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Check out this link for  Fantastic imagery  of movie posters all hand drawn .

Blue  Tinted poster of  Pearl Harbour -self drawn

Pearl Harbour

Pearl Harbour  -the story  of  Last  Japanese  surprise attack o the  naval base  in Pearl Harbour ,,,, leading to  the US bombing Japan with the  A bomb ...n

Citizen Kane

The Dark Knight Rises- A Legendary Conclusion!

Really, Christopher Nolan, we have got to hand it to you. How can he turn out to be more and more inventive and powerful as a filmmaker and a storyteller with each outing? In a year so far dominated by the tongue-in-cheek ‘The Avengers;, featuring a ragtag ensemble of Stan Lee creations and a pretty unoriginal revamp of the Spiderman franchise, Nolan continues to set his own path on a completely different route. His much-anticipated conclusion, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, to the very compelling series that he spawned ends up being a film not just big in ambition but also in brains, brawns and, needless to say, emotions and feelings.

But we already saw it coming. So far, Christopher Nolan has set the standard high for himself, especially when it comes to the Batman franchise. Borrowing key elements and plot points from comic books, he has nonetheless reinvented the whole franchise in a whole new format that seems now near impossible to difficult to improve, or even replicate. And while the writer-director has doffed his hat at ‘Blade Runner’, in the ghettoes and looming skyscrapers in The Dark Knight Rises, his vision of Gotham City remains to be larger-than-life yet cerebral, gritty yet spectacular.

Beware For Bane Is Here.....

And he delivers bang for the buck in this stunning finale to the story that he has retold in equal power and grace. We begin on a peaceful yet cautiously murky note as the top brass of police and statesmen raise a toast to Harvey Dent, the man who once stood for the eventual end of crime and chaos in Gotham. Indeed, it is not to last. Vicious mercenary-turned terrorist Bane, a hulk and bulk of muscled terror, escapes certain capture and turns his narrow-eyed gaze at Gotham. We seem him first closing on diligent cop Gordon in the sewers of Gotham and it is indeed a shaken and desperate Gordon who first realizes that Gotham needs its Dark Knight again.

Batman Enters The Scene... Cue Applause!

But the man himself is not ready. Bruce Wayne is now a recluse and Nolan first shows him as merely a silhouette that is seen peeking at the opening tribute to Harvey Dent. He is holed up by his will inside his vast manor, with stubble and a crutch to support him. Clearly, he needs a surgery but he also needs to come back to manage both personal issues and his own obligations to the city. Sure, he does and we crow out loud with delight.

Bruce has a lot at stake this time. A slinky and suave safecracker named Selina Kyle seems to be on the prowl. It seems that Bane has been roped in to bring down Wayne Enterprises. However, Bane himself gives Wayne and the city a nasty edge of himself.

Bane Beats Batman....

But Batman Returns.....

He takes the city hostage, rampaging like a bull through its streets, sewers and rugby stadiums and leaving a formidable trail of destruction. However, this is not before keeping our own hero hostage in a dungeon which will test his will. He mounts a suitably formidable army tank and decries the very people who have saved Gotham from chaos, going on to reveal the very corruption that racked Dent. Then, he calls out loud for people to revolt against the corridors of power and wealth, while a ticking time-bomb threatens to blow everything to smithereens.

Bane Exposes The Corruption And Insanity Of Harvey
Dent To A Terrorized Crowd...

It is smashing to watch the film as Nolan takes over. He has now mastered a whole new style of filmmaking that blends a grandstanding action frame with a shattering, visceral plausibility. And nowhere is it evident with a film like this which wills the audience to submit to the force of its storytelling. It is a long ride, often in the risk of becoming choppy with so much of a story crammed up but Nolan grounds the film with an emotional resonance, while ensuring that we thrill to the clean-cut, brawny action sequences. The effect is a startlingly effective film that strikes at an emotional level.

