Once Upon A Time In Mumbai: Review

Successes and Failures aside, Milan Luthria’s works so far reflect his penchant for exploring new vistas. Starting as a Mahesh Bhatt protégé and later venturing out on his own with films like Kache Dhaage, Chori Chori, Taxi No 9211, Hattrick, Deewar and now Once Upon A Time In Mumbai (OUATIM), Luthria has shown diversity in his work. His films had something about them that got him noticed. With OUATIM, he is sure to earn respect.

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Love Aaj Kal - Review

There is a cruel law of the nature that’s called the law of averages. If you are good one day, you are bound to be bad the other day to keep it even. Imtiaz Ali, it seems, is an exception to this rule. After Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met, Imtiaz’s third film Love Aaj Kal promises to hit the bull’s eye yet again!

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99 | Movie Review

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Like an oasis in a desert, 99 stood a chance to quench the thirst of avid Hindi movie goers who have been waiting endlessly to watch a Bollywood movie. Does 99 deliver? Not exactly but with the dry spell of Bollywood not expected to end soon, I would recommend it. The movie is not good but not BAD either. It appeals to you in parts, appears loose in many and with no star power or strong story to back it up, has little chance at the BO.

I feel that some more publicity could have helped the film because it really had a free run with no major releases lined up. I think the producers didn’t have all the money to do it but they still could have done much more. It doesn't take much to create a web presence for a film. I didn't find enough wallpapers for this film when I googled. If the producers could risk earning the wrath of the whole industry by releasing the film against the wishes of the Producers’ association, they should have at least promoted the film well enough to earn enough money to last a life time ;)

Coming to the film’s content, 99 is about two crooks who dream of hitting the century of their lives to move away from being mere crooks but are caught in the mess of a jinxed 99 that makes them fall short of delivering the knock-out punch. The film has a backdrop of the match fixing scandal in cricket that rocked the country in early 2000. The two crooks are played by Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha. Kunal is a good actor and has age on his side. I think he needs just one good break from a big banner to break into the ‘star’ category. Cyrus is seriously irritating in the movie. I don’t know if the character was designed that way but the goofy MTV brand of humor does not work well for me in the movie. Bomman Irani, who plays a gambler, is good again as he always is. He gets into the character so well that you never think of him as a filmy character. The two ladies – Soha and Simone play fillers. Vinod Khanna is ordinary while Mahesh Manjrekar is good as a goofy goon from Mumbai. But I will reserve most of my accolades for Amit Mistry who plays a petty Delhi extortionist named Kuber. The guy has outshone everyone in the film. Watchout for the scene where he is whacked by Kunal at Irani’s house. Simply hilarious!

The direction is ordinary most of the times. The story and script are okay but some finer nuances of relations and mannerisms/traditions of Delhi wallahs have been picked superbly. I liked the scene where Bomman Irani confesses about his dealings with bookies. It looked like a natural conversation between a husband and wife. The Pooja, Neha, Dimple naming tradition of Delhiites and their fraudulent ways shows the good observation skills of the writer. Besides these, the director has also picked things like the early days of mobile phone, the days when there were no CCD's and Barrista's, the India-South Africa Cricket series of 2000 and the Y2K issue to give the story a bearing in the year 2000. It is amusing to see how our lives have changed within a short span of 9 years. But at places it gets overboard. There is too much of an emphasis on trying to show that the film is based in the year 1999-2000. The film falters on delivering a complete package and thus falters on packing a punch.

Music is passable. There are a couple of songs like the Delhi Destiny and Kal ki Tareh which are quite hummable but we have been hearing songs like these for quite some time. Thankfully, songs do not stop the flow so you don’t mind them playing in the background. They were much better than the inane dialogues that Cyrus gets to mouth. I seriously feel that he should do what he is best at on TV. Films require a different mindset. So a funny man on TV does not necessarily translate into a funny man in cinema. Remember Shekhar Suman?

99 is nowhere close to being a revelation in the small budget film category. But I will still recommend it because of two reasons. One, it’s been a long-long time since we had any film released and two, it will not make you come out of the theatre grimacing. With the IPL now over, this film could be your excuse to have one more time pass evening with friends. For others who value their money more, wait some more. Hopefully, one of the warring parties (producer-multiplex owners) will accede defeat and the viewer would get the respite from this long dry spell. I could literally see cob-webs on the screen running the film. These are the days of a recession of different type in the ‘recession-proof’ industry as it was claimed. Hope it comes out of it soon.

