Dil Chahta Hai : A Cult Classic !

If I have to choose one movie that redefined my taste, my priorities and my sensibilities about movies, it has to be "Dil Chahta Hai"

There are hundreds of movies that defined my taste but none became a 'Cult' like this Farhan Akhtar's Classic. I loved Amar Akbar Anthony, Sholay, Naseeb, Shankarabharanam, many of Kamal Hasan's movies, RGV's early wonders like Shiva and Kshana Kshanam and Mani Ratnam.

I first watched DCH on the eve of my 31st birthday in 2001. 'DCH' remains my most favorite movie almost a decade since it was released; in spite of '3 Idiots'. Why do I love it so much ?

It could be the nostalgia. Having shared male-bonding during Hostel life, I was missing my friends before the WWW shrunk the world forever.

It could be the 'cool quotient' of those days. For someone already into thirties, it was perhaps a way of reliving the youth or even an attempt at remaining relevant.

It could be the music, the beautiful Preity Zinta or the Aamir Khan factor. But overall, it remains a 'Cult Classic' for me and many of my friends. 

Let me take a look at DCH, ten years since I first fell in love with and a month since I watched it for the umpteenth time. I watch the DVD whenever I feel a little low. Never felt bored and every time, I have found something new in the movie. That is Dil Chahta Hai for me.

Instead of taking a look at the story and the movie, let me do my analysis based on characters. Most of us know the story anyway.

This movie has been reviewed by many an eminent people. Don't know if anyone has done what I am trying to do. Whatever I express here are my own views. If anyone else has done a similar exercise, I am completely ignorant about it. So here we go...

I don't know if Farhan Akhtar had thought about it or if it was all designed. But almost all his main characters had names that appear symbolic. Especially his main protagonists.

Aakash: First of the 3 main protagonists this character was played by Aamir Khan with elan. Aakash stands for 'Sky'. This exactly defines the character. He is vast. He is intelligent and he is irreverent. Not believing in love and practically a Casanova, he symbolizes the Sky. 

He doesn't know himself. He doesn't know what he wants. And finally falls in love with a girl engaged to someone else. As his friend Sameer describes, "Whole life he kept denouncing love and then fell in love with a girl and confessed his love in someone else' wedding. For "Aakash" the Sky is the limit when it comes to life.

Sameer: Saif Ali Khan rose from mediocrity to Stardom with this movie. 'Sameer' is 'Water'. Pure and simple, but simply unpredictable. Water has no shape. You pour it into a vessel, it takes the shape of that vessel. Sameer takes the shape according to the company he is in. 

He thinks he is in love with every girl he sees; be it Priya, Pooja or Phoolan. He will trust whatever his friends say and do what they say. In short, he can flow like water when left alone, but put him in a vessel and he will look like the vessel. Even when polluted by impurities, his core still remains clean.

Sidhant: Farhan probably couldn't have chosen his actors better. Everyone looked as if tailor-made for the given role. But casting Akshaye Khanna as Sidhant was his best. 

Sidhant stands for 'Principles'. The boy is simply too intelligent and too complex for anyone to understand him, including his own Mom and best buddies. His falling in love with a much older and divorced woman is typical of how complex Principles can be in life.

His best moment in the movie is when he tells Aakash, "Love isn't planned, it just happens. You'll know it when it happens to you. Age, place, religion or any other thing will not matter when it happens. You'll remember my words the day it happens to you". Pure Philosophical Principles !

Shalini: Preity Zinta as the girl who put her head over heart was brilliant. Shalini is 'Modest' or 'Down to Earth' or 'Unassuming' or even 'Fertile'. The kind of girl who will never hurt those who love her and will even sacrifice her own interests to make others happy. 

She doesn't know Aakash at first. Then she becomes the reason for him acquiring a black eye. Later she becomes a friend and unfailingly falls in love with the vastly unknown Aakash who doesn't know he is falling in love with this girl. To avoid hurting her care-takers, she decides to listen to her mind, that is till the climax.

Pooja: This must be the commonest name in India. Especially northern parts. Pooja is 'Worship'. She is the kind of adorable girl next door in the movie who has a soft corner for a guy named Subodh. But as the journey continues, she realizes she is more like Sameer than Subodh.

Sonali Kulkarni is the typical girl next door. As good as you get in Hindi movies. The water like quality of Sameer needs the simple unadulterated quality of Pooja rather than Priya...

