Pukar

Title: Pukar (2000)
Language: Hindi
DVD

Synopsis: Army officer Jaidev (Anil Kapoor) manages to capture terrorist Abhrush and becomes a national hero. Coming back to his hometown, he meets up with childhood friend Anjali (Madhuri Dixit) who has held a long time crush on him. While at a party, Jai ends up meeting Pooja (Namrata Shirodkar) and starts vying for her attention much to Anjali's jealousy. Angry corrupt politicians take notice and use Anjali's jealousy to help push forwards plans against Jai and of India.

The Good
+ Good music from the remake of Que Sera Sera, to the love song picturization in the snow
+ Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor actually make a good pair… and Madhuri is gorgeous as ever
+ There were plenty of unintentional funny moments… such as the scene with using rocket launchers to take out cars.


The Bad
+ The movie was SO LONG. Despite me breaking it up over a few days time, there were moments where I would lose interest
+ Anil Kapoor's character - the stereotypical SUPER SOLDIER. No one can shoot, fight, or know better than him. He's so good, he can beat up people while still successfully drive a car, and single handedly bring down a helicopter
+ This movie probably had the worst sound effects team ever. I think they only had 2 or 3 sounds in their inventory for fights… there's this one "slapping" sound they'd use that annoyed the hell out of me - it didn't even sound natural!
+ This is kind of embarrassing, but I had a hard time telling the difference between Madhuri Dixit and Namrata Shirodkar at times. Please don't hate me.

Final Thoughts: Was this movie worth watching? Kind of. I was interested in seeing an Anil Kapoor film (Sadly I've seen more of his daughter's movies than him, and he's by far a better actor) and Madhuri Dixit is always fantastic on screen… This movie really over played the melodrama, and successfully made you feel sad for Anjali, so I did really enjoy the love storyline. (I know, I'm such a girl). But some of the political parts lacked thought behind them.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Song: Kay Sera Sera... Madhuri and Prabhu Deva dancing together? YES PLEASE!

Alaipayuthey

Film: Alaipayuthey (2000)
Language: Tamil
youtube links

Synopsis: Karthik (Madhavan) is an engineer starting up his own company and comes across med student Shakti (Shalini) and after continuous chance meetings, they fall in love. Their relationship isn't easy especially when their families don't get along and call off the approval of their wedding. Therefore, they secretly get married with help from Shakti's older sister, yet still live in their same living conditions waiting for things to improve between the families. They don't, and they end up moving out of their homes into an unfinished apartment together where their marriage is tested.

The Good
+ The directing (another Mani Ratnam film) coupled with the nice cinematography = very well done
+ Madhavan and Shalini's chemistry. It was very natural and they played off very well with each other. Everything about this film was realistic and believable
+ Probably one of the only Indian films (that I have seen) where a relationship/marriage is realistically portrayed. Not everything is song and dance-worthy

The Bad
+ It's not bad at all, but some of the outfits/dancing were pretty hilariously awful, considering this film is from 2000. But it actually kind of adds to the charm of the film. Really, I can't think of any serious complaints about the film, since it was so realistic depiction of real life.

Final Thoughts: Was it worth watching? Yes! I'm a sucker for indie-like films that are character studies/coming of age/"slices of life". This definitely fit that category. Don't watch this expecting something exciting/fun with friends, it's not meant to be. Mani Ratnam has definitely sealed himself as one of my favorite directors. I've yet to see any of his work to be deemed 'crappy', although Dil Se has to be my least favorite of his films so far.

I adore Madhavan, and this is his Tamil film debut (also one of his first films). I think he's a fantastic actor and love to see more of his things.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Song: Pachai Nirame. I loved it for the colors and the cute/goofy dancing of Madhavan's