Aparna Sen excels again

Last night, I watched Mr. & Mrs.Iyer - probably one of the best indian movies I've watched recently. Aparna's last creation was Paromitar Ek Din - a great movie focusing on the relationship between a mother and her ex-daughter in law. And her latest does not disappoint. With a fabulous score by Zakir Hussain, the film is incredibly poignant and moving. Konkona SenSharma (as Mrs. Iyer) is amazing - her eyes speak a thousand words as her conservative sensitivities are confused by the communal conflict around her. Rahul Bose plays the charming wildlife photographer Raja who Meenakshi is drawn to in a time of need. The movie subtly exposes Meenakshi's social and emotional awakening as she and Raja try to escape the communal violence.

This masterful movie reminds me of another of my favorites - Before Sunset.

Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu

I watched Kamal's latest movie last week after hearing pretty much everyone rave about how great it was. And I liked it. Not one of his best movies (think Nayagan, Thevar Magan, Moondraam Pirai, I could go on!) , but it definitely was not bad. He went a little overboard with the gore, and there were one too many cliched dialogues, but overall, I thought it was pretty well done. I'm sure many non-desis will be quite amused that an ostensibly serious film about serial killers is a "musical". Branding any desi movie with songs (which is pretty much every desi movie :)) a musical sounds so odd to me, songs and dance are such an integral aspect of the desi film scene!

Anyway, VV was quite alright - a pleasant surprise after the mediocre trailers! Jyothika was cute but deserved a much stronger role, too bad she isn't acting anymore. And it was a pity that Prakash Raj had an almost cameo role in the movie.

Zodiac

I *love* Mark Ruffalo! He rocked in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and in In the Cut. And he was my favorite part of Zodiac.

The movie was a tad bit too long, but pretty well paced. I really liked the fact that it seemed like a regular telling of a not completely solved mystery, not a souped-up drama revolving around some superstar detective. And it didn't focus on blood and gore (surprising for Fincher after Seven and Fight Club!), but more on how the series of random killings consumed the lives of these people trying to solve the mystery.

I liked it!

Yay for Water!

It is so exciting that the reincarnation of Deepa Mehta's Water has been getting the accolades it deserves!

It has been a long, hard road for Water. The film was initially shelved in 2000 after Hindu fundamentalists blocked filming and caused extensive damage to the sets of the movie with the Uttar Pradesh government pretty much watching the riots from the sidelines. This incident goes on India's wall of shame! Deepa is a fantastic director and the initial cast for Water included acting powerhouses Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. But the original ensemble didn't persist when Deepa decided to remake the film 4 years later in Sri Lanka. The new cast includes Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray and John Abraham.

Water is an amazing movie - revolving around the centuries-old tradition in India of turning women into non-entities once their husbands die. Seeing the women with shaven heads, draped in white saris and walking around devoid of emotion evokes familiar images of a conservative India. And contrary to fundamentalist hindu opinion, this movie does not insult Mahatma Gandhi! Rather, it just portrays quite effectively why conservative India needed (and still needs) Gandhi's progressive thinking.

And Yay for Canada for sending Water to the Oscars!