Why you must watch Mausam?

 Before I start let me tell you upfront, I think the question is quite redundant. I have written this in lack of any suitable title.. 

There are several reasons for watching Mausam, let me list down a few.. 
1. An educational film : I have been told that within 1 day of the launch of the movie, central board have had a emergency meeting to include the film in their latest Class 10 curriculum. This movie in a very small time (180 mins or so) runs through all the major historical (terrorist or otherwise) events of last 30 years.. Ayodhya, Mumbai blasts, Kargil, Godhra, 9/11,low quality spare parts of MIGs and in the end operation blue star... I have heard that it took Mr Kapoor (Senior) 3 years to make the movie. Had this not been the case I am sure 26/11 would have also featured in the movie !! 
Final verdict: excellent historical document 
Punch Line: Swiss Police: "We got the wrong Khan" (refer to the posters in "My name is Khan"  : My name is Khan and I am not a Terrorist! )
2. A movie for everyone: This truly is a movie for everyone..Its like the locations have been chosen post discussion with Late CK Prahlad.. Globalised: US, Scotland, Zurich.. , Desi: Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bottom of Pyramid: some obscure village in Punjab, which doesnt have more than 30 houses, but have a train station.. 
Even the characters have been chosen with true precision of a Marketeer: a village belle... turns foreign babe...comes back to wear saree in a true cosmo house wife style! Ayat (sonam kapoor),is truly an Indian woman! 
Same can be said about Harry (not Potter).. Village boy, good at dancing, uses Vaseline daily (cosmo check!), turns into a hot shot Pilot who is shown suggesting some modifications to the MIGs in a shot (brains check!)  (engineers who spend years getting technical education please note!), can run faster than train (brawn check!), sports a pensive Devdas look when needed (sensitive check!), while is dare devil enough to go rescue a horse and a kid  (Hero material check! )
Finally you can watch this with your entire family (even with retarded friends... oops sorry.. specially with retarded friends!!)
You also need not bother with any steamy sensual scene which might be inappropriate for kids. I

think they would be showing Sonam Kapoor in Village (before) and in Scotland (after) as part of next Loreal ad! 
Verdict: Excellent Segmenting and Positioning!! 

3. Technical excellence: This movie truly represents the high standards of CG in Indian television today! The entire flight sequence, where Harry leads a group of 4 MIGs in firing 2 bunker busting missiles (.5 missiles per MIG), truly represents the excellence in CG standards... I was reminded of Project IGI, which I used to play back in 2003-04 on my AMD run desktop! 

Long story short.. its a must watch, and I would recommend that you leave whatever you are doing, and run to your nearest theatre right now!! (they are running out of ink I heard at Multiplexes, printing tickets ! )

Goliyo ki Raasleela: Ram- Leela

So let me begin by asking a simple question - Dude, what's with the name? I mean had it been a little more self- explanatory, it would have come with a video tutorial. I understand the general obsession with length (specially among men), but movie title is really not the place to fight that competition. As in an ad, when you say too much, it mostly means two things: 1. You can't make up your mind about what to say, 2. You think that every darn thing which comes out of your mouth is gold! I am digressing... so coming back to the point : DUUUDDE whats with the name!!?? 

You know, as it might have appeared in the lines above, Ram Leela isn't really that bad. If a new up-coming director or Rohit Shetty had made this movie, I would have really thought highly of that person (even Rohit Shetty). But when the movie comes from someone like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, then you are left wondering- what was he smoking ??

Coming to the movie itself, set in a town in Gujarat, which is torn between warring clans of Rajadi and Sanedas; is inspired from Romeo & Juliet (says, some "people"). The movie in itself has several positives. Sets are grand; colors are rich and plenty; cinematography is excellent. The use of contrasting colors (like red and blue in Holi scene) or single color themed sets (like the song sequence with Deepika in red) is truly a work of art. Its a total visual pleasure (While I can't say the same for the extremely chiseled out Ranveer Singh who refused to wear a shirt; some women might differ). Even in acting department, though a little overdone at times, the movie is pretty decent (Supriya Pathak really stands out). I think, personally, where SLB really out did himself was in his efforts to set a wild wild west kind of a gun slinging society in the heart of Gujarat (with an extra shot of Haryana thrown in between). It was quite bold in efforts, and to certain extent I think he succeeded in doing it. 

However when you come to the heart of the movie - the story, is when you wonder for the second , and the third, and the fourth time - what was he smoking?  Story telling was massively shoddy; characters were rarely built; there was no flow or logic to events. How do you pick up a girl by looking at her for 30 seconds with all lustful eyes; or cut your hand which heals by the time you reach your village that afternoon; or make the person who ran away during a Rajadi- Saneda World War -6, the "Don of Clan"; or turn from a pathological "Rajadi-hater" to mother Teresa in just 1 jadoo ki jhappi; are questions which trouble me when I sleep. I am not averse to fiction as a genre, however I find it easier to imagine that in 1 year the world will be ruled by "Skynet", than to believe that guy after marriage can dare not to pick up his wife's call, especially after he had an all night long drinking session with his buddies. But hey, that's just me!

To conclude, I think I had mentioned earlier (on FB) that for guilt free watching, please to spend less than Rs 200, I think after second thoughts I would say Rs 150 is the limit. 

P.S:
Also, a genuine request to everyone who had compared this with Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet : please get a copy of the original (its cost less than the ticket at PVR).