Tagore Almeida (www.tagorealmeida.com ) and I am a full time IT professional and a part time film-maker/writer(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2291443/). I am the guardian of a humanitarian group called ‘The Uncultured Company’ (www.theunculturedcompany.com). I believe that there is just ‘One World, One Faith and Once Race. We are all one colour called life, and we have merely a different face’. I wish you peace and love.

Well I watched Dus Kahaniyan. Before I get into the review let me state this. I am sure you know people who are nothing but ‘wanna-bes’. They have NO substance within themselves, because instead of knowing who they themselves are, they becomes monkeys trying to imitate people and/or things that they themselves do not understand. Like you know? Those folks who listen to the latest ’super-hit’ English song loudly in their posh cards and never know that the words really mean. Yeah exactly!! I do not mean to sound horrible, but seriously there are a lot of these in today’s media in Mumbai. They have the money, they have the fame, and yet they are nothing but want-to-be folk, monkey-ing around, and have no idea that they can be cool, by being themselves, being proud of their own roots rather than wanting to be someone else.

Well some of these people have a lot of money, and access to and opportunities to be on the silver screen. Here they can make good stuff, be cool being characters that they understand and can pull off, however here too, they just want to be someone else. They now have access to ‘damn good’ international cult and underground cinema from across the world, and they think that if they merely copy it, they will be ‘the’ ones amongst their fellow shallow colleagues and audiences who are like that too. Welcome to Dus Kahaniyan. Typical just that and typical Sanjay Gupta – some style and NO content.

Reel Life – 10 stories, not original in the slightest. Some you’ve read, some you’ve seen in other international films (like the rice plate), some are folk stories, some you have read in your inbox as forwards – you get the drift. So these stories have been taken and made into 10 short films. Directed by 6 directors, well most of them direct one film, the rest are directed by the self-centred producer – Mr. Gupta himself. The treatment of the film too is nothing original, there are films made like these in other languages across the world, so please don’t one of you try and challenge me on this. Instead get on the net and read about the world, the progress that cinema is making outside Bollywood, and you will gain yourself some good education. I must stress here though, that there was one story ‘Strangers In The Night’ which really had a nice twist to it. What came across as a typical Neha Dupia sleazy, infact ended up really touching my heart. There there was 2 stories that I loved watching. These were ‘Gubbare’ staring Nana Patekar and “The Rice Plate’ staring Nasserudin Shah and Shabana Azmi. These weren’t necessarily good stories or well directed per say, but these actors are so damn good that theses stories stand out amongst the lot. The worse was ‘Sex On The Beach’, ‘Rise & Fall’ (Gawd, what were they thinking?) and ‘Love Dale’ (somebody wake up from the 80s cinema hangover)

Real Life – The love story in ‘Gubbare’ was quiet romantic and the message was lovely. We spend so much time fighting or in disagreement with our loved ones and we never realize that it is time lost. So fellow human, make the most of your lives and your love. Then there is the message in ‘The rice plate’, about how we create barriers between ourselves. Also as I mentioned above, ‘Strangers in the night’ did touch me, coz it showed a very beautiful side of humans. Everything else about the other films from a human angel is either strictly OK or has no story in them, let alone human messages.

Cinematically – Nothing great. Some style, very little substance, aka typical Sanjay Gupta. The music (back ground score) is ok, in all the films. The opening credits seemed clever in bits. Nothing great in terms of cinematography. The ‘Rise and Fall’ story has some good visuals, but that too is complete overshadowed by the stupidity of that entire story. Bottom line, this film is a DVD watch, IF you want to see something different. Different as it has not been seen in Bollywood, but nothing more than that

Finally – I do need to say that I recently watched Saawariya. I will write my review on that film. I do not disagree with the rest of the audience on the overall faith of the film, but I do need to review it. That’s next. Ok to conclude the year, thank God for little mercies eh? Yeap. I’m waiting to watch Amir Khan’s film.

Tagore, lives and works in Dubai. He is the guardian of a peace and humanitarian group. Read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com He is also a script-writer and a short film maker.

A very personal friend and inspiration, the literate, intellect and award winning author, the late Manohar Sardesai once shared with me, what he had written in Konkani (our native language in Goa) ‘Molbailia Devak., Mondirant adun dar bond kone kalem? Bhotak vichar’ (Who took the God from the skies and prisoned him in a shrine? Ask the priest). This line has always taken a very special place in my heart and every now and again fuels my humanitarian fight and secularism efforts. Today, after all those years of hearing that line, came a film, that has gotten me so damn emotional all over again. After all those years, I felt my dearest Manohar uncle, speak to me again via Shoaib Mansoor. If there is one film that you need to watch in today’s day and age, not just for your own self, but to be aware of the world around you, then go, and for God’s sake, watch ‘Khudha Kay Liye’.

A lot happened to us all, after the 9/11 incident. No, don’t worry, this is not another film about 9/11. This film is about the world after 9/11. This film is also about the line that draws the difference between ‘religion’ and ‘faith’.

Reel Life – The film is about two brothers who are pop musicians in Lahore, one of whom gets radicalized under the influence of extremists, while the other goes to America and gets unlawfully detained after 9/11. It is the story of Mary (Maryam), a British girl of Pakistani origin, who is brought to Pakistan by her father and married off against her will, simply coz of his hypocrisy towards his ‘culture’ and what he thinks is his religion.. This film is about women being equal, it is about families who love their children and want nothing more than the safety of their sons. It’s a film that not just all Muslims will relate to, but also non-Muslims will be able to relate to. This is NOT a film about Islam or any other religions, and please I beg you not to go and view it from that perspective. This is a film about human beings – and that means, it is about you and me. Human beings who not only died at incidents like 9/11 but are still dying even today because of a minority of individuals.