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8X10 Tasveer | Movie Review

I have always held that Nagesh Kukunoor is an intelligent director and that his best film is Teen Deewarein which very few people have heard of. When I saw the promo of 8X10 Tasveer, I felt that Nagesh was coming up with something as interesting as Teen Deewarein. Unlike Teen Deewarein, this film was backed by big names and that I felt would do wonders. Sadly, with this film, Nagesh who upto now worked on the peripheries of masala cinema to avoid typical Bollywood clichés, makes a full length dive into commercial genre and ends up looking one amongst the many. This film borrows a lot from Abbas Mustan style of film making.

One problem with the film despite being a full blown commercial potboiler is the lack of glamour quotient. If you look in the last decade or so, most of the successful thrillers in Bollywood have had ample dose of glamour. Tasveer has cute looking Ayesha Takia who would fail to draw people to the theater.

The second problem is the losing grip in the second half. The first half of the film builds up the story and the audience is curious to know who the murder culprit is but Nagesh Kukunoor lets it loose in the second half and after a series of clichés, the curtains are drawn. Nagesh Kukunoor tries to give a logical end to these clichés but there are a few loose ends that he is not able to fix. The result is a convoluted second half that drags itself to conclusion.

The third problem is of characterization. Most of the characters are not well etched. All of them keep making appearances throughout the film but due to vaguely written characters, hardly create any impact. Akshay Kumar displays one emotion thoughout but Jaaved Jaaferi does pack a punch with his performance. Jaaved Jaaferi as the Hyderabadi detective is terrific. It was a welcome change to see Akshay Kumar in a non-comic role after a long-long time but it seems that he is cut out mainly for comedy movies. It’s sad that this year has not been particularly kind to this new No 1 aspirant in Bollywood. After Chandni Chowk to China, Tasveer is going to be another failed attempt at sealing his position as the top money raker for Bollywood.

I understand that this film is about a super natural power that the protagonist possesses but it takes a while before you digest the fact. The film begins with AK playing a Samaritan and helping others find their lost ones using the power. That made me blurt the – “There you go!” expression that invited the silent wrath of one of the 10 heads in the theatre (including me and the ticket collector with the torch).

The film has good music and background score. The Nazara Hai and the Haafiz Khuda songs are good. I don’t think that the album has been well promoted though. Salim-Sulaiman are fast coming up as a force to reckon with.

Canada looks scenic as always in the film. Nagesh Kukunoor gives the film a Hollywood type look and feel. Nagesh is an engineer by education. Therefore, you see him trying his best to give logical conclusions even to some of the bizarre scenes like the chained Akshay’s underwater struggle to break himself free. I will not go to the extent of labeling Nagesh as a failure in this attempt of his. He could certainly have done a lot better but with 8X10 Tasveer he has tried pedaling through untested water. I will still like to believe that he is better than what the film’s fate at box office will suggest in the days to come.

8X10 Tasveer is disappointing. On Bollywood success scales, I feel it will fall short of making a mark in terms of revenues. Nagesh maybe you should re-release Teen Deewarein. With small films minting money these days, maybe it will set the cash registers ringing. But for 8x10 Tasveer, it’s between a 2 and 2.5 out of 5 rating.

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Straight | Movie Review

Men and women have different sense of humor. I am not comparing the quality but yes they think differently and joke differently. My biggest fear when I went in to watch Straight was that the director, who is a woman, might not be able to do complete justice to the story which is about a man who gets confused about his sexuality. Thankfully, she did not goof up there but that doesn’t mean that the film succeeds in its endeavor. Straight is not that straight a film as it meanders along expected lines before finally bringing home the fact that our man in question – Pinu Patel is not actually gay.

Straight does have an interesting story line. An introvert man whose biggest problem is his virginity and being subjected to ridicule by people develops a bonding with his cook at his restaurant. The problems compound as he gets confused about his sexuality. He goes about proving to himself that he is not a gay afterall. At the end of the story he realizes that he is not gay and then everyone goes home feeling happy for Pinu Patel. So far so good but when it finally comes to execution, Straight does not live upto expectations.

