Those of you that know me well, will know why I was quite excited to see this 10 minute short with Thomas Jane doing what all us fan boys wanted to see a little more of since 2004, where he did the most perfect film portrayal to date of Frank Castle.

The production value here is admittedly not fantastic, (interestingly he tweeted that it was shot on a Canon 5D). The score has been borrowed from the James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer collaborations on the scores of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but even so, it was definitely a welcome little video homage to a character that I can only hope becomes a reality with him on the big screen again some day. What I found touching, aside from the film was the little note attached at the bottom in the description:

“I wanted to make a fan film for a character I’ve always loved and believed in – a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It’s been a blast to be a part of from start to finish — we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.” — Thomas Jane

With over 650,000 views within a matter of a day, I hope LionsGate or any alternative studio for that matter, sees some sense & gives him another shot at continuing where he left off. Frank Castle is dead.. they call me..

Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis, Cami Delavigne

I’m not usually one for those films that don’t entertain in a more traditional sense, or leave me pepped up after the show but I recently caught this on BluRay as an unwatched catchup film (you know the kind) and have to admit that, though it left me rather depressed, it left an impact.

You can find the official white screenplay hosted here if you fancy a read. As always, if it gets pulled and you want a copy, drop me a comment & I’ll arrange for a copy to reach you.

I won’t go into a full review mode but just point out a couple of standout moments that I feel sum up the theme of the film. A dialogue from DEAN (Ryan Gosling) that stuck with me Act I (from page 16-17):

This to me within the first few minutes of the film defines to the viewer what DEAN is all about. He knows that when he finds ‘the one’, that’s it, he’ll happily make amends to his life, sacrifice whatever he needs to, but make sure he gives the relationship his fullest. That’s where his focus will be. Whether it be his sense of romanticism or naivety, this defines DEAN as a character.

It’s also interesting that this flow of thoughts is imparted on the viewer as he struggles carrying a lot of weight around. It’s almost as though the writers were aware how much of a load these set of ideals would be on his shoulders. ;)

As hinted, unlike the character of DEAN, the film focuses on the theme that though a character is so driven and dedicated, sometimes, it’s just not enough, as relationships aren’t about one person. Sometimes, no matter how much you want something to work, if the pieces don’t fit together, that simply is the fact of the matter, they don’t fit together.

Of course, it’s time that is the true test of this, which is why a back and forth from the present to the past forges the viewers path to discovering how we have reached the state of the relationship that opens up the film.

I personally found this journey pretty gut-wrenchingly painful. Once I was done with the film, I sulked some and started reflecting on what I/they had endured.

A particular scene stood out to me that I felt summed it all up. Conveniently, I found a poster that seems to think so too. I started flicking through the screenplay seeking out this scene, only to find it’s not there. Interesting, I thought.

The scene I’m thinking of is a flashback of DEAN and CINDY as they get to know each other. He sings to her as she dances. This features on the soundtrack too and the title summarises it aptly. “You Always Hurt the One You Love”.

It’s not the exact same scene in the film but you’ll get the idea from this trailer too..

Blue Valentine currently gets a 7.6 rating on IMDb, and though I wouldn’t rate it quite that highly, if you’re up for some emotional masochism, it seems to hit that spot rather nicely.

Over to you, please share your thoughts..

The Top 10 recommendations from what I saw:

An extra thrown in as a foreign film that you must see: The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)

Fill up that rental list, go, go, go! :D

All said and done, it’s not all been bad.. Here are my recommendations:

No One Killed Jessica
नोवन किल्ल्ड जेस्सिका

Loosely based on the true story of Jessica Lall, a Delhi-based model, who was shot in 1999 at a New Delhi restaurant, for refusal to serve drinks after the bar had closed.

Being shot by the son of a wealthy powerful influential politician, multiple witnesses that were present were all intimidated, coerced, threatened and bribed by the powerful family’s political, financial, justice and police connections.

