Supermen of Malegaon (2012) - Documentary Drama

Some movies have “Passion” written all over them – in last couple of months we have seen a couple of them and praised them like anything. I am sure lot of people like me will swear on movies like “Gangs of Wasseypur” etc and will review them again and again to love them even more. This movie has changed my thinking big time of calling myself a movie buff or a movie freak or a guy very passionate about movies and all that – my foot! We are nothing in front of this guy or shall I say these guys – who don’t even just watch movies – they bloody make their own movies and how or what they do – is all there for all of us to see. I can vouch that you would have never seen anything like this ever before and if you call yourself a big movie freak – you’ve gotta watch this one out to know what I am talking about. Hats off to this one man army called Faiza Ahmad Khan of Malegaon, who not only makes his own movies – he lives movies. We are absolutely nothing in front of him – Kudos to this guy and to his whole team who worked so passionately in the movie and what a fantastic final product it is – it had us in splits big time. The sad part is – as in the movie Superman fights with the Tobacco villain – in real life he died of Cancer right next day after the movie got released, but his dream was fulfilled. This is a must watch for all – not to be missed – if nothing else – it will make you laugh big time – especially for those who call themselves “Passionate about movies” this will change the meaning of Passion for you.

Superman and his Girl Friend

Malegaon: It is one of the largest cities of North West Maharashtra based around 300 Kilometers from Mumbai with a population of 12 to 14 lacs. It is on the Mumbai Agra national highway – we always pass through Malegaon whenever we go to my hometown Indore. I had no idea of its existence before I saw this movie and realized what kind of passionate movie freaks stay in there – majority of the population is Muslims and mostly they are into Powerlooms as shown in the movie too. Malegaon came in news big time in the year 2008 for the two bombings in the area killing so many innocent people. They have their own Micro Movie making Industry called Mollywood and they make their own set of movies – mostly spoofs on Bollywood movies with some big names like “Malegaon ke Sholay”, “Shaan”, “Lagaan”, “Doctor” etc. They are all comedy movies made by locals in their own language and even songs. What they like is that the Hero and Heroines of their movies talk right like the local people of the area talk. When they spoofed one of the Bollywood classics Sholay – they made it with a shoe string budget of INR 50K hence the great train robbery sequence was done on a Local bus with dacoits robbing the bus in their bicycles – that will give you a good idea of what kind of movies these guys make – but trust me – they are Hilarious to say the least. you’ve got to check out a couple of them to believe it.

The Villain

Supermen of Malegaon: Its more of a documentary cum drama movie which feels like we are seeing something like a “Making of Supermen of Malegaon”. It gives us quite an insight on the movie and its making, the whole cast and crew too is being interviewed with little snippets of how they make the whole movie. Its very funny to see the whole process and the hard work which goes in the making of a fantastic movie. Hilarious is the way they do the preparation right from the costume, camera, audio, background, cast, hiring, location, songs, dialogues, dubbing, sponsors and in the end you see the final product which is an out and out laugh riot to say the least. The Director is a local videographer who now owns a denim shop for his income and very passionate about movies. He makes all kinds of spoofs on Bollywood mostly and this was his first attempt on a Hollywood movie as with the changing times – he wants to serve something like that to his audience mostly the people of Malegaon. They want to see their own Superman flying over the city and how they do it is the movie all about. It is indeed very interesting to see the whole process – I was shocked to see that these guys are actually pretty advanced to edit the scenes, change the background, dubbing and voice over etc. In reality they have done a pretty good job and made a damn good movie worth 70 minutes. The story is pretty simple as Superman is going through the town on a routine flying expedition – a dude going in an auto rickshaw chewing tobacco spits on his face as mistakenly. Superman chases him and after thrashing him finally comes to know of the villain who is a Tobacco producer named “Dang Dong Ding” and whose only motto in life is to make Malegaon a filthy place, he wishes everyone should just chew tobacco and spit everywhere as his punch line goes like “I Love Filth”. How Superman shuts down his Dang Dong Ding’s tobacco factory and saves his own girl friend from the clutches of the villain is the rest of the movie. He even gets to sing a very interesting song in the movie too with his sweetheart. Check it out guys – I am sure you will love this laugh riot and cherish it for quite a while.

