OPT: Bhool Bulaiyya Movie Review
Oct 24, 2007.
Wednesday.
Perfect day to go on OPT. After all, its the 'official OPT Day - Wednesday'.
The timing was also perfect. To watch a horror movie, the best time of the day is close to midnight. Even the 12 km bike ride to the theater was nothing short of 'horror'. Zig zag, sharp overtaking, high speed chase....all this, when its drizzling.
Keeping the tradition, we did start at 9.45 from house for the 10PM show. And we reached almost on time. (Okay, in case Sand is reading, we reached 5 mins late) :-)
The theater was decently occupied. We contributed to a count of 8. I guess, there were some other ppl as well inside the theatre. I wonder why the theater was in such a state, though the reviews of the movie seemed very promising !
Geo and Sha got seated into the Gold Class. While Rat,Bin,Sow,Gas,Sand,Soo found the seats at the ground level (the silver class) reasonably comfortable.
The movie had already started. I tried my best, not to run this 'daemon' in my mind which constantly keeps comparing the original movie 'Manichithra-thaazhu' with this remade version. I believe it is upto the director to take into consideration, the majority of the population that might have already seen the movie, in one of the other languages - Malayalam, Kannada (aapta-mithra) or Tamil(Chandramukhi). Yes, he did make a lot of 'hindianised' changes to the movie. The story takes place in a big palace. And Shiney Ahuja is supposed to be a Raja (he is the hier of the Raja clan). The return of Shiney Ahuja to the palace, after a long time was supposed to keep everyone happy especially Amisha Patel - his childhood friend. Her hopes get shattered, when Shiney comes with Vidya Balan. But no worries, the new girl is welcome to the family. And after a 'rajaabhisheka' , they get into the 'forbidden' building of the palace.
For the initial 30 minutes of the movie, my effort was to try and find who is who (by comparing the Hindi verison with the original Malayalam version). Shiney Ahuja is Suresh Gopi, VidyaBalan is Shobhana, Amisha Patel is Vinaya Prasad, Paresh Rawal is Innocent and so on... The hero doesnt enter the scene till close to interval. And anyways, we all know Akshay Kumar plays the lead role of the psychirartist (played by veteran Mohanlal in Malayalam)
Some parts of the movie were scene-by-scene copy like the pseudo-auto-driving narration of Akshay Kumar, soon after landing into the palace. (BTW, he comes to the palace, not for sight seeing or to meet his old friend Shiney, but to cure a member of the family who has gone nuts)
But there are some changes as well. For instance, the 'kindi' in malayalam becomes 'gotti' in hindi. Both are used with derogatory implications..
What everyone would be interested in the movie, is to find how Vidya Balan has played her role. The part where she sways violently, and dances to the tunes of 'Manjulika' (it was Nagavalli in malayalam).I would say she has done it reasonably well. But the magic of Shobana was definitely missing. Shobana made us feel that she is being forced to stretch those arms, and to turn her head, all in an attempt to dance.. This was not to be seen in Hindi.
Also the sections which were shown in Eastman color(?) wherein the ghost hero and ghost heroine would dance in unison with perfection was shot trickily. Vineeth plays the ghost hero. We all know how good a classical dance her is. And after seeing the shots, we know that the director also knows this :-P
Wherever Vidya and Vineeth are dancing together, the camera tends to (deliberately?) focus onto Vineeth. Even the lights (deliberately??) focuses onto him. And when Vidya dances alone, the camera is placed behind the stair rails, rolling from one end to the other, or with a flower vase in the foreground...what all tricks :-D
Akshay Kumar... well, he does his part reasonably well (again, in comparison with Mohanlal). He gets to show off his acrobatics. And I very well liked it. One of them is during the song 'Alla Hafiz'. He actually jumps from one 'round-boat' to a closely placed another one. Risky, but impressive !
