Trailer : Haider

Vishal Bharadwaj movies always have a special corner for me, just like Anurag Kashyap or Imtiaz Ali movies have. Though, his last film ‘Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola’ wasn’t upto the level mainly for wrong casting of leads. Going by the trailer of ‘Haider’, it looks like he’s got everything right this time perfectly, and might well give another 7 Khoon Maaf or Kaminey kind of movies which I madly loved.

Lots of stunning visuals from Kashmir, plus we see Shahid transform through various looks as he seeks revenge of his father. Based on Shakespeare Hamlet (yet to read), keen to see how much Shahid gets his act right, specially the one where he gets totally insane, like the shot at 2:00 where he is imitating shooting himself or the dialogue scene ‘hello mike testing, 123, awaaz aa rahi hai aap logo ko.. hello hello o o o’. Watch his expressions in 1:48 shot, killer.

Needless to say, the best part of trailer (there are hell lot to be frank) is Haider i.e Shahid telling Shraddha about his intentions, ‘To be or Not to be’ (quote from Hamlet) ..

For a change, Shraddha is looking so different and maybe the level of her acting will be high too or atleast I am assuming at the moment.

The cast is amazing, with trustable actors like Tabu, Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan Khan (in a special appearance as ghost). I hope Tabu-Shahid romantic mother-son plot is restrained..

Not to forget, music will be by Vishal Bharadwaj and there are 10 songs with lyrics by Gulzar. The rock song used in the trailer totally sets the mood for Haider’s journey to revenge.
Ek phoonk se miya, sab udh gaya dhuan, woh jo saans ki ek phaans thi, woh nikal gayi jo kharaash thi. 

Still don’t know what part those actors in 1:04 shot are playing. But looks like it will be mad and insane…

Its been just a month when I said Ek Villain is best trailer of 2014, and now Haider has overtaken it, there’s nothing to not like in this trailer, absolutely nothing.


Dil ki agar sunu, toh hai
Dimaag ki, toh hai nahi
Jaan lun, ki jaan dun
Main rahoon, ki main nahi. 

Trailer : Gone Girl

This is the 2nd trailer of the movie to come out few days back, and its increased the curiosity to watch the movie even more. I will be reading the book on which this movie is based, and since the final act i.e the ending is different in movie, it would make a great view specially after knowing through twitter feeds that the ending in the book was a big let down.

Ben Affleck may be receiving a lot of flak in recent few months for his upcoming Batman movie, but I doubt people would like to miss this movie where he looks to be perfectly suited to the role. Its hard to tell whether he is behind his wife gone missing or there’s a lot more to it.  And I like the way Rosamund delivers her dialogues,  a mysterious touch is felt in it.

I have liked David Fincher’s last two movies, and he is a director worth having expectations from.



Nick, man of my dreams
This man of mine, may kill me.. 
This man may kill me …
This many may truly ….
Kill me. 

Mid-Year Report : 2014

Half of the year is gone by, and already we have many films that we loved and some we hated. Listing what clicked and what didn’t click for me..


Top3 Hindi Films  : 

Queen
Kangana’s best performance ever  + Amit Trivedi’s music that time and again takes film to a altogether higher level.

2 States
Amrita Singh’s supporting act playing a Punjabi mother so efficiently, plus the narrative that comes to main ‘parents should approve boy-girl, and their parents’ part quickly. And of course that brilliant bg during Ronit Roy scenes. Unlike everyone I liked Arjun more than Alia (she looked sexy in saree).

Ek Villain
Riteish Deshmukh’s best career performance, Siddharth once again impresses. Shraddha has amazing screen presence (despite still average actor), Mohit Suri’s good direction and non-linear narrative, and ofcourse the music as the main USP. Special mention to the edit cuts from past to present with female alaap of ‘galliyan’.



Worst Hindi Films : 

Ragini MMS2
Sunny Leone in yet another crap movie after that Jism2. This movie makes 1st part look so good.

Humshakals
Sajid Khan back after Himmatwala, to give another movie that tests your tolerance level.

The Xpose
New movie of Himesh, which doesn’t change the fact that Himesh can’t act, and even his music/songs are not likable anymore.



Top3 Albums :

Ek Villain
Except for ‘Hamdard' (which aint a  bad song either, just doesn’t work for me), I love every song of this album. Favs being ‘Banjaara’, ‘Awari’ and ‘Galliyaan’ (female one). And I feel Banjaara will be tough to beat as my song of year, for even A R Rahman or Amit Trivedi by end of this year.

Highway
Rahman doesn’t quite give gem of album, but does give 3 excellent songs, Patakha Guddi (I like both versions, but that fast rock part in male version makes it my fav), Maahi Ve (beautiful composition) and Kahaan Hoon Main (Jonita Gandhi’s brilliant vocals).

Hasee Toh Phasee
‘Shake it Like Shammi’ is one hell of a mad song that tops my iTunes most played song list at the moment. Also, ‘Ishq Bulaava’ is my other fav. ‘Drama Queen’ and ‘Zehnaseeb’ are pretty good too.



Top3 Hollywood Films : 

Godzilla
I can watch this film 100 times just to see Godzilla come out and roar.

Captain America
Humour with good action scenes supported by a solid narrative. You just don’t ask for more.

Chef
Food, food, food and a lovely father-son connect, plus the use of twitter in story makes this a pleasant watch.



Worst Hollywood Films : 

Noah
Leave out the great visuals, this was one hell of a bore to me. And it was my 1st Emma Watson movie sadly.

The Monuments Men
A brilliant concept wasted to the core, even Clooney and Damon acting couldn’t save it.

The Amazing Spiderman 2
Try to give Spiderman lots of villains to fight, but where’s the story, and the villain plot build ? All happens too quickly, and to make it worse they kill Gwen.