To be honest, this is the year I finally managed to catch a bunch of good international movies. Some of the really small gems which get lost. That is where Netflix comes in, gathering all of those great films in a nice HD streamable format.
‘Turtles can fly’ is the story of a Kurdish village ravaged by Saddam and his army. Its basically a refugee village with only kids and a few old men left. The kids are led by Satellite, a dynamic 12-13 year old named after his ability to install and configure satellite dishes. Satellite also leads the kids on mine clearing missions. He then sells the mines, thus providing the only source of employment. Its a relentless tragedy as one observes kids without an arm or a leg most likely from accidents during the picking of mines. However life must go on and Satellite and his group treat the missing limbs in a matter of fact fashion.
Satellite has his eyes for a pale beautiful girl who lives with her armless brother and an small kid presumably their brother. The armless boy is supposed to have some powers of clairvoyance. And the predictions he makes aren’t always pleasant. There is a lot of pain in the girl’s eyes and as the horror of her past is relived, one realizes the pain and agony that people and specially kids have to go through each day in that region. As everyone around prays for American intervention, war ironically seems to be the panacea to all their problems.
The movie starts off at a meandering pace letting us into the lives of the kids and their suffering. But pretty soon, the story grips you and one is inevitably tied in to each of the characters and they all mean something to you. The music is haunting and the children's performances are scarily natural. It helps that the kids aren't actors but mainly real children from the region. The film takes an tragicomic sort of approach, dealing with the destruction in a nonchalant sort of way. Its been directed by Bahman Ghobadi, an Kurdish Iranian filmmaker and the music is by Hossein Alizadeh. Probably one of the finest movies of the decade; one that is chilling in the effect it leaves on you.
It’s a vain activity; one indulges in near the beginning of the year looking back the year that went by. In retrospect, the impression of 2009 is that of a very weak year. Flops rained left right and center. Some of them, big high budget duds. The producers - multiplex crisis didn’t help as well.
However personally I felt it was a pretty good year in terms of the music. So without much ado, let’s get to the songs. The songs aren’t ranked in any particular order:
1. Nayan Tarse: Amit Trivedi is undoubtedly the superstar of this year, with a breakout album in DevD. 18 OSTs, all of them from different genres were sung by a bunch of new singers. Trivedi wields the megaphone himself and the song is magic right from the first second. This is THE song for the new age Devdas’.
2. Emotional Atyachaar: Amitabh Bhattacharya and Anurag Kashyap should probably get the credit for introducing a new phrase into colloquial language. This song featured majorly in the early promotions for the film. Bony Chakravarthy was a fresh new voice. It had some funky lyrics to go. I loved the Rock version as well with some great instrumentation. (Of course, the unrated X version became very popular underground and on youtube).
3. Rehna Tu: Rahman’s first album of the year, in a year where he got 2 Oscars. Delhi 6 was gold all out. Rahman generally sings at least one song in every album of his. There have been quiet mutterings that maybe Rahman reserves the best songs for himself. But if the results are anything like this song, no one’s complaining for sure. The last 2 minutes are just pure bliss.
4. Sapno se bhare:
“Sukh Hai Alag Hai Aur Chain Alag Hai
Per Yeh Jo Dekhe Woh Nain Alag Hai
Chain To Hai Apna Sukh Hai Paraye”
These lines stayed with me a long time. The visualization is so poignant and the setting so low-key (In a realistic way). The expression on Farhan Akhtar’s face after he washes his face is probably the epitome of restrained brilliance.
5. Duniya: This one is an underrated gem. Piyush Mehra composes, writes the lyrics and sings this song. Inspired by Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, the song mocks at our society and the degradation it has suffered. It’s almost poetic, almost surreal and almost depressing. But it rescues you in the end and we are saved. You know what, just forget all this and listen to the song, eyes closed.
6. Iktara: Shankar Ehsan Loy composed a decent album for Wake Up Sid with 3 nice numbers, but then from nowhere comes Amit Trivedi and composes a bummer of a song. Right from the first beat till the end, it’s a beauty. Kavita Seth renders it in a way that just makes one cozy and happy.
