Udaan

My rating: 3 and a half stars
Starring: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor and Aayan Boradia
Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) is 17 and has been in a boarding school for a long time. He hasn’t seen his father for 8 years of that time who is essentially an authoritarian. He has been expelled from school for a prank and has been told to go home. At home he finds out that he has a half brother who is 6; his dad married again after his mother passed away. Rohan is a writer, a fact that is scoffed off at by his father. He is forced to work in his steel factory and study engineering. He fights for his life in his own boyish ways. The story is of him struggling with the misplaced authority and finding a way in life on his own.
Anurag Kashyap does it again. With Udaan, he has come up with a refreshing story which is not really unknown to people but still manages to pluck a string somewhere in the heart. The movie is very simple yet equally soulful. The poems recited by Rohan are beautiful and the fact that the actor has good voice only adds to their melancholy effect. The thing against the movie is the lack of synchromization between the story line and the presentation. There are a few scenes which i felt were either incomplete, needed more time or absent altogether. On the whole, a movie which can be watched over and over again just to hear the poetry.
the movie is a definite no-no to be enjoyed in the company of popcorn. it is serious and deepply emotional.

Alice in Wonderland

My rating: 2 and a half stars.
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen, and Stephen Fry.
The story is the same old drag of the good (white queen- Anne Hathaway), the bad (red queen- Helena Bonham Carter) and the ugly (mad hatter- Johnny Depp). The Red queen has taken over the kingdom of Underland by deceit and set the land in total gloom. Alice is supposed to slay a dragon-like creature “Jabberwocky” which is Red Queens pet. During the course of aimlessly wandering about in Underland, Alice comes across Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, the Dormouse, the Dodo, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and various other characters.
The movie was an utter disappointment. I didn’t find the character of Alice to have the impact as it should have had. The dialogues were very few and not powerful at all, rather dull. There have been better special effects in movies. The first half of the movie was especially bland and makes people wonder why they are watching it after all. The only things that I remember about the movie are the performances by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter-flawless.