Category: films

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Three films and a weekend

After that weekend post on my peaceful coexistence with clutter, on a bit of a rebound, I decided to clear up our CD collection. Did I tell you we got rid of cable/Tata Sky a few months back? Yeah well, so over the weekend, the kids watch their DVDs, and I thought it would be a good idea to get them in order.
However, I stumbled upon some long forgotten films – a treasure, really. As a result the cleaning was quite forgotten and I sat down for a film-festival of my own.

First it was You’ve Got Mail

I could do an entire post on that one. Kathleen (Meg Ryan) owns a tiny bookshop while Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) heads a giant bookstore (that drives her out of business). The two bump into each other in a chatroom and a love story unfolds. Films on books and book lovers are a complete treat. Wasn’t Kathleen’s Shop Around the Corner just the cutest? I loved how cosy her storytelling sessions were and how she knew just the right book for every child. 

I felt her heartbreak when she could not meet the competition from Joe Fox. And yet I couldn’t hate him for he’s sweet too. Their interactions are absolutely heartwarming. 

Some of the dialogues really spoke to me. Consider this one:
Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life – well valuable, but small – and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave?
and this:
When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life ever does.
My favourite however, is this one:
Kathleen: ….What happens to me when I’m provoked is that I get tongue-tied and my mind goes blank. Then I spend all night tossing and turning trying to figure out what I should have said.

Kathleen Kelly was definitely the hero of this film for me.


Then I watched Mary Reilly

This one was hidden away with a bunch of more famous Julia Roberts starrers and I had completely missed watching it. Roberts plays Mary Reilly, a maid to Dr Jekyll, with a dark past and an abusive father. She gets embroiled in Dr Jekyll’s experiments as he changes each night to Mr Hyde. He’s a little in love with her but can’t tell her and she’s a bit in love with him too. Mr Hyde however has no such compunctions. He scares her and yet she feels an unexplained attraction. It’s a bit of a dark film but very engrossing. Do catch it if you can.

And finally Sense and Sensibility….

for the hundredth time. 

**Gush Alert**

Jane Austen’s story is of course a favourite (and I won’t even go into that. If you haven’t read it you just should, rightaway) but I also love everything else about this 1995 film. The setting is lovely, the English countryside is breathtaking and the two characters of Elinor and Marianne contrast beautifully. Each of the supporting characters are just right for their parts.
But the bestest part of all was that I completely forgotten it starred Alan Rickman (Snape) as Colonel Brandon. As the strong silent Colonel, he was …. perfect. I could have whacked  Marianne on the head for ignoring him so but then he does get her in the end so it was all forgiven. 

Then there was Hugh Grant being Hugh Grant – the perfectly awkward gentleman – quite his forte. The two ladies Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet were a treat too. Lovely lovely film.

All in all a weekend well spent. As for the cleaning  – that’ll have to wait yet another day. 
How was your weekend? Do you like to re-watch old films?

Linking up with Mackenzie at Reflections from Me

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Some good, some bad!

This week’s been nothing if not eventful. Pretty unbelievable things have happened — at least one of them was super nice and the other super sad.

The nice one first (for no reason other than it happened first). The Husband took leave!!! Just like that!!! And if you knew him at all you’d find those exclamation marks justified. This my friends is as earth shattering as it can get. In the one and half decade of knowing him he’s never done this… to take leave to be home… unbelievable.

The thing is he only recently found out that casual leaves lapse at the end of the year. Don’t be surprised, that’s symptom no 5 of a crazed workaholic. Anyway so he took leave and we went for a film, just the two of us… another not-done-in-over-7years-thing. The film, English Vinglish was wonderful, but of course you all know that by now. A must watch.

Just as I was gushing at how wonderful it was and how we should do this more often, The Husband promptly clarified that this new film-watching-him was not a permanent phenomenon, “Next film, next year,” he pronounced. Talk about enthusiasm (or lack of it)!