Real Life – Let me sum up the entire film in just one dialogue that I came out with from this film ‘I do not hate America, just because of the way a few Americans treated me, similarly I humbly request you to not hate Islam because of what a few Muslims have done’. Now, let me emphasize why I think that every person from every age group and every background should watch this film – it is simply because in today’s day and age, we are being influenced by religions, societies and governments. We are emotional victims who are preyed upon and targeted. What the world needs is tolerance. At times of storms we need to hold each other’s hands rather than fight each other, and very honestly, we – God’s creations have forgotten to do this. We are fighting about the minor differences that we have, instead of embracing in the similarities that we share. Brothers and sisters wake up to become one. We might not be able to change the world, but in tolerance, in respect and in love, we will touch the lives of everyone we meet.

Cinematically – I cannot recall how long the film was. It was that deep. I’ve straight away put that up there in the top most powerful films I have ever seen. The production is first class. This is truly a film meant for the international stage. I cannot emphasize this enough – this film is a must watch. The soundtrack is amazing, really amazing too. I have never seen a Pakistani film in my life, but I know that the other films that come out of Pakistan are no where near, in quality or production as this one. This is truly Pakistan’s international film. Shoaib Mansoor –very honestly I want to say ‘thank you’ and I pray that the entire world watches this message.

Tagore Almeida, lives in Dubai. He is a full time technologist and a part time film maker, writer and the guardian of a humanitarian group. Read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com.

Well after years, I was in Mumbai for Diwali. It rocked!! The city glows, and if anything glows brighter than those lights on every street and balcony, it is the spirit of that city. Diwali was all about lights, prayers, partying, more partying and ofcourse cinema. Two BIG films releasing on that day!! The night before their release, there were sms messages doing the rounds ‘ Saawariya is a let down’ and ‘OSO is just OK’. Damn what a bummer I thought, but then looking at the cinema halls you knew that we still love our cinema, and more importantly what I saw was that ‘we will queue for hours, we shall pay more, just so that we can see what the man brings to us now. The man….Mr. Shahrukh Khan’ or infact ‘King Khan’ – you like it or not, that is what he is.

Now, before I proceed with my ‘reel life, real life’ styled review of Om Shanti Om, let me tell you one thing. You can run, you can hide, but you can not get out of watching this film. Is it a great film? No, it isn’t. Is it a good film? Eh… debatable. Is it ‘time-pass’ and absolute ‘money-worth’? Absolutely yes. It’s a fun film, atleast the first half is. The second half could have been a lot better.

Bottom line – the film is a showcase of the power, the superstardom measure of Shahrukh, and trust me, this dude is huge. Real big.

Remember the era when Manmohan Desai made all those films with Mr. Bachchan? Well that was a certain era. Mr. Manmohan made films that fitted into that era, that mould of cinema. Today we have a similar pattern, wherein we have the likes of Farah Khan who will make films with the King Khan and that is her only saving grace.

Reel Life – ‘A fabulous take on the 70s Bollywood. A struggling actor dreams of making it big as he is an extra within the Bollywood film industry’. He then falls in love with the greatest superstar of that time. Well this is ‘bollywood’ and ofcourse he gets to meet her, save her life and even sing and dance with her. She however is in love with one of the biggest producers, and life takes a turn and the lady dies in a fire mishap. Or was it a mishap? The young struggling actor, in his bid to rescue her dies too. 30 years later, the young man is reborn (yeap kick-arse reincarnation plot here) as the son of a yesteryears superstar. Based purely on that fact, he becomes a spoilt brat superstar of today’s times. However, in typical Bollywood’s reincarnation story, he gets flashes of his previous life, meets a look-a-like of the superstar he fell in love with in his previous life, and then sets out to bring to justice those who were responsible of killing his previous love. The first half is nostalgic, sprinkled with innocence of that era. The second half is yuppy, bratish and showcases Shahrukh’s respect within the industry.

Real Life – The things we humans do for greed. The evil we commit in the name of love. There are struggles that we face and survive to fulfill a dream, and then someone comes along and brutally kicks it all away. I loved the spirit of SRK in the first half, where he just dreams, emotes his desire to make it. The friendship he shares with his buddy, you actually feel their passion. I wish there was more friendship like that in the world, wherein people felt happy for their friend’s dreams.

Cinematically – The special effects are really good. It’s one thing to have good effects and another to make those effects convincing within your film. OSO manages to do both of these really well. The music grows on you, and the item song with 31 stars makes you tap your feet, but more importantly makes you sit there and wow at not all, but most of the stars who appear in that song. Though there are some in there who should be locked away for merely appearing on our screens. Ok that was a bit harsh, but I won’t delete that line. Farah Khan!! Nothing great as a director. Really. A great concept for a film, kudos to you for that, but seriously speaking, in the film, I saw the great concept and intention, but not a great film. Deepika!! Hhmmm, people say she’s going to go places, I am not 100% convinced, I need to see her next film before I feel that. Arjun was good and convincing. Shahrukh, as an actor somehow failed here, he was slightly convincing as a 70s extra, but not very convincing as spoilt brat super star of today. He over acted and seriously, after Chak De, where he proved he can act, he unfortunately went back to being just an average actor. Mr. Shahrukh Khan, you are ‘the king’, please choose your films carefully from now and avoid certain films. You are a superstar, you have gained it all – like no other person in that industry, so now it’s time for you to come out and be the great actor that I think you are. I remember Govinda did an amazing impression of many actors in a song in ‘Hero No.1’, SRK had the chance to do the same here but completely failed. I wish he had concentrated more on his acting here than producing it.