Oh My God (2012) - Drama

Akshay Kumar has screwed his reputation so badly these days that picking up his movies to watch is no less than an adventure. But with Paresh Rawal at the helm of things in this one – I was bound to check this one as soon as I could and I am way too glad that I saw it finally – it was a laugh riot and too damn good on the subject. The best part of the movie is – its too damn true and stays true to its subject – so many times we end up exclaiming “Oh yeah, that’s how it is indeed”. “Yes, it happens”. I even read somewhere that such was the impact of the movie that the usual donations have gone down in religious places after movie’s release last week – don’t know how true that is in reality though. Paresh Rawal is too good in lead with an awesome supporting cast especially Akshay Kumar, Om Puri, Govind Namdeo and Mithun Chakraborty. Based on the life of an Atheist (Kanjibhai – Paresh Rawal) who sues god because his shop gets destroyed in a earth quake and insurance company rejects his claim as “Acts of God” are not covered under the claim – what happens next is a hilarious ride and a fantastic lesson that everyone needs to learn with this one. A must watch for all – it entertains you big time and teaches you something great too. Not to be missed at any cost. 

Govind Namdeo, Mithun and Poonam Jhawer

The Movie: The movie is based on a Gujarati Play Kanji VS Kanji and with a plot similar to an Australian Movie “The Man Who Sued God”. It’s based on the life of one Kanji bhai – a middle class shop owner who sells Hindu Idols and religious stuff to people. He himself is a big time atheist and a non believer, it’s hilarious to see how he gets all those statues and stuff which he calls antiques and sells at a way too high price – playing with the sentiments of religious God fearing people. One fine day he offends a devout Hindu Maharaj in between an on going festival and makes the crowd disperse just to get his son back to home. The Maharaj gets offended and shouts that “God will curse you” and the very next day a very minor earthquake occurs in Mumbai with almost no damage to no one but only to Kanji Bhai’s shop, which gets totally ruined with nothing left intact inside. He goes to the Insurance Company’s office to file for a claim for loss of property but is denied on the grounds that “Act of God” isn’t covered by Insurance provider. Here onwards the movie takes a turn as Kanji Bhai runs from pillar to post to get his claim sanctioned – he tries all the tricks he could to get it but fails big time. He is left with no option but to file a case against God but again – no lawyer would come forward to file such a never heard ever case that too against God. Finally, he gets a lawyer Hanif Qureshi (Om Puri) as he is already discarded in his own society for taking up Hindi cases – he offers to help him by sending notice to God men but will not be able to fight the case in court of law because of his physical disability. Kanji Bhai takes it up on himself to defend his own case in court of law. They do send the notices to all God men like the Hindu Maharaj (Govind Namdeo), Gopi Maiyya (Sexy Poonam Jhawer), their leader Leeladhar (Mithun) and Insurance Company’s lawyer (Hilarious Mahesh Manjrekar).

Prabhu Deva and Sonakshi Sinha (Item Number)

