Welcome to Sajjanpur

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Written on 7:52 PM by Hemanth Kumar

Title: Welcome to Sajjanpur
Language: Hindi
Year of Release:2008
Director: Shyam Benegal
Actors: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao and others
Verdict: **** (Don't miss it)

The movie is a complete laugh riot right from the scene where Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade) appears on screen, something which takes you by surprise especially given the fact that it’s by Shyam Benegal. If you are among those who always crib that the quality of our Hindi films especially in terms of the story has gone down drastically, then undoubtedly this is one of the finest films you will see this year.

To read the full review of this movie....click here

Announcement!

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Written on 7:42 PM by Hemanth Kumar

The last weekend, has been quite an eventful one. Covered some movies which I had kept in backlog for quite sometime and I did watch a beautiful movie by Shyam Benegal called "Welcome to Sajjanpur". More on that later....
I came across this invite to write on Veresh Jain's site http://movies.newscrux.com which primarily caters to those who love Bollywood movies. It is with great pleasure that I announce to all the regular readers of this blog that I would be writing on Veresh's blog as well from here on. And most of the reviews of Hindi movies would be posted there, while simultaneously posting a link here as well...just in case you don't miss out anything if you like my reviews...:-)

Thank you all for your continuous support and I hope you will continue to encourage and criticize what I write.

Your Fellow Movie Buff,
Hemanth

Good Bye Lenin!

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Written on 12:54 PM by Hemanth Kumar


Title: Good Bye Lenin!
Language: German
Year of Release: 2003
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Actors: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon, Alexander Beyer
Verdict: **** (Must Watch)

There is a general feeling I have that when God created life, he had chalked an elaborate sketch of how it would take shape. And one day, when it was time for the evolution of humans, he must have thought of who all around a human being's life would be of great influence upom him/her. He's been so generous that (or maybe I should say very sly to relieve himself from doing more work!), he didn't give himself the pinnacle position, rather he seated a lady there and named her Mother. How else can you explain the hierarchy with which we recognise the four most important people...especially in Indian Tradition....it's always...Mother, Father, Teacher and God!...it's always like that! Most of the babies seem to say "Ma" first than any other word...and especially in my part of the world, people shriek "Amma" or "Maaaaa" when they are in pain. Maybe we all owe it to her for the unconditional love, care and support she's showered on us all throughout her life. From time immemorial we have celebrated the phenomenon, which some poets have termed as "God's Greatest Gift"...Mother. Under this premise, Cinema has depicted the role of mother in various shades...sometimes she's the all caring, love, sweet and at times she's the feiry being who will do anything for her loved ones and so on. Out of all those movies from Hollywood and rest of the world that I have seen, there have been three movies so far which changed my perspective of how the West interprets emotions like Love, Marriage, Family.

The first movies about Love...was "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset". The second about Marriage was "Two for the Road", and the third about Family relations is this German flick which I saw couple of weeks ago named, "Good Bye Lenin!". I don't declare that these three are the landmark movies which changed everything, but at some level they did have a great impact on me. Now that you have an idea of what I am about to say, let me get into the skin of this movie...."Good Bye Lenin!".

Directed by Wolfgang Becker, Good Bye Lenin is set in East Germany when it was still a Socialist nation . The Socialist party in German Democratic Republic (GDR) enjoys a huge following in its populace and as it progresses towards the new millenium, even crossing a milestone of sending one of its citizen into space, Sigmund Jähn. Christiane is the mother of two, Alexander Kerner and Ariane living in East Germany. One day, Government agents storm into her house and enquire about the whereabouts of her husband, since the party suspects that he might have escaped to the west. Slowly Christiane dedicates herself completely to her children and to the cause of upliftment of the poor in the neighbourhood which earns her laurels from the Government. The younger generation of the country vexed by the growing distance with the outside world decide to protest against the Government. And this protest march is dealt with some strict force by the Police resulting in several youth being arrested, Alex being one of them. When Christiane happens to witness all this infront of her eyes, she suffers a heart attack and slips into a coma. She continues to be in that state for the next 8 months, during which some striking changes take place in East Germany...like collapsing of the current regime, people breaking the Berlin Wall, West German currency and lifestyle sweeping the whole of East Germany and so on. When Christiane finally manages to wake up, Alex suffers a serious setback when the doctor tells him that she has to be protected from the outside world because she cannot withstand anything which can excite her. All these results in a series of funny, yet warm incidents depicting a desperate trail which her son takes to keep his mother in a stable state and more importantly happy.

