Arike

Just watched the malayalam movie Arike (So Close) by Shyamaprasad.

Now I’ve not been a fan of Shyamaprasad’s previous endeavours. I’ve always felt that while he does have his heart in the right place and knows how to weave in humor in unexpected ways, his movies often skim the surface of what he really wants the viewer to feel – thereby missing the point completely.

Arike however, is good. Languid and unhurried, a summer afternoon movie that let’s you soak in lives that could be just about anywhere in the world, and yet resonate with you. There’s no overt attempt to benefit from the Kerala/Malayalee background (script is based on a bengali short story) and that’s (for me) a huge plus.

There are subtle hints about relationships that are mostly just a scene and a few words: a father whose expectations from his daughter and obsession with fatality narrows down to a man who lives with the fear of having almost lost his raison d’etre: his wife; a guruji who’s compassion towards a beautiful child reflects in his outpouring of joy in her presence – there’s a message there – true spirituality is unconditional love; an indulgent mother who hasn’t been able to make her daughter grow beyond frivolousness perhaps because she is guilty of the same; a boy who feeds on perceived weakness of those around him using them as a channel for his anger at being deprived…

In most movies, not devoting enough time and space to develop the ethos of the characters often makes them seem hollow and unnecessary in the script. In Arike, Shyamaprasad manages to avert the danger smartly, without spending reel and air-time. I would put it to his skill as a director in extracting unspoken words out of the actors and using their body language to the maximum – works beautifully here.

This is not a review btw, and is just my appreciation of the movie, so I won’t belabor on the plot per se. Mamta Mohandas stands tall in her role – strength in softness devoid of feminity. It’s something I didn’t think could be shown on screen, but she does it and how. Muted and yet intense without needing either dialogue or action. There are scenes where she could just merge into the background and yet, the story flows through her. I’ll probably have to watch this movie again to see how that’s done.

There’s Dileep and he proves my belief yet again that he’s an actor who can rise above the crass and comic when he needs to. He’s almost feminine energy in this movie – in movement, words and emotions. The scene where he realizes that the woman he loved chose not to be with him – there’s denial, trauma, a hint of anger, helplessness, and finally a revelation w.r.t what she & her friend meant to him – all in a few minutes. I watched that scene closely because that is something that could easily suffer from a casual treatment and emerge dramatic or worse insensitive – no dialogue can really convey the intensity of the loss if the character was really in love. But here again, the cleverness of the director and the actor scores.

Samvritha: in this movie she’s like little silver bells; pretty, enamored by herself and the state of being in love, and obtuse about everyone else. As a character, there is intentionally nothing that draws you to her – she’s eye candy and that’s it. Maybe there would have been merit in exploring just why she changes her mind at the end, but I don’t grudge Shyamaprasad for his slightly meager treatment of this considering the rest.

Having spoken about everyone else and everything else in the movie, I come to the one reason why I’m writing this post first of all. Vineeth and his cameo. The cameo is crucial only to divulge why Mamta’s character is what she is and even with the first hint of his presence, one could easily guess what follows. But Vineeth bursts through the screen with a presence that is at once magnetic and repelling, and is riveting in the process.

I’m just marveling at how he managed to nail it like this with the brief that he got. Here emerges a man for whom no one else exists in the world but he. And yet, he manages to reach out and make the person next to him feel glorified. You know exactly what he is upto and Mamta’s character, sitting next to him – you know she knows to say no if she wants to, but she doesn’t. His occasional sighs, the shower of abrupt laughter, the inappropriate casualness, breaching personal boundaries without a flicker of worry, and throughout it all, conveying that his lust is the most natural thing in the world. There’s a dialogue that, when loosely translated, is him telling her “I want to make love to you”. It’s said with so much ease that the implication doesn’t even register in the consciousness. Because it just seems right that a man would want to appreciate a woman of beauty and flawlessness with all the love in the world!

Gautham Menon needs to take a page out of Shyamaprasad’s diary on how it’s not enough to have these words in the script for the shock-value but to express it’s real worth (remember Vinnaithandi Varuvaya?)

For me, Vineeth is really the pick of the movie. And as a movie that explores with honesty several facets of love and lust, and makes no attempt to be complicated in the process – I really enjoyed Arike.

Kudos, Shyamaprasad!