Finally – The film is not much without Shahrukh, so I give it a 2.5 out of 5 rating. The film could have been so much better, so much more livelier. I do not have a problem with the story, I have a problem with the way it was told. However I must really salute Farah for what she does at the end of every film – the entire cast and crew get a screen presence. That to me shows a lot of respect from the director towards her team. Well done.

Go, go watch this film. It’s really time pass, and money worth. Go to feel the nostalgia of the 70s, and more importantly go for Shahrukh Khan. He the man. Oh, incidentally, you will see a lot of other stars in the film, enjoy them all and do forgive Abhishek Bachchan…yet again!!!

Tagore is an IT professional, who lives in Dubai. He also is a script-writer and a short film maker. He runs a humanitarian group too. Read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com

This review is partially personal. I’ve been struggling to catch a film to review for this site, but work makes me travel more than I like, but I was determined to catch this film, simply because I once had the pleasure to have coffee with Imtiaz Ali, a few years back. Just the two of us at Baristas on Yari road. We spoke for hours and what I took with me about this guy, was that he was genuine, very down to earth and very clear about how he wanted to make films.

Reel Life – there is nothing new here. It’s a pop-corn flick. Boy meets girl, falls in love with her. She’s seeing someone else, so he backs off. They meet again, she’s single so he hopes (as well as the audience) that they’ll make it, and they nearly do, but then back comes the guy who dumped our leading lady, realizing what a fool he had been. The audience sigh a breath of disappointment, but alas, thanks to our cinematic culture, at the very last minute, the girl realizes that she is now in love with our hero, and shows the ex-flame the door and comes running into the arms (literally) of the leading man. Haven’t we seen this before? Atleast twice a year, if you are on a staple Bollywood diet!! As I said there is nothing new here in the story. Now, further down in this review in the Cinematic section I have written what I liked

Real Life – I guess there is something here for mankind to learn, infact two things. The first is that, there are those of us who take life very seriously, we do not take the time to notice the colour of flowers. We seemed so engrossed in our daily materialistic challenges like work and studies and the struggles of life – a reality for many, that we fail to keep aside those few seconds (at the very least) to notice those bright colours around us. Then we have those who are just the opposite, nothing is analyzed and everything is thought from the heart. It’s all about taking the chances, not making it in time to the train station and running like crazy to get onto the train – every single time. But in doing so, there is a certain element of thrill to it all. A life to these is all about the joys of those thrills, the joys of life. I guess we as humans need to taste both of these extremes atleast in some stages of our lives. I wish you the best in doing so, it is only when you touch these two extremes that you will find your balance between the two. Happy living!!!

Cinematically – The film belongs to Imtiaz Ali. He has taken an old story and makes you fall in love again. He has taken two actors who really do not have much credentials behind them, specially together as a team, and puts them in a single frame and makes you connect with them. I have no qualms is stating that I avoid films that have Kareena Kapoor or Shahid Kapoor in them, let along seeing a film with both of them in it, that too in the lead role. But I went to watch this for Imtiaz. I loved the screenplay, I liked his writing and after a few minutes of the film starting, I could actually watch Kareena and Shahid on screen. What didn’t work for me, was Shahid’s acting in the first few frames, where he tried to look lost – he was not convincing at all. Later on in the film when Kareena has serious emotions to emote, she doesn’t do well at it, but for the rest of the film, the director has managed to make these two ‘non annoying’. The locations are fab, the music is ok and the rest of the cast suit in well. The audience were having a laugh with the one-liners. Kareena’s character will remind you of someone in either your family or someone you have known in your life. Shahid’s character is either over the top, or he hasn’t’ portrayed it correctly. Imitiaz Ali is a director to watch out for. I heard that his next will not be a love story, and I am waiting to see that. Keep this guy on your radars, he will go places.

Finally – It’s been a while since I sat in a cinema hall, so I went in early to catch all the teasers. Saawariya looks very elegant, like a stylish lady on a huge canvas. I don’t know what to make of it, but yeah I will surely see it purely for Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Then came Om Shanti Om – this film looks like fun, the wonderful 70s ear of Bollywood, recreated now with all it’s magic supposedly in place. I can’t wait to see this fun movie. SRK was actually convincing and funny as the extra in the 70s and the things he was asked to do. I am excited. Finally I saw the teaser of ‘Taare zameen Pe’ – My heart sank. I was touched, and then the final frame you see Aamir Khan sitting behind the little boy, and it said ‘directed by Aamir Khan’. I am left speechless, I cannot miss this one. So 3 films coming up before the end of this year and I promise to review all three, and on time (sheepish grin). BTW I did watch ‘Johnny Ghadaar’ – awesome, go watch it, even if on DVD, but watch it. It’s quite good.

Tagore is an IT professional who lives in Dubai. He is also a script-writer, short film maker and above all is the guardian of the humanitarian group ‘The Uncultured Company’. Read more about him on www.tagorealmeida.com.