Straight has casual humor and a few of the scenes do make you laugh but individual scenes cannot bind a film to make it entertaining. This is where the director has to take the blame. Parvati had a decent outing with Rules:Pyar Ka Superhit Formula 6 years back but this time around, she fails to create an impact. She has executed a few comic scenes quite splendidly and also extracted good work from the lead protagonists – Vinay Pathak, Gul Panag and Anuj Chaudhari but sadly, the film fails when you look at it as a complete package. There is a satire on arranged marriages but the impact goes missing as the director repeats the same stories that have been told a lot many times. Just like the humor, everything else about the film looked casual too. Some funny scenes kept me glued initially bu tthen my thoughts began to wander as the story progressed.

Vinay Pathak is a seasoned actor and he doesn’t fail you here too. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Pinu Patel with the conviction that he did. Having said that, I think Vinay Pathak is overexposing himself by playing similar characters. Bheja Fry, Dasvidaniya and Straight all have Vinay playing a guy who is made fun of. It is about time he gives such roles a break. I am sure he is capable enough of handling other complex roles with ease too (but the question is – Are they coming?). Gul Panag oozes confidence and is a brainy actress. I feel that she is highly underrated as an actress. She does justice to her role in the film. Anuj Chaudhari is a new face. He too plays his part quite convincingly. The support cast is okay. Since they don’t get much footage, you can’t hold that against them.

There are a couple of good rock numbers in the film. Sagar Desai might be a guy to watch out for. Not related to the story but these songs do bring some life into the jerky paced movie.

There is nothing much to talk about the film or maybe I forgot to notice much as I didn’t find the narrative smooth. I would suggest that if you have not watched Straight till now, give it a miss. Believe me you will definitely end up doing something better in the time you save. I tried to like it but couldn’t do so. Straight gets a thumbs down from my side.

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13B | Movie Review

After innumerable discussions that I have had on films with friends, I surmise that there is a commonality in most of these discussions. We actually don’t discuss films but the people behind them. And I think this is the case with a lot of people who think they discuss films. Probably that is the reason why we sit and spend hours analyzing even silly things made by big people and overlook some good things done by small people. 13B is one such film. I will keep myself from saying that it is a very good film. It is indeed an average product but the idea and the efforts put in by the team are creditable.

I decided to watch this film after I figured that no one who had watched the film trashed it. I was surprised because I never thought that a non-entity like Vikram Kumar could team up with Madhavan (a talented but unsuccessful actor in Bollywood) and come up with a decent film. The song Sexy Mama that later changed to Crazy Mama too reinforced my belief that the film didn’t stand a chance at the Box office.

13B is a spooky thriller. It belongs to the same genre as The Ring. The film is not copied but it sure looks inspired to an extent. The best thing that I liked about the film is that it thrills you without creating any sort of paranoia about ghosts. In fact in the whole film, it is just Madhavan and then later his friend and a doctor who get to know that there is a ghost in the house while the others live normally without realizing that they are a part of the supernatural game played by the invisible ghosts (quite a welcome change from the Ramsay ghosts who made you puke). The film is about paranormal activities and has some bizarre moments but the genre is such that these unbelievable events need to be a part of the film. The biggest problem is its length. I don’t know why can’t Indian filmmakers break the rule when it comes to deciding on the length of their films. The film stretches to nearly 2 and a half hours and at times you want to question what the editors were doing when the film landed on their tables.

Vikram Kumar is the director of the film. He does a good job with this one. The film is a bilingual made in both Hindi and Tamil and released simultaneously. Vikram Kumar deserves credit for doing it as both the films have different supporting cast. He weaves a lot of interesting and thrilling scenes that make this enterprise edgy at times. To help him in the endeavor is a charged up Madhavan and an eerie background score that add value to the fare. Sadly, the length reduces the impact. The dialogues seem to be the work of an amateur. There are loop holes in the story that will seem obvious when you watch the film giving a feeling that despite a commendable effort, there is ample scope for the writer to improve. Also, Vikram Kumar’s ability to handle different characters did not come to test here as the focus was majorly on Madhavan who has been around for a decade now. I will not pass any verdict on Vikram’s caliber but for this film of his, he deserves a pat on the back.

