Life is series of Cathartic episodes - Fursat by Vishal Bhardwaj

Life is series of Cathartic episodes.

As 2023 started, I watched Fursat, a film Shot on iPhone 14 Pro by Vishal Bhardwaj.
Before you think this post is a movie review, wait!
I won't divulge anything about Fursat. 

Watching this film, triggered few dormant, ungerminated emotions inside me. I went into a state of reminiscence. This made me jump from one episode of my life to the next, realising that we don't really move from sorrow to serenity, it's only sojourn which halts us! Then catharsis follows, it heals you, it makes you another person.

Now, another note : The film has nothing to do with nostalgia, healing or melancholy. That's how catalysts work. 

Life goes on, we are a creature of habit & adjust to all hardships, to go through a series of cathartic episodes and keep healing and evolving!

Well, on a slightly unrelated note, crying is also good for health. And, crying is part of Catharsis too! 

My Atthani : 'Haider' Movie review

Rating : 9.0/10

Reasons to spend your money : Shahid Kapoor's marvellous acting & Picturesque Locations

You can stay at home if : You can wait for the DVD 

You would like it if you like :  You need an escapist cinema which involves you for more than 2 hrs

You would hate it if you dislike : Movies which entertain you less and make you think more

'Haider' is an engrossing movie which does its job of keeping your woes out of the theatre pretty well for the entire stretch of movie. It's one of those rare examples of Hindi cinema which doesn't stutter post-interval. Haider as a movie comes out of the envelope completely only after the intermission. Shahid Kapoor is the star of the movie and rest all support his performance. It's not that others would not impress you but Shahid as 'Haider' is that special dish which stands out on the dinner table; even though other dishes are equally well prepared by your mom.

 

My Atthani : 'Finding Fanny' Movie review

Rating : 7.0/10

Reasons to spend your money : Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur & Deepika Padukone

You can stay at home if : You don't like slow-paced movies 

You would like it if you like :  Red Wine (Yes!) - The experience of watching this movie is similar

You would hate it if you dislike : English interspersed in a Hindi Movie

'Finding Fanny' is a story about five lonely & quirky people whose lives have come to a halt because of different reasons. This inertia is suddenly disturbed when all these people set out on a journey to find Naseeruddin Shah's love interest of yore. 'Finding Fanny' is just a different movie after the interval. I won't say it suffers from the 'curse of second half'. However, there was not much to tell in the later stages of the movie so it meanders along the scenes when Deepika & Arjun Kapoor get cosy & Pankaj Kapur paints an overtly outrageous nude of Dimple Kapadia.

I have no regrets of watching this movie as it is pleasant and even you won't dissatisfied.

My Atthani : Queen

Rating : 7.5/10

Reasons to spend your money : Kangana Ranaut

You can stay at home if : You are not a fan of breakup movies 

You would like it if you like :  English Vinglish

You would hate it if you dislike : Not so crisp editing


The movie is about a girl who has been dumped by her fiancee just a day before the marriage. It deals with how the woman ultimately realises that self love is better than any other form of romantic or for that matter sexual involvement. You have to watch this movie if your heart has recently been broken or take your friend who has been dumped by their significant others. You would spend the time watching the movie with a heavy heart and curdled up emotions. After a while, cheering for every achievement of Queen (Rani) becomes an effortless task.

My Atthani : Dedh Ishqiya

Rating : 8.0/10

Reasons to spend your money : Arshad Warsi, Huma Qureshi & Classy dialogues

You can stay at home if : You have to watch this movie!

You would like it if you like :  Intelligent dialogues, Suspense & Madhuri Dixit

You would hate it if you dislike : Urdu diction & subtitles for understanding them

There are two types of films which leave a lasting impression on your mind. One, the movie which keeps you wanting for more and the other, which has just the correct duration of cinema for offering. Dedh Ishqiya belongs to the latter type. Dedh Ishqiya starts with bothering you too much with its Urdu but after the interval this movie is a real delight to watch. Don't miss this one!

My Atthani : Dhoom 3 Movie Review

Rating : 6.0/10

Reasons to spend your money : Katrina Kaif, Action Sequences

You can stay at home if : If you have high expectations from Aamir.

You would like it if you like :  Masala Hindi Cinema, Chiseled Guys & Hot girls

You would hate it if you dislike : Cheesy lines, corny jokes, Uday Chopra


This film on a whole is a decent one-time watch. It slowly grows on you but never reaches the crescendo which was almost round the corner at least for 3-4 times. Surprisingly, Katrina has been given the best dialogues. Don't go with high expectations and you would come out without regrets.  

