chhota bheem and the throne of bali

        Poor imagination, sick story line, absolute ignorance of the children psychology,  a totally filthy story with goriest and poorest of all the characters ever created in the history of animation. To add to this, some typical old-Bollywood style slapstick's,melodrama, and group dances;and all of these were created on the screen with absolute primitive of the animation techniques.  One would never stop cursing for that two forgettable hours those were spent in extreme agony watching those sick characters performing on the screen, especially when some one's ill-fated enough to subject his or her  little one to all such unsuitable visuals.

Being an avid fan an of Animated movies, I think I have what it takes to criticize this movie.  I have watched almost all of Walt Disney's creations right from the very old, Snowhite and seven dwarfs (1937) and always admired their works.Almost hundred years has passed and its pathetic to see where the 'Indian animated movie' (definitely not about the  Indian's animation skills; they do pretty well for their foreign clients)  stands in terms of story line, characterization, and above all animation itself.  Trust me, I haven't had  expected a 'Miyasaki' perfection to a movie like this one. But, as its a movie that was released in theaters,there was nothing wrong in expecting something,which could come close the word 'OK'.

 'Chotta Bheem and the throne of Bali' is one of the sickest animation  movies ever created in the history of animation.  Its not the theme or story line that make a movie unsuitable for children its the treatment that matters. For example. Miyasaki's Spirited away, Henry Selick's Coraline, Walt disney's own, Monster's Inc; all dealt with Monster/devil/black magic stories,  but they were all 'class' ;thanks to the beauty of their characters and the overall treatment;  and alas, they were all  suitable for children.

Creators of Chotta Bheem possess nothing but the greed for quick money and as their character Chotta Bheem has already established in India as a super brand, they assume the best way is to do that, is to make something quick,  add some Bollywood style songs to it, market it hard with cute looking posters and cheat the parent of the Indian children shamelessly. Their merchandise is already doing great in the market in form of water bottles, school bags and what not. Thanks to our second largest population in the world, new found buying power of IT employees in metro cities, anything sell in our country.

'Chota Bheem' as a character was afresh when introduced; all those 'Village', 'Laddu', simple costumes all worked well initially. But, as the team went dry with lack of ideas,  they started churning out idiotic 'wrote-in-a-minute' stories for children who were glued to the TV Set waiting for their favorite character to appear on the screen. But for TV, they still can be accepted. People don't pay for it, and there is something called 'remote controller' to move away from all those stupid, repeated scenes again and again. But, a movie in a theater is a different story, People shell out their hard earned money for couple of hours of good time for their beloved children and they shouldn't feel looted.

Its a shame; and its robbery; Mr Rajeev Chilaka  (a Product of Osmania University of Hyderabad) should consider movie making in 'Telugu' for spice loving folks of his, and leave the innocent children alone.

I just cant help wondering;  What could be the up coming titles of Chotta Bheem? 'Chotta Bheem and the gangs of wasseypur', or 'Chotta Bheem and the shoot out at Lokhandwala'?

'Bin-Jip'

Just watched 3-iron,(Bin-Jip)  the 2004 Korean art house movie by the celebrated director Kim ki-duk. This movie had won dozens of international awards including best director award at the Venice Film Festival. At this point,I have no idea how many times I am going to watch it again.Its the sheer beauty of magic realism, the beauty of not knowing the reality from the fantasy, and the beauty of absolute silence that qualifies to reach the level of tranquility at times,that make this movie a class.  It was an amazing cinema experience in a midnight, and I couldn't ask for more.

The Plot is about a lonely man who breaks into other's apartments when they are away, to live a night or two after which he silently leaves, but only after fixing some broken articles as a thanks giving gesture for their unintended hospitality.His strange ways, life and his passion for golf, taking a serious turn when he meets a rich man's tormented wife,who elopes with him when he decides to punish the man to save the woman from abuse.  The movie talks about, their relationship, the secret life  they share,which only they can understand, and the consequences which they get to face.They don't speak to each other, but they don't need to, as they talk in silence in most of the time and its this silence that rules their romance and the movie.

(Kim Ki-duk)

'3-iron' is definitely a  modern masterpiece and I honestly regret for wasting eight long years before I finally watched it.