13B is a total Madhavan movie. Besides him and the blind old man played by Dhritiman Chatterji, no one gets to portray much and they end up looking like props. Poonam Dhillon appears on the big screen after a long time but sadly, there is no meat in her character. Neetu Chandra is okay. Sachin Khedekar does a routine job. Deepak Dobriyal as the mentally challenged Ashok leaves an impression. Murli Sharma as the police inspector is relegated to playing a side kick.

The music is by Shankar Ehsaan Loy and they deliver ordinary stuff for this small budget movie. I liked a song whose words I can’t remember now but it was not required in the film at all. And just for the records it was not Crazy Mama for sure.

Now, a few scenes that I found interesting:

a.) The scene where Madhavan starts to turn the pages of a photo album and figures that the people clicked actually appeared on a television soap.
b.) The scene where the blind man’s dog refuses to enter the flat
c.) The scene where Madhavan realizes that there is something wrong in the house by clicking his photograph by stepping inside and then outside the flat.

Everyone has an opinion and since Barkha Dutt is in no way related to this film, I can take the liberty to comment on what I feel could have made this film better. First and foremost the length. Had it been a two hour affair, it could have been an out an out edge of the seat thriller. Second, the director should have worked on creating a fear inducing impact through the serial ‘Sab khairiyat’ that gets telecast in Madhavan’s house. The serial looks like a regular soap opera and hardly makes you believe that it could be a supernatural phenomenon at work. Lastly, the final scene of the movie looked more like a joke rather than anything else. If it was meant to make a shiver run through the spine, it failed to deliver. The director could have thought of a better closing scene.

13B will in all probability be a film that most of the people give a miss not because it is a bad film but because it doesn’t have any big name associated with it. I watched it on recommendation and didn’t come out feeling robbed of my time. Since it is a super natural thriller, many of the ‘real’ film enthusiasts will find it absurd. But I will give it a 3 out of five for the novelty of the effort. Mind you, 13B is not your typical Bollywood horror flick. Whether I recommend it – I will rather leave it to your judgement!

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Gulal | Movie Review

Anurag Kashyap is an exciting prospect for Indian cinema. In him we have found a film-maker whose regime starts where Bollywood draws its limits. Angst, rebellion and sensationalism symbolize his kind of cinema. After watching both his ventures in the recent past – DevD and Gulal, I felt that through his characters he makes an extra effort to stand out from the crowd. What you get at the end of it all is a set of dysfunctional characters (let me be strong worded as Kashyap himself) who are not exactly real people. But this is what I call cinematic liberty. The same cinematic liberty that sees Yash Chopra create an imaginary Raj or a Rahul. In that sense Anurag is still a part of the same system.

Now coming to the film Gulal. Gulal is an angry film by Anurag’s own admission. He conceived it at a time when his films were facing problems from the censor board and he was listening to songs from Gurudutt’s Pyaasa (he in fact got so inspired from the song Duniya that he decided to use it in one of the songs in Gulal). The anger comes out in the colors chosen for the film. Choosing Rajasthan as the base of the film, Anurag tells the story of a failed Rajputana revival movement in the backdrop of college politics.

As a director Anurag Kashyap delivers. In this attempt he is ably supported by his cast, the music, the songs, the dialogues and the script. He does stay true to the basic premise of the concept – depiction of resentment but it certainly does not depict reality. Most of his characters appear eccentric and look to hog limelight. There is an illegitimate son of the Royalty who doesn’t talk to his father because he did not give him his name and on the other hand does not think twice before using his sister to win over his adversaries. Having said that, I do not hold this against Anurag Kashyap because nowhere does he state that he stands for real cinema. You cannot blame him for exercising his artistic liberty. The best thing about Anurag Kashyap is that through his films he is able to create an ambience that make you become a part of the film itself. So, when you walk out of DevD, you feel drunk and when you walk out after watching Gulal, you carry that anguish he portrays through the characters. The bottomline is that Anurag Kashyap is a thinking director and technically brilliant. His work shows that he is a true blue cinema fanatic. It is only when he tries being too intelligent and experimental with something as abstract as No Smoking that problems surface.

Another problem with his films is the length. A dark film taxes your mind and if it is over 2 and half hours long, you can imagine what you will be subjecting yourself to when you go inside the theater. I refrained from watching DevD and Gulal earlier precisely due to this reason. I finally watched them both over this weekend. That brings me to a pertinent point that I would like to make. You can watch Anurag’s movies only if you are really in the ‘mood’ to. I recently read Anurag Kashyap saying that his films had a lot of unconnected dots and he left it to the viewers to join them. His movies are not the usual run of the mill stuff that you can casually walk through. The result is that despite getting good reviews Gulal might not succeed at the box office.