Now for the bad – I missed the children’s Sports Day! Just missed it. I’m still wondering how I could let that happen. There was no information, other than on the school website which I haven’t been able to access since the start of the session despite repeated meeting with their IT department. I’ve been depending on a friend to forward all notices to me and .. well … she didn’t. By the time she found out and called me, feeling very very guilty, it was too late.

Hrit was down with an upset stomach so he’d have missed it anyway but Naisha was there and The Husband could have gone to cheer her. I did drag a recovering Hrit and reached the school but it was all over. :-(((( . I’ve been feeling bad bad bad.

What was worse, Naisha came back and said, “Many children who didn’t win the race cried, mama, but I didn’t yet teacher thought I was crying.” Which, of course, means she did cry. I so wish I’d been there. Worse still, she uttered not a word of reproach. She makes it a point to look out for us at school events. However, when The Husband called to ask her how it went.. she said, “I didn’t win the race and Hrit wasn’t well so mama couldn’t come.” How sensible is that!

I’ll wrap up with a word of apology for peppering the post with exclamation marks. Not that I have anything against them, it’s just that they’re misused and overused and misused some more so much that I’ve had more than enough of them. However, bear with me just this time.

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We watched Ra-1

In the middle of all the mayhem of the past weeks we managed to watch Ra-1. This fact needs to be documented because this is the kids’ first SRK film, my heart throb for the longest time.
Hrit was excited because bloodthirsty boy that he is, he looks forward to any kind of action.
Naisha was excited because of Chamak Chalo.. the song not Kareena (who Hrit calls Kaneera).
I was excited about a blue-eyed SRK besides I do so love the whole theatre experience.
The Husband, poor unwilling soul, was dragged along complaining about having to pay through his teeth for three hours of torture.

We settled down, 3D glasses on our noses and popcorn tubs in our laps. Five minutes into the film and Naisha asked,
“Mama when will Ram, Lakshman come?”
Ram Laksham??? “There are no Ram Lakshman in the film,” said I.
“Then who will kill Ravan?” she persisted.
“G-1, will,” said I.
“Who is G-1?”
“Keep quiet and watch the film,” said I.

She mercifully turned to The Husband who I think, was glad of any distraction.
Hrit, who had so been looking forward to all the mar-dhad, discovered he wasn’t such a braveheart after all. Just as RA-1 came alive he threw down his popcorn and jumped onto my lap. He proceeded to dig his face in my lap (along with the two pairs of glasses) with fistfuls of my T-shirt in both hands. Amidst his chants of “Let’s go back” I glanced to my right, worried about Naisha. There she sat cool as cucumber, crossed legs, munching her popcorn.
Finally when G-1 arrived Hrit disentangled himself and exclaimed, “You ate up my popcorn,” which might have been true considering it had been ages since I had the caramelised version.
The rest of the film was pretty uneventful. Of course not counting the periodic dropping of the 3D-glasses. I spent half the time on all fours, mobile in hand, looking for them among tons of popcorn under the seats. The lenses would come out of the frame making my task ever more exciting and challenging.
The kids enjoyed the film, The Husband refused to comment. I, of course was glad I came, just for old time sake. Besides, considering the kind of films SRK is making, if even his loyal fans stop coming to the theatre he’d be soon out of business.
I do so wish he’d make something nice, something sweet and romantic and I wish he’d stop trying so hard to be ‘young’ and ‘cool’. I wish he’d stop using — cliches South Indians have Golliwog hair, those noodles with curd, the ‘aiyyos‘ and that fake South Indian accent.. just so not him. I wish he’d stop trying to please everyone —  Karva Chauth in a sci-fi film, Kareena’s thesis on abuses …. pleeeeze.. it’s not even funny.
Still waiting for a proper, real SRK film.. or maybe I’ll just watch the old ones. “Dil toh Pagal Hai” tops the list, still.

PS: The blue-eyed SRK was definitely cute.