The reason why this movie is so remarkable is, it's got a delicate charm in its own way. It's extremely clever in its depiction of transformation; and the fact that this transformation has to do with Germany gives it a compelling authenticity. The world has seen the rapid rate of transformation happening with the fall of Berlin wall...but the theme of a son slogging along with his confidants to recreate a country and life which his mother was so fond takes you by surprise. Before his mother had gone into a coma, he approved of the luxuries which the consumerism of the west provides, but with the drastic turn of events he dreams of that life which had once existed...whose ideals were so honest, yet it wouldn't fall into place of the new age of development.

Watch the movie for some beautiful background score, brilliant story and direction...and more importantly to see how far can one go to keep his loved ones happy....trust me, if you feel what I feel...it will compel you to think a lot about the age of innocence which we once had and that special person who taught you how to interpret things and see the world with your own eyes...I am lost in my dreams...my own Nostalgia. One of the brilliant Foreign Flicks I have seen in recent years...never knew that tragic comedies could be so beautiful.

Tahaan

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Written on 5:43 PM by Hemanth Kumar


Title: Tahaan
Language: Hindi
Year of Release: 2008
Director: Santosh Sivan
Actors: Purav Bhandare, Anupam Kher, Sarika, Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna, Victor Banerjee
Verdict: ****

There's a poem by Oscar Wilder titled "Panthea" and one of the stanza's goes like this
"....White lilies, in whose cups the gold bees dream,
The fallen snow of petals where the breeze
Scatters the chestnut blossom, or the gleam
Of boyish limbs in water, - are not these
Enough for thee, dost thou desire more?
Alas! the Gods will give nought else from their eternal store...."

A verse which describes about the beauty of things around us and our never ending quest for a little more than what we need. If only, life could be as simple as it exists in Ruskin Bond's books! But on the contrary, life's anything but that. This is probably why, "Tahaan" impresses you right from the beginning. Fiddling with an age of innocence to an unflinching friendship between a boy and his donkey, "Tahaan" is probably one of the most endearing movies to have hit the theatres in recent times.

It's the story of a Kashmiri boy named Tahaan (Purav Bhandare) who can't imagine without being with his dear friend, the donkey named "Birbal". His family consists of his mother Haba (Sarika), his sister Zoya(Sana Shaikh) and grandfather (Victor Banerjee). His father has been missing for over three years - and ever since the family has been in deep financial crisis. One fine day, when Tahaan's grandpa passes away, his mother decides to sell all the valuable items in the house and pay off the debt to some extent. In this process Tahaan's "Birbal" is sold off to the moneylender who inturn sells it off to another old man Subhan Darr (Anupam Kher) who carries supplies across mountains. What follows is a young boy's heart warming and persistent effort to get his friend back...there is no point in telling the story in two lines, it would be a blatant injustice to this visually brilliant poem.

The first thing about the movie is that it's one of the first films to have been entirely shot in Kashmir after a gap of 18 years. (Source: Wikipedia). And since it's one of the most respected Cinematographers of contemporary Indian Cinema, Santosh Sivan handling the camera, you could definitely expect some breath-taking shots. And he doesn't disappoint...:-). I wonder how much of research must have gone into a movie of such beauty...the reason why I say is, the environs in which this movie is set brings back some painful memories. It's a question of your convictions and ideas which are at stake. If ever your heart goes out to the people of Kashmir who are caught between the crossfire of India and Pakistan, there's a lesson to be learnt from this movie. Every time there's a scene where people are lined up by the army under the premise of investigation, you begin to think...is is right to suspect everyone with a beard or anyone who reminds you of some miscreant! And to mercilessly beat up innocent people under the pretext of suspicion....:-( ....With this as the background, if there's someone who brings a smile to your face, then imagince the impact of that character....this is exactly what's going through my mind right now. Disconnecting himself from the reality to a large extent, all Tahaan cares about is his Birbal. And he wouldn't tolerate being away from him even for a moment. So, when the very thing he cares and loves so much is under the danger of being taken away from him, he embarks on an extra-ordinary journey and doing everything and anything he can, to get his Birbal back.

