Avatar - 3 idiots-Veer - Facets of Cinema in India

I went gaga over Avatar. For me that was an over-whelming experience. In fact , so much so I was immersed in the visual extravaganza of Pandora , that I was actually depressed when the movie ended and I was back to the deary seats of Inox on Earth. How I wish I was a part of Pandora and not Earth ! I spent more than thousand bucks to watch this movie three times. couldn't get over it, may be I can watch it again.I salute the director who has so much of imagination, vision and ability to pull off such a movie. This was a movie for the masses as everyone loved it.With its incredibly stunning visuals and compelling story line, James Cameron's "Avatar" is memorable and meaningful. It's so much more than a film that looks cool with a 3-D treatment.It's one of the most expensive movies ever made, and it shows in every frame, with incredible CGI work, awe-inspiring landscapes and unforgettable flora and fauna of Pandora.

" Let’s start by talking about the CGI. We’ve seen other movies where entire characters were created by computers using the “motion capture” process. In this process, an actor plays a role on a soundstage so that computer sensors can record all their body/facial movements, which are then used to animate the characters in a lifelike manner. Sometimes that looks pretty good (Gollum in The Lord of the Rings) and other times the characters have a bizarre dead-in-the-eyes look (The Polar Express). Avatar doesn’t have this problem. All of the Na’vi are computer rendered, but they have actual emotion and give the illusion of being fully alive. There were times when I forgot I was watching something that is essentially animated and subconsciously thought I was watching actors in suits and make-up. These are by far the most convincing CGI characters ever committed to film.

The action scenes on Pandora (also totally CGI) are really breathtaking. The Na’vi ride on large, colorful dragon-like creatures who eventually do war with military helicopters. Other movies with similar creatures (i.e. Eragon) have always looked fakey to me; these are totally believable within the confines of this fantasy world. Pandora itself has also been beautifully designed. It’s an exotic kind of dream-jungle world, with floating mountains and all sorts of strange flora and fauna. Everything is so fully conceptualized that it’s not difficult to mentally transport yourself to this extraordinary place."

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/?page=3&critic=columns&sortby=date&name_order=asc&view=#contentReviews

Now coming to our Movie of 2009 from Bollywood - 3 idiots. Completely watchable, delivers a strong social message, very very funny and again transports us back to our college days. There is no technology brilliance here, sheer good direction, script and story. Though the autocracy of the directors cannot be forgiven for not mentioning Chetan Bhagat's name , based on whose novel the movie is made, the movie managed to hold on for a brilliant screenplay. Now thats a pure Indian Cinema shunned of technical intricacies and mind boggling effects , but we enjoyed nevertheless, as the characters and the plot touched our heart.

While we discussed the best of the movies we saw in 2009, I am actually scratching my head , is even a movie like VEER worth mentioning here? This movie is supposed to be based in the era of 1857 or before and I mean the hero was wearing orange jeans and fluff half jackets, the herione was wearing shocking pink nailpolish, the garish dialogue and the overdose of screaming , it was such a pity to even see a movie made out of bollywood of this standard when we audience have a standard of movies in our mind which is getting used to see movies like Avatar, 3 idiots, Black, Paa and even marathi movies like shwaas which manages to enthrall our mind and bless our souls as avid movie-goers. I mean you can have a look the image of veer and try to imagine this attire in 1850s in India. Why such inattention to details? Why make a period movie if you cant even manage the costumes and visuals? Why torture us?

Bless James Cameron, Peter Jackson ( Lord of the Rings) , Guy Ritchie ( Sherlock Holmes), Michel Bay ( Transformers and many more) and our own Rajkumar Hirani, Vishal Bhardwaj,Shimit Amin, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and many more who make our cinema , truly cinema !

Aman ki Asha !

Love Pakistan- Aman ki Asha - thats how we started 2010 when TOI arrived in the morning !

I am happy but quite apprehensive about Aman ki Asha project by Times of India. My mind in is true turmoil. In one hand my mind boils over the dead of 26/11 and many other blows which India faced from Pakistan and one hand marvels at the idea of peace between the countries. Now love has always preceded and won over hate and yes, I would also love to see the two countries united.

But my apprehension is - will it be successful? When there are political pressure on cricket , so much so that Pakistani players are not even bidded for in IPL and hasn't played with India for quite some time now, how far these cultural drama will cement the pit boil of hate for over 60 years?

Are we truly ready to forgive and forget and move on? How many of us want to see Pakistan defeated by India and how many of us want to see both the countries shaking hand ? Indeed, if Pakistan and India comes together, then a major political force will created which will have the potential to thwart USA monopoly in the world. And probably thats why US will keep supplying F-16s to Pakistan and fail to capture the worlds most wanted man in spite of boasting of CIA !After all if India and Pakistan becomes friends , who will buy their ammunition?

There has been many people-to-people initiatives in the past and each one of them has been a futile effort. I do not blame me for pessimistic now as we are many times bitten and many times shy.

India has been patient with Pakistan for a long time. I also understand that its the terrorists and not the country who has blown India multiple times. But seeing Pakistan's inner turmoil and shaking's, I but wonder , are they getting a taste of their own medicine?

We could have been in best of terms, we speak the same language, eat same chicken tikka, wear same kind of clothes and have very similar culture and thousands of families spread across India and Pakistan.

I loved the front page of TOI, but also want to know whether the first page of the Jang newspaper read LOVE HINDUSTAN on its first page to be analytical and unbiased.