Priya: Priya is 'Lover'. She is the quintessential nagging middle class girl who wants her boyfriend all for herself. May be every boy will fancy her as an arm-candy. But the man would love to have a Pooja for a wife. Priya remains forever Lover, plain and simple. Suchitra Pillai was very effective as the nag. 

Tara: Tara is a 'Star'. Dimple Kapadia as Tara has an 'Aura' about her. Ravishingly beautiful and down to earth but has a faraway quality that separates her from the girls. She so fascinates the young Philosopher Sid, he turns into a starry eyed boy aiming for the Star.

Tara also has an unknown element to her. She is broken and is addicted to alcohol which is destroying her gradually. 'Toota Tara' or a 'Broken Star', she is the celestial sphere ready to explode all the while looking ethereal. There is tragedy even in her smile.

Deepa: There is darkness at the bottom of a 'Lamp'. Samantha Treymane as Deepa is the cheerful girl who emits light. She is in love with the vastness of Aakash. But he finds her uninteresting. The sky has too much of light. That is life. 

The Philosopher Sidhant tells her, "As much as you try to hold on to the sand particles in your clenched fist, it slips off from your grip. Let it free, if it belongs to you, it comes back. It isn't yours if it doesn't". Deepa fades off like all lamps do.

Rohit: Means 'Red Colored First Rays of Sun'. Also believed to be a 'Male Child one who brings growth and prosperity in the family'. This arrogant yet insecure character was played by Ayub Khan with gusto. 

The proud son of a business family believes Shalini is his right. He gives Aakash a black eye for messing with his girl. But the movie ends with him getting one back.

Subodh: 'Sound Advice' or 'Good Lesson'. A man who does everything according to 'Timetable' and is almost too good to be true. Azad Dadarkar was too good in this limited role. 

Pooja, the girl next door likes him, but doesn't know if that is love. He can be great but can he be boring ? May be even the girl next door in today's world prefers the vibrant Sameer [Water or anything that flows] over stagnating Subodh [Sound Advice]. A 'Good Lesson' to all boys !

All other supporting characters have done justice in a movie with beautiful photography and fabulous music by Shankar - Ehsan - Loy.

Overall, this is a fabulous movie experience for anyone who loves Cinema. Those who agree with me, kindly leave your opinions. Those who haven't watched this yet, go for the DVD today. It is worth. Those who don't agree with me, don't even try to convince me.

Morning Raga

“The rustic south. An aura of Carnatic music. A diaspora of ploughed soil. Early morning moistness. The breath of dried chilies.

The Andhra Pradesh countryside.

In a village, not far there once lived Swarnalatha (Shabana Azmi), a talented singer who always aspired to sing before a huge audience. One fine day, she gets this chance and beckons her dear friend, Vaishnavi to accompany her on the violin while she sings. The stage is set in the city, not far from her island village. After convincing her husband, the two women with their sons (one each) board a mofussil bus to the city on the much-awaited day. Tragedy strikes and the bus tumbles and skids across the brink of the bridge. Swarnalatha’s son and Vaishnavi get killed.

Left with fault and remorse, Swarnalatha self-imposes exile. Never to sing again. Never to cross the bridge to the city”.

That was the first 7 min of the film, in brief. The rest is a luminous tale of loss and redemption. Every character in the film finds his or her lost self in ways that are forever unpredictable and surprising for there lies the power of music to heal and unify even the splintered of souls.  

Twenty years cross, and two characters emerge into this unfinished tale. Abhinay (Prakash Rao), Vaishnavi’s son returns to the village to open up the hardly healed wounds of music. And Pinky (Perizaad Zorabian), the boutique owner’s daughter, struck with guilt enters the story for the fateful bus accident was caused by her father’s drunken health.

Amidst these fragile relations, Mahesh Dattani’s Morning Raga, an English language film with smatterings of Telugu takes the viewer on a journey into the pastel shades of emotions and that of the smudged fortitudes of rural India. Where traditional values of Swarnalatha drench this pictorial in emery, modern uprooting of Abhinay and Pinky cry for a change, a revolution to let Swarnalatha sing. Once again. Across the symbolic bridge to the city.

Pranchiettan and the Taint !

About the writer: A Doctor by profession. A Jack of all trades and Master of none, including the chosen profession of Medicine. Live, Love and Laugh is the motto in life. Cricket and Cinema are part of life. It all began with undiluted adoration of Bachchan in "Amar Akbar Anthony". Like Deekay, graduated to Aamir Khan, but don't have a Hero today. Believe movies belong to Directors / Writers.