My Top Ten Romantic Movies

I was struck with inspiration today morning while listening to the B’lore radio channels, as I was travelling from home to office: Inspiration to post my favorite romantic movies – movies which I can watch again and again, movies which have swayed my heart, made me believe in love, and defined some part of my idea of pure love… and so, here are the top ten ones, in random order (I’ve tried to intersperse the languages though – one English movie, one Hindi, one English again and so on..):

1. Titanic

A very safe choice but also a very personal one…Titanic still takes my breath away, each time I watch it. Beautifully crafted, taut and perfect, the movie leaves no loopholes, and the love between Jack and Rose is almost immortal. Leonardo Di Caprio is fiery, charming yet mature, a man who believes in living every moment to the fullest. Kate Winslet is beautiful, strong, passionate and a woman of substance. Their love seems improbable at first, but after they meet, inevitable. If I were to list favorite scenes, I would almost be rewriting the movie, so for now I mention only these: the look on Jack’s face when he sees Rose for the first time, on the upper deck, Jack’s performance on the dinner table – and him saying “Almost”, when Cal tells him he could almost pass for a gentleman; Rose reading the words “Make it count. Meet me at the Clock”, the flush on her face as she tap dances with Jack, and discovers the free-spirited life she’d been yearning for, Rose coming back for Jack when she realizes he’s not gotten onto the boats, Jack dying trying to save Rose… The last scene is perfect – the lovers are united under the clock, where time and life stop for their divine love – I still get tears when I watch that one.

2. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

Who could be more corny and irritating than Raj in the first half of DDLJ, yet be able to win the heroine and us over in the second half with his undying love and promises, and who could be more endearing than Simran, who cries, screams, shouts, gets sozzled, and yet has stars in her eyes… DDLJ is the atypical romantic movie, one of the best movies Hindi cinema has seen. 5 yrs and still going strong. My favorite scenes would again fill a whole page, but some notable ones I can think of immediately is: Raj and Simran shouting at each other, then having to say sorry, when the other one says “bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti batein hothe rethe he”; Going their separate ways after all their escapades, and turning back to see the other one walking away; Raj meeting Simran in the mustard fields of Punjab – where he’s come to take away his bride; the scene in the kitchen where Raj tells Simran’s mum “bas, samjho ki aap ki hi parchayi honi chaahiye”, and the subsequent look on Simran’s face; them meeting chori-chori chupke-chupke on the terrace, and Simran’s ploys to get Raj to give her food and water on karva chaut, and to avoid Kuljeet put a ring on her ring finger… I think I’m already running out of space .

3. Dil To Pagal Hai

I haven’t seen Silsila and other Yash Chopra movies much, so for me Dil To Pagal Hai is his best. Being into dance myself, Dil To Pagal Hai was a movie that resonated with my being. I watched this when I was in college, and was in DTPH fever for months altogether. I loved it – from the promos, to the songs, to the dialogues to the concept of “someone, somewhere is made for you”. That line has stuck with me the longest, and I have only Yash Chopra to blame for me not finding a mate yet – cos I believed in it . Shahrukh as Rahul, Madhuri as Pooja and Karishma as Nisha. They had it all – the moves, the grooves. The whole movie traces the making of a play, and Shahrukh and Madhuri fall in love as they enact ‘Maya’… and the climax finds them rewinding through all the songs, on stage. Memorable scenes: The tune Shahrukh hums when he’s in the changing room at a store, when he’s going back home after the Valentine’s day party, when he’s delivered a cake to Madhuri’s home and is leaving, when he’s dropped her home and as he’s going back, he hums it and then she realized it was him all that while, the Kathak piece Madhuri does with Shahrukh on the drums, the Arere song (with two pairs of Madhuri-Shahrukh: one in actual life, and the other in love, watching them live their lives, but realizing the strong undercurrent of love between them), the scene after the wedding when Madhuri loses her choodiyan, the dance of envy and Karishma’s almost-green eyes… again running into pages

4. Pretty Woman, The Runaway Bride

I had no choice but to list these two movies together – and that’s only because of the star pair. Richard Gere and Julia Roberts created magic on the silverscreen – fantastic chemistry in the most improbable situations. I was all eyes for Gere and Julia Roberts – never knew why there was so much hype about her smile till I saw these movies. She can only be described as sparkly. Gere is suave and dashing. Memorable Scenes from both the movies: Gere running after his runaway bride, and she in her bridal wear hopping on a (Fed-Ex?) van; Julia coming back to Gere afterwards and the emotional moments in his apartment, with her proposing to him on one knee; In Pretty Woman, Julia going to an upmarket store and them being rude to her because of her sleazy outfit, and then Gere taking her to another one where she’s treated like a queen; Gere coming after her at the end, and climbing up (stairs?) to propose to her.

