Vadi's Top 10 movies of 2012

This is the time of the year where I look back at my favorite movies of the past year.  I’ve seen several new releases in 2012 and these are my pick of the top 10 movies of the year.  Please note that these are the movies that I’ve watched at the theatres and if there is a great movie that I’ve missed, that’s probably because I could not find time to watch it at the theatre.

10) Life of Pi – May be I was expecting too much out of this.  Based on an acclaimed novel and directed by Oscar winning genius Ang Lee, this movie had some rave reviews on the festival circuit.  But, for me, it was visually stunning but the spiritual message of the book did not reflect on screen.   Nonetheless, there were a few scenes that were absolutely breathtaking.  The scene where the boy finds a floating island and the one where he sees an illuminated whale were pure genius.   

 9) Vicky donor – The surprise hit of 2012.  Being a Punjabi Dilliwala, I could totally connect with this one.  Solid performances by Ayushmann and Yami Gautam, they’ve displayed a lot of promise.  But, the true gems of this movie were the support cast, everyone from the Dadi to Ayushmann’s mom.  A big shout out to Annu Kapoor for the funniest performance I’ve seen in years.  This one is number 9 on my list and had me laughing all the way to the end.

8) The raid redemption – This is an Indonesian film and I saw it dubbed in English by Indian voice over artists.  The movie had a special mention at the Sundance film festival and I was very excited to see it.  The movie is based in Jakarta, where a team of commandos raid a building owned by a crime boss to take him down.  Apart from the video game feel of the movie, it had some great action set pieces and would be a treat for action movie junkies.

7) Gangs of Wasseypur – Anurag Kashyap’s 2 part movie about the gang wars in Bihar/Jharkhand were one of the best Bollywood movies of the year.  The 2 part movie was spread across decades and showed the rivalry between Khans and Quereshis.  It was also a generational war between Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajapayee) and Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia).  Both movies had no dearth of quirky characters and funny situations.  Breakout performances by Manoj Bajapayee, Richa Chaddha and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and amazing story takes this to number (( 7 )) on my list.

6) Talaash – This movie co-written and directed by Reema Kagti was probably the best suspense thriller to come out of Bollywood in recent years.  This subtle and emotional journey of a couple who has witnessed the death of a child and is now going through a crumbling marriage was quite refreshing.  All the performances were top notch and special mention goes to Ram Sampath for an excellent background score and wonderful music.

5)   21 Jump Street – This movie was by far the best comedy of 2012.  The last time I laughed        so much in a movie was when I saw the Hangover part 1.  The 2 lead actors Jonah and Channing totally nailed it.  The movie was consistently funny throughout the roughly 100 min running time and if you’ve not seen this movie yet, rent the DVD now! It will be the most fun you’ve had in a long time.

 4)   Skyfall – This bond movie is the highest grossing 007 movie ever.  Quite different from the other bond movies, it had a soul and was high on emotional quotient.  From Adele’s soundtrack to the incredible chase scene of Istanbul.  For me, this one was one of my favorite bond movies ever.  Not to forget, Javier Bardem as the villain and ex agent was scary and the best villain of the year.  

 3)   Argo – Ben Affleck has matured as a director, like good Whiskey over time.  In 2010, I saw his Boston based crime drama The Town and was very impressed by his direction.  After seeing Argo, I’m convinced that he is going to be one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.  The story about the Iranian revolution in 1979 where 6 American diplomats escape the embassy and hide at the Canadian ambassador’s house.  One agent from the CIA, played by Ben himself creates a fake movie unit and gets them out of Iran.  Based on a true story, this movie had many great moments.  After the end credits rolled and they showed pictures of real people and events and the actors, it was hard to make out the difference.

 2) The Dark Knight Rises – Christopher Nolan’s epic conclusion to the Batman trilogy.  This one had a great star cast and a very interesting theme.  The story about the rich v/s poor and us v/s them had a lot of parallels with the occupy Wall Street movement.  The movie also had a great ending about the whole batman story and one of the major highlights was Anne Hathaway in a cat woman suit.

 1)  The Artist – I saw this movie in early 2012 and it just below my mind.  It was a tribute to the silent film era of the 1930s and 1940s.  The movie showed the downfall of a silent film actor due to the introduction of audio films.  The most interesting this is that this tribute to Hollywood’s silent film era was directed by a Frenchman named Michel Hazanavicius with French actors.  Jean Dujardin got the Oscar for best actor and won millions of hearts, so did the dog that played his faithful pet in the movie.  All cinema lovers should see this movie.

A big shout out to these movies that did not make the top 10 but were pretty deserving and well made movies.