Basically a movie buff and not an expert in the job of reviewing. Hence wouldn't like to brand posts as Reviews. Prefer to call them 'Views' ! That saves a lot of effort on surgically dissecting things like Screenplay and Editing which aren't easily understood.

Believe, a movie is a story. If it touches a cord, have to express it. If not, have to dissect it. Done it on Facebook and Twitter. But they are basically micro-views. This is the first attempt at organizing thoughts on a movie that was very close to heart. Thanks Deekay for the inspiration and for the opportunity to post here.

My love for Malayalam movies

For over 16 years now I have come to admire the Malayalam movies and learned the language thanks to the movies. For me, "Panchavati Paalam", "Sandesam", 'Ponmuttayidunna Thaaravu" and "Devasuram" are irreplaceable Classics from a list of a large number of magnificent movies.

You can't replicate these movies in any other language or culture. These are unique to Malayalam and that is the USP of Malayalam movies. And I loved these movies even before I became familiar with the cultural ethos of Kerala.

Unfortunately Malayalam was on a losing streak for a long time thanks to the larger than life image the Actors turned Stars cultivated and due to the demise of old Masters and also the decline of the old-time Directors like Siby Malayil, I. V. Sasi, Satyan Anthikkad and Priyadarsan to name a few. Thankfully, the next generation guys like Ranjith, Shyama Prasad, Rajesh Pillai and Ranjith Sankar have enlivened the gloomy picture considerably in recent years.

Let me be pardoned for such a long introduction. But I had to tell something about myself before I expressed my views. I would like to state that these are views of a Non-Malayalee who loves Malayalam movies more than any other movies and who 'Doesn't tolerate anyone talking about Poland' !

One movie that touched me deeply in recent times was Ranjith's "Pranchiettan and the Saint'. I loved Ranjith's flawed yet endearing 'Nandanam'. I believe his 'Paleri Manikyam oru Pathira Kolapathakathinde Katha' is a modern day Classic. So I decided to watch 'Pranchiettan and the Saint' on first day and did. I must say I was not disappointed.

Pranchiettan and the Taint !

First of all, let me be pardoned for writing on the same subject Deekay has dealt ably in the previous post. But as a Non-Malayali who has fallen in love with Malayalam movies, I had to tell this and that is why I pleaded with Deekay to give me an opportunity. Thanks again Deekay.

The Story: The whole story is about the inferiority complex of an undereducated but over-rich rice merchant from Trichur called Chirammel Enasu Francis or C. E. Francis fondly called Pranchiettan by friends and ridiculed as "Ari Pranchi" by others. Little Francis develops a dislike for that nick name and grows up hating it.

All that he does in life is to erase the 'Taint' of that name "Ari Pranchi". He does charity but the 'Taint' sticks. He starts a Jewelery to get rid of the name. But the Jewelery acquires the name of "Ari Pranchi's Jewelery". Whatever he does, the name sticks much to his dismay.

He loses his childhood sweetheart to a scheming boy who goes on to become a Doctor and again wins the election to the post of the President of a reputed club in Trichur town. Thus Pranchi's life is a continued story of debacles in public life in spite of material riches. A born loser if there was one.

Everything he does in life has a motive. We all do have our own motives. Charity for the sake of publicity is a reality. Sponsoring a public felicitation of an Oscar Award winner earns further humiliation for Pranchiettan. His appearance on the dais ends up in ignominious exit in front of his arch nemesis.

Thus he embarks upon a mission to get himself decorated with the prestigious "Padmashri" award. This ill advised mission mooted by good friend Menon ends in a disaster. He suffers a loss of 1.5 Crore rupees and earns further ridicule. As he plans to withdraw into a shell to escape the barbs, the real Padmashri enters his life.

This married and about to be divorced heiress of a reputed family brings the long missing romance into his life. She literally and figuratively brings color into his hitherto white and white life. She changes the way he dresses and the way he and his house looked. She turns it into a home. In turn, he helps her to save her ancestral home from being sold off by her uninterested relatives. Even as he plans to confess his amour to her, she flies off to Mumbai once again leaving him a loser.

This is when the next character makes entry. A precocious boy who has become a headache for the teachers as well as the Headmaster of the school where Pranchiettan too studied. To help the Headmaster realize his dream of retiring with a 100% success rate in Class 10 exams, Pranchiettan takes the responsibility of getting the boy tutored at his place. THIS act is the first ever act in his life where he expects nothing in return. NO publicity, no name, no fame and not even appreciation.

