A Saturday...

So after a busy week, Saturday evening was a welcome break. There's nothing like enjoying a weekend of movies, eating out, and especially when you've really had to work hard through the week. 'Work hard, party harder' as they say! Saturday evening was spent watching two movies, and eating out at Bombay Post, a restaurant on Airport Road in Bangalore. We rented DVDs for A Wednesday and Rock On, two movies I'd been planning to watch for a long time. And 'A Wednesday' just had me floored. I do not remember the last time Hindi cinema gave such a hard-hitting, fast paced, taut, thriller of a movie. It's a must-watch! I'll not be a spoiler and say anything about the plot. Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah, are at their best, reprising their parts to perfection. Kher's character, Prakash Rathod, the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai, is a tough cop, efficient and calm in the face of crisis. Watching the movie really made me feel that we need officers like Prakash Rathod leading our police force today - tough, calm, efficient and quick decision makers. The other actors are pretty fine as well, but this movie is only about Prakash Rathod, and an anonymous caller who threatens to blow up the five bombs he has planted in various places across the city. This morning's papers carried a small item about Taare Zameen Par being selected as India's official entry for the Oscars. A Wednesday was in the contention as well. Now I haven't seen TZP, but I really felt that Wednesday deserved the wider audience that it would have got, had it made the cut. For the rivetting performances, for the plot, but most of all for the message it carries. For the thoughts that it spurs in the viewer's mind. Especially in this age, when terrorist bombings have become disturbingly common. Especially in India, which is bleeding through a thousand cuts - Mumbai, Lucknow, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and now Delhi...
The other movie we saw was Rock On, and I don't know whether it was because I saw a movie like Wednesday just a few hours before this one, but honestly felt that it was OK. Well, yes, just OK. The music is fantastic, no doubt. In fact, in music, I think this is a movie which has dared to be different in a long, long time. And it's no small compliment that the music of Rock On featured in Rolling Stones magazine! Only the second time Indian music featured in Rolling Stones. But the movie itself drags at times. I felt that a little bit too much takes place in flashback. And the theme of friends re-uniting after a misunderstanding causes them to drift apart is pretty stale. We saw the same thing in Dil Chahta Hai. OK, the movie is not bad, not at all. But there are times when it left me looking at the watch. And when that happens, well, you know it... Farhan Akhtar makes his acting debut in the movie, and he does a good job of portraying Aditya. The rest of the cast is good as well. I especially liked Purab Kohli in his role, infusing a youthful charm into the movie. Of the leading ladies, Prachi Desai looks really cute. Goswami has also played the role of Debbie nicely. Overall it wasn't a bad watch, but well, it was Wednesday which rocks!!