MIRZYA

Mirzya is a 2016 Indian Hindi epic fantasy romantic thriller film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Produced by Cinestaan Film Company and Mehra under his ROM Pictures, it stars Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher in lead roles along with Anuj Choudhry, Om Puri, Art Malik, K. K. Raina, and Anjali Patil in supporting roles. The basic premise of the film is inspired by the Punjabi folklore of Mirza Sahiban.^[4][5][6]

Mirzya was released in India on 7 October 2016.

Though the film grossed 9.6 crore (US$1.4 million) during its first week run and has been given a 3.5 out of 5 and Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher did good with their fluid acting, I still think Mehra could have thought of taking up a better story than a two-tiered narrative, which again is very cliched, at least in the present day situation. Ofcourse, there's no denying the fact that it had its own ingrained romance. But it definitely doesn't have the appeal for a second time viewing!

WEIRD! WHO, ME? NAH!

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Lately, I have been doing things; weird things, like watching really weird movies, not that I get to do weird stuff everyday. Aww..isn't this weird? I have written weird five times already! Does this make me weird? Maybe, that could be one reason why I had holed myself up and settled my mind to simply watch some flicks, which were screaming for attention with comic posters.
Gnaw, a 2016 film, was tasteless, with a drab story of killing and gore. They could have made the murders a little more interesting. There was nothing horrific about the film except for categorizing it as a 'Horror'. Why? Does it even have a genre? I thought it pretty much had perfect comic timing! The director must have been in two minds; should I or should I not?..What? Make a comedy or a horror! Yep, Sir Gregory Mandry, I hereby give you knighthood for directing the Best Worst Film of 2016!

I wonder why people are still thinking of making sequels. It's so old school. I mean that if you have watched one of the Grudges, you have seen them all. The same old story. Why would I be scared of the same ghost, in the same make-up, who needs a hair-cut really bad, over and over again? You tried to scare us once, Mr. Takashi Shimizu, with Grudge 1 in 2004, then Grudge 2 in 2006 and I am definitely not going to watch Grudge 3. The scare index has definitely gone up for people like me. You have to make something really really scary to scare the daylights out of me!

Peter Winther definitely made this horror film in 2012 not for adults like me but for kids, who also laughed their heads off at such immature film-making. Instead of scaring us, we were bound to think that it was some kind of fairy-tale, with a witch whose make-up has gone awry.  1 out of 5!

I somehow liked this 2010 horror-thriller Uninhabited, more so for the fact that it could build up a lot of creepy thoughts and feelings. It didn't have any weirdo running around the beach, trying to scare the couple on their holiday. The story build-up was subtle, yet kept me rooted to my chair to watch more. The end was cliched and oh-I-Knew-it kind. A big thumbs up to director, Bill Bennet for a horror film that is going to come to my mind if I decide to spend a holiday on some lonely island! But wished it was scarier! 4.5 out of 5!


So, there see, I went and watched some films back to back, not the usual me! But it's really fun to do weird (there, I go again!) stuff once in a while because we hardly do anything out of context! People around us never allow it and they are always appalled if someone like me decides to do it! So, a 'good girl' like me stays home on a holiday, watches weird movies and writes warped reviews! Hola! 

DIKCHOW BONOT POLAKH

Finally, a movie par excellence! A movie that moved me!
The love, the passion of two lovers, separated by consequences but bound together by a hope, so despairing that there was this gnawing in my heart to actually see them together at the end, which ofcourse was not to be! Dikchow Bonot Polakh is not for regular cine goers, who would rather see some skinny damsel in her miniest best gyrating to some lyrics and a beat only they can associate with!
Sanjib Sabhapandit did great in creating a film that's going to be in the minds and hearts of people who actually made it a point to watch the movie. The story is so much bigger than it probably actually sought to be. It is so much about hope, love and dreams. As tears rolled down my already wet cheeks, I was desperate to compose a poem for my Lover!

