Rakesh Reddy Kandula

Telangana History X

I am not going to whine here about the present Telangana movement. Was actually watching American History X movie and that was the initiative.

Has anything you have done made your life better?……… This is the statement that made me write this post.  Professor Sweeney in the movie asks Derek this question in prison and that makes Derek to really look back at all his actions against the black people. This guy Derek was actually influenced by another person (Cameron) and joins a radical organisation against the Black people. The above question really makes sense. If only people would start thinking rationally and ask themselves such questions before blindly doing/supporting anything, this world would definitely have been a better place.

In the current situation I can correlate this to the on-going Telangana State movement (and that’s the reason for the title ). Instead of people just saying we have been fighting for a separate state for the last 40 years and we want it now, why can’t they just think for a moment in what way is that going to make their life better. In my opinion, oppurtunities be it education/job or whatever it be should be based on talent and not just because you happen to be from some region in a country and so have got more right than someone else from a different region. The sooner people would realize this the better would be our future.

Ofcourse, this applies to whatever we do in our life and its just a coincidence that the Telangana movement was going now and found it to be apt.

And towards the end of the movie, liked the conclusion of Danny in his paper……..Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it.

A good movie with a good message.

Add comment January 3rd, 2010

3 idiots

Another good movie from aamir’s stable. Somehow I was a bit skeptical on how good this movie can be as it was based on five point someone and was not sure if Aamir would be successful in appealing the audience. But I was proved completely wrong and I enjoyed every bit of the movie .

This was also my first movie in bangalore in a non-multiplex theatre. Watched it in Rex Theatre, Brigade Road. We were three people and got the tickets for thursday’s second show. We were enjoying the movie so much that did not even feel uncomfortable sitting in the rear stall seats.Yeah, by mistake my friend booked in rear stall instead of balcony.

Coming to the movie, we were laughing for almost whole of the movie and the best one was the speech of chatur on Teacher’s Day . Still can’t stop laughing when I think of that scene . Best part was that the movie did not focus too much on Aamir & kareena’s love which would otherwise be the case with any other Bollywood movie. I was also feeling a bit nostalgic during the movie  and was recollecting all my IIT days.  Boman Irani has also done justice to his role.  Looks like he now has perfected the role of being a khadoos Prof. On the whole a very good movie and is definitely worth-watching.

Btw don’t know if it was some coincidence, but when I was in Delhi I always wanted to go on a trip to Leh, Ladakh but could never go. Even this year was thinking of this trip with two other friends but did not materialise. And I saw the same again in 3 idiots and its back again now . Hope to make it next year for sure.

Add comment December 28th, 2009

Paa….

Watched this much-awaited movie today and Amitabh Bachchan has proved it again. Amitabh’s  performance as a Progeria kid Auro was brilliant and also an excellent work done by the make-up artists.

But the movie as a whole wasn’t that great as expected. Definitely it wasn’t as good as Taare Zammen Par (TZP).  And it could be partly because of the kind of subject choosen in Paa. The disease Progeria that the movie is all about has no cure and Amitabh had to die at the end. But more than Amitabh dying at the end, I didn’t actually see much about Progeria being dealt with in the movie. At least that is something basic expected from these kind of movies. If we compare TZP with Paa, TZP is entirely about dyslexia in children and how they could be helped rather than being neglected. On the contrary, the director in Paa was trying to address many issues like bad politics, irresponsible media and of course the bringing together of Abhishek and Vidya Balan. But as the disease Progeria itself has no cure, maybe the director had to come up with these extras to keep the movie going. Maybe a different subject could have been chosen and then showed how it could be handled. In Paa, it was like Auro was just left to die and nothing could be done. To me it looked like another routine Bollywood story with a slightly different touch.

But, Auro’s comedy was something really good and also some of the touching scenes in the second-half were good. More or less it was just Auro driving the whole movie as our Big B always does .

Another point that I didn’t like was the titles being read out by Jaya Bachchan when the movie starts. Though it was just about for a minute, somehow I really felt irritated with that idea. Was just waiting for her to stop . Instead they could have had some background song.

On the whole, I would definitely suggest watching this movie at least for our Big B’s performance.  But point to remember is not to go with TZP’s expectations. Big B definitely rocks but its no match to TZP. Lastly, though initially many thought that Paa was a remake of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, its definitely not. Paa definitely deals with a real disease where as the other one is just some work of fiction.

Add comment December 5th, 2009

The Hangover

What a movie it was!!!!! As far as I remember this is the only movie in which I was laughing from beginning till the end and even now . These days I reduced my movie watching a lot and am really happy that I watched such a good movie after a long time. Just like the way I used to watch movies randomly before, was just sitting idle in the evening after having worked from home and was feeling bored. All of a sudden came this thought to my mind to watch a movie and that’s it, me and Karthik went to forum and watched the night show. It turned out to be really really good one.