After multiple appeals and rescheduled court dates, it then became an uneven battle between Jessica’s family, in particular, her sister Sabrina (Vidya Balan) and the influential family of the accused. In February 2006, the court acquitted the accused due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Leaving Sabrina heartbroken and demoralised, enters foul-mouthed TV Journalist Meera Gaity (Rani Mukherji), known for being more of an activist than a Journalist, she takes keen an interest in this incident. In getting involved she manages to get the public exposure & outcry that in turn allowed her put pressure on the influential family to uncover the conspiracy & corruption that led to the acquittal.

The public backlash from the initial acquittal forced the re-opening of the investigation. In December 2006, the man was finally found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Considering the bad reputation India has had over the years for corruption, it was a much needed power to the people story that I felt made this work. Truthfully you feel terrible even when Jessica finally does get her justice, for the path to get there should not have been so tough, but there is a level of relief that with unity, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Fantastic performance from Vidya Balan. If nothing else, see it for her.

7 Khoon Maaf
७ खून माफ़ — 7 Murders Forgiven

A black comedy drama thriller based on a short story by Ruskin Bond called Susanna’s Seven Husbands. The story is of an Anglo-Indian woman Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra) who tries to find love, marries, but repeatedly finds such flaws in her husbands that she resorts to opt out by murdering them.

Narrated by a young forensic doctor Arun (Vivaan Shah) to his wife (Konkona Sen Sharma) who has observed Susanna since his childhood and has nurtured a secret crush on her. The boy owes his whole life to Susanna as she funded his education and made him what he is today.

He starts off by declaring to his wife that Susanna has committed suicide leaving him a note congratulating him for his marriage, and so the story begins..

Perhaps it might be my sense of humour but this dark comedy really hit the spot for me. The first few kills you actually feel bad for the poor girl. They treated her terribly, perhaps not murder him bad, but almost justified. By the end of the spree though it seems like she just found it easier to lay them off than work on any issues and I found this hilarious.

Aside from this, I won’t be surprised if Priyanka Chopra walks away with awards for her portrayed role. Her range varying from a teenager to a pensioner as the story progresses was believeable and strong. A treat to watch!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
ज़िन्दगी ना मिलेगी दुबारा — You Don’t Get to Live a Second Time

This feel-good flick is an inspiring story that follows three childhood friends, Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) and Kabir (Abhay Deol), somewhat distanced as they’ve aged, who re-unite as Kabir gets engaged, to fulfill a pact they’d made during their younger days.

The pact allows each one of them to decide upon an adventure sport of their choice, kept secret up until their point of arrival, which the full trio would have to attempt together.

As they embark upon a trip to Spain together, they find themselves dealing with deep rooted issues of their own and in doing so, rediscover their friendship in addition to themselves.

I actually know people that have taken inspiration from watching this and have decided to do things with their lives. I’m not suggesting it’s a preachy film, but it does succeed at provoking some deep thoughts. Above and beyond this, it’s a fantastic entertainer. Putting bromance over romance, most of the film is on the road, which concerned me when I first heard about it, but it’s engaging throughout.

Definitely a strong contender for film of the year if I had it on me to pick just one.

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
मेरे ब्रधर की दुल्हन — My Brother’s Bride

This is a colourful comedy about two guys, a girl and a pizza place wedding.

When Luv (Ali Zafar) has a bad breakup with his girlfriend in London, he decides upon an arranged marriage in India, the only issue being the generation gap between his parents & him, so he insists his younger brother Kush (Imran Khan) should find him a bride.

Kush travels all over India to find a bride suitable for his brother. After much perseverance and colourful prospectives, eventually he finds Dimple (Katrina Kaif), an old college friend.

As the wedding preparations begin, they rekindle their old friendship and a strong bond blossoms between them, by the time Luv actually reaches India, the friendship has turned to love and they must now figure out how to break this to their respective families without causing a huge outrage.