Purav Bhandare is a revelation, certainly among one of the best child artist's to have hit the screen in recent times. His expressions, dialogues, innocence, vulnerability make him a big asset to the film. Check out everything he does to convince Anupam Kher to let him be with his donkey and that brilliant sequence of the race is sure to bring a smile onto your face. Anupam Kher is as good as he usually as, with almost a father like figure to those around him but at the same time nudging Tahaan and Zafar (Rahul Bose) who work for him. Underneath that stiff looking personality lies a soul which has taken a beaten with all these years of violence, a fact which is best described in a scene when they go to meet a old friend of his, a Kashmiri Pandit, who's hiding himself from the world around him. Coming to Rahul Bose, I must say, it's kinda hard to play the role of a duffer...but Rahul Bose does it with ease. Although one would expect him to have a longer footage, but this film isn't about him...it's about Tahaan. Among other roles,
Sana Shaikh impresses with her ever complaining attitude, but at the same time the warmth she shares with her brother leaves a good impression upon the family dynamics during testing times. Sarika (she's mute in the flick) as the mother of Tahaan, emotes a lot more with her eyes, radiating a lot more things than what she expresses through her hands. Check her out in all those scenes when she has to go to the police station searching for her husband...and you will realise what I am saying.

The film has some breathtaking shots of various locales of Kashmir, although most of the sequences are shot in snow (which quite a few of you might find repetetive), but kudos to the team who's scouted for these locations...it provides a great deal of authenticity to the whole story. The snow covered mountains, trees covered with snow, frozen lakes, mountains filled with fog and mist, and sun which throws the snow into a blinding glaze...it's all there, in almost every frame. Adding to that is a good background score which is in a way funny...not sure if there's any other way to describe it...maybe you can suggest me after you see the movie! The film also packs in good message about hope, dream and conviction to be good no matter how much life tests you....oh! just in case if I have missed saying the main point in the flick...I didn't wanna reveal how a ticking time bomb feels like...go check it out yourself.

A good story with some great acting and stunning cinematography make it a compulsive watch. I highly recommend this movie to all those who like good cinema, and if are among the ones who don't have a taste for plots which aren't fast paced...all I can say is, you are missing a gem of a movie..a true Made in India...one!...:D

Again another stanza from Oscar Wilde's "Panthea"....
"...O we are wearied of this sense of guilt,
Wearied of pleasure's paramour despair,
Wearied of every temple we have built,
Wearied of every right, unanswered prayer,
For man is weak; God sleeps: and heaven is high:
One fiery-coloured moment: one great love; and lo! we die..."

I think that's what life's about...we expect too much out of it...and end up doing so little! Time to buckle up and do everything thing we can to right every wrong...we could start with ourselves...lets work with our own thoughts and ideals...ask ourselves what if things are not the same?! Would all this be still the same? I don't know what the answer will be...but I see Hope...I see a life...I see Tahaan. It means Merciful. God.

P.S: For Complete version of Oscar Wilde's "Panthea" click here.

A Wednesday

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Written on 2:52 PM by Hemanth Kumar


Title: A Wednesday

Language: Hindi
Year of Release: 2008

Director:
Neeraj Pandey
Actors: Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Jimmy Shergill and others...
Verdict: ****1/2 ( Must Watch!!!)

There is a Chinese proverb which says "星星之火可以燎原" (it means..."A spark can start a fire that burns the entire prairie.") Quite similar to the "Butterfly Effect" which says that "A butterfly beating it wings in America can start a hurricane in China." The reason why I quote this has got a lot to do with this spellbinding movie I saw on Sunday titled "A Wednesday".

"A Wednesday" is the story about a police commissioner and his tryst with an anonymous caller on a Wednesday. The caller has no name, he can't be traced, there are no records of him...almost a phantom like figure. He demands the release of 4 dreaded terrorists in exchange for information on the locations where bombs are planted across Mumbai. To give a jist of how serious the demands and consequences (if demands are not met), the caller informs the commisioner about the bomb which he had planted in a Police Station right opposite the Commissioner's office. When the bomb squad does infact find six kilos of RDX, the entire team realises the gravity of situation and are on tenterhooks every moment. The commissioner who sees a clear picture of the vulnerability of the situation convinces the Chief Minister and others that the release of these terrorists is in the best interest of the denizens of the city. And dancing to the caller's tunes he sends his best men to finish the job which he's been told to. What follows is a edge of the seat thriller which is both compelling as well as thought-provoking turn of events leaving a definite mark in your heart of having seen a genuinely brilliant movie.