About the movie, I think there must be tons of reviews already on the net and I don’t want to repeat here again. Only thing I would say is it’s a must watch for all the guys out there ……..and very much true as they say What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

2 comments July 21st, 2009

Movie watching starts again

Finally, I watched a movie yesterday after a gap of 5 months . I think this was the first time in the past few years that I haven’t watched a single movie for more than 5 months. Yeah, that’s a looooooooong gap for a guy who used to watch movies almost every week. Even if I was not going to a movie, I used to atleast check the pvr site to know about the currently running movies. And this time when I opened the site after 5 months I was surprised to see that the entire UI of pvr site has changed.

Coming to the movie that I watched, it was a telugu movie Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam. As always, I haven’t read any reviews about the movie before booking. I just go to any movie when I feel like watching one. Not very particular about the story, the cast,e tc. Movie was the same routine love story and how the hero and heroine make it up at the end. It wasn’t that bad but not a great movie also. To me the first half was better than the second half. The comedy was also good enough. But towards the end I didn’t like all the sentimental stuff that the director tried to put in. And somehow in this movie, I didn’t like the dialogue delivery of the actors.On the whole, I think it can be watched once and you won’t feel bored at any point.

To me it was a nice break from my daily routine and a good start to get back to my old movie going habit.

Update: I started going to gym ………….will post about it sooooooon

2 comments March 4th, 2009

Phoonk

Another attempt by Ram Gopal Varma to scare the audience. But the fact is that this one isn’t scary at all. All those weird camera angles and sound effects went in vain…….they really don’t seem to make any difference at all. In fact all that made the audience laugh instead…….for a while I was wondering if I came to a horror movie or a comedy movie . But anyways, the movie wasn’t all that bad and its definitely much much better than varma’s previous movie contract.

The story is a very simple one. It basically revolves around a construction engineer rajeev an atheist and his family. His daughter becomes a victim of black magic (kaala jaadu) and the movie is about how he saves his daughter. The struggle between science and superstitions has always been there and in this movie its the superstition that wins. I would have liked the movie more if it would have been the other way round . But ultimately its all about what sells in the market .

On the whole I would say its worth watching once and definitely not at all scary atleast not when compared to RGV’s movie bhooth. The child who becomes the victim of black magic has perfomed very well. Even the other characters in the movie have given good performances. I think its a good come back by RGV after the hopeless movie contract. Hope his next movies would be of his original standards .

2 comments August 25th, 2008

Singh is King – Another hopeless movie

Its been just 2 weeks since I could digest the movie Contract. Being a Ram Gopal Varma’s fan, I went along with 3 other friends of mine on the first day and the first few minutes of the movie itself gave us indications how horrible its going to be. Just to compensate for it we had watched Hancock on the same day within a gap of 15 minutes .

And now its this much hyped movie Singh is King. This also turned out to be a hopeless one. I was really disappointed. And I had taken a friend of mine who generally does not watch movies at all. I can imagine how he would have felt . Except a few hilarious scenes in the first half, there was nothing much in the movie. The story line was not that good and some of the scenes just made no sense. And lots of punjabi element was added in the movie…….maybe that’s just to draw some crowd to the theatres. Maybe the first week collections of this movie might be good as many gullible people like me might fall for the hype created. But I definitely don’t see this one to be a big hit.

Some good points about the movie are……… of course Katrina Kaif , some comedy scenes in the first half and the punjabi dialogues. Apart from this nothing great about the movie. If at all you plan to watch it, don’t have too much of expectations out of it .

3 comments August 8th, 2008

Funny review about taare zameen par

I found a nice review on this movie here .This was not written by me and the entire credit goes to tht author. This is about how taare zameen par would be if it was made by different people. The following is an excerpt from it-

If Karan Johar made Taare

• Obvious starcast:
  • Shah Rukh Khan as the arts teacher (duh duh duh!!).
  • Aryan Khan as the dyslexic child (even if he could not act for nuts).
  • Rani Mukerjee as the kid’s mom (assuming Kajol is unavailable).
  • Abhishek Bachchan as the kid’s dad.
  • Amitabh Bachchan as the school principal (who cares if the role is ultra minute, he can afford it).
• It would be shot in New York to appeal to the NRI audience.
• The story line would obviously be different. SRK would fall for the dyslexic kid’s mom. The last scene would have the mom running to the teacher rather than the kid. And again, like in so many other movies, SRK would get someone else’s girl.
• It would have one dance number.
• The film would be titled ‘Kuch Taare Zameen Par.’

If Sanjay Leela Bhansali made Taare

• Obvious starcast:
  • Salman as the teacher.
  • Rani as the mother.
• Of course the whole film would be shot on elaborate sets. The school would be nothing short of Harvard university.
• An orchestra would play every time anyone cried.
• Slow motion, different camera angles for every scene.
• The school uniforms would match the classroom walls even though that does not make a f***ing difference.
• The film would cost 60 crores.

If Farah Khan made Taare

• Obvious starcast:
  • SRK as the teacher (yawn).
• In the original Taare, Aamir makes an entry at the interval point. In Farah’s version, SRK would be on screen on for 2.30 hrs out of the 2.45 hrs and would be introduced in the first scene itself.
• The story would be changed to make sure the above happened. The focus of the film would be a teacher who helps a kid fight dyslexia.
• To make it a complete entertainer, there would be a romantic angle, comedy, and action thrown in. Oh idea!! Nikumbh’s character likes another teacher and the kiddo helps him.. throw in some comedy moments there and you have romance and comedy settled. For action.. hmm.. lemme see.. oh yah, the kid gets kidnapped and the teacher fights the baddies to save him. Wow!! I’m quite an imaginative writer. I can see how Farah can write a film from scratch in two weeks straight.
• The film posters would have a big SRK with the tiny image of the kid in the background.

