Once In A While

You come across a Bollywood movie that just grabs you. It makes you want to download it off Desitorrents and watch it again the next day so that you can catch that title song you missed or laugh at that witty line that got lost in the crackle of popcorn.

Amazingly, It's been a bountiful summer. Came across two such movies and loved them both, so what if they were geared for the under-thirties? They didn't stress the grey cells out too much, had a few memorable songs and some great acting. Best of all, they were "fresh". Not over-stylised or hyped up. The faces were new and so was the acting/directing. I won't say they were "perfect", just very satisfying to watch, leaving you with a general feeling of well-being and bon-homie. Like the one you get after reading a fast-paced, page-turning thriller that keeps you hooked till the last page but doesn't need a dictionary or encyclopedia to decipher what it means. No sup-plots or underlying themes, no stories within stories, no twisting narratives. Just plain, good old story-telling. It works, you know, the old adage of "keeping it simple". It works everytime.

The movies I'm talking about are Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Rock On!!.

Both these movies had a certain "name" backing them (Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar), names that meant something hatke in the indian movie scene. They're both producers, this time round, not the directors, but their touch shows in the finished product. Both the movies give us two new, quite unhindi-film like heroes (Imran Khan and Farhan Akhtar). They're not chocolate-box handsome (unlike another new entrant), haven't got that bollywood dancing jhatka and stylised head-shake and don't really need to bare their chests to appeal to the female sensibilities.

Both the movies introduce fresh new female faces into the same old ghissa-pitta commercial hindi film industry, fresh new faces with a fresh new attitude, whether it's bold and bubbly (Genelia D'Souza) or shy and restrained (Prachi Desai). Neither have beauty paegent history, nor do they look like they've stepped off the ramp or out of from under the knife.

Both the movies have an excellent ensemble of actors who fit perfectly into their very important roles. I won't call them supporting actors cos they're essential to the movie and without them it would be flavourless. They're the ones who have the memorable lines.

From JTYJN :
Aditi, "College ke paanch saal kahaan nikal gaye, pata hi nahi chala".
Savitri,"Phone pe beta, phone pe... ".

and then in Rock On!! :
Rob (on his headache)," Maine subha pills le li thi."
KD,"Achcha? To shaamko kya karne ka iradha hai?"

Both the movies have music with a certian flair.

Kabhi, Kabhi Aditi was so catchy that I even put it on iPhone workout playlist. I bet a lot of girls wished for a song to be sung for them exactly like that!

Socha Hai  is my personal favourite from Rock On!! despite Farhan Akhtar's lisp and limited vocal skills. He can certainly hold a tune and he does the lead singer in a rock band thing like he was born to it.

The rest of the music was almost as good and you'll be humming along to those songs for a while to come like I was this morning...

"Meri ek laundry ka bill, Ek adhi padhi novel.... Tumhari gaadi ki chaabi..."