What a Marketplace ... !!

If you are guessing that I am going to brag about something in Sweden ... you are wrong ...

This is about a movie that I experienced yesterday (Yes, I call it an experience). Its called Mandi. Its an old movie(1983) directed by the legendary Shyam Benegal. So whats it about? Why do I call it an experience and adorn it with exclamations?

Well, the story is very simplistic fundamentally but the way it has been woven ... it seems surreal ...

Its about a Kotha based in old town Hyderabad and its several inmates. This Kotha is run by the effervescent Paan-chewing Rukmini Bai (Shabana Azmi) who is like the godmother to all the prostitutes. Note that she is not the usual godmother but has this really whacky and comic way of dealing with situations. This is the highlight of Mandi. A sensitive topic is portrayed in a comic or lets say a very relieving manner. It reminded me of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron which is a landmark comedy movie which essentially deals with a sensitive topic ...

Rukmini Bai has an ensemble supporting cast in the form of prostitutes starting with the charming Zeenat (Smita Patil). Zeenat is a great singer and practices singing for hours per day. She is treated like a jewel by Rukmini Bai and she will go to any extent to maintain the virginity of Zeenat. The reason for this unfolds through out the movie and its very funny during the scenes in which Rukmini Bai runs helter-skelter preventing a suitor from sleeping with Zeenat ... Zeenat is also very childlike and Smita Patil has pulled it off like a piece of cake ... most other prostitutes are jealous of Zeenat but not in a grudging way ...

One of them is Baasanti (Neena Gupta) ... who is also a great singer and an equally potent dancer ... she always complaints to Rukmini Bai about why Zeenat gets to do Riyaaz before her and even for a longer duration ... she is also having an interesting interlude with the sleazy street photographer Ramgopal played so amazingly by Om Puri ... Ramgopal loves to click nude pics of the prostitutes and from interesting angles :P ... he has his way with the flirty Parveena but he is very fond of Baasanti ... and Baasanti would never give him any nude pics ...

Nadira ... played by the beautiful Soni Razdan is a foul mouthed wonder piece eternally egging on Rukmini Bai in all her endeavors ... Ila Arun is a delight to watch being pregnant through out the movie without ever concealing (in fact she does not know herself) the father's name ... :D ...

There is one other prostitute (or is she?) that is inducted into the Kotha ... she cant speak ... and is unaware about her duty when she first comes in ... her name is Fulmani and much of the movie revolves around Rukmini Bai illegally using a muted person to run her Kotha ...

There are some amazing characters supporting this main cast ... Harish Patel as the Hawaldaar who always dreams of sleeping with Zeenat and is thrown out innumerable times by Rukmini Bai ... a person who knows all the Dafaas of the law :P

Annu Kapoor as the expression-less doctor who keeps frequenting the Kotha to check all prostitutes with special attention to Ila Arun since she is pregnant ...

But one of my favorites is Tungrus (what name is that?) played brilliantly by Naseeruddin Shah ... Tungrus is like the office boy of the Kotha doing petty jobs ... like picking up baggage, getting tea, running errands for Rukmini Bai ... and when the night descends, he likes to drink beer and abuse Rumini Bai for destroying the lives of women ... he hates Rukmini Bai's parrot coz he feels the parrot is a Chamcha ...

Being a story based in Hyderabad, its great to listen to the Hyderabadi Hindi especially from Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah ...

There is another angle to the movie ... that being Mr. Gupta played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda ... he is a richo annexing land after land to his riches ... and finally he lays his hands on the area where the Kotha is situated ... there are several dialogues between Gupta and Rukmini Bai about shifting them to a different location ... at first Rukmini Bai doesnt agree ...

The Womens Liberation group head, Shanti Devi, also comes by to speak ... this is one of the best scenes about how Rukmini Bai justifier her profession ... she calls herself and the other prostitutes Kalakaars ... but the way she does it is so special ...