Another one was totally breath-taking. This is when Akshay comes to know that Shiney is being attempted to be killed by poisoning. And the poison is on its way to Shiney, in the form of a hot cup of tea. Luckily, this is one big house, and to get to the dining room from the kitchen, its a two and a half km stretch walk. To add to it, the kitchen is in some upper level. And there is no lift! By the time the tea reaches Shiney, Akshay managed to be in the visible vicinity of Shiney. But one floor above ! He jumps down. Yes, that was Akshay himself. I'm sure. No dupe. Phew! This is what I call dedication !
In total, the movie is an entertainer. Some more focus should have been given to the background score, to bring in more of suspense/horror effect. And the climax shots, where Akshay takes us through, how all this 'unexplained' things like the window pane breaking, the giant clock falling to its side etc should have been restricted to just audio description. Visuals gave a Tom & Jerry look to it !
Not much have been written here about the story. Coz all of us know it! And whoever doesnt know it, would prefer to know it from the movie, rather than thru a blog :-P
Rating: Average
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)
Tail:
1. The best joke was not on screen but from beside. Gasper replied to one of the nuisance maker mallus in the theatre with his unique straight-faced style "Mindaathiriyedaa pattee" (Shut up, you dog)
2. Another nuisance was the 'giggly'. This giggly laughs for anything and everything. If the hero jokes, he laughs. If the heroine jokes, he laughs. Well and good. But if the door opens, what is there to laugh? And if a car stops, do you need to laugh ? Perhaps, we need to re-think on this.. (to laugh or not to laugh!)
3. Got to see the trailer of 'Om Shanti Om' during the interval. I'm already disappointed at the music that has already come out. The trailer adds to the disappointment. To go or not to go, is another re-think topic!
4. During the interval, we wandered out, and happened to see a door left wide open. Chak De India was playing. We sneaked in and enjoyed the song 'Chak Deeeeeeeee.. Oh Chak De India'
:-D
Wednesday.
Perfect day to go on OPT. After all, its the 'official OPT Day - Wednesday'.
The timing was also perfect. To watch a horror movie, the best time of the day is close to midnight. Even the 12 km bike ride to the theater was nothing short of 'horror'. Zig zag, sharp overtaking, high speed chase....all this, when its drizzling.
Keeping the tradition, we did start at 9.45 from house for the 10PM show. And we reached almost on time. (Okay, in case Sand is reading, we reached 5 mins late) :-)
The theater was decently occupied. We contributed to a count of 8. I guess, there were some other ppl as well inside the theatre. I wonder why the theater was in such a state, though the reviews of the movie seemed very promising !
Geo and Sha got seated into the Gold Class. While Rat,Bin,Sow,Gas,Sand,Soo found the seats at the ground level (the silver class) reasonably comfortable.
The movie had already started. I tried my best, not to run this 'daemon' in my mind which constantly keeps comparing the original movie 'Manichithra-thaazhu' with this remade version. I believe it is upto the director to take into consideration, the majority of the population that might have already seen the movie, in one of the other languages - Malayalam, Kannada (aapta-mithra) or Tamil(Chandramukhi). Yes, he did make a lot of 'hindianised' changes to the movie. The story takes place in a big palace. And Shiney Ahuja is supposed to be a Raja (he is the hier of the Raja clan). The return of Shiney Ahuja to the palace, after a long time was supposed to keep everyone happy especially Amisha Patel - his childhood friend. Her hopes get shattered, when Shiney comes with Vidya Balan. But no worries, the new girl is welcome to the family. And after a 'rajaabhisheka' , they get into the 'forbidden' building of the palace.
For the initial 30 minutes of the movie, my effort was to try and find who is who (by comparing the Hindi verison with the original Malayalam version). Shiney Ahuja is Suresh Gopi, VidyaBalan is Shobhana, Amisha Patel is Vinaya Prasad, Paresh Rawal is Innocent and so on... The hero doesnt enter the scene till close to interval. And anyways, we all know Akshay Kumar plays the lead role of the psychirartist (played by veteran Mohanlal in Malayalam)
Some parts of the movie were scene-by-scene copy like the pseudo-auto-driving narration of Akshay Kumar, soon after landing into the palace. (BTW, he comes to the palace, not for sight seeing or to meet his old friend Shiney, but to cure a member of the family who has gone nuts)
But there are some changes as well. For instance, the 'kindi' in malayalam becomes 'gotti' in hindi. Both are used with derogatory implications..
