Piccolo Posts

November Ekadashi || एनर्जी आत्मा वगैरे मंडळी कधीच बदलत नाही फक्त रूप बदलते, ह्यातून त्यात त्यातून ह्यात || After delivering a bunch of superhit marathi movies like Lai Bhaari, Duniyadari, Kaaksparsh, Natarang, Essel Vision has come up with a sweet children oriented movie set in Pandharpur. The film gets its timing right with its release date on Children’s Day and just after Kartik Ekadashi. Paresh Mokashi of Harishchandrachi Factory fame strikes a chord with the next generation with a group of talented kids in the movie. Shrirang, Sayali, Pushkar playing Dnyana, Zendu and Ganya respectively act so effortlessly that it almost feels that they have lived the characters from birth. Dnyana’s family has a loan to pay off. The bank guys snatch the sweater weaving machine, which is the only source of income, as mortgage. However, the bank gives them a deal – Pay Rs. 5000, take the machine back and the interest will also be waived off. But 5000 is a huge amount for them...

God is a Gamer  is authored by Ravi Subramanian (ISBN: 978-0143421399) published by Penguin; First edition (12 September 2014) The USP The world’s first bitcoin thriller introduces the reader to the world of bitcoins or online money; money which requires no middlemen or payment gateways and no banks! They are used to buy merchandise anonymously. The bitcoin founder goes by the screen name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Cotton Trail is an online store where all the illegal drugs are available anonymously. The buyers’ identity will not be revealed. The Characters The author uses real companies and individual names in his story; Vodafone, MasterCard International, VISA, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and even Satoshi Nakamoto.  Swami and Sundeep are colleagues mentored by Aditya Rao who is a legend in the Indian Banking Industry. Aditya goes on to start his own company eTIOS which is a BPO and Indiscape which is an online web browser based gaming software. Varun and T...

WHEN THE SILVER SCREEN TURNED RED      The Attacks of 26/11 is not a movie that should be evaluated by its star ratings. This movie pays homage to the innocent people and the brave policemen who were killed in the horrendous attacks on Mumbai by ten brainwashed men with grenades and AK-47s in their hands.      The movie demonstrates the state of mind of the then-Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria as the attacks were taking place. Director Ram Gopal Varma does not bother going into the details. He reduces the attacks at Oberoi and Nariman House to dialogues. How could he skip the NSG operations?      Ram Gopal Varma shows idols of God at places where the attacks took place as though he is challenging the mere existence of God. Nana Patekar delivers a power-packed performance. His aggravated emotions in the scene where he explains Islam and Jihad to Kasab are sure to leave you gnashing your teeth against the evil killer...

Matru ki Bijlee ka Banjo Banjo Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola is a satire that reveals the atrocities of the Rulers - the Politicians - the Powerful - the System. It brings out the the poignant state of the farmers – how they are forced to sell off their lands to the Government at lower than market rates only to give it to bad  businessmen like Harry Mandola a.k.a Mandola(Pankaj Kapoor) who will earn huge money by developing malls, factories and housing projects on that land. Chaudari Devi (Shabana Azmi) is the corrupt bureaucrat. She will help Mandola earn the farmers land so that the Mandola will share the profits with her. Mandola is addicted to Gulabo (name of the beer he drinks). His daughter Bijlee Mandola (Anushka Sharma) is fed up of him. Hukkam Singh  Matru (Imran Khan) secretly plays the saviour of the farmers – Mao Tse-Tung. He likes Bijlee (by the way each one of us will like stunning Anushka Sharma) but never confesses.  Director Vishal Bharadwa...

Baryachda Paha (BP) || Su-sangati sada ghado su-jan vakya kani pado Kalank Maticha zado Vishay sarvatha navdo Sadanghri-Kamali dado Muradita Hatane ado Viyog ghadata rado Man bhavccharritri Jado Gurur bramha Gurur Vishnu Gurur devo Maheshwara Gurur  sakshat parabramha Tasmai shrigurve namah a || The story set in the mid 1980’s  is about four inquisitive teenagers - Avya , Chiu , Dolly , Bhagya . In their quest to find the answers to the questions their parents fail to retort, they find a sexually enlightened Vishu who is almost the same age . Vishu tutors the four protagonists with adult books and adult movies (BP). The  curiousity to know more makes these kids grow older  in a very small age. Many funny scenes including how these guys read those books, make arrangements to watch the movie, getting almost caught, fall in love with a 22 year old (Sai Tamhankar plays a bold chatacter once again after No Entry (2012)) makes it a fantastic rib-tickli...