There’s always that one film that has nothing particularly new to offer but just works. I know I’ll get a lot of stick for recommending this one, but frankly I loved it. It was silly, but it knew it. It balanced well somewhere between the sort of slapstick you cringe at and the RomCom that tugs at your heartstrings. The soundtrack was certainly a big plus too. Definitely recommended for a laugh and a giggle. [I already have the BluRay on order.]

Force
फोर्स

This flick is a remake of a 2003 Tamil film called Kaakha Kaakha and is one chilling action thriller. ACP Yashvardhan (John Abraham) recollects from a hospital bed the story of how he’s reached where he is.

As assistant commissioner in the police, Yash runs operations to stop drug cartels, it’s in the midst of this ongoing mission that he encounters Maya (Genelia D’Souza) who mistakes him for a thug due to his demeanor and poise. As they resolve the misunderstanding, over a few meetings, she falls for him. He doesn’t want her to become his weakness in his professional life, but in time stops fighting it.

Meanwhile, he and his task force are eradicating huge numbers of drug peddlers to the point where the big players are now uneasy, in this mayhem they mistakenly kill a big player Reddy (Mukesh Rishi) in the heat of the moment instead of arresting him, for which they are suspended.

Enter Reddy’s brother Vishnu (Vidyut Jamwal) who vows to apply all his efforts towards avenging his brother & this is precisely what he does.

The story here is rather that of a generic action revenge film, nothing groundbreaking. The film however takes strides in it’s execution. The characters are very well developed, from our hero, our villain, to every side-character that interacts with them. You feel like they are all individuals, which is sometimes lost in this genre. Adding to this the pace and the superbly choreographed fight scenes, this certainly won it’s place as one of this years surprise toppers.

Ra.One
रा.वन

This sci-fi thriller is centred around a London based gaming company Barron Industries, which introduces a new technology in which objects from the digital world can be brought into the real world.

Their top developers led by Shekhar Subramanium (Shah Rukh Khan) create a game to be release in Mumbai with a super villain called Ra.One. When Shekhar’s son Prateek (Armaan Verma) has a go with the prototype, he leaves the game midway.

The villain decides to enter our world to finish his one and only task, to kill Lucifer {Prateek’s gamer handle} and finish the game. Tragedy strikes as Ra.One walks our world causing havoc & mayhem across London seeking him out, leaving only one option for the kid, he must release the hero of the game to our world too.

Enter G.One (Shah Rukh Khan). They flee to India in hope that Ra.One won’t find them there, but G.One is aware that it’s only a matter of time, before he returns and an epic battle is inevitable.

Labelled the most expensive Bollywood film ever made, it’s evident where that money went. This film ‘looks’ fantastic. Bearing in mind this ‘most expensive’ film is still on an American TV show finale budget, it has to be applauded how well they’ve managed to portray the special effects of this mammoth geek-fest. Admittedly, the story and screenplay could have done with some more love when the project was in it’s infantile stages, it’s still a treat to see.

Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl
लेडीज़ वर्सिस रिक्की बेह्ल

This film, inspired partly on the novel ‘Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less’ is about Ricky Bahl (Ranveer Singh), a con man who has a creative mind and cons a number of rich girls. He can pick-up any lady he wants, but love just isn’t his priority, money is.

He adopts a variety of personas to support an extravagant lifestyle by conning his many ‘girlfriends’ and their families out of large sums of cash.

Okay, so I lied, this film is about three of those scorned lady victims who team up to con the con. 17 Cities and 28 Ladies later, three of these ladies have managed to piece together his approach to a con, his patterns & repeated strategies, and so they decide to bait him with a girl that he simply can not resist.

Enter Ishika (Anushka Sharma), a charming young girl playing into the con game on behalf of the ladies, she manages to lure him in alright, but will she be able to keep up the act & avoid his charms?

One year after the surprise hit Band Baaja Baaraat which I mentioned in my recommendations post last year, the same team bring the same stars together again, most audiences aprehensive, will they deliver?