Shanti Devi is also a member of the municipality which is headed by Saeed Jaffery who has a vested interest in the brothel ... I wont say what coz thats a suspense element of the movie ... and the municipal board votes in favor of chucking out Rukmini Bai from her current location to th outskirts ... Gupta promises Rukmini Bai that he will help her set up her Kotha in the outskirts ... apparently Annu Kapoor is also a member of the municipality and the only one who votes against the municipality's decision :P

Gupta has a daughter to be married in Ratna Pathak Shah and Saeed Jaffery has a son Sushil whom he wants to marry to Ratna's character to settle debts with Gupta ... Gupta invites Rukmin Bai to his place to provide some entertainment during the first meeting between Sushil and Ratna ... Rukmini Bai comes with Zeenat and Baasanti ...

Sushil is smitten by Zeenat's beauty and her singing and falls for her immediately and keeps pursuing her for the remainder of the movie ... there is a very funny scene where Ramgopal, Hawaldar and Sushil end up at Zeenat's room at one time and Rukmini Bai shows up to chuck all of them out :P

When Rukmini Bai moves to the outskirts and starts setting up her Kotha there, Tungrus does not accompany them since he is very fond of the old place ... he drinks and abuses everyone and cries ... everyone at the Kotha miss Tungrus so much coz they feel handicapped by his absence ... and finally Tungrus comes walking along to the new place ... just amazingly shot ...

Rukmini also asks the prostitutes to do stuff that Tungrus used to do like the household chores but they are quick to snap "Hamaara kaam jo hai wohi karenge" :P

The best scene for me is ... between Rukmini Bai and Amrish Puri's character ... he plays a Jogi Baba and finds himself at a place where Rukmini Bai is venting her frustration to herself that no one is listening to her like before ... this scene is so funny that it will bring tears to your eyes ... watch it yourself ... Amrish Puri is great in a 2-minute role ...

Ramgopal and Baasanti also hit it off ... with Baasanti agreeing for nude pics ... its something like "Tu Parveena ki nangi photo kheechta hai ... meri kyu nahi kheechta?" :D and Ramgopal promises her that he will help her to become an actress in Bambai ... he has contacts you see :P

At the time of the delivery of Ila Arun's baby ... Rukmini Bai is coaxing her to deliver a baby girl ... coz then the girl would inherit her mother's job ... it is a very stupid thing to think about but it has been done in a very comic way ... Rukmini Bai is happier than the mother when Ila Arun delivers a baby girl ...

The essence of the movie is the camaraderie between all inmates of the Kotha and the amazing support cast ...

There is Pankaj Kapoor and Satish Kaushik too in itsy-bitsy roles but they do impress you ...

The movie flows from the beginning ... hits top pace in between and has an equally twisted, emotional and comic climax ...

I would seriously recommend this movie to everyone who likes meaningful (and in a way meaningless :P) cinema ...

4.5 out of 5 ... go lay yourself :P

Cheers ... !!

Dilli unleashed ... !!

I had been eagerly awaiting the music release of Dilli 6 ever since I heard Massakali. I am glad that I have not been disappointed.

The album is on similar lines to Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra's previous 2 offerings of Aks and RDB. AR Rehman's stamp is evident on each track. Looking at his past record, it is difficult to like his music in the first hearing. But Dilli 6 is quite a surprise. I liked it in the first attempt itself.

The album starts off with the now-known Massakali which is like an ode to a pigeon along with an attempt of the hero to correlate the pigeon to the heroine. That's just my guess. It can be thought of as a song to Patao or tease the girl. It is quite hummable and it almost gives you a feel that the singer is enjoying himself a lot while singing it.

The next is Bhor Bhaye which is an out and out classical music song. Its for the connoisseurs of classical music. I think this song has the potential to be the most ignored song of the album. I liked it though.

Noor follows. It is not a song actually but a recitation by Amitabh Bachchan. Usually, with such songs, the words used are very heavy and most people tend to ignore them. I didn't understand each word of it but the good thing is that its a small song and gets over before you shift to the next one.

