The Superman of Bollywood!

Is there a Superman in Indian Cinema? Can Rajnikanth, the southern demigod be considered one? Does the one and only Shahenshah of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan, qualify? Or Baadshah Shahrukh? One real Superman like characer spawned by Bollywood - the Krisshh franchisee shows no sign of continuing. So, I have come to this conclusion.

THE "ONLY" SUPERMAN OF BOLLYWOOD IS Aamir Khan!

Sample this.

Lagaan

He coaches a team of discordant individuals, one of them infirm, in the village to form a ragged team. A team whose members are always out to cut each others throat! Then he bowls and fields away like Superman. But the icing on the cake comes last! Aamir, with the help of the same infirm teammate, bats like God and hits a last ball six to pave the way for the righteous and downtrodden team to win after much drama! The ultimate triumph of “good over evil”

Here is the last ball from Lagaan.


Taare Zameen Par

A small child has a problem in reading. The parents have given up hope even though the child comes across as being cute, smart, and cool and whose only problem seems to be in studies. The school too gives up hope on the 7 year old and he is sent to a boarding school. There the child is isolated by overconfident classmates and bullying masters (who seem to belong more to the mileu of the village school – than a modern day upper class boarding school). Enter the Superman in the form of the Art teacher. He diagnoses the child’s problem, takes him in hand, counsels the parents, other teachers, helps the child to study and the child comes out a winner – all seemingly in one school season! To make the complete the Superman, the art teacher also runs an orphanage for children with problems.



And finally my favorite Superman

Three Idiots

Rancho can do anything. From building a remote controlled air plane with an inbuilt camera, in the first year he graduates to delivering a baby on a TT table with the help of vacuum cleaners, batteries and other students with a doctor giving instructions over the web. The baby gives its proverbial first kick too in response to Rancho’s slogan “Aal Izz Welll”. In the meanwhile he counsels the students and teachers of his premier institute on the pitfalls of learning by rote, gets his friends to follow their dreams and get jobs, brings a friend back almost from dead, all the while topping in class! All actually turns out well for Rancho in the end when it is revealed he holds the patent to hundreds of scientific inventions. It actually gives life to the term “too good to be true”. Cho chweet! I don’t wonder Chetan Bhagat is cringing with remorse. After all “5 Point Someone” scored big time because of its realistic portrayal of life at the IIT.

So tell me, who needs a real Superman?

I have nothing against these three movies. They are among the best in Hindi cinema, individually taken. In fact Three Idiots is breaking all box office records and looks like being the biggest Indian movie of all time. However, all three from the same actor? Two of which are his home production? It is like Tom Hanks acting in three types of Forrest Gumps!

Come on Aamir, get over your Superhuman complex and give us some more earthy characters!

Kindle DX With Global Wireless 9.7" - Buy Online!

Kindle DX With Global Wireless is Here!
kindle 9.7" Image
Good news for book lovers all over the World - Kindle DX with Global Wireless 9.7" Reading Display is now available (for preorder - ships from Jan 19th)!

So What is Kindle DX With Global Wireless?

Kindle is a reading device from Amazon with a weight even less than a typical paperback!. At 1/3 of an inch it is almost as thin as a magazine too! The new Kindle DX With Global Wireless has a huge 9.7 " e-ink display screen and can store upto 3500 books. The 6 inch version is also available.

The Kindle DX Global wireless has 3G wireless which allows one to download books right from kindle with no annual contracts, no monthly fees! The 3G wire coverage is available in over 100 countries . See map for details. Also check out the countries where Amazon Kindle content will be available. You dont't want to be saddled with a gadget with no content after all! For Indian users - Yes it is available for India.

Find out more about the Amazon Kindle DX with global wireless at the links given.

Kindle DX Global Wireless 9.7" " Display - Is available for preorder and ships from January 19th!

Kindle DX Global Wireless 6 " Display

Kaminey Hindi Movie Review

Here is my review of Kaminey.

For those of you who haven't watched it - Kaminey is a Vishal Bhardwaj movie. Vishal Bhardwaj of the Maqbool, Omkara fame as also Makdee and Blue Umbrella - two of the best children films made in recent times.

Vishal doesn't make apologies in his movies. He shows blood, gore in full measure. But there is just one line he refuses to cross - a line that would have catapulted the films to macabre and maybe mediocre - and staying within that line his movies somehow turn out to be brilliant. The complex emotions, situations, dramas, climaxes that Kaminey portrays are the hallmark of all Vishal Bhardwaj movies.

Kaminey is an intensely complex movie. It is fast paced - but with brilliant editing there are hardly any loose ends. The movie is all Shahid Kapur (wonder what he did previously to inspire such confidence in the producer/director). It is the role of a lifetime for Shahid Guddu Charlie Kapur. And the movie is all about villians too. There are villians of all hues here. No middle path grey villain. All the villians, the "hail Maharashtra" criminal politician; the race course fixers, gun crazy and nutty Bong brothers; the international drug cartel leader; the intensely corrupt Narcs Officer - all of them are dirty, corrupt and deadly.

On a dark, dreary, rainy night all these people come together in a hunt for Guddu and / or Charlie. It was also the night Guddu was getting married (to Priyanka Chopra) and Charlie incidentally discovered he had Rs 10 crore of drugs in his possession. Guddu and Charlie happen to be identical twins with slight speech handicaps. One stammers and the other lisps. Some of the finer Shahid Kapur moments are when he lisps S as F - Jab Fell phone ko Fell phone kehta hai!

Among the characters - Amole Gupte ar Bhope is deadly, Priyanka comes across well in whatever little her role demands and Shahid Kapur is not brilliant - just okay. It doesn't look likely that his portrayal will be as acclaimed as Irfan Khan's in Maqbool or Saif's in Omkara. One character that I really liked was Mikhail (Chandan Roy Sanyal).

The movie ends in a crisply executed climax and one is left looking forward to watching it all over again - to catch those fine VB moments one may have missed in the first watch!

This article has also been published at Xomba.Com.