Well, it depends on your expectation. I felt they delivered something novel enough. It wasn’t run of the mill, yet it wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was well done, on the most part. The one question I ask myself after walking out of a film. Was I entertained or was I bored? I was entertained. Brilliant. Thumbs up.

Don 2: The King is Back
डोन २

The sequel to the 2006 flick Don (which in turn was a re-imagining of the 1978 classic of the same title), this is the slick action thriller following Don from where we left him in 2006.

Don, (Shah Rukh Khan) is now the indisputable king of the Asian underworld, but he’s not stopping there, he’s now got his cross-hairs aimed at Europe. The Europeans are aware of the threat and are after his blood, so he devises a plan. A plan that begins by surrendering himself to the Malaysian authorities, where he’s sentenced to death row.

Upon his prompt escape, the plan systematically unravels layer by layer, in which we meet some old friends, some old foe, and a bank heist that will make whoever walks away an instant billionaire.

Anyone that has known me long enough knows how much I loved Don. I loved the 1978 version as a child and was over the moon at the prospect of SRK taking up the role. I was extremely happy with the way that turned out with the slight changes made that turned the tables on the whole story. Perfect, but now a sequel? Doubts start sinking in. I think I had the highest chance of being disappointed by this, being a die-hard fan, I wanted nothing about the character to change. So, what happned?

By far the slickest Bollywood action film I’ve seen to date, Don 2 killed all my doubts & left me craving another sequel (hopefully sooner than 5 years this time).

Okay, so that’s what you might call traditional ‘Bollywood’, as mentioned prior, even within said Bollywood, things are evolving a lot, but I’d like to point out a couple of films that though produced by the Indian film industry, I’d classify differently.

Both measuring up at around 90 minutes, both m0stly spoken in English, they are still very Indian, but neither are Bollywood to me. Check them out:

Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries)
धोबी घाट (मुंबई डायरीस)

This independent feeling art-film attempts to magnify a small slice of the culture of Mumbai and it’s varying classes. It is told through small simplistic stories of starkly different individuals that have a minor but strong overlapping impact on one another.

A washer-man who wants to become an actor, a banker-turned-photographer, a painter looking for inspiration, and a newly-married immigrant who journals her experiences on a camcorder. As the lives of these four people intersect in the backdrop of Mumbai, we get to experience a moment ou of their lives.

Akin to something like Lost in Translation in it’s feel, I thoroughly enjoyed being taken into these peoples lives. It probably helped that I was indeed in Mumbai at the time, but I think it’s certainly worth checking out if you’re up for something a little off-beat.

Delhi Belly
डेल्ही बेल्ली

This manic comedy caper revolves around three roommates, journalist Tashi (Imran Khan), photographer Nitin Beri (Kunaal Roy Kapur) and cartoon artist Arup (Vir Das) leading an unkempt and debt-ridden life in a shoddy apartment in Delhi.

Struggling to fill the buckets when they have limited water, struggling to make the rent, struggling in every walk of life, these losers are desperately in real need of a helping hand, until today. To survive today they need a fucking miracle for the events that await them.

From a case of Delhi Belly to a package mix-up with a gangster, a loved one being kidnapped, being shot at by an acquaintances ex-lover, dealing with the consequence of blackmailing a policaman’s brother, getting roped into embarking into daylight robbery & yes I repeat, a case of Delhi Belly, this is one day they could not have seen coming.

This deserves a posting of it’s own. In fact, I’m pretty likely to do one. In it’s approach an expletive ridden cross between Snatch and The Hangover, this film is novel, funny and a new benchmark for Indian cinema. It doesn’t tread carefully to ensure it doesn’t offend, it treads carefully to ensure each scene is there for a reason, engaging & moves the plot forward. Unmissable!

