20 (mostly good) films in September. Awesome

20. Ek Tho Chance (Hindi) (2/10)
Sw this film at the film festival. This film has been made for a while now and has not been released yet. No wonder. This is a bad pathetic boring film. It drags at so many places. The characters are not sketched well at all. Not everyone can give a good storytelling of various stories interwoven together. It was funny when in the middle of the film, everyone herd this guy snoring loud. Totally avoidable.

19. Just Another Love Story (Bengali) (7.5/10)
Kudos to the director and the actors to make such a brilliant film. Rituporno Ghosh, as we all know is a wonderful director but he makes his debut as a brilliant actor in this film that shows a completely new complexity of life that the 2 characters of Chapal Bhaduri and the new age director Abhiroop face. Can't wait o see how the aam janta respond to this when this film finally gets released in India.

18. Mirch (Hindi) (6.5/10)
Another one of those unreleased films by Vinay Shukla, the director of Godmother. The film shows 4 different stories and how they come together. The stories are very witty, humourous and funny. Konkona Sen Sharma and Raima Sen have also acted very well. Newcomer Arunoday Singh ipressses yet again after Aisha. I really wish that this film gets the release and audience it deserves in India.

17. Choosing Connor (3/10)
Idealistic 15-year old Owen gets the chance of a lifetime to be the youth spokesman for U.S. Senate Candidate Lawrence Connor, only to be exploited in a fierce campaign of TV and radio ads, posters, interviews, and speaking engagements in the cut throat media-image-is-all world of American politics. The film started interesting but somewhere totally lost the point it was trying to make unless they were trying to tell that all politics is dirty and nasty. The kids acting nevertheless was awesome.

16. Paromitar Ek Din (Bengali) (5/10)
This film directed by Aparna Sen shows a relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and how it evolve over a period of time. If you see a lot of Bengali films, you will see this one is also a true slice of life film with very very realistic acting specially by Aparna Sen and Rituparna Sengupta. The film at times is very very slow in pace which could have been avoided. I would suggested much better Bengali films to start with before you see this one.

15. Parama (Hindi) (7.5/10)
First thing first. Rakhi Gulzar looks stunning in this early 80s film. Tackling a very bold theme for its time, this film tackles and shows adultery like never before. How Rakhi , who is everything to everyone in a family meets this photographer and start an affair. Where ultimately that leads to makes a very very interesting watch. Must see.

14. I Am (Hindi) (6/10)
I have been a big fan of Onir after watching his previous films. The whole concept of 4 distinct short films as one big film excited me. And actually the stories were good too dealing with issues of single motherhood, Kashmiri Pandits, child abuse and cops harassing gays. Acting from all principal characters was good. Its sometime hard to show everything in a short but this was perfect because anything more would have dragged the pace. One thing that I didn't like was the lighting. Somehow it seemed that film was made in a hurry. At some level the soul was missing specially in the Kashmiri Pandit story with Juhi and Manisha. The lighting in the film could also have been better. It would be interesting to see how janta in India reacts when the film comes out.

13. Khatta Meetha (Hindi) (2/10)
Khatta Meetha is an all around major disappointment that leaves you annoyed if you're one who's looked forward to the film. Priyadarshan tries desperately to bring across some valuable life lessons but sadly due to the non-gripping and poorly structured screenplay the film fails all around. Every character in this film is either screaming on the top of his voice or just slapping one another. And comedy by Johny Lever, Rajpal Yadav etc is so forced taht its a huge drag. Akshay Kumar sleep walks thru the role because he has done so many of those. Completely avoidable.

12. The Stoning of Soraya M. (Iran) (6.5/10)
A shocking but very good film. The film shows a true story of how a man , when could not get divorce from his wife in a remote village in Iran uses the Islamic rules to accuse his wife of adultery and get her stoned to death. The film was very realistic and disturbing but honestly people need to see that all these things exist in the society even toay and there are people who have to live through this. Excellent.

11. Aisha (Hindi) (5.5/10)
I guess the Indian version of Sex and the City where it is all about gamour. Well, this one had some story too but overall, there was nothing much that was going on. Sonam Kapoor is matchmaking for everyone but the way she keeps changing couples is odd. Then suddenly she has change of hearts. The romance between any of the couples was just not convincing. One of the weakest films that my favourite Abhay Deol has done but he was still good in the film. The 'bachkana' fights between him and Aisha were the only highlights for me in the film.

10. The Family Stone (6.5/10)
I love stories about dysfunctional families. Saw this movie, I guess 6th time when it was coming on TV. Still liked it. There are various moments that I like, although some may seem irrelevant and illogical but hey who cares.

9. Four Lions (UK) (7/10)
Hilarious! I am so glad I found out about this film. Who wold think that a film of prospective suicide bombers could have such a hilarious twist. A group of UK based Islamic want to create a name and become suicide bombers. How they go through the whole process with support of family and everyone is hilarious. I strongly recommend this film.

8. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2/10)
Big Bore!! I dont feel like writing anything about it. It is a very poor man's Hary Potter or at least thats whatthe makers thought when they made this film.

7. Dabangg (Hindi) (6/10)
Total entertainment, paisa vasool. Although I still fail to understand what is so great about the film that everyone is going crazy and the film is soon going to become the highest grosser of Hindi films of all time. what the heck!! I enjoyed it. Munni Badnaam hui was perfect. I think I am liking Sonakshi Sinha.

6. The New Twenty (3/10)
This was an independent film set in NY. Started off well but somewhere down the line lost its steam and was totally not fun. The film tells story of 5 friends who meet 7 years later in NYC and what is going on with every one's life and how they are coping with it. No matter how rewarding or difficult (and everything in between) life is for these almost-thirtysomethings, they can always rely on the strong bonds of friendship. My biggest negative was that it did not give explanations for various events like what is making a relationship last or break, why is there so many stereotypical everything. C'mmon give me a break.

5. The Ghost Writer (6.5/10)
I like these kind of mystery films with some element of suspense but not really a murder mystery. Ewan McGregor is hired to to organize and write the memoirs of an ex-British Prime Minister Pierce Brosnan. He suspects not all is well but it takes a few discoveries to determine that there is more to the memoirs than just names and dates. He may not be an invective reporter but he is too nosy to let it go. What he cannot let go of could very well mean his life. The direction is good and the story unfolds slowly and keeps you glued. The final scene gives a shock but if you smart , you will expect it to come.

4. Kick-Ass (5.5/10)
Nice fun filled movie about an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so. It was nice timepass movie. You will definitely not get bored.

3. Udaan (Hindi) (9/10)
UDAAN is a simple, straight-forward film that doesn't need to be explained. It needs to be experienced. This one will touh your heart and soul and every single one of you will identify with the film. Acting by everyone is awesome specialy the 2 brothers. Even Ram and Ronit Roy are pretty darn good. Now only if movie lovers good get to see more films like this and Tere Bin Laden.

2. Bhutto (Documentary) (6/10)
This is a great and very informative documentary on life of Benazir Bhutto. It also covers incidents in Pakistan right from the time of her father to the current times. The best part of this docu-film is the fact that unlike most docs, this one always keeps your interest alive. There are so many things that I personally did not know of and was very very surprised to find and know. Benazir Bhutto's life is nothing short of ups and downs and what not. A great effort and a very informative watch.

1. Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai (Hindi) (7/10)
Loved the film. A very good presentation of old 70's. Very different view from the movie Company. I am not big fan of Emraan Hashmi but I think he did a wonderful job . So did everyone else including Prachi Desai. She is a bundle of talent. I wish film makers wake up to her talent. Oh ! and the songs are so melodious.