Indeed, it is different from anything that Nolan has done before. The script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, packs in a whole crowd of new faces and Nolan properly invests each without losing focus on the main plot. This could mean that the story would drag but there is something to be said for Nolan’s confidence in his material and audience. The film is perfectly paced; even while it takes almost an hour for Wayne to get into character and costume, the action comes in neatly, almost incidentally, while the supporting cast lends enough stellar turns to thicken the gravy. Nolan ties up the strands with remarkable tight and the film is constantly nerve-wracking and tense.

Nolan’s finest strength is the way how he infuses minute nuances and details into the plot that make up for most of the surprises. And such fine layers of detailing add more depth to the characters and plot. There is one intense moment when Gordon, about to give a speech in honor of Dent, suddenly remembers in flashes the namesake’s insanity as a devious Two- Face. The effect is startlingly haunting and elegiac. A boy singing ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ at the start of a rugby match is unforgettably paralleled with Bane’s vicious plans unfolding; some moments later, an entire field explodes and the effect is effectively sobering. A tattered American flag suggests dystopia, while the snowy empty streets portray both claustrophobia and agoraphobia. Again, a flaming symbol shaped like a bat conveys a sense of faint optimism. The finely crafted touches linger the most in the mind, while the gritty action set-pieces take our breath away.

Batman Vs Bane In The Sewers- One Of The Most
Chilling Scene In The Film...

There is also something economical about the film. No, it is not the running time, but it is the way how Nolan fits in every piece of the puzzle without really crowding in everything. The action is judiciously placed in the film, the twists and turns coming in unexpectedly and rather neatly. The more emotional moments are handled with equal care and restraint. An argument between Wayne and his trusted butler Alfred is handled with impressive restraint while it is poignant and the romance is kept brief and incidental. The tough fist fights between Batman and Bane are adequately immediate and chilling, while the climactic chase is spectacular but lean and it smartly does not stretch. Bane’s brutality is seldom shown directly but it is rather implied and the effect is eerily Hitchcock-like. Nolan impresses by emotional balance as much he does by symmetrical artistry.

The cast is superb as well. Christian Bale, playing Batman and Bruce alternately, is a treat. His strongest card is the range that he brings to the role. At one point we see him believably vulnerable, at another we see him ready for a boardroom meeting, at another we seem him charismatically flirting with Selina, at another angry and determined. Inside the mask, he becomes convincingly creepy and chews up the action frames. It is an awesome, bravura performance.

Much is being debated about Tom Hardy as the central villain Bane. Some opine that he is nowhere near the cool malice of Heath Ledger’s Joker; some say that he is outstanding as well. I would choose a moderate line. Sure, Hardy does not quite burn up the frames the say way Ledger did and sometimes, it is difficult to make out what he actually says. Still, the rest- the bulking presence, the cold, hard-eyed expression and the comic-book villainy work quite well and he does manage to work out some of his killer lines well. He is fairly memorable, just not downright unforgettable.

Anne Hathaway Steals The Show As The Slinky And Sexy
Selina Kyle

Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman as Alfred and Fox bring in welcome dose of deadpan humor in the proceedings. The real treat of the film is Anne Hathaway. Her character Selina is a self-centered and vicious yet stunning and seductive enough to warrant enough praise and admiration. We see her first as deceptively demure but as her character develops we end up rooting for her even as she often twirls as a moral compass. Hathaway does not just look stunning. She actually makes her inscrutability work in a smashing way. She has one of the film’s finest lines- one about high heels that is really smart and her standout moment is when she mock-screams in the midst of a hard-boiled shootout- a moment that is alone worth the price of the ticket.

Joseph Gordon Levitt as the diligent John Blake is superb.

Another solidly written character in the film is Joseph Gordon Levitt as young cop John Blake. As a younger version of Gary Oldman’s subdued Gordon, Levitt gives a powerful and convincing performance, bringing in Dirty Harry-like attitude with solid restraint. He is also smart enough to qualify as a sidekick to Batman and Nolan agrees too.( here is a spoiler!)

There have been enough expectations for Nolan to conclude the saga on a rousing note. People have been clamoring for him to rise higher as a filmmaker. Yes, he does. Yes, of course, he delivers. Because, as the film proves, like his hero, Nolan always rises to the occasion. And he will save the day for our cinema.

The Film Soars Like The Bat and It Stuns Us To Silence. Christopher Nolan, Take A Bow!

My Rating- 5 Stars Out Of 5.

Will Reel-Life Salman Get Real?

The latest song promos of ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ are going viral on the Internet. Is that really surprising? Firstly, the film has Salman Khan in the lead and that statement is enough to say how popular the film has become weeks ahead of its release. Then, almost anything that catches the fancy of a largely unpredictable movie-going audience simply goes viral on the Internet, leave alone Salman Khan himself.

That said, I am equally aware of a parallel trend of people favoring the release of Anurag Kashyap’s sequel to his sleeper hit ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. Some are even willing to look beyond the colorful and snazzy promos and posters of this Friday’s release ‘Cocktail’ and wait patiently for Kashyap to roll out his next firecracker and get it blazing.

Or maybe it is just me and a handful of others. There is no denying the sheer cult status that Salman has earned over the years, belting out blockbuster after blockbuster. When the country celebrates Eid, devoted fans celebrate the arrival of yet-another Salman Khan starrer. It does not matter if the film is essentially the same old wine served in a newly packaged bottle. The film is nothing more than a pompous, self-indulgent celebration of the male hero and what can he do and asking us, ‘Why Can’t He Do That’? Indeed, in each of his films, you see Salman shaking a leg to a new dance move that he may have ad-libbed and the rest of the world takes a cue from him, showing their adulation and blind devotion to a man who thrives simply on his star image and nothing else.

So, they quote his lines, make his songs chartbusters and do much more. But when I first cast a look at the trailer of Salman’s latest film, I ended up having mixed feelings. On one hand, I think that the movie will be little more than a montage of slick action sequences, ridiculous one-liners assigned to the leading man to pout with all seriousness, a gorgeous heroine, gorgeous locations to match her beauty and, do we need to say, those bad, ruthless and mean villains. On the other hand, I am wondering what does the plot of ‘Ek Tha Tiger’- something about Salman being a secret agent sent by India to thwart a conspiracy- has to do when such things are already there.

This also makes me feel a bit doubtful about just what the film makes of such a premise. As the ads put it, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Only today had I read an article in the papers about how India has usually sent a number of spies in its missions against terrorism. The plot, if I have been following the trailers correctly, has all the tension of a Robert Ludlum novel. Tiger may be facing a mission which he needs to complete or he may face consequences-like being discredited by his spymasters. It all sounds so familiar- one can go through Ludlum’s books or the Bourne franchise of films to get an idea. But the Bourne films and books are known for sticking to the whole seriousness of the idea, while giving us a whopping good time. On the other hand, the premise in ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ simply seems as window-dressing or a new bottle for old wine.

Kabir Khan is directing the film and I can’t help wondering if he can do the job or not. Look at his last two films. His debut ‘Kabul Express’ was a fairly promising thriller-cum-adventure set in post-war Afghanistan but the film’s constant muddling between shallow complexity and awkward writing ruined the game, making it just a visual marvel. He followed up with the more successful ‘New York’; once again, it was full of promise as an edge-of-a-seat thriller but it fizzled out thanks to its largely incompetent cast and a plot that felt derivative. But in both films, you have to admit that Khan has actually managed to weave a fairly compelling story around a premise concerning real issues. It needs to be seen if Khan can at least make something out of a plot that looks promisingly like a smart spy movie and not just escapism.

Indian films of late are finally doing a good job of being realistic. Realism in cinema is all about being convincing, coherent and convincing while never worrying about trying hard to preach something or even being trivial. Look at some of this year’s releases. ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ is set against a backdrop of coal mafia and politics in Bihar but it is also mainly a classic story of revenge told with macabre humor and this suggests how it manages to make actual sense. ‘Shanghai’ is a whodunit thriller told against the backdrop of collusion of political and business interests; ‘Ishaqzaade is a contemporary small-town love story set aptly against the country’s warped attitudes towards inter-religious and inter-cast relationships; ‘Vicky Donor’ was as much a charming and breezy romance as a light and comic look at sperm donation and infertility clinics in India; ‘Kahaani’ seemed a bit far-fetched in its suggestion of bio-chemical terrorism, in a nation still threatened by bombs and explosives but its urgent visual style, smack-of-the-real locations and gripping characters made it convincing enough.

‘Ek Tha Tiger’ may suffer from a problem. It has a lot of potential to be a film which would be convincing as well as entertaining. But there is a chance that it may not make any sense at all. It is fine. This is a Salman Khan film after all. But why does it then promise to be so portentously serious? Khan and his writers could have agreed to simply let Salman having a good time. Or maybe I am wrong. This may be Salman having a good time. It is just that we are given the same wine in a new bottle. He has been a smart-ass cop, a dead-serious bodyguard, a warrior from ballads than history textbooks. And now he is a spy against terrorism. Hurray!

But I am still feeling bad. This essentially seems like a waste of ideas, a film which would try hard to make some sense, while its hero simply beats up the bad guys with ease. Comparisons are being made with ‘Agent Vinod’ that much maligned film which sunk in no time. Indeed, Salman’s presence may make this film a bigger hit but at least Sriram Raghavan’s film does not try to be pretentious. It was modeled on a yesteryear Bollywood spy film which itself had taken a cue from the James Bond series. At least, Raghavan knew how to make it all James Bond than Jason Bourne. It is a pity that his male lead is no more convincing and the plot ended up being an uninteresting affair.

But what about Salman’s Tiger? Is he a bumbling Bourne, or a serious Bond or both? Let’s find out for ourselves.

Guide - Timeless Classic

Guide is a 1965 Hindi film starring DeV Anand and Waheeda Rehman. It was directed by  Vijay Anand  who also contributed to the screenplay. The film is based on the critically acclaimed novel, The Guide, by R. K. Narayan, and is widely considered to be one of the masterpieces and  controversial  movie of the Indian film industry .Despite  depicting the  bold lifestyle  of an Indian woman falling into  a  live in relationship with a  Guide , it  tok sometime for the audience  to accept this and make the movie a success .
Kishore Sahu  enacts  the role of  a  Archaelogist  too engrossed  in  the  study of  ruins  and   philandering leaving his wife Rosy  opt for  the Guide  arising out of sheer boredom and lack of love .
The film proved to be a box office hit upon release. The movie proved memorable for its award-winning performances by the lead actors and memorable music by S. D. Burman.
A 120-minute U.S. version was made with additional directing and writing. It was produced by Tad Danielewski.[3] The film was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, 42 years after its release.

Mother India -

Starring Nargis,Rajkumar , Sunil Dutt

 

 

Mother India ( a 1957 Hindi film epic, written and directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. The film, a melodrama, is a remake of Mehboob Khan's earlier film, Aurat
(1940). It is the story of a poverty-stricken village woman named Radha
who, amid many other trials and tribulations, struggles to raise her
sons and survive against an evil money-lender. Despite her hardship, she
sets a goddess-like moral example of what it means to be an Indian
woman, yet kills her own criminal son at the end for the greater moral
good. She represents India as a nation in the aftermath of independence.
The film ranks among the all-time Indian box office hits and has been described as "an all-time Indian blockbuster" and "perhaps India's most revered film". The film won the National Film Award for Third Best Feature Film in 1958. Mother India belongs to a small collection of films, including Kismet (1943), Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and Sholay
(1975) which continue to be watched daily throughout India and are
considered to be definitive Hindi cultural film classics. The film was India's first submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1958 and was chosen as one of the five nominations for the category.