At a time when protest has become pedestrian with the current national obsession being something like whether Sourav Ganguly should be wearing boxers or Y-fronts, here comes a movie which recoups some of that lost glory, and where protest is pedestalised. RDB is a very significant (and I do not use that term lightly) movie in that it has succeeded commercialy and has become a cult movie despite it being a very serious and topical movie. The Story The movie revolves around a gang of four – DJ (Aamir Khan), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) and Sukhi (Sharman Joshi). DJ, actually named Daljeet, is a Sikh and almost bordering on the lunatic. He has been out of college for a few years but hangs around there because he is scared of the world outside. This is actually a clever attempt to make Aamir act like a college kid though he does not look like one. Sukhi is DJ’s booze-um buddy. Karan is the strong and silent type while Aslam is a bit of a poet. Apart from Karan, most ...

Iqbal It is very easy to make a bad movie about sports because it is "apparently" very easy to make a good movie about sports. Sports, by its very nature, offer all the elements which you need in a good screenplay – which can for simplicity be divided into "conflicts" and "resolution". Conflicts can be class conflicts (Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Breaking away etc.), underdogs versus leaders (Lagaan, Rocky), good versus evil (Escape to Victory) etc. You have tears, joys, struggles, adulations, suspense etc; everything you need in a good melodrama. Probably the last Ashes series or the 2001 Ind-Aus cricket series was as good as a movie. Against this backdrop, most writers tend to ignore that you need a good screenplay to bind things together. Iqbal in that sense was better than many other recent sports movies. There was a decent script, good acting and a general feel good factor. In fact it was quite an entertaining movie. The issue i have with Nag...

Black “Look Ravi (cameraman), can I have some blue lighting from up there with a golden ray through the window. I am making a beautiful narcissistic movie and need some chiaroscuro lighting” “And you ice cream guy, can you wear an overcoat. This is Shimla, everyone here wears overcoats” “Michelle, stop using eating with your fingers and eat with a fork and spoon. This is India . See your Indian teacher Mr. Sahai, he also uses a fork and spoon”. In the most artificial movie since Devdas, Black is an experience in dishonesty. Over-the-top filmmaking, without any character development, time or place perspective, emotional sensibilities etc., is fine in a commercial entertainment movie but when you are making a human interest kind of movie, subject matter has to take frontseat. While in Iqbal being handicapped was effectively used to elevate the material, here being handicapped just takes a backseat to a crassness in direction which is unpardonable. For effective In...