under repairs

Inception

I have been hearing of/about Inception since 09’, when it was touted as the film to watch out for this summer. At that time, the tag line –‘set in the architecture of mind’ seemed like a very weird thing .After watching inception, most certainly not.

You won’t be able to watch inception with the comfort of sliding down the reflexive cushion seats in the plush cinema plexes .You will sit straight lean forward and try to understand the very challenging plot that spews across the screen because the whole 148 minutes engage you in. After it was over, my close friend and I, both had an expression of what the fuck just happened ? written over our faces.

The world labyrinthine is thrown around a lot to describe inception but it is a movie that you can enjoy superficially too. Just don’t try to understand too much and let it take over you .For the science-fiction action thriller enthusiasts who can’t do that …multiple viewing will enhance and affirm the brilliance of the film. It’s complex certainly but can be understood in one sitting, however the more times you watch it ,you will get the points that probably would have escaped the first or second viewing.

Speaking of which, I do have a question.

How the hell would the actors have understood the screenplay in first place??

The basic premise is that Leonardo DiCaprio does the most sly version of industrial espionage by entering into people’s dreams and stealing their thoughts and ideas. However the challenge is to do the reverse- plant an idea into a mind by entering his dreamspace i.e. inception. DiCaprio has to do that so that he can get back to home to the only thing he cares about – his 2 young children.

Inception is tricky because an idea has to planted in the deepest subconscious level by not being intrusive and let the person think that the idea has originated in his mind’s own recesses on its own. It can be done, but DiCaprio has a troubling past too, which pops up in his dreams ,and on which he doesn’t have as much control as he would like to have.

Christopher Nolan explains a lot of how it all works when DiCaprio is recruiting Ellen Page and while training her in the shared dream workshop. You can make a great movie, but it boils down to how you close it, Christopher Nolan closes Inception in tantalizing way..

Inception is a brilliantly realized science fiction thriller that delivers theatrically and visually, accompanied by a thunderous score by composer Hans Zimmer.

Viva espana

Deservingly Spain are world champions after years of under achieving although possessing the strongest of domestic leagues and the biggest and most glamourous of clubs in Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Spain has Barcelona as its core and plays the same style as Barcelona in La Liga.

This Spanish side –who could afford to keep Cesc Fabregas on the bench, played the best football during the cup. Spain combined flair, aggression, intent, precision, ingenuity and inventiveness as we saw them attack in waves after waves unrelenting in pressure and scything the defences.

It’s fitting too that the four teams that made the semis Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Uruguay played to win and looked to score goals. All four had their own distinctive attractive style which reassures and comforts that football still remains beautiful.

The Iker Casillas led and Vincent del Bosque coached Spain thoroughly deserved their victory - they continued to try to play their beautiful passing game in the face of intense provocation. The best team won and there is no denying that it is a popular win too.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa

Of all the girls in the world ,why did i have to fall in love with Jessie?

Hence starts the narration of the film by the lead protagonist .

Well, because you can’t decide whom you fall in love with.

That is the reasoning part.

The problematic part is that the boy is a Tamilian and the girl a malayali Christian.

That is the basic premise of this gem of a Tamil film- Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa .

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (would you cross the clouds with/for me?) follows the story of Karthik (Simbu) an engineer who falls in love with the attractive and reticent Jessie(Trisha)who is a program analyst in an IT firm.Throughout we see Jessie through Karthik’s eyes.Jessie however is a girl torn because of her duality..she has to be the obedient girl of the conservative family but she also finds herself increasingly drawn to the young suitor who is persevarant and brave and unihibitant ..he loves her and lets her know how much.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa is a film that has a soul. It should too ..it seems semi autobiographical. Love hits you and all hits are not pleasant.You have to chase your love,earn it.It makes you do things- simple things ;like say trying to steal a glance while she is taking the clothes off the clotheline on the terrace while pretending to listen to i-pod,chasing her from two blocks behind,all the things that boys do to know the routine of girls they are smitten by.Where eking out a smile from her is the achievement of the day.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa has several pleasant tracks by Rahman (Hosanna,Omana Penne) ,not all blockbuster stuff.It is light music,in sync with the feel of the movie.The film has liberal doses of English and inside jokes about the industry,appropriately told as Karthik is trying to be a film-maker and works as an assistant to Director of Photography.

The movie works because of its writing and how the lead pair has delivered the lines that director Gautam Menon wrote.Except for a couple of songs,it’s a breeze. It goes on quite well ..but then in late late second half it just takes off ..owing to some briliant writing as well as filming.One has to watch that scene in the park (which park ,I won’t tell) to understand that the film has really pulled off something immensely beautiful .

Trisha has a presence that is likeable and she enacts the awkwardness,uneasyness of her character splendidly .She is sure of her decisions but still wavering in confidence.Viewed from the outside,she is not the angel that Karthik sees her as ..she is not .But such is love…you idealise the loved ones .Love helps shove their oddities and inconsistencies.

Simbu as Karthik is top notch as we watch him pine for Jessie and how he makes the most of what he has .Together they make a above average couple who can be related to.They look and feel every bit destined for each other despite all that they don’t have in common.Whether they are destined to,how it all plays out, is another matter .For that you have to watch Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa .

The interval is a surprise and so is the end.In my opinion,the best,finest and the most refined movie released in India in 2010 yet.