The boy defeats everyone including the tutor Pandit Deena Dayal. His failure in the exam hurts Pranchiettan and he decides to abandon the boy. That is when he comes to know the sad story of the boy. The story of a drug addict father murdering his mother and beloved teacher. The traumatized boy develops hatred for school and studies and turns hostile to life.

The boy is living with a person who happened to be a friend of his father. That person takes advantage of the situation and then runs away with the money given by Pranchiettan. This story of misery brings the human side of Pranchiettan and he decides to adopt the boy as his son and successor.

Some people like Deekay have questioned this angle of the story. How could the entire school have remained unaware of the sad story of the boy ? That definitely is a hole in the story, which could have been better explained by Ranjith and his team. But for this, the movie is a real class act.

We get to know the entire story of Pranchiettan in Eastman Color flashback, as he narrates his story to the 'Punyalan' or St. Francis De Assisi. The Saint listens his story and passes comments in Malayalam in Trichur accent. And finally Pranchiettan expresses his desire to adopt the boy to the Saint. This meets with instant approval and blessings from the Saint.

Now we reach to the most delicious part of the movie. He comes out of the Church and tells the boy of his decision to adopt him and of his encounter with Saint Francis. Pranchiettan rues the poor luck of the boy who couldn't meet the Punyalan. But the boy tells him, "I did see the Saint". As Pranchiettan counters him with when and where; the boy says, "Saints are incarnated in good deeds of Men on earth. For me, YOU are the Saint". The movie ends with the Boy and his father Pranchiettan making a resolution to face life in an honest manner.

We get to see the 'real' picture of the material world where the Doctor and his wife being in a marriage sans love and living a life of mutual cheating. We see the fraud who swindled Pranchiettan meeting his fate. 

We also get to see in advance, the fruits of one act of unselfish love. Pranchiettan gets his Padmashri; not the award but the real one. He didn't expect anything in return when he set out to help the boy and his reward was the unexpected love he had almost given up on !

"Every Human born has a Saint within. We just need to look inwards to know him, to realize him and to unleash him from the clutches of greed, lust, envy, anger and all kind of negative emotions that rule our psyche". This is the beautiful message encapsulated in this movie laced with earthy Trichur brand of humor.

This is a beautiful journey of Chirammel Francis from being an unscrupulous business tycoon to becoming Saint Francis ! In the process, he is washed off all the 'Taint' because it doesn't make any difference to him anymore.

Ranjith is in top form in all his roles. The music, dialogues and all the technical aspects are fine. Every actor from Pranchiettan to the little boy have done justice and it is tough to point out one stand out performance. Even the Midsummer Nights Dreams quoting cook is superb in his limited role. Overall a wholesome movie experience for the entire family. Every Malayalam movie buff should watch this movie.

This is definitely Ranjith's answer to "3 Idiots" which he was so much in awe of. Mr. Ranjith, I loved the One Idiot in your movie more than 3 Idiots !

Pranjiyettan and the saint

A Thrissur based businessman named Francis aka Pranjiyettan visits St. Francis of Asisi's Church to take blessings for some important affairs in his life.  Inside the vacant Church, he encounters St. Francis Asisi in human form and cannot believe his good luck. Some banter ensues and  thereafter, Pranjiyettan tells his life story to St. Francis.  The full movie is in flash back mode and ends after Pranjiyettan finishes narrating his story and asks St. Francis for his advice.


Pranjiyettan as a person, craves for recognition, which he feels world has not been generous in giving to him.  As a kid, he was not good at studies, lost his lady love to his arch rival (Dr. Jose played by Siddique), never passed SSLC, but in business, everything he touched turned into gold.  But still "ari"Pranji  (rice pranji)  has stuck to his name as they have been rice merchants for generations.  Pranjiyettan has ventured into many business just to get rid of the nick name "ari" (rice).  He has been involved in many charities and philanthropic activities.  His man Friday Vasu menon (played by Innocent) is never short of ideas to make "Pranjiyettan" the most talked about man in Thrissur corporation, but the ideas usually fail big time.  He discusses all of these with St. Francis of Asisi and finally tells him how his latest venture of getting Padma Sree award  also backfires, but he eventually does get "Padmasree", does not he? ;-)...... but no spilling beans here.....


Mammokka as Pranjiyettan is superb...In Rajamanikyam, he had deftly spoken Thiruvananthapuram slang and now in this movie, he has done the same with Thrissur slang, but I guess, for a person of his caliber, it may be just another character, just another performance, if I may use a cricketing analogy, something like another hundred for Sachin.


There was a only a minor glitch ( i felt), which is related to a boy who comes in later in the story and who along with Padmasree is the crux of the story, and who is also the reason Pranjiyettan has come to Church.