So that’s my list done. Some of the films I wish I had got a chance to see that I think potentially could have made it into the list I’m mentioning below:

• Satrangee Parachute
• Shor in the City
• Haunted
• Ragini MMS
• Stanley Ka Dabba
• Shaitan
• Shabri
• Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster

So, there you have it. As always, should you have any questions or queries about any of the films I’ve mentioned, drop me a comment & I’ll happily elaborate / discuss.

Well, that’s all folks. :)

The Top 10 recommendations from what I saw:

An extra thrown in as a foreign film that you must see: L’arnacoeur (Heartbreaker)

Fill up that rental list, go, go, go! :D

This is an unfortunate Catch-22 for many smaller, brighter, creative film-makers; to help them and to achieve my task of not letting them down, it’s pretty important to know what’s showing, as of when, and making estimations on how long they will be showing for. You may be thinking, surely, there are film release dates listed out there, dedicated sites even and yes, you’d be absolutely right. There are. However, I don’t trust them. They omit things sometimes. Important things, like these lesser-wide releases that I speak of. A release like Inception just wasn’t going to be ignored, by anyone, but a film like L’arnacoeur (Heartbreaker) might. Both are fantastic must-watch films.

Another example: The Warrior’s Way released on the 3rd of December at limited screens around the country. The following week, it was down to one late show per night, at those limited, harder to reach multiplexes. This was expected, as it’s a relatively small film when compared to the wide releases that followed on the 10th [The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Tourist]. Since it was tough for me to get to the multiplex showing the film, leaving it until the 10th would make it even less viable, so I saw it on the 9th. I much enjoyed it too. Had I discovered it a year later on DVD knowing that I had missed this, I would have kicked myself.

At some stage, I decided to stalk the releases more closely, but I found myself slacking sometimes. I could make excuses like family or work commitments but it’d be a lie. I got lazy sometimes. This is when I thought of documenting it. I figured if I was creating a documented copy of this information it’s make those *Thursday Decisions, a lot easier. It did work somewhat and that’s how these Google Calendars came about. One for UK Releases and one for Hindi Releases. I tried to keep them up-to-date at least 2 weeks in advance of actual releases. Ofcourse there are last-minute changes which I correct as soon as I’m made aware of them, but mostly this worked well, until I started slacking, again.

Hindi Film Releases:

.. or subscribe via ICAL

UK Film Releases:

.. or subscribe via ICAL

As a last resort, I decided to make these calendars public. If I know they are being used by others too, I’ll be responsible enough to keep them up-to-date. That’s worked out quite well on the most part. They are also a godsend when you are trying to write that list of Top 10 films. Releases currently go back as far as January 2009.

You can click on the plusses to add them to your own google calendar, or view theme here anytime. I hope you find them useful.

This industry, just like any other, runs on fiscal profit. So for your persual here’s the Top 10 box office takings so you can see what’s been successful worldwide this year.

1. Dabangg
2. Golmaal 3
3. Raajneeti
4. My Name is Khan
5. Housefull
6. Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai
7. Kites
8. Tees Maar Khan
9. I Hate Luv Story
10. Anjaana Anjaani

Though some of these do reflect on my list, some decent gems would be missed if we relied entirely upon Box Office takings, so here are my own recommendations, based on how satisfied I felt after the show:

Ishqiya
इश्किया

A story of romance between individuals caught in a web of crime, suspense, passion, and deceit. Two thieves, Khalujan and Babban, are on the run from their boss. They seek refuge with an old friend, and instead meet his widow. As they plan their escape, their time spent together draws the duo to her, Khalu with his tinted vision of old-fashioned love, and Babban with his lustful eye. The threat of imminent death forces them on a path of violence and betrayal. Set in a rural landscape, Ishqiya explores basic human emotions as influenced by desire, greed and revenge.

It has an independent film feel to it. Set in quite a rural atmosphere, quite slow paced, it builds characters that are flawed but likable without pushing towards the larger than life characters, nor does it go overboard in showing a depressing exploited rural India, like more commercial cinema often does.

