TOP 10 ROAD TRIP MOVIES OF THIS CENTURY

Guest post by: Arnab Maity

Arnab is at simultaneously a photographer, a seasoned traveler and a software analyst from Bangalore who also delights his readers and photography enthusiasts regularly at his own blog: www.arnabmaity.com His never ending wanderlust has contributed to making him develop a keen taste for road movies. Fly away with him and his list of Top 10 Road Trips of the Century from all over the world, which features a couple of our own Hindi language favorites.

We all love our road trips, don’t we? That orifice to vent out the vapors of our day to day chores, to bring us out into the open, sometimes gifting unusual sights and sometimes making us meet unusual people, who leave a mark throughout our lives.

We all have such road trips in our lives, which had changed many a thing about us and there are many such movies which have inspired us to leave our couches and get onto to the road!

This compilation consists of those movies, which had left us thinking and made us pack our bags, to explore the unexplored and meet the unknown.

Read more>>

LOVING SANJAY DUTT = LOVING KANCHA?

 Guest Post by: Diwali

Diwali is an enthusiastic Sanjay Dutt supporter who has agreed to give us her take on Kancha, Sanjay Dutt's newest character in the acclaimed Agneepath, directed by Karan Malhotra. The Hindi Cinema Blog thanks her for her valuable contribution to more literature on this amazing actor and is glad to leave more detailed introductions to Diwali herself. :-)

 

Okay, for the record and for those who don't know me: I love Sanju. However, I do not call myself a "fan" – I prefer the attribute "supporter" for that is what I do: I support Sanju for better and for worse. Sure, you might point out that I was crazy enough to fly down to Mumbai from Germany for only a two day stay (!) two years ago just because I got an invitation to meet Sanjay Dutt. On the other side, this meeting confirmed my opinions about the human being Sanju (I always cared more for the human being than for the actor) and so I keep on supporting him running my website www.sanjay-dutt.info and my Twitter fanclub SanjayDuttFC for him. Even a series of flops (not undeserved in the case of those mindless comedies in 2011) cannot change my affection for him given that, as I said, the man means more to me than his movies.

When the news was out that Sanju would play the role of the villain Kancha in Karan Johar's Agneepath I got the immediate feeling that this could turn out to be one of his best movies. My confidence grew when I heard that he should go bald for Kancha for this sounded just too good. I guess I should add that I do not belong to those film fans who always want their favorites to look good/dashing/sexy/hot or whatever on screen. I love actors who don't care about how they look in their films and who do not shy away from ugliness if the role requires it. And Sanju is such an actor. He has proved it again and again since his early years in the industry. He never wanted to be a star given that, as he once said, stars fade while actors stay forever.

Read more>>

DON 2 - THE CHASE CONTINUES: Shah Rukh is Back!

  DON 2: The Chase Continues review by Diana (Italian Cinema Hindi Blog)

Rating: *****

Have you been on holiday and have totally relaxed? Have you been enjoying the seasonal festive banquets, oblivious to whatever is happening in other parts of the world? Or have you returned to normal daily life, becoming absorbed in the same everyday boring duties? 

In case you did not know: THE KING IS BACK. 

Drop it all and take the first plane to Mumbai, London or any other place in the civilized world (Fiji, for example!) And without stopping for food, sleep or even calling your mother to tell her you have landed safely, head to the nearest cinema to watch Don 2: The Chase Continues. You will never be the same again.
 

Read more>>

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA -The Ultimate Road Trip

Zoya Akhtar knocks it out of the park with her second film. This fresh and full-of-life movie has breathed new zindagi into Hindi cinema much like Dil Chahta Hai did back in 2001. This delicious adventure takes place in Spain and was beautifully filmed in additional locations such as Egypt and India.

Read more

A GUZAARISH TO REMEMBER - Film Review

I have always been in two minds about Sanjay Leela Bhansali's films which swing between the lavish and the stern... Consequently, I started watching 'Guzaarish' ('A Request') without much expectation. As the first frames appeared with a stunning as always Aishwarya Rai in the role of a nurse who looks like a porcelaine doll with perfect earrings and wine red lips, I confess the Westerner in me thought the film would not reel me in. To my surprise however, I gradually got used to Bhansali's visuals and initially peculiar use of melodrama. Soon, against my initial thoughts, the story, the characters and the subject built a bridge and I found myself gladly weaving my way through a Goan maze of majestic architecture, rainy scenery and questions about life itself. READ MORE >

KITES may fail to impress international audiences

Beautiful looking starrers (Greek god Hrithik Roshan and Uruguayan princess Barbara Mori) and a good-looking supporting cast (Kabir Bedi, Kangna Ranaut), lots of action, a bit of imaginary chilli pepper sprinkled here in the form of Mexican "andele, andele!" and another dash of luxury or US Western locations there and you've got a mindblowing worlwide hit, right?

Well... Sorry to say... No.

'Kites' is likely to be a let down, particularly for Latin American and American audiences who will likely be fed a film that does not really take the trouble to appeal to their cultural sensitivity. A film that focuses on Hrithik Roshan but fails to duly bring forward his talent by an evident lack of script/story will certainly make ladies drool and men make summer resolutions to hit the gym but possibly not much else. READ MORE >>