                         ****/******
                           
    It was last night that I saw the movie and blogged about it. Today, I woke up, dropped my child to her school and came back, still thinking about the movie. I feel this is what makes a cinema great. You don't just watch it, say 'clap--clap thank ma'am' and go to sleep and forget about it. A good cinema is that haunts you at least for few days or even for ever. You would see some frames coming into your mind when ever you close your eyes. On my bike, all my way back to home, I was thinking about 'Golf'. The game of Golf was used as one of the recurring imageries in the movie, You also see, a Motor bike,  screw driver,weighing machine; But, 'Golf 'scenes dominates. For example he uses golf to take revenge on some one.  I was wondering, why 'golf'?. I think, golf represents plan, speed, power, and above all a 'ruthless execution' to hit the target. But its not only these features of golf that makes it being used here. I think, golf also stands for expanding the boundaries and the conquering of far away lands.  In the movie, you see, Tae Suk practices Golf with a ball tied to a hard wire attached to a pole.Sun Hwa often accompanies him in those exercises. I guess, this practice shows his attitude to be with in himself and his secret way of life. He can't just stretch it and set free one day  to lead a normal  life. How ever he hits hard, the ball never flies away, It stays right under the tree after each such executuion. There is one instance, where the ball actually flies out of the pole after a blow, and it badly hurts woman who passed by, in her car. This incident seriously hurts Tae and he weeps in extreme agony. May be, this explains why an extremely skilled,(the movie shows this, when he fixes electronic or mechanical gadgets at other people's homes, in a quick and precise fashion) college graduate to lead such a reckless life. He simply cannot do anything else. Its the territory he is with in, he just cannot expand beyond that. Movie is all about this 'territory' and 'territorial marking' , trespassing other's,  and being punished for it. Like a predator scratching  on a tree to mark it's presence in an unknown territory, he carries a camera with him to take photos of himself before  a certain object in other people's homes. He invades into their privacy, and leaves a deliberate note to show that he was there and leaves silently back to his world.Reading a good cinema is a tough task. you often  end up reaching your own erratic conclusions missing your way through such imageries. You end up assuming things. For example, movie never shows, Tse being killed at the Police station, but it certainly suggests it, with sound effects after a scene were he is being dragged out of his cell by three men. Director confuses you by giving clues about his being free. Tse is shown practicing the art of shadow walking(Sinanju?)  inside the Jail and testing his skills against a rough police man, so that he could escape from anywhere and enter any body's house without being noticed. Also, Sun Hwa's husband receives a phone call about his freedom at night and he eagerly waits for his arrival. only Sun Hwa feels him where all others get to feel is his ghostly presence.Movie shows people from different houses feeling somebody's presence at their home. There is only one word sun hwa utters in the whole movie which is 'I love you' to this ghostly presence which only she could see. Movie ends with a note, 'It is hard to tell the world we live in is either a reality or a dream' and that pretty much summarizes it. I should add that Jae Hee(Tse) and Lee Seung (Sun)had that  beautiful on- screen chemistry and it really worked.

If you haven't seen this, you definitely have missed something.

Ponyo On the Cliff

 This post is because I believe no Miyazaki film should be missed out in here if I had watched it. 'Ponyo' (2008)has got all usual Miyazaki elements, 'Strong feminine' , lush green country(sea) side, Innocent childhood to the minute details including their big mouthed cry/laugher and fast paced movements, a serious liking towards the elements of nature (if it was woods in Totoro, its ocean in Ponyo), and 'spirits' that rule Japanese mythology. But, above all, its the heart that he puts in to his craft that makes his works unique. For example, in the time of extreme CGI, he preferred hand drawn animation with at least 1,70,000 images to produce Ponyo. On Animation front, Ponyo or any Miyazaki movie doesn't offer the CGI built perfection that Disney offers with its own works like 'Tangled' ,but the magic he creates with his pure animation technique is so interesting and so incomparable, that make each of his characters into a cult status.  Compare his works with disney's classics like 'Dumbo' and you would be surprised to find the similarity in the techniques that Miyazaki uses in the modern world. May be this simplicity is what that makes movies like dumbo defy the age. Worldwide adaption of miyazaki movies and themes are the result of his way of simple story telling. There are western critics who criticize miyazaki for poor characterization and they blame he doesn't try to show the real expressions of adults (an over stressed mother is missing in Ponyo, when her husband is in rough sea fighting for his life) but, I believe its more to do with the Japanese culture or their human nature in comparison to the western. Miyazaki celebrates strong feminine side of his women leads, who would wield a sword rather than to lie down and weep.

Hotel Transylvania

Spirited Away

 Lets look on the brief about the hyped up 2012 Hollywood animation movie Hotel Transylvania, "The film tells a story of Dracula, the owner of Hotel Transylvania, where the world's monsters can take a rest from human civilization. Dracula invites some of the most famous monsters..." and, an uninvited human intervention actually creates the story. Now, isn't the plot sounds similar? Yes, Its miyazaki's 'Spirited Away', and Hollywood keeps adapting this Asian genius,who else can offer such complex yet captivating stories for children with such beautiful animation.