Dark Knight - Finally a comic for grown ups

I had the good fortune of catching this movie at the theaters last week and I regretted not watching Batman Begins. Dark Knight was brilliant. Heath Ledger was very very convincing in his slimy Joker character. According to me though, the heroes of the movie were the editor and the background score musician. The movie was simply brilliant.

Yes ladies and Gentlemen, if you had the misfortune of missing Batman Begins (like me), don't miss The Dark Knight. My first reaction was that of awe and respect for Christopher Nolan (the director); what an imagination. I mean the guy took a simple comic book for kiddies and turned into a Comic book for grown ups without using the sexual connotations of Sin City. Its a good, clean absolutely entertaining movie. Once the movie got over, I told myself that in addition to V for Vendetta, Batman Begins and Dark Knight are also on my list of movies I want to buy for my personal collection. The characterization was perfect. Christopher definitely succeeded in getting the best from his crew, and yes, Heath Ledger was exceptional.

Ledger's Joker gave me the perfect slimy feeling that the director was aiming for; a very different characterization compared to Jack Nicholson's Joker in the George Clooney starer Batman & Robin. Ledger's line "Why so serious?"- gave me goosebumps every time I heard it in the movie. There were some people even more brilliant than Ledger who the made the movie the hit it is - The editor and The Background Score Musician.

The background score of the movie was haunting, perfectly suited for the mood at each scene. During the action scenes also, the background made quiet an impact. Saving the best for the last, 3 cheers for the editor of the movie - what a skilled technician. The editing was slick, to the point and no time wasting at all. According to me, Chris Nolan should thank his editor for doing such a stupendous job. If Chris Nolan was able to keep me at the edge of my seat, it wasn't just because of the story or the way he took a shot, it was also because of how the movie was cleverly edited and each scene was sharp and crisp; making the movie a crunchy delight to the last bite. There is always a second side to the coin and so is true for the movie too.

There were goof ups, bloopers and as I was read on a couple of reviews forums, a lot of them. Also, when the movie started I felt slightly lost as I wasn't introduced to the characters; but it doesn't take you more than 10 minutes to figure out the history. Its actually a good thing because Chris Nolan has succeeded at what most directors have failed since the last part of Godfather - Making a Sequel.

Kudos to Chris Nolan and his team. In retrospect, all I can say is, its a brilliant movie - Go Watch It, you'll enjoy it. You won't feel like a grown up at a kiddie movie.

Everyone's a Winner

"Everyone's a winner" - something we all get to hear from each and every the judge and "celebrity guest" of the dozens of the reality shows running on zillion Indian tv channels. I believe I've finally cracked this mystical coded sentence.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I believe I can say "Eureka" - I have the answer. After investing much time and effort into this thorough research, which did include the torture of watching these shows, I have finally understood what the judges and celebrities mean when they say this mystical phrase.

This phrase "Everyone's a winner" isn't meant for the contestants, but actually for the us poor tv watching audience who believe that we control the fate of the participants through our SMS votes. Everything is scripted- every violent emotion, every hot temper and every tear. Its scripted because, these shows are big money shows and thus can't afford to miss the TRP top charts to keep themselves in business. Generally they have been able to hide this fact from the people, but bad actors like some contestants of Indian Idol 3 and Ravi Kissen at Yeh Hai Jalwa gave away this strategy. Not digressing from the point, I believe our celebrities and judges do understand that their fans are listening to the show and may be they feel a responsibility towards us and don't want us to spend too much money in voting by telling us the truth.

The truth is that, well trained singers (like Toshi, Sharib, Karunya, Amey, Mussarat) showcase their talent and get an opportunity to be in the audience's mind even before they record their first song and bad singers (like Sandeep, Aneek) atleast get some money and a car to keep themselves afloat for a while. And that my friends, is the truth behind these shows. So, I would suggest following the democratic setup of country and just voting once, so that you vote for your favourite contestant without adding a big number on the balance sheet of the tv channels.