After the first hearing: The case further gets complicated as Kanji Bhai makes a solid case out of his dilemma in such a convincing way that even court has to give him to prove his case to them. The whole crowd – who are out and out God fearing people turn against him and it becomes tuff for him to go out in public with everywhere people lining up to beat him up for filing a case against their Gods. Right then – when he is about to get beaten up – a stranger comes to his rescue – it’s a tacky scene of modern Krishna (Akshay Kumar) who lands from a sky scraper on his bike and rescues him away in style. Finally Kanji Bhai reaches home somehow and realizes that his wife leaves him along with his kids in the wake of all the troubles they’ve been facing because of his case. Akshay Kumar comes over to his house as the new owner and advices him how to proceed with the case. How Kanji Bhai goes on to the court and fights his case – is totally an experience of a life time and an eye opener for the society. Especially to those who blindly follow the religion and priests without knowing any reasons or basis what so ever. The commercialization of religious places, temples, mosques, churches etc. It’s shown in such a way that you end up gasping big time and realizing – that’s actually how it is in our society today. I seriously wondered how our so called “Over Sensitive Censor Board” cleared this movie for a public viewing – hats off to them for this one at least. How he represents his case and even ends up winning it is not only hilarious but damn good. It has a perfect message for the current times and I am sure the audience will understand and make amends too in their life.

Akshay Kumar - Modern Krishna

Fantastic is the way they have shown the true face of society in this movie. How the religious groups take the God fearing crowd for a ride and make so much of money out of it. How they make millions in collections and do nothing for the society and support the political parties for their own motives is totally true. One man’s fight with the corruption in society that too in the name of religion is an eye opener, we all come across these things in our daily life but when its about religion – no one opposes it as we are all God fearing people – this movies teaches us to become God loving than fearing. I myself do not believe too much on God and Super Powers etc yet I do visit temples and religious places for the sheer historical value. I am highly against donations to these places and people – totally liked the way they projected it in this movie and throw more light on it with right reasoning.

The Straight Story (1999) - Drama

I love movies made out of real stories and this one was exceptionally good as its Directed by one of my all time favorite Directors – David Lynch. And let me tell you this – up front that this is one David Lynch movie which stands out from all of his others works in such a way that you would not be able to tell if it belongs to him, unless you already know that it is. You are going to love it – if you have a sibling and you are going to love it more if you have differences in between. You are going to love it more – if you are a born roadie like me – who wants to drive anywhere he goes and not like being driven. This one is based on the life of Alvin Straight, a World War II veteran; his estranged brother suffers a stroke and Alvin goes to meet him one final time to amend their differences before it’s too late. Unfortunately because of his age and bad health – he couldn’t get a drivers license hence he does one final road trip on a Lawnmower (a baby tractor made in 1966), how his journey goes is the movie all about – the ending is one heartwarming stuff – it’s a must watch for all serious movie lovers especially by those who love drama’s in real life. This will blow you out of your minds like it did to me to plan those road trips I’ve been postponing for years thinking whether I would be able to do them or not – if he can do it on a lawnmower – I definitely can do better than that in my car. Do not miss it guys at any cost – it deserves a watch by everyone, teaches you damn good lessons as it goes on.

The Movie: Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) stays in Laurens, Iowa with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek) who is mental disability. He is a very simple down to earth guy who is surviving on his Social Security Check. He has a gang of friends who hang out every day at a bar in town – one fine day when he doesn’t turn up to the bar – a friend visits him and to his horror realizes that he has crashed on the floor and couldn’t get up on his own for hours. With some help they drag him to a hospital and doctor advices to take good rest and do not move much or smoke or drink at all, to which he pays no heed as he is a hard nut to crack anyways. One fine day he gets the news that his brother had a stroke – now he hasn’t met or spoken to him in like last ten years. To mend their differences and meet him one last time – he plans a road trip to Mt Zion, Wisconsin which is 250 miles from his place – that too on his Lawnmower as he has no other vehicle and a driving license to do the trip. He is too stubborn to be driven, doesn’t likes flying or any other mode of transport. His lawnmower goes as far as a couple of miles before finally conking off – what he does with that is a scene to watch out on screen – let me tell you in advance – you will be shocked and will be in splits too watching it happen. Next day – he ends up buying another lawnmower this time a 1966 John Deere Mini Tractor – tows his home made travel trailer with it. How he walks with the help of those two sticks and how he gets down every time from his tractor is something you’ve got to see it to believe it – yet he was determined to do the whole trip on his own without bothering or taking anybody else’s help.

