Raja, you're doing fine. The content, the English, the analysis....everything's okay. If some blokes don't understand your lingo, just ignore em. They need to raise their levels, not you lower yours...
As an Eastwood fan myself, I look forward to seeing GT soonest. Will revert to y ou with my inputs then. Cio...
Re: Gran Torino
by Karikarchozhan on Mar 15, 2009 01:03 PM
How do you know about the "analysis" when you have not seen the movie. As for "raise their levels" , I am probably one of those "blokes" who is in need of tutoring to understand the apparently mastery of Mr Sen. He does meander a lot without meaning much. You know, i have lived in couple of English speaking countries and I have always found that even the best of the writers there in news media choose words carefully and keep the content crisp. You dont need an army to swat a fly. Sadly, in India where we are not native speakers of English, the common tendency of the writer crowd is to resort to heavy machinery, somehow this is considered to be better . And i guess thats what many in the forum are talking about
However, to be fair, this review is much snappier and in fact i did like the closing paragraph
Re: Gran Torino
by meet singh on Mar 15, 2009 02:03 PM
Review should be simple and understandable and not only for people like Vinod here... but for people like the other 70% people visiting rediff for it... as for the movie... I saw it as it released in the US, CLINT EASTWOOD makes a good mark here... I felt very good about the movie and its theme... and his way to teach those maniacs a lesson in a legit. way...
Re: Re: Gran Torino
by praveen vasudevan on Mar 16, 2009 02:00 PM
"but the films of the 2000s, the films the Academy fawns over every time, leave me cold", says the reviewer. I dont know what Raja Sen found wrong with 'Mystic River' or 'Million dollar baby'.
I never understood we read these guys reviews. Evidently, Raja Sen writes well, but as far as what he says, it never matched my tastes. And the same goes many such pundits like him. I have started to take these reviews with a pinch of salt. How is anyone qualified to tell me this is the movie i shouldn't miss ? ( stupid stars system).
Also if you are an Indian who has never lived in the states it is hard to relate to a movie like Gran Torino, and appreciate the nuances . This guy claims he does not like Million dollar baby, Flags of our fathers and other recent Eastwood directed movies, they are really good in my opinion, much better than the regular fare.
Re: What it takes to be movie reviewer ?
by praveen vasudevan on Mar 16, 2009 02:02 PM
"but the films of the 2000s, the films the Academy fawns over every time, leave me cold", says the reviewer. I dont know what Raja Sen found wrong with 'Mystic River' or 'Million dollar baby'.
I have seen that this bloke called Raja Sen gives good rating on everything that is English.
This forces me to recall that there was a guy called Vijay Yadav durig my college days. Once only two of us were watching TV in the afternoon at the hostel. He was watching channel V, the music channel. Some song was coming. I asked him to put something sensible.
He went to talk like an ABCD...
....dude what a song mann... great going .... what powerful writing .....etc...
Getting irritated I asked make fun out of him "what is the lyrics?" He had no answer. I don't think that he was able to make the lyrics out.
In fact the song was ....
"I wanna be your underwear" by some singer called Brian Adams.
Unfortunately, there too many of these type of cheap Indians all around for whom everything that is English is great and sometimes everything that is non Indian is also great.
Re: How does this Raja Sen look like?
by Karikarchozhan on Mar 15, 2009 12:27 PM
There's probably a better reason why he does not give good rating for most Indian movies, because on an average they are pathetic. Lets take a guess, Indian movies either about NRI punjabis and their love affairs, or about City kids and their love affairs . I agree its all fantasy, but dont you think our movies stretch the reality too much ? whatever happened to the rest of the 700m living in pure hell, what about that reality ?
especially if you are aware of racial undercurrents in the film. I would highly ask producers NOT to cast Amitabh Bachchan in the inevitable doomed bollywood remake. Amitabh is so monotonous and his vulnerability always look fake. Please cast someone like Vinod Khanna who is a better actor, more charming and surprisingly looks mellowed down these days. Or maybe Mithuda or even Jitendra, but no Amitabh or Dharm (too old).