What on earth was that? I am so disappointed with a certain Mr. Amithab Bachchan and have given up on RGV – Not because he made a bad film, but because what I feel has raped Mr. Ram Gopal Verma!!! The fact that RGV claims that he had the up most regard for SHOLAY and that it was this film that made him want to make movies, is nothing short of bulls*#t, because with AGG, he shows very little respect and appreciation for that classic film.

Reel Life – The film is about an ex-cop who hires two local ex-goons to avenge the death of his family. Their target is the notorious Babban, a man of terror (How that was portrayed by the director and the actual actor I do not understand). Of course many scenes later of stupid comedy, a pathetic love story and some violence, the ex-cop gets his Babban and yes kills him too. Eh how he kills him can never be logically explained. I will spoil it here. A huge Axe type thingy gets into actual Babban’s back and yeah his head bleeds all over his face!!! Also how did the ex-cop without any fingers throw this so well at Babban is another mystery, but then again when you reach upto that climax, you forgive everyone associated with this film for anything, as long as the lights go on in the cinema showcasing the end of the film.

Real Life – Ego is such a sad thing. You want to see how ego can destroy even a little bit of talent, check this film out to see how RGV has raped himself. See this film to see how someone like Amithab can actually think he is doing good when agreeing to a film like this. Was it the money? Hhhmmm. Really sad is the reality about how big names, with huge pockets of money can go and blow it all up, perhaps thinking that they can get away with it. I know there a lot of chamchas (arse lickers) around folks like RGV, and was it them that influenced him to make this? Learn oh mankind to not be influenced by such folk. Then again, I really do not want to make a comment about what and how Nisha Kothari got into this film!!! RGV, you need to start thinking with your brains and nothing else.

Cinematically – In pockets, RGV shows his skills with what he has created a niche for himself. The film fails miserably on every angel though. The acting is pathetic and this includes Ajay Devgan (Is this the same guy who did Omkara?), Sushmita Sen (Babe, you need to go back two steps and reinvent yourself) and of course Amithab Bachchan!! You were stupid as a wanna-be Gabbar Singh. You brought nothing new to the role, not even a different perspective. The camera work was good in places. Yeah one thing that was really WO, was Urmila Matondkar in the Mehbooba song – but then a single song doesn’t make a film does it? Abhishek Bachchan needs to learn a lot from his colleagues like Hritik and gang regarding doing cameos. You either want to be a leading man or a cool extra – your choice dude.

My two pence worth of analysis – I had predicted that the association with Sholay would be the biggest downfall of this film. Mr. RGV – Learn to shut your mouth and let your work speak for you. You have it in you to do so, but looks like, very unfortunately your ego has gotten to you. You’ve let the un-important stuff get to your head and you’ve sadly let go of what a unique benchmark in your craftsmanship. I think it’s also gone to your head that you are so close to the Bachchans. Infatuation? No, I don’t think so. Infatuation explains why you cast Nisha Kothari in this film. Dude, you have much bigger issues than you might have realized. Let me give you my two pence worth of wisdom Mr. RGV:- you should have made this film the way you wanted to, but NEVER should you have stated that you were remaking Sholay or this was your Sholay inspired piece of work. Then you should have removed all the similarities with the original classic – like the character names, the sound track rip-off. Come on you could come up with names better than Heero and Babban. You didn’t need to have a devi in the film, she could have been perhaps a single chick who Raj could have hooked up with. Rajpal Yadav’s character was NOT needed. And yes, you should never have cast Nisha Kothari in this movie. Then once the film was released you would have stood a better chance of the audience viewing this film as a RGV film rather than a Sholay wanna-be. Though even then this film would have flopped, but not as badly as it has. And the reason for this debacle is blamed solely on you – not just for the film you made, but for that loud mouth egoistic man that you have become. What the f**k is with the ‘Ram Gopal Verma ke AAG’ all about? Sorry what was actually going thru your mind when you felt that you had to have your name as part of the title of the film? By the way, I hope the Sippy’s sue the crap out of you, for using the Sholay sound track all over the place.

On a very emotional note – Mr. Amithab Bachchan, you are superstar, a man that is known all over the world and has actually represented Bollywood globally. Good for you. But let me tell you a very personal story here. (I am doing this because I know that you have access to this website) When I was a little boy, one day my parents yelled at me for something that I must have done wrong. I was crying bitterly and in my tears in told both my parents that they were not my real parents and that Amithab Bachchan was my dada (father). They must have laughed and found that cute, but till today, they and even my close friends have always referred to you as my dada. They would come up to me and say things like ‘your dada got this honor’ or ‘your dada has a cameo in this film’ blah blah. After watching some of your recent work (NIshabd – another RGV, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, etc), I found that I was struggling to find ‘dada’ in this new Mr. Amithab Bachchan, not in your skills but in what and why were you doing those roles. You are a great man sir, an icon and you don’t need to stoop to this level in the excuse of ‘doing work’. I came home last night after watching AAG, and watched bits and pieces of Sholay, Agnipath and Do aur Do Paanch. Aaah! There I found my ‘dada’ again before I went to sleep. Finally dada, you should have NEVER done Aag, as a matter of dignity and of course for upholding the fact that you were a part of a classic called Sholay.

Tagore Almeida works and lives in Dubai. He runs a humanitarian group called the Uncultured company (www.theunculturedcompany.com). He is also a film maker and a writer.

