Dev D

the latest song- 'Emotional Atyachaar' actually freaked me out one day. i switched off the television, ignored the poster of Dev D which i saw on my way to university, and decided that Abhay Deol and anurag kashyap are big jerks. come one fine Tuesday morning where i find there is no class and i go to this movie with a friend ..a bit reluctantly though.
well, i havent read the original novel by sharatchandra chattopadhyay, nor do i have any wish to do so. i have watched two devdases on screen- one with dilipsaab and one with SRK. i personally feel devdas -the character is one fellow without much of brains, or rather much of decision making power. he is clueless about what he wants from others, from himself and from life. so all in all i am usually fed up with devdas's nashabaazi, paro's constant pleading and crying and chandramukhi's unsuccessful love. enter Dev D in 2009
Paro- Parminder here, not parvati, is Dev's best friend since childhood, and wishes to marry him. though they chat online, ( she under the name chhammak challo!) she sends her nude pic to him,
they actually start snogging wherever they can, and is actually inviting! though, just like any other woman in 2009, she tries to talk to him, and when he holds some stupid grudges and accusations and ego issues of his. she marries somebody else. she MOVES ON! doesnt keep crying like the old bechari parvati..
chanda(reformed Chandramukhi) is no traditional tawayaaf. she is a young girl, who has a histroty of controversial MMS clip. she practises in the night, goes to college in the morning for BSc course and she actually speaks to a client in french and tamil when he wants! like old chandramukhi, she doesnt depend entirely upon chunni to seek company of Dev.
dev is a typical rich brat- bade baap ki bigdi aulad. he casually , and physically flirts around with the girl rasika(new character!), smokes, drinks, and dopes and dopes. and but ofcourse. having alcohol was a big bad thing to do in way back 1900s. now if you dont, it seems funny! well, that apart, but now i guess the most tabooed thing is drugs. so our Mod Dev starts from high end BMWs and spending thousand of notes, has to see the bad times when his car hits and kills several people on the road, and he at the end is robbed off his money and ends up in a street haathgadi. but wait... he doesnt die! he atlast finds chandramukhi, and starts his life afresh with her!
i would say a well made, well shot, and extremely relevant movie. soundtrack is good no doubt ( emotional atyachaar is ok, but some others are better- pardesi, and dhol yaara dhol). i wouldnt say that there are no 'experimental, arty' bits involved. but you should watch it.
well, it can bore you to deeeeath if you dont follow that. buy i would say it can make you think. can disturb you, can put you in a dilemma of moral rights and wrongs and can ask you to think about our changing world in general. changing world and well,changing 'us'.

the red lounge

just last night i had been to the movie in this multiplex in one of Mumbai suburbs. i was accompanied by my cousins, three of them. and our visit to that multiplex was planned (AND SPONSORED) by our eldest cousin. had it not been for him, i would have never dared to go to such a place with my own money! the red lounge of that multiplex, which costs you a good fortune. 300 Rs per head, for a movie, which is probable worth of say 75 rs.
i would definitely agree with Saurabh( the sponsoring one!) though that its not about quality of movie that you spend 300 rs for, its an experience. and it definitely is. the red lounge has seating for around 100 people. you have biiiiig red couches. all comfortable and fluffy cushions.. and the couch can get almost 180 degree flat.. almost parralel to the ground. you actually would feel like a king. or may be sitting on a beach in one of those beach chairs! too good. you also get a service by waiter who provides you with any food you want( which costs ! it is not 'on the house'.. and boy!cost much!)
of course, i have restricted my self that i probably would not be watching any other movie in the red lounge- definitely not with somebody else's money.. though the experience ..(to have it once) was definitely royal and luxury. and now a tiny thought, contradicting this is blinking- how about asking a guy to take me on date there in the red lounge? ;)