My Atthani : Bullett Raja Movie Review

Rating : 7.5/10
Reasons to spend your money : Saif Ali Khan, Clever dialogues & Happy Ending
You can stay at home if : If you don't like revenge-fueled violence. 
You would like it if you like : Pulp Fiction, Gangs of Wasseypur & Ajay Devgan-Action 
You would hate it if you dislike : Sholay, Quentin Tarantino-flicks & incoherent-story

This was my Atthani about Bullet Raja. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The movie also posits about why Lord Brahma has only one temple at Pushkar. The characters played by Saif Ali Khan &  Jimmy Shergill make you fall in love with killing, throwing bricks, stones and what-not at their opponents.

I won't write about the negatives because I didn't find anything which could make the movie-watching experience tiring & worthless.  

Yes, I have read the book!

When this controversy started though I was able to empathize Chetan Bhagat but I decided not to write any post related to this on my blog but after this...(see the video below)



I made up my mind that my favourite author and my college senior deserves a mention of this in my blog. The question is not whether the movie is 30%, 50% or 100% copied from the book but it is about moral responsibility of the eulogizer of Gandhigiri. I agree that an artist can't epitomise his creation but this is an extreme case.

What is the point Chetan Bhagat is trying to make?(see the video below)



The bottomline is that this is a typical example in which the writer is not being given appropriate credits. However, the first battle is won by the writer concerned here due to his cult following and media contacts. It could have happened to a less known author and very likely his voice would have been suppressed.

The controversial part of the contract:[view image below]


Courtesy: http://www.vinodchopra.com/agreement.pdf


Read what one of the Aamir khan fans has to say on this, which he posted as a comment in his blog:

"2104. vinayb79
Posted on Jan,02,2010 at 11:48 AM

My simple point is why did the makers get into the contract with
Mr. Bhagat if they 'loosely' wanted to base the movie on the
book or if they only wanted to use '3 to 5 % ' from the book...Do
script writers need 3 to 5 % ? what about the rest 95 0r 97 %?
For that 3 to 5 % the movie makers needed to get into a contract
with the novelist , for what? probably for PUBLICTY because the
book was already FAMOUS?

Could that 3 to 5 % similarities not be avoided and a Original
movie then would have come to the fore...then there would nt have
been a need to making a contract then in the first place...and
once you base movie from a novel, the originality is lost in the
sense of the story whether it is 3 or 5 or 7 or 70 or 50
%...secondly it surely is much more than 3 to 5 %....."


What is my take on this?
I don't want to speak politically correct; the team "3 Idiots" has failed to acknowledge the fact that no matter how successful his film becomes he has to give credit to the person who originally created the characters much before Abhijat Joshi or Rajkumar Hirani thought about Phansuk Wangdu, Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad and Virus.

Rashmi bansal has a valid point here

"Ultimately, Simon Beaufoy won an Oscar for 'best adapted screenplay. And he did not forget to thank Vikas, even in his acceptance speech... "

(Slumdog Millionaire is an adaptation of the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup.)

I think this matter will die within few weeks but the man who will gain maximum out of this is ironically Chetan Bhagat.

If you chronologically follow the proceedings you might think this to be some PR stunt. The film gets publicity, chetan bhagat gets his name mentioned in newspaper and news Channels, the looser is no one!

I do not know the truth and don't want to talk more about this but if you are interested watch this Star News coverage and if you strongly feel that Chetan has moral as well as legal advantage if the controversy goes to court, know what IP practitioners have to say on this

All is well!

PS: Happy new year 2010 to you, may this year bring loads of pleasant surprises for you :)

"Jab We Met" Century

I've seen this movie for more than 100 times and still I watch it whenever I feel like a Despo,or I'm Frustrated or just not in a good mood. You'll know why after watching this short video.



The above video has all the funny scenes compiled together but it is much more than just this it has emotions of all kind. No, I'm not going to give any review about this movie.

Jab We Met is a type of movie which falls in the category of "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Dil Chahta Hai", "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" and "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" to name a few. These movies though not the best works of writers and directors are loved by the common audience like me.

The common link in all these movies is that they are realistic and with a tinge of fantasy together wrapped like "hide n seek biscuits". Talking about realistic movies, "Jab We Met" doesn't happen often quite often in real life but it has some really good fundae(I know it's not a word) about life.



Yeah, I too agree that if we do everything as our whims and fancies it may lead to disastrous consequences but we would be aware it was us who did this and we won't blame anybody for it.

The Climax is just superb and it always gives me the hope that stories do have a happy ending. The "train-chutt-rahi-hai" wala feeling is like it happens to most of us, does this makes sense?