Overall, another entertaining movie from the stable of Ranjith.

The Man from Earth (2007)

The Man from Earth (2007), directed by Richard Schenkman, written by Jerome Bixby, is a movie that I would say is a testimony to story telling. It also shows the power of human imagination.

I do not want to build up excitement, which always leads to dissappointment.

I stumbled across this movie, had it for a while, then one day just decided to view it and was really taken back with the story and the simple nature of the movie.

The movie is a story telling, the main characters are all in a house around a fire listening to a man who tells them a superb story.

The summary of the movie is such - a group of college professors decide to give a send off party to a professor who has decided to move out. The party turns out to a story telling which leaves everyone in the room disturbed and confused. Hope this sounds exciting without giving away much.

Read about the movie more if you want at IMDB and Wikipedia, find it, then forget about it, then one day just sit down with a warm drink enjoy this movie. You will really appreciate it.

Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster written by Zach Helm stars Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, is the most surprisingly beautiful, original, and clever movie I have ever seen. To say that it was released at 2006 and I got a chance to see it, but postponed it till today for other action flicks make me want to cry. This movie is simply beautiful.

I was under the impression that this will be one of those Will Ferrell movies, comedy and a storyline that is just okay but this movie was something really surprising.

The plot is really stranger than fiction, our hero one day finds that someone is narrating his actions. He literally hears a woman narrating whatever he does. This makes him upset as he is the only one who can hear this voice, he seeks help.. and the story kicks in (I don't want to spoil your surprise). Our hero is a tax agent, really great with numbers and lives in a world of numbers and statistics, but the voice really changes his life and turns it upside down.

I don't know if you will feel the same feeling I am having as this was really a surprising movie to me. Nobody recommended it to me... but since now you know this is a good movie. I just pray you will be able to enjoy it as much as I did. You can watch the movie here.

Knocked Up

Knocked Up, directed by Judd Apatow stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, and Paul Rudd, in short this is a beautiful movie.

I always wanted to watch this as Katherine Heigl was the actress, and I liked her "Life as We Know It".

The movie is beautiful because 'a beautiful baby girl takes birth in it'. The whole movie is build around her. Here is how the storyline goes... our actor 'Seth' is a jobless, pot smoking, average kind of guy who lives with his friends in a rented apartment. They are all bachelors so you can imagine what they do and how they spend their time. None of them have a job.. our actress 'Katherine' is a TV host and she lives with her sister. Sister is married with two kids. 'Katherine' gets a promotion, she and her sister go to a club to celebrate, they bump into 'Seth' and his friends... somehow 'Katherine' and 'Seth' hang out, get drunk, have sex (they don't show anything, however, this movie is not appropriate for kids, there is lot of swearing...don't recommend for a family if they are of traditional mindset), and when they wake up, 'Katherine' tries to know more about 'Seth'... comes to know that he is jobless, homeless, etc.. etc.. 8 weeks pass.. she realizes she is pregnant.. and the story picks up from there.

I loved the movie very much.. I kind of liked 'Seth' and his natural acting. He shows himself as he is... no trying to be some other guy stuff... I am looking forward to see more of his movies..

It is a movie worth a watch...if and when you have sometime and are in a mood for a light romance, comedy, and light drama...watch it here.

You Don't Know Jack

You Don't Know Jack, directed by Barry Levinson and stars Al Pacino, Brenda Vaccora and John Goodman, is a movie that deals with the toughest question in our life. Do terminally ill people, who are in their full consciousness, have the right to take their own life?

The movie depicts emotion, sadness, cleverness, fight for right, justice, and injustice. This is a drama that should be watched by everyone who has ever contemplated the question of taking one's own life. The actors, director, and the writer have done their job well and you can't help it but get emotionally involved in the movie. The movie is a part biography as well. It is the biography of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

I have always contemplated various scenarios in which I die, one of them is Alzheimer's disease. I would want to die when I still have the knowledge of 'who I am' and 'what I am'. What is the point of living if I can't identify myself in the mirror?, leave alone identify others who are dear and near.

A friend once told me that old age was something God gave to mankind so that kids can have the opportunity to take care of their parents. This is a good concept, but what if I was a bad father, what if my kids are dead, what if I don't have any relatives, what if I never married... I know that is a lot of 'what if.......' sorry... Just worried about my life and my death.

Thought provoking and engaging is all I can say about the movie. If you know Al Pacino, then you know it is worth watching.. all you have to decide is on the movie subject and your stance...