I find it hard not to use some superlatives for this flick, because it's among the rarest and the first of many things. If my memory doesn't fail me, Hindi movies over the past several years have stuck to the genre of Romance and Slapstick humour. But thanks to some film-makers who are fiddling with some naive subjects, we now can look forward to something different from seeing the landscapes of Europe or Australia...where characters are always named as Raj and Priya and the likes of them...And "A Wednesday" can be credited with several things which have been missing over the past few years. This is the kind of movie which needs to be shown in every multiplex across the country...with a running time of around 100 minutes, it's in a way tailor made for the multiplex crowds. And that running time means the editing has to be so crisp and to the point leaving no room for additional stuff just to please the audience. Thank God!!! I feel finally at peace for having seen a movie which's made without including any songs (item songs!!!) or fights, romance tracks just for the heck of it. For some odd reason all these elements have been used to prove the existence of characters other than the hero and in most cases he's depicted as the blue-eyed macho man who will have the last laugh!

Coming back to the story, the film belongs to Anupam, Naseeruddin, Jimmy Shergill, the music director Sanjoy Chowdhury, the editor Shree Narayan Singh, and most importantly the director of the filck, Neeraj Pandey. Almost all the protagonists in the flick deliver their best but when it comes to Anupam and Naseeruddin, this flick is another example why these two are among the finest actors of the contemporary cinema. Each frame with them locking horns with each other produces a spark and as the film progresses and the motives behind everything is revealed, there's no way you can find fault with one person. Both of them are right in what they did...it's like two sides of the same coin and you end up liking both of them. Anupam Kher is brilliant as a helpless cop who will do anything to maintain law and order in the city at the same time conflicting with his conscience when he lets go his fate to someone's control. On the other hand, Naseeruddin Shah who starts off as a cunning and compulsive strategist who will go to any length to get his work done does a complete turn-around towards the end of the film. His explanation behind why he has done all this is truly one of the best monologues about fear, agony, and to what extent a tortured soul can retaliate. This is where you see the "Butterfly Effect" spring into action. I really can't give you out further details about the plot..you should go and check it out yourself.
Among others, Jimmy Shergill impresses and so does all the other characters who appear throughout the flick...if only they had worked on Deepal Shaw's accent!!! Also note the brilliant efforts by the people behing the screen, a fabulous background score by Sanjoy Chowdhury runs through the entire length of the film. And what can I say about Shree Narayan Singh, the editor of the flick, his style takes the film to a whole new level. Dialogues are brilliant, there are absolutely no cliche's targeting any community or religion. If Anupam and Naseer are two pillars of this movie, then the third one is its director...Neeraj Pandey. A compelling debut, heralding a new age of film-making which I certainly hope will continue in years to come....am eagerly looking forward to see more of Neeraj's work and others like him. The final pillar of this film is the story itself...the premise that it doesn't take an angel to solve the most dangerous problems around us...all it takes is an ordinary man who's resolved to do some extra-ordinary things. And what better impact can it be, if that ordinary man was someone like you...someone like me....we are proud of what we are...who we are...we run through the blood and veins of life, enduring life as it takes us, there's nothing common among us, but when we stand up...the world sees us as the one...who knows what he's doing. We are the new age super-heroes and we are more in number than the total ammunition ever produced...it's our spirit which takes us beyond the realms of our boundaries....we are..."The Common Men" of the world.

P.S: I never thought, I would recommend a bollywood movie to the rest of the world. But there is someone who loves Indian Cinema and doesn't like his time wasted by utter nonsense then this is a must watch! And please do yourself a favour....watch "A Wednesday" on any given day.
P.P.S: The last sentence has been copied from Rajeev Masand's review on ibnlive.com
Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

WALL-E

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Written on 5:26 PM by Hemanth Kumar

Title: WALL-E
Language: English
Year of Release: 2008
Director: Andrew Stanton
Production House: Pixar Animation Studios in association with Disney
Voices: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard

Ladies and Gentleman, now that you
have clicked on my page, I assume that you are reading this. On this auspicious day, I am here to propose a theory, something which has been reconfirmed for the past 13 years. My apologies for what you might read here, this is something which will shake the very grounds of our existence. So, here is what I propse to the World...

God Doesn't Exist Anymore!!!

Well, don't strike this statement off just yet as just another hoax; I have more than enough evidence to prove it. I am not an atheist, but I strongly believe that God doesn't exist anymore...in Heaven! He has a new address and I recently stumbled across his new home....

Ha....Gotcha! Does that site look familiar to you? It is where God has shifted his base to. Located in Emeryville, California-USA this place has become a synonym for some spectacular work of art over the past several years, forcing God himself to lend in a word of advice and some creativity to the Humans who habituate this place.