That brings us to Tumre Bhavan Mein. This is more of an Aarti song but its good. Rehman weaves his magic and prevents it from becoming a Bhajan. Its good to hear to say the least.

One of my favorites of the album is Genda Phool. It is a feminine song catering to experience of a newly wed woman and the nuances of her in-laws. Vikash rightly pointed out that it gave him a homely feeling. And why not? The Hindi used in the song is very North Indian and very Gaon-ki-Hindi. Extremely hummable song. You should not miss this one.

One of the most calming and soothing tracks is Dil Gira Dafatan. It forced me to find the meaning of Dafatan and I have still not figured it out. Amazing song. You need to hear it at least a couple of times to understand it completely.

Funky is one of Rehman's lesser explored areas but he does a fantastic job with Kaala Bandar. It has the beat to it which makes you feel like dancing. The fusion of western and Indian music is evident along with the usage of Hindi and English throughout.

Rehna Tu is also a very soothing song. I don't have much to say about the song other than this. You cannot ignore it if you like calmness.

Coming to the title track, Dilli 6 is a rundown about the highlights of Delhi as a city. This also contains beats and for a title track, its actually quite good unlike Chandni Chowk to China.

The last song is Arziyan. Rehman seems to be heavily inspired from himself. Shades of Piya Haji Ali and Khwaaja Mere Khwaaja is painted all across this song. I think this is also the longest song of the album.

My preference of songs starting from my favorite ...

Dil Gira Dafatan

Massakali

Kaala Bandar

Genda Phool

Bhor Bhaye

Arziyan

Dilli 6

Rehna Tu

Tumre Bhavan Mein

Noor

Overall, a great album and I am not getting rid of it for at least the next 2 weeks ...

Listen to it ... you wont regret it ... Cheers ... !!

Go Slumdog ... !!

I am so glad that my first post of the new year is dedicated to such an awe-inspiring piece of work. Hats off to Danny Boyle. We need more slumdogs ... errr ... SlumDogs ... I think that word deserves more respect.

For starters, I am not going with any spoilers. Hence, its not a bad idea to read the entire post. So much for self advertisement.

The plot is the heart and soul of the movie. How does a SlumDog who has grown up in the slums and bylanes of Juhu (and conned lots of people for money) end up winning the biggest cash cheque of the famous show "Who wants to be a Millionaire?". The Director poses a question to the movie audience, much on the lines of the quizshow. He asks ... "How does Jamaal know all the answers? and gives us 4 options ... A). He knows the answers B). He is a cheat C). Its his luck D). It is written. I wont delve too much into further details.

The movie starts with Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla interrogating Jamaal (played by Dev Patel) about how he managed to win 1 crore in the gameshow. They definitely feel that he has cheated and they only want to know how he managed to cheat. Thereon starts the movie about how Jamaal knew the answer of each and every question. There are some twists too. There are 3 phases of life for Jamaal (along with his elder brother Salim and love interest Latika). Each of the characters in these 3 phases make you stand up and applaud. The innocence of being a kid is depicted beautifully. My personal favorite is Jamaal and Salim in phase 1. Just hats off guys ... !!

A lot of human emotions are on display ... NO ... not those feel-good emotions ... just the normal day to day emotions. For example, something as simple as ... you know only what you have seen or experienced. That scene between Irfan Khan and Dev Patel is amazing. Then there is LOVE ... for some LOVE is genuine while for others its an easy way to get into a relationship. For the wise and the realists and the practical, you can do most manageable things when you are in LOVE.

There are undercurrents of the most visible issues that plague India as a country. I am not surprised that a foreigner made it a point to remind us about these. Like the Hindu-Muslim tension, child labor and corruption.

As actors, all the actors who played the characters of Jamaal, Salim and Latika (in all 3 phases) are the only ones worthy of applause. To be honest, there is no one else with a lot of scope in the movie. My personal favorite is Salim (in all 3 phases). Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla are just about OK. I thought Anil Kapoor continued with his of-late reputation of hamming. Mahesh Manjrekar is hardly there.

