Kung Fu - I want that - Panda!

It is not often that you can catch me cursing and hurrying people up on a Sunday Morning. Had breakfast with the parents and the kids at Janata Hotel. 30 minutes to go! I come home and find out that we are not ready yet. Debate on whether I should shower or not. Figured out that a deodorant will cause the illusion. Hence decide to move on. Since no one gets up in Bangalore on a Sunday morning except to go for breakfast at CTR, Janata Hotel, Veena stores or MTR, we made it to the theater in good time. I actually parked on Cunningham road!!! I looked at my watch, 2 more minutes to Kung Fu. This is the movie that my four year old and I had conspired together to go. I let her do all the convincing and she did make papa proud! Can you believe it that she and her sis were up at 7 AM and the first thing she said was Kung Fu Panda!

Anywayz, here we were, to watch a cartoon movie (I guess we should call these animation movies, coz they are soooo not cartoons anymore!). The tale is rather simple, that of a Panda believing inspite of its weight and craving for food, if it believes in itself it can achieve its dreams. Without a doubt the visuals were amazing and believable. I was actually telling my 6 year old that the villian was a tiger (0r a snow leopard as pointed out by a friend of mine) !!! I was quite shocked when I said that but realized that I was sucked in as well. The next 90 minutes was a riot. It was just hilarious!! I honestly did not feel I was in a kid flick. The picture completely engulfed me. Here I was empathazing with the Panda and actually saying you go Po! The best thing that these animation pictures do is that they most probably tape the lines before they animate. Consequently the expressions are spot on. I hope the Desis do something like this.

Kung Fu Panda Rockz...Must see!!

Equs Maximus - Jaane Tu, a tale of two

Watched Jaane Tu today. Saw it without the pressure of being a reviewer or a critic. The best thing about the movie was that it did not take itself too seriously. Never! You do leave the theater with a spring in your step, even if you can't dance sala!

Almost everyone in the movie has a done a terrific job. The best thing about the movie is that it is a director's movie and not someone's launch vehicle. It just happens to be that. Not only was every role wisely chosen, but the cameos clinched it for me. Be it Naseer and Ratna Shah, Kitu Gidwani and Rajat Kapoor, Jayant Kriplani and Anuradha Patel (she is still SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gorgeous!), Paresh Rawal or the Khan brothers. Carefully chosen and well executed. Much has been talked about in the papers on Imran and Genelia. They along with their believable friends do a cracker of a job. So I will not talk about them.

The director did a neat job to execute a simple story. I guess the story is as old as it gets but it is the story telling. Any successful movie or play is always about the story telling. Most of us are craving for something smart and something that we can associate with. This movie did that for me. It had to communicate all things about youth and it did it so well. It really did also remind me of those care-free days and that is probably where I was sold. I loved the directors love affair with the horse. It was there in the dreams and in critical episodes, there will always be a horse running around! He has used that element so well. He has a smart script, great music and controlled the pace of the story very well. The icing on the cake was the last shot. An Intelligent Homage!! May you always be treaded well, Mr Tyrewalla. May you have many more movies in your kitty! God Speed!