7. Dhan De Nan: It’s a song that just stormed the charts and refused to leave the lips. I was doing Dhan De Nan at every excuse of a surprise. And when you see the song on the big screen that is when Vishal Bharadwaj rips you with not just the music but the visualization. Psychedelic and edgy all at once.
8. Pankhon Ko: “Rocket Singh, Salesman of the year” is one of my favorite films of the year. The movie is an example how to make an honest film. This song got lost somewhere I guess as the movie itself was. Everything was just beautifully underplayed. Salim and Suleiman are probably the most underrated amongst the current music directors. They have always made good music, but somehow they never got the respect they deserve. The lyrics by Jaideep Sahni are simple and yet inspiring. One particular line which I would like to point out: “.. Ulje nahi to kaise suljhoge, bikhre nahi to kaise nikhroge..”
9. Dil Ibaadat: Tum Mile had an amazing knockout of an album. All the songs were chartbusters. Sung by KK, this Pritam composition was an instant delight. The lyrics were just average though. Emraan Hashmi just has this knack of getting great songs for all his movies.
10. Jaao Na: Whats your Rashee was a weird movie, almost 4 hours long, rambling in parts and just a plain boring yawn fest. Coming from Ashutosh Gowarikar, one definitely had better expectations. Music always has been one of the big strengths of his movies. This time he didn’t have Rahman on board and went ahead with a new comer in Suheil Sen. I thought he was unfairly compared to Rahman and panned badly. The music was definitely not bad and had a lot of interesting compositions. This one was a breezy number sung by Sen himself (What is with all these composers singing the best songs themselves). Some great strumming and an overall nice instrumentation make it a nice number.
11. Behti Hawa: Alright, wasn’t this supposed to be a top 10 list? Yeah, but I decided to add a couple of bonuses. Coming right at the end of the year in the biggest hit of all time; the music underwhelmed many who wanted a Rahman – Aamir combo again. But Shantanu Moitra has a quiet confidence in his work, and somehow his songs always seem to work well when seen with the movie itself. Spectacularly shot on a road trip to Shimla and then Ladakh, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears together.
12. Arziyan: I remember reading at Moifightclub about this song being probably a part of Rahman’s conversion process coming in the lines of Khwaja and Piya haji ali. Funny as it might be, one has begun to start waiting for that next soulful melody coming from the master. Javed Ali has had such a good year he is just so brilliant in each of his efforts.
There were a few other good songs:
However personally I felt it was a pretty good year in terms of the music. So without much ado, let’s get to the songs. The songs aren’t ranked in any particular order:
1. Nayan Tarse: Amit Trivedi is undoubtedly the superstar of this year, with a breakout album in DevD. 18 OSTs, all of them from different genres were sung by a bunch of new singers. Trivedi wields the megaphone himself and the song is magic right from the first second. This is THE song for the new age Devdas’.
2. Emotional Atyachaar: Amitabh Bhattacharya and Anurag Kashyap should probably get the credit for introducing a new phrase into colloquial language. This song featured majorly in the early promotions for the film. Bony Chakravarthy was a fresh new voice. It had some funky lyrics to go. I loved the Rock version as well with some great instrumentation. (Of course, the unrated X version became very popular underground and on youtube).
3. Rehna Tu: Rahman’s first album of the year, in a year where he got 2 Oscars. Delhi 6 was gold all out. Rahman generally sings at least one song in every album of his. There have been quiet mutterings that maybe Rahman reserves the best songs for himself. But if the results are anything like this song, no one’s complaining for sure. The last 2 minutes are just pure bliss.
4. Sapno se bhare:
“Sukh Hai Alag Hai Aur Chain Alag Hai
Per Yeh Jo Dekhe Woh Nain Alag Hai
Chain To Hai Apna Sukh Hai Paraye”
These lines stayed with me a long time. The visualization is so poignant and the setting so low-key (In a realistic way). The expression on Farhan Akhtar’s face after he washes his face is probably the epitome of restrained brilliance.