Veering away from Anurag Kashyap, we come to another strong point of the film and that is the music and the songs. Piyush Mishra (the guy who played Prithvi Bana in Gulal) is the music director, lyricist and singer of a few songs of the film. He is equally important in the context of Gulal. He lends a strong pillar of support to the film through his music that breathes life into the film. Each of the songs is a gem.

The actors cast in the film are also a formidable lot. Kay Kay Menon, Deepak Dobriyal (Omkara fame), Piyush Mishra (Maqbool, Dil Se fame), Aditya Srivastava (Black Friday) and Raj Singh Chaudhary (Sarkar Raj) set the tone for the film and live through their characters. Ayesha Mohan, Mahie Gill and Jesse Randhawa form the female lead of the film and they show that there is space for actresses to perform as well. A welcome change from seeing most of the ‘actresses’ nowadays happy playing decked up dolls and doing item numbers. Another surprise package is the actor playing Rananajay Singh. He reminded me of Irfan Khan in Haasil. This guy exhibits the same level of arrogance and intensity as Ranvijay Singh of Haasil, though the character is far less cunning.

All in all, Gulal is a film that caters to the multiplex audience. Too many profanities would prevent families from watching it and the number of unconnected dots will keep a lot of others away too. The dark canvas would keep off people accustomed to the bright and snowy Swiss Alps as well :)

Watch Gulal if you:

- are an Anurag Kashyap fan

- liked DevD

- like to experiment

- want to spend some time away from the madding world.

- like solving ‘Expert’ level Sudokus

- want to write a review!

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Hindi Films | A Historical Account | Phata Poster Nikla Hero

Blessed with the power to survive a mighty Tsunami, heroes in Indian movies are a privileged lot. It takes a lot of conviction to reverse the order of nature and let one bleed profusely through a nerve wrecking climax of a movie and emerge victorious after beating the shit out of a 100 villainous contrivers. But our heroes do it. And they do it with so much of passion that you at times want to believe that it is possible for a man to survive 5 close range gun shots and then come out raging against the enemies and raze them to dust. The bottomline set for the Indian movie hero is - You hit him, you beat him but you can’t defeat him.

Although all heroes fall under the phylum of an all-conquering breed, there is a major difference between the heroes in Hindi films and their regional counterparts. Hindi film heroes change faces rather quickly to keep pace with the changing times unlike in regional movies where they believe in the power of preservation. Regional movies follow the adage of – “ Once a hero always a hero.” South Indian movie industry, for example, is capable of producing a movie and then its remake 30 years down the line with the same hero in the lead.

Anyways, despite calling myself a movie freak, I find myself severely handicapped while discussing regional cinema. So, rather than being all that judgemental and condescending, I will stay put on the safer bastion of Hindi films and the evolution of heroes there. I will choose actors as my reference point to discuss the era. I could be insanely prejudiced in my views so I expect you people to shed some light through your comments as well:

Ashok Kumar era : The heroes were real people then. They even sang their own songs and didn’t fight a lot. They were epitomes of gentlemen-like behavior and stuck to playing the good guy in what could be called escapist cinema. The World was engulfed in the Great Depression and that reflected in the movies. It is strange but true that in the 1930’s when there was hardly any hullabaloo over ‘female empowerment’, most of the movies were female oriented. Sample these top grossers of the era – Ghar ki Lakshmi, Bombay Ki Mohini, Daku Ki Ladki, Miss 1933, Hunterwali, Kisan Kanya , Bhabhi and the list goes on. Ashok Kumar was the first genuine hero of Hindi movies and with his arrival the scene changed. The movies started to focus more on the hero as the central character and then there was no looking back.

Dilip Kumar era : Dilip Kumar led the trio of Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and himself to emerge as the first super star of Hindi film industry. As the brooding tragedy king, he struck chords with the audience and in the melancholy of the characters he portrayed; he smiled his way to super stardom. The heroes in the 50s-60s remained the gentlemen that they were when it all started and alongside grew another strong class of charatcer called the villain. Villains did exist even earlier on but now they started to get ample screen space. Even though the romantic heroes held sway during this period, movies based on social issues and movies that promoted nationalistic sentiments gained impetus.