Looper – Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Lewitt, director Rian Johnson and time travel.  I was hoping that this would be an exceptional film, which it was until the first half.  I thought during the 2^nd half, Rian Johnson went on holiday and the producers just shot the movie on a farm with a kid and a woman.  All said and done, interesting story and solid performances.

Jatt and Juliet – What can I say about this movie, it was the first Punjabi movie that I saw in theatre and all I can say is that its definitely not going to be my last.  Crackling chemistry between Diljeet and Neeru Bajwa, nice music and a solid support cast of acclaimed Punjabi artists.  More than anything, Diljeet’s goofiness and screen presence were very good.  It was like a good Punjabi meal and is I was satisfied after it.

To Rome with Love – To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Woody Allen’s cinema but this seemed like a tribute to Rome.  Also, multiple stories meant you were introduced to several characters.  The story which had Alec Baldwin and Jesse Eisenberg was the best one.  Overall, a nice rom com for a lazy Sunday afternoon

1.       Hunger Games

2.       The most exotic marigold hotel

3.       Rock of Ages

4.       HORRIBLE BOSSES

5.       English Vinglish

Until next time, its good bye and good luck at the movies.

Ricky's review of Ishaqzaade

Hey guys..  I'm back again after a hiatus of almost 6 months..   Time does pass in a flash.. especially if you're a 
Monday to Friday corporate slave.  Nevertheless, just went to watch the new offering by Yash Raj " Ishaqzaade " starring the Fatboy slim Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra ( the girl next door to the next door girl ).  So, first things first, I feel Habib Faisal is a good writer, he has movies like Band baja baarat and Do duni chaar to his credit but his direction is clearly not his strength.  Nonetheless, he creates some endearing characters  and some watchable scenes in this movie.


The movie is a loosely inspired desi version of  Romeo and Juliet.  There are 2 families i.e. the Chauhans and the Quereshis battling for a  MLA seat in the upcoming elections somewhere in U.P.  Parineeti is playing Zoya, a short tempered and foul mouthed daughter to the  Quereshi family scion.  On the other hand, Arjun Kapoor plays Parma, grandson of the Chauhan patriarch.  Between the conflict, there is a love story between Zoya and Parma.

There are a few things that were apparent after watching this movie, lets take them head on.

1. If Parineeti Chopra can become a leading lady, any girl in India can star in a yash raj production one day.
2. I think Arjun Kapoor lost his acting talent along with the 150 kilos he lost in his " transformation " from a rich fat kid to having six pack abs.  Am I the only one who thinks its high  time that we are spared of these rich and fat industrywalla kids getting transformed into beautiful creatures.  I mean look at the list, you have Sonam kapoor who in her own admission said that she " was struggling with facial hair and a big ass ".  Also, you have Sonakshi, who used to weigh 120 kilos and had glasses until one day Salman Bhai discovered her.  In case of Arjun as well, he had a mentor in Bhai which enabled him to shed off those extra kilos and become a leading man.
3. Girls always fall for the bad guy.  Thats right folks, this is a universal law and is applicable to every woman irrespective of race or age.  Moreover, there is a correlation to this law as well, which is that after falling for the bad guy.. the girl will get fcuked and dumped but will still want to get back together with the bad guy. 

The 3rd point is manifested very aptly in Ishqzaade, you will find that there is a  young London educated doctor who is a perspective husband for Zoya but she falls for  Parma, a guy who has been consistently failing college exams for the last 5 years.  Interestingly, Zoya herself claims to be a college topper for the last 2 years.  Even more shocking is how, in the opening scenes both of them are shown taking gun shots at each other and obviously hate each other but after a couple of scenes, they have fallen head over heels for each other.  

    4.    Most Indian directors do not know how to film love making scenes.  I think for me, the last Indian movie where love making scenes were shot aesthetically  was Anurag Basu's Murder.  Even though the movie was a rip off, the scenes were done up pretty well.  In Ishqzaade however, we get a dose of love making scenes that resemble the B and C grade movies.  I think with heaps of experience,  Emraan H can be roped in as a consultant in these love making scenes.

This is end for Part 1, wait for part 2 of the review

Love between Anita and Vipul

As has always been the recurring theme in my posts, I sort of stumbled upon the same old thing while I started writing my new post.  It can be an emotion, agony or Ecstasy whatever you want to call it, its the four letter word ' love '.  The four letter word that has been used in numerous movies and even has a TV channel named after it if I remember correctly.  Also, since this is after a long long time I'm writing a post on this is site, I had lost interest in writing when I did not even had a single viewer even after spending so much time and effort.  But, I met a friend recently and he said that he kind of enjoyed whatever crap I wrote and hence I'm back, with a vengeance and  this time I'm sure I'm gonna stir up some controversy.  As I was telling the same friend the other day and same has been echoed by Rakhi S and Shalini C " any publicity is good publicity ".


