WTF?!?

Sorry gentle friends, for that rather loud title, but I just saw two movies over the weekend and that is the reaction I was left with after each.

The First WTF?!?. A Bengali movie called 'Antaheen'. After ages, and I do mean effing-light-years, I saw a Bengali movie that was near perfect. On so many levels. Such an impressive line-up of actors and they were all absolutely spot-on. Rahul Bose, who is on my yummy list, breathed the character as did newcomer Radhika Apte, Sharmila Tagore and the delightful surprise package of husband-wife duo, Aparna Sen and Kalyan Ray. The characters were believable, we know people like them in our lives. The music...aah the music! Finally, after the good ol' black-n-white era of Bangla music magic, I wanted to buy the OST, and I wanted to do it immediately, like right after the movie ended. Bravo, Shantanu Moitra...I can understand if you ever win the National Award for Best Music Director for a creative, musical work of art like this, rather than the shamelessly plagiarised 'Pal, pal, pal, pal' from 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai'. The cinematography was astonishingly slick. I mean, I have never seen Calcutta look so beautiful, so warm and welcoming, so ethereal.
As for the sory line, it was sweet, simple and drew us in. I felt like a character in the story, standing on the fringes, waiting, watching, observing...patiently wanting to play my part. In a line, I can say that it's about 'loves and longings in Calcutta'. This is director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's second venture. His first offering was the beautifully crafted 'Anuranan'. There were just two big faults in that movie...Rituparna Sengupta and the end. Here, while he scores a 10/10 for casting, he did it again...he screwed up the end again...big time and in the exact same way he ruined his first movie. When 'what happened' happened, our jaws dropped and we froze for innumerable minutes. The movie theatre clouded over with the collective, disappointed disbelief of the spectators. The WHF?!?!'s were almost palpable and audible. If Mr. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury makes another movie again, and he most definitely should, I would humbly request him to change the ending from what-is-obviously his standard delight. Please make more movies, truckloads of them in fact. Just, don't do an 'Aniruddha' to the ending. Spare our feelings!

The Second WTF?!?. A movie known famously as 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. Angry mobs are going to come after me for saying the things that I'm about to, but I'll be brave and do it anyways. So *gulp*, here goes...I am not a Brad Pitt fan *ducks for cover and waits for the hullabaloo to subside*. Ok, now that the outrage, disbelief, irate tirades and teeth gnashing have stopped, do let me add that after seeing this movie, I can get why the general female and gay population lurve him so. For those two-and-a-half hours, I nearly did too.
People, what a beautifully told story of a tale that could be written in one line -- the story of the life of a man born old and who ages backwards. That's it. That is the story. But what vision the screenplay writer and director have to draw this out into a gripping, moving, visually appealing and stunning work of cinematic genius.
Right. So what exactly were my WTF?!? moments, I hear you ask. Well, they weren't 'moments' so much as wonderings and the 'W' isn't so much as 'What', but rather 'Why'. Will someone please explain to me how and Why-TF Cate Blanchett was not at least nominated for an Oscar? I haven't seen Kate Winslet in 'The Reader' yet and I'm sure she was great in it, so maybe CB's portrayal as Daisy wasn't Oscar-win-worthy, but it was definitely Oscar-nomination-worthy. I mean, nobody can stop talking about Brad Pitt's portrayal 'through the ages', so to speak. Well, CB more than matched up to him, I feel. The second Why-TF wondering is that this lost to Slumdog Millionaire? I mean seriously? Okay, give Danny Boyle the Oscar, yeah sure, I get it. But Best Picture as well? Another Academy decision I'll never understand.

Miss I'm-Too-Big-For-My-Red-Carpet-Stilettos

Dear Ms. Pinto,

You are just one film old. And even then, your role was pretty blink and you'll miss it. And you weren't great even in those few stills. Let's face it, those kids could run circles around you and you'd get all dizzy and faint.

You claim you're all 'international now'? (Calcutta Times, pg.1, Feb. 26th 2009) When were you even 'national', sweetheart? And just what are you implying...that anything 'national' is not good enough for you?

So after Woody Allen, what next? Pink Panther 3?!?

Bad Men and Their Fast Cars

I read with horror about Kiran's experience with some two-bit actor who puffs his chest out and struts around under the name of Gaurav Chopra.

You worthless a#$&*^@!!! Mere words are not enough!!!

SM Did It!!

Hey, you all know that I am not the movie's biggest fan, but that doesn't mean I can't be thrilled. Did I or did I not predicted that it would 'sweep the Oscars'? But love it or hate it, I'm doing quite a happy dance. How can I not?!?

I am SUPER thrilled for A.R. Rahman! I think he's the bestest! The man is a musical genius! Ok, since I am quite good at putting a dampner on things...I don't think SM was his best work, I mean have you heard the soundtrack of Delhi-6??, but be that as it may, I am SOOOO happy he won! I was rooting for him all the way. And add to it the master poet himself, Gulzar! An award winning combination if there ever was one!

Congratulations My. Boyle, on the award! I was all teary-eyed to see the little boys playing Salim and Javed on stage, looking so sweet, innocent and handsome in their tuxedos. As for Irrfan Khan and Anil Kapoor...woo hoo! Quite the mini Mumbai on stage!

