RA.ONE : MOVIE REVIEW (No Spoilers)

I am confused on what to write ...so i collected my thoughts and decided to give a crisp review analyzing the pros and cons of SRK's highly ambitious project.

In a nutshell...Ra.One .... Definitely a mixed bag .... but thats not what people want to read....so here goes....

Positives:

1. Great VFX and Sound effects
2. The Train Action scene is brilliantly taken..... (though slightly inspired)
3. ARJUN RAMPAL IS ONE MENACING VILLAIN!
4. Great to see SuperStar Rajinikanth's cameo on screen...
5. SRK and team have taken great effort in giving us a film that matches up to international standards with respect to the technical department

Negatives:

1. Poor music ....ordinary background score.....Chammak Chalo is the only tolerable piece!
2. The Direction and Screenplay is not tight ..... movie is already inspired by many sources...tends to lose focus....
3. SRK as a South indian might not even convince rest of india...forget about Tamil Nadu!
4. Rajini's cameo....boon and a bane...Rajini fans will be depressed to see the Superstar portrayed in such a manner..the graphics for the entire movie was brilliant...why screw up this potentially epic scene...i don't know if there was any offense intended...the idea was good...but execution...pathetic...
5. Movie is weak in the humor dept...and target audience is not as broad as expected.

OVERALL VERDICT:
Ra.One promised a lot....delivered in a few areas...failed in certain....Kudos to the entire team for the hard effort...worth watching once in a theatre...

Ra.One is like a tasty Dosa served with poor chutney and sambhar..... Satisfaction...Almost!


RATING: 3/5

PS: DON-2 Trailer is awesome....i am sure that is gonna make for Ra.ONE's mistakes...though i detect a serious Prison Break Influence! :)

RockStar Music Review: ARR Achieves Musical Excellence

Note: a collection of my live facebook reviews for the entire album assimilated into a single write up for the reader's convenience. :)


Rockstar .... Imtiaz Ali and Ranbir Kapoor's magnum opus, has been one of the most awaited albums of the year....mainly because it marks the return of A.R.Rahman to the indian music industry after a pretty long hiatus. And Boy!!!! Has the maestro delivered or what!!! Tremendous....14 songs...each one brilliant in it's own right.

Phir se Ud Chala.....magical sound....Mohit Chauhan is unbelievable.....when bass, harmonies and rhythms kick in after 90 seconds....song is outta the world!

Jo Bhi main.....loved the promo!! and Love the song even more...yet another leaf taken from Pink Floyd's book...Rahman has decided to bring progressive rock to Indian industry! Superb feel......awesome bass by Keith Peters!!

A.R.R's mastery over indian folk music continues with 'Katiya Karun'.....has a Kabhi Neem Neem touch initially but then westernizes due to impressive arrangements....rustic vocals.....will be a rage in the north!

Kun Faaya Ku....let's see....a sufi song ....qawwali with A.R.Rahman and Javed Ali...already a divine combination...love the way the initial chords are played on the harmonium! :) FTW!!!

Sheher Mein - a simple song...but great concept....shows the way a band develops a song and evolves it's structure...... Karthik and Mohit Chauhan's vocals compliment each other very well...i am sure the video will be very interesting! :) after 2 minutes....when the guitars and strings join in....then the song improves dramatically! :) then a mystic qawwali interlude....people will love this on multiple hearings!

Haawa Haawa is ARR's genius work exploring world music...fusing elements from Turkey, Israel and Spain....with ARR's trademark strings and melodian ..A masterpiece/..... this is for the elite music savvy audience...second guitar interlude is fantastic.....Great number!

Aur Ho - A.R.Rahman has used the feel he generated in the bgm of 127 hours to create this song....great arabian touch to all the western arrangements! Sung brilliantly by Mohit Chauhan once again.....great anger and melancholy in the lyrics and tune.....

Nadaan Parindey.....a great start....awesome drummings! THen ARR's voice kicks in! :) superb bass....live drums is always a treat to hear it....A dream for me ...always wanted ARR to sing a Rock song!!! Mohit Chauhan starts of tangentially with beautiful chords on the guitar...the guitars and drums sound phenomenal..superb sounding....then a scale shift... great to hear...and now a Guitar Solo! :) a complete musical package.....one of my favorites in this album!

Tum Ko - its been a while since we heard Kavita Subramaniam sing! when the chords and tabla kick in, that's when ARR's touch comes in....song is very much in the ARR feel of Puthiya mugam, Roja and Anjali...KS's vocal tone is superb ....ARR brings out the best in her....this is so far the best track melody wise .... Amazing Strings.... main forte....

SADDA HAQ!! great singing by Mohit Chauhan....superb guitaring...nice rockish organ tones used for providing chords.....amazing harmonies to boost the 'Sadda Haq' 's feel! This song scores the highest in terms mass appeal..Will be the cover of this album for sure! guitar solo in the first interlude is outta the world....great support by piano and pads....some awesome jazz and blues chords inserted in certain portions...might be difficult to detect..but the presence is definitely felt....the end is a resonating example of musical grandeur by the Mozart of Madras!

