Yuga Purusha(1989)

Kannada remake of Karz(1980). I found out about this version while reading the Wiki page for The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. (I was trying to find info on the novel's author, Max Ehrlich.) Ravichandran makes me uneasy, but I find Moon Moon Sen alluring enough to consider checking it out, even though I wasn't wild about the original. (I kinda liked the 2008 release, however.) Anytamil has the VCD listed, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's in stock.

Songs I uncovered on YouTube: "Ee Bombe Yaavudo", "Keli Premigale", "Sangeethave Nanna Devaru", "Shree Krishna Bandanu"

Attagasam(2004)

I'm sick of seeing "draft" beside this entry so I'll sum it up thusly: Ajith plays twin brothers Jeeva and Guru who are separated as young boys after Guru witnesses their father's murder. In an effort to protect him, their mother sends Guru to live abroad, but he escapes and grows up to be a feared rowdy in the fishing town of Tuticorin, while Jeeva becomes an instructor at a driving school in Chennai. When Jeeva goes to Tuticorin to retrieve a car that was stolen by one of the instructors, he is mistaken for Guru, which leads to Guru finding out and swapping places with Jeeva so that he can go to Chennai and take revenge on his mother, and leave his brother behind to get killed by Samudrakani, the town's senior don. Do things go according to Guru's plan? Of course not.

I would describe this as "a very average movie", but borderline stan that I am, I compulsively rewatched it, anyway. Ajith looked like "a fat mafia dude"(TM a YouTube commenter) most of the time, particularly in the "Nachendru Inchendru" song, but I didn't really mind. I wasn't feeling Pooja's looks in Ullam Ketkume but in this movie, I found her so appealing that for a while, I was seriously tempted to impulse buy a few more of her films.

Here are the few somewhat decent caps I made of Pooja. They don't do her justice; she was much prettier in the film:

TPP: Simbu and Nayantara

In happier--as well as inebriated--times.

Sanam Harjai(1995)

Simran's Hindi debut, which is why I bought it. I have this "thing" about hunting down and watching the first onscreen appearances of my favorite actors. Anyway, I enjoyed the utter badness of this flick. It felt like a 2 1/2 hour paternity test episode of the Maury show, but with songs and


***SPOILERS***

not one, not two, but FOUR murders! Long story, shorter version: Raj(Himanshu), alias Sunny, approaches lawyer KK Verma(Sadashiv Amrapurkar) for advice on how to rape a woman without getting convicted, as all of Verma's clients in rape cases have gotten off scot-free. Raj then uses Verma's tips to impregnate Verma's two daughters, Nillu(Saadhika) and Tina(Simran), as revenge for Verma getting Raj's sister pregnant, then killing both her and his mother when they threatened to expose his dirty deeds. All of this is revealed at a suprise party Raj throws for Verma, who is shocked to discover that the father of Nillu and Tina's respective children is the same guy he was going to represent. Verma attempts to kill Raj but Nillu steps in front of him and takes the bullet instead, staying alive long enough to blame Verma for Raj's misdeeds before firing several rounds into him.

Jump to the present and Raj's adoptive mother(Reema Lagoo) lights into him for ruining the lives of two innocent girls and tells him to man up and take responsibility for the son Tina left on their doorstep a few...weeks? months? earlier. He agrees to this, of course, and accepts both Tina and their son and everyone lives happily ever after.

I think the suprise element would've been greater if Raj's intent hadn't been made evident early in the film. The scene with him asking Verma for pointers on how to get away with raping a girl, as well as the one where Verma successfully defends one of his clients, should've been shown during the flashback episode at the party. And the...two? scenes with Verma receiving a flower bouquet with a "6-6-76" card attached should've been left out, because it was obvious(to me, anyway) that Raj was the one who sent them.

Speaking of Raj, I wish he had been played by someone other than Himanshu. I wasn't feeling him, to put it mildly.

Saadhika was lovely, and at times she sorta resembled Divya Bharati. I think it was the hair and bitchy-but-cute facial expressions.

I had a love-hate relationship with Simran's wig. On one hand, I enjoyed staring at it, but on the other hand, I was like, "Why is she wearing a wig? What was wrong with her natural hair?"

Screencappies:

Saadhika











Simran

36 Ghante(1974)

I don't know if it's because I wasn't really in the mood to watch it, but I found this movie rather boring. I switched it off just as Ashok(Raj Kumar) was advising his sister, Naina(Parveen Babi), to not let on that the three escaped criminals the police were looking for were hiding out at their house. At this point, I don't care how it ends. Maybe sometime in the distant future I'll rewatch it, or just skip ahead to the end, but right now, it's going into the "buyer's remorse" pile.

