adarsh bhat’s blog

I watched the movie today, and liked it. Read this amazing review of Cloverfield at Chiacago Tribune (spoiler warning).

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For a while, I had wanted to watch this documentary. Now that I got myself a Netflix membership I have the chance to make up for lost time (what with my mother trying to protect me from English movies in my childhood).

I always knew junk food was bad, so there was no eye-opening there. But junk food happens at an entirely different scale in this country, as compared to some place like India. Sure people eat junk in India. But is not so big an industry. And people still cook most of their meals at home — and I mean really cook everything from scratch, not merely microwave ready food.

This movie is a must-watch for people who crave junk. Just to see the effect it can have on a person. Sure, the guy who eats at McDonalds for 30 days does not grow visibily fatter in an obscene way. But you can still see the other physical and mental changes in him.

Here are some of the learnings that I’m taking home from this movie:

• Eating junk makes you crave more food. I have seen this happen with my friends.
• You can fill a lot of soda in those cups.
• Cheese and sugar are addictive.

I have been trying hard to eat healthy, especially after one month of reckless eating. I look carefully at what I’m buying at the grocery store. Since most of those things are new to me, I have to learn what’s healthy and what’s not. I need to really cook my lunch myself and eat at home. Eating one meal outside every day is bad. And with me living right next door to the office, I really have no excuse. I can come back to the apartment for lunch faster than I can go to a restaurant. And yes, I need to up the amount of exercise I’m getting.

How’s that for a movie that makes you think?

exercise, food, movie, reviews

The recent movie Chak De! India was a huge hit. Chak De! India is the story of the poorly performing Indian women’s hockey team that goes on to win the Hockey world cup because of the efforts of the new coach.

I watched the movie. Although it was fairly good, it still had all the traits of a movie that tries to be popular by projecting the characters and their achievements as super-human, and of course by adding cheesy dialogues that appeal to the crowds. I gave it no more credit that I would a populist, commercial movie. Sure it was good entertainment, but not up to the hype that surrounded it.

Strange as it may seem, the women’s hockey team actually started winning matches a few weeks after the movie released (or people started noticing them). The men’s hockey team then went on to win the Asia Cup 2007. I was a little skeptical at the time, and thought that the media would hand all the credit for the players’ prowess to the movie. Sure enough, that did happen. But then the team itself went on record saying that they won the match only because of the movie. Ha!

And now India won the first Twenty20 Cricket world cup. The same story repeats again.

This is not a bad thing to happen. After all, they’re winning and that’s good. But I’m somehow unsettled. I don’t get it.

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Every once in a while, a movie is made that rises and stands above the crowd. It doesn’t make any sense — critics give the movie close-to-zero ratings, the actors are hideous not too good looking, there’s no story to speak of. And yet, the movie is a super hit.

We’ve seen a thousand movies like this — boy sees girl, falls in love, woos her, her wedding has already been arranged and so on. On the positive side, the movie does have some great camera work, soul stirring music, excellent visual scenery and reasonably good acting. But are these enough? Apparently, yes.

I doubt if anybody can explain the success of this movie. But it is hard for anybody to miss that special way in which the movie connects to the audience. I guess that’s all it takes.

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Thanks to the state wide bundh on Monday, I had another long weekend with nothing to do. I utilized this opportunity to watch more TV and grow fatter. I caught up with quite a few movies (by my standard at least). Now I can actively participate in the discussions at work again. Yay!

Don — The Chase Begins Again

If the majority of people in India do not enjoy watching Hollywood films, it is for a reason. The movies are too fast and too cryptic. You have to have a good command over the language, and you have to be able to follow their accents (well… we think the westerners have accents). But this movie is so fast that it just zoooms away in front of your eyes. Yep. You bat an eyelid, and then you have this vague feeling that you’re still watching the same movie. I would know; I missed the whole movie since I slept through it. I figured that I was more comfortable sleeping at home instead of sleeping inside a movie hall. Cheaper too, since the movie was playing on a local cable channel. I woke up five minutes before the end of the movie, just in time to watch the suspense unraveling. This means that I won’t be watching the movie again, and this is going to be the final review. Don’t look so happy.

Umrao Jaan

This movie is a remake (so is the previous one) of the old Rekha starrer, which was also called.. surprise..! Umrao Jaan. You might have read all the ramblings in the press about how Aishwarya Rai is a poor copy of Rekha. Don’t listen to them liars. Aishwarya looks like a dream. She looks so angel-like, so freakin beautiful that it restores your faith in goodness. The rumours of Aishwarya marrying Abhishek are all false, by the way. Aishwarya’s acting is above her normal mark, so that’s good. If you like Urdu poetry, you should treat yourself to watching this movie. Some of the mujras are new. Looks like they didn’t want to copy everything. Abhishek Bachchan is in the movie too, if you insist. Definitely one of his better performances.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Yeah, Yeah, I know the movie’s old. Oh… I hadn’t watched it till now. Blah Blah Blah… Well OK, I watched it now. You win by four years. This movie is so awesome, I challenge anyone to leave your seat. Not now, while watching the movie. The movie is an action packed nail biting thriller. It is rarely that I appreciate a movie so much. If you haven’t watched the movie yet, you should die. You simply don’t deserve to live. Come on… it has been four years, for heavens sake!

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