Well I saw it late, but I saw it. Before I go any further, let me summarize my take on the film with one line – Go Watch it, Go Watch it, Go watch it and Go watch it – Watch it for one of SRK’s best performances – he actually acts, and very well too. Watch it for the entire cast and crew. Watch it for Aditya Chopra’s sense as a good producer. He has actually taken the risk, to make a non popcorn, chick flick film and instead produced and promotes an unusual film, story and treatment of the film. Watch it for Shimit Amin’s work, and finally watch it to get a real good feel, topped with a generous helping of patriotism.

Reel Life – The Indian women’s hockey team exist on paper. Even the authorities don’t give much time to this team. It’s beurocrasy full time, topped with an ancient mentality that women belong to the house, looking after the household and cooking a meal. Then walks in a coach, with a past of his own. A past he has lived with and is determined to set things straight. His battle is not just with the authorities but more importantly within the team, and the mentality that sportsmanship represents today within India. So there starts the battle, and the battle is painted on celluloid in a very practical way. There is a world level competition, and there is an internal personal competition. Sportsmanship represents honor and more importantly it represents that beautiful statement – Let the best one win. The coach brings this to the team just before the climax of the film. Really in all honesty, the movie ends with a very powerful climax.

Real Life – I have so much to add here. First of all, the film does showcase how the media’s interpretation of a situation can influence the masses. It seems that the masses looses it’s own standings at times like these and get carried away with what they read and see. Oh Mankind, this is a wake up call. Listen, Read but decide for yourself. Then, there is the spirit of a soul, that exist in all in us. A spirit that can be brave to stand up for honor when times call for it. SRK’s character is very well sketched out and I know that we all are like that, at some time or the other in our lives. There is then this element of patriotism. Man, it made me want to cry, to be proud about my country. I wish we could feel this strong about her more often than we do now. Finally the film showcases the stupid greed and ridiculous attitude that our sports people have as they grow in the game. They have a terminally ill attitude where they believe that they are bigger than the sport itself. Look at so many of occur cricketers. They have the attitude that the coach will change but they won’t change to better their roles in the team. I would like every parent to take their children to watch this film and let them get a dose of patriotism and good sportsmanship. Let them see that they need to work hard to be able to contribute their best, and realize that they will NEVER be bigger than the sport, the team or the country itself. Let them see that they should know that they never play for a state or a sub group, they play for the team – and team India it could be. I personally have had a wish and that has been to take my short film to an international level and when I would win an award, I’d do it with the tri-color flag at the podium with me. When my film has entered festivals it has had my name with India associated with it. So go, every parent, every youth, every dreamer – go watch it. Also I think today’s corrupted sports authorities should go watch it to shame themselves and last but not least, every celebrity sports or not should watch it as a wake up call – you are NOT doing it for yourself, you never were supposed to.

Cinematically – I will say this here. I know a lot of people think that I do not like SRK. Well I have seen potential in him from his Bazigaar days. Then when he did DDLJ, and even KKHH I was happy for him. But from then he went on to become a star / superstar and left behind his potential of growing as an actor. Then came Swades, and I said to myself ‘Oh yeah’ with regards to his performance. Now comes this film and very seriously, he is an actor in Chak De India. No typical SRK laughs, expressions and routines that he has done to death in Karan Johar films. Here SRK is an actor. Here SRK is Kabir Khan the character, unlike so many of his other movies wherein the character is SRK. Kudos, real kudos to SRK. Thank you for doing this film. To all the guys out there who feel that it’s cool to hate SRK, well go watch this film. The cinematography is excellent, the matches are captured like they are when watching them on TV, giving it that real feel. The music by my all time favorite music directors Salim-Suleiman is top notch. Now, all I will say about Shimit is to Shimit himself – Take a Bow as we have stood up applauding your work. Finally, all I will say to Aditya Chopra is – you are one of the best producers that Bollywood has, as I have looked up to your sense of business, packaging and all. In recent times, things have been hard, and you come from a legacy that has made it doing cinema of a certain genre, so Thank you for making this film. Your worth as a great producer when measured, will have Chak De India contribute to that.

One More Thing – I heard that the film did not do well in the overseas markets, specially in the UK and the USA. Well, there is nothing to worry about here. Chak De India, is about patriotism towards a country called India, therefore has touched to hearts of everyone in India and it’s children walking tall on her own soil.

Tagore Almeida lives in the United Arab Emirates. He is a full time technologist and a part time film writer and maker. He runs a humanitarian site, trying to tell the world to unite and overcome man made barriers. Read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com

Ok I know I said I’d watch Chak De..on the first day, but I’m off on a business trip and by the time I come back Chak De India would still be playing (to packed houses I hope), but the film I am reviewing would probably be off the cinema. Yeap, I made a choice and watched Gandhi My Father.

Wow, wow and damn blady wow. Don’t get me wrong, this wow is not because this was a film about Gandhi. Nope not at all. Gandhi was cool in Lage Raho ( ha ha), here Gandhi the human is what is on our plates. But I will say this again, this wow is not for the fact that this is about Gandhi, the wows are all for Feroz Abbas Khan, Anil Kapoor, Nitin Desai, Shefali Shah, Bhumika Chawla, Darshan Jariwala and ofcourse, most definitely ofcourse Akshaye Khanna.

Reel Life – The film is about the Mahatma’s relationships with his eldest son – Harilal. The film takes you thru a journey on how a man who even today is associated with non-violence and specially his sense of honesty and discipline, affected his own family, and specially his eldest son. While the man became a father to an entire nation, he failed to be a father to a son who struggled to reach out to him right below his nose. The rebellion does various things to get attention, to get back to the extreme virtues of his father. Harilal was the typical bad son who thought from his heart, trying to get his father who thought with his mind, to love him and help him be nothing short of, letting him follow in his own steps.