The music is the highlight. AR Rehman steals the show with a most precise rendition for such a topic. This man is just amazing. It feels great when you watch a movie and get up the next day to Breaking News of the movie grabbing the Best Movie, Best Director and Best Original score at the Golden Globe awards.

Go ahead and watch it. You wont regret a single moment. Watch out for the Three Musketeers story from the very beginning. Its like a dream. Dont miss THE Amitabh Bachchan scene.

OSCARS ... here we come ... Cheers ... !!

Oscar weekend ... !!

Well, it started off as a plan to view 6 acclaimed movies but due to some wavering of activities, we managed to experience just 3 of those. My friend, Vikash had lent me his DVD containing these 6 movies and he had written the names of all 6 on the DVD, albeit in a very user friendly (a UI person acknowledges presentation :)) manner. He had written down the genres and the movies belonging to each genre. The genres were Serial Killer, Heist and Crime/Murder. Under Serial Killer, there were 3 movies ... Se7en, Mr Brooks and Silence of the Lambs. Inside Man and The Bank Job belonged to Heist while Crime/Murder contained Memento. I was quite impressed by this categorization and we decided to start of with genre of Serial Killer.

So we started off with Se7en. The movie basically deals with a 2 cops investigating the case of a serial killer who is murdering people in line with the 7 deadly sins. It is amazing how knowledge about a particular topic/belief stands you in good stead while watching such movies. It was guesswork that we predicted what the story might be when we saw the scene of the first murder, thanks to the knowledge about the 7 deadly sins. The portrayal of the 2 cops, played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt is very nicely depicted although I felt that Brad Pitt hammed in some of the scenes. In essence, as a viewer, you know that the murders will keep happening. But there is a subtle twist during the climax which makes you acknowledge the thought of the writer. I personally thought the highlight of the movie was the horrific way in which each of the victims is killed along with the climax. The protagonist during the climax (Kevin Spacey) reminded me of a similar climax in The Usual Suspects.

We shifted our attention to Heist and picked Inside Man as the movie (I remember Vikash recommending this movie as a must watch). How true he was. Kudos to the writer/creator. The movie is about a bank robbery planned by a person called Russell along with around 4-6 fellow conspirators. I don't think I will be able to post the plot of the movie since it will spoil the fun if you have not seen the movie. I freaked out on the performance of Denzel Washington as the cop assigned to save the bank robbery. I was also pleasantly surprised by the younger-than-normal look of Jodie Foster. The movie is all about the master plan of the bank robbery and the climax. The expressions of Washington during the climax makes you take your hat off to him. The most liked attribute of this movie for me is that way it starts and ends (the credits). You will hear Chhaiyya Chhaiyya (entire song) during the start and the end. Way to go Indian music :)

Finally, we moved to Crime/Murder and there was only one movie there ... Memento. I remember quite a lot of people recommending this movie to me (namely Vikash, Sabhtarsha, Prameela, Vivek and Mohsin). To be honest, I didn't think the story was all that great but the presentation was nice. I thought I will never understand the movie at first glance but I surprised myself. The narrative is the key in this movie and you get the hang of it after around 20 minutes have past. Again, I think I will stay away from writing about the plot. It is a nice movie which makes you acknowledge the technical creativity of Hollywood.

Out of the 3 that we saw, I would say Inside Man was the best followed by Memento and the least preferred was Se7en (this does not mean Se7en is not good, watch it for Morgan Freeman and the climax). The performances that I enjoyed were that of Denzel Washington in Inside Man, Guy Pierce in Memento and Morgan Freeman in Se7en. But you need to experience Kevin Spacey's cameo in Se7en. This guy is amazing. There were not a lot of ladies in all 3 of the movies. Jodie Foster was OKish. Gwyneth Paltrow as Brad Pitt's wife in Se7en was petite.