What everyone would be interested in the movie, is to find how Vidya Balan has played her role. The part where she sways violently, and dances to the tunes of 'Manjulika' (it was Nagavalli in malayalam).I would say she has done it reasonably well. But the magic of Shobana was definitely missing. Shobana made us feel that she is being forced to stretch those arms, and to turn her head, all in an attempt to dance.. This was not to be seen in Hindi.
Also the sections which were shown in Eastman color(?) wherein the ghost hero and ghost heroine would dance in unison with perfection was shot trickily. Vineeth plays the ghost hero. We all know how good a classical dance her is. And after seeing the shots, we know that the director also knows this :-P
Wherever Vidya and Vineeth are dancing together, the camera tends to (deliberately?) focus onto Vineeth. Even the lights (deliberately??) focuses onto him. And when Vidya dances alone, the camera is placed behind the stair rails, rolling from one end to the other, or with a flower vase in the foreground...what all tricks :-D
Akshay Kumar... well, he does his part reasonably well (again, in comparison with Mohanlal). He gets to show off his acrobatics. And I very well liked it. One of them is during the song 'Alla Hafiz'. He actually jumps from one 'round-boat' to a closely placed another one. Risky, but impressive !
Another one was totally breath-taking. This is when Akshay comes to know that Shiney is being attempted to be killed by poisoning. And the poison is on its way to Shiney, in the form of a hot cup of tea. Luckily, this is one big house, and to get to the dining room from the kitchen, its a two and a half km stretch walk. To add to it, the kitchen is in some upper level. And there is no lift! By the time the tea reaches Shiney, Akshay managed to be in the visible vicinity of Shiney. But one floor above ! He jumps down. Yes, that was Akshay himself. I'm sure. No dupe. Phew! This is what I call dedication !
In total, the movie is an entertainer. Some more focus should have been given to the background score, to bring in more of suspense/horror effect. And the climax shots, where Akshay takes us through, how all this 'unexplained' things like the window pane breaking, the giant clock falling to its side etc should have been restricted to just audio description. Visuals gave a Tom & Jerry look to it !
Not much have been written here about the story. Coz all of us know it! And whoever doesnt know it, would prefer to know it from the movie, rather than thru a blog :-P
Rating: Average
(Must Watch/Average/Dont Go)
Tail:
1. The best joke was not on screen but from beside. Gasper replied to one of the nuisance maker mallus in the theatre with his unique straight-faced style "Mindaathiriyedaa pattee" (Shut up, you dog)
2. Another nuisance was the 'giggly'. This giggly laughs for anything and everything. If the hero jokes, he laughs. If the heroine jokes, he laughs. Well and good. But if the door opens, what is there to laugh? And if a car stops, do you need to laugh ? Perhaps, we need to re-think on this.. (to laugh or not to laugh!)
3. Got to see the trailer of 'Om Shanti Om' during the interval. I'm already disappointed at the music that has already come out. The trailer adds to the disappointment. To go or not to go, is another re-think topic!
4. During the interval, we wandered out, and happened to see a door left wide open. Chak De India was playing. We sneaked in and enjoyed the song 'Chak Deeeeeeeee.. Oh Chak De India'
:-D
Labels: movie
posted by Rat at 8:23 PM
4 Comments:
"Paresh Rawal is Innocent" your classmate Innocent? ;)
Voila! Is that you, Sheetal ?! How did you land here!! :-P
Yes...I am here to trouble you with my questions again...
I landed here through Praveen's blog :)
Interesting. It was just y'day noon that i thot no news from you. And this comment came as a total coincidence. Very interesting! Now I got to be doubly careful when jotting up something on this page ;-D
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