Special 26
It's kind of been so long since I've seen Akshay in a somewhat more serious role. I remember distinctly when I saw him in Khakee in 2004, there was one scene where the spark for his humour just shone, it was just a small gesture, a sense of awesome comic timing, and in that moment I knew that he'd do so well in comedy. Anyways, he or the directors seemed to also cash in on that and for so long the commercialization of his comic timing overruled everything else, including a really intensely deep role. It might be a bit ironic now that this movie Special 26 again reminds one of the general gist of Khakee. Not literally, just the government angle. Anyways, I do not want to go into this any further without becoming a spoiler. I've always been a stolid fan of Akki, Anupam and Jimmy. And they do well in a very solid and intelligent movie.
Main Krishna Hoon
Granted, this is a children-oriented movie. It involves animated scenes of Lord Krishna's life. But, it appeals to me (okay yea yea I'm a kid). Juhi Chawla makes the entire thing worth it, if she weren't in the movie it wouldn't have worked. Perhaps the same can be said for Hrithik's special appearance, because anyone else doing it wouldn't have made the moment as special - he does a good job for the purpose. The little kid, Krishna, is just amazing, not to mention cute. Oh, and Juhi actually sings one of the songs on the soundtrack.
Bol Bachchan
This movie released quite awhile ago, and I'm soo glad I watched it and didn't depend on other people's reviews. If there is anything I love, it's a good laugh, and this movie does that - did that - for me. I've always liked Abhishek just simply because he's one of those guys who's always a prankster and lives to joke around. Rohit Shetty does a really good job banking on that, and it shows: Abhishek won the Stardust, Zee Cine and Screen awards for his role. Again Rohit banks on Ajay's characteristics in putting him in the role of gruff and simpleton village 'Boss', and his "Englishman's English" is hilarious: it literally makes you blink and go WTH as well as just laugh at the seriousness with which it's said. A movie that does a really nice remake of 1979 Golmaal.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
I really do not know exactly why but I LOVE this movie. It works for me. I think the intellectual bits go over the heads of those who go in expecting it to be on par with the usual hindi movie (...and then when a movie does reach that level of expectation they deride it for being the usual hindi movie). And in that Vishal Bhardwaj tries to tread a line that somewhat balances a political satire with a commercial Bollywood film, it might lose out on the oomph if it had remained purely one or the other. But the fact that it does not somehow works for me. Some reviewers complain that it became to mundane on a commercialized level because he injects the usual love story. I like that the love story is there, because what story doesn't have some kind of angle with which love happens? Ok ok, there may be many, but in this case, I think it works. If it didn't happen I would have been restless and furious maybe. The way it works up to the moment of reckoning, the citation from Shakespeare thrills me because, well I'm a Shakey nerd. "What were you doing in there?!" "Reading Shakespeare" *silence* "William." Reminds anyone of VB's ode to Shakey, Omkara?
And as to the political aspect: the mindgames in trying to outdo the other side - reminding me of chess. If there was anything that kept the movie going it was that factor: trying to realize what the next step would be in trying to set the other side into a checkmate. Imran, though so many people say he cannot act, because he's too self-contained, or blank, or whatever...that's what works here. His innate nonchalance is what oozes out of the character he's meant to be. It induces that essence of Buddhism which is referred to in very subtle bits, (such as the books he owns, shown when he's packing up his stuff)-- again tying to his Communist credo.
Anyways, I'm sure I can go on and I'd even take the movie down for another few watches to be able to really analyse the themes and motifs. But I'll just end this now.