The film also showcases the Mahatma’s dedication towards getting Indians to unite and throwing the British off ruling our country. Then there is the story of a woman, who is a great strength to the father of the nation, in being his wife, and yet she is torn between her duties there and that of being a mother. Being a mother to a son she sees as clearly getting lost, and yet knows that it is because of the fact that his father is to be blamed for a portion of it. It is the story of a great man, and an unfortunate son.

Real Life – Oh this film has it in plenty. It shows how selfish we humans can get, intentionally or not. I see a lot of Gandhi’s way of working (unfortunately not thinking) in today’s human race. We are so lost in what we do. We try to focus on our work, our goals and our dreams and in turn, many a times we ignore our families. We loose out on spending time with our kids, our parents, our spouses and even our friends. We get so engrossed in our own worlds that we tend to get selfish. There is Gandhi’s way of working in all of us, and in all of us there is a Harilal, reaching out, to be loved and to be understood. I hope this serves as a reminder to put an end to be selfish, and begins within our hearts, the ability to reach out and stop the makings of the pain in other harilal’s in our midst.

Cinematically – Fantastic. The photography is first class. The set design is first class, the music is first class. The direction is first class, the production is first class and the acting is first class. I would love to see this go to the Oscars from a cinematic point of view. Akshaye Khanna is Bollywood’s most underrated actor. He is not a star, he is an actor and a damn good one too at it. Well done Mr. Anil Kapoor – I salute you.

But alas, here we are today – I am not going to review Cash, because simply speaking there is nothing to review. For all the films that I didn’t write that great reviews about, I atleast came out of the theater knowing I had seen ‘Cinema’, and there was good things about it and bad things about it, and that’s what I used to write. Cash does it for me, coz I finally found a film that was good enough for me to put it down as being – a complete waste of time, in the name of cinema. Good or Bad.

Real Life – There is nothing to say here. I believe it was to do with a bunch of people who were after some diamonds, and ofcourse the cops wanting to get their hands on these folk. Remember the film DHOOM2? Well that stylish, that was somewhat cool. Here, we have a director (come on he made the lovely Tum Bin and the cool Dus), who had hit his lowest ever. Whatever he does next will be better than Cash. Guaranteed. You have a bunch of stars who have no other offers, and are here, trying really hard to come across as being cool. They fall flat on their face, worse than a Punjabi Munde trying to claim that he makes the best Sambar in town. The explanations and dialogues are ridiculous. The kids in my building come up with better scenarios and plots when they play Cops & Thieves. The animation was ok, but the way it was used was stupid. I heard that the director’s next film is an animated flick, so I guess he was testing the waters with this film. The film, if anything, made people laugh (when it wasn’t supposed to) and best of all, I actually spared my thoughts to how a nacho taste, with the cheese and without the cheese.

Reel Life – My only comment here is that there should be a governing body which should now look into such films, before they go on the floor, OR the censor board should come up with a new rating to warn people that this is really bad, and to reconsider the option of watching it. Man, people were frustrated walking out of the cinema. I learnt new swear words, and that too in languages I never knew existing. That’s what I feel should happen, to assist humanity – yeap, there should be a ban on such films either being made or being censored correctly.

Cinematically – It hurts me to say this, but what I mean is that ‘Cash – Does it for me’ is that this the first film to be written down as the worst film I’ve ever seen. The most pathethic dialogues and story-line and ofcourse plots and sub plots. I did like the action at times, but again the way they fitted into the film were stupid. The actors were jokers, I really do not want to sound rude, but there should be a law that remits some of them to act in films. My only sad bit – Ajay Devgan!!! What was a man with so much potential doing here? He didn’t fit in at all, and man I was told that he’s evolved and all. Remember Omkara?

Yes, I am still Tagore Almeida, I am still living in Dubai with a job in technology. I still have my humanitarian web site. I still love cinema, and yes I am keeping my fingers crossed and eagerly waiting to watch Chak De. Not just for the fact that SRK is on the screen after a long time, but hey Aditya Chopra is behind this and so is ‘Ab Tak Chapan’-Amin.

Greetings from Dubai. Real life and reel life this week. Watched Naqaab yesterday. Well since I am very choosy about what I watch and review, one might wonder as to what made me watch Naqaab. Well, Naqaab is shot mainly in Dubai, the city that I live in, so I decided to go and watch the film to see how it was captured. That’s why I said Dubai, reel life and real life. Before I proceed I must state that the other equally important reason I went to watch the film was Akshay Khanna – one of Bollywood’s most under-rated actors.

Real Life – The film is a thriller, as expected from this director – duo. But after all the films that they have made, can someone please educate these two, that a thriller is not necarrily about putting one twist after another. Excuse me, many twist (some predictable and some just stupid) do not make a thriller, and surely not a good thriller. Akshay meets girl, makes it out to look like he’s fallen in love with her, but that’s not so. He’s been asked to make friends with her by some guy called Rohit. The girl in turn is all set to marry richie-rich buy Bobby Deol who just seems to be extremely sweet to be true. Then on the wedding day she dumps Bobby (this is not me giving away anything – trust me) and goes off with Akshay, so Bobby kills himself. There you go. The other bits of the film is all about, this being all set up, as reality TV (or film in this case) and how the many twist will confuse you as to who is in on the reality take and who is unaware of it.

