Author Archive
Ready
Ready is an upcoming Indian comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee, starring Salman Khan and Asin in the lead roles. It also featuresParesh Rawal, Arya Babbar and Mahesh Manjrekar in supporting roles, while Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Kangana Ranaut, Zarine Khan and Arbaaz Khanwill make cameo appearances. The film is a remake of the 2008 Telugu film Ready directed by Sreenu Vaitla starring Ram and Genelia. The music is given by Pritam while the cinematography is handled by P. C. Sriram. The first look of the film was unveiled on 5 April 2011, while the theatrical trailer was released on 15 April 2011. The film is scheduled for release on 3 June 2011.
Plot
THe movie is basically about a happy-go-lucky young man (Salman Khan) who helps lovers in distress. Once he helps a girl escape from marriage mistakingly and later falls for him. How he is able to unite the families of the girl and himself is the crux of the story.
Production
The film was originally to be shot in Mauritius. However on the request of Salman Khan, the location was changed to Sri Lanka. Khan described his decision to choose Sri Lanka as its close proximity to India and its suitable landscape for Indian productions.
The film’s shooting started on 20 June 2010 in Colombo. The first schedule of shooting lasted for over 27 days at locations in Colombo and the neighboring Bentota,[12] during which approximately 40% of the filming was completed. The second schedule of shooting was slated to start in October 2010, but was delayed due to eye problems faced by Salman Khan. The lead actor requested Anees Bazmee to delay the shoot until the condition of his eye improves. The shooting started again inMumbai from November 3, 2010. Portions of the film were shot at Film City in Mumbai and Cherish Studios at Madh Island in the North of Mumbai. During filming, media reports emerged thatAsin had shot for an intimate scene for the film, though the reports were later denied by the actress.
The final schedule of shooting started in February 2011 in Bangkok. According to reports, actors Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt and Kangna Ranaut, who were shooting in Bangkok for David Dhawan’s film, Rascals were called by Salman Khan to become part of the movie. The trio shot for a day and will be seen doing cameo appearances in the film. Arbaaz Khan and Zarine Khan were also confirmed to have shot for small cameos in the film. The final schedule of shooting was completed in March 2011. Two songs from the film, “Character Dheela” and “Dhinka Chika”, which were filmed in Bangkok were re-shot in Mumbai’s Film City studios. According to producer Bhushan Kumar, “the whole [production] team felt that the visuals didn’t suit the song.” The song “Character Dheela”, which features Salman Khan and Zarine Khan in a cameo appearance, is a tribute to veteran actors Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra.
Release
The film’s release date was first set as 27 May 2011 but was later pushed back to 3 June 2011. The theatrical rights of the film for the Indian and overseas markets were sold for a sum of Rs. 55 crore.
Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by Pritam while the lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Ashish Pandit, Neelesh Misra and Kumaar. It was launched on 25 April 2011 at Filmcity, Goregoan, under the banner of T-Series. The album contains four original tracks and four remixes. The item song “Ringa Ringa” from the Telugu movie Arya 2 was tweaked and composed for the film by its original composer, Devi Sri Prasad. The song underwent changes to suit the nativity of North India, an example being the change of “Ringa Ringa” to “Dhinka Chika”.
Sucker Punch
Hollywood movie Sucker Punch is a passion project of director Zack Snyder, who has produced, directed and co-written the story and screenplay with Steve Shibuya for it. It is an interesting fantasy film, which is completely an original flick by Snyder. It has been done with a great in-depth and is definitely a visually stunning film, which is fairly impressive to watch.
Sucker Punch, which has been rated PG-13, has the plot within the plot within the plot. It is a fantasy world within a fantasy world within a fantasy world. It is a mess on many levels and is a fairly hard film to review. There is a main plot very loosely dispersed throughout the movie, but it is so muddled by the other layers that it is very hard to tell what is actually going on.
Sucker Punch is all about how a girl named Baby Doll, who has been lobotomised due to her stepfather’s greed and how she escapes from the asylum. Snyder, who helmed such techno-thrill adventures as Watchmen, lets his imagination run riot again in this ultra-violent potboiler that unravels like an expensive video game. He has worked extra hard to insert high outlook into every single. His brain is geared towards directing and visuals.