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For that first crush

He wasn’t the hottest star around. He hadn’t been seen in a film for years. He wasn’t in news either. Yet Shammi Kapoors’s passing away last week filled me with immense sadness. He was our first crush, my sister’s and mine.
The Kapoor Khandan must have intrigued every Bollywood Buff back in the 70s but for us it was just Shammi all the way. Our grand affair was fuelled by the new arrival of the television. How we waited for those Chitrahars when he would come on dancing, clapping, teasing, romancing… all with equal elan.
We’d sit glued to the telly soaking up each expression of his eyes, each inflection of his voice, each wave of his body, each shake of his head. Could anyone have done a better A a aa jaa, or his ever famous Yahoo? He certainly had the Kapoor sense of rhythm. If those were his high points he could also do a meltingly soulful Deewana mujhsa nahin or Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par. We remembered to breathe only when the camera moved away from his closeups.
We stocked up cassettes of his songs.. “Mohammed Rafi sings for Shammi Kapoor Vol 1, 2, 3… ” We knew them all by heart.
I fought many battles for him. Each time there was a Kishore Kumar versus Mohammed Rafi debate I stood up for Rafi not realising then that it was primarily because he was the voice of Shammi Kapoor. We had these huge struggles with our grandmother who was also a television freak but didn’t seem too fond of Shammi’s juvenile act. “One day he’ll break his back while dancing,” she’d comment wryly. However I suspect she wasn’t untouched by his charm as we’d often find her smiling at his antics… juvenile though they were.

My sister and I spent long hours debating the song Tareef Karoon Kya Uski where the song ends with Shammi falling into the water with a splash. Even now she is convinced that was spontaneous.. not a planned act at all.

 But then spontaneity was his charm. Spontaneity and an ability to laugh at himself. Tell me how many actors can look utterly, heartbreakingly handsome even while making a complete idiot of themselves? Well Shammi could do just that. There he was singing Subhan Allah Haseen Chehra in a burkha. Or wearing a weird contraption with the most ridiculous pom pom cap in the song Tumse Achha Kaun Hai or strutting around with a supposedly angry pout while Saira Banu sang Kashmir Ki Kali in Junglee. He could have you in splits even while mesmerising you with his green brown eyes. Those green eyes, squiggly eyebrows, broad shoulders, his trademark bracelet they were all just so Shammi.
He’ll be missed. Sorely.
Really… tumse achchha kaun hai?
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I WATCHED A MOVIE…

.. in the theatre, last Sunday. That’s a huge reason to rejoice because the last time I was there was almost two years back  and before that it was in 2006. That’s a bad bad average for someone who loves films and worse for someone who loves the whole theatre experience…
To begin with there’s the
– The big screen
– The great sound system
– The caramel popcorn
Plus
– The maid doesn’t bother you
– The doorbell doesn’t ring
– You don’t have to yell at the kids to ‘Keep it down’
– Or dodge the ball as it lands on you while they play bat-ball
– Or handle The Husband who just wants ‘a cup of tea please’

 

It’s just you, the popcorn and the film.. bliss.

Of course occasionally you find yourself reaching out for the remote that’s not there but that’s about the only hitch.
The Husband gallantly volunteered to take care of the kids while I went off with the SIL. Needless to say I totally completely loved the film .. oh did I forget to mention the name?.. it was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The whole idea of the film is so not me but so what-I-would-love-to-be… I mean what fun it would be to go off with a bunch of friends to do things you would never actually do on your own.
That was fun. Hope we can do it again soon.
In other developments, last Sunday was also the day the kids got their Taekwando green belts. There was much excitement and they were pretty thrilled with themselves. Despite the tiny thing that N is, she did better at the exam according to the instructor’s feed back. So much for H’s macho act.
This weekend was given over to food. We went out for a great Chinese dinner and then I ‘helped’ the kids finish their chocolate mousse.. thus did I desert my diet. And now is the time I start dreading that weighing machine as I ready for the gym. Mondays, I tell you, are the worst days of all.
Edited to add: The verdict at the gym: 800 gms up. Too stiff a punishment for one night of revelry, isn’t it? It’s back to work now.
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