36 Ghante is based on the 1955 Hollywood movie, The Desperate Hours. I haven't watched that version, so I don't know how its Hindi counterpart compares, but I'm sure the picture quality on the Paramount DVD is not as bad as the non-effort put out by Yash Raj Films. "Nostalgic appeal" my ass! They just didn't want to spend the money to produce a better print. I'm not really a stickler for flawless pic quality, especially since I watch my movies on an analog TV, but still...YRF? Stop being so cheap when it comes to your older titles.

Parveen Babi is the reason I got this. In spite of being less-than-impressed with this film, I did enjoy watching her, as she's very telegenic. And when she fake-fainted, giving Ashok an opportunity to take the gun from one of the goons, Ajit(Ranjeet) and force him outside, I thought "Yes!" But my excitement was quickly dashed when I saw the little boy, Raju, choose that moment to jump out of his bedroom window and right into the arms of the ringleader, Himmat(Sunil Dutt). Don't get me started on Ashok failing to quickly SHUT THE DOOR after Himmat turned Raju loose and let him go back inside. **sigh**

ETA 01/22/10: Ha! I was about to comment in someone's blog that I hadn't watched any of Mala Sinha's movies and then I saw the tag for her name and remembered this movie. Still haven't gotten around to rewatching it. Maybe one day.

My viewing experience wasn't a total bust. Here are the few gems I found either amusing or asethetically pleasing:


The wife, Deepa's(Mala Sinha) sari


Himmat's bikini-clad girlfriend, Kamini, getting
a rub-down from a skinny masseuse


Kamini's red and white ensemble,
and huge bug eye sunglasses


Her snazzy ride


Nearly running over a pedestrian in her
haste to escape from the cops


The beautiful Parveen


The fiance's poor parents having to sit outside
in the cold, and leaving with the impression
that Ashok and Deepa didn't approve of their son


Vijay, the aforementioned fiance, imploring Naina
to talk to him in the "Chup Ho Aaj Kaho" song


Himmat(middle) ripping Dilawar(Danny, left)
a new one for trying to rape Naina.
A criminal with a conscience, gotta love it.

Latest SLO: Priya Gill

I like her face. She kinda reminds me of Babita. I wonder if Jee Aayan Nu is worth buying?

A few caps from Red:

SFR: Priyanka Trivedi

In the "Hoove Hoove" song from H20. I'm sorta tempted to impulse buy it just because I've developed a slight crush on her after Raja.

Ninaithen Vanthaai(1998)

If only I had known this was the second feature on the Dhanam 2-in-1 DVD when bhavani had it in stock! I could finish watching it online, but I'm old-fashioned and prefer watching movies on my TV, so at the moment, I'm clinging to the possibility that it's available from anytamil. If not, I'll suck it up and sit in front of my computer.

I <3 Rambha, and I <3 her even more when she's swinging from a tree à la Drew Barrymore in the opening scene of Poison Ivy ;) Toss in a sweetly dorky-looking Vijay and it's the seemingly perfect combo for a "Must watch, even if it sucks" flick. One reviewer referred to this movie as "The Tamil Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! without the tragedy". I thought HAHK was boring as hell(granted, I watched only a half-hour or so, but still...) but again, Rambha + Vijay = can't be that bad(and if what I've viewed so far is any indication, it's not).

So far, I found only the "Vanna Nilave" song on YouTube:


Rambha, the star of Vijay's dreams

The rest of the songs can be heard here.

Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven(2000)

I thought this movie was a not-bad waste of 2 1/2 hours. I'm not an expert on military life, so I don't know how accurately it was portrayed. (My civilian guess: Not very.) What I liked most was the flashback that reveals why Surya's(Ajith) mother leaves him at an army base at the beginning of the film.

***SPOILER ALERT***

A nun and a death row inmate--need I say more? Okay, I will: What better way to make a prisoner's scheduled trip to the afterlife less daunting than by paying him a conjugal visit the day before he's hanged? Not for hedonistic purposes, mind you, but to help him fulfill his dying wish to leave behind a child who will make up for his father's acts of terrorism by serving the country. And many years later, after hearing this tale, the offspring's fiancée(Simran) will offer to keep her not-yet mother-in-law's patriotic spirit alive by also having a baby out of wedlock. Uh-huh. Yeah. In addition to being a storyline tailor-made for a soap opera, it's the kind of farfetched shit that makes me glad I'm such an easily amused viewer.

Screencaps, just because:


I thought Ajith looked aged, but still adorable



Awww...everyone gets letters from home except him




But later on in the movie, he receives
a letter from his lady love, Indhu















I capped these only because I really
--and obviously--liked Simran's facial expressions


A near-kiss in the rain


Ajith seems to have a thing for women's waists


Who's that guy?



Bitchy or sad, I love her face