How else can you explain the creation of characters like, Sherrif Woody (Toy Story), Sulley (Monsters Inc.), Marlin and Nemo (Finding Nemo) and the latest WALL-E and EVE (WALL-E)? How else can you explain that these works of art have continued to amuse you day after day and everytime you look at them, some sort of adrenaline is shot through your entire body forcing you to instantly fall in love with them!! Maybe I could go to an extent to quote that they are our new age versions of what was born once from the hands of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and other great artists...I shall soon be devoting my time to understand what makes all these characters so lovable!....

Till Then,
Adieus Amigos.

Hey...Hey...wait...wait...I am not done yet. That was just my conscience beating me in the race to express itself. Now that it has finally come out, lets get down to our usual business and here's my latest rambling of truly, one of the greatest works of Animation I have seen in my life so far. It's called "WALL-E" (an acronym for, Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth class).

WALL-E is the story of a waste disposal robot which has somehow managed to keep itself active even after 700 years of its inception. And while building skyscrapers of garbage, it has developed a keen interest in finding things which amuse it, and ends up collection several items, like an electric bulb, small toys, lighters, a iPod, a tape of "Hello, Dolly!" etc. One fine day, it even finds a cockroach which becomes its wingman and after sometime a small plant which has been hiding itself from the world outside inside a refrigerator. WALL-E, after several re-runs of “Hello, Dolly!” teachers itself to dance and yearns for a touch with someone whom he could fall in love with. And luck smiles upon him one day, when EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is sent to Earth. WALL-E instantly falls in love with EVE, but realizing that something is sneaking around itself, EVE tries to destroy it. After several narrow escapes, WALL-E confronts EVE directly and takes her to his hide-out and after several attempts to impress her, he ends up showing his most loved things, like the lighters, “Hello, Dolly!” and finally the plant. As soon as EVE sees the plant, its mission is accomplished and upon seizing and storing, it deactivates. A spaceship from the Cruise Liner, “Axiom” is sent to Earth to retrieve EVE, forcing WALL-E to embark on an extra-ordinary journey to win EVE’s heart.

*Note: This part of the review contains some spoilers and certain things whose beauty can be understood well only after seeing the movie. So, if you haven’t seen the movie already, I suggest you to go watch the movie first…but if you are curious about it, then….

There are many around us, who haven’t fully understood the scale of awesomeness which Animated flicks can take you to. I can’t remember an animated movie which has got its soul in the wrong place. Of course, the sequels of several movies haven’t struck the right chords to be in your memory for a long time; since the cynosure of all eyes here is Pixar, I will stick to the movies and characters they have come up with. Their main USP so far has been the themes they have selected for all their movies and the characters, sets seem to magically take shape once that premise is set. For instance take “Monsters Inc.”, it was really a heart-warming story about friendship between Sulley and Boo, the concept was terrific and the characters so adorable, it was an international rage in 2001. Let’s fast forward to 2003, when “Finding Nemo” was released. Nobody till that time had done such a detailed work of art about the life in the depths of ocean…sure we have been watching innumerable episodes of “The Little Mermaid”, but “Finding Nemo” took it to a whole new level of believability. Further, it’s by far among the most touching renditions of a Father-Son relationship. Then came Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille each beautiful in their own sense. All of them have been reiterating the fact that Animation Industry has come a long way from what Walt Disney had created in 1928 in the form of Mickey Mouse. Animation flicks are no kids thingy now…

If you still haven’t bought my argument, go and watch WALL-E and you will realize what exactly I have been saying. The interpretation of how universe looks like is even more beautiful than the pics which NASA publishes from time to time. The post-apocalyptic setting of a city on Earth, the eeriness which is ubiquitous, garbage neatly piled up as Skyscrapers and loneliness to battle with; what do you expect a lonely robot WALL-E to do in such a setting? What would anyone want to do if one’s confronted in such a situation? The point is, 5 minutes into the movie, you will realize why you cannot take WALL-E as just a robot. Those binocular lens kinda eyes convey a lot more meaning that you may expect. And the way he looks around for items which amuse him…my favourite one is when he finds a small box with a diamond ring (check that out…and you will realize why you can’t stop yourselves falling in love with him!!). One day, he comes across a Cockroach whom he decides to take care of (I have a feeling that they have been particularly carefully in selecting Cockroach as WALL-E’s wingman…they should have referred to this theory by journalist Richard Schweid). The brief time the roach spends with WALL-E has its sparks. And then there’s “Hello, Dolly!” the musical film which induces WALL-E to yearn for a touch. It serves as a motif to suggest the extent of loneliness which our protagonist endures day in and day out. Somehow I see a WALL-E and that eerie setting all around me…in a way each one of us represent WALL-E. His daily schedule of mechanically labouring day after day, doing the same kind of work (that hilarious scene of WALL-E waking up to put on the conveyer belts) delves into the day-to-day lives of Humans. Perhaps, searching for things which amuse him is one of the most fascinating thing which WALL-E does on any given day, much similar to what we do to bring a smile by experiencing the little things which life offers us. The entry of EVE and the subsequent events which WALL-E endures to grab her attention are sure going to be some of the most endearing moments in this flick. I had heard this quote in a flick called “Girl Next Door” and it says a great deal about how WALL-E feels about EVE….it goes like this…