5. Maine Pyar Kiya

Listing Maine Pyar Kiya after Pretty Woman et al, may seem blasphemous to many, but not for me. I first heard of the movie Maine Pyar Kiya during my summer hols after completing 4th standard in school and going to the 5th. I remember my uncle telling me that it was a ridiculous movie about love. That year, we had a new school bus driver – I remember him very well – devout muslim with a beard, wearing a white prayer cap – although he appeared fierce as a person, in reality he was pretty jolly, always smiling and having a booming laugh. Every day when we went home he would play the Maine Pyar Kiya cassette in the school bus, and I would listen to the song “Mere Rang Mein” – not understanding a single word, but wondering what sort of music it was, because I’d never heard something like that before.
Initially I got tired of listening to the same song over and over again ( I remember each time the song got over he would rewind and play it again ) but then it grew on me. To this day when I hear the song, its like déjà vu; I’m transported to a totally different place. I saw the movie much after I’d heard its songs, and that’s when Cupid struck an arrow in my heart. No, I didn’t have any real life crushes, but I was in love with the movie – the innocence of Suman, and the mischief of Prem, and their dosti. Feelings of romance and love are so strong in adolescence (as my friend The Visitor puts it, probably an effect of hormones ), but however clichéd some parts of Maine Pyar Kiya were, it still ranks as one of the most romantic movies I’ve seen. I got to see it on TV a couple of weeks ago, and I realized I still stick to that.

6. You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle

Double listing again courtesy Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I looovvvee Tom Hanks and I loved his pairing with Meg Ryan. What can I say about both the movies? Just very simply – all you mushy movie freaks out there – watch it. This one’s for you. For months after watching You’ve Got Mail, I wished fervently that I would also fall in love online. I logged onto yahoo chat with my incessant prayers, and the first few episodes of chatting jolted me to ground level, straight from the clouds – suffice to say that there were some unpleasant encounters, and although I did make some friends, I realized I couldl never fall in love without seeing and knowing any person. I guess I realized that movies were far removed from reality. Don’t want to list any particular moments from either of the movies btw, because I was captivated more by the lead pair, and how believable they made the stories seem.

7. Mughal-E-Azam

Anarkali and Salim. A tribute to love, dated back to almost a half-century ago. Re-made in color recently, and since has been playing out on Sony MAX almost every weekend. I never watched Mughal-E-Azam in black n white, so when it released in color, I made sure that I went to watch the larger than life, opulent movie, in PVR cinema’s plush cinema hall, in Bangalore. That was my first movie in PVR . I’ve also watched the movie since then many times on Sony MAX, just because I could never take in the richness of the movie at one/two goes. Sony MAX plays out interesting tidbits during ad breaks – here’s one tidbit: When Jodhabai waits for her son to return from the army, years after he’s left home, there is one shot where a lot of pearls are thrown on the ground – Supposedly that shot was first done with fake pearls, but the maker of the film, K Asif, didn’t like the fact that the fake pearls didn’t bounce after hitting the ground, the way real pearls did. So he actually suspended shooting of the movie for a whole year, till they could accumulate enough real pearls to do that one shot! Getting back to the romance in the movie – I’ve heard a lot of people say that the scene where Salim caresses Anarkali’s face with a feather is the most passionate scene ever devised. I guess that says a lot for the jhatkas, matkas and stripping we see in movies of today. I don’t think any heroine of today can be what Madhubala was then – she was ethereal, so complete a performer. Strong and defiant, yet passionate and devoted, she was a revelation to me when I saw the movie. Her soft, romantic song “More Panghat Pe Nand Lal” song is so different from the classic “Pyaar Kiya tho Darna Kya”. In both songs, the hero sits on a throne away from the heroine; there is no physical contact, and no in-your-face moves at all – yet there was sheer electricity in the scenes.

