Mocca's Bollywood Hollywood

Introducing WilFlirt, My Movie Buddy

2007-11-22T14:47:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I last blogged...busy doing things, and well, I still watch movies, just haven't been blogging....yes yes...i'm such a lazy bum. :P

First of all, I'd like to introduce you to my movie buddy, WilFlirt. He's no flirt at all, but he'd like to believe that he's got the moves of a jungle cat on the prowl for girls.

TOGETHER, WilFlirt and I go all out to catch the latest movies to hit the theatres in Singapore, plus the classics that we get on cable and DVD.

Hopefully, I'll be able to write more often...

Mocca

Kisna - The Warrior Poet

2006-10-09T01:06:00.000+08:00

The movie Kisna-The Warrior Poet, was filmed against the landscape of the tumultous 1940s, when India was struggling for independence from the Britain, and when all Europeans were regarded as the enemy against that struggle, thus triggering a long spat of violence.

However, in this violent times, there emerges a love story of the two most unlikely characters; the loyal and traditional Kisna, from a family of freedom fighters, and that of Katherine, the daughter of a prominent but mean British official.

Kisna and Katherine's friendship began in childhood, and both families took to this relationship well, except for Katherine's father who frowned upon his daughter befriending an Indian, and that too, the son of his servant. As such, Katherine was sent back to England at a young age, in a bid to nip the friendship. Ah, I have to mention that Luxmi, the grand-daughter of Kisna's music teacher, is crazy about him, even as a little girl, and is constantly annoyed at the friendship between Kisna and Katherine.

During this time, Kisna grows to be the enchanting gallant young man, joining in the cause for freedom, and at the same time maintaining his art of poetry and music. Whilst back in England, Katherine is the vivacious young beauty who has never forgotten her friend Kisna.

With the reign of the British coming to an end, Katherine's father calls her to India for a visit, and here is where their story begins again. The two childhood friends quickly rekindle their friendship, and in the meantime, Kisna's marriage has also been fixed with Luxmi, who was further agitated with Katherine's arrival. Their engagement was fixed after Luxmi expresses her annoyance to her grandfather.

Shortly after the engagement party, Katherine's family was attacked at home by indians rebelling against her father's rule. Her father was beheaded, and her mother went missing. Katherine ran for her life and hid in a temple, where she was found by Kisna, and given refuge in his stable. Kisna's mother then commands Kisna to escort Katherine on her journey to England.

It was on this journey that the two friends will fall in love with each other. It becomes a story of sacrifice, loyalty, culture, family and of course Love.

Kisna didn't marry Katherine in the end, saying that he needed to fulfill his promise to Luxmi. At the end of the movie, which is a narration of an aged Katherine, Luxmi meets her, and tells her that Kisna had fulfilled all his responsibilities as a loving husband and father...but he always loved Katherine, and she would hear him play Katherine and his love tune on his flute in the peaceful night. He never mentioned Katherine again, until his death bed, where he asked Luxmi to scatter his ashes at this one place - the place where Katherine and his soul first became one.

It was so touching. I felt really hurt for Luxmi though. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to live with a man you love so dearly, and realise at the end that you were just a responsibility, that he was in love with someone else, but to fulfill a promise he married you. I would be devastated.

As with most of Subhash Ghai's productions, the soundtrack was beautiful...afterall, it was done by AR Rahman, and had all the earthy and Indian tones to it.

Cast:
Vivek Oberoi .... Kisna Singh
Antonia Bernath .... Catherine
Isha Sharvani .... Lakshmi

I think Vivek looks especially good in this movie, perhaps cos he has more hair. Somehow, it looks as though he had a really good makeover.

Antonia's pretty good too, and I love Isha Sharvani who acted as Luxmi. You should see her performing all that aecrobatic moves...and yogic looking dances. Very different from the other shows.

Here's a trailer of the movie. You'll notice some of the film crew as well.

Ishq Hai Tumse

2006-10-09T01:02:00.000+08:00

So I finally caught 'Ishq Hai Tumse', starring Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu. I'm not exactly a big fan of either of the actors when the movie came out, and had dismissed it as just another common storyline, with a soundtrack that didn't quite touch me or linger in my mind.
But tonight, with my whole family out shopping, and me stuck at home feeling a little under the weather, I decided to catch whatever movie that was screening on Zee...and tonight's special being Ishq Hai Tumse. I was beginning to appreciate both Dino and Bipasha's acting now, so I thought I'd give this movie a chance, though I still didn't think Bipasha didn't quite fit the good muslim girl role.

