Smorgasbord Fantasia

Here's a fact: I removed SRK from that pantheon inside my mind a few years back. Since he cannot stop doing that grand-romantic-gesture of his, hands stretched out, upper body bent at the waist with that stupid cocky dimpled grin on his face never wiped off. They kept saying he should learn to play his age and take a leaf out of Aamir Khan's book, maybe play a 'real' character instead of the same old superstar version of himself in every romantic movie. Even Salman Khan has learnt to take a beating ('Sultan') and toned himself down, not playing the Bhai, even trying to emote a bit. So maybe this one's a start; for the legions of disappointed SRK 'fans' to get back to cheering. I truly sat up and was pleasantly surprised at this 'transformed' SRK; Shah Rukh gets his teeth right into the meat of this titular character of Raees, a small-time bootlegger in Gujarat where liquor is of course prohibited, in his latest movie, directed by ...

So it happened again this year.  The yearly pilgrimage where we dutifully buy tickets and trudge to the big screens to pay homage to the King Khan, Shahrukh Khan . His 2014 movie, Happy New Year directed by Farah Khan got released today and Howzah! We were in on the celebrations. First day first show. Literally. 10 ‘oclock on the dot. A 2-day 1200 KM drive back – and – forth from Madurai didn’t deter our spirits. This was a yearly pilgrimage and we would never miss the darshan. Now with Farah Khan at the helm of the affairs, we really weren’t expecting this to fire up our brain synapses. We were fully prepared to leave it at home. We knew it is a heist movie. Not an Ocean’s Eleven. More like a Charlie’s Chalees Chor. You know what to expect. A fun-filled ride. Glitzy songs. Some slap-stick bro-code humour between the male leads. [ Apart from SRK, it boasts of at least three more : Abhishek Bachan the drunkard Tapori with a penchant to puke, yuck I know! Sonu Sood...

I’m diverting from my single minded focus on reading and reviewing SFF Books just this once. It’s after all a Shah Rukh Movie release – that people all over India have been waiting for close to a year now. It’s a ritual and we pay our respects to the King Khan of Bollywood once again bright and shining on the big screen. Bringing together the trio of Masterclass genius Rehman, Gulzar and Yash Chopra, Jab Tak Hain Jaan was touted to be the biggest release of this year; Diwali release, assured block buster, 100 Crore club ( it’s ridiculous, the ease with which so many movies these days make it to the 100-crore elite club, huh?)  I probably saw the first look trailer a few months back – Gulzar’s sublime poetry voice-overed by the intense voice of SRK as he himself, looking super bad-ass in military fatigues complete with dark goggles and unshaven mean and smoky looks riding a bullet set against the beautiful landscape of ladakh and complimented by the eclectically mesmeri...

This was a ritual that we had to do. To pay homage to the biggest bad-shah of Bollywood when he came back alive on the big screen after like close to eighteen months. So there we were, two days after a super exciting and exhausting diwali, hauling ourselves to watch Ra.One, the biggest blockbuster release of diwali 2011. First impressions as we walked out of the theatre, the movie is definitely NOT as BAD as the critics have panned it to be. Frankly, I had not read any reviews of the movie, for fear of letting the bad reviews cloud my judgment. But yeah, not one of the most memorable movies of King Khan either. The real reason, if you ask me, was that this movie is after all about a video-game. And how much soul can you put into a video-game? Warning: Mild Spoilers ahead. The annoying real-life Shahrukh, plays a game developer/scientist who is a tamil stereotype who eats ( nay, practically slurrrps up ) noodles with thayir (curd!) and mouths ayyoo for practically anything and e...