8. The Wedding Planner

This last one year I must have watched this movie atleast 50 times. Each time its on Zee Studio, HBO or Star Movies, I’ll be there watching it. So much so that I can recite all the dialogues with ease, maybe even show the facial expressions . JLo is the wedding planner par excellence who lives a lonely life with no wedding bells for her in sight, and Matthew McConaughey is the doctor (paediatrician) who knows how to ballroom dance, and is engaged to a rich, adventurous and exciting but skinny woman. Their paths cross, and Mary falls in love with Steve, only to find out that she’s supposed to be planning his wedding. Amazing chemistry, scenes straight out of romantic fantasies, and finally a happy ending. My fav scene is the dance where JLo is wearing an amazing red dress, and Steve and Mary dance with aplomb (I’ve often tried practicing those moves ) while yelling at each other the whole time. And there’s a scene in Mary’s house, when she’s drunk – she’s lying on the sofa and mumbling to Steve, who is roasting marshmallows on a lit candle, and he removes this strand of hair that’s fallen on her face… If there are people out there who’re smirking right now: yes, yes, I confess. I’m an incorrigible romantic. A hopeless case.

9. Bombay

I don’t know whether it was Manisha’s innocent and endearing smile, or Arvind Swamy’s dapper looks, A R Rahman’s eternal music or Mani Ratnam’s impeccable direction that did it for me, but Bombay has always stayed on my mind – as fresh as when I saw it first. The choreography of Kehna Hi Kya (not to mention the song) is just perfect – Manisha – she’s dressed in this white/cream outfit, looking divine - tries to evade Arvind during the whole song (which she is singing in a marriage) but he keeps following her; at times, her step ceases as she sees him and our heart beats cease too. Tu Hi Re (Uyire in Tamil) is a heart-rending song about love, pictured with the sea as a backdrop. Hariharan and Kavita put their heart and soul into the song, and I get goose bumps even when I listen to it today. Finally they fall in love and she, a Muslim girl from a village in Tamil Nadu, runs away from home, to join her Hindu beloved in Bombay. And together, they set up a beautiful life after marriage - have twin children with names like Kabir Narayan and Kamal Bashir, but then their dream-like story is shattered in communal riots in Mumbai, and their family is almost torn apart. There is a piece that Rahman has composed as the Bombay theme – flute and violin. It is one of the most beautiful instrumental pieces I have ever heard in my life; the kind I would expect to hear if I ever go to heaven .

10. Nandanam

Nandanam is the only Malayalam movie I count here, because most Malayalam movies with a romantic track, either have a strong dose of comic timing, or social relevance, or family values. So even though there are many many movies where the romance was special to me, I’m not listing any of them here. Nandanam is an exception, because Nandanam was all about love. Again, Nandanam is a movie for which I can write almost all the dialogues because I’ve watched it so many times. What made Nandanam refreshing was Navya Nair’s portrayal of Balamani – I loved that character. Her chemistry with Prithviraj (Manu in the movie) was also amazing – they were a fresh pair, good looking, and simple – and so was their love. But what made Nandanam so special was not only their love, but the involvement of God in it. I don’t know if I am spoiling anyone’s suspense by writing this here (but what the heck, its been years since the movie’s been released) – Balamani is an ardent devotee of the Lord Krishna, but she’s only a servant in Prithvi’s household. However, her love for the God is so pure that the Lord comes to her in human form, and brings the twists in the story that finally lead to her marriage with Prithviraj. The movie ended with the note that if you believe strongly in any higher-power, regardless of what name you may choose to call it by, that power will make your ardent wishes come true.

There are many other movies that were straining to come into the list, but I opted them out only because I didn’t think the romance was the only significant part of the movie. Also, there are most probably many other movies which I haven’t watched but qualify for best romantic movies - but then I said this is “My list” . So that’s my disclaimer for sceptics

Krrish

This was supposed to be one of the first reviews to come out for Krrish; Unfortunately, I didn't get enough time on Friday to complete it, so I'm posting it today. On Thursday, I was at one of the premier shows of Krrish in Bangalore (cost me 250/- for a ticket), with a couple of my friends – we'd booked the ticket on Monday itself, so that we'd be one of the first to watch what had been one of the most awaited movies of 2006, and for which we'd been waiting with bated breath. In the plush multiplex theatre, as I waited for the movie to start rolling, there were many questions running through my mind.

