Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani (2009)

Yes. I actually watched this movie in a theatre. No. I am not gonna say how abysmally uninspired or shoddy the work was. Believe it or not, I liked this film. This was the first all out entertainer which I have seen in a movie screen after M.Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi. Not that all the other movies that I watched in the meanwhile sucked, au contraire, all of them were viewed for a reason. Oh, its a serious drama. Oh, its got Michael Jackson/Johnny Depp/Bruce Willis/Kamal Hassan so on n so forth. Though each of them turned out to be great movies, I went to those movies expecting them to be good. Not so much APKGK. I did not have expectations. In fact, I expected it to be bad. I could predict the story line within few scenes into the story line and the fact that it had borrowed generously from many tamil movies [Kaadhala Kaadhala, Azhagai Irukirai Bayamai Irukiradhu, Aethiri and some Pandyarajan's movies as well], should have contributed to my hating the movie. But interestingly, I enjoyed.

You wanna know why?!! Because I am not a SNOB like you think me to be. Aha! Don't go defensive, saying, no no Saravanan, I did not think so. If you did not, you would not have joined the chorus when I said, wanna know why?? Its in your mind I tell you. I can read you like the morning's paper. Silence! I kill you! [Ach(phlem)med voice]. Seriously, I can enjoy the typical commercial movie as much as the next man and have no intellectual qualms about it. It might be the most literal manipulation of the idea "slapstick" but I am cool with that. Given that a Harlequinade was actually a LITERAL slapstick, they even have history by their side. So what DO I have problems with?

The Pretenders. No matter how great your technology is, if you are gonna make a movie to show how many good foriegn language films you have seen, sorry, I am not interested. That's why Kaminey pissed me off. It was technically sound and the script screamed SMART all over. But there was a general tone of condescension towards the audience, as if, look, I can be better than what I am but I will not be because YOU [the audience] are not smart enough to understand it. oFF.. tat.z the most off putting thing you can see in a screen. If you ask them why, the commercial viability is an excuse. However, they will not be open about it. Its a hypocritical way of saying, I want your money, but that still doesnt change the fact that I think YOU to be stupid... When will the so called new blood moviemakers get their heads outta their asses? You tell me.

DO NOT GET ME WRONG!!! I LIKE SMART MOVIES. I dig every minute of a Dev D and I think it is as good as any of the world cinema it is set against. Its strength, as Kamal says, in it being authentic/ethnic. The more ethnic you get, the more global you become. What I AM against, is seeing a rip off collaged from Tarantino films. So, ya, at the end of the day, I am here to give a quick review of APKGK.

Here.z the lowdown. It was good. Not always funny. But mostly ya. Good comic timing, unexpectedly from Katrina Kaif. Sallu bhai lights up the screen for those two precious minutes he is on the screen. Ranbir shows great potential. The exaggerations are demanded from the milieu of the story itself, and therefore quite forgivable. Acting is overall engaging. Technically, AWESOME visuals. great cinematography marries the beautiful sets near Ooty. Editing is tight and entertaining. Songs are hummable. The Sufi number is good and visually breathtaking... Unfortunately, they don't go well together. SO! Rajkumar Santhoshi gets a thumbs up. We send him home with congratulations, hoping that he doesnt put everything on the wire next time around, hoping that good acting will save the day and makes sure that he gets a really GOOD script before he starts having fun making the movie.