I went searching for you
On a cold wintry night
Towards the snow-capped mountains,
Shivering, yet warm with your love,
Around me!
And over the dale
The next morning
Wading through the ice-cold river
With your love sacredly
Wrapped around my waist.
The desert sands stung my feet
But tarried I did not,
As I smiled
At thoughts of you and me
Together, once upon a time
On the hills,
In our home together,
Your love burned a fire
Oft known by few,
And now, I see you nigh,
Just beyond the oceans,
You wave at me and call me,
Your love strengthens me!
I know we will meet!

It has been a long wait, a long search for you, my Love; from when time began and now....this sacred moment..!!

THE SIXTH SENSE

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural horror-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for surprise endings.

Released by Hollywood Pictures on August 6, 1999, the film was received well; critics highlighted the performances (especially by Osment, Collette and Willis), its atmosphere, and twist conclusion. The film was the second highest-grossing film of 1999 (behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace), grossing about $293 million domestically and $672 million worldwide. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Shyamalan, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Osment, and Best Supporting Actress for Toni Collette. (Wikipedia)

In fact, even though I have watched this film really late in the day, which is a trend with me, I basked in the perfection of Night's story-telling. Superbly riveting. Osment's act was absolutely delightful; restrained and a maturity of the rarest kind! And like Wikipedia says, Night indeed gave us a surprise towards the end of the film, which I was not prepared for! 

Night has a rare quality of taking his viewers from a comparatively low relaxed point to slowly leaning forward and then literally sitting on the edge of the seat. Sixth Sense was exciting. Wouldn't  mind watching it again!

TO WATCH OR NOT TO WATCH

Kothanodi was good! Why I say good is that here we have a story-teller, Bhaskar Hazarika, who has shown us that thoughts can be portrayed in a different way, not necessarily the way we want them. By we, I mean the listeners of the story. There was a time when Aita (Grandma) was telling us the stories from Lakhinath Bezbaruah's Burhi Aiyr Hadhu (Grandma's Tales) in a style we wished to hear them. Well, not anymore. Right now, we have a totally different genre of story-tellers who prefer to disrupt our thoughts and makes no qualms about it. Well, we love to go with the flow!
However, having said this, I would have preferred the film to have zero flaws, giving us no scope to discuss about the tiny loopholes the team over-looked. A film is never made by just one person, we all know that. So, the man or the men who should have a keen eye for details should concentrate only and only on those teeny-weeny bits, which a sharp audience can never overlook. For example, for the sake of continuity, the team could have used the same mekhela sador, which was initially shown by the step-mother to Tezeemola instead of the one sans the woven motifs, which Tezeemola carried home after it was gnawed by the rat.
And instead of Zerifa Wahid as the wicked step-mother, I would have preferred someone else. She has done a good job but somehow I would have liked someone who needn't have made great efforts to look and act cruel.
And Adil Hussain could have cut out all the accent for the sake of the film and pick up a local accent instead. Don't we know he has gone global? For an actor to really define his role for the audience, he/she has to come out of that halo of being someone else and be the character he is enacting. I mean, Adil Hussain could have done a better study of his character instead of putting forth an interestingly uninteresting act!
On the whole, a film worth watching, more so for the fact that it had a totally different flavour for movie-goers. Some people were critical about it and the cribbing is still on a high but hey, how critical are you when you watch a Harry Potter film or any of those Hollywood films based on folk-tales? Do you complain then that some of the scenes are not suitable for children? I will not point out just one movie in particular but are the children not watching a lot of cruelty, gore, et al in Hollywood movies everyday? And who is knocking the Censor Board down for that?
....And after all these years of reading Lakhinath Bezbaruah's stories in Assamese and English, we suddenly realise they have an element of cruelty and what have you in them? Why were there no protests since the time the stories were doing the rounds?
Well, we will probably have some answers soon in a debate on whether children should have been allowed to watch Kothanodi or not!

**Just an afterthought: The make-up artist of Kothanodi should have removed the endless number of rings from the fingers of the actor playing the Tawoi (soothsayer)!