If Rakesh Roshan made Taare

• Obvious starcast:
  • Hrithik Roshan as the teacher.
• Since Rakesh Roshan cannot think beyond science fiction these days, this film would have that too. Instead of dyslexia, the kid would have alienositis or something, a condition induced due to him witnessing an alien abduction.
• Instead of Nikumbh being an arts teacher, he would be a physics teacher, and instead of asking kids to be creative, he would ask them to challenge the science we know.
• In the scene where Nikumbh asks the kids to open their minds and make whatever they want outdoors, the kid Ishaan, instead of making a boat, would end up making a working spaceship prototype.
• Nikumbh would cure the kids problem by making a full fledged version of the kid’s prototype, traveling to the alien planet, and asking them to give the kid his powers back.
• The film would have music by Rajesh Roshan ripped off from some world music.
• The film’s name would again start with a K.. probably ‘Kuch Aliens Taaron se Zameen Par’.
• The director would make sure Hrithik gets to show all his abilities. This would mean a scene with Roshan jr flexing his muscles, and a dance competition in the end, instead of an arts competition.

If Priyadarshan made Taare:

• Obvious starcast:
  • Akshay Kumar as the teacher.
  • Paresh Rawal as the kid’s dad.
• It would be a brainless comedy. The kid’s dyslexia would be made fun of. Half the times the parents will be running after the kid from one room to the other and that, in the director’s opinion, would be funny.
• The film will be full of sex jokes. So for example, when Akshay would come to the parents telling them that their son has dyslexia, the ignorant father would say something inappropriate like ‘iss umar mein? par kaise, woh to hamesha boys school mein padha hai!’. And yes, the director would think it is funny.
• In the climax of the film all the characters in the film would run around in the amphitheater for no reason, spilling colors on each other. That’s where the film will end, without any logical conclusion.
• And of course, Paresh Rawal would emote like an epileptic himself making us question the boy’s mental abilities anyway.

Add comment December 27th, 2007

Aamir Khan Rocks again with Taare zameen par

As expected by everyone taare zameen par was too gud….very natural..close to real life. Though it was his first movie as director, aamir had taken care of each and evey small detail in the movie. The movie handles the dyslexic stuff in a really good way and darsheel (ishaan in the movie) had done justice to his role.

It was six months back when I first came to know about dyslexia when I was watching my favourite program The Suite Life of Zack and Cody in disney channel. But that was a comedy television series. After that this was the first time I saw dyslexia being handled in a serious manner and that too perfectly…hatsoff to aamir khan. In the movie I did not find any flaws and if there are any…it won’t really matter when compared to the overall movie.

On the whole the movie is really worth watching and I think atleast all the parents and school teachers must definitely watch it…..wht I really liked in the movie was when aamir says every child will learn at one time or the other………only difference is some are fast learners and some are slow learners…..so it makes no sense in troubling the child. Also I liked the scene wherein aamir says “sir, isko tho sirf paas hona hain…iski manzil tho kahin aur hain” (sir, he has to just pass, his destination is somewhere else).

So, ppl if you find time watch this movie definitely.

5 comments December 26th, 2007

Goal movie – First day evening show

I heard that Goal movie was supposed to be released on november 23rd…so was checking for pvr tickets from 22nd itself but still the booking was not open and even in the coming movies list goal was not displayed…so I thought the release was postponed……but today I was just chekcing pvr website in the evening at around 4 PM and guess wht tickets were still available….so without wasting anytime I booked a ticket for myself and after 5 mins checked the site again to book for my friend but it was housefull by then…….I was really lucky to get the ticket for the friday show .

Anyways now coming to the movie…..Ithe movie was really gud……I liked it………a gud movie after the hopeless saawariya & om shanti om. There are no similarities between chak de and goal…..both of them are gud in their own way…….I found one or two loopholes in the movie but afterall it can’t be 100% perfect . The story is all about saving the southall united football club. Arshad Warsi’s acting was good……a different role from the one he had in munnabhai….even john abraham and boman irani were gud…….the second part of the movie was much better than the first half….especially the ending was too gud. The first half is all about forming the team……john who was initally in an english team ultimately joins the southall team after he was not selected for the league matches as he was not an english guy.

I was expecting tht definitely there would be some racism related stuff and that was all the movie about….the goras (english) trying to show their superiority over asians….aah this was one movie where it was not only about being indian but they were talking abt india, pakistan and bangladesh together….so the movie was basically goras vs. south-asians .The last match is the highlight in the movie. One more reason why I liked the movie was there were no useless songs just to drag the movie…all the ones were according to the situation or just background songs. And finally coming to bipasha’s role, she had nothing much to do……..

On the whole the movie is worth watching…….again a gud sports related movie tht can be a hit.

Add comment November 23rd, 2007