DABBA-NG       Arbaaz Khan owns a brand called Dabbang and its brand ambassador is none other than the crowd entertainer - Salman Khan. It seems that whenever Arbaaz Khan will be in need of money, he will release a Dabbang :-D.  The impact that Salman Khan makes on the masses could be seen by the whistles and cheers every time he made a gigantic entry. Some of his acts and stunts remind me of Rajnikant.  I had decided not to watch the movie in a multiplex to experience the craze for Salman but I did not miss a percent of the thrill, the aura even in the multiplex.      Arbaaz Khan annoys you by inserting songs at equal intervals. Though you will like the songs but will somebody please concentrate on the plot? Oh! There is no plot. The movie runs for 2 hours by the grace of Salman Khan, Mind-blowing Action sequences and Kareena-Mallaika yukt item numbers (more whistles and cheers and comments!) Sonakshi Sinha sulks (read ‘sulks’, i...

Advanced Search  The movie starts with random scenes from the darker side of Mumbai followed by the accident scene (supperb!). The movie takes us through a detailed investigation of this accident which involves  a superstar Armaan Kapoor. Director Reema Kagti shrewdly blends  Surjan Singh Shekhawat’s (Aamir Khan) personal life and the Talaash-shuda life. The story co-written by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar is gripping throughout. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the character so proficiently that he makes you think that he limps in real-life too. Kareena Kapoor plays a prostitute named Rosy who helps Aamir in the investigation and also with his disturbed maritial life with Rani Mukherjee. The intemission  kind of breaks the flow of a very cautiously threaded movie. The climax disappoints. It definitely stuns you but with Aamir Khan out there I expected a supperb ending to the thriller. The songs donot disturb. A special mention to Farhan Akhtar  for the dialogues ...

A SWEET LOVE STORY Life mein sabse bada risk hota hai kabhi koi risk na lena... Barfi is a film about the life and love of a Darjeeling born boy named Barfi. The film is set in the 1970s and runs into flashback from the beginning. Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor) is our protagonist who is dumb and deaf. He bicycles through narrow lanes, jumps quickly down a house and pinches buttocks. He charms Shruti Ghosh (Ileana D’Cruz) with his unique and naughty tactics but he finds true love in Jhilmil Chatterjee (Priyanka Chopra). Jhilmil is autistic and belongs to a rich household. Her grandfather dies and his Will says that all the money would belong to Jhilmil and it would be kept with trust called Muskan where Jhilmil grew up. Ranbir Kapoor with is inspirations from Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean is impressive along with Priyanka Chopra who has shed her glamorous avatar for the movie. Illeana who has given many Telugu blockbusters including Kick (2009) and Pokiri (2006) which remade in...

CINEMATIC  ECSTASY Kasam khoon ki khayee hai, sheher nahi Shanghai hai… The movie starts off with Bhagu (Pitobash) wondering about the English word for ‘mutton’! Bhagu is one of those party workers who do the dirty work for the well-dressed bureaucrats and politicians. The story, adapted from Vassilis Vassilikos’ novel Z (also made into an Oscar winning film with the same name) is set in a fictitious town in India called Bharatpur. The Bureaucrats plan to set up a business park under the project called IBP. The voice over says that its stands for India Business Project while the hoardings and pictures in the movie suggest that its International Business Project (flaw :-P). Dr. Ahmadi (Prosenjit Chatterjee) is seen in a cameo playing an activist who opposes IBP. Shalini Sahay (Kalki Koechlin) is an associate, student and lover to an already married Dr. Ahmedi. There is a scene between two where you might think that Dr. Ahmedi is killing Shalini but you soon r...