We look forward to the 3 remaining movies. I have also made a wish list of movies that I need to get my hands (or eyes?) on. They are:

Scarface
Forrest Gump
Shawshank Redemption
Pulp Fiction
Schindler's List
Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Vertigo
Cinderella Man
Brokeback Mountain

One last little note. I am assuming that Johnny Gaddar was not picked from some non-Indian movie and even if it was, I have not seen the original of Johnny Gaddar. If I take into account Johnny Gaddar and the 3 movies I saw, I would say that Inside Man and Johnny Gaddar would be my top 2 followed by Memento and Se7en. This is just a personal opinion and not intended to ruffle more than a few feathers ... Cheers ... !!

Hooked onto movies ... !!

Yeah, I never imagined I would be saying that of all people. I have never been a movie freak and in some sense, I am still not. Its just that I have never seen (or wanted to see) so many movies in a short duration. Having a USB DVD player is the biggest motivation I guess :)

We started of seeing Manorama Six Feet Under. The genre is more or less like Johnny Gaddar, although the narrative is completely different. You can call it a thriller and to be honest, I quite liked it. Something to do with an offbeat cast that always catches my fancy ... !!

This movie really kick started my fad. When I came to office the next day, I logged into our office movie Server and asked some of my more esteemed movie afficianado friends to help me select some good movies. The 2 that I took home that day were THE PRESTIGE and THE DEPARTED. Since I do not understand English movies all that well (I hate that), I could never dare to watch it alone. My wife gave me company for both the movies.

THE PRESTIGE was the first one. We started watching it at around 9 pm and I fell asleep watching the movie at around 10 pm. This is no way speaks about the movie. Its just that I was sleepy. We completed the movie the next day and I didn't understand what was going on. Blame it on the non continuity ... !! My wife had to painfully explain each and every part of the movie, literally dissecting the movie. I could sense the irritation coz I was not able to fathom the simplest of things. Me and my English movie jinx.

Anyway, later in the week, we visited a multiplex to watch Jaane Tu ... I liked the movie. Reminded me of my college days and my group of friends.

We sat through THE DEPARTED in a few days time. Though there was not a lot in this movie to not understand, a quarter of the movie was dedicated to swearing. We had a tough time separating the proper words from the so called expletives. But still, the confused look on my face wasn't going to go away. This time I didn't ask my wife anything about the movie ... which does not mean I grasped everything ... :)

When I came to office the next day, it was back to movie hunting. I saw the Oceans series on the movie server and took it home. Unfortunately, Oceans 11 was corrupt and I didn't want to see the sequels before Oceans 11. So I came back to office the next day and began the routine again. Some of my friends had suggested that a TV series called Prison Break is very nice. I asked one of my colleagues to get the first season of this series.

Currently, we have seen the first 3 episodes of the series and it sure is gripping. All this has happened in the last week or so. But one thing is for sure. My constant grappling with English movies is here to stay ... I expect to go one up sometime ... Cheers ... !!

Chak De India ... !!

You would to yell out that slogan in order to get people going to see this movie. Yeah, its precisely that good. This being said by a person who hates SRK top to bottom. For the time being, I need to keep my reservations against SRK aside. Only the 2nd SRK movie that I have liked so far. Of course, there have been some that I haven't seen yet. But lets talk about the movie.

From the opening sequence till the time the team lands in India with the World Cup, the movie is rivetting. Though the onus shifts to the actual matches in the 2nd half, it doesnt make you lousy. I must say this is an intense performance by SRK. He is especially good in the scenes where he is displaying the plight of facing the wrath of the entire nation after he misses the penalty stroke against Pakistan. His sense of accomplishment after winning the World Cup makes you admire his expressions.

But the movie belongs to the interactions between SRK and his team. And what a team. No wonder we use the phrase "Unity in Diversity" so often. Even though unity will always fall short of diversity, it still makes for inspirational viewing. There are some highlight reel scenes when SRK takes the entire team out for lunch and when the team loses against the men's team of India.

