Thoughts on Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu

Though largely incomplete, Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu (EMAET) was definitely enjoyable for the most part. Having gone in with a ‘is this going to be a What Happens in Vegas rehash,’ I was pleasantly surprised. And more, when it instantly struck a chord, especially in its final moments. 

Borrowing its premise from multiple movies including Wake Up Sid, Udaan, 3 Idiots, Bommarillu and the likes, it sure would have been a bad decision if it retained its original title 'Short Term Shaadi'. The shaadi is the last thing in/from the movie that you'll probably remember. Not going into the wafer-thin premise, one can just say that the debutant director Shakun Batra follows his end message 'Live every moment, don't bother about the future' throughout the movie.

Kareena's Ri act closely follows her Geet character from Jab We Met and probably borderlines Konkana's Ayesha from Wake Up Sid. And no size-zero-ness (Thank god for that!) Imran’s Rahul Kapoor character is almost a replica of Madhavan's role in 3 Idiots. And what's with the obsession of every third movie's male lead character with the camera? It's not that photography is the only hobby for the metrosexual male.

Ratna Pathak Shah is in a completely different role from what she portrayed on Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na where she played Imran's mother too. Boman Irani (Imran's father) has been in very similar roles and I so wish the filmmakers gave this immensely talented actor more diverse roles.

Amit Trivedi's tracks are quite lively, even though they closely resemble the types of tracks that Shankar Ehsaan Loy or Vishal Shekar usually provide for Karan Johar's productions. Aahatein by Shilpa Rao and Karthik, who makes his debut in an Amit Trivedi's soundtrack, is my pick.

If only Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions could get over their obsession of filming in a city in the US. Didn’t their own Wake Up Sid work very well being set in Bombay, oops Mumbai?

Image courtesy: http://media1.santabanta.com/full4/bollywood%20movies/ek%20main%20aur%20ekk%20tu/ek-main-aur-ekk-tu-2v.jpg

Amit Trivedi – Music with a difference

Considering the plethora of talent in the Indian music industry, thanks to the numerous talent hunts, it is not often that a singer or a music composer leaves an everlasting impression on you, in the very first song or album. With A.R.Rahman probably being the only exception who made it big in his first film composition Roja, I am sure many talented composers have come, established themselves after a couple of movies, and stuck on as a few of the reliable music composers before fading away or getting stereo-typed with the same music genre forever.

In 2009, there was a new composer who came with a promise and had a good outing in a relatively less-popular soundtrack in Aamir, which probably didn’t make a name for itself as much as the movie did (Trust me, Aamir has wonderful soundtracks including a great Sufi composition). Amit Trivedi, who calls A.R.Rahman as his god, made his presence felt in the Indian film music scenario with the cult classic Dev.D (an Anurag Kashyap movie that I am yet to watch), and instantly struck a chord with the youth of today with the number ‘Emotional Atyachaar’. The movie had a total of 20 songs in different genre and a majority of them became chart-busters, apart from blending well with the movie and its theme (from what I hear).

A musical journey of Dev.D began with Nayan Tarse, which floored me with just the attitude of the singer himself, following which I moved on the classically rich ‘Paayaliya’, which featured the best usage of the instrument Veena in recent times. ‘Dil Mein Jaagi’, ‘Dhol Yaara Dhol’, ‘Duniya’, ‘Ek Hulchul Si’, and ‘Yahi Meri Zindagi Hai’ had a fresh feel to them, which was probably earlier seen when A.R.Rahman first composed for Roja. And it came as no big surprise when Dev.D won the coveted National Award for the best Music of 2009, after being ignored by most award ceremonies, that relegated it to just a background score, rather than considering it as a complete album.

Amit Trivedi could have been yet another one-film wonder following Dev.D (or a two film-wonder considering Aamir). There were no albums from him for close to 18 months except the soulful ‘Iktara’ in Wake Up Sid and a composition ‘Bombay Bombay’ in the movie Striker. He made a wonderful comeback with the albums Udaan and Aisha in the summer of 2010. While Aisha was a routine romantic comedy with the storyline based on the premise of Emma, it had some immensely likeable music including the evening melody ‘Sham Bhi Koi’, the Punjabi dance number ‘Gal Miththi Miththi’, and a peppy title track. My personal favorite from the album was ‘Lehrein’, which features among my favorite tracks of all-time, for its sheer brilliance with the violin and Anusha Mani’s amazing vocals.

Udaan, as such, is a movie that moved me emotionally, because of its coming-of-age theme, which was very well-accompanied by the soundtrack that featured a gem of a track ‘Aazadiyaan.’ It will be blasphemy if I don’t mention the main strength of the movie apart from the performances. It is its subtle music. Probably the best example for a movie where silence is used as the strongest emotion, and its remarkable how Amit Trivedi underplayed the background score such as to make an everlasting impression on the audience.

At the fag end of the year 2010, Amit Trivedi struck back with another album ‘No One Killed Jessica’, which is currently on my ‘now-playing often’ playlist. The songs Yeh Pal, Dua and Aitbaar have grown on me instantly, while Dilli has been catching up too!

Amit Trivedi, the rightful successor to A.R.Rahman, you sure have arrived, and we just hope you don’t fade away or get stereotyped. Best wishes for a successful long musical career, we sure want to hear more from you!

Wake Up Sid! - A review

For a mind that needed some relaxation and a light movie to watch, I guess Wake Up Sid came as a refresher. Streamed on Netflix Instant Watch, I sat to watch it with no expectations (as always).

The character Sid was so close to relate to, especially with his happy-go-lucky nature and living on dad's money. I sure have done that, and I still am that way. Without having a clue of what to do next, the way he metamorphizes into a slightly responsible guy is portrayed so realistically. One thing that was praiseworthy was that, there was no drastic change in the guy's behaviour, while he begins working; he still is the same kid with some responsibility. A simple story, yet told in a such a beautiful and clean way. The relationship shown between the lead characters was a refreshing change. The college friends were definitely believable, and the best character in the movie apart from Sid and Ayesha, was the mother. A typical mom, who puts up with everything the son does, and greets him with a smile always. The father-son relationship in the end is shown so beautifully, and I guess this was better than the one shown in 'Bommarillu.'

Technically, the film was brilliant - amazing photography, locales, background and the music by the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. I am sure Iktara will be the top-ranked song of the year. Lovely melody and blends so well to the mood of movie. (Just read that Iktara was composed by Amit Trivedi - the genius who composed for Dev D!)

I was not a big fan of Ranbir prior to this movie, but I changed my opinion. He proves that star-kids can be good performers too. He is too natural in the role, and I doubt if anyone else would have suited the role better. Konkana Sen-Sharma is as always, at her best. She sure has a wonderful resume to boast of, and I guess this will be one of the movies in gold.

A movie that Karan Johar and Dharma Productions can be proud of (after their Dostana - which I despise), and something that the debutant director can show off even after 10-15 years, and I guess it will be contemporary.

I wish I watched it in a theater, but I guess now that it is on NetFlix Instant Watch, I will watch it often :)