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By Raja Sen 5:54 pm

85 Responses

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  1. Seocontest2008 says

    [url=http://seocontest2008.seoglobalpro.com]seocontest2008[/url]

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  3. The Hindu says

    Hi Raja Sen !
    I never miss any review from you, it`s not like i love them,but just to see how far you can fall . Don`t be shock , i really mean it. I never saw such biased verdicts in my whole life. Even if SRK (who literally suxs) play a 5 mins role in a movie you call it a block buster, leave about the 18 reel movies.

    Raja if you call yourself a real critic or if you are honest just reply me and say you don`t get paid by SRK . Have gutts to write back to me , ha ? I am damn sure you`ll never. Coz u really get paid by SRK.

    I have a very good suggestion for you for good prospective of rediff : “JUST QUIT REDIFF ” before you damage the image of it to further extend .

    Awaiting your reply .
    Rediff User .

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  4. aba says

    i love this page ok

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  5. aba says

    i love this page ok

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  6. Rekha says

    Just saw your short movie about what Saawariya would be like without the frills and fancy - and its nice. Makes me want to watch Saawariya - just to watch how over-the-top it is - must add I’m no SLB fan - too melodramatic for my taste.

    Btw, Mr. Sen, read your review on Goal last week. Must say it kinda gets tiring trying to defend your reviews!!!

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  7. Name says

    Hi ,
    I dont know if u wud ever get time to reply to this ..But i just wanted to say ur rediff reviews (mostly negative :) ) are amazing..and i believe in them religiously!! I just wait for u to give a review before i watch a movie…:) in case u need to reply to this , u can send an email to me …shaishavikadekar@yahoo.co.in

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  10. bhaikon borthakur says

    First Impression

    The pavements of big cities not only give shelter to the homeless but also to things of intellectual curiosity-books and films. In a recent trip to Chennai I bought around 40 DVDs containing roughly about 150 films. They are masterpieces of world cinema not available in the VCD/DVD parlours and shops-not even in those so called supermarkets (?).(Personally I often wonder why they are called supermarkets at all where salesmen go blank when asked for VCDs/DVDs of foreign films other than English).My collection has mostly Spanish, Italian, Japanese, French, Polish, Hungarian, German, South Korean, Iranian and English films. I shall be reviewing all those masterpieces of world cinema in my column ‘First Impression’. What follows is the first supplement of this series.

    First Impression: The Namesake

    Hollywood has never been noted for its literacy. Yet from its very beginning, it has turned to literature for inspiration and persisted in the practice of translating books to films. They are two different mediums .One uses, as Shakespeare justly says, words and the other, images and sound to recreate reality. As such, it is very difficult to even for an expert film maker to make a cinematic masterpiece out of a literary one. But it is not impossible. As Joy Gould Boyum, the eminent film critic points out, film is an art eminently capable of translating novel, not only in plot and theme, but in style, technique and effect. The Namesake, the latest offering of Mrs. Mira Nair is a classic example at hand.

    From Salaam Bombay to the Namesake, it has been a long journey for Mira Nair, spanning nineteen years. It is a serious film, marked by intensity of emotions, and done on a reflective note. The subject is about the loss of one’s roots. The story of the present film takes the Ganguly family. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake covers three decades of their lives. After surviving a horrific train crash, Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan) agrees to an arranged marriage with lively singer Ashima (Tabu) in 1977 Calcutta, before relocating to New York to start a family.

    Years pass and the Gangulis’ son Gogol (Kal Penn), named after Ashoke’s favourite author Nickolai Gogol, grows into a promising architect, married to a rich American girl (Jacinda Barrett). However, Gogol struggles to come to terms with his Bengali heritage, neglecting his parents and even going so far as to hide his given name from his wife and her family. The film tries to capture a bizarre identity crisis on the part of those who have remained immigrants, traumatized by homelessness in the figurative terms. The duel existence of Indian immigrants, especially of the second generation, is metaphorically expressed by Bengalis’ practice of keeping two names-one public, one private.Jhumpa metaphorically uses these two names to represent the duel identities of her characters. The Namesake is a film where Gogol, the protagonist tries to loose one identity, thereby becoming a single whole rather than a fractured one oscillating between two cultures .Therein lies the significance of the title of the film. As such the name of the film is just and suggestive.

    As always Sooni Taraporevala is brilliant as a scriptwriter that ultimately helps the director to visually translate the novel into film. All the characters except Jacinda Barrett have done more than justice to their characters. As a result, there’s no chemistry between her and Penn, so we don’t care all that much about their relationship problems.
    In a word, the Namesake is an impressively directed, gorgeously photographed (thanks to cinematographer Frederick Elme) drama, a loving, deeply felt screen translation that should appease fans of the book while making many new converts. Some of the shots are simply beautiful, such as an image of snow-covered steps or a tree with red leaves.

    The novel and the film mingled so artistically, truly supplement each other. Mira has made few minor changes in the story (like she has changed the setting from Cambridge, Massachusetts to New York) because this is a deeply personal movie and she had to add some elements of her personal life into the film.

    Posted: 11:18 AM, April 15, 2007 Add Comment

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  11. bhaikon borthakur says

    Recent Mexican Cinema

    Mexico is a Spanish speaking Latin American country which produces about 25-30 films annually. It became an independent state in 1821 and a republic in1823.Interestingly Mexico or United Mexican States is the only South American country not to have a military coup in the post-war period. As such it has a congenial atmosphere for the growth and development of arts including Cinema.
    Mexico has a long history of filmmaking which dates back to the early part of the last cencury.One of the most vital influences of the early Mexican Cinema was the Mexican Revolution. We shall discuss here Mexican Cinema from 1990 to the present, which is commonly termed as the Age of the New Mexican Cinema or Nuevo Cine Mexicano.Arturo Ripstein,Alfonso Arau,Alfonso Cuaron and Maria Novara are few of the stalwarts of this recent movement in Mexican Cinema.
    Just when everything seemed lost for Mexican cinema, the dismantling of what had once been a solid industry, middle class audience decided on its salvation. This is the same middle class that had turned its back on domestically made Mexican films for decades.Suprisingly,a 1999 bitter –sweet comedy,Sex Shame and Tears(Sexo,Pudor Y Lagrimas)by Antonin Serrano turned out to be the most successful Mexican production in history ,beating out Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace. While it may be natural to identify with a pair of star-crossed teen-age lovers abroad the Titanic, with all its limitations, Sex, Shame and Tears prompted different, more immediate reflexes and ways of thinking.
    Although it would be premature to call it a resurrection, it is true that production has recovered. In 2007 we can expect about 30-35 full-length feature films from Mexican cine industry. AltaVista Films, Argos, Producciones Anhelo and Titan are some of the companies that have put their money on commercial cinema capable of attracting middle-class intelligent audiences without insulting their intelligence.
    Love is a Bitch (Amores Perros),Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus’s first film, is precisely one example of this rare phenomenon: it is praised and much-awarded film in prestigious circles that at the same time was the year 2000’s top box-office hit, showing that good returns can be achieved by a two-and-a-half hour drama with a complex narrative structure. This AltaVista Films Production showed that although the public prefers light comedies, it can also be interested in other proposals.
    In 2001, the same premise was proven by two urban dramas about marginalized young people: Streeters (De la calle), the debut of director Gerardo Tort, and Violet Perfume-No One Hears You (Perfume de violetas.Nadie te oye)Maryse Sistach’sfifth full-length feature film. This is a hyper-realistic adaptation by prominent dramatist Gonzalez Davila that draws a picture of the nocturnal, violently sordid world of some Mexican city teenagers with an urgency that is never morbid. The constantly moving camera and the sudden cuts of the editing reinforce that strategy to bring the audience a sense of the immediate.
    Although Violet Perfume focuses on the specific problem of the growing number of rapes in Mexico, the film avoids sermonizing by situating the conflict in a broader context, that of the interrupted friendship between two lower-class teenage girls; this gives the plot its emotional force. The director tells her story with the verisimilitude of a documentary, allowing it to develop with the naturalness of daily life, even at times when it could have succumbed to melodrama.
    The existence of a large number of women directors in a country known for its macho image is noteworthy.2002 saw the release of work by Marcela Arteaga with her documentary Memories(Recuerdos);Marcela Fernandez Violante,with her Snake Skin(Piel de vibora);Dana Rotberg,with Otilia Rauda;Eva Lopez-Sanchez, with Which Side are you on?(De que lado estas?,)and Guita Schyfter,with Faces of the Moon(Las caras de la luna)The time when Fernandez Violante was the only active woman film maker seems very far away indeed.
    Without a doubt, comedy is the king of Mexican cinema, whether it be a satirical look at Mexican life or as a friendly illusion to certain neuroses of Mexico City’s middle class. Released after audaciously eluding the threat of censorship, Herod’s Law (La ley de Herodes) (Luis Estrada, 2000) was of capital importance for showing that the Industrial Revolutionary Party and other sacred cows had stopped being untouchable. Although the satire on institutionalized corruption was a crude caricature, the excess was necessary to make effective its virulent critique of a system that was about to come to an end in the year it was being shown.
    Other satires have been more moderate in their attacks.Gimme Power (Todo el poder) (Fernando Sarinana, 2000) posits a superficial denunciation of urban crime associated with police corruption and even has a happy ending .In the Country Where Nothing Happens (En el pais de no pasa nada) (Maria del Carmen de Lara, 2000) makes pleasant fun of the figure of the dishonest Salinas-administration politician from a woman’s point of view, while A Strange World(Un mundo raro)(Armando Casas,2001)focuses on the murky world of commercial television to establish the moral differences between common criminals and the amoral television personalities they admire.
    In contrast, Mexico City comedies have centered in general on the crisis of the couple. The extraordinary success of Sex, Shame and Tears had a precedent in Coriander and Parsley (Cilantro y perejil)(Rafael Montero,1996)one of the few good films that came out during the industry’s dry period. Also well received by the viewers, although panned by the critics, was Second Chance (El Segundo aire)by Fernando Sarinana(2001),another attempt at presenting infidelity as a system of generational malaise.
    Certainly, the most unexpected incursion into this genre was Living Kills (Vivir mata)(2002),by Nicolas Echevarria,previously a director of documentaries and of the epic-mystical Cabeza de vaca,one of the most highly acclaimed prize-winning films of the 1980’s.Living Kills tries to bring together two story-lines of today’s Mexico City comedies: the search for a partner in love and the city has the testimony of just how uninhabitable the city has become. But sadly instead of transcending mere realism, Living Kills is content with being whimsically picturesque.
    The preoccupation with love relationships in Mexico City found its teenage version in The Second Time (La segunda vez)(Alejandro Gamboa,1999)whose best feature is its lack of pretension and the honest with which it treats its female characters. Teen love was also the pretext for existential exploration on trips to the provinces, the subject of the irregular Dust to Dust(Por la libre)(Juan Carlos de Llaca,2000),the incoherent Green Stones(Piedras verdes)(Angel Flores Torres,2001)and ,of course, And Your Mother, Too)(Alfonso Cuaron,2001),the film with the largest viewing audience in 2001 in Mexico.
    Winner of 2001’s Venice Film Festival, And Your Mother, Too(Y tu mama tambien),a film that marks Curon’s return to Mexican cinema, is a complacent
    Combination of road movie and adolescent comedy centered on a ménage a trios among a Spanish woman and two teenage boys obsessed with sex. The movie slyly suggests a critical view: while the protagonists throw themselves into directionless hedonism, the audience catches glimpses of real problem in the national situation, ignored by these privileged teens. The film ends with guilt and punishment for partying, a moralizing discourse.
    The most interesting recent contribution from a novel film maker is Fairy Tale to Lull Crocodiles to Sleep (Cuento de hadas para dormer a los cocodrilos), the second feature film by Ignacio Ortiz Cruz.Despite its pretentious title, this film takes an untraveled road.It is not a comedy, although it has dashes of homour; and the action does not take in Mexico City, but in the beautiful arid countryside of Oaxaca. This history of a family curse over time (a heritage of insomnia and fratricide) escapes the literary conceits of magical realism to find its own language. This is the kind of production-audacious and rigorously personal-that has kept Mexican Cinema Alive.
    The success of Mexican Cinema in recent years lies in the fact that the films combine the artistic, the entertaining and commercial in an appealing manner. The contemporary Mexican film makers give equal importance to all these elements. Comedy is their forte and the past few years saw the rise of some highly successful satirical and adolescent comedies. Maybe Assamese filmmakers can take some lessons from these Mexican movies rather than those produced by Bollywood.

    The End

    Posted: 12:49 AM, April 5, 2007 Add Comment

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  12. Namebijit says

    Dear Raja,
    Thanks a lot for your blog.
    Yours
    Bijit

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  13. atin dasgupta says

    Hi Raja,

    Liked your line about the fringe benefits! But sure hope it’s not just about the fringes or the hem lines and the tag lines! I was wondering whether this group has a website or a phone number or something or one just needs to call up the eloquent Mr Mishra? Was hoping you could help me answer that. My email id is atin.dasgupta@gmail.com.

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  14. kshiteesh says

    Hi Raja
    Leoanrdo Di Caprio not getting an Oscar nomination for The Departed is shocking to say the least. The Guy is in smashing form in the movie. He is unbelievably good. Not a note here and there in his acting.The movie is a masterpiece, just watched Good Fellas, yesterday..The Departed is quite a few notches above!
    Anyways, looking forward for your take on Eklavya, which looks like anotehr fancy dress competition to me..Hope VV Chopra regains his Parinda touch..desperately hope so. Bacchan sir has done only one movie that he has done justice to in the last 20 years or so..i.e Khakee..rest he has just been reduced to a caricature of himself.
    I would look up to you to be the kid who told the truth about the Emperor’s clothes..as far as Bachhan jees performances are concerned, coz especially when it came to Black I thought no one had the balls to be the kid..

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  15. ashok Iam says

    I wonder if you read these messages. Anyway, why don’t you post your reviews as blog entries (like Prem does for his cricket match reports). Then we’ll have a chance to discuss those reviews and bash you a little. :)

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  16. pandaeyes says

    Hi, I thought I may seem stalker-ish by leaving 2 msgs in quick succession but that was before I scrolled down your guestbook! lol Anyway just thought it might be a good idea to provide a link to your past reviews. Speaking as someone who has tried in vain to find reviews by yourself thanks to the rather bizarre search engine which seems to throw up everything but reviews :D I’m enjoying the blogs, keep em coming!

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  17. Shilpa Patil says

    Hello Mr. Sen RDB has been sent to Oscars according to me it should have been Omkara…What do u think?

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  18. Shilpa Patil says

    Hi Raja, recently saw comments on your PKSE review…Why do people hate you so much. I hate all of them. Whatever review write they dont like it. Sometimes I really get scared what if rediff really fires you. You’re one of the few reviewers I like. Saibal Chatterji from Hindustantimes is also good. Please keep your good work. Don’t budge to those stupid people.

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  19. steve thomas says

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  20. Sailesh Cousik says

    Nice to see another movie buff on the ILand. Congrats for featuring on the home page.

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  21. Srinivas says

    Raja,
    Great fan of your movie critique columns.
    Yesterday I was watching “Humko Deewana Kargaye” starring Akshay Kumar and Katrian Kaif.. Must be too much of an old stuff for you now, but I got a question.
    Every character in that movie is a non-Christian, with names like Yashvardhan, Malhotra and what not. But they all go around wearing crosses. When Akshay’s character is very depressed after a separation, he goes to a Church during one of the songs.
    Is this cross wearing thingie the in-thing in Bollywood, a new move towards anything American is cool, including Christianity, or was this a one -movie glitch?

    Very curious Srinivas from Cupertino, California

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  22. Eeshani says

    Hi Raja,

    Just wanted to say I enjoy reading your work, whether it is part of your blog or the features you write for the website. I am always happy to read stuff written by someone who clearly loves the medium and all that it has to offer– your essays/ articles/ features also happen to be exceptionally well-written and your quirky insights are great fun!

    ~Eeshani

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  24. Wylde says

    Great blog! I’m bookmarking it :)

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  25. anil rai says

    hi this is to inform everybody to contact me if you have any queries regarding reincarnation.

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  26. amit says

    well…..this is bizzare….i left a message and some moderator deleted it. I really would appreciate if raja sen or his cronies enlighten me about how he writes reviews on movies when their dvd’s are not out, the movies are not released in india or else they are heavily censored. Am i missing something….

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  27. whocares says

    I totally agree with KS, debashri.- Raja, I am just curious about your background - what exactly qualifies you to be a reviewer? Probably an year’s course from some of the Journalism institutes in Bombay/Delhi or may be not? Anways I respect very few professional Indian journalists - Roy, Dutt, Sardesai, Tandon, Dua - rest are nothing but joke! I just don’t understand that if you are planning a career in journalism - why don’t you do it properly? get trained in a school like Columbia, do an intership for a more credible newspaper - writing about everything from politics to movies on the internet would only make you, Raja, a jack of ….. and then most of your reviews aren’t even helping your cause to be recognised as a serious journalist- if that’s what you want to be?!I seriously wonder if India will get her Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings..even a Johnny Carson..when people like Shekhar Suman making an ass of himself trying to be Leno - just like a bad chinese imitation! *sigh*

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  28. k s says

    and btw totally agree with Debashri regarding “brokeback”..it was totally a crap..i couldnt even figure out wat the big fuss was all about? it was total letdown by a genius director(ang lee) bt that earned him the oscar(how ironic?) the film couldnt explain wat kinda love it was; totally sexual or emotional?? these sort of film either draw the attention n go on to be a hug success or go totally unnoticed.. i’d rather say “Yossi & Jagger” (dir. Eytan Fox, Israel) is a great film of such genre..but again oscar is all about american films after all…who would care anyway??

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  29. k s says

    just one thing makes me baffled. a filmmaker makes a film n there r one bt many critcs pointing out wat’s wrong in the film.(raja sen is one of them, no doubt :) ) bt tomorrow if even raja sen makes a movie of his own, there will be some pointing out fingers at him..anyway, wouldnt be logical for the makers to consult one or two critics before drafting a scrpit or making a film. wat say?

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  30. Debashri Sengupta says

    oh! I forgot to mention … I stay in US now…. so, I do get to watch these movies… just in case any reader might have a question…. the location is what it used to be at the time of registering at rediff ….

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  31. Debashri Sengupta says

    Hi Raja, Honestly, I I like your reviews most of the time. But I cannot cannot cannot agree to your views on Brokeback Mountain. I found the movie so disappointing. I am not ’shocked’ or ‘disappointed by the ’scenes’. But what did the movie have anyway? It did not show the struggle two lovers always have to undergo. It did not show ANY kind of disapproval. Even the wife did not confront Del Mar directly. It did not show sacrifices. It was more selfish than teenage love. And hell, it did not even fidelity. What love story are we talking about here? Really I want to know why all of America and people like you are going gaga over Brokeback Mountain. It is the worst movie I have seen in a long time. I would sincerely like to know what people liked in this insensitive movie!

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  32. willneverbemember says

    dear raja sen
    u r the biggest bull-shitter i have ever seen. why dont you try writing
    sense instead of spewing something out while being completely stoned?
    how can they possibly feature you crappy blog on rediff? whats gotten
    into them? why don’t u write a book so that it can register record low in
    sales? and stay away from the web? u girly writer

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  33. rony decosta says

    hi Raja,
    think u should pen down some lines about rang de basanti…

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  34. Raj says

    Raja Sen, I think you are an idiot.﷯

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  35. Critic says

    Some of your entries are fine. Good thing that it keeps you away from
    rubbishing great films like Batman Begins and Yuva and singing paeans to a
    stupid movie like Kisna.
    Hope you keep your limited understanding of films constrained by this blog.

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