My Name is Khan
माय नेम इज़ ख़ान

The triumphant story of an unconventional hero overcoming mammoth obstacles to regain the love of his life. Rizvan Khan, a Muslim man from India with Apergers Syndrome, moves to San Francisco and lives with his brother and sister-in-law. After falling in love with Mandira, a single-parent Hindu girl, despite protests from his family he marries and they start a small family business together. All is looking well until September 11, 2001 when attitudes towards Muslims undergo a sea-change. When tragedy strikes, Mandira in a fit of rage tells Rizvan to leave & not return until he has told the President of the United States that though his name is Khan, he is not a terrorist. Rizvan confused and upset embarks on a touching and inspiring journey across America to seek the President, in hope to win her back.

Opposite end of the spectrum in terms of scale, this is an expensive film. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not perfect, but it’s certainly pushing the bar where it comes to bringing Indian cinema to an international level of acceptance. The worldwide distribution by Fox goes to show I’m not the only one of this mindset. It’s a good half-way-between film, high in emotional drama, duration and a fairy tale on one hand (very Bollywood), while the story is off-beat & the locales and production value are reaching out leaps and bounds (much like Hollywood).

Karthik Calling Karthik
कार्तिक कॉलिंग कार्तिक

The story of a loser, Karthik, an introvert who is walked over by everyone, from his landlord to his colleagues. On his birthday, he receives a mysterious phonecall from someone claiming to be not only a well-wisher and friend, but himself, Karthik. His life begins to change for the better as the calls start to become a regular guiding part of his life, but who’s on the other end of the line? A thrilling, soulful and romantic mystery of this man’s victory against his own demons & weaknesses.

The Mystery of what is actually going on is gripping. You make assumptions, guesses, double guess yourself, right until they want you to know what is going on & at this stage you aren’t disappointed by their explanation. With a quirky story like this, that’s all that was needed, making all the remaining assets such as the background score & the gorgeous Deepika, a mere bonus.

Raavan
रावण

A modern take on the classic Hindu epic: The Ramayan, told from the point of view of it’s iconic villain – Raavan. The battle between good and evil, between Dev and Beera, between Ram and Raavan is an interesting spin on the original tale. As more detail is given of the villains past and present, the lines dividing good and evil are blurring. It questions whose side would you take when hate turns to love and the good starts looking shady? Do good and evil even exist, or are they a mere point of view?

Many were disappointed by this film, in fact I myself was in two minds about it initially. I couldn’t decide whether it was a stroke of genius or a disaster. This said, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so they blatantly did something right. Incidentally, they had released a Tamil version ‘Raavanan’ on the same date, so I went and watched that version the following weekend. It had some minor tweaks in the editing that definitely ironed out some creases, but the blinding difference was that the actors were so much better suited for their given roles (with the exception of Govinda who’s performance in the Hindi version was simply irreplaceable). So now, having seen two separate versions, the Tamil one was not only better, but settled my unrest about my initial feelings. It was genius & highly recommended.

Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai
वंस अपोन अ टाइम इन मुम्बाई

Known also as Mumbaai goes Rewind, this retro chic styled flick traces the changing face of the Mumbai underworld and how it all started. A tale seen through the eyes of a police officer. It
is set primarily in the 1970s and follows the rise of Sultan, and the conflict, when his protege Shoaib challenges his supremacy, and usurps power to rule the murky underbelly of Mumbai.

With this one it’s the style that the tale is told in that’s appealing. Sultan may be a criminal, but in many ways he is the one centre-piece ensuring that there is harmony & respect amongst criminals. If his grip loosens, things are going to take a turn for the worse for everyone. We know how this is going to pan out from the very outset, but we don’t want it to. The gradual building of tension only grows as we get to know the characters and their motives better.