In hindsight, you always know what is going to happen but the journey is quite fulfilling. I would seriously recommend this movie to every Indian. However, the movie doesnt make me feel that I will now watch all SRK movies :).

Cheers ... !!

Black Friday .... !!

Well, a prelude to begin with. We (my wife and I) had tickes booked for the 10 30 pm show. But we had run some errands around the city the entire day and were dead tired by the time we reached home at 7 pm. Hadnt boozed for a while. So we dug deep into our coffers and got 180 ml of manna, more commonly called Vodka. 2 bottoms up each down the line, we were entrenched into oblivion. The movie had evaporated from our minds. Fortunately, we fell short of Chakna and I had to visit my wallet again and my fingers hit something shiny, white and smooth in texture. Those were the tickets. The time was 10 05 pm. The next thing we knew was that we were at Inox at 10 25 pm, well in time. But we had forgotten to change. I was still in my pyjamas while my wife was in her Bermudas. Of course we had clothes on top ... :). Im sure we were the laughing stock of the crowd. But kya karein .... hota hai.

So about the movie ... hhhhmmm. Goodish movie. Actually that would be an under exaggeration. It was quite good. The best I have seen in the last cycle of the year. Anurag Kashyap has had a problem with the release of his movies in the past. And I can see why.

For much of the movie, you feel as if you are seeing a documentary or a news channel. But it doesnt bore you. Rather, you get hooked onto the screen like stamp to a letter. The intrigue is generated from the fact that the blasts happened at a time when I was a kid, so I was double interested in the presentation of the movie. The maligning of Babri Masjid and the subsequent turmoil of the Muslims are the highlight. It again underlines the fact that India is perhaps the country where people fight within themselves more than against others.

Pavan Malhotra as Tiger Memon is sublime. He is calm throughout except when his office is burned down by some Hindus. Kay Kay stamps his authority with another elegant essay. He is great in the interrogation scenes. The bits and pieces actors also shine throughout the movie. There is actual footage from 1993 that stick out like a sore thumb on democracy.

To conclude, a movie worth a watch.

Cheers ... !!

DON Revisits .... really ?

You can add state of the art technical visualizations, change the setting from Kandivli to Kuala Lumpur and replace old wine by newer tequilla shots but for God's sake dont change the central character and the theme of an iconic movie. The slicker Don comes with all the hyped brouhaha but leaves little less than dust for its disappointed audience.

SRK ... well not being a fan of this man is considered tabboo nowdays. But so be it. I dont know why I changed my mind and decided to view a SRK movie. I guess it all started at me being at fault rather than the movie.

This movie is all about misfits. Lets start with Iftikhar saab as the redoubtable DCP Dsilva. If there was a need for a role of a cop in yesteryears, Iftikhar saab was the sole candidate. And Don was by far his most convincing role as a cop. Boman Irani, is a man of many virtues and as much as I like his genre of acting, I sincerely feel that I need to send him some flowers from Lage Raho. This should serve him as a wake up call. Boman Sir, please no more injustice to you as an actor. Please choose better roles or if a good role comes by, make sure you have your boundaries set.

Next comes, Le Diva, or atleast supposedly so, Madam Kareena Kapoor. I am sure Salim Khan's family must be having a blast this Eid looking at the way Kareena tried to match the sensuality of the evergreen seductress .. Helen. Farhan Akhtar needs to be informed ... there can be no Amitabh Bachchan Part 2 in the same way as there can be no Helen Part 2. Kareena fails miserably and takes special help from her cleavage to bring about some sensuality in the song. I dont understand why she was continuously crawling on the floor.

Arjun Rampal ... hmmm ... in the role of JJ. Man, I didnt know such people exist. A password hacker, supposedly a software engineer, an acrobat who can climb buildings, a lame guy who can cross the Petronas towers despite being physically handicapped with his son in tow and to top it all, great physique and a haute personality to boot. Compare that to Pran. I dont need to go into this. This can be the mother of all misfits.