As expected, it was a typical love story, fathers are good friends, the couple fell in love, and the big problem was cos he's hindu and the girl's muslim. Revealing how they feel about each other would break their fathers' years of friendship, and Dino could never tell Bipasha his true feelings. And of course, his secret was discovered, and the fathers were actually happy with the alliance, regardless of the religion. I guess that's ok in India.

Bipasha's acting was better than expected, for a movie that I damned in my selections. Especially since I thought it was so commercial, and definitely banking on Dino and Bips' relationship in real life. Bipasha is getting better and better with each movie... I especially liked her in Madhoshi(where she pairs up with her current squeeze, John Abraham), where she plays a schizo...woooo.....it was a little scary.

Here's a song from the movie:

Anyways, I'm still trying to sleep...

Ciao for now.

Classic Break - Khoya Khoya Chand

2006-09-07T05:44:00.000+08:00

Checkout the young Dev Anand singing to Mohd Rafi's voice.
This one's from the movie Kala Bazaar.

Jab Jab Phool Khile

2006-09-07T04:36:00.000+08:00

Jab Jab Phool Khile is yet another love story between 2 people who come from totally different backgrounds.

Raja (Shashi Kapoor) is a simple minded Kashmiri boatman who falls for the rich and seemingly very British Rita (Nanda) who rents his houseboat for a holiday away from the city.

It was love-at-first sight for Raja, but not quite for the poised Rita. In fact, Rita's attraction for Raja wasn't quite there until her second trip back to Kashmir with a potential suitor, Kishore. Handpicked by Rita's father, Kishore was rich and thought to be of the same class status as Rita's family.

However, through a series of situations during this trip, Rita finally falls for Raja,and takes him back with her to the city... and here begins a roller coaster ride for Raja... in his quest to be with his love...

Will their love survive the harsh demands of the high society? Or will Rita give up her everything to return to Kashmir with Raja?

You may notice quite a number of similarities in Raja Hindustani, with Amir Khan and Karishma Kapoor in the lead roles. Especially the part where Amir Khan (aka Raja) tries to act like a city guy.

Cast:

Nanda .... Rita Khanna
Shashi Kapoor .... Raja/Rajkumar
Agha .... Amarnath
Shammi .... Stella
B.B. Bhalla .... Djun-Djun (as BB. Bhalla)
Kamal Kapoor .... Rai Bahadur Chunnilal Khanna
Baby Farida .... Munni
Mridula .... Mrs. Khanna

Here's the evergreen Yeh Samaa from the movie.

Sultanat

2006-08-29T18:06:00.000+08:00

Here's a movie that not many people know of, marking the debut of Juhi Chawla, and includes Sashi Kapoor's son,Karan Kapoor in the cast.

Produced in 1986, the movie was about didn't really make it big, but its songs were pretty popular.

What made this movie worthy of its inclusion here is cos it's one of the few movies that Karan Kapoor appears in. Karan's european looks did not go down well with Indian audience, probably because he was too European to be the desi hero.

This hunk has moved on to become a bonafide photographer. Visit his works at www.karankapoor.com

Here's a rare video clip of Karan Kapoor romancing Juhi Chawla... hardly recognisable here...

Classic Break: Ajeeb Dasta Hain Yeh

2006-08-21T23:07:00.000+08:00

This is a Meena Kumari/Lata Mangeshkar classic.
I haven't gotten a chance to watch the movie, but it seems to me that this song is more popular than the movie itself.

You may remember Rani Mukherjee singing this part to Hrithik Roshan in The Medley from the movie Mujhe Dosti Karoge.

Love,
Mocca

Tom, Dick and Harry

2006-08-21T22:40:00.000+08:00

Tom, Dick and Harry is about three physically challenged hunks. Tom (Dino Morea) is deaf, Dick (Anuj Sawhney) is blind, and Harry (Jimmy Shergill) is mute. Almost like the "See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil" monkeys.

The movie revolves around the comic antics of these 3 as they constantly try to delay their rent(preferring to pay the landlord with condoms that they distribute), flirt with girls, and blackmailing the landlord who was thought to be having an affair with the maid.

Climax of the story is when Celina Jaitley moves in next door, and the 3 monkeys try to attract her.

The villain of the movie is Suprano (Gulshan Grover), who organises the kidnap of indian girls to be imported overseas due to a sudden interest in Indian beauties. Here begins our comedy of errors as the trio gets entangled in Suprano's plans.