If you read my earlier posts, you will read about the Lucy and Vicky saga, which seemed quite interesting and right out of an art house movie which probably would win an award  at Sun dance, directed by a young Japanese director.     


Nevertheless, that saga's heyday has past now and its time to move on to a new saga.


This is a story about Vipul and Anita and also interlinked is the story of Rakesh and Sakshi.  Since the title of this story is Vipul and Anita, lets check out their story, this is also a story of agony  emotion, humor and ecstasy but mostly this is a story about love.

Vipul is a happy go lucky young guy, he's the kind of guy who can attract attention by walking into  a room, he has a kind of boyish charm that makes him attractive but beneath that boyish charm is a profound honesty that is equally inviting.  Some say he's gullible and naive but he likes to think himself as oblivious to the world's problems and happy in his small habitat.  He's about 23-24 and works at a multinational bank.  




Anita works in the same office and she is a manager, while Vipul is an associate, she is about 32-33 and is married.  She has a kind of an earthy beauty that is very subtle and graceful.  Also, she has an aggressive approach towards work and it not that popular among her subordinates but the striking feature is that she is passionate and has tenacity, one that never takes a no when she wants to hear a yes.


  

Lucy and Vicky Cont.

Vicky's actual name , I can hardly remember but I'm sure it would have been something I could not pronounce, something in Cantonese like Ming Yuu---oo--ng...  , I dont want to be racist but Chinese names are frankly very difficult to pronounce unless it is small or cute like Lin Lin or Ming Ming.  Hence, it is necessary for Chinese students overseas to have names like Bryan , Stella and so on...  which is kinda cool coz they can choose a nice name for themselves and you can hold on to it for the rest of your life , if you choose to stay back in that country.  


Alrite then, too much crap about names now, one thing you'll notice about Chinese students overseas is that they are always in their group n speaking in Cantonese or Mandarin..  Also, within the group they are always in pairs like 1 guy 1 girl or 2 guys 2 girls and you will see that couple hang out throughout the semester..// sit together during lectures, together in the lab doing assignments..// probably live together n have sex as well.. watever..//  On the other hand, If you look at the Indian students group overseas, probably have 4 Desi boys and 1 nerdy girl..// The boys try and hit on Chinese girls but its hard for them coz 1. Chinese girls don't speak good English..// very rarely , which can be an advantage some times..//  2. Like I said they come in pairs and hence very difficult to get thru.


Now, as you know Vicky is Chinese , been in NZ for 5 yrs studying at a good university at Auckland, NZ .  She is fair, tall compared to other Chinese girls, she has beautiful hair that she keeps tied up and has really nice n deep eyes..//  I'll call her a serene beauty and also, great sense of style..// carries a knock off louis vitton bag ( plenty can be bought from China town ), lives at an apartment building wid a random room mate at upper Queen Street at Auckland CBD.  


Lucy aka LUCKY aka Puneet is a hard core Delhi boy, born and brought up in Delhi lives in East Delhi with his family and is one of the most memorable and interesting people I have met in my life.  


He is a remarkable human being and has a personality that can instantly connect wid people..//  You can put Lucy in a room wid the devil and I'm sure after 10 mins, they would come out together laughing as if they have been friends for ages.  Moreover, Lucy lives with his set of rules..// he loves his playstation..//  has a steady girl friend which he refers to as his " Bandi" ...//  when me n Lucy came to NZ together to study at University..//  Lucy had a single point agenda ( which I admire immensely as I'm not capable of sticking to a plan )  n that was to stay put in NZ..//          watever happens Lucy's resolve was that he is not going back..//  he was done wid crowded Delhi buses n traffic n noise n wat ever else Slumdog Millionaire has glorified around the world about India.  He sure misses Indian food but lets be real..//  who does n't ..//  I mean I missed Indian food more than I missed my folks in India..//  but those parties n freedom..// nights spend roaming high on Queen street  n at Showgirlz...  some how makes up for the food.  Interestingly, As I gave you a vague visual idea of Vicky, I think.. it would be nice to give you a fair idea about lucy as both of them are the protagonists of this short story , blog , watever.  Now, as can be seen Vicky has been described as a serene beauty by myself n well  lucy....///  hmmm...  I dont wanna be too honest coz he might read this...//  well.. lets just say Lucy was not that gifted in the looks department...  He's like your  average Joe..., medium height n built , dark , wears glasses ( tried contacts but did not work ) , has a bit of a tummy...//  but but but !!!  his personality n sense of humor makes up for it...!!  Whenever I remember the time I spent wid Lucy ..., I can only think of the movie Shallow Hal...  Lucy can be Jack Black n I  George Castansa... n v were probably like them... beautiful girlz never used to notice us...  But, everything was gonna change n Lucy n Vicky met..... 

