Weekend movies

This weekend, I saw Bees Saal Baad and Junglee on TV. Well a portion of Junglee.

I was seeing BSB for the first time and had seen Junglee on DD when I was a kid. Waheeda Rehman was gorgeous in BSB. I think after Madhu Bala, waheeda takes the beauty queen crown. But I somehow couldn't stand her acting in the movie. There was so much coquettishness on the screen!! And the story also progressed really slow. But my sis was determined to see how they end the movie. So I too sat through the whole thing. "Kahin Deep jale Kahin dil" is a very beautiful song. It has a haunting feeling attached to it. Kudos to Lata for singing the way its sung. But then, she is always Lata the great :-D

Next in the queue was Junglee. Saira Banu was beautiful. Just couldn't stop myself from gushing about her hair. It must have taken so much of maintenance!! But I couldn't sit through that either. I used to love watching these movies in my childhood. Maybe I have grown out of them.

And there was football wutbaal hai rabba. That movie sounds good only in English. So finally I spent the better part of my weekend curled up on the bed with a book and dozing off to the fairyland :-)
Now thats what I call a weekend well spent :-D

Baghdad Burning

I came across this really good work courtesy Rediff. This is a blog by a resident Baghdad citizen who eloquently gives an account of the situation in Baghdad. It is called Baghdad Burning . Do go through it. This very clearly reminds me of Pre-Independence India I read about in books and seen in movies and documentaries.
I always used to wonder about surah lahab in Qur'an. I now wish it applies to the criminals in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Do check it out: Baghdad Burning

Imrana case

Recently the Imrana case was making news in the papers and followng her lead many other similar cases came to light. I feel this is a shame to the muslim society. The shariah courts when issued the fatwa on Imrana to get a separation from her husband should also have stoned the father in law to death. Why should Indian Penal Code be applied to the beast alone? (Muslim personal law is another issue but im not knowledgeable enough about it to talk on that). Whether the couple gets a separation or not is their decision. I think they should be left alone. And at the same time, FIL should be sentenced to death. I believe rape does deserve a death sentence as in case of a murder the victim at least dies and thats the end of it. But the rape victim lives with the trauma all her life. A murder can be a spur of the moment thing but a rape is a deliberate act.
When I discussed this case with somebody I was shocked to hear him say that this issue should have been resolved internally and this shouldn't have been brought out in the open! A crime like that should be unreported!! To save the pride of the community !! The community is very hollow if it really hides its skeletons this way.

Inspite of all the preaching I hear from people, I believe that the muslim clergy is taking the society 1500yrs backwards. It has a great potential. It can mobilise masses. The prayer congregations can be used for the betterment of the society. Instead, the bayaans I hear second hand from my father tell me otherwise. So if the clergy wishes the best for the society, they can start by preaching the empowerment of women. Women in prophets time had a better (or rather the best ) status than what they have now.

In the same breath, I say that women are being oppressed not only in my religion but in others too and others need not use this for finger pointing. Like a teacher tells us so often- clean your own 1 square area ( without dirtying the neighbours sq. area :-D) and its ensured that we will have a cleaner place to live in.

Sorry for the serious tone of this post. I'll get back to my movie reviews next post onwards :-D

morning ragas

This weekend Mr. Jala Dosham and Ms. Bukhara came to visit me. They refused to leave me alone for a single moment. Mom prepared a ginger concoction which drove them away finally.

Apart from that, I went out for shopping with my family. It was nice fun. Its a long time since I have done that. Then I saw the movie 'morning ragas' on TV. It was ok kind but the most impressive parts were the songs. I like hearing a few carnatic compositions. Im not an expert in any of the classical music streams. I just listen to them for pleasure. And I like one composition called 'mahaganapathim'. The sceneries in the movie were too good. And the colours were brought out really well courtesy Rajiv Menon's photography. His movie in tamil called Kandukondein Kandukondein is also a pleasure to look at.

At the same timeslot, the old hindi movie called Khoobsurat was going on in another channel. I have seen it n number of times but still enjoy it everytime. It has good comedy, funny punch lines. And Rekha's family in the movie speak in rhymes. That was fun :-D We were in a dilemma as to what to watch and finally decided to give this a ditch.

Black again in OAT

Black was screened today in OAT. Its an awesome movie but I was not too keen on seeing it again. I can not take such heavy stuff and I believed that such masterpieces should be seen only once. But I went anyways to see the movie cos my friends insisted. Now our OAT (Open Air Theatre) has a different ambience to it. It is constructed in the amphitheatre style and is surrounded by trees. So on a clear night with the stars shining bright, I have enjoyed movies like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Devdas, Veer Zaara, all the LOTR series, HP series and so many more. A k3g is also fun here cos the students reactions make up for the gham part and we end up enjoying every scene.

When DTS system was installed in OAT, a special screening of the colour Mughal-e-Azam was shown. That was an experience in itself and it took me almost a week to get the Mughal grandeur and Madhubala's beauty out of my mind.

So Black today in OAT was different from watching Black in the theatre. The audience applaused at rani's achievements, laughed with her, whistled at amitabh's genious, and were pin-drop silent in the serious scenes. Like my friend said, no movie is a serious movie in OAT. And to top it all, it started raining halfway through the movie :-D. But we continued watching the movie inspite of it :-D. As a result, I can forecast that Im on my way to catching cold pretty soon. So I better go do something about it.
Have a nice weekend :-D

Paheli

I saw paheli yesterday and was disappointed with it.

Plus points: Gorgeous costumes, colourful sets and hence a beautiful movie to look at; beautiful Rani, usual SRK and good acting by the whole cast; Chamatkaars by the ghost so an enjoyable movie for the kids ( including me :-D ).

Minus points: I actually hated the ghost SRK. He got all he wanted. I had thought that the living SRK must be a heartless creature. But he happened to be very human in the movie. He obeys his father, misses his wife, writes them letters which never reach them, and is made to look like a petty creature in the end. He is left to die in the desert :-(

Yeah ok I know its a woman oriented movie but somehow this movie failed to convince me. I feel there is something lacking somewhere.

I want to know the actual folk lore too. Is this a truthful adaptation of the original folk lore?

Overall, I liked parineeta far better than Paheli.
OK now I feel I have had enough of movies. So no more movies in the theatre for some time. Ill content myself with the OAT movies.

Good day :-)