Reel Life – The film does touch the surface on how low one will get to, in the name of success, reality TV (specially these days) and all those games. The biggest problem is that the entire subject is treated very immaturely, with the script and story having no real back-bone. The treatment too is very stupid. A lot more intelligence and/or style was needed here to handle this subject which hasn’t been touched before. The directors who have a good track record, have failed to keep upto that mark.

Cinematically – The film is short well. Nothing great, but Dubai looks real, rather than just those skyscrapers and other tourist spots, there are actual places that everyday Dubians like myself interact with. Anyways, I really wouldn’t recommend this film for anything. The new girls is cute, shows potentials in pockets. Akshya is goodm but cannot really do much with a dud like this. Bobby really, very really needs to consider taking a break and doing acting workshops. The music is not worth mentioning. Watch it at your own risk.

Tagore is based out of Dubai. He writes, cooks and mourns about every thing around him. He is an IT professional during the day and a film maker and writer at night. He runs a humanitarian group too, read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com

Well what can I say about this film? You might all recall that I have always loved watching Tabu, she is a fine actress. The Big B, has been delivering slightly disappointing performances recently, at least disappointing based on the levels that one sets for him (no fault of his), but with this film, he acts well, but more importantly he establishes that he is still one of the coolest dudes within the film industry he works in.

Before I do my review, I must credit the sweetness of this film to its writer / director Balki (Balakrishnan). There is a whole lot of “under played” scenes, which always works for me. There isn’t the usual Big B yell, or the defining of authority with his dialogue delivery.

This film requires him to become a love struck puppy and yet within the dimensions of his character’s age and life. London, as the back drop, looks like a everyday London backdrop, with little emphasis on tourist spots, though the film opens up with the showing of the house of parliament – to establish that the film is set in the UK I guess.

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Anyways, here I was, all excited about seeing the always loveable Sanjay Dutt, teamed up again with his buddy Sanjay Gupta, under the white feathers banner that too, to bring us another film. Another film, and that too directed by Aporva . Having the Balaji name to the project didn’t do much for me, so either ways, it doesn’t impress me or make me put it down.

Reel Life – A bunch of local goons, working for ‘a’ don based out of Dubai (yawn, yawn and more yawns). They are ruthless, psychopathic (or so they want you to believe), children of the struggling middle class in Mumbai, and – yes a big AND, they want to do things on their own terms, form their own gang and be the bosses of themselves (Eh, something that you saw in a film called Company. Heck they even got one of those characters out of that film and put him in here, as the main guy in the gang – Vivek Oberoi). These guys are getting tougher and creating havoc in the city called Mumbai. Though mind you, I wish a lot more screen time was given to establish this. As we all know, the police seem to do things the wrong way – like making them surrender, catching them for the intention of presenting them to the court. Well, screw all that. Here we have to tough cop Sanjay Dutt who decides that the only way to sort these thugs is to get rid of them – shoot to kill. So he goes about to put together, what he calls ‘only the best’ in this team. He chooses Sunil Shetty and Arbaz Khan and trust me, there is no justification on what basis he felt they were the ‘best’. But anyways, let us let that be. Finally, all of a sudden, towards the end of the film, these cops, along with – hold your breath – 400 odd cops surrender a residential building, wherein Vivek and his gang (5 in total) are hiding out in a flat. 400 cops for 5 guys!!! Anyways still very believable – get the bastards, I say. Then, when 2 of these gang members get killed, we have three of our heroes, who go after the 3 left gang members – Sanjay Dutt goes after Vivek Oberoi, Sunil Shetty goes after Tushaar Kapoor, and Arbaaz Khan goes after Rohit Roy (I think that is his name). Anyways, here is the best part, when these guys go in after each one of them, the 400 odd cops let these officers go in alone, while they stay back, eh…. Sorry I don’t know what. But hey, don’t question it, as it makes for good old ‘good guys bash up the bad guys’. Anyways the good guys win. Yaaay! But the film is a flash back, which basically shows that the three good cops are being interrogated by a certain Mr. Bachchan. I didn’t realize what he was supposed to be, i.e. a top guy within the police force or a special branch kind of guy. However, he doesn’t really do much, except tries to act (Yes that hurt me to say that, as I am his biggest fan). He tries to be convincing, but that fell flat on his face. At the end it is revealed that he is infact the lawyer who is going to represent these three good guys in court. Phew, I could have never seen that coming – I swear I am not kidding. Then in court, the judgment is based on one, just one question and NO other discussion. Yeap, you heard that right. The question Mr. Bachchan puts forth to the court is ‘there is man outside your house with a gun in his hand. Your wife and kids are inside the house. Who would you wish that man with the gun was? Sanjay Dutt’s character or one of the bad guys?’ Justice has never been so simple and/or touching.

Real Life – There is so much I saw in this film, which actually did strike a human chord within. I could feel for Vivek’s mother, as much as I could feel for Vivek too. You can see, why she raised him that way and wanted him to be tough. You can see, why Vivek turned out to be that way too. I liked Sanjay Dutt’s character too – he was very convincing as that cop, committed and didn’t mince words, not even when his family life comes shattering down. He was real and in character all thru out. Arbaz’s character was very true too, specially what he tells his kid, sitting on a bench outside their school. I can see a lot of people feeling that and sharing it with their kids. Tushaar’s character wasn’t really well sketched. Sunil Shetty, I reckon turned up on the set to visit friends and just got into frame. Ditto Abhishek Bachchan, but I guess he had just a few hours to spare, so ended up doing a cameo. What I also loved was that in the end, Fatu (one of the bad guys), comes back to warn the gang about the cops arriving, when he himself could have run away. I guess, no matter what we do, people will always bond to atleast another human huh?

