Serendipity

For me, movies are not a mere pastime. It is a ride-along, a journey taken together, living life vicariously. Sometimes the line between the real and the reel gets blurred. Sometimes I find it extremely difficult to detach myself from the story and the characters and move on. These are the movies that overwhelm me; they encompass my senses and influence my thoughts and feelings. At times like these movie watching becomes an enlightening and enriching experience; opening the heart and soul to immense beauty. Of the myriad of such cinematic treasures, today I shall talk about one such film which, in a heartbreaking way, brings alive the immortal Shelley quote ' Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts." It is a British film called the 'Third Star', starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the pivotal character James. The enigmatic title is explained in the film when a conversation between the group of friends reveal that James has always misquoted the Pe...

One of my earliest posts was dedicated to Disney's miniature masterpieces, the Silly Symphonies. Short, sweet, sensible, sensitive; not silly at all. In this post, I focus on animation shorts (and not just from the Disney-Pixar stables), another thrilling and stupendous expression of mind-blowing creativity. I list my favorite shorts here, and in no particular order as such. 1. La Luna  Like the inimitable Oscar Wilde said - Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. Our little hero just does that and makes a luminous discovery! IMDB:   La Luna YouTube: 2. Partly Cloudy High up somewhere in the clouds, your bundle of joy is being given life! But, hold on, there are plenty of sharp turns and twists ahead. IMDB:  Partly Cloudy YouTube: 3. The Blue Umbrella Romance on a rain-soaked evening just got elevated to a whole new level altogether! IMDB:  The Blue Umbrella YouTube:        ...

Let's get the fact straight : 'Highway' will probably never make 100 crores - a standard that has increasingly come to signify the pre-eminence of quantity over quality in the Hindi film industry. A quote from a Firstpost article states this fact subtly and so aptly - "Imtiaz Ali's best work till date might also be his least successful film." 'Highway'  lends ample credence to Anurag Kashyap's opinion about Imtiaz Ali. When asked on a popular chat show on telly, to pick a quality he feels Ali has which he doesn't - he (Kashyap) replied, "His Sufi romanticism." I could not agree more. There is an other-worldly quality about this film, as it becomes an ethereal painting, a moving poetry in silence, a riveting testament to human emotions and turmoil. 'Highway' has a visceral quality to it. It is gripping, not in the way of an 'edge-of-the-seat' thriller, but it takes control over your heart, it overwhelms and overpowe...

There was something serene about those ocean-blue eyes and that effervescent smile - they reminded one of a glorious summer day, of azure skies and aquamarine waves, of carefree, happy moments; they gave the assurance that everything will be alright in the end. There was something enchanting about Paul Walker. My introduction to him, though, wasn't through the blockbuster franchise Fast and Furious, through which he endeared himself to millions as the cop with a golden heart. In fact, I had watched Brian O'Connor only once on the screen, in Fast Five. My first Paul Walker moment came at Christmas time, six to seven years back, when I chanced upon this quaint holiday movie - Noel .  He played a New York City cop, and looked supremely dashing. But there was more to it. With much delicateness and sensitivity, he portrayed the emotional turmoil that his character was going through, it tugged at my heartstrings; he didn't occupy a lot of screen time, but he captured my heart...

Now I have two favorite balloon movies - ' Up ' and this amazing little gem that I discovered quite accidentally today morning!   The Red Balloon / Le ballon rouge - IMDB Talk about happy accidents, talk about 'serendipity'! The ending is magical and will forever remain entrenched in the heart.

One of my favourite movies in recent times is ‘The Holiday’ , delectable , fres h and charming .   However, it might have remained just a slightly more sophisticated ‘rom-com’, a few notches above the regular breed had it not been for one of the most unique subplots ever. The heart warming friendship between Iris and Arthur . This little play is treated with such tenderness and finesse that the end result on screen borders on the lyrical.   The conversations between Iris and Arthur are simple yet thought-provoking. And it g ave me a wonderful chance to delve into one of my obsessions - the g olden age of Hollywood. Sample the fol lowing conversation be tween I ris and Arth ur , it's as if my thoughts echo in her questio n to the ageing scriptwr iter, a throwback to Hollywood's glory years . Iris asks - "So was Hollywood really as great back then as I imagine?", Art hur replies with a twinkle in his eyes - " It was better . " And along with Iris, I...

We can make any place our home and make anyone our friend! What a little gem of a movie this is! Like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy morning - it left me with a warm, happy feeling and a big smile! Watching it with friends made it an even more enjoyable experience. It was the probably the perfect setup for such a movie watching experience - far away from the familiarity of home in a distant country and gradually falling in love with it; away from the safety cocoon of friends and family, but forging bonds of friendship with people from all over the globe. In a nutshell, it was a freezing, snowy December evening in 2012. We were this wonderful gang of people in a cozy Stockholm apartment, us Indians (representing a cross-section of our country, hailing from north, south and east), a German-American living in the Netherlands, a homegrown Dutch and a Spaniard living in Hungary! As the wise-crack Chandler might have said - Could it BE any more of a mixed bag?! It was an unforgettable exp...