Dabangg
दबंग

The story of Chulbul Pandey, a fearless corrupt police officer with unorthodox working methods. Chulbul has had a bitter childhood. His father passed away when he was very young after which his mother re-married. Together, they had a son whom the father favours over him. Having decided to take control of his destiny, he detaches himself from his stepfather and half brother. His sole attachment is his mother. However after his mother’s demise and an unsuccessful attempt to mend wounds, Chulbul snaps all ties with his stepfather and half brother, but his detractors have their own vested interests and emerge as spokes in the wheels, putting one brother against the other. How he manages to piece back his family and destroy his detractors is what forms a hard-hitting, entertaining, emotional narrative here.

This is a ‘fun’ action flick. If you like those 70′s Dhishoom Dhishoom films or Hollywood films to the likes of Shoot ‘em Up or The Transporter, this will be right up your street. It has no qualms about being unrealistic & delivers an action-packed explosion that’ll leave you smiling for hours after the show.

Enthiran – The Robot
எந்திரன்

Dr Vasi is a scientist on a mission to create an andro-humanoid robot to help the society. Speed one terra Hz, memory one zeta byte. He can dance, sing, fight, water and fire resistant. He can do all that a human can and more. He feeds on electricity. He takes instructions literally. Where a human can lie to save himself this andro-humanoid robot cannot. His name is Chitti. Since he cannot understand human emotions, he can not understand reasoning such as shame & guilt, he is incomplete to serve it’s purpose in society, but when Dr. Vasi upgrades Chitti’s processor and simulates human emotions, a whole whirlwind of repercussions await.

This is for those sci-fi nuts out there who have allowed that kid inside them to survive, the one that gets excited by the prospect of ‘out there’. I’d describe it visually as a cross between I-Robot, Terminator and The Matrix Reloaded, with a much lower budget. The fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously ‘at all’ works a charm for it. It feels like an adventurous cheesy 80′s Sci-fi with the effects of the late 90′s, but this strange time-warp, with it’s sense of obscure humour seems to balance out perfectly.

Speaking to the festival director, this is one of the films that’ll be screened at Sci-fi-London Film Festival in the summer, this is where I feel it’ll finally be at home.

Jhootha Hi Sahi
जूठा ही सहि

When Siddharth starts getting calls in the middle of the night from people wanting to commit suicide, alarm bells start ringing. As it turns out a Samaritan suicide hotline had mistakenly handed out his phone number as the hot-line, this is soon rectified, but one call has already changed Siddharths life forever. What if you had a secret hotline to the heart of the girl you love? If you could read her deepest thoughts, know her every emotion and manipulate her every choice. And all you had to do was lie a little; well, not that little. This is the story of a simpleton battling this dilemma.

Simple, sweet & quirky. This one is a romcom but with an attached hook. When I first heard the plot I thought it sounded like a but of a gimmick, but they’ve utilised the idea well. Set entirely in London, it’s also one of the few films I’ve seen that shows London as is, rather than creating an overblown character about it.

Allah Ke Banday
अल्लाह के बंदे

This film tells the tale of two 12 year old boys (Vijay and Yakub) who grow up in the slums of India. Wanting to make a name for themselves in the mafia world, they start delivering drugs and loot people with the help of their transvestite friend. Things go wrong when they are sent to a juvenile reformatory after being wrongly convicted for a murder. They learn life is much tougher in the reformatory than the world they came from. They are tortured by the warden and senior inmates. But instead of reforming they develop a more sinister plan in their quest for ultimate power. At 23, once released, they start a gang with teenage boys from the very slums they were raised. Unfortunate events force the two men to decide between future & redemption or living in their pasts.

If you though it takes a British director to show a gritty India, think again. The themes here are nothing new, from Angels with Dirty Faces, to Sleepers to even some Scarface, but the execution is fast-paced & engaging. It fits in sync with the impatient modern-day generation that would find Citizen Kane & even The Godfather a little slow for their tastes.