“…I think moral fiber's about finding that one thing you really care about; that one special thing that means more to you than anything else in the world. And when you find her, you fight for her. You risk it all, you put her in front of everything, your future, your life, all of it…”

EVE on the other hand is introduced as a ruthless robot sent to Earth to evaluate the possibility of life…this until she stumbles across WALL-E. Moved by his innocence and down to earth nature, she develops a soft-corner for him. And when she realizes what an extra ordinary journey he has embarked upon to be with her she’s determined all the more to save him from any untoward incident in the alien land (this when they both go into AXIOM). Among other characters that you will absolutely adore is a decontamination robot named M-O. This bot is obsessed with keeping the surroundings clean and it’s confrontation with WALL-E will have you in splits…:-P.

There are just too many characters and aspects which one could about this flick, but I would like to throw some light on couple of things here…

I cannot imagine how the director Andrew Stanton and the creators could weave such a magic with less than 30 minutes of dialogues. And what’s even more impressive is the fact that the only thing WALL-E and EVE talk is pronounce each other’s names!!! It’s splendid in a way that so many emotions are conveyed in the way their names are pronounced. And the way how WALL-E yearns for a gentle touch from EVE is heart touching…I never realized that a gentle touch had so much power. (Too bad…I couldn’t try that with the people sitting on my either side…both happened to be uncles!!!..: -P…:P…hehehe). The music by Thomas Newman is a major asset for the movie. It’s in a way the soul of the movie, filling up the vacuum which one might experience while watching the movie. Don’t miss the bits of music which you will hear during EVE’s trip on Earth and the one when WALL-E and EVE dance in the space outside AXIOM…pure symphony throwing you into new levels of ecstasy.

I bow to the CGI department which has come up with some jaw-dropping imagery of a futuristic world. (Check out the massive interiors in Axiom!!!).And there’s a perfect story that you cannot find fault with, which brings several themes like consumerism, dependence on machines, pollution, destruction of environment and how Governments put their citizens in an illusion to completely blanket them from reality. But more than anything it’s a beautiful love story. It’s a pure rendition of what a love story should be like with no clichés which otherwise you will normally end up finding in countless ‘romantic’ movies like “A Walk to remember”, “Notebook”…etc.

Last month I had written about “Dark Knight” and claimed that it’s the best action flick I have ever seen and among my all time favourites. If I were to take a scale and put it on for measuring the awesomeness of a movie, I would rate Dark Knight a -10…and WALL-E a +10. I don’t mean that Dark Knight is any less when compared with WALL-E, but it’s at the other end of the spectrum. It is dark, sends a chill down your spine and hits you in your guts…yet you come out with that feeling of awesomeness with your head reeling because of some spectacular action sequences and of course The Joker. Whereas WALL-E, is inspiring, cute beyond imagination…if you aren’t much of a fan of E.T., then WALL-E is the best thing to happen to you. I have already rated Kung Fu Panda as the second most entertaining movie of this year with Dark Knight occupying the number one position…and I still stand by that, with a small inclusion. So, here’s how I put it…WALL-E stands at number one position, jointly with Dark Knight.

20 years from now, I can see myself sitting with my kids to talk about movies…and I already see myself telling them that the summer of 2008 has been one of the greatest ever for movie buffs, because we had the Awesome Trio of…WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda and Dark Knight. And that ladies and gentlemen, is no accident. I think nature is trying to tell us something…that’s it’s time that you buckle up and be awesome!

Here’s recommending you again…if you want to see what magic the hand of God could bring forth, please check into your local theatres and watch “WALL-E”…it’s an adorable flick oozing with romance. And as you enjoy this flick with your loved ones…I get back to my business of finding my EVE….

I look up in the sky and shout…..

EVE….EVE….EVE…..EVVVVVVVE………………EVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE....