Sunday, November 22, 2009

It happened one Night(1934)-Must watch romantic comedy :)




















It happened one Night(1934) is another all time classic American movie. It is the movie thats referred to as the one that started the screwball comedy trend thats more popular today as rom coms. In India, Dil hai ki maanta nahi was a frame by frame remake of this movie. Although I must say that the Hindi version also had the perfect casting of Aamir Khan, Pooja Bhatt and Anupam Kher as the crazy father. The movie had Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in a battle of the sexes thats really funny and romantic at the same time.

Clark Gable is a small time news reporter(recently fired) who meets up with Claudette Colbert who is on the run from her father and on her way to meet her newly married husband. She meets Gable on the bus and he convinces her that he would not reveal her whereabouts to her father if she would give him the details of her journey towards her love. As expected the two fall in love during the course of the journey.

I found it so incredible that someone had written such a fabulous script for this story. All the scenes are relevant and look fresh and appealing even half a century later. Most notable and funny are the Hitchhiking scene,the scene at the barn with the freakout of the century, the walls of Jericho scene and the amazing wedding finale.


The film released more than 70 years ago but its not aged one bit. The screenplay sparkles with wit and humor as the two central characters take playful jabs at each other. Clark gable plays the alpha man in this who also displays a strong protective side towards Colbert hiding it under his mock anger and disdainful faces. Colbert also plays her part beautifully as the rich heiress who struggles to lead a commoners life over a span of a few days.

It Happened one night is one of the few movies that have won the Big 5 at the Oscars. It won best Actor, best Actress, best Director, Best film and best screenplay. The director of this marvellous film was Frank Capra.

It is said that both Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert were unhappy with the script and thought that they had acted in the worst movie ever. Of course they were proved soundly wrong by the audience which lapped up the movie and made it one of the biggest hits for MGM.















I feel that Clark Gable acted his personal best in this movie and his flair for comedy elevates the story to a new level altogether. This film proved to be the inspiration for several movies and if you havnt watched it yet, you must do so immediately. Its a complete family entertainer and a classic not to be missed.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Roman Holiday- ~A fun timeless classic~





















Roman Holiday(released in 1953) is a true classic romantic comedy and one movie that I really loved watching. It is quite surprising that even though I had heard of this movie, I had never got the opportunity to watch it on televison or see it anywhere else. The other day I was in Blockbuster and it was either "Roman Holiday" or another Michelle Pfeiffer movie. But somehow seeing the happy couple of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn on the cover of Roman Holiday, I had to pick this one. The movie is shot and directed beautifully by William Wyler.

The story is very simple. A princess(Audrey Hepburn) of some state is visiting Rome on her official duties. Her schedule is so packed with her official activities that she feels stifled to death. Once night she makes her escape and meets up with a newspaper reporter(Gregrory Peck). Peck initially is not aware of the princess's identity but realizes it soon and hopes to find a story with her as he escorts her around the city. Peck enlists the help of his photographer friend to click the pictures as they roam around in the city. There is scene with the trio at a sidewalk cafe which is hilarious as Peck constantly keeps spilling drinks on his friend.



















There are a ton of sweet and nice things that happen as they go around Rome. They also unknowingly fall in love. As the movie draws to a conclusion it breaks your heart to see the choices that both the lovers have to take, when they have to face the real world again after their one day of carefree life together. Apparently princesses and commoners dont just ride into the sunset. The ending will remain etched on your mind for a long time.




Audrey Hepburn in her Oscar winning role gives a performance of a lifetime and its quite surprising considering that this was her first major Hollywood role. She is achingly sweet as the princess who wants to enjoy the freedom of a commoner. She was only 24 years old when she acted in Roman Holiday. He childlike mannerisms, laughter and innocence is so beautifully captured in this movie.

I have to admit that Gregory Peck was so handsome in this and has acted in many movies but this is the first movie that I have seen of his. He plays the part really well allowing Hepburn to shine in her role. There is a scene in the story where he plays a prank(Mouth of Truth) on the princess and they never told Hepburn about it so that scene is a true one not a scripted one(See Video). It is said that he and Audrey Hepburn remained close friends after this right upto her death in 1993. He reminds me of Dev Anand the Indian actor who looks and acts a lot like him.