The mother of Baby Doll (Emily Browning) dies leaving behind her estate to her two daughters in 1955. But Baby Doll is institutionalized by her stepfather at the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane after accidentally shooting her sister while trying to prevent him from molesting them. He even bribes asylum’s orderly Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac) to lobotomise her before she reveals the reality. She has five days before the Doctor (John Hamm) arrives to lobotomize her. She befriends Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) in the asylum. How she escapes from there along with them with the advice of Wise Man (Scott Glenn) will form the rest of the story.
Zack Snyder has been in his characterisation and has given enough scope to explore its strength. Although all character looks like an angel does not appear to be in real wold, each has its own strength and credibility to make the audience sit back and watch the movie till its end. The director is also successful in tapping out the right kind of acting from all the actors like Emily Browning, Oscar Isaa, John Hamm, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung and Scott Glenn.
Sucker Punch has sound technical elements Larry Fong’s cinematography is excellent. The plot is just something that is there to explain the visuals in the same way that a video game and the camera never stops moving. There is never a scene without multiple things going on and it is hard to follow. It is like watching the world through the eyes of a hyper-active kid. Tyler Bates and Marius de Vries’ music is mind(less)blowing. William Hoy’s editing is also commendable.
Overall, Sucker Punch is a fantasy world. It is a video game and has massive fights, which do look great. Moreover, it has a message that each human being has some tools, but he/she has to decide what is worth fighting for. All the character and scenes are symbolic. It is a mindblowing entertainment and Snyder is to be commended for attempting to do something totally original. It is a visual feast.
Producer: Zack Snyder
Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, Carla Gugino, Oscar Isaac
Music: Tyler Bates and Marius de Vries
Scriptwriter: Zack Snyder and Steve Shibuya
127 Hours
Director Danny Boyle’s much-hyped movie 127 Hours, which was released on November 12, 2010 in US, has hit the screens in India yesterday ( January 26). The Hollywood thriller has got positive review from 93% critics in US. James Franco’s performance has received lots of appreciation from them. Moreover, the movie has snatched several nominations in Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe awards in the categories like best story, best screenplay, best actor and best music. It is a bravura piece of film-making that captures the resilience of the human spirit. Truly! It deserves all these awards.
The film 127 Hours is an action movie with a guy, who cannot move. It is movie made on real-life incident of Aron Ralston and is an adaptation of Ralston’s book ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ James Franco’s acting is the main attraction of the movie. AR Rahman music score, breath-taking cinematography and excellent storyline are its other highlights.
When most of the Hollywood deals with imaginary science fiction, Danny Boyle can not stop himself from making movies on real incidents. In his previous, the director has heavily focused on physical pain, mental paranoia and personal treachery faced by the hero. Now, he has returned with a same subject in 127 Hours too.
The movie is all about mountain climber Aron Ralston, whose remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crushes his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Canyonlands National Park of Utah. Director Danny Boyle re-creates this true story of survival with incredible brio. By using flashbacks, hallucinations and kinetic editing, Boyle transforms a necessarily static situation into a collage in which we get to see a man pondering his imminent demise and discovering whether he has what it takes to save himself.
Aron Ralston (James Franco), a mountain climber, embarks on a wilderness jaunt in a Utah national park without informing anyone where he was going. After a frenetic couple of hours on a mountain bike, he continues on foot and meets Megan (Amber Tamblyn) and Kristi (Kate Mara), who are lost. But in a freak accident, he is literally stuck between a rock and a hard place trapped by his forearm between a boulder and a cliff-face. Over the five six days, with no sign of rescue and his water having run out, the brutal solution to his ghastly predicament became increasingly clear.
Promising actor James Franco has delivered a hair raising performance that matches Danny Boyle’s technical brilliance with a mesmerising depiction of Ralston’s strange internal journey. AR Rahman’s music has also boosted the strength of Boyle’s gory conclusion. The amputation scene is the handiwork of makeup artist Tony Gardner and his team. It is made with medically accurate in every minute detail. Multiple cameras are used to shoot the entire scene. Camerawork is really excellent in this scene.
All in all, 127 Hours has neither a message, nor a metaphorical meaning. It just deals with terrible story of Aron Ralston’s magnificent survival. But it is an exciting, touching and visually compelling film.
Producer: Christian Colson, John Smithson, Danny Boyle, Sharan Kapoor
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Clémence Poésy, Lizzy Caplan, Treat Williams, Kate Burton
Music: AR Rahman