A few side notes:
I loved watching Hugh Jackman do his thing!
I loved when Kate Winslet asked her dad "to whistle or something"...and he did!
I loved the fact that Sean Penn won!
I loved watching Hugh Jackman do this thing!
I loved Queen Latifah's tribute to those who have bid the the world of cinema and cinema-lovers, adieu.
I loved the way past winners gave introduced the nominees for this year's awards in the acting categories.
I loved watching Hugh Jackman do his thing!

I got teary-eyed as I watched...
~those who got teary-eyed accept thier awards!
~Heath Ledger's family accept the award in his memory for "The Dark Knight"...truly and richly deserved!
~Azharuddin Md. Ismail and Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, young Salim and Javed respectively, on stage.
~the humanitarian side of Jerry Lewis unfold before my eyes just before he was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
~the tribute to those stars who shine in a different sphere now, especially Paul Newman.
~Hugh Jackman say 'good night'.

I Am an Oscar Junkie...

I LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE The Oscars! I love most award shows, well, not Filmfare, but The Oscars, The Emmy's, The Golden Globes and now, even The BAFTAs.

And I am watching The Oscars right now. Live. And Exclusive. Erm...on TV.

And right at this moment, I am watching the eminently edible Hugh Jackman do a Fred Astaire. I am sweaty all over. Rowwwwwrrrrrrr!!

Last night 'Delhi-6', this morning The Oscars. Life seems goody-goody-gumdrops!

*The title of this post is dedicated to wordjunkie, so that she doesn't kill me for stealing the luscious HJ away from her... ;)

Snippets About My Poppets

~Snippet #1 about Poppet #1
Watching my EO play with the lovely, wooden, Chad Valley train set in Spencer's, I felt he so beautifully captured the time-old cliche of little boys and train sets.

~Snippet #2 about Poppet #1
MaaJanoni and I were talking animatedly in the car today, after picking up the EO from school. In between our conversation, I could hear my little boy singing to himself. The song? "Re Mamma, Re Mamma Re". He's learning it in school. And singing the last line about the danda, he dissolved into peals of laughter! Sigh! They don't make songs like this anymore...

~Snippet #3 about Poppet #1
Lying down on the bed, reading. I hear my EO softly singing a Bengali song that I used to sing when I was a little girl. "Ai Tobey Shohochuri". I immediately started to sing it and his eyes just lit up with sheer joy. He came and stood next to me as we sang our duet together; mant words forgotten, some skipped over, large bits of it just hummed, but the music of the heart played clear and strong in my bedroom today.
***********************************************
~Snippet #1 about Poppet #2
I was trying to get in a ten-minute snooze, when I felt my eyelids being pried open by a pair of very insistent hands. My YO peered seriously into my eyes, saying as sweetly as possible, "Mamma, chok kholo, kholo." (Mamma, open your eyes). As if I had a choice! But we soon turned this into a fun albeit slightly painful (for me) game for the next few minutes.

~Snippet #2 about Poppet #2
My normally undemonstrative little YO came running into my room where I was still trying to doze and threw his arms around my neck. He cuddled into me saying, "My Mamma! My Mamma!" My heart did a big happy dance and I held him really close to me. Of course, I found out soon enough that the little mite was trying to protect himself after giving his his elder brother a bit of a bashing! Ah well! did get some free hugs!

Such is Life,

full of up moments and down. One minute you're floating above the clouds, starry-eyed and all strawberry shortcake. The next, you're free-falling like an ugly bird, shot through the heart and headed straight for the sewers.

The day before. Sweet, oldish lady I was meeting for the first time. "So my dear, which college are you studying in?"
My mental response, "I love you! Can I adopt you as my grandmom?"

Yesterday. Man-friend I was meeting after two months. "Ho-ho! So are we expecting baby number three?"
My mental response, "Miserable vermin, you should talk. You look like you're the living Arnold Schwarzenneger Junior experiment!"
********************************************************
This morning I experienced two more blow-me-up-like-a-balloon-only-to-let-out-the-fart-sounds moments again. I seem to be on a roll...

After dropping my EO off to school, I took my Daddy Dearest to the market for fish hunting and vegetable picking. Yes, I use those words on purpose for that is what the retired Bengali male does...he hunts for the perfect specimen of fish to lovingly hand over to his wedded wife who will, in return, lovingly turn the offering into the famous maacher jhol that the whole of India seems to associate with the Bengali palate. He also spends whole minutes ruminating over the colour, size, firmness and smell of each and every piece of vegetable that he picks up. Wars will start and end, but a retired Bengali man's vegetable choosing will go on for lifetimes.

Besides the point. So, I walked like a good daughter along with him to help him pick and choose and carry, and also to shorten the entire process, if possible. I had a baby waiting for me back home, not to mention a husband who needed to be cajoled out of bed so that he could go out and earn a living. From one side, I heard someone calling out to me to come and inspect his wares..."Oh didi!" Elder sister.
Good, good. Really good. Normally reserved for college going girls and unmarried PYTs. Yes, I felt two inches taller and 20 ks lighter!
A few steps later, another sobji-wallah calls out. "Oh boudi!!" Bhaabi.
Bad, bad. All bad. Usually reserved for fat aunty types with rolls of fat, trying to negotiate their way through the slippery, fish-scale strewn floor, theila in one hand and sari pleats in the other. I felt 2 feet shorter and 20 kgs heavier!

There's no escaping it. Jeans or not; sari or not, I am a fat auntyji. A boudi type!