Being Cyrus: Movie Review

Who you let in can change your life!

Being Cyrus is the story of a somewhat crazy guy called Cyrus. Oops! Wait a minute. The movie is full of crazy people. Crazy....like you and me. We 'appear' normal as long as we don't express all our thoughts, right? Well, that is my opinion for the moment.

Important declaration: The readers are requested to think about the characters mentioned here as 'whacko' unless mentioned otherwise.

On an otherwise usual morning in Panchgani, Mr and Mrs Sethna find Cyrus Mistry at their doorsteps. He has come to be an apprentice of Dinshaw Sethna who is told to be a great sculptor, who has become obscure now. Dinshaw lives in his own world and doesn't care a damn about what the world says about him. His voluptuous wife and highly depressed Katy lives in a world of what-if's. Panchgani is an not at all an happening place and her life is restricted the mundane works of home. She deserves better, and she has no doubts about that.

Cyrus merges with this normally crazy family with ease and plays along with Katy's flirting ways. As we move along the other members of the Sethna family, who are living in Mumbai, come into picture. Dinshaw brother Farokh is married to Tina. Think about a marriage between Amjad Khan and Jaya Bhaduri from Sholay, and you got the idea. Farokh is supposed to be looking after their father Fardounjee Sethna, who is said to be a rich man. But under the beast called Farokh the aged Sr. Sethna is living in a hell. On Katy's insisting, Cyrus befriends this old man and the plot thickens, throws some twists, gives you shivers and makes you crazy.

I stop here guys. Watch the movie for the story. Better, watch it for the performances. Watch it to see a beautiful debut from director Homi Adajania.

Really! Do you expect me to rate Naseeruddin Shah?! When he is in a movie no one else is expected to shine. But, they do...We knew that there is more to Saif Ali Khan than Dil Chahta Hai and Hum Tum. What about Ek Haseena Dhi? So, yes. He did it again. Boman Irani is a wonderful actor. And he excells as the darkly humorous Farokh Sethna. Dimple Kapadia did it right. But, I felt that sometimes she overacted. May be its due to the restrained performances from others. Simone Singh was fine. Honey Chhaya as the Sr. Sethna stole my heart. He just made me shudder thinking about getting old and living like a beggar in one's own home.

Being Cyrus is a part psycho, part thriller movie. People looking for an exclusive genre will be disappointed. The background music complemented the feel of the movie. It doesn't look glossy and cozy. So, Karan Johar fans stay away! Go and watch this movie guys. And have a crazy time!

Categories: Movie, Review, Being Cyrus, Movie Review, Bollywood

One Night @ The Call Centre - A novel by Chetan Bhagat: Book Review

I've been impatiently waiting for Chetan Bhagat's second novel One Night @ The Call Centre. Chetan's first attempt Five Point Someone was a highly enjoyable light-read. So, I had high expectations.

At last the day came and I returned from our neighborhood bookstore carrying a copy of One Night @ The Call Centre. I promptly dumped the Anton Chekov short story collection and started my journey with Chetan (the story starts with a train journey).

I guess, most of you guys have read the teaser published before the launching of the book. So had I. Hence skipped a few pages to where our narrator starts his.....well, narration. For the kind information of all the blockheads and papads out there, One Night @ The Call Centre tells us what happened to a bunch of call center employees during the span of a night!

So, we have a call centre called Connexions where the employees are facing a layoff...all due to a stupid Boss. Then we have a group of agents who have a particular section of the call centre all to themselves: Shyam, Priyanka, Esha, Varun aka Vroom, Radhika and Military Uncle.

This particular 'One Night' our agents don't have much work due to some technical problems in their network. So, they have a lot of time to talk, think, bitch about their stupid boss Bakshi and in general let us know what was happening in their lives till then. All have their own problems and with the layoff looming in the near future, everything looks bleak to our friends.

I'll stop here and let you be 'surprised' if you are really going to read ON@CC. You won't get any insights to what the real call centre agents are facing daily. Its better to ask those night-birds in your friends circle. The book is aimed at the young generation. Supposedly the so-called 'youth' don't have any clear vision, are chicken-hearted and do everything their friends do so as to appear 'cool'. They just want some bucks, don't think about what they really want in life and simply follow the metropolitan culture (whatever it might be!). Geez....so many arrows!

The message: listen to your heart! Filmy....veryyy filmy. ON@CC has a lot of flaws, which really dampened my reading. I didn't like it as much as Five Point Someone. May be it is the high expectation level. Or may be because I can predict most of the things as everything sticks to the Chetan-style. But, may be you will like it. So, try it. After all its a light-read and costs only Rs.95!

Categories: Chetan Bhagat, Book, Review, Book Review

Holiday: Movie Review

"This holiday, come fall in love....with yourself"

Pooja Bhatt directed Holiday is widely believed to be a copy of "Dirty Dancing". Though, Pooja claims it to be inspired by "Strictly Ballroom". He he he.... Usually they argue whether the movie is a copy or not. Bollywood has really progressed. Now the topic is copy of "which" movie'. Whatever!

You can sum up Holiday by reading the ugly duckling's story or watching 'Jasse jaisi koyi nahin' in Soni TV. But, here is a difference. It is not about an ugly/ordinary girl turning into a beauty. It is about defying the world and living by your own standards. An ordinary girl (Onjolee Nair) who believes herself to be a failure, accidentally finds out the passion of her life! Well, 'passions' of her life, to be exact - Dancing & Dino Morea.

The story unfolds in Goa, which gives Holiday a cool feel. I really liked the song 'aashiyaan...'. Oh, may the dancing did it for me. The dialogues are simply too boring. You can even lip-synch with the actors!

The 'bestest' part of the movie is some real cool dancing, simply great. I presume that Onjolee is a trained dancer. Her moves are so graceful. Her acting? Nothing to mention. That is not a problem for Bollywood. The problem is she is not the typical bollywood beauty. Know what I mean? At least, do we get to watch her as a model?

Now, let us talk about Dino. I didn't know that he could dance so nicely, man! Dino, I forgive you for all those acting mishaps. Attention all those directors and producers out there. Why don't you give this man a movie 'inspired' by 'Dance like a man'?

Categories: Movie, Review, Movie Review, Bollywood, Holiday