Of late, much has been consumed in the form of books and movies. Here’s a quick look at which measured up and which didn’t:

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson

When the subject grants you complete access, the information will be insightful and thorough. And Isaacson does justice to a subject who perhaps lived four lives in one.

What comes across is the fact that Jobs was no saint. He wasn’t the best human being who lived. But he was honest in his work (if not his personal life) and a visionary to boot. Isaacson doesn’t idolize Jobs but does a great job of bringing out the human side to the man we have come to idolize.

The detail in the book is fascinating and if anything, it reads more as a thriller than a biography. At the time I was reading this, I had glanced through a couple of other books and there was a 5-hour marathon reading I went through of this book.

One-word review: unputdownable!

Hesher (film)

I normally wouldn’t condone violence. But towards the makers of this disaster, I would. I don’t know why I sat through this ‘coming of age’ film. No one comes of age. All that happened was I aged.

IMDB excerpt says:

A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.

Oh my god. How misleading. Seriously, watch this movie if you enjoy the sound of nails on a blackboard. Or if you love to see paint dry.

Yes, I know that IMDB users have rated this 7.1/10. I’m in the 2.9 category! It’s definitely not appealed to my cultural sensibilities. It’s just f****d up.

Guzaarish. (Rating 2/5) Absolute rubbish. So Sanjay Leela Bhansali continues to live in his own little world. Where the houses are grand, servants are loyal, incomes are nil and lifestyles are lavish. Go figure! There’s a great deal of confusion about the period of the film. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan dresses like she’s just returned from 15th century Spain and Hrithik dresses like he’s stuck in the 1980s. Aditya Roy Kapoor (or could be Kapur) is as pleasing as Shakti Kapoor in Raja Babu. Shot beautifully, the music is average. The story is strong, but the screenplay sucks. Performances are mostly over the top with too much English. Shernaz Patel is a disaster. The sentences of this review are largely staccato because that’s how the film felt.

Udaan. (Rating: 4/5) Stupendous! Rarely does a film with such a hard-hitting subject tug at the heart so much. The story of a broken home where the older son is kicked out of boarding school for a third offence. He returns home to find out that his father – whom he hadn’t met in 8 years – had remarried and has a six-year-old son. Readjusting to life in Jamshedpur with his step-brother, the protagonist Rohan is torn between his dream of becoming a writer and living up to his father’s expectations and demands.

The abusive father (Bhairav Singh), played brilliantly by Ronit Roy, is easy to hate. Constantly insulting Rohan and even his own younger brother, Bhairav Singh is easy to hate. And no, there’s nothing redemptive about him as he decides to marry a third time, this time, “for himself”.

Udaan is the story of flight, of freedom and of growing up. Even when Rohan rebels against his father, he is always restrained. You can almost feel him reasoning within whether he should go the whole hog or stay within boundaries. When he finally does snap, the punch he lands on his father is one that almost makes you cheer.

Also commendable are roles played by Ram Kapoor (as B Singh’s younger brother) and Rohan’s step-brother Arjun played Aayan Boradia. For a young debutante, Aayan’s portrayal of the terrorized son is outstanding. A must-see movie, this is about how not to raise kids.

Now, I don’t want to classify or bracket this movie as an art-house one. It was more than that. But I am still unclear about the precise topic of the film. Was it about a man who rose from the ashes (almost literally) to become successful and lead a full life? Or was it about a man who lived his life to recover his sense of family and then decided that he wanted to end it on his terms. Not mercy killing, not euthanasia, but death by choice. Suicide.

The film is well made with perhaps the best production value I’ve seen in any Marathi film. Amol Palekar and Sharmila Tagore are superb as is some of the support cast (Radhika Apte as the adopted daughter of Amol Palekar stands out along with Makrand Deshpande as the errant husband of a niece).

The story concept is a strong one. But the handling is not. There are far too many parallel tracks and the viewer is eventually lost in a maze of parallels indeed. While Keshav Vaze (Amol Palekar) tries to sort out his current life as the founder-chairman of a Fortune 500 company, he starts to think about life after work. And somewhere (rather suddenly), he has decided to end his life. Flashbacks from his early life are sporadic and don’t help create sympathy or empathy for the protagonist.

Sharmila Tagore plays Shama, Vaze’s true love. Since he left her (inadvertently or due to the situation in his life), she has taken to not speaking at all. Almost. Her bouts of speech are few and far in between, but one is left wondering about the missing drama here. For a woman not to have spoken coherently to anyone for years would mean a major incident has taken place. And it has. But it’s unfolded and wrapped up rather quickly without giving it too much importance.

The screenplay jars in places and eventually leaves you wanting more, but not because the film was so good, but because there’s a lot left unanswered.

The usual small detail one would expect from Palekar’s work is visible but in achieving this, he misses out on the big picture. That of telling one story well.

Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor in a still from Slumdog Millionaire

So everyone, their uncle and his dog have had something to say about Slumdog Millionaire (SM). And not without reason. It is by far the most globally acclaimed Indian-subject film in a long time. And I say Indian subject since contrary to others’ views, I do not believe that SM is an Indian film at all. However, I do believe that with the amount of Indians involved, it is not unusual to feel the excessive affinity that we are currently experiencing.

I haven’t seen the movie yet. I will rush to the preview show tomorrow night if I can get the tickets. But I have been watching some rushes and trailers and I cannot understand what the brouhaha is all about. Especially this dude — some Nirpal Dhaliwal (hu?) — who seems to insist that no Indian could have made a film like SM. Obviously he hasn’t seen Salaam Bombay or the likes as Gaurav rightly points out. What’s he on? And who’s he?

I can even understand Nirpal man’s angst against Bollywood but why take the personal potshots:

Bachchan is no doubt riled, as many other Bollwood no-talents will be, about the fact that the best film to be made about India in recent times has been made by a white man, Danny Boyle.

Add to this another wannabe pseudo-intellectual piece of work in Pune Mirror and you are left scratching your head. Sample this:

…next time first-worlders talk about India, they are going to talk about Slumdog Millionaire. And the first syllable they mouth while talking about our country will be ‘slum’. 

Er, no. It’ll probably be Satyam!

Anyways, to each his own. There are some reviews that do matter to me, though. And these at present offer a conflicting impression. Greatbong doesn’t like it:

I did not like “Slumdog Millionaire”. Or perhaps I should say I was not at all impressed.  Maybe it was all the hype, the Oscar buzz and the “It is soooo awesome” first-person accounts I have heard over the last few weeks that led me to go into the theater with unrealistic expectations

But WOGMA endorses it: 

In a unique setup the movie is so close to real life and at the same time takes you on a fantasy flight.

From what I’ve seen and heard of the movie so far, the music is stunning. Redundant statement, yes, but I just had to say that! And I may actually by a CD after years! I’ll of course share my opinion once I’ve seen the movie tomorrow. It can’t be worse than CC2C or RNBDJ!