It's an ok movie, and can be quite entertaining.Honestly, I watched the movie cos I thought Jimmy Shergill looked really hot in the Himesh Reshamiya video clip. And, I just needed some mindless movie that didn't get me emotionally worked up. So this fits the bill.

Good try by Deepak Tijori, the director.

Star Cast
Dino Morea...... Tom
Jimmy Shergill...... Harry
Celina Jaitley...... Celina
Anuj Sawhney...... Dick aka Deepak
Gulshan Grover...... Suprano
Shakti Kapoor...... Inspector P K Waghmare
Sanjay Mishra
Aditya Lakhia
Javed Khan...... Suprano's sidekick
Avtar Gill...... Avtar Singh
Rakesh Bedi...... Happy Singh
Kunika...... Mrs. Happy Singh
Kim Sharma...... Bijli
Shehzad Khan...... Suprano's sidekick

Ok, here's my fave song from the movie.

Click!

2006-08-13T23:34:00.000+08:00

I've been waiting for Click! to open in the cinemas...
It's not a blockbuster movie, but as with all Adam Sandler movies, it has a feel good factor, and definitely some form of moral behind it.

Adam Sandler's an architect who has problems working out his priorities... career and family. Now surely many of us can identify with that. David Hasselhoff is Adam Sandler's boss who drives him nuts with ridiculous deadlines, while he wanders off with his latest muse.

He also has a really annoying neighbour who is sort of competing with him on who has the latest techy stuff. And of course, one daily factor that irritated him was the fact that he could never figure out which remote is for which equipment/appliance.
It is during one of his frustrating attempts to find the right remote control that he decides to get a universal remote control.

And that's when the story starts...

While searching from the remote control department, Adam comes across a Beyond section, and finds Christopher Walken working inside. Assuming that Christopher Walken was a staff there, Adam makes his query, and is introduced to the film villain, the Remote Control. Chris insists that Adam takes the product, which is not available in the market, and that's when the chaos begins.

This Universal Remote Control (URC) allows Adam Sandler to control his life like he would a TV. Click fast forward, and his life moves ahead. Rewind, and he gets to repeat the moment. Basically, he can do anything he wants to. And while he fast forwards his life, his body will go into auto pilot during that period he'd like to skip. The URC has a special function, and that is to detect the owner's favourite settings.

So, all this while when Adam decides to fast forward at the mention of a next promotion, falls ill, etc, the URC picks it up, and auto programs his life. As a result, he speeds through life, misses his children growing up, loses his wife to a swim coach, and didn't even get to see his father before he died.

The movie takes you on an emotional dive, and just when you think the movie ends there with his death scene, Adam wakes up at the store where he bought the remote control, and you realise that it was all just a dream.

Problem I had with the movie was that it had take me so low emotionally, that even when I realised it was a dream, I still felt a little upset.

But, thank goodness, all Happy Madison productions end happy. Thankfully.

Here's a clip of the trailer:

Ciao.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

2006-08-09T17:02:00.000+08:00

Shah Rukh Khan - revered by every Bollywood fan of this generation, and the name non-Bollywood fans take as a symbol of the booming Indian Film industry.

With my first entry of a Bollywood film, and in the exciting wake of SRK's latest film, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, let's take a re-look at one of my favourite SRK films - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in Hindi means "Something happens"...and that forms the theme of the story.

The movie starts off introducing Anjali, Rahul's(SRK)daughter who celebrates her eighth birthday, and rushing off to read the birthday letter that her mum Tina (Rani Mukherjee)had written to her. Here it is revealed that Tina had died of birth complications, shortly after Anjali was born, and had written a letter to be opened by her daughter at every birthday.

This year was to be the last, and Tina has tasked Anjali to look for her father, Rahul's best friend, Anjali(Kajol),whom she was named after. It is explained in this letter that Anjali has to find the older Anjali, in the hope that a flame will be rekindled between Rahul and her.

Flashback....

Rahul and Anjali always hung out with each other in college. Rahul's playfulness and spontaneity, coupled with Anjali's tomboy antics made them buddies. Perhaps if they weren't such buddies, they would have fallen in love. Love never came to mind, until Tina came into the picture. Beautiful and sexy in short skirts, and exuding feminity, Rahul was love struck...

Anjali who had no idea that Rahul was in love with Tina, had also started having feelings for him, and wondering if he could ever feel the same way for her...them being such close friends. So, encouraged by the school caretaker, she sets off to meet Rahul, who was also excited to tell her something...

