My fear of 'LOST' getting 'LOST'

A few years back there was a trilogy of movies: Matrix, Matrix Reloaded, and Matrix Revolutions. Matrix was a pathbreaking movie: amazing graphics, excellent action, awesome sounds, and thrilling story. Everything about the original Matrix was mind blowing, including the concept that we all are living in a 'virtual' world. I remember thinking at that time whether it really could happen, that I am living in a virtual world. The sequel to it (Matrix Reloaded) was good on action, but somewhere it lost the thrill in the story that the 1st part offered. Third part was a big turnoff, specially because of all the 'Karma' gyan that Neo is subjected to early on in the movie by the Indian couple. That 'Karma' gyan was possibly the means to connect the virtual to the real world, but honestly, I wasn't watching Matrix for that. That was one of the factors that eventually led me to put Matrix-2, and 3 in the category of bad sequels. 

So why am I talking about it today? For the simple reason, that I fear that LOST may head the same way. Season 5 so far has been moving at a gripping pace. There's something sensational in every episode. The pieces are getting linked together. But one of the things thats repeatedly being pushed across is that idea that what has to happen, will happen, that there's something like destiny. The concept that you cannot go back in time and change something that has already happened seems like a genuine expectation: afterall, if you were allowed to do that, you wouldn't end up in the present that you see today, which would mean that in most probabilities, you wouldn't be going back to past to change it. Confusing ? It is. So the simple assumption that what has happened cannot be undone is a fair assumption to keep things simple. 

What worries me is how LOST is eventually going to handle the future and things that are going to happen. At this time, they keep coming back to the idea of something being pre-decidedeg: John Locke had to die. He has to lead the others...etc etc. Are they evetually going to conclude that there's something called Destiny and there's  a superpower? Otherwise, how will you justify the concept that there's a destiny, for if there's a destiny, there has to be writer for it too! 

I hope at the end of the day, there's an acceptable piece of sci-fi explanation to LOST. Otherwise, all the efforts that I have put in lately revisiting high-school physics and theory of relativity/time travel will go down the drain :(

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire

I don't think the movie deserved 8 oscars, and definitely not the Best Film. But then that's the jury's decision. While the movie does reflect on the realities gripping Mumbai and India, it's more a commercialization of the reality for the sake of making money out of it. As someone put it, there's too much happening in life of one person, which is unconvincing. Then there's this case of twisting reality. C'mon : anyone who has ever seen an episode of Who wants to be a millionaire or Kaun Banega Crorepati knows that its not telecast live ! See : commercialization again and the need to put in something gripping. The excessive use of English took the movie further away from reality. You don't expect Slum kids to speak english! The case of Apocalypo comes to my mind. I loved the movie, simply because it tried to capture the mayan civilisation the way they were, including the language. 

Coming back to SM, for me, its just another commercial Bollywood movie. I don't find it to be something out of the world or something that is revolutionary. This is just a case of a movie getting lucky. The actors were quite mediocre except for the kids who were the real stars. It was just another average english 'british' movie made with the aim of catapulting on the western curiosity for the poorer side of India. 

However, I must mention that music definitely was good: but then, with Rahman comes quality and trust of millions. He doesn't usually go wrong and I am glad that he won the oscars. 

Delhi-6

For the impatient, AVOID IT.

Why ? Read on. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

Let's look at different aspects of the movie :

The Negative Side:

Plot: The movie starts on a high, highlighting the importance of relationships in life, and of faith. How fascinated foreigners are with Indian ways is captured well too. But somewhere down the line, it gets lost. It appeared more of a 'COS' curve(think trignometry if you have studied maths, otherwise its something that starts at a high point and then eventually touches the lowest ebb). So all of a sudden, you have this Shani baba coming in from somewhere proclaiming that the Masjid was actually a mandir 350 years back, and the next thing you know is that neighbours start (almost) killing each other. Well, religion is a tricky thing and can make people do weird acts, but just in a moment? Is that the tolerance level of people in Old Delhi? And if that wasn't enough, right at the moment when the riots are to start, the Kaala Bandar appears from somewhere, and Hindus and Muslims are brothers again 'in just one moment'. Phew! Want more ? And it just takes a couple of lines from a protagonists to make everyone realise that Abhishek is faking to be Kaala Bandar so that the riots can be avoided. Ha Ha ! Are people in Delhi-6 really that crazy(if not foolish) to take life changing decisions in a moment?

Abhishek: The weakest link of the story perhaps. I found him totally unconvincing in the role of an NRI. The accent he put on was too fake to be believed. I guess he should have been sent for a accent training at some BPO firm. I feel John would have been a better choice. Even better, a new actor could have been pulled in. After Rang De Basanti, Rakeysh Mehra could have taken that chance and people would have trusted him. But well....

Director: When you make a movie like Rang De Basanti, you set some expectations. Not that RDB wasn't a commercial movie, but it had a message: it seemed to stem out of reality, from our everyday life. But out here, the director didn't bother to do a check on what's expected out of him. He starts off well and then suddenly takes us back to a 1960s-1970s. Dude, people are impatient today and they want more. If someone is going to spend 200 bucks in times of recession to watch your movie, they expect something good out of it. I wonder if RDB was really made by Rakeysh Mehra(or whatever way he spells his name)?

Climax: Why couldn't you just let Abhishek die ? Why did you need to let him survive ? And what was the ghostly Amitabh Bachchan doing there? You had one chance to atleast give a decent end to all the hysteria, but ROM you chose to make it a fultoo desi film.

The Positive Fews:

Kaala Bandar: The idea of kaala bandar was fun though. It reminded me of 2 things: first, how media hypes up things in india, and second Muhnochwa! Back in 2002, when I was studying in Allahabad, eastern UP was attacked by Muhnochwa thread, a creature that came in night and snatched your face and vanished! We had a real good laugh at the thoughts back then, throwing our own innovative theories what Muhnochwa could be. The hype went down gradually, and no one ever found a muhnochwa. But Delhi-6 did remind me of my college days, and I must thank ROM for that. But that's not good enough dude. You made a bad movie.

A R Rehman: It's not the music. It's AR Rehman. As always, awesome. Its the music that saves the movie from being a total disgrace. AR Rehman rocks!(and pops, and jingles, etc etc)

Summary: Avoid it. Don't spend USD 10 / INR 200 on this movie. Better wait for it to be released on a moser baer VCD/DVD and then watch it. This is not a Rang De Basanti.

Starbucks

I had been to Sentosa Island today and on my way back, I saw a Starbucks shop at the VivoCity mall, and I couldn't resist the temptation. I got in and ordered what I always order at starbucks: Mocha Frappucchino. While the order was prepared, I reflected on the time when I was in Milwaukee, specially the last couple of months when I would drop in at the Starbucks near exit 304, get a Frappuccino and sip it on my way back home. That was almost a daily ritual then. 

The announcement of the Barista brought me back to the present : my frappu was ready. I sipped it and it tasted just as it did all those months ago in Milwaukee: great! I went back in time again. I felt I was 'home' :)