Review of Aa Dekhen Zara

If the title is literally translated, it means ‘come lets watch a little’ which is exactly how much you’ll feel like watching once you enter the movie hall.

Though the concept is different about a unique camera that shows pictures of the future, the dialogues and acting leave a lot to be desired. In fact, this movie goes to show that even seasoned actors like Bipasha Basu need the guidance of a good director to bring forth their best.

The movie takes off on a decent note with Neil Nitin Mukesh, a struggling photographer, retrieving his grandfather’s camera from a locker and then discovering its magical powers which then helps him to save the life of neighbor and happening DJ about town, Bipasha. This sparks off their friendship which later results in romance.

Meanwhile, Neil’s minting big monies on lotteries & horse-betting with his magic camera. This constant winning streak brings him into the notice of the baddies who then try to discover what his lucky charm is.

The rest of the movie is about the bad guys versus lovebirds, Neil & Bips as the lead actors try to run away from the villain’s clutches. Seems like old 80’s fare being churned out with 21^st C flavouring… with extremely corny dialogues at that! All in all, very mediocre fare to be watched only if one has ample time on their hands with nothing else to be done!!!

Review of Jab We Met

Undoubtedly, one of the nicest, sweetest, most charming love stories released since DDLJ. With love stories being done to death in Bollywood, and most of them being of the worst kind possible, it was really nice to go watch such a refreshingly different movie.

Beautifully directed with some amazing acting and lovely song-dance sequences, the beauty of this movie is in its simplicity. While having nothing out of the ordinary in the story, the charm lies in the narration, characters and dialogues.

Kareena has outdone herself in the role of the effervescent, vivacious Geet who takes everything in life with a pinch of salt. Apart from taking running away from home as a solution to every problem from arranged marriage to irate relatives! While Shahid portrays the role of a rich businessman’s son on the brink of killing himself because his life is a mess.

Kareena’s never-say-die attitude makes him look at starting life afresh. The chemistry between the duo is what makes the movie. The second half essentially deals with them having a role reversal and how they help bring out the best in each other.

A lovely movie that’s an absolute must-watch!!!

Udbhav 09 - The annual fest of MSRIT

4 days, 40 events, more than 4000 participants. And this is the culmination of it all. It was easily the most awaited event in MSRIT this academic year and this is vindicated by the fact that this year's Udbhav saw the highest number of participants ever. The phenomenol increase in the participation can only be attributed to the enthusiastic batches of students coming in, year after another year. 

From tears of joy to whoops of sorrow, from passionate hi 5s of unbirdled excitement to agonising clutching of the hair, Udbhav 09 has seen it all. The 60 hours of Udbhav was just a blur, gone by in 6 hours to most students and participants, but seemed like 600 to the volunteers due to their extensive hard work in making this Udbhav possible. It was, nonetheless, a very enjoyable experience.

We started off on monday, the 30th of March. The star attraction undoubtedly and unforseen, was the cooking event. Never before has a new event witnessed such a frenzy of excitement at Udbhav. Heavenly aromas wafting through the ESB2 gardens sent the MSRITians to a culinary delirium.

Tuesday's focus was primarily on the preliminaries. But that isnt to say that other events went unnoticed. One act play saw its biggest audience till date and even Classical dance, which usually is not a crowd puller, had people queueing in to enter.

Wednesday was ethnic day and as usual, the college was decked up in every conceivable color. It started off with staff antakshari, which saw a host of our staff members coming out of their scholarly shells and entertaining the crowd. Antakshari, ILM, DC, JAM and Personality drew in massive crowds that were entertained no end by the talented participants.

Thursday, the last day this Udbhav, got off to a rousing start with the General Quiz, conducted by Mr Thejaswi Udupa, of the KQA. In all my 4 years in MSRIT, no quiz event in Udbhav has witnessed such participation and support. The western band, which was turned into a competition this year, saw many bands coming out and converting their practise into performance. And it goes without saying that the Group Dance events had the Biggest and most well-behaved crowd Udbhav has ever seen. It was a tremendous success!

I conclude by stating that Udbhav 09 saw many innovations, new events being added and new talents being unearthed. All this, in the midst of fun, frolic and a feeling of oneness. Udbhav 2009 has definitely crossed all barriers in the quest for perfection. I hope the coming years surpass this and make us proud! Cheers.

Review of Quantum of Solace

As far back as I can remember James Bond has always been about tradition. Sort of like the New York Yankees.

The Yankees are known for overpaying players, clean cut image, crazed fans, and not to mention they haven't changed uniforms in the last 200 years. Just like the Yankees, the Bond films have maintained tradition over the years. I knew going into this movie I was going to see five things: nice cars (check), good action (check), some cool new technology (check), a tuxedo (check), and beautiful women (check and check).

Quantum of Solace picks up just minutes after we last saw Bond in Casino Royale. 007Daneil Craig) is still on the hunt to find whoever is responsible for the death of Vesper Lynd. While interrogating Mr. White, a mole within MI6 attempts to kill M (Judi Dench). Bond takes off around the world to find the mole and hopefully one step closer to Vesper's killer. He follows the bread crumbs that lead him to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of QUANTUM who seems to be buying up useless desert land.

Craig gives us a different Bond in QOS. He's a much colder, meaner, edgier James Bond who is hell bent on revenge for the entire 106 minutes. I can't remember seeing him smile once in the movie.

The Bond girl this time around was Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who has her own plot for revenge in the movie.She gave us a much better performance in QOS. Olga was able to look sexy, the next minute look tough, and then switch right back to being sexy again. I love that quality in a Bond girl……….not so much in real life.

The only thing I didn't like about this movie was the lack of a serious plot and it seemed to be missing a strong villain. The movie is essentially a sequel to Casino Royale. It makes for an interesting story, but there isn't much more to the plot. I think villains are the driving force in movies. Don't get me wrong, I liked Mathieu Amalric in this movie. He just didn't do enough for me. C'mon our last Bond villain cried blood. All Dominic Greene ever did was give us a few creepy looks.

My suggestion: I absolutely loved this movie. Quantum of Solace is a must see for Bond fans. I grew up on James Bond so maybe I'm a little bias. If you grew up on Bond, you might just love it too. The movie almost a 100 minute action sequence with a love scene squeezed in the middle. Either Bond is killing someone, or narrowly avoiding getting killed himself. Daniel Crag has added some new flavor to this role, and I hope to see him in a few more films before they hand the franchise off toNick Cannon.