Then comes the dramatics...they run towards each other as it starts to pour, each unable to contain their excitement, and just before she says that she's in love with him, he tells her that he's in love with Tina. You can literally hear her heart break. Yet, she still had to forget her shock and sadness, and be happy for him.

So that was the end of Anjali's love story before it could even begin... until young Anjali sets about her plan to match her father and Anjali together again. And that's what the rest of the movie is about...

Well, I don't have the trailer for this movie. But this song holds a special meaning for me... and it captures that moment of heartbreak.

Lady In The Water

2006-08-07T18:41:00.000+08:00

Watched 3 new films the week before last.... yup, by normal standards, that would have totally thrown my spending money account off balance, but thank God, all expenses were paid by my company for the screening of M.Night Shyamalan's "thriller" Lady In The Water. So that's one movie down.

This entry's gonna be about that very disappointing M.Night "thriller".

First of all, I gotta say this movie definitely surprised us... there were no twists at the ending.

Paul Giamatti acts as a caretaker who rescues someone whom he thought was just a young woman in a pool, whom actually is a character from a bedtime story. Now she comes from the blue world, and along with her comes all these creatures who want to kinda kill her, cos she's the queen, and u know, throw the world off balance and stuff.

The part that probably makes up the plot was the process of finding the people who can serve as the Healer, The Guardian, someone who reads signs... and more. But these are revealed to us quite directly, as the characters of the occupants in the block of apartments unveil themselves.

There was no mystery, no puzzle to solve.
In fact, the character "Mr Farber" served almost no purpose, except to entertain.

The ending was plain, cos yeah, they got all the characters in line, and the girl got sent back to her world safely. End of story.

Variations I would have totally loved:

1) The ending would have a screenshot of Paul Giamatti in a wheelchair, in an asylum, and everyone would realise that this whole story was in his mind. And that the girl he wanted to rescue was actually a representation of his old girlfriend whom he couldn't save from some car crash when he was younger. So, he tries to redeem himself by saving her in his dreams, over and over again.

2) The whole story was some mind game that Mr Farber was playing with the residents, like a conspiracy theory, cos he is actually from the Blue World, where the whole bedtime story was based, and he's undercover to keep the balance of both our world and the blue world.

Ah hell.... I'm no big time cinema writer, but I really felt the story should have more imagination.

Oh, M.Night Shyamalan decided to act full time in this film.

For a scary cat like me, nothing in that movie was scary.eh
Funny, yes.

Anyway, here's the trailer:

Mocca.

Road to Guatanamo

2006-08-07T18:35:00.000+08:00

I've been wanting to watch "The Road to Guantanamo", but everytime I go to the theatre, I change my mind, afraid that I would come out of the theatre feeling upset and emotionally affected.

After much contemplation, and some movie feedback from Tallin, I was finally convinced that I should watch "The Road to Guantanamo", a docu-movie on the Tipton Three, London born Pakistani and Bengali muslim boys who were caught up in the Afghan crisis while on a side trip from Pakistan, and then detained in Guantanamo,(the notorious Cuban prison) for years although they were innocent. (http://www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com/)

Here's the Trailer:

Of course, I did come out of the theatre feeling a little outraged, and suddenly thinking of how I can help the world. But, as usual, the feeling wears off with the new Sunshine.

As with movies like Fahrenheit 911(http://www.fahrenheit911.com/), and Strip Search (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376215/), it examines the effects of the threats of terrorism on society. But above all, it shows us the underlying threat that we impose on ourselves, all out of fear.

Throughout the movie, I felt so outraged with the way the prisoners were treated with such disrespect. Imagine:

1) Living in little cages under the Sun, exposed to the natural elements, and not allowed to stand
2) Not allowed to practise your religion
3) Run naked with your head covered, and all that time being chased by a dog
4) Mentally tortured to admit any form of association with terrorism acts
5) the disrespect of the Quran

Yet, can I blame them? There's always some lame explanation. I only have one word. I think the people were going MAD. In a bid to prevent terrorism and punish those involved, those who deem themselves to be the most righteous and leaders of freedom are going against their own beliefs, enraged at the injustice that has been dealt to them.

And so, with this crazy-insane-lunacy-of-a-mind, these "World Police" go around persecuting all those who remotely looks like any of the cultures and religion adopted by the terrorists. At the wake of the attacks, and even now sometimes, Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern and Muslim men with beards or bearing any form of religious symbols are looked upon suspiciously, and subjected to checks that are so stringent and sometimes disrespectful.

What are we doing to ourselves? In trying to keep the world safe, we pawn our freedom to be who we are?