5. Duniya: This one is an underrated gem. Piyush Mehra composes, writes the lyrics and sings this song. Inspired by Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, the song mocks at our society and the degradation it has suffered. It’s almost poetic, almost surreal and almost depressing. But it rescues you in the end and we are saved. You know what, just forget all this and listen to the song, eyes closed.
6. Iktara: Shankar Ehsan Loy composed a decent album for Wake Up Sid with 3 nice numbers, but then from nowhere comes Amit Trivedi and composes a bummer of a song. Right from the first beat till the end, it’s a beauty. Kavita Seth renders it in a way that just makes one cozy and happy.
7. Dhan De Nan: It’s a song that just stormed the charts and refused to leave the lips. I was doing Dhan De Nan at every excuse of a surprise. And when you see the song on the big screen that is when Vishal Bharadwaj rips you with not just the music but the visualization. Psychedelic and edgy all at once.
8. Pankhon Ko: “Rocket Singh, Salesman of the year” is one of my favorite films of the year. The movie is an example how to make an honest film. This song got lost somewhere I guess as the movie itself was. Everything was just beautifully underplayed. Salim and Suleiman are probably the most underrated amongst the current music directors. They have always made good music, but somehow they never got the respect they deserve. The lyrics by Jaideep Sahni are simple and yet inspiring. One particular line which I would like to point out: “.. Ulje nahi to kaise suljhoge, bikhre nahi to kaise nikhroge..”
9. Dil Ibaadat: Tum Mile had an amazing knockout of an album. All the songs were chartbusters. Sung by KK, this Pritam composition was an instant delight. The lyrics were just average though. Emraan Hashmi just has this knack of getting great songs for all his movies.
10. Jaao Na: Whats your Rashee was a weird movie, almost 4 hours long, rambling in parts and just a plain boring yawn fest. Coming from Ashutosh Gowarikar, one definitely had better expectations. Music always has been one of the big strengths of his movies. This time he didn’t have Rahman on board and went ahead with a new comer in Suheil Sen. I thought he was unfairly compared to Rahman and panned badly. The music was definitely not bad and had a lot of interesting compositions. This one was a breezy number sung by Sen himself (What is with all these composers singing the best songs themselves). Some great strumming and an overall nice instrumentation make it a nice number.
11. Behti Hawa: Alright, wasn’t this supposed to be a top 10 list? Yeah, but I decided to add a couple of bonuses. Coming right at the end of the year in the biggest hit of all time; the music underwhelmed many who wanted a Rahman – Aamir combo again. But Shantanu Moitra has a quiet confidence in his work, and somehow his songs always seem to work well when seen with the movie itself. Spectacularly shot on a road trip to Shimla and then Ladakh, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears together.
12. Arziyan: I remember reading at Moifightclub about this song being probably a part of Rahman’s conversion process coming in the lines of Khwaja and Piya haji ali. Funny as it might be, one has begun to start waiting for that next soulful melody coming from the master. Javed Ali has had such a good year he is just so brilliant in each of his efforts.
There were a few other good songs:
- Pardesi, Payaliya from DevD,
- ‘Masakalli’, ‘Dilli hai mere yaar’ from Delhi-6
- Couple of great songs from Raaz and Jashn,
- Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani had a super album with 5 great songs
- ‘Give me some sunshine’ from 3 Idiots
- All songs from Gulal
- A nice all round album in Love aaj kal
- Couple of good songs in Radio (Himesh baba is still not done yet)
3 Idiots is arguably the most awaited movie of the year. Ever since it was announced that Rajkumar Hirani and Aamir Khan were going to get together to make a movie on the education system, the interest of every movie lover (including the author) was piqued. To start with, 3 Idiots is probably the most entertaining movie of the year. And that is saying something, specially in a year which has had a bunch of high profile duds. At the time of writing, according to some reports, the movie has already garnered close to 93 cr in the opening weekend itself. This is an all time high record for any Indian movie. Not that anyone had any doubts on whether the movie was going to recover money or make profits.
