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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

THREE CHEERS FOR 3 IDIOTS

Let me start by saying that this one is probably the longest overdue movie write-up, coming to fruition five months after seeing 3 Idiots for the first time and a day after watching it again for the fourth.

My brother came home from work one day and just transformed into the movie's most effective huckster, even threatening us to miss one of the best things in life if we don't see it then and there. So I thought, why not give it a shot?

3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian comedy film first set out to be downloadable from YouTube (for a certain price) by its producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra a year after its release so as to prevent it from being bootlegged. A recent check with YouTube though revealed that only its official trailer, theme songs' music videos, interviews with the main cast and what have you are being posted on the site.(So I guess how my brother got hold of the film's copy is another story.Photobucket) Loosely based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat, it is ostensibly about true friendship, latched on the proverbial "those who are happy are the ones who follow their heart." It also touches on the kind of educational system India has at present, wherein one is "compelled" to be either a doctor or an engineer.

Indian box-office king Aamir Khan headlines this movie as Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chanchad and someone else (spoiler alert!beh). The plot basically revolves around the search for him by his two college buddies Raju Rastogi and Farhan Qureshi (Sharman Joshi and R. Madhavan, respectively), with flashbacks intermittently used (Farhan here serves as the narrator) to tell the significance of finding him.

What really stands out in this film for me is its intelligent way of drawing out hearty laughs from its audience. Not only were the dialogues witty, they were also thought-provoking. For one, in the scene showing the first year students of the fictional Imperial College of Engineering gathered to hear the welcome speech of the college's director and in which the koel bird's life is aptly used as a metaphor for the students', Rancho raises a question that makes the director a little taken aback but does make sense: "Why didn't the astronauts use a pencil? They could've saved millions." This is also evident in this scene where Rancho defines in "a simple language" what a machine is and Chatur (Omi Vaidya) in his to-the-letter answer. But when the former then employs his description of a book by rote, the instructor is caught off-guard.

(An aside: I don't know if someone else has noticed it, but when you take the acronym of the Imperial College of Engineering you'll get ICE, the water frozen into solid state, a befitting metaphor for the passionless approach of the school to teaching engineering.)

This remarkable aspect of the movie is of course not possible if its actors were not able to deliver. I was impressed especially with Khan's rather flawless acting, let alone that he is in fact too old for the role (Google says he's already forty-something). Indeed the success of this movie has been in no small part thanks to the award-winning performances of its main cast, put to good use by its director Rajkumar Hirani.

I am not that oriented with "Bollywood" films, except that I know they are musicals, characterized by song-and-dance numbers. This film of course is no exception. But while at times this singing and dancing stuff of such films tends to annoy me (I do wonder why), the ones in this movie made me sing along; the dancing was fun to watch and the songs were rather catchy.

For good measure, 3 Idiots is thus far the best comedy film I've seen, making me entertained for the whole of its 160-minute run. It's not only long on laughs but is also well-supplied with heartwarming moments, with scenes that hit home. Its message is also not lost on me, that indeed "all is well" and taking our problems in stride will surely help us a lot. And to be honest, it felt like my enthusiasm towards life was replenished after watching the film.

Truly, 3 Idiots is one of the best films to date. While I might not be able to present here an excellent review of the film, I hope it's enough to whet your curiosity and watch it, just like I did.
Sunday, August 21, 2011

JUST A SONG

Just added a "music" element to this blog: an MP3 player at the bottom of the right pane. The song's actually the fourth (I guess) ending theme song on Detective Conan anime series (yeah, I'm still bounded by ityes). The melody for me is so lovely and expressive that even though without the English translation, I can still kind of "understand" its meaning; I can relate to it somehow. Well, anyway, here are the lyrics.

A SUMMER WITHOUT YOU
I'm tired of the hard mornings,
But I'm going to enjoy life
Even when I stumble.
Go and chase your distant dream --
I'll understand no matter how far apart we are.

That half-forgotten, sweet summer day...
How many days have passed since then?
The smiling face I loved,
Spending the days nearby for a while...
Ahh, I wish quietly for the days I can't ever return to.

To the kind person who is far away from me,
The gentle waves that lap against you
Will carry you away...
Because I lost all my memories,
And even my dreams that sparkled like that day.

That half-forgotten, sweet summer day...
One day, it'll return to our hearts.
I felt like I was growing up a little,
As we chose our own different paths...
Ahh, I wish quietly for the days I can't ever return to.

This summer without you remains too vivid...
Your voice, your quirks, they wrap around me.
It doesn't matter that you couldn't put it in words --
Your heart spread out, bathed in the sunrays...
Ahh, I wish quietly for the days I can't ever return to.

Ahh, I wish quietly for the days I can't ever return to.

Here are the original lyrics, if you want to sing along.music

KIMI GA INAI NATSU
Tsurai asa wa unzari suru ne
Tsumazuitemo tanoshiku
Ikite yuku yo
Kuri dasou oikakete haruka na yume o
Donna ni hanarete itemo wakaru

Wasure kaketeta amai natsu no hi o
Are kara dore kurai no toki ga tatsu no?
Daisuki datta ano egao dake wa
Shibaraku chikaku de kasane au hibi o
Ahh mou modorenai toki o chiisaku inotteiru

Ima tooi yasashii kimi o
Uchi yoseteru
Odayaka na nami ga sarau
Nani mokamo omoide o nakushita sei sa
Ano hi no youni kagayaku yume mo

Wasure kaketeta amai natsu no hi mo
Itsuka wa futari no mune ni yomigaeru
Sukoshi otona ni nareru ki ga shiteta,
Sorezore chigau michi o erabu koto de
Ahh mou modorenai toki o chiisaku inotteiru

Azayaka sugiru kimi ga inai natsu
Ano koe ano shigusa ga hirogatteku
Kotoba ni nanka dekinakute mo ii,
Koboreta hizashi ni kokoro ga nijinda
Ahh mou modorenai toki o chiisaku inotteiru

Ahh mou modorenai toki o chiisaku inotteiru


(Lyrics sourced from here.)
Saturday, August 06, 2011

I WANT TO GO TREASURE HUNTING AGAIN

Been hooked on watching old episodes of Detective Conan anime series lately. This is when Kudo Shinichi aka Edogawa Conan turned into his grade schooler's self when men in black connected to a large illegal organization forced him to take a pill.

I have already seen some of the episodes as the series had been aired on a local free-to-air channel. And rather than spoiling the fun by being able to immediately identify who the real culprit is in those episodes, watching them all over again makes it all the more entertaining actually; it is easier to keep up with Conan's deductions and fully understand the tricks made by the true perpetrator of the crime being investigated. Anyway I watch it to enjoy and not to take away from Conan his job, ha ha.

Some are new to me though. There's this Detective Boys Survival Case episode which I really liked. Save for the two annoying greedy treasure hunters, there's not much trouble and no murders at that. The whole story revolves around Conan and the Detective Boys as they go through challenge after challenge in search for the "treasure."

This "treasure" as Conan later finds out is not the (stolen) jewels but the experiences he and his friends had along the way. Amusingly and surprisingly, Conan realizes that the treasure map is made by his father himself.

So, that is like to say "It's all about the journey (with friends and loved ones), not the destination." Now I'm thinking... so am I that rich? Nah, I still want to be "richer."Photobucket

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