Rajesh Khanna era: A very short lived one but important none the less. It marked the arrival of the tantrum throwing superstar whose birthright was to act snooty. Thousands of girls wrote love letters in blood and his popularity achieved enormous proportions before he messed it all up. It was also a time when growing resentment in the youth of the country called for a change in the hero of our movies. The love-dovey roles took a backseat and in came a force that arguably became the biggest superstar that Hindi movie industry ever produced – Amitabh Bachchan.

Amitabh Bachchan era: The angry young man had the backing of two prolific script writers going by the name of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. They were the heroes behind the scene that created the character of Vijay – the representation of the angry youth in the country. This era saw the rise of big blockbusters that captured the fancy of the nation. It was neither escapist nor socially relevant. The movies of this era can be categorized into the larger than life portrayal of situations. There were bandits like Gabbar who wreaked havoc in Sholay, then there was the super successful and wronged hero of Deewar, Trishul and Shakti. Amitabh’s success was so huge that other stars looked a pale shadow of him. Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Shashi Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor did hold on to the second wrung in the stardom ladder in the 70s and early 80s. This period was however accommodating to the alternative cinema that was made on smaller budgets and gave precedence to stories rather than the scale of production. Amol Palekar and Farookh Sheikh who never fitted the bill of a typical Bollywood Movie hero did manage to create a name for themselves during this time.

Dark Age era: 80s was a lull. Amitabh became wayward and dabbled in politics and there was a vacant spot that needed to be filled. Art house cinema gained prominence but it never got the due through commercial success. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri became the pioneers of this kind of cinema but they didn’t taste monetary success. It was a time when not many dared to dream big. It was a ‘flat’ period or rather a downward slope A third kind of cinema that brought in a lot of talent from South India made merry during this time. The standard however was poor. Jeetendra led the charge with a number of south Indian movie remakes. The oft repeated Juhu beach was replaced with Marina beach that had elaborate sets. 251 dancers shook their booty as the macho hero whose major task by the end of the movie was to avenge the rape of his sister/wife/girl friend sang a Bappi Da tune into the ears of his sweetheart – “Tohfa Tohfa Tohfa..laaya laaya laaya”. The successful heroes of this era looked more like caricatures in their Disco dancer clothes or the embarrassing wigs they donned. There was nothing heroic about them. The only good thing about this period was the rise of Anil Kapoor (the longest serving hero in hindi movies) who was rated as a potent candidate to topple Amitabh from the throne. Amitabh helped in the act by giving movies like Toofan and Jaadugar.

Khan era: Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan ruled the next phase of Bollywood Movies. Shahrukh became the most saleable star due to his popularity abroad. These three catered to different classes of the audience. Salman was a hero of the masses, Aamir was the perfectionist who got the thumbs up from the other section and Shahrukh captured the fancy of the NRI audience. With the dawn of globalization, Hindi movies started to see the light of the day abroad and Shahrukh Khan became one of the most recognizable faces. Each one of them stuck to enthralling their own set of audience until ambition did them in. There was competition in everything – be it in shaping up their bods to incorporate 6/8/10 abs, changing their hair styles to suit the characters they were playing or grabbing lucrative brand endorsements.

With the entry of non-Khan stars such as Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan in the fray, it suddenly seems that there is a war of survival at the top. With media having a field day covering the pot-shots they take at each other, the end of the war is still awaited. I can however say it with a level of assuredness that the public mandate is pretty fractured in this regard. With so much of money in the business, there is room for all of them to exist but there can be no clear cut number 1 now.

In the 80 years of his substantial existence, Bollywood Movie hero has managed to build a mammoth clout. From the days when they were called Bhaands to the present day when they are treated like kings, from the obese looking-mustachioed Pradeep Kumar playing Shah Jahan to the perfectly sculpted Hrithik Roshan playing Akbar, the change has at times been dramatic but many a times for the good. The movie hero is revered and accorded God-like status in our land. The aura surrounding him has been left untouched.

So, the next time you see the bruised and battered and almost dead hero taking the long walk to deliver his monologue in the climax of a movie, remember that it is not about some larger than life portrayal having no bearing on reality. The walk is a ritual and an ode to the HERO who has always won.

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