But coming from a team which has movies like the Munnabhai series, TZP, RDB, Lagaan and DCH under its belt, the expectations were for something special, a probable classic. Hirani’s greatest asset is his ability to create humor in every situation. And he isn’t someone just content to milk laughs. Lage Raho Munnabhai was perhaps the bravest movie of the decade. Coming after its insanely funny predecessor, Hirani could have just replicated the formula by sending Munna to do either Law or MSc or MBA. But instead he completely forsake the structure of the previous movie and went ahead with the masterstroke of using Gandhi as a key character. In both his movies, there were messages laced subtly in the midst of all the jokes.
Coming to 3 Idiots, it is the story of 3 students viz. Rancho(Aamir Khan), Farhan(Madhavan) and Raju(Sharman Joshi) who study engineering at a college run by Viru Sahastrbuddhe (Boman Irani). Essentially Rancho seems to have to come to college only to point out the problems with the education system and rebel against it along with his faithful sidekicks. The point gets overstated a bit, but it is doused in generous doses of humor to keep it light and enjoyable
The movie employs a bunch of set pieces and turns them on their head with hilarious twists. As an example: the scene where Chatur(played by new face Omi, it is a significant character in the movie) addresses the entire college in chaste hindi without understanding the meaning of what he is saying. But where Hirani sets the movie aside from a mindless comedy is evident in the very next scene when Chatur comes back drunk and questions Rancho on why was he humiliated. In a way even the character of Chatur, who is otherwise one dimensional and irritating, gets a chance to redeem himself.
Hirani keeps it realistic only when he wants it to be, taking a lot of things for granted. But then you are willing to be a part of the joyride which enables you to suspend you disbelief. The second half is definitely more melodramatic, which gives the characters and the viewers a chance to introspect on the issues, the movie highlights. However this is when the problems with the script start to get discomforting. You feel a sense of manipulation, in the way your emotional responses are tickled. There are scenes which virtually beg to you laugh, followed by some real tearjerkers and one painfully long cringe worthy scene. The so called pertinent questions about the education system start to seem like an afterthought in a movie which basically wants to be a blockbuster.
3 Idiots in spite of all its brilliance is a lazy script. For all practical purposes this could have been virtually Munnabhai Btech, with Rancho replacing Munna and Circuit replaced by 2 sidekicks. The rest is the same, an autocratic head of institution and his daughter who falls in love with the protagonist. Even more, the whole scene of Jimmy Shergill having an heart to heart with his father in Lage Raho is replicated in 3 Idiots. And guess what, the father is the same in both: Parikshit Sahni.
As far as performances go, its primarily an Aamir Khan movie, more so than his other multi starrers like RDB or DCH. He rises to the occasion and plays the role with a great deal of conviction. However the effort to play a character half his age shows. In the early part he goes a little overboard with the wide eyed grin, lip smacking and droopy shoulders. However he eases into the role and seems more natural, as the film progresses . Madhavan is adequate in his role; its not really a difficult one for him. Sharman has a couple of scenes, where he shows why he is one of the most underrated actors in Hindi cinema. Boman Irani’s character didn’t seem well etched, and therefore he hams it up a bit to make up. Kareena’s role is a minor one and she is pleasant throughout. The chemistry between Aamir and her was non existent though.
Ultimately 3 Idiots is a movie that will still achieve all of its stated goals, viz make money for all those involved, entertain most people and be another feather in the cap of Aamir and Hirani. But with the kind of resources at their disposal, they could have aimed for something higher.
Caught Naan Kadavul yesterday finally after a long long wait. Bala has always been known to explore the fringe elements and potray the stark reality in them. Naan Kadavul is no different. Its hard hitting to say the least. But there were a few flaws. A detailed review will come soon
