Bajirao Mastani - An experience

So yesterday when I left my lab late in the evening, I followed my usual ritual of putting on my mp3 player and stuffing the earphones in my, well, ears. The song it played was Fitoori, a song which was taken from Bajirao Mastani's soundtrack, although not featured in the movie itself. About an hour later, when I walked into my home, the song playing was still Fitoori. At just under 4 minutes long, that is equal to approximately 15 replays. But that is the kind of hold this movie has on me ever since it came out. First the trailer, then that ethereal homage to Mughal-e-azam and Madhubala's pyaar kiya to darna kya magic set in the modern adaptation of the sheesh mahal (Deewani Mastani), followed by the rest of  the music, and finally the film itself. I have always been an ardent admirer of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali school of filmmaking, right from the critically acclaimed Khamoshi, to the much maligned Saawariya, the acclaimed-but-hardly-seen-by-a-single-soul Guzaarish, to his redemption ticket at the box-office Goliyon ki rasleela: Ram-Leela. So naturally I was bound to be excited when the maverick finally came out with his dream project, 12 years in the making. Though the excitement might have been of a more subtle, restrained variety, which comes with age. Especially though, as after the slight disappointment with the unabashed, melodramatic tone of Ram-Leela, this one seemed to signal a return to form for SLB, the director who gave us one of TIME magazine's 10 best films of the millenium, and the best film of that year (2002) worldwide (Devdas). And that is exactly what it turned out to be.

It would be very easy to dismiss this film as just a costume drama, replete with "over-the-top" action sequences, costumes, sets and emotions, as indeed a few reviewers tried to do. SLB is a director reviewers love to hate. Trashing his movies as over the top, melodramatic, all gloss no substance, pretentious etc. provides them the ultimate high, and makes them feel good about themselves. However, for a change, they have been unusually kind and receptive of Bajirao, lavishing it with well- deserved praise in all aspects - world-class production values, set pieces, costumes, cinematography, music, direction and of course, the acting. Even international reviewers, such as the reviewers of the Guardian, and Ms.Saltz of the  NYT, have been very generous with their praise for this magnum-opus, accepting it for what it is - a fine example of old-school Bollywood story-telling, combined with production values at par with any big-ticket Hollywood production. 

Personally, for me the highlight of the film was its most underrated aspect - the music. Universally praised and liked, it hasn't been discussed as much as it needs to be. SLB, who helmed the music for this one completely on his own like his last few ventures, deserves major props for bringing classical music back to mainstream Bollywood. Right from the opening kathak number, "Mohe rang do lal" – another homage to K. Asif and Madhubala's spell-binding "Mohe panghat pe", the classical tone is set for the entire movie. The way this number opens, with the sounds of chirping birds evoking early dawn, you realize you are in for a musical treat. The setting of fountains and the grand old fort serve as the background for Pandit Birju Maharaj's subtle choreography, brought to life by Deepika Padukone's graceful swaying, all of which makes  this number a visual treat as well, and a major reason for why I could see this movie twice within a week in theatres! This is followed by another highlight, the well-known Albela Sajan, sung by a bunch of talented singers in a choir-like manner, a significant feat for a classical song. The colourful song makes you joyously celebrate the triumphant return of the victorious hero from battle. The less said about Deewani Mastani, the better. This is a song which will go down in history, just for the sheer artistry with which it has been conceived – a monochromatic spectacle of brilliant choreography, cinematography, vocals, sets, costume and performances. Shreya Ghoshal returns to top form with this album for the man who unleashed her force in Bollywood with Bairi Piya. The only song I was apprehensive about pre-release was Malhaari. The boisterous number seemed far removed from the sedate world of Maratha Peshwas, and Ranveer Singh’s dancing with animalistic fervour set to Vishal Dadlani’s power-packed vocals did not seem to gel with the times it was set in. But all apprehensions were set aside, as it assimilated beautifully in the movie, a battle cry celebrating the all-conquering war prowess of the Marathas. You almost believe that a peshwa could have danced like that with his soldiers. Same goes with Pinga. Bhansali follows a sort of template in all his films, especially when it comes to music. For instance, there is a customary song about the moon (chand chupa badal mai, woh chand jaisi ladki, yoon shabnami…). So here too, we have a Pinga, built on the same template set by Dola re …. Two women, rivals in love, come together to celebrate their affection for the same man, with one ultimately handing over the reins to the other. A lot of hue and cry was made, open letters written by “activists” seeking their 15 minutes of fame criticizing the concept of making a peshwani bai dance with commoners, and the factual inaccuracy of a Kashibai struggling with arthritis dancing energetically. However it was all forgotten and the song was received favourably, compared incessantly to its predecessor, and the two ladies pitted against each other – with Priyanka Chopra coming up on top more often than not. The two gems on the album, Fitoori and Abb tohe jaane na dungi are inexplicably not included in the film. Listening to the thumris, one can’t help but be hopeful that the videos were shot and will see the light of the day somewhere down the line. The latter has my favorite lyrics from the album:

Ek hai mannat, ek hai dua …

Dono ne ishq ki rooh ko chhua,

Daayein se pad, ya baayein se pad….

Farsh se arsh tak, ishq hai likha

 Aayat, another masterpiece by the omnipresent and overused Arijit Singh, follows the template set by its far superior predecessor Lal Ishq from Ram Leela. Aaj Ibadat, which only plays as the end credits roll out, beautifully brings together Sanskrit hymns with Urdu poetry, and underlines the theme of religious harmony preached by the movie boldly with double lines. In short, though SLB is unlikely to win any awards for music direction, or any of the singers rewarded for bringing his vision to life, they all undoubtedly deserve a thunderous applause for these soulful, classical-based tunes, in my opinion, especially in a year dotted with below average soundtracks. Read this completely to-the-point review of the album in the Hindu.

Both Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra come up with career-defining performances. Unfortunately, it is SLB’s muse, Mastani, who seems to have drawn the short string in the bargain, coming across woefully underwritten and unidimensional as compared to the other two protagonists. Deepika Padukone already had a landmark performance last year with Piku, and here again she gives an earnest performance. It’s the writing which lets her down. Although it is easy to root for Priyanka’s dignified Kashibai, by virtue of her being the simpleton, honest, jilted first wife, it is her incredible performance that steals the show. She proves that you don’t need to fill every frame of the movie to make an impact. Of her limited screen time, it takes her just two scenes to stamp her presence across the movie – the one in which she confronts Mastani and after giving her a piece of her mind, finally accepts her on her own terms, and the much talked about guroor scene, where she shreds into her husband’s infidelity by confronting him with all the dignity and self-respect she can muster. You feel for her when a sick Bajirao mistakes her for Mastani, and not for the lovelorn man on his death bed. You feel Kashibai's anguish through her, so well has she imbibed the character. This is a hundred steps beyond Fashion, Barfi or any other performance of her illustrious career. The entire supporting cast, predominantly Tanvi Azmi, lives up to the expectations one has come to have from a SLB film.
This is only the second film ever that I paid twice to watch in a theatre, the first being Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara. While that one was more or less circumstantial, this time, it was completely voluntarily. And during the second watch, which was barely 2-3 days after the first one, not even once did I feel I that I have just seen it. It retained it's freshness for the most part, except the long-drawn out climax, which frankly, grew a little tiresome in the first watch itself. Even though it is not a flawless film, Bajirao is definitely the finest representative of everything that is good about the Bollywood cliche, has repeat value, and I suspect, and hope, that in absence of any quality opposition in the forseeable future, will have a long run at the theatres, finally reaffiriming SLB's box office credentials after Ram Leela.

Woo Hoo!

So another long hiatus ensues. Its been almost three months I posted anything here, and there is no good reason for it. Anyway, how does it matter? Plenty of things worth writing about have happened, lots of unfinished drafts are gathering dust on the back end, but for now, something totally mundane to break the dry spell. Not really in the mood, or inspired enough to write something profound or insightful!