I had of course read that Krrish is Rohit Mehra (Hrithik in Koi Mil Gaya)'s son, but what I really wanted to see is what sort of superhero would he be in this movie. Would he have the immense likeability of Rohit in Koi Mil Gaya? Would we cheer to see him bash up the villians, and cry when he'd be disadvantaged? Would Krrish really herald the new-age Indian superhero, and would we have Indian kids jostling to get their Krrish Masks, Krrish dolls and Krrish comic books, instead of Superman, Spiderman and all the other foreign men out there? And then, as the movie started, I put the questions out of my mind and settled back comfortably on my chair, hoping that I'd get my 250/-'s worth and maybe much more.At the outset, let me say, Krrish does not really match upto Koi Mil Gaya. The movie is definitely a step in a new direction, and Rakesh Roshan needs to be lauded for trying to achieve something not many directors/producers will even dream of. Superhero stuff is not your everyday bowl of cereal, you know. The locales are terrific (Singapore looks squeaky-clean), the camera work is distinct, the stunts/action are classy – in fact the places where the superhero gets to do his act are really amazing (I never knew Singapore has such mind-boggling structures; and also, it must have been tough work to actually shoot on those structures, and the roads).  And of course, there's the super-hero. Hrithik's looking uber-cool in some of the shots, and he's made a real earnest attempt to portray the unwilling Superhero, who can hop, skip and jump amidst skyscrapers and busy traffic on the road, swim seas, swat enemies as if they were mosquitoes, perform kung-fu style action and yet be child-like, innocent, loving and caring. The positive aspects of the movie stop there though. Hrithik tries hard with his histrionics and with the action, but the script lets him down considerably. I also wasn't impressed by his packaging vis-à-vis his clothes and super-hero look. The dirty vest/salwar he wears in the first half makes me wonder what got into the designer. I mean who wears such stuff in a village anyway? The vest is obviously intended to show off his muscles, but the salwar desperately needs a wash, and is out-of-place, considering his granny (Rekha) is dressed in immaculate designer sarees teamed with expensive shawls of the same color (in fact looking like she's got a makeover, esp. from the Koi Mil Gaya period, where she was in subdued muted tones with minimal makeup). In Hrithik's Singapore tryst, one particularly ugly t-shirt looked like a ladies top – orange with yellow borders – *yuck*. However, the man is good looking, so he forces you to ignore his unfortunate wardrobe. His mask is cool (I'm a little unsure about how he fixes it to his face), but I didn't like the black overcoat. His muscles will put any regular gym-man to shame, and may have women drooling, but I for one, don't care much for rippling muscles, so that didn't add value to my money.  Krrish as a whole let me down. The comparisons to Koi Mil Gaya are inevitable; as I watched the movie, I tried to remember why it didn't keep me engrossed the way Koi Mil Gaya did, and I failed. However, over the weekend, I watched Koi Mil Gaya on Sony Max, and I understood why. Both the movies have different story lines, but Koi Mil Gaya was very fluid and integrated as a movie – had a single purpose, and had some very loveable characters, all of whom were relevant to the storyline. Krrish unfortunately has a lot of unnecessary side-plots and characters that I just wished would get out of the screen. The editing is patchy, and there are evident flaws in the story, which could have been avoided (for eg. the school principal never seemed to have aged). Koi Mil Gaya had a hero we could sympathize and empathize with. His infectious laughter brought a smile to every face, and his tears would have us reaching for the hankerchief. We understood and felt emotionally tied to the guy who was the typical underdog, and unfortunate victim. And when he rose to heroism, we were there, cheering for him, and egging him on. Krrish has none of those advantages. Here we have the hero, a genius at birth, who has more powers than we can count. But instead of him being the archetype of the hero of the masses, he ends up being a whimpering, confused and at times stupid boy with too many emotional hangups, and whose genius IQ levels never grew up with him. Many times during the movie I felt that Krrishna(esp. when he went into the angst mode)'s voice started to sound like Rohit, and he was walking a thin line between the portrayals of Rohit and Krrish. I wouldn't blame Hrithik for it though – it was most likely that Rakesh Roshan got confused which movie he was directing. Or probably he was suffering a hangover from Koi Mil Gaya.  