Re: Its a great gem of a film,
by Karikarchozhan on Mar 15, 2009 12:30 PM
Well said, i dont know about Vinod Khanna, but i like the new old Mithunda, but no Amitabh, not that i dont like the dude, sadly he is overexposed and definitely overacting
Re: Re: Its a great gem of a film,
by Iron Man on Mar 15, 2009 07:05 PM
Actually the character in the film is seventy years plus, therefore someone like Vinod Khanna would be better. Mind you Amitabh does not have films of the calibre of Achanak, Mere Apne, Dayavan, etc in his career, netiher the performances. And yes Amitabh's overactinng has been overexposed.
Re: Re: Its a great gem of a film,
by Billu Plumber on Mar 14, 2009 02:53 AM
Recently Danny Boyle confessed that Slummdogg Millionaire was made on the inputs of SRK as SRK guided Danny throughout the filmmaking. In a way, its SRK who won the oscar. He is the pride of India. One day every house will have atleast one SRK. That day will see India as the superpower Internationale'.
Re: Re: Re: Its a great gem of a film,
by prashant kumar on Mar 14, 2009 08:00 AM
Billu Plumber where the hell you got that confession from Danny Boyle? The fact is he waited on SRK to call him back to discuss the project but SRK didnt even bothered to call back him!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Its a great gem of a film,
by surya das on Mar 15, 2009 08:23 AM
You Mr. Billu Plumber, saying urself that u're not a big SRK fan. You are a big lier, shows in ur words and in ur voice. You are not a fan, but a CHAMCHA gay of him. Big B is the best actor India has ever seen, SRK is not even 10% of him. And, u are asking abt good human being, ask urself during Mumbai blast, why SRK was questioned by Mumbai Police, and showing video tapes where he was dancing in a show along with many maroons in a Dawood show. You must be a similar gay like SRK. Better human, my foot. He is not even a better star, buying awards, that is why he even never nominee in National award. And, Billu is a huge flop. So, as u are. Don't talk abt Danny Boyle? You are not PR, nor Slumdog is not that great movie, it has only western director and producer caused it so much of hype there are much better movies in India which even didnt get a nominee.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Its a great gem of a film,
by surya das on Mar 15, 2009 08:23 AM
You Mr. Billu Plumber, saying urself that u're not a big SRK fan. You are a big lier, shows in ur words and in ur voice. You are not a fan, but a CHAMCHA gay of him. Big B is the best actor India has ever seen, SRK is not even 10% of him. And, u are asking abt good human being, ask urself during Mumbai blast, why SRK was questioned by Mumbai Police, and showing video tapes where he was dancing in a show along with many maroons in a Dawood show. You must be a similar gay like SRK. Better human, my foot. He is not even a better star, buying awards, that is why he even never nominee in National award. And, Billu is a huge flop. So, as u are. Don't talk abt Danny Boyle? You are not PR, nor Slumdog is not that great movie, it has only western director and producer caused it so much of hype there are much better movies in India which even didnt get a nominee.
Re: raja sen sucks...he always dose
by Rishabh Ravi on Mar 14, 2009 02:05 AM
Dear Niraj, Just because you can never hope to write a decent paragraph that can match up to what Mr Sen writes does not mean that he sucks... From the various posts (barbs?) that I see against Mr Sen on these forums, I get the sense a lot of people share your jealous views too. Get a life guys!
Re: Re: raja sen sucks...he always dose
by Mowgli Junglee on Mar 15, 2009 12:18 PM
Dear Rishabh, You get a life. Raja Sen is less interested in reviewing movies than he is in exhibiting his (googled) 'knowledge' of cinema. And his writing, while it may impress semi-literates like you, is deeply pretentious and offers little in the way of substance. Don't bother about fingering other people's 'jealous views', take a good hard look in the mirror.
Re: Re: raja sen sucks...he always dose
by Karikarchozhan on Mar 15, 2009 12:37 PM
I am jealous of Raja Sen for a different reason - he gets paid decent money for dishing out this mediocre stuff , talk about a cushy job. I truly am not impressed with his English, excessive verbiage for no apparent use.
If it is good English Movie he gives 4 star and if it is very good hindi movie he gives 3 star. We know that you love english but dont be biased when you are reviewing something. i also liked Gran Tarino but 4 Star is too much for it. 3 would suffice.