So for the past few months, my ringtone has been this unreleased track recorded by Ke$ha, called Woohoo!, which I can't even remember when and where did I come across. As the song title, and the artist responsible for it suggests, it is the ultimate upbeat, party anthem. It really is a wonder why it was never released. Would have been a sure shot hit in the clubs and on the dance charts. Check it out here. 

I do remember that when I came across this song, I read somewhere that although not released by her officially, it was loaned to some other band and was heavily sampled by them in their own track. Which now after googling, I can tell you, is Windows Down by Big Time Rush. Anyway, so a few days back, while watching TV, I was just thinking about this song that has been my ringtone for ages now, and was wondering how would that other song sound like. And coincidentally, as I landed on Vh1 while channel surfing, imagine my surprise to hear this loud, grunge-alt song, oddly titled "Song 2" by British alternative band Blur, and it had the same hook and beats as that of Woohoo!

So I assumed this must be the track that sampled Woohoo. Today I finally remembered and managed to download and hear Blur's track, and then google it. To my surprise, this song came out way back in 1997, and it was in fact Ke$ha who had heavily sampled Song 2 on Woohoo! and basically turn this alt song that was supposed to parody American grunge rock, but ironically became a hit amongst the same fan group, into a uptempo party track! (man that was a long sentence!) I pretty much like both the songs, and in fact, since I heard Woohoo! before Song 2, it gives a weird perspective of a dance pop track being converted into a grunge, alt song, though it is the other way round. Either way, the purpose of writing this was to introduce anyone who by chance lands on this blog page to these two pretty cool songs. And to break the rut!

On a side note, I have observed this a million times - quite often when I am thinking about something for a few days now and then, and usually have a missing link, or an unanswered question related to it, then something happens or I come across some information or facts etc inadvertently, which provides that missing link, or answers that question etc, without me actively seeking it. Or it could be just me thinking up some imaginary scenario in my random chain of thoughts someday, and within a few days, something related to that scenario actually happening. For example, almost a decade ago while in high school, and newly introduced to cable TV, my life pretty much revolved around two things - FRIENDS (the TV show, too lazy to put in the dots) and Shania Twain. So one day while obssessing over these two things simultaneously, I just had this idea that how cool it would be if Shania actually guest starred on FRIENDS. And lo! in just a few days after that, the episode of FRIENDS which aired, had Phoebe mentioning Shania Twain! I was flabbergasted that what would be the probability of that happening within the same week as me getting that whimsy. I remember blurting it out to my sister in excitement right then and there, and her shooting me down and dismissing me as a blubbering lunatic (as I am sure many of you reading this right now would also be doing!). Sorry, but that's the best example of this phenomenon I could come up with right now. I have no idea if the last few sentences make any sense to you, but if that thing that I am trying to talk about happens to others as well, they'll get it, I presume. Or maybe as I always suspected, I do have actual, untapped, raw psychic powers that I just haven't learned how to control yet. If you have experienced it too, let me know in the comments, and dismiss the notion of psychic powers in my head!  

Hindi cinema, Punjabi soundtrack

Just read an article in The Hindu's Friday supplement (the closest it will ever come to the main body of the Times of India), titled 'Direct, Dil Se'. The subtitle read as, "It is no longer just about Bandra and Bhatinda. .....". This was just the stimulus I needed to write about something that has been irking me for long now, and was on my hitlist of things to lament about here. Its the all pervasive Punjabi songs in Bollywood cinema of recent times. Sure as the afore mentioned article says, Hindi films may have finally broken the confines of Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra and starting to venture into the by-lanes of  UP, Bihar, Kolkotta, and the likes. But apparently, the whole country dances to the tunes of bhangra and hums Punjabi lyrics. The first time I realized this was when I was looking at my music collection sometime back, and noticed that in two months of the new year, I had only felt the need to download the music of one film. Even last year, the total number of films with music worthy of listening to more than once was miniscule. While this might be due to the overall falling standards of filmy music, I also realized that I just didn't care to listen to Harshdeep Kaur singing heer or Rabbi's challa as I had no clue as to what they are singing about. Now give me something like angrezi beat, where the music is more than enough and I don't have to really guess what the lyrics mean, and I'll be more than happy. But whats up with all the heavy duty Punjabi music in almost every other Bollywood movie nowadays? A sampler of the trailers and music on TV nowadays - 'Jugni' from Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster returns, a couple of tracks from Mere dad ki maruti (something about Punjabiyon di battery and another one I don't even know what its called). 