On his way to Mt Zion he meets a lot of people on the way and goes through a lot of hardship but its commendable to see his determination to do the trip and meet his brother one last time before it’s too late. On his way he helps a young girl hitchhiking her way to the next town – she sleeps over in his trailer for the night before going off early in the morning and as a token of thanks – she collects wood sticks and leaves them near his trailer – it was such a heart warming gesture on her part and the way he helps and talks to her is another highlight of the movie. Its gives you quite an insight on his own life with his daughter. He faces quite a tuff time going on the freeway with big trucks moving at fast speed, with rains coming in between – he takes shed at a couple of places before reaching the next town where his motor develops some technical snag and he had to take a break. The people that he meets in the next town too are shocked and amazed by his determination – they all help him repair his tractor, he pays them too with his Social Security check and goes off to meet his brother. The final scene of the movie is another highlight – it had me in tears big time. I missed my own brother who I haven’t met in years – seeing this scene.

I myself have done quite a lot of road trips in last one decade and plan to do so much in very near future. This movie indeed touched me inside out and made my determination stronger for the trip we’ve been postponing for quite a while now – I guess the time has come for me to do it now. Such was the impact of this one – do not miss it any cost – I am sure you will love it – as it has so much to learn from it. Let me know if you have seen this already – what you feel about it.

Cyrus (2010) - Drama

What do you do when you come across a movie with John C Reilly, Jonah Hill and Cute Marisa Tomei in one movie? You do nothing but get a DVD and watch it as you are sure – you’re going to love it – come what may as these guys have played so many characters in the past that we all loved big time. In the recent times - I haven’t still forgotten John in “Carnage”, neither I can even forget Marisa in “The Wrestler” or Jonah from “Superbad” or “Moneyball” to say the least about these guys. This one turns out to be quite a good movie to watch as they all almost play themselves even in the movie. This one too had the backing of great Scott brothers and I was shocked to see the simplicity behind it all. It actually feels like someone picked up a decent hand held camera and shot the whole movie in one go. Still its quite a decent watch and has those laugh out loud moments too. It did made me think hard about those characters too – they are so real life like and the handling is so damn good that I actually felt as if it was all happening in front of me rather than me watching a movie. Watch it – if you like simple movies out of everyday ordinary life. I totally liked it. 

John C Reilly & Marisa Tomei

The Movie: It’s a very simple story of a guy John (John C Reilly) separated from his wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) who stays right across the road from his place and how he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) in a party he was forced to go by his Ex wife. He meets Molly’s son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) too and his life goes for a toss from falling in love again to breaking up – it all happens so fast and in such a good manner that you actually end up falling in love with him as well as other characters. Even the opening scene of the movie is hilarious as John is alone in his house masturbating and his ex wife walks in on him only to be shocked – later breaking his heart further with the news that she is getting married soon. He is forced to go a party with her where he comes across a lot of people who have no interest in him whatsoever till he meets Molly out of a sheer accident – even that scene is hilarious and they fall for each other in no time. Time and again both the leads – John Reilly and Marisa Tomei have shocked and impressed me big time in the roles they have played in so many movies. As I mentioned earlier – they are actually too good and convincing in their respective roles. Both fit in so well in their characters so much so that its hard to tell if they are acting or just sleep walking their daily lives on screen – I am amazed with Marisa specially even at this age – she is hitting 50 – looks so damn good.