The black and white images of Roman Holiday are so charming and enhance the looks of the story. You can fully concentrate on the characters and that is so important to enjoy this romance. This is one movie you can watch over and over again and relive the golden era of old world cinema.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab kahani review-It's hilarious :)



Ajab Prem ki ghazab Kahani is a very good entertaining film. It has so much time pass comedy. Directed by Raj Kumar Santhoshi who had once given us the complete mad cap comedy, Andaz Apna Apna.

The movie is about Prem(Ranbir Kapoor) a happy go lucky lad who is incidentally also the president of the Happy club. The club includes his friends who keep him company as he passes his day in fun and masti at his small community. In walks the love of his life, Jenny(Katrina kaif) who comes to live in their community. The rest of the movie is about their interactions and confusions with a lot of comedy.

Again Ranbir gives an superb performance as Prem and his comic timing is just hilarious. He makes a very cute jodi with Katrina. Prem's dad in the movie is Darshan Zariwala who again delivers a good performance.

There are several amazing cameos in this film including a very pivotal cameo by none other than Jesus! It was the best part of the story and provides a fitting conclusion to Prem's strange love story.

A feel good laughaminute, no complaints, no demands movie. Highly recommended.

Here is the very sweet and hilarious dialogue by Prem to Jesus in the movie-

Hello Jesus, Good Morning, I prem. Jenny friend. My god Bholenath in corner temple, u know bholenath? I go against my dharam for Jenny, eat non-veg. Bholenath knows about it I go bhoooooooossssssss. You Jenny god, I love Jenny. You no help, toh who help. Fix my photo in Jenny heart, permanently.


Saturday, November 7, 2009

London Dreams Review(or is it London Nightmare)-As bad as it gets :(



There are textbook examples of how movies should not be made. London dreams is one of those samples. Sadly the director Vipul SHAH makes a huge mistake with this movie. It is so cheesy and non funny that its hard to believe that the director of the movie is the same guy who made the delightful "Namaste London".

Ajay Devgan does not suit the role of a trying to strike it big singer(Arjun) and its painful to watch him lip synching to the songs. He does not like what he is doing and neither do we, the viewers. Salman Khan as Ajay's best friend Manu is as usual as outrageous as it gets. He hams to glory and thinks he is doing a good job in the role of Ajay devgan's friend. Unfortunately thats not the case at all. His character had a lot of scope but he squanders that away. Thankfully he is "unintentionally" hilarious because of his pathetic acting and cringeworthy dialogues. Asin does not have anything to do in the movie except to look good.

The script is fairly weak and does not hold your attention. You will be flummoxed to see Ajay Devgan's character punishing himself by belting(why???). There is even a jealous about friend angle that's straight from the outdated 90's movies. Seriously who cares about a plot like that and who was in charge of the script??

London Dreams is a musical film but sadly the music is so bleh. There is just one song in the whole movie thats memorable and its "Barso Barso". The rest of the songs are downright bad.

I had read somewhere that the director had spared no expenses in making Asin look beautiful. It was even reported that he spent over 2 lakhs for some shoe she wanted. I wish they had spent half of that amount to tone up and rewrite the senseless script.



While watching London Dreams, I could'nt believe that Ajay devgan and Salman Khan was the same amazing combination thaL acted so well in "Hum Dil de chuke sanam". In London dreams they seem to be acting in the version of "Hum silly ho chuke sanam".

After enjoying a fun movie like "Wake up Sid", the audience expects other directors to churn out good stuff like that. However the director of this debacle has not received the memo.

London Dreams is more like a nightmare. Wembley stadium se nafrat ho gayi hai.
A sad waste of top actors and locations for a sad excuse of a story.

I am in shock that Taran Adharsh and other reviewers have actually liked this..what were they watching?

Avoid this bad dream and save your time.