Now when we are talking about movies that are set in Punjab and the stories are integral to the state, I get that the music adds to the flavour - movies Mausam, Luv Shuv tey Chicken khurana, needed their (wonderful, I might add) Punjabi soundtracks. But do we need a Punjabi track in every movie? I have not seen Jab tak hai jaan (and will not see it. well ..... Jab tak hai jaan!), but I am guessing it wasn't really necessary for SRK to jump around like a monkey singing an all out Punjabi song on the streets of UK or US (or whatever hell western country Yash Chopra chose this time around to humiliate Indians) in a HINDI movie!? Did a movie like cocktail need to have all those Punjabi tracks (borrowed from various sources), however great they might have been? Did a student of the year really need a "Velle" or Kukkad"? Did a UP-based Tanu weds Manu, need a Jugni (there seems to be a lot of them anyway!) in the end credits? And speaking of Jugnis, one of the stand out moments in Cocktail for me was when Deepika Padukone's character realizes she's hit rock bottom, at a party, and is seen lying on a rooftop, ravishing in a green dress. The song playing in the background is, of course, another Jugni! And though I love that song, I have no idea what it is saying! I do not know how does it convey the turmoil the character is going through, or even if it does do that or not, because I do not understand the lyrics. So it takes away something from that moment for me. Do the filmmakers and music directors and lyricists of our Hindi film industry really believe that the entire country understands Punjabi? Heck I am a Delhiite, and Delhi might as well be the honorary capital of Punjab, and I still have trouble understanding and more importantly, identifying with those songs! I just feel like flipping the channel, or get bored and distracted when most of them come on. 

Now I am not saying that if its a Hindi movie, it all should be inexplicably Hindi. I don't mind a Marathi 'Navrai Majhi' (English Vinglish), Womaniya or a Gujarati 'Shubhaarambh' (Kai Po Che) thrown in every now and then. In fact, these are pleasant, refreshing breath of fresh air. All I am opposing is this excessive, unending barrage of unnecessary Punjabi music and lyrics (they bother more) in every second Hindi film! And this is a relatively recent trend maybe last couple of years or so. I guess it has to do with the recent success of Punjabi pop music and artists like Mika, Honey Singh and so on. Not so long ago, a "tere bin" by Rabbi (Delhi Heights) or even Mauja Mauja (Mika) were extremely appreciated. Because then they were the exceptions, rather than the norm. Hindi Pop music scene died with the 90's and all we have now is Bollywood to satiate our need for Hindi music. A little regional flavour every now and then is welcome and even appreciated, but can we please maintain a soundtrack that all Hindi-speaking consumers of Bollywood universally understand?

2012 - Wrap Up!

At the start of this year, I had vowed that I'll be much more regular with my posts. Its almost the end of 2012, and I have exactly the same number of posts as last year, excluding this one. But I still have around 2 hours to catch up! Though I don't really see the point. Till last year, each post drew at least one comment, and I knew people were reading, even if they were just my friends. This year, 13 posts have collectively drawn just two comments, not counting the two replies by me. The post on the "fire in the blood" documentary continues to draw a lot of people from all over the world each day, as it makes the round of film festivals around the world and curious people Google it to learn more. They inadvertently land up on my blog, but without much feedback, I am assuming no one bothers to read it. 

Catching eye balls was never the intention of this blog. It was always meant to be a place where I could think out loud and clear my head. But who am I kidding? Its obviously demoralizing to not have a sustained readership. Also, the things I end up writing about don't help. This year its mostly been about tennis, and a few social and political issues. Not much personal stuff. Incidentally, these are the very topics I cannot talk to my friends about, due to lack of interest. And as they make up my entire readership, its not surprising that there ain't much feedback. But anyway, enough of rambling, cause I am still gonna keep thinking out loud here.

This year saw a lot of lows, with a few highs - for me personally, as well as the nation in general. I'll probably spend January introspecting, and maybe even writing about both. Last year ended with a promising bang, cause I finally joined a PhD program, but the bang started to fizz out even before January was over. However, I did accomplish my long standing goal of joining dance classes. Basically, that sums up the year for me, disappointment and confusion on the career front, and satisfaction in finally doing something I love. Oh and yeah, my almost 2 years of post masters research experience fructified in the form of two publications in  international scientific journals - something I had dreamed of forever, but didn't really mean as much when it finally was realized. Anyway, so here's my two cents worth on what was good in 2012.

Best Movie (Hindi) - English Vinglish.

Best Actor - Not very competitive this year, at least from the movies I saw. It would have to be Nawazuddin Siddiqui for his collective effort in Talaash, Kahaani, Miss Lovely and Gangs of Wasseypur. Though I must say I haven't seen the last two, and also Paan Singh Tomar, for which many would say Irrfan Khan would be a lead contender.

Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra would have scored again this year in my book with Barfi! (after 7 khoon maaf last year), had it not been for a brilliant Sridevi in English Vinglish.
 
Supporting Performance - Parambrata Chatterjee in Kahaani and Kareena Kapoor in Talaash.

Best Soundtrack - Again, not too much brilliance to look back on, but Teri Meri Kahaani was the soundtrack that most frequently appeared on my playlist this year, along with Cocktail.


Playback singing -

Male - Sonu Nigam for Abhi mujh mai kahin (Agneepath).

Female - Hamsika Iyer for Raabta [Siyaah Raatein] (Agent Vinod)

Personality of the year - Definitely, the agent of change, the woman who took the nation by storm - the unnamed.

Movie of the year (English) - Life of Pi would come out on top from the few that I have seen. Still waiting to watch Argo and Les Miserables.

Breakthrough Artist of the year - A band to look forward to for greatness in future - Fun. They may not have debuted this year, but they definitely had a breakthrough and took 2012 by storm.

Song(s) of the year - Though it would be Gangnam style on many lists in the world, it won't be on mine. I never got the whole hoopla around this song, it was no Macarena! But this one would still be a very tough pick, with a host of songs ruling the roost this year. I would for now, go with the obvious ones - 'Call me Maybe' by Carly Rae Jepsen, 'We are young' by Fun, and 'Somebody that I used to Know' by Gotye, though my heart says 'Madness' by Muse.

Musical highs!

When it comes to music and movies, I have pretty unconventional tastes, as most of my friends will vouch for. Especially in the case of movies, I have a tendency to like movies which have been universally dissed, as is the case with Saawariya, Raavan, What's your Raashee, Teri Meri Kahani, 127 hours and so on and so forth. With music, the unconventionality lies in the humongous variety of the music I tend to like. I am a guy who openly admits to loving Shania Twain's music, as well as counting AC/DC, Coldplay, Maroon 5 among my favorite bands. Blues, R&B, Pop, Alternative, Rock, rap, House, Country ...... nothing is out of bounds.

However, I have had been pretty conservative in terms of the artists I would listen to. I would never actively seek out and listen to new artists. I was pretty content with just listening to everything and anything by the artists I already knew. But off late, from about an year or so, I have been having the most amazing time discovering music by artists which are new, or I have never heard before. The Internet, more International music on Indian TV channels and radio stations in Delhi, Facebook .... plenty of contributing factors. But I have heard entire soundtracks of movies lately (Step Up series, Country Strong), many TV series have introduced me to great music (Grey's anatomy being the chief contributor, a well as Private practice, Glee, and the odd episode from sitcoms like Cougar Town). Joining dance classes introduced me to a kind of music I would have particularly cringed at few moths back (the likes of Taio Cruz, Britney Spears and many other unknown artists - to me, that is). But on some level I have learned to appreciate even these, if only as music you can really dance to. As my love and exploration of country music expands beyond Shania Twain to artists like Joe Nichols, Brad Paisely, Blake Shelton and the likes, the contemporary pop artists ruling the charts have also left their impression - Rihanna (We found love), Carly Rae Jepsen, Chris Brown, Wanted, Hot Chelle Rae and so on.

But its the new alternative music that' really buzzing my musical buds lately. As Maroon 5 firmly etched themselves as my all time favorites with Over exposed and moves like Jagger, I rediscovered Jason Mraz's beautiful music all over again after The Remedy. Bands and artists like Fun (Some nights, We are young), The Script, Gym Class heroes, Lady Antebellum, One Republic, Foster the People (HUGE FAN!!!!), Mumford & Sons have got me waiting anxiously for new music from them, something new to me. Now I just feel like listening to all the music by some of these artists which they produced before I got acquainted with them, their older albums - a very scary prospect, considering how much time I already blow away on the Internet. Anyway, I would probably do it anyway, starting with the band whose song stimulated this post - The Killers' Runaways. Something tells me I have heard and liked this band before too, but just can't recall anything. But if this song is any indication, I am sure I would love them. Doesn't this song just reminds you of the 80's music of Springsteen, Meatloaf, a bit of Queen ..... lots of drama. Anyhow, here's the video, and looking forward to more exciting, new music. Suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Why I loved RAAVAN

I guess my blog is taking on a "one post a month" form..... not the way I had envisaged it to be, but what can I do? Laziness has no cure......

This year, many hugely anticipated movies are scheduled for release. The first of them, Kites, turned out to be a huge, HUGE, disaster.......as I found out yesterday when it came on T.V. When it came out, I had been told not to bother watching it even if someone offered to pay for your ticket. I whole heartedly agree now, it wasn't even worth the time spent watching it on TV!!!

The next big release in line was Rajneeti, which has done pretty well, followed by Raavan, the movie which I had been waiting anxiously for, along with Action Replay and Guzaarish. That should tell you, that I am a HUGE Aishwarya Rai fan!!! :P But the directors associated with each of these projects too add to their appeal. Anyway, so Raavan released on the 18th June, and after finishing a grueling, frustrating 7 hour CSIR exam on the 20th, I rushed off to Sangam, and bought three tickets for the next show. And imagine my surprise to see no queue at the ticket counter, on a Sunday, for a MEGA release like Raavan, and that too in a cheap-skate hall like Sangam!!! I assumed all the bad publicity and reviews of the past two days were at work. Anyway, we set out at 6:30 for the show, and were made to sit through a nihaayati boring documentary on Emus n their farming in India!!! I mean, what happened to the good ol' trailers!!!???

Now the whole world might be trashing the movie, but I loved it. Nothing new in that, those who know me will say, considering I almost always like the movies shunned by the rest of the world, (read Saawariya, The Village, Zinda etc.) and tend to shun the movies which majority likes (Om Shanti Om, - the worst movie ever made in the history of cinema according to me). The basic complaint with both Saawariya and Raavan is the same, - that there is no story, nothing moves forward or backward, its static, nothing happens.......!!! Rubbish I say......!!! First of all, Raavan is nothing but a different take on the basic premise of the Ramayan. Now, its quite contradictory, and nonsensical, according to me, to say that a movie based on the greatest epic ever told has no storyline!!! pffft...... Plus, the movie is sol layered, that a black - n - white objective view cannot be applied here. I can understand why some people may have found it boring, n I assume these are the kind of people who made OSO one of the biggest blockbusters ever! :P ......

For one, I have never seen a movie more aesthetically shot. Each and every frame of Raavan is pure, visual delight. I for one was left wondering, where in India such pure, untamed wilderness, n virgin forests are still found!!!! The waterfall, an integral part of the movie, was breathtaking, and so was watching the lead protagonists trying to scale it. For sure, the movie had me in its folds within the first 20 minutes or so, with the song Behne De. The way that song has been incorporated in the movie, and the way it has been pictured, shows the class of Mani Ratnam as a director. Very rarely do the lyrics of a song fit the situation in such an apt manner in hindi movies. Aishwarya, in a dazzling performance, betrays perfectly all the emotions a person in that situation would go through, fear, anger, feigned courage, helplessness.......... while during that particular song, Abhishek's Beera is totally bewildered and flabbergasted with the courage of this slight, young woman....... played to the tee by Abhishek. Though I agree, in general his performance throughout the movie was jerky, and overdone and overcooked. But seriously, words fail me. I cannot describe the poetry n beauty of how that song lifts up the movie, its worth going to see the movie in a theater just for this, or rather, all the songs. Never before has music been so beautifully used in a movie, and actually carries forward the story. What the dialogs do not state, the lyrics of the songs exemplify. For e.g., thok de gilli exposes the under-stated Naxal element of the storyline, with its hard-hitting lyrics. The lyrics of Katta Katta, act like a double edged sword, literally referring to the plight of the groom one day before the wedding, and also serving as an indication of the imminent downfall of Beera and his clan. (Or maybe I read too much into it! :P) ..... What took me by surprise was how the chartbuster Raanjha Raanjha was used. You don't get to hear the actual song in its entirety in the movie as such. Instead, the lyrics of the song are almost chanted or narrated, in the voice of Richa Sharma at fist, and then Ila Arun in the movie, to lay the foundation of emergence of Ragini's growing attraction towards Beera. And Khilli re Khilli, has to be the most aesthetically choreographed songs in recent times, with Aishwarya delivering a graceful and beautiful performance. i believe, her chemistry with Vikram was even more sparkling as compared to that with Abhishek. Basically, awesome ,music by Rehman, beautiful lyrics by Gulzar and very intelligent use of both by Ratnam.

Except for Mr. Bachchan, none of the performances were found wanting. Aishwarya really excelled in a role, tailor-made for her, though appearing a bit too shrieky n shrill in a couple of sequences. The most impressive were the supporting cast, primarily, Govinda, Ravi Kissen n Priyamani. Watching Govinda's take on Hanuman, I somewhere felt he was born to essay this role - the perfect Hanuman. Though in the guise of a forest guard, his antics, n the tree -to -tree jumping skills, (which frankly speaking looked quite unrealistic) and expressions remind you instantly of the monkey-faced deity and he fits the bill to play the traditional version of Hanuman, I say. Ever since Bigg Boss, I have found Ravi Kissen really really irritating and intolerable, but in this movie he was quite watchable and his character, though under-written, does manage to leave an impression. Priyamani too impresses in the couple of scenes and a song she is there. It is with the introduction of her character, that the Ratnam twist on the classical Ramayan begins to unfold. Suddenly, Raavan is not the ultimate villain, and Ram not the immaculate hero. I quite liked this twist, as the movie progressed, you get to see the humanized version of Ram in darker and darker shades. Vikram is quite convincing, though never great in this role.

I really don't know why this movie failed to impressed the masses. Or did it really? Cuz most people I know who actually saw the movie have appreciated it. The reviews too were a mixed bag, and the Tamil version is a runaway hit. I guess, its just the media hype, and the usual "build something up to epic proportions and then drag it down mercilessly" phenomenon on which the TV industry thrives on today. Also, a failure to appreciate the cinematic beauty of the exchanges between the lead pair, the various internal conflicts each of the character goes through, may have put off some people. What really pissed me off was the insipid, mind-numbingly boring and mediocre dialog writing. The dialogs simply lacked conviction and strength which the characters demanded, and miserably failed to put the point across. However, the brilliant performances made up for that most of the time. I really believe it is one step ahead for commercial hindi cinema, and a movie which is truly deserving of a visit to the theater, even if only for the brilliant cinematography and music.