Narang ... Pavan Malhotra ... some people are made for Nukkad kind of roles but not while replacing the irreplaceable Narang from the old Don. Besides being the sidekick of Don, Narang also made sure that all plans were executed to a nicety along with boosting Don's ego now and then and most importantly ... expressions my dear friend. I dont blame Pavan Malhotra. Dude I have seen you act in serials, you are great, but pardon my nonchalance regarding your character. For me, Nukkad still rules over the new Don.

Finally, SRK himself. Its not too tough to come to terms with the fact that he is putting immense pressure on himself to deliver all dialogues like the Big B. Thats but natural. But that he maintains such a miniscule difference between Don and Vijay that you never realise that its Vijay and not Don. I know there will be comparisons practically for every little thing between the old and the new version but some things are better followed, to remain iconic than to reinvent. The first scene after the Ganpati scene makes you pray to the almighty and say ... "Please be yourself SRK". He just cant make it through the UP accent and a Paan in his mouth. Plus, Don is portrayed as a street smart, humorous and happy go lucky types. What Big B did was carry on with his age old angry young man stuff, more to do with being callous. He infused terror by being constant with his mannerisms not by playing a DDLJ in a Don.

The story ... well lets say that you let a iconic film be just that ... iconic. Do not tinker about too much. The first half is close to 80 % similar to the first half of the older version. But the second half has quite a few surprises. Perhaps, thats when Farhan Akhtar started thinking ... I could have made a better Don had I been Chandra Barot. Wishful thinking, I must say. Consider the number of people he has let down. The audience, himself and last but not the least, Daddy dearest. Farhan Akhtar ... take a bow wow.

With so many twists and turns, you cant help but feel nauseated. There was a tinge of Jaani Dushman also laden with Don what with SRK and another badman fighting high up in air over a bag. This scene would have made Gonecase Buffoon proud. FYI, Gonecase Buffoon is an imaginary person just like this scene ... :)

The director has done an admirable job in making the audience realise that it has been 30 years since Don was made. He makes sure that the audience are tuned in to the changes in the last 30 years. A diary had been replaced by a CD, 200 odd rupees collected by Vijay after his Bambai Nagariya song has gone upto 5K after a Ganpati song, laptops have replaced files, key combinations of cupboard locks have been tranformed to high security vaults that have passwords and thumb impressions as means of authentication, Deepu and Munni have been replaced by just Deepu considering the expenses of bringing up kids nowdays and to crown it all .... our regular fight sequences with the background of Dhishum Dhishum have been replaced by kickboxing and the far east kind of fighting techniques. Its a surprise to see that everyone knows Judo and Karate.

Priyanka Chopra is pleasing, this being said by an ardent fan. She is the person who does maximum justice to any old character though even she isnt there totally. Isha Koppikar is a waste and arrogantly speaking, no match for Priyanka Chopra.

There are so many cons that I have very little space left for the pros. What I liked about the movie is the background score. It really tries to save a tattered storyline and inadequate acting acumen. People who have not seen the original Don may take an instant liking to the new one. To be honest, the new DON as an independent movie, isnt bad. Its just that when you start making comparisons, it doesnt remain good enough. The songs have been shot well and bear some kind of resemblance to the old songs though finding Bhaang in KL was a bit over the top. To be honest, I went to see the movie expecting a 90 % frame to frame copy. But I was pleasantly surprised in the 2nd half but the execution anywayz left a lot to be desired. You can predict some things if you are highly observant.

To conclude, the only bright points I took home was the background score, Priyanka Chopra, the trailer of Dhoom-2 in the interval and the fact that I was sitting in the front row ... coz no one would squeeze in front of us and make it to their seat ... :). One remake done ... Lets see what Sholay has in store .... I hope this trend of remakes dies sooner than later. So if DON revisits, dont welcome him. Cheers .. !!