2 drastically different - and opinions
Last week, I watched two drastically different movies - Flight Plan and Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Maara. The one I liked bombed at the box-office while the other is still running to packed houses. And yes, quite predictably, I didnot like it at all.
Both movies had a lot going for them. If Flight Plan had a seemingly unpredictable and "different" storyline, MGKNM had a 9-time National Award winner directing first Hindi film !! NINE National awards - that is some reputation to live up to. And he manages to make a really different and smart film in MGKNM. The film received a standing ovation at the theater I watched it in - of course, most of them were 50+ - and rightly so. Brilliant performances from Anupam Kher and Urmila - ah, at last one film I like her in - lift the film. Watching hindi movies in US theaters is a lot of fun. When you see US-bred characters mouth something atrocious enough in the name of being "US-returns", it always provides great comic relief. Akshay Kumar in Bewafaa and Rajat Kapur in MGKNM are prime examples.
Jodie Foster in a gripping thriller was the word before the movie released. The movie does not turn out to be the edge-of-the-seat thriller the teasers promised. Jodie Foster is excellent, but still not good enough to rise above an ordinary script. Peter Sarsgaard, playing a post-9/11 "air marshall", is very good too. In the end, the movie was more disappointing than anything else I guess. Down the line, in a few years, I might watch it and even like it.
And while MGKNM bombs, FP is still running and breaking a few records too in the process.
Both movies had a lot going for them. If Flight Plan had a seemingly unpredictable and "different" storyline, MGKNM had a 9-time National Award winner directing first Hindi film !! NINE National awards - that is some reputation to live up to. And he manages to make a really different and smart film in MGKNM. The film received a standing ovation at the theater I watched it in - of course, most of them were 50+ - and rightly so. Brilliant performances from Anupam Kher and Urmila - ah, at last one film I like her in - lift the film. Watching hindi movies in US theaters is a lot of fun. When you see US-bred characters mouth something atrocious enough in the name of being "US-returns", it always provides great comic relief. Akshay Kumar in Bewafaa and Rajat Kapur in MGKNM are prime examples.
Jodie Foster in a gripping thriller was the word before the movie released. The movie does not turn out to be the edge-of-the-seat thriller the teasers promised. Jodie Foster is excellent, but still not good enough to rise above an ordinary script. Peter Sarsgaard, playing a post-9/11 "air marshall", is very good too. In the end, the movie was more disappointing than anything else I guess. Down the line, in a few years, I might watch it and even like it.
And while MGKNM bombs, FP is still running and breaking a few records too in the process.