2007 for me has been a year full of movies, with the highest number of movies I watched in a year. Moving to Pune and leading a “hostelier” lifestyle has increased (and improved) my affinity to films. I watched too many films and in every possible way – theaters, CDs, DVDs, and the best of all was in Neeta Volvo while traveling Mumbai to Pune and back on weekends.
To begin with, I was quite impressed with “A Life in a Metro” the way it presented things was quite shocking – in a way a Madhur Bhandarkar style. And such a stunner from a debutant filmmaker was even more impressive. Two movies that, I guess had a good background research were “Parzania” and “Black Friday”, both very well made, based on real life stories and incidents. The next beautiful cinema work I watched was “Chak De”, and it soon faded off my “Metro” hangover, as the best movie seen till then. It was thoroughly inspiring movie and again mirrored the way we still think of women and undermine their capabilities. Another inspirational flick was “Guru”, which ignited the entrepreneur, filmmaker, and all stand alone personalities in me that I always dreamt of. However, until this period “Chak De” still ruled. I think there is only “Taare Zameen Par” to beat the “Chak De” masterpiece. However, I am still to watch it (:-( sob! sob!). Many reviews and my friends who have watched TZP tell me that it is undoubtedly the best movie of the year.
Then there were many movies which were full of nonsense comedy or made no sense at all, yet I dared to watch them. “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, “Tara Rum Pum”, “No Smoking” – pathetic of the lot. They were….ummmm aaaa mmmm…forget it, I don’t know what to write, I could make no sense of these. And trust me there were many like these. Sanjay Neela (remember the blue and green hues) Bhanshali’s “Saawariya” (I anyway never like his movies) and Ramu’s “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” were disgusting. I just hoped that people don’t put theaters on fire after watching that ‘Aag’.
I enjoyed a good laugh with “Partner”, “Dhamaal”, “Ek Chalis Ki Last Local”, and “Bheja Fry”, truly entertainment material that also acted as stress busters. “Manorama 6 Feet Under” and “Johnny Gaddar”, supposedly the under rated movies of the year. Don’t know why people can’t appreciate such movies yet, just because they are Bollywood made, may be. Both the movies are good thrillers, with “Manorama…” being about a murder mystery and “Johnny…” narrating a story about double crossing. “Om Shanti Om”, much already talked about, I enjoyed watching it and entertained myself (psst: by now I had started liking SRK after “Chak De” and “Swades” earlier). “Jab We Met” was a good experience, especially when I was watching it with my Wifey :-D. “Bhoolbhulaiyya” – Akki baby rocking all through year made this too a success story, and every time I feel a little scared or frightened the song automatically plays “Oumi ke tumaarr”
And now come two movies that need a special mention – “Heyy Babyy” and “Apne” (Dharamji’s family in action). I watched these two seven times each (courtesy: Neeta Volvo, Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai). I had been tortured enough and was only afraid of hurting my head, hence refrained banging my head on the huge glass windows of the Volvo. I kept staring here and there, looking out of the window, looking at my shoes (sometimes at someone else’s shoes, socks, bags, belts, jeans, ), and everywhere that my eye sight could hunt, only to embarrass myself and others, at times.
To begin with, I was quite impressed with “A Life in a Metro” the way it presented things was quite shocking – in a way a Madhur Bhandarkar style. And such a stunner from a debutant filmmaker was even more impressive. Two movies that, I guess had a good background research were “Parzania” and “Black Friday”, both very well made, based on real life stories and incidents. The next beautiful cinema work I watched was “Chak De”, and it soon faded off my “Metro” hangover, as the best movie seen till then. It was thoroughly inspiring movie and again mirrored the way we still think of women and undermine their capabilities. Another inspirational flick was “Guru”, which ignited the entrepreneur, filmmaker, and all stand alone personalities in me that I always dreamt of. However, until this period “Chak De” still ruled. I think there is only “Taare Zameen Par” to beat the “Chak De” masterpiece. However, I am still to watch it (:-( sob! sob!). Many reviews and my friends who have watched TZP tell me that it is undoubtedly the best movie of the year.
Then there were many movies which were full of nonsense comedy or made no sense at all, yet I dared to watch them. “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, “Tara Rum Pum”, “No Smoking” – pathetic of the lot. They were….ummmm aaaa mmmm…forget it, I don’t know what to write, I could make no sense of these. And trust me there were many like these. Sanjay Neela (remember the blue and green hues) Bhanshali’s “Saawariya” (I anyway never like his movies) and Ramu’s “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” were disgusting. I just hoped that people don’t put theaters on fire after watching that ‘Aag’.
I enjoyed a good laugh with “Partner”, “Dhamaal”, “Ek Chalis Ki Last Local”, and “Bheja Fry”, truly entertainment material that also acted as stress busters. “Manorama 6 Feet Under” and “Johnny Gaddar”, supposedly the under rated movies of the year. Don’t know why people can’t appreciate such movies yet, just because they are Bollywood made, may be. Both the movies are good thrillers, with “Manorama…” being about a murder mystery and “Johnny…” narrating a story about double crossing. “Om Shanti Om”, much already talked about, I enjoyed watching it and entertained myself (psst: by now I had started liking SRK after “Chak De” and “Swades” earlier). “Jab We Met” was a good experience, especially when I was watching it with my Wifey :-D. “Bhoolbhulaiyya” – Akki baby rocking all through year made this too a success story, and every time I feel a little scared or frightened the song automatically plays “Oumi ke tumaarr”
And now come two movies that need a special mention – “Heyy Babyy” and “Apne” (Dharamji’s family in action). I watched these two seven times each (courtesy: Neeta Volvo, Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai). I had been tortured enough and was only afraid of hurting my head, hence refrained banging my head on the huge glass windows of the Volvo. I kept staring here and there, looking out of the window, looking at my shoes (sometimes at someone else’s shoes, socks, bags, belts, jeans, ), and everywhere that my eye sight could hunt, only to embarrass myself and others, at times.
The year overall was good with a little of everything – smiles, cries, inspirations, thrilling moments, and all other required masala.
The article mentions only the movies that I have watched in 2007
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