Ok, enough of my ranting... I could so start a forum on this...

Anyway, guess what? The cast of the Road to Guantanamo were recently held when they arrived at the airport.... suspected terrorism.... CRAZY. Here's the article:
http://www.thelip.org/?p=129

Ciao.

Mocca

My Bollywood Dreams

2006-08-05T02:42:00.000+08:00

Some childhood dreams will remain childhood dreams, just like this one.
For as long as I can remember, and during those days when I felt everything was possible, I wanted to be a Bollywood Star, swinging my thick long hair, singing... well, I could go on, but here's the video clip that sent me star gazing since I was four....

This is a clip from the 80s Hindi hit movie, Yeh Vaada Raha...

Read more about my Bollywood Dreams and why it didn't work out on http://gutterpit.blogspot.com/2005/09/bollywood-calling.html

Love,
Mocca

Nacho Libre

2006-08-05T01:53:00.000+08:00

One of the funniest movies I've ever watched.
I'm not really a huge fan of Jack Black, cos he still wavers between slapstick comedy and witty humour.

But the storyline really caught my eye - Friar Ignatio puts on a mask to moonlight as the wrestler Nacho, in a bid to raise money for the orphans. He pairs up with this skinny guy, who's really dirty looking, and who had been stealing the chips for the orphans. Together, Nacho and Esqueleto plan to take over the wrestling arena.

Oh, Nacho also has a love interest, a new nun, Sister Encarnacion, and he tries his best to keep his intentions hidden, but does it very poorly, with much hilarious results. My favourite scenes would include the part where he sends a letter to her, informing her of his impending fight with the biggest wrestler, Ramses, and the song he made up for her. Notice that he keeps suppressing his feelings, and tries to tell her in a hypothetical manner bt how much he wants to be with her in the letter. The song is an outright plea for both to break their vows.

Esqueleto must be one of the best discoveries Hollywood comedy has made since long. It's just his face and accent that cracks you up, and his ability to hold out his own with Jack Black, their chemistry onscreen is just Wow.

Definitely buying the DVD...one of those movies where you can leave your brains outside the theatre, and indulge in pure entertainment.

Cast:

Jack Black .... Nacho
Ana de la Reguera .... Sister Encarnación
Héctor Jiménez .... Esqueleto

Trailer:

Oh!
One more...
A new colleague just joined the office, and he shares the same real name and nick name as Jack Black's character. He is nothing like Jack Black though. Our Nacho seems real nice, and I'm sure we'll all work great together.

I have to keep telling myself to stop laughing the first few days, cos everytime I see him, I think of the funny lines said by Jack Black's character, esp since my sister and me have been using the lines over and over again on each other.

Alrighty, off to bed now.

Love
Mocca

Hello Everyone!

2006-08-04T00:18:00.000+08:00

To all Bollywood and Hollywood fans out there.....
(actually, probably more Bollywood than Hollywood fans)

First of all, here's a short introduction of myself.

I have been obsessed with Hindi movies since as far back as I can remember...
I don't know if it was when Amitach belted out "John Jaani Janathan"(movie-Naseeb), or when Poonam Dhillon swung her beautiful long hair in Yeh Vaada Raha, but somewhere, I got caught up in the reality of the unreal, and for some reason it all makes sense to me.

A form of escapism, Bollywood films have that power of taking you out of your seat into a totally different world, where the good guys always win, where love always triumphs, and where families and cultures are always firmly rooted. Ok fine, I can't really say that about the films these days.

Breaking away from traditional Filmi story techniques, Bollywood is fast evolving into more Hollywood styled films, with less songs, more intellectual suspense, themes that are more individualistic, breaking away from the social, cultural and family template that Bollywood films have been made up of for the past say 80 years.

The irony of it all is that as Bollywood tries to emulate Hollywood, their western counterparts have suddenly taken interest in adding Indian filmi elements to Hollywood films... some stars have also made a crossover with pretty ok results. A notable film with obvious Bollywood influence is Moulin Rouge, where song and dance were scattered strategically throughout the film, in total filmi style.

But no matter what, for some reason, in whatever situation I'm in, there's always a song, a movie or a movie quote that comes to my mind. Yes, it is very drama... but perhaps I am a little looney that way.

So, here I am hoping to bring to you the low down on movies that I've watched, yes, Independent and foreign films will be included too. And of course, there will be songs, videos, pictures, and the weaving of these into my otherwise very mundane life.

Before I end, here's one from Naseeb.... with Amitabh.... John Jaani Janathan!

Mocca.