Weekend movies - SSUE, Don and Dor

This weekend was a weekend for remade/ reworked movies. Though SSUE was not a movie that I wanted to watch badly, I was waiting to watch Don and Dor, since they both were movies directed by directors whom I think are among the best in the Hindi film industry. I missed watching them when they were released here in theaters and hence had to wait for their DVDs.

Something Something Unakkum Enakkum - Well, you have to give it to the Raja & Ravi brothers for selecting the right films to remake. How else would one explain the 100% hit rate the brothers possess, as far as remakes go. Though this movie has all the beaten-to-death clichés that you will find in the history of Tamil cinema, there are some scenes in the movie that does make the movie a decent watch. But the problem again when it comes to appreciating those scenes is that you get reminded of the fact that none of them is their own idea. Jeyam Ravi was just about OK but even without watching the original, it was easy for me to come to the conclusion that Sidharth would have been way better than Ravi in the lead actor role. There is some stiffness about Ravi (apart from his obvious drawback of a pathetic voice) that will never make him a great hit, say someone as Surya. I do not have any great liking for Trisha. Somehow I think she is overrated and thus don’t understand why our Tamil directors keep bringing her for movies here. We would be better off with her doing movies in Telugu. Santhanam's comedy was definitely a highlight but he could have done away with some double meaning dialogues. I am frustrated that why don’t these guys understand that you don’t need to be crass to make people laugh. Other than that, the songs tuned in by DSP were very much hummable, with the Un paarvaiyil song being my personal favorite. Overall, a movie worth watching once, for the novel idea of having the guy to come good in agriculture to win his girl.

Don - Why Why Why? This was the question I kept asking (to Farhan Akhtar) throughout the movie. It is not like I am against this trend of remaking old classics. I am actually for it. My only problem is that we do not need a Farhan Akhtar to do it. He is just too good a talent to be wasting his time doing remakes like this. I haven’t seen this original too. So, I do not have any comments on if Shah Rukh Khan was able to match Amitabh's performance in the original Don. But I do believe that if there is someone among the contemporary heroes in Bollywood who can pull off this role, it has to be SRK. Technically, the film is top notch. But then that is only to be expected from the man who gave us DCH and Lakshya. Lakshya had a never-before-seen-in-an-Indian-film kind of scene. It is the scene that comes towards the climax where Hrithik and his group are shown climbing the steep mountain. It was just fantastic and I was simply blown away, bcos I was seeing scenes that I had before then seen only in Hollywood movies like Cliffhanger. And a similar scene is here in the Don too where there is a fight mid-air. Though I am sure graphics was used in that scene, it was very believable and Farhan Akhtar once again proves why he is easily the best in the industry when it comes to incorporating technical brilliance in his movies. I really think that even Mani Rathnam comes only a close second to him. The final twist in the movie which comes right when it ends and something which makes it different from the original Don is not cool at all. The other problem with this movie was that the screenplay was really shaky. There were just too many parallel threads running at the same time which leaves one confused. Apart from the overall slick look of the movie, the other highlight was Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s amazing background score and songs. They were just perfect for a movie like this. All said and done, I guess, as a Farhan Akhtar fan, I will forget this remake attempt of his as a bad dream and will look forward to his next venture.

Dor - Nagesh Kukkunoor, after impressing us with Iqbal, comes back with an even more powerful Dor. I was simply blown away by the movie and I can easily say that this is THE best movie of the year, even better than Rang De Basanti in many ways. The film does not boast of a star-studded cast but everyone in the movie just about does their job to perfection. In fact, to me, only Girish Karnad and Nagesh Kukkunoor were the only known faces in the movies and it was actually them, being the established actors they were, whom I thought could have done a better job :) The movie's story is apparently based on a Malayalam movie and credit is duly given in the movie. The story is this - 2 husbands leave to Saudi for work, leaving their wives behind. They become roommates over there. In an accident that happens in Saudi, one of them falls from their 10th floor apartment and dies and the blame falls on his roommate. Since there is no other witness to testify that it was an accident, the only option that is available for the friend who is alleged to have committed the murder is for the deceased man's wife to sign a mercy petition filed by him. And the rest of the story is about the charged man's wife – Gul Panag- first finding the deceased man's wife – Ayesha Takia - & then convincing her to sign the petition. To me, this movie was storytelling at its best. The flow of the movie never sags at any point and also does not wander off from the crux of the story. For example, whatever happened in Saudi is never shown. All that is revealed to us is that it was an accident and the only way out of it is for the deceased man's wife to sign the petition. The toughest part of this story (and the part where Kukkunoor could have easily faltered) IMO was how Gul Panag is shown finding Ayesha Takia, from a mere photo which has both of their husbands. He scores brilliantly as chance or coincidence has no part to play in it. That to me was the most striking thing about the first half when she searches for Ayesha and finds her. Shreyas Talpade comes in as the guy who helps Gul Panag out as she searches for Ayesha . The beautiful relationship between Gul Panag and him is so brilliantly portrayed. The way each of the characters have been developed has been done beautifully, with Gul Panag’s characterization standing out in particular. Salim Sulaiman's background score was perfect. In short, I simply loved everything about the movie and I think it is time we place Nagesh Kukkunoor on the pedestal where we place the best directors in India. Awesome and a must-see movie.