Band Baaja Baaraat
बेंड बाजा बारात

Shruti is a 20-something no-nonsense girl from a middle class Delhi household. Focused and determined with preplanned ambitions, her goals in life are well laid out by the time she reaches her final year of college. Bittoo, on the other hand, has no real aim in life besides not being dragged back to his village by his parents. A chance and inopportune meeting brings the two together on a tumultuous journey where they become partners in their very own wedding planning business. With the rule of not mixing business with pleasure stated sternly in the outset, it was only a matter of time before the bands, horns and revelry would drown out any trace of that the rule.

Most of the above films have been atypical to the Bollywood sterotype, this one on the other-hand is just that. Weddings, dance, romance, all that fluff, yet it manages to be authentic and fresh. How? you might ask. The answer to perfection as always is the writing. It’s a very tightly written film.

The only reason this hasn’t made it big is that there isn’t an established actor’s name attached to it, but word-of-mouth has been good for it universally. Here’s hoping that the ‘Content is King’ work ethos grows because of it.

So that’s my 10 done. Some of the films I wish I had got a chance to see that I think potentially could have made it into the Top 10 are:

• Love, Sex aur Dhoka
• City of Gold
• Tere Bin Laden
• Udaan
• Khichdi
• Do Dooni Chaar

So, the next time you hear someone mention that Indian Cinema only does RomComs, do feel free to point them to this list. If you have any questions or queries about any of the films, drop me a comment & I’ll happily elaborate.

Well, that’s all folks. :)

Enter the mobile interfaces such as TwitStat, Slandr, Tweete, Dabr, amongst others. These worked great for a long while. Even when Twitter got added to a block list at many workplaces, these mobile interfaces were sufficient workarounds, as they could log into the API behind the scene.

Act II
In June of ’10, Twitter introduced OAuth, a new way to authenticate with Twitter, besides just entering a username & password combination. It would log into Twitter.com & ask the user if they wanted to authorise the site/app they had come from. This meant people building their own clients and apps didn’t have to worry about saving passwords or security, at all, it could all be done by Twitter. It also meant 3rd party apps weren’t storing sensitive information.

On the face of it, this may sound great as it was easier for Developers and tougher for scamming hackers, but for the average Joe like myself, things were about to turn sour.

By the end of August ’10, Twitter decided to move to OAuth entirely for all connections made, which meant none of these interfaces worked any more unless you had direct access to Twitter.com (which as mentioned earlier, had been blocked at the workplace).

Enter David Carrington. Technically a re-emergence to the story. I mentioned earlier among the mobile interfaces one called Dabr. This was written by David. Soon after this August update by Twitter, he wrote an interface that allowed one to sign in to Dabr using OAuth (just like everyone else was forced to), but also implemented the ability to then save the OAuth token in a hidden database.

This allowed users to log in from other locations without having to re-authorise using OAuth, provided they authorised it the once & then created a dabr password. All was well in my world once more. I authorised on my phone & then used my new password to log into dabr at work without having to give all this tech-jargon a second thought.

This victory was short-lived as Dabr started to get blocked at workplaces too.

Act III
Thankfully, David has been kind enough to make the source for his Dabr interface open-source. I have now created, with his help, a clone of the Dabr interface here & called it Chyawanprash.

The origins of this name come from Dabur Chyawanprash. It was an in-joke with the Indian Twitterati who are familiar with this herbal product like myself. Growing up watching adverts for this, it’s the first thing that crossed our minds whenever we read the word ‘Dabr’, and based on it’s reputation, it just seemed perfectly apt.

In their own words:

Dabur Chyawanprash has anti-oxidant properties & strengthens your body’s internal defense mechanism, the immune system, thereby protecting you from everyday infections, cough, cold & stress etc.

So here it is; the Dabr mobile Twitter interface hosted here by @jun6lee himself. Here’s hoping that others might find this as useful as I do & that the victory isn’t as short-lived this time:

Dabr Chyawanprash!