Cinematically – Lots of style, very little substance. Lots of opportunities of which very little were materialized. The songs were pathetic, not just in placement, but as songs too. That ‘Ganpat’ song seemed quiet promising until I saw it visually. Amithab should never have done this role, or rather done it properly. Tushaar is the surprise package in the film, he does deliver better than he ever has. The film is very sleek, very stylish, but I feel so sad that these guys did not concentrate on the script and the screenplay. Another point is also that there was excessive violence without justification.

On the whole, this is, in many ways a guy flick. But even then, not really. It’s not good enough to fall into the Kaante category.

Tagore is based out of Dubai, wherein he works within the IT industry. He is also a writer and has recently directed his first short BIN MOKSH, which is doing it’s rounds across festivals.

I really didn’t know what to expect from ‘The Namesake’, but I wanted to watch it for four reason, Tabu, Irfaan, Kal (Penn) and Mira, literally in that order, and trust me, in that order non of them, or their work disappointed me at all.

Reel Life – Irfaan marries Tabu, which is an arranged marriage and soon they two move to America. The life there is different but luckily the film doesn’t get stereo-typed to emphasize on this element (and good for it, as it doesn’t need to). The couple give birth to a child, a boy and as it is per the Bengali tradition (or so it comes across), they have to wait for the grandmother of the family to name the boy. The grandmother lives in far away India, and since there was no email or internet in those days, it would take a few weeks if not a month to get the name choosen for the new boy. However, in America, you cannot leave the hospital without a birth certificate, and for the birth certificate to be complete, one needs to provide the system with the name of the new born. ‘Gogol’, declares Irfaan, the father. Named after a Russian author who Irfaan is a tremendous fan of, the couple decide that they will change the name later when the grandmother’s chosen name is known to them. Sixteen years later, Kal Penn still carries the name Gogol and often gets mocked when reference to the original eccentric Russian author Nikolai Gogol. Kal is dating an American (white) woman and is serious about the relationship. He hates his given name and so that he doesn’t hurt his parents to much, he changes his name to Nikil (from Nikolai), which he knows will conveniently get changed to Nick. When Irfaan passes away, Kal begins to find himself and realizes from this father, just before his death, the deeper reason to why he was named Gogol. In there lies a secret of sorts, a fear of a man but best of all when Kal questions Irfaan if his name reminds him of that dark day, Irfaan tells him that it doesn’t, but instead it reminds him of every day in his life, after that tragic day, which he purely calls a miracle. We often fall back on the convenience of our cultures, but I guess the real test is when we still believe in it at times of real and modern challenges.

Real Life – There is so much. Right from the discovery of one’s self, to how it amplifies a simple message, and that is it showcases how strong a woman is and will be for her family and/or spouse. A lot of the youth today seem to either get torn apart from their roots, OR use their roots as a very fashionable accessory to carry their otherwise lost and/or hypocritical souls. ‘The Namsake’ addresses that in some ways. It also does pain a beautiful picture of how many of our parents from the Asian sub-continent carried their relationship. There were no flowers, no issues of space for themselves, no compromises, and no valentine day flowers and gifts. There was no abuse of the words ‘I love you’, and YET there was an amazing world that was glued as one. The commitment, the battles, the friendship and ofcourse the love was always there. Wake up call people, we need to re-visit that. Mind you, do not lower thy selves by talking about women’s right and freedom today, as these very things were there then too, atleast in the relationship between Tabu and Irfaan, and might I say that, it did remind me of my parents and the parents of most of my friends.

Cinematically – The film is beautiful., the texture just right. There is no overdose of desi culture, music and/or people. These people are real desis living in America, and they seem subtle, unlike the other Indians that we see on celluloid in desi films. Irfaan is really and really good. He underplays it so well, that you cannot help and see the talent and genius in this man. Kal Peen is just a joy to watch. He makes you believe in what he says and does. He switches so well from being a desi to being an American, and expressing the right emotions and body language. Mira Nair, I feel has come of age with this film. I loved every bit of her work here. It’s been a long long journey from ‘Mississippi Masala’ (which I watched as a teenager in a cinema in London and loved it too) to ‘The Namesake’ (which I watched in a cinema in Dubai). The coke tasted the same, the popcorn felt like the same, but Mira is different. She has evolved and I guess represents India on the global cinema stage more than some other folk who I do not wish to name. Now finally, Tabu!!! There is a reason why the thinking audience rates her the way they do. There is a reason why this same thinking audience and those audiences who are exposed to real and world cinema give her the respect they do, when she appears on screen. There is a reason why you cannot compare the likes of the current bollywood queens (yeah right!!!) who have made a name for themselves repeating what they do in ever film and crying for no reason at all – to this actor called Tabu. Go and watch the film, if not for anything else but Tabu, and be proud that she is one of us, and two be sure – nobody from the current bollywood lot could do what she has done. WATCH the film, before you argue with me on this.

On the whole I loved the film, and going to own the DVD, like I recently got a hold of Mississippi Masala on DVD too. I will place the DVD of ‘the Namesake’ alongside my collection of films from Agnipath, Maqbool to Andaz Apna Apna, Darr

Tagore is based in Dubai and lives and works within the IT industry. He is a script writer and a film maker, while still trying to urge the world to live in peace, love and harmony. Read more about him at www.tagorealmeida.com