Theory of Everything

This movie gave me exactly what I expected of it. I knew I shouldn't watch it, but the free ticket was too big a lure. And half way through, I knew I had, yet again, made the wrong decision. The same thing had happened when I watched A Beautiful Mind, albeit to a lower extent, and a few others which I do not even remember any more.

I have an observation. Most of the movies we see today are so in your face. Everything they want to say is out there. Unlike books, where there is a hidden subtlety. Books make you think on their matter, they make you research their subjects. Well, most of them atleast. Why is this so? In my opinion, its so because, unlike books, movies are mass products. So, when you have to lure the billions, you have to have a storyline which is the Least Common Denominator of what everybody can understand. It restricts you - in your story and your story-telling. Well most movies at least, discounting the ones on the far end of the normal curve's tail.

And this is exactly what they have done to Stephen Hawking. A man who has inspired millions. And they got a chance, a mass media, to tell his inspiring story to billions, but they chose to talk about his love life instead. Of course, because love you see is an easily palatable topic which is well understood and has a wide appeal. Which also, by the way, is thanks to the thousands of similarly created predecessor movies which only talk about one of the infinite number of human emotions - love.

You had a chance (the support of a universally reaching media and a huge marketing budget) to inspire three generations of human beings with the story of the greatest living science legend. But the only residue of your vast research is his love story with a woman. You had a chance to inspire people with one aspect of his life, and you chose this one. And dont tell me it is because you had to follow the script of a book, no you chose to follow the script of this one book out of the hundreds which would have been written about him.

Whenever I think of science I end up feeling partly guilty, partly disappointed. Sometimes I feel I left it too early, without any solid reasons for doing so. Something that gave me the kicks as a child, young adult and all the way through to a number of years in my youth, is no longer a large part of my life. Something that I aspired for, had the love and aptitude for and had some very self-righteous plans to pursue, and I let it go without an argument. Well, I guess I ll go back, at least to some extent. Because that is where one ends up doing something worth one's time, not in selling ramen to kids or creating ideas for marketing silly unsubstantial products. Well, there and may be in socially good ideas. So, yes, I ll go back. Let me begin today by restarting to read the Brief History...

Wolf of Absolutely Anywhere!

Ok, I see the wolf, but where's the wall street. If you name it such, I go with certain expectations. Finance and debaucheries, but they have been easily avoided (what with belfort trying to explain ipo and then ending up with all about being rich). The movie might as well be a story of rags to riches and downfall story from any other sector.

Full on masala, drugs, and women, and ship wrecks and plane crashes (and plane crushes). It started off well, (rather in line with my expectations) in the first half and then went plummeting down just like the ship. Infact some scenes were a little too explicit for my Indian palate. Amazing acting (epic scenes), amazing direction in parts with memorable scenes capturing every move of a drunk Leonardo. In parts, catch me if you can, in parts guru.

Dhoom 3

First let me cover what is it that I liked about the movie. The special effects. The scenes, for a change, look seamless despite heavy digital intervention. And for the first time in Hindi movies, 'Double Role' shots and stunts do not look giveaway and funny. Of course, you cant really not like Aamir Khan with his sincerity and hard work. Sets, specifically those of their house and the brothers' backstage work area are good and tend to set the right mood for the film.

Now for general observations, the story seems to be inspired by 'The Prestige' and 'Now you see me' (or so does it seem with my limited movies exposure). And softer aspects from these movies, aspects which fit in well for an Indian audience, have been lifted straight off. Father - son interdependence and bonding. Female protagonist (no matter how superficial her character sketch may, otherwise, be) does recognize differences in her relationship with apparently different personalities. Given that the brothers' expertise was magic, the number of tricks covered in the movie are unexpectedly low.

The story, however, is not as well woven as it could be. And that is surprising given that Aamir Khan was a part of the crew. There were a lot of elements which could have been used to make the story robust and grasping.

All three Dhooms so far have got into the trap of over glorification of their negative heroes. And if you are making a movie in India, you cant really let evil win over the good. So the only two exits out of such a situation is that you either kill the hero (Dhoom 1 & 3) and change him into good (Dhoom 2). If they decide to come out with the fourth edition (and which they very well can and should), may be this formula can be tweaked a bit to bring in some freshness.

The only place were Katrina's character finally got my attention was when she decided to carry forward 'The Great Indian Circus' singlehandedly. Did the director forget that, to start off with, the charm of their show was in having a body double or was their another Katrina in the hiding throughout the past 3 hours?