Marisa Tomei

Story moves forward with John moving in Molly to her house and meets her talented son Cyrus who wants to be a musician and has already composed some songs – its fantastic to see him perform live in front of John – the music was too good – you’ve got to see that scene to believe it. Cyrus shares a special bond with his mother and is insecure of her past and present relationships hence he ends up screwing them all big time and you realize that’s the reason why she is still a single mother. He again tries to screw it up for John and Molly – what happens next is the rest of the movie. Another thing that I loved about this movie was its simplicity and the way its all shot. As other critics too pointed out – its too amateurish direction – even the camera work is so simple and subtle that all the time you feel like a guy with a handy cam shot it all – even those zoom ins and zoom outs are so life like as we do in all our handheld shot personal videos. The highlight of the movie is the performances by its cast, the three leads and even the support cast was too good. John plays his character so well that he feels like the guy next door yet so good still his life is screwed. I totally loved it and will recommend it to everyone as it will make you think hard, yet will make you smile and laugh out loud on their simplicity, honesty and hilarious situations – and a perfect subtle ending.

Red Lights (2012) - Thriller

While watching a French movie of the same name – I came across this one and was shocked to a movie with two of my favorite actors – Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver totally went unnoticed by me for so long. I must praise Cillian Murphy for an outstanding performance as Assistant to Sigourney Weaver in the movie, this must be his career best performance and would definitely get noticed big time by people. A damn good movie which I would put somewhere in between a perfect thriller and horror, it has those shocking “Jump out of your seat” moments too with solid background score thrown in. Robert De Niro again in a terrific role although not too impressive from his standards but still quite a good to say the least. I am sure the two scenes of him taking off his dark glasses will give you Goosebumps like they did to me. I wonder how dashing Sigourney looks in this one – she is one of those females who impress me with every movie she does. Last we saw her was in a damn good role in “Avatar” and now in this one – she has an equally good role – unfortunately how I craved to see both of them together in one shot but guess that wasn’t the agenda with the Director. Check it out guys – it’s a must watch for De Niro fans for sure and Cillian Murphy is sure to impress you big time in this one. Even otherwise it works as a damn good thriller at least if nothing else. Surely not to be missed.

The Movie: It has a very interesting premise – the one that I totally love with Sigourney Weaver as a University Academic also working as a Paranormal Investigator assisted by a superb Cillian Murphy in both the areas. They are highly against the idea of someone with super or paranormal healing powers and all. How they keep uncovering those people in the initial opening of the movie is too good, it give you a pretty good idea of what you should be looking forward to in coming hour or so. Sigourney is too good – even at that age – she does everything in a style that you just can’t help but love her totally – she still looks damn good to me at least. They keep investigating all the psychics and paranormal activities but she isn’t interested in investigating only one man and his powers and that happens to be Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) as they have a past – because of that she tells Cillian Murphy that the guy is dangerous and they should not be investigating his case. Simon Silver vanishes from public performances for decades before he hits back and as the day of his another public appearance comes close – the audience are totally hooked and look forward to uncover the truth behind his so called powers – right then the story takes an awesome turn by suspicious death of Sigourney Weaver. I felt so sad as I was actually looking forward to some action between them but what happens next and how Cillian Murphy takes it all on himself to uncover Simon Silver is simply outstanding and superb action.

Elizabeth Olsen and Sigourney Weaver

Robert De Niro – He comes in the movie almost after the half time but the little snippets of him here and there with those dangerous eyes are too good to keep your interest alive in the movie – he looks terrific – I am sure I will never forget those dangerous looks of him ever. The antics that he does in the movie are simply stunning and mind-blowing. How the investigation proceeds and Cillian uncovers the truth behind is powers are a thrilling ride. I have never seen this guy in that kind of a character ever – here and there he had impressed me in small roles as a villain but none comes close to the one he has done in this one – totally superb. I am sure he is going to get his due with this movie and will definitely get noticed for his superb work. I love those shocks that the movie gives you – this one reminded me of “I know what you did last summer” a lot as every now and then you get a shock. Like those typical sudden knocking on the car window, weird looking people, terrific background score, car screeching to a halt right before hitting another vehicle, dark rooms, calling ghosts and spirits – it had everything to make it a perfect thriller. Unfortunately, I am sure it did not do too well on the box office as it never came to my notice for last six months of its release. Anyways, I found it pretty good and will definitely recommend it to everyone who likes thrillers.