Tum Ho - the love melody that we can generally associate Mohit Chauhan's voice with...naturally he has done complete justice to it...Suzzane's voice is very soothing in the background....great chords and bass..... This track will be a sure hit.....it is 'THE LOVE SONG' of this versatile album.....tune is got an unique flow to it....

Tango for Taj ..... mesmerizing instrumental music by A.R.Rahman.....the bass guitar and strings support the accordions and piano in such a manner that we tend to forget the world and begin our own tango......superb music!! FTW ARR!!!

The Dichotomy of Fame - uniqueness to the core.....no body can use the shehnai in this fashion...western fusion.....taking the melancholy out of a shehnai is a tremendous achievement and A.R.Rahman makes it look very easy!...after a minute, there is some superb guitaring as well.....and the chords....OMG! :) ARR you are in ur elements for sure....suddenly when the bass kicks in...the feel becomes more darker....superb transition...Love this piece of work

The Meeting Place.......celestial start....chords have a heavenly feel...and he has used the tone of signal disturbance as a music tone ...the Genius!!! OMG!


CONCLUSION:
Rajinikanth is the SUPERSTAR of movies...
Rockstar is the SUPERSTAR of Bollywood music ....
A.R.Rahman is the SUPERSTAR of music....
When a person can give you a music album that has 11 songs and 3 instrumentals...each one ...exemplifying musical excellence...with genres transcending from sufi to Rock to Pop to Turkish and Spanish music ... a kaleidoscope of international music... What is left to review!!
Rockstar is A.R.Rahman's most perfect work in Bollywood till date....
Time for another filmfare and National Award! Jai ho!

RATING: 10/10....Two thumbs up.....must buy for this season!

Sarkar Raj-the Raj of the Bachchans

Well this movie was one of the most anticipated movies in bollywood for this year for many reasons.

• The Cast consists of all the Bachchans (except for Jaya Bacchan whom RGV couldnt fit in with an appropriate mafia role)
• After the agony and widespread damage caused by Ram Gopal Varrma's AAG (stomach Eruchal in Tamil' ,people wanted to see whether RGV and the Big B can resurrect themselves.
• plus this movie was a sequel to 2005's Sarkar which was RGV's tribute to 'The Godfather'

To make sequels in Bollywood has always been a very tricky issue as the comparisons are too critical in nature with the first part.Lage Raho Munnabhai was probably the first major Hindi movie which became a major success when compared to its prequel...

If any of you guys thought that Sarkar Raj was based on another one of the Godfather series, well then u r grossly mistaken! Writers Prashant Pandey and Ram Gopal Varma have come up with a fresh,new and brilliant plot to assure the audience of 125 entertaining minutes....

I dont believe in blogging movie spoilers, so i'll be as vague as possible....cause this movie is a must see!!

The movie mainly revolves around three characters ( The Bachchan Arena) Subash Nagre (Big B), Shankar Nagre (Abishek) and Anita Rajan (Aishwarya Rai)...Subash has full faith in his son Shankar though he finds it difficult to deal with the fact that its Shankar who is the actual 'Sarkar'...Shankar wants what is best for Maharashtra and Anita Rajan steps in from London as a CEO of Sheperd group...her aim is to make India's largest power plant. Anita realises Maharashtra as a potential site.Even though Subhas is against the proposition, Shankar strongly believes it is for the state's betterment and he decides to support Anita and her project no matter what stands in their way...

When so many crores of rupees are at stake, the plant project becomes a battleground for dirty politics, deceit and corruption.I do not wish to disclose any more facts of the movie !!u should see it.....The villains are convincing and the supporting cast has small roles with clearly defined characters....The 3 Bachchans have given subtle yet strong performances and it is difficult to see who is the real Sarkar amongst them....

The Dialogues of the movie are powerful and crisp and act as the real Forte of the movie...The background score is impressive though the 'Govinda Govinda' chantings do tend to get annoyingly over used!!

RGV gets full marks for his direction...the editing is perfect as well.....even though there are no song and dance sequences the movie doesn't bore you one bit...

The movie is self explanatory and one need not have seen Sarkar to follow Sarkar Raj...thats another plus point...

The action scenes are spectacular and more importantly 'Very Realistic'!!! RGV clearly demonstrates that the Bullet penetrates both-the Hero and the Villain.

The first half is kinda slow but RGV constructs a proper platform to carry the movie further with ease...the second half is totally gripping and moves at a fairly quick pace...No matter what happens don't miss the 2nd half...especially the part where the suspense of the entire plot will be revealed by Subhas Nagre....thats an amazing scene that will take all by surprise!!

Overall, a brilliant movie which i totally enjoyed !!!

VERDICT:
Sarkar Raj - will extinguish the agony caused by RGV's AAG!!! A must see!!!
RATING: 9.8/10