Priyanka Chopra was a huge letdown. Although she's not one of my fav actresses, I however appreciated her spunk in Andaaz, liked her quite a bit in Aitraaz, and could bear her in Bluffmaster. But in Krrish, what irritated me most about her was her overtly done makeup. I don't know what it is with the Indian love-affair with fair skin. Priyanka Chopra and Sushmita Sen are dusky beauties, who've been accepted and felicitated even by international panels where you get the best in fair skin and clear complexion. Yet, in Indian filmdom, they're made to paint/cake their faces with so much makeup to match up to the Indian (and very dumb) perception of beauty. In Priyanka's case, I also think its because she would have looked quite contrast to Hrithik's very fair coloring. But then, so what? Was it better to make her look like she's dipped her face in whitewash, than to retain her dusky beautiful color? In the movie, her close-up shots are unbearable. Priyanka has as her friend, a very irritating Maninee (I know her from Nach Baliye) who lisps, shrieks and is very annoying. Again, I suspect that Maninee is a choice for a friend because Maninee is also dusky and the makers musn't have wanted Priyanka to look darker in contrast to any other fairer 'sakhi'. Priyanka also needs to have another look at her Krrish wardrobe – her clothes were horrific. While Preity Zinta looked so glamorous and beautiful in Koi Mil Gaya, Priyanka looks crass and out-of-place. Her role does nothing to improve her situation, and all she has to do is widen her eyes, scream, look confused or sing and dance – there's not a hint of sophistication in her character, and it would have been better to pass her off as a village belle. The poorly done makeup seems to have claimed other victims – Rekha is another case. In Koi Mil Gaya, she was superb as the harassed single mom, whose life revolved around her half-wit son. I had really appreciated her choice of toned down sarees and neat but distraught appearance in the movie. In Krrish, she's completely made-up (blush on her cheek, deep eyeliner, and lots of mascara and eyelash-curler/falsh eyelashes), and refuses to look like a grandmother, except for the white strands in her hair, and a slight stoop.  All the other characters are badly written and are not even worth remembering (unlike say, Jadoo, Johny Lever and the kids in Koi Mil Gaya). Naseeruddin Shah is wasted, and his villainous act is more comic than scary. There are lots of questionable scenes, and the plot is poorly contrived, and has no suspense at all. Another *very* irritating factor is the amount of product placement in the movie. Each scene seems like an ad for a particular product, and you have product labels flung at your face almost every moment, and prominently so. I just wish film-makers like Rakesh Roshan would have some restrain and atleast try to disguise/minimise the visibility of their sponsorship strategy. Marketing and money seems to be corrupting all creative instincts. Unfortunate. The music in the movie does nothing to salvage its entertainment capacity. Its boring, not very hummable, and doesn't have recall-value. Just barely makes the grade for melody, and is mostly distracting and not well integrated into the movie. So I don't think it is going to help the movie attract viewers. BTW, just for trivia, when I saw Koi Mil Gaya again, I also realized that Rajesh Roshan had used the tune "Aao Sunao Pyaar Ki Ek Kahaani" as the background score for when Rohit is thanking Jadoo for giving him his powers.  Speaking of Jadoo, I also just realized that Koi Mil Gaya not only relied on Hrithik's superb performance but also on Jadoo. Jadoo is the most huggable alien I've ever seen, and probably contributed equally to KMG's success as Hrithik did. Krrish unfortunately has no jadoo… either as a character in the script, or in the story itself. So its your typically over-rated but under-performing sequel. I don't know what will be the fate of the movie at the box-office, but it didn't really please me in any way. Except of course, for Hrithik's superhero antics, which is the only paisa-vasool factor. The stunts are worth a dekko (although they've been definitely seen before) and Hrithik (with his sleek,taut movements) make them believable, and even enjoyable.  I just wish that Rakesh Roshan had toned down on the typical Hindi film melodrama and given more time n situations for the super-heroic stuff, because those are all that are worth watching. Unfortunately Mr. Roshan believes in a super-hero, who has to be first proved as the ideal grandson, ideal son, ideal boyfriend (how clichéd can it get – he even has to bash up goons who 'ched-chaad' his girlfriend) etc. etc. So there are loads of emotional baggage scenes that we're pilloried with, and you sit and twiddle your thumbs through them (since your sympathies lie only with you, and not with any of the characters in the scene) and wish you could get to see your hero doing his flying, running, swimming, jumping acts. Let me also digress here a little bit – one of my friends had an issue with all the things the superhero could do – there seemed to be too many of them. He was a bit of Superman, a bit of Spidey, a bit of Batman and lord knows who else. Come on now. We want Krrish to be the first Superhero. Not the only one, for heavens sake. Anyway, a review full of complaints later, I can only say that it was obviously a good effort, and I still do appreciate Rakesh Roshan for having the tenacity to do a film like this. I only wish he'd put in some more efforts and tied up the loose ends, and gotten a better script (and possibly better makeup men and dress designers), because it would have really been worth the effort then. Now, as I exited out of the theatre screening Krrish, I only felt a little bad that Hrithik had put in so much effort into a movie that could have easily been one of the best, but turned out to be nothing but a children's film with some good stunts.