Lucy and Vicky

This is a story about 2 individuals and before guys start dreaming, this is not about a lesbian couple at all.  In fact, both these names are alias names i.e. people have real names but they get a new name which is easier to use for foreigners.  Anyways, both Lucy and Vicky were students at a university in New Zealand, Vicky was a Chinese student  from the mainland...  she had been in NZ for 5 yrs and she was a permanent resident ; Desi students living or having lived abroad will understand the importance of this phrase PR.  People make strategies to get it..// it is so sought after..//  You can get married to native n get PR..//  get a good job related to your field may be that'll work.. n so on..  different strategies all to reach that elusive goal.  


Moving on, As I was telling you about Vicky, well..  Her actual name 

Following up on the same old blog

As I was saying...//  Tushar told Noor that he is going to New Zealand and wants to settle down there..//  Tushar had been studying Chinese and wanted to make a career as a translator/interpretor but the language was getting difficult as the years went by and made him look for other options.  This was a part of Tushar's personality, he had the knack of running away whenever things started getting tough..//  he was told later in life by a friend that he is a "bagoda", Tushar hated that but somewhere deep in his heart he knew that it was true.


Tushar had expected Noor to be angry and loud after hearing this, but to his surprise her reaction was very subdued, to the extend that Tushar started wondering whether it made any difference to her if he left or stayed in India.  She said, " well if thats what to want to do then go for it", he nodded back.  Later, Noor left as Tushar's mom was about to come home and she knew that mom did not approve of their alliance.  


Things were moving rapidly, Tushar was preparing to take the IELTS , it was funny how so many pronounced it as aaiieelettss for some reason.  He was also going to this consultant at Nehru place who was helping him with his admission in New Zealand.  Also, he had a college senior who was also there named Amit..//  He was a great guy and they used to exchange e mails quite frequently..// Amit had a really nice job there and was doing pretty well.  Hence, Tushar's plan was to go to NZ..//study n work part time..// later find full time work become a resident , bring parents to NZ and settle down there but I guess, life had other plans

The guy who thought he had it all, just before he was about to throw it away

 This is my first post and the time or shall I say the moment is quite auspicious,  I was creating this blog and got a call from my boss who said he would like to welcome me back to the company, more on what and why this happened later,,,


Some ground rules (for the reader) -  when I write, I do it from the heart and have a tendency of moving away from the topic, if something else comes up.  Moreover, expect the grammer to be bad as I write freely but I will try to keep it a smooth read..// easy to understand and fun to read, like breeze blowing on a sunny day,,//  Lastly, some content might be mature ,so be sensible../


Let us come back to the title of my blog...///  as you can see its about a guy who ...//  line shamelessly taken from The Town...//  great movie though.. Ben Affleck doing a great job as a director..../// will talk bout the movie in detail some other time ..//  Now, this guy that had it all, v should name him...//   hmmm... think think  alright lets name him Tushar Kapur.  Alright then,  so.. I'll tell you a little bit about our guy Tushar..//  well,  he is your average joe types West Delhi boy belonging to a upper middle punjabi family.  About the family,  well..  Dad owns a shop at Karol Bagh..  nothin fancy just average but Ghar chal raha hai...//  Mom is a house wife..//  elder sister.. the go getter..// 


The moment -  Tushar is in his room, elder sister aka didi lives and works abroad,,// dad at the shop and mom away..//  Tushar is with his girl friend in his room,  the girlfriend is a sardarni, she lives in Subash Nagar and they are just lying there on his bed,,// holding hands..//  eyes closed..// Tushar is trying to remember the song from Armaggaddon..//  he's singing " I would stay awake, just to hear you breathing.....//  watch you smile while you are sleeping...//while you're far away and dreaming..//  I could spend my life in this sweet surrender..///  I can stay lost in this moment.../// forever,,,    Tushar had always loved that movie but later he began to hate Michael Bay movies ..//  She is really beautiful...//  the girl friend's name is ..  hmmm..  lets just call her Noor...//  Coz that's wat Tushar calls her.../  Noor is beautiful..//  she is just slightly shorter than Tushar,,//  she's fair, beautiful long brown hair  ( Tushar loves her hair but has never told her ) She has very deep brown eyes..// n whenever you look into them..// you can notice a mystery...  they are deep..// not shallow , most girls have that..  but not Noor, the eyes are telling you a story...// Tushar could never really understand Noor..// he liked being with her and she also seemed to enjoy his company.  


Coming back to the moment, Tushar is laying there holding hands,,// n he breaks the news, " I